by Jodi Thomas
“Stop!” Sarah stepped past him. “I don’t want to hear any more.” She suddenly broke into a run across the darkness of the park. She couldn’t endure listening to any more. Did he think of her as his sister? Did he think she was being silly and needed to grow up? She wasn’t brave enough to face the answer.
“Wait!” Bart yelled. He tried to follow her, but the shadows engulfed Sarah’s navy cape and the wind whirled with sudden anger, muffling the sound of her footsteps.
Sarah ran from his voice. She didn’t want to admit that she’d made a fool of herself. Why had she spoken so impulsively, when she usually thought about every word before she said it? She darted between the trees. The north wind whipped her skirts around her. The air was turning colder, but her face felt as if it were on fire.
Running until her legs ached, she ignored the overgrown shrubs pulling at her skirt as her arms ached from lifting up the woolen hem. She crossed the park back and forth until she could no longer find the walkway.
Finally, with the wind gusting around her, she stumbled into a long forgotten gazebo. Dried, twisted branches had overgrown the paint-chipped structure until the gazebo was little more than a pile of sticks losing its battle with nature. Sarah clawed her way through the vines into the blackened interior of the gazebo. She sank ankle deep in dried leaves.
Bart’s low voice called her name through the trees outside her fortress. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fought back each sob, fearing the noise would give her away. He saw her as a child, a toy, an angel, when she wanted him to see her as a woman. For the first time in her life she wanted someone other than Katherine to come closer. She wanted him to care about her as much as she cared about him. She wanted him to love her. Dear God, how she wanted Bart to love her.
Sarah roughly rubbed her palm against her cheek where he’d kissed her, wanting none of his brotherly kisses.
Her heart was breaking as rain began to pound on the roof of the gazebo. She began to care for Bart the moment she first saw the sadness in his gray eyes, a sadness that seemed to issue a challenge, daring her to ease his loneliness. Maybe she was only a foolish child, blind to the real world. Maybe she should have given their relationship more time. Why had she hurried as if there would be no tomorrow? Why couldn’t she have left the friendship intact without ripping it apart looking for something that wasn’t there?
Why couldn’t he have kissed her with passion and not pity? She had dreamed of such a kiss, but now her dreams would only be a reminder of how she could feel the loss of something she’d never had to begin with.
Sobs rippled through Sarah and joined with the thunder. Outside the gazebo black velvet masses blocked the moon and darkened the earth to the gloomy shade of her mood. Sarah dropped to her knees and cried until her body shook with each sob.
An arm wrapped itself around her and tugged her to her feet. “Sarah!” Bart’s voice resounded with worry and anger. He gripped her shoulders, shaking her roughly. “Why did you run away from me?”
She tried to wrench herself out of his hold. “Let me go!” she screamed in frustration.
Bart’s hands closed over her shoulders like a trap snapping. He pulled her toward him with such force it almost knocked the wind from her lungs. “Why did you run?” he demanded.
Sarah slammed her fist into his chest. All her years of meekness seemed to explode in anger. If he couldn’t love her, she shouldn’t have to answer any of his questions.
“Stop it!” Bart yelled, grabbing her flailing fists and twisting them behind her back. He shook his rain-soaked hair out of his eyes as he lifted her off the ground. “What is it you want of me?”
Sarah could feel his hard chest flattening her breasts and his strong arms tightening around her like iron bands. His heart pounded violently against hers. Through her tears she realized she was angry, but she was not afraid of this giant who could have crushed her within his grip.
Bart’s body warmed hers as he tried to bring his breathing to normal. “I…I thought you wanted me to kiss you. I didn’t mean to frighten or hurt you.” His deep voice rumbled with confusion. “God, I feel like such an ox when I’m around you.”
Sarah stopped struggling and Bart released her. “You didn’t frighten me and you didn’t hurt me,” she said. “But I want no pity in a kiss from you. I’d prefer our first kiss that split my lip to the brotherly peck you gave me tonight. And I want no lectures about how young I am. I’m old enough to know my own mind.” Thankful that the darkness hid her embarrassment, she pushed away from him. His nearness only made her longing worse. “In fact, I just want to be alone.” She wanted to add that she was sorry, so sorry, but no more words would come.
She walked to the opening he’d made in the brush at the entrance to the gazebo. Leaning out into the rain, she no longer cared if her cape got soaked or if her shoes were covered with mud. She needed sleep, she needed dry clothes, and most of all she needed to be away from Bart so she could calm down. In the morning things would look better. Maybe she wouldn’t feel like such a fool. Her need for him to hold her, to love her, was so great that she’d let it overshadow her reason.
Without warning, Bart grabbed her cape and pulled her back out of the rain. “If you want nothing but to be left alone, prove it!”
“What?” Sarah wiped water from her face.
“I said prove it.” It was dark, but Sarah would have sworn Bart was smiling.
“How?” she yelled above the thunder.
“Kiss me. It’s the only true test. You told me so yourself.” He didn’t wait for an answer. He lifted her into his arms and covered her lips with his.
Sarah tried to pull away, but he folded his huge body around her like a cocoon. Bart gently nibbled her bottom lip, pulling her mouth open. His tongue parted her lips, and the kiss became unlike anything she’d ever imagined. She pressed closer and felt his low moan against her mouth. He took possession of her, and the rain, the night, the world, faded away. There was nothing but his lips, his arms, his heart drumming against her own.
A wild beast had captured her and she was safe in his arms. She’d forced open the shackles that kept him at arm’s length and now she would have to face whatever happened next.
Without breaking the kiss, Bart slid an arm under her legs and lifted her up, then carried her to a corner of the gazebo. After placing her on a damp cushion of pine needles, he blanketed her with his body. Sarah could feel the warmth of his flesh even through their soaked clothes. She loved the weight of him against her as he demanded her response to his kiss.
His body pressed hard against her, telling her boldly of the effect their kiss was having upon him.
Finally, when the world was spinning around her, Bart moved his lips to her throat, trailing a row of gentle kisses along her neck. The feel of his rough cheek against her skin made her sigh with pleasure. His large hands pushed back her damp hair as his lips moved along her neck, tasting her with a hunger that had lasted a lifetime.
When he returned to her ear his voice was already low with need. “Is this how you want to be kissed?” he whispered as he boldly slid his hand inside her cape and spread his palm across her abdomen. “Is this what you want, my beloved Sarah?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes!” This was everything, and it was a hundred times more thrilling than she’d dreamed it could be. She hadn’t known exactly what she wanted until this moment, but she now knew this was what she’d dreamed of, longed for, ever since the first time Bart had carried her in his arms.
She ran her fingers through his hair, urging him to repeat the pleasure he’d given her, and this time her response surprised even her. She opened her lips to his exploration, loving the way his mustache brushed her skin, tickling the corners of her mouth. His damp black hair caressingly curled around her fingers.
Slowly he rolled over beside her. She tried to follow, but his arm held her on her back with gentle pressure. As his lips circled her mouth with kisses, his nana began to move across the damp
wool of her bodice. He laid claim to her body with bold caresses. With methodical precision his hand moved to her breasts. She felt his palm spread over her fullness in gentle revolutions as his fingers tenderly tugged at the material. The buttons of her dress gave willingly to his demand.
Sarah gasped in surprise at the sensations boiling through her veins. The thunder and lightning around them dimmed in comparison to the volcano erupting within her body. A fiery need built inside her, a hunger that made her realize she’d been starving all her life. A longing in her heart and in her soul that only Bart could relieve.
He whispered against her ear. “I knew if I ever touched you I’d be unable to stop with a kiss.” With one powerful tug he ripped her camisole from throat to waist. “I’m not sure I know how to be gentle, but I’ll try, because you are heaven on this earth.”
The pressure of his lips increased as did the pleasure he brought her with his hand. Sarah let her arms fall beside her head. Her damp lashes brushed her cheeks as she relaxed beneath the movements of his fingers over her body. He was bold and tender, teaching her of wondrous pleasure.
Reining in his wild passion for Sarah was the hardest thing he’d ever done. When she pressed her cheek against his arm and sighed softly he felt he would explode.
He shoved the damp wool of her dress aside in haste, not wanting to live a moment longer without the feel of her flesh beneath his open palm. Since the moment he’d seen her standing in the crowd at O’Grady’s he’d thought of touching her. He’d convinced himself he could be content to brush her hand lightly or hold her under the protection of his arm. But his longing to touch her as a man touched a woman ate into his every waking hour and gnawed away at all his dreams.
As he explored her body from throat to waist, he whispered, “You’re very much a woman beneath that starched uniform.” Pulling gently at her breast cradled in his large hand, he made her cry out softly with need for more. “You bring me great pleasure.”
He flattened her full breast with his palm, loving her soft sounds of pleasure. “I plan to bring you much pleasure, my lovely angel.”
All his life he’d been alone, fighting just to stay alive. Bart could never remember anyone really wanting him, but Sarah did. She wanted him as her friend and as her lover. He wasn’t sure he had enough love inside him to give her all she needed.
He reluctantly released her breast and moved his fingers down her body. When he reached her waist, he roughly pushed her skirt off and covered her hips with his hands. As he pulled her against him, he whispered one plea: “Stop me, Sarah!”
“No,” she answered. “Never.”
“Stop me before the feel of you drives me mad.”
Sarah closed her eyes once more and rocked her head gently from side to side amid the sweet smell of pine and the masculine scent of Bart. “No,” she whispered over and over, lost in the pleasure he gave her. “I don’t want you to stop.”
She felt his damp lips at her ear as he asked, “Does passion bring you joy?”
Sarah didn’t open her eyes. She was swimming in a sudden flood of sensations as his fingers played over her body. His mouth moved over her face teasingly, avoiding her lips as his hands brushed across the thin material of her undergarment.
“Does it?” There was an urgency in his words as he pushed her head back to expose her throat to his lips.
“Yes,” Sarah said before pressing her hand over his fingers.
He pulled her against his muscular body. “You make me drunk with happiness. I’ve dreamed of holding you in my arms, but the feel of you is a hundred times better than I thought possible.” His tongue brushed her bottom lip. “So much sweeter. If I died right now, I would have died at the happiest moment of my life.”
Sarah sighed and stretched beside him as he continued, “Until I touched you, we could have remained only friends. But not anymore, because I’ll never be able to look at you again without remembering the feel of you in my arms.” Then suddenly he was kissing her again as though he’d been starving for her taste for far too long. Warm, frantic, loving kisses. He left her gulping for air as his lips moved across her face, then back to her mouth with more demands. Her breasts hardened in fullness. There was no world other than his touch, and he proved it to her again and again as he brought her to madness with his nearness.
Finally he pulled his hand away and fell back beside her. “There is more.” Bart sounded out of breath and almost out of control.
She knew there was more to lovemaking, but this was so wonderful she didn’t think anything could be better.
“I want to bring you pleasure until you cry out. I could show you that passion now.” Bart’s voice blended with the whispering wind.
“I know,” Sarah answered, again honestly. She had no intention of stopping him. “Please hold me.” She felt suddenly cold without his hands on her.
Bart hugged her to him, shoving all chill away with his warmth. “Later. Just wait a little longer, my love. This is not the place.” He stood and pulled her up beside him. “Will you believe I want you, Sarah? I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in the world, but I must force myself to go slow. I want us both to enjoy each stage as I show you passion, not out here in the storm but in a warm bed.”
Sarah wanted to cry that it didn’t matter where they were as long as she was in his arms. She pulled his face down to her. “Promise me.” She murmured her request against his mouth.
Bart groaned and lifted her to her feet. “I need to allow you time to make certain. If after a week you feel the same way, I promise, my darling, I’ll show you all there is of paradise on this earth.”
Sarah kissed his cheek, and somehow her love for him grew with his promise. “I love you, Bart.”
He pulled her close under his arm. “I worship you, my angel, but the woman I just felt in my arms I will love until the day I die.”
Ten
CODY PULLED HIS collar up against the brisk wind. As he and another pilot walked across Dominguez Field just outside Los Angeles, he wondered for the hundredth time how long it would be before he was back home. Flying in air shows had lost its thrill. He found himself longing again and again to be back in Ohio with Katherine.
Pretty women had been passing through Cody’s life since he turned sixteen, but none had ever affected him the way Katherine did. Her spirit matched his, and he couldn’t force her from his thoughts or his dreams.
“You think Hoxsey will go up today?” Walter Brookins, the pilot walking beside Cody, asked. “The wind’s a bit too gusty for me.”
Cody pulled himself back from his daydreams. It was the last day of the year. Surely they’d be heading home soon. “Hoxsey will go up if there are five people watching the show, no matter what the weather. Since Johnstone died, Hoxsey hasn’t missed a day performing.”
The men turned at the sound of an engine roaring to life at the far end of the field. Hoxsey’s plane came into view and was airborne in seconds.
“He’s going for a new world altitude record!” Brookins yelled above the noise. “I heard him say this morning that he was going to climb up to twelve thousand feet today.”
Cody watched the Wright Model B climb into the clouds. “If he’s going up in this weather, so am I.”
Both men broke into a run for their planes and within minutes were off the ground. But the winds played a dangerous game with them, tossing the light planes like toys in the air. In less than an hour Brookins and Cody were back on the ground waiting for Hoxsey to join them.
Cody crossed his arms over his chest to fight back a sudden chill as Hoxsey came out of the clouds in one of the team’s famous spiral glides. He was fine until he spun down to only a few hundred feet above the ground. Then a gust of wind caught the wing and flipped the plane over. Cody watched in horror as Hoxsey and his craft somersaulted and hit the ground.
Every man on the field ran toward the cloud of dust. As the plane struck the earth, the sound of splintering wood echoed in Cody’s ears. A
moment passed before he noticed the air was now absolutely silent.
As Cody neared the crash he saw part of the propeller lying across Hoxsey’s twisted body. The pilot resembled a half-empty scarecrow flung against the wreckage, his arms and legs in unnatural positions. A jagged iron bar from the transmission assembly had pierced Hoxsey’s chest.
Cody froze, unable to accept what his eyes saw. Hoxsey lay lifeless, his face covered with blood and dust. His eyes stared up at the sky he no longer saw.
“Keep them back!” Hoxsey’s mechanic yelled as he grabbed a shattered strut from the wreck. “Don’t let them pick at his body like they did Johnstone’s.”
Cody turned and saw a crowd of spectators running toward the plane. He nodded at the mechanic; he had heard about people picking over Johnstone’s crash site like vultures, hungry for any souvenir.
“Stay back!” Cody yelled. “Stay clear of the crash!”
Cody wasn’t sure if it was his order or the menacing way the mechanic waved his stick above his head, but the crowd kept its distance.
Walter Brookins stood at Cody’s side ready to fight anyone who came too close despite the tears streaming down his cheeks. A doctor, moving with what Cody thought must surely be an unnatural slowness, ordered a stretcher and covered Hoxsey’s body. “Both Stardust Twins are dead,” he said as he walked beside the stretcher. “The world will never know their like again. The Stardust Twins are gone.”
Cody wasn’t sure how he got back to his room. He didn’t bother turning on any lights, but knelt beside the small fireplace and brought the flames back to life.
Johnstone and Hoxsey were dead within two months of each other. Two of his heroes had vanished. Cody had watched them fly since the days when he’d only dreamed of being a pilot. They’d been the best, and they were gone.
Cody held his head tight as if to stop the pain throbbing through his brain. “I can’t fly again,” he said aloud.
Slowly he looked up into the fireplace and pictured Katherine’s hair in the firelight. She was smiling at him with her dancing green eyes, begging him to take her flying.