by Jodi Thomas
Her arms tightened around him as his need for her replaced all her discomfort.
“I love you,” she whispered, brushing his hair back from his face.
“I never…” He couldn’t find the words. “I never felt anything like this before.”
Sarah kissed his eyelids. “Hush, darling. I know.” She kissed the corners of his mouth.
Without a word or complaint, he watched her rise and move to the washstand. Slowly, in full view of him, she washed her body. He couldn’t pull his gaze away from her, for she was all that was good and beautiful in his world.
He watched as she lifted the washcloth, now spotted with blood. “I hurt you,” he said.
Sarah looked up as if only now aware he’d been watching.
She wrapped herself in a towel and returned to the couch. “But you told me it would hurt the first time.” She cuddled against him, unafraid, as always, of her giant.
Bart pulled her gently onto his lap. “If I could, I’d promise nothing would ever hurt you again, but no man can promise that.”
Sarah leaned her head against his shoulder. “Promise me you’ll never stop loving me.”
“That I can do,” he answered.
Sarah curled into his arms as Bart pulled a blanket over them.
As time passed in dreams for her, he held her to his heart, marveling at her strength and her uncomplicated love. In her way Sarah was far wiser than he would, ever be. She trusted him and came into his arms even after he’d hurt her. She loved him without question or demand.
Sarah finally stretched.
Bart kissed her head. “Did you have a nice dream?”
“Yes.” She moved against him, unaware of the effect her actions had on him. “Did you?”
“Yes,” he answered, knowing he’d wouldn’t have to close his eyes to have a dream in his arms tonight.
She raised her arms above her head as the towel slid low over her breasts. “You said in the park that we’d wait until we had the warmth of a bed.”
Bart chuckled. “We almost made it.”
She rose. “Do you think we could try it again?”
“But…”
“Is it possible?”
“Yes.” Bart suddenly wondered if he shouldn’t be afraid of her, when all this time he’d thought she might fear him. “But I don’t want to hurt you again.”
Sarah stood and pulled him toward the bed. “Don’t worry, I’ll go slow. After all, it’s not my first time.”
She sat him on the edge of the bed and slowly lowered her towel. Without a word she lifted his hand and kissed his palm, then rubbed his fingers lightly over her breasts.
As he watched in wonder she moved slowly before him, lightly brushing her body against him. Her movements were a slow dance of love; she was driving him mad with her beauty. When he reached for her, she stepped away, but when he remained still, she moved nearer, teasing him with her body. After allowing her hair to tumble against his warm skin, she stepped away and turned around slowly to flood his eyes with beauty.
She placed his hand on her hip as she leaned forward until her full breasts brushed his shoulder. As she straightened, her breasts moved over his face and Bart, mindless with pleasure, closed his eyes.
Her slim legs brushed his knees as she drifted into his embrace. “Love me,” she whispered as she moved against him. “Love me again.”
Bart could not have stopped if his life were the wager. He pulled her back onto the bed and heard her laugh as though she were the victor in a challenge he’d never defend against.
Their loving was as deep and silent as a wide river, flowing over both their lives and changing their paths forever. Over and over, when he would have held back or slowed down, she encouraged him. She needed his loving as much as she needed his love, and for him she was the very breath of life.
Sarah knew she belonged in Bart’s arms and there would never be another.
“Thank you,” she whispered when they lay exhausted beside each other. “Thank you for making me feel that I belong. For making me a woman.”
“Not a woman,” Bart answered. “My woman. I’ll never have another for as long as I live. I never knew beauty until tonight.”
“And I”—Sarah placed her hand over his heart—“never belonged anywhere until this moment.”
“Marry, me.” He stroked her hair lightly. “Marry me tomorrow.”
“No.”
Bart’s entire body tightened.
Sarah giggled. “Not until we can tell Kat and Cody together.”
Bart relaxed. “I’ll love you no better in a few months.”
“And I’ll love you no less than I do tonight for as long as I live.”
Twelve
SMOKE DRIFTED THROUGH the bar like a low cloud blurring everything into fuzzy shades of gray. Cody leaned back in a cane chair and watched the other patrons with about the same interest a six-year-old boy might watch ants. He’d been around strangers for so long he’d stopped looking at faces to see if he might recognize someone.
“Want anything else, birdman?” the waitress asked as she leaned toward Cody, her blouse unbuttoned just enough to tease the line of decency.
“No, thanks,” he answered as he raised his beer mug and drained the last of the golden liquid.
The girl looked disappointed and moved on, swinging her hips.
DeJon smiled from across the table. “You could have had a soft pillow to sleep on tonight, boy, if you had answered that question correctly.”
Cody frowned at his mechanic. The only reason he’d smiled at the woman in the first place was that her hair was almost the color of Katherine’s. “I’m not interested.”
The Frenchman laughed. “There was a time when every woman interested Cody Masters. Now you prefer to sit with me and practice your French. You must be suffering from a great illness, my son.”
Cody tried not to let his irritation show. He was suffering. The longer he stayed away from Ohio, the more he wanted to see Katherine again. As the weeks had turned into months he’d decided his memory was playing tricks on him. He knew she couldn’t have been all that wonderful and he could hardly wait to get home and prove it to himself. He’d take one good look at the flesh-and-blood Katherine and get her out of his mind.
“She wouldn’t be a bad pillow,” DeJon continued. “I like a woman whose breasts are more than a handful. They offer such a challenge.”
“I’m not interested.” Cody tried not to be rude to the man he admired more for his mechanical ability than for his taste in women. Sleeping with a memory of someone he cared about was better than sleeping with the reality of the barmaid.
DeJon finished his drink and motioned for another. “Drinking with you is getting to be as dull as drinking with Bart Rome.”
“How is Bart?”
“Saw him just before I left.” DeJon winked at the waitress as she delivered his beer. He was hoping to get lucky, but with his looks and smell the odds were piled against him. As the woman moved away without responding to his advance, the mechanic continued, “The huge guy is as silent as ever, but I did see him smiling the other day. I swear, he’s so quiet he could disappear from the face of the earth and no one would notice unless you were standing in his shadow.”
“Bart’s a good pilot.” Cody didn’t know what else to say. That was about as fine a compliment as he could pay any man. He stood slowly, allowing his balance to steady his head. “I think I’ll call it a night.”
DeJon leaned back in his chair. “Not me. I learned a long time ago that if I stay until the bar closes, I sometimes find a nearsighted mademoiselle.”
Cody wanted to suggest that DeJon start with a bath. He doubted there were many women who liked the smell of engine oil. But then, there was more to a man than looks and smell. In Wheeler DeJon’s case Cody wasn’t sure what that would be, but maybe the barmaid could find it.
“I think I’ll go home and sleep with a memory.” Cody tipped his hat.
DeJon smiled as
the waitress glanced in his direction. “I think I might make a memory tonight.”
Cody walked back to his hotel wondering how many more days it would be before he was on a train headed home. Suddenly he laughed to himself. He’d never in his life had a sense of someplace being home, but now he realized he did. Home wasn’t a building or even a state. Home was a green-eyed wildcat who had written him last week that if he didn’t make it back by the end of February she would never speak to him again. Home was a woman who wanted commitment with her kisses.
She’d speak to him, he was positive, even if it took him until March to get back. And eventually she’d figure out that no pilot could promise more than today.
Thirteen
April 1911
KATHERINE CLOSED THE door to William’s room.
“Did you remember to lock the door?” Dr. Farris asked from the linen closet across the hall.
“Yes, sir,” she answered. “He’s getting better, Doctor. Yesterday he spoke to me, and tonight I think he was about to say something and then changed his mind.”
Dr. Farris shook his head. “His wounds are healing into scars, but I’m not sure he’s getting any better. If a man wants something, even death, bad enough, he’ll find it.”
Katherine looked at the doctor and wondered what he wanted. He was like a statue, always the same, never caring about anything around him, but never unkind. An emotionless void in only a shell of a body. She forced the thought from her mind and hurried to finish her duties.
“What a day,” Katherine whispered, locking the last door. She’d traded with another nurse for the midnight-to-ten shift. Now every muscle ached with exhaustion, but there would be time to sleep when her shift had ended. In two hours she would be on the early train to Dayton to see her first real air show. And today…today Cody Masters was coming home.
Katherine had counted the days until she could go to Dayton. Cody’s planned two-month tour had stretched into three, then five. But now he was coming home, and in a few hours Cody and Bart would fly together once more. The only cloud over their homecoming was Sarah’s having to work. But Dr. Farris was a man of rules, and they knew better than to ask for a day off.
Besides, Katherine realized, Sarah had been half flying every day for months. Kat glanced over at Sarah unpacking medical supplies and smiled. There was no denying the obvious: Sarah was in love with Bart and nothing Katherine said about them slowing down would change that fact. When she wasn’t talking about him, she had a look in her soft blue eyes that told Katherine her friend was daydreaming about the huge man who seemed to show up on their doorstep every time Katherine turned around.
Sarah woke up as Kat stumbled out of bed after her short nap. “I wish I could go with you,” she said. “Today will be endless waiting.”
Kat agreed with a nod as she handed the charts to Sarah.
“Say hello to Cody for me.”
“I will.” Kat forced herself to match pace with Sarah as they walked toward the infirmary door.
“And Bart,” Sarah added.
“And Bart,” Kat echoed. “You know the guy kind of grows on a girl.”
Sarah silenced a laugh. “I’ve been meaning to tell you something you’ll be the second to know.”
Kat looked closely at Sarah. “You’re in love?”
“Head over heels,” Sarah answered. “I don’t think I can keep it a secret any longer. He’s the love I’ve always wanted.”
“He does seem to cherish you,” Kat admitted.
“I’m glad you’re finally seeing his good side.”
Kat shook her head. “I’ve looked all around that huge man and I’m not sure he has a good side, unless maybe it’s inside. But before you go telling him I’m fond of him, I want you to know I don’t think he’s good enough for you.”
“Feel it in your bones, do you?”
“Maybe,” Kat answered. She didn’t want to admit even to herself that she was a little envious of the love between Bart and Sarah. Kat didn’t want to take anything away from Sarah, she only wanted to feel that kind of happiness herself. Maybe with Cody coming home, her mood would lighten. Even if he didn’t want a forever love, at least she wouldn’t feel so alone on the outside of Bart and Sarah’s circle of two.
Kat slipped out the door. “See you tonight.”
“I’ll be waiting.” Sarah smiled. “And don’t you and Cody get so busy with your reunion that you forget to bring Bart to take me out to dinner.”
“Not much chance of that.” Kat waved. The big man would probably walk to Columbus tonight if she and Cody forgot him. She’d known for weeks that Sarah and Bart loved each other. She could see it in their eyes, a passion that spoke of wanting to be alone together. Kat didn’t have to ask if they were lovers; she’d known Sarah too long to have missed noticing changes in her.
* * *
Three hours later Katherine stood beside the airfield watching the newest Wright planes take to the air. A light layer of wool kept the chill from her, and a warm gray muff protected her hands. Katherine turned her head slightly, looking for a familiar face.
The crowd was small for the practice runs. The real show would be held in midafternoon. Most of the early watchers were farmers from neighboring fields and boys who’d ridden their bikes the mile from town to see their heroes. The boys talked excitedly as each plane went up. They knew the history of every plane and the life story of each individual pilot. The birdmen were their idols, and Katherine could see the hope of adventure in their young faces. The morning might be cold, but the lads in their knickers were warmly wrapped in their dreams of flight.
“Good morning, me lassie.” A man’s voice, thick with a Scottish burr, shouted from behind her.
Katherine turned as Cody crossed the field toward her. His full smile left no doubt of his delight in seeing her. Kat’s heart pounded at the sight of him, and she felt suddenly very warm in her wools.
He looked taller, leaner than before, but just as handsome as ever.
“Cody!” she cried as he reached her.
With the enthusiasm of a child, he lifted Katherine and swung her around as if there were no one else in sight. “You’re a beauty to behold.” He laughed as she blushed. “I can never remember being so eager to see anyone in my life.”
“Do I know you, sir?” Katherine teased. “I knew a pilot once, but he’s been gone so long I’m not sure I’d remember him.”
Cody slowly lowered her to face him. “When we have time, I’ll try to refresh your memory.” He studied her closely, as though to compare every detail of her face with that of his memory. “Everything about you has crystallized in my mind. Even after all these months, I’d know your voice, your smile, the smell of your hair, half a continent away.”
Katherine didn’t try to pull out of his embrace. She was so near she could feel the warmth of his breath against her cheek and see the tiny weather lines around his eyes. “Thank you for keeping your promise and coming back.”
Cody couldn’t seem to move his stare from her lips. “How could I not?” He leaned slowly toward her, drawn to her beauty.
When his mouth was only a breath away from hers, he paused, testing, exploring. “I’ve missed the sight of you, lovely one.”
“And I, you,” she answered honestly. His eyes were an even darker mahogany than she remembered and still full of mischief and fire.
“Do you remember that morning in my room?” he whispered into her ear.
“Yes,” she answered, looking around to make sure no one else had heard.
“I’ve thought of the way the sun set fire to your hair that morning and the way I set fire to your eyes.” Cody’s hands at her waist moved ever so slightly, unnoticed by any onlooker. “I’d like to see that spark again.”
Katherine’s cheeks were afire with his last words, but she faced him boldly. He had the power to excite her and anger her as no man before.
Before she could answer him, she glanced over his shoulder and noticed the mechanic,
Wheeler DeJon. With a quick and proper hug to Cody, she said loud enough for DeJon to hear, “It’s good to see you again, Cody.”
As she pulled away from a confused Cody, Kat turned to the Frenchman. “And it is nice to see you, Mr. DeJon.”
Cody took the hint. “You look as lovely as I remember, Kat.” His words were only conversational, the way he might have talked to anyone he hardly knew, but his eyes said so much more about the longing he felt. “How is Sarah?”
Katherine smiled, wishing she’d kissed him when they’d hugged, for now she saw the devil dancing in his brown gaze. “Sarah’s fine. She and Bart are always together, and that makes her very happy.”
Cody moved his tongue along his bottom lip, telling her he was also wishing they’d kissed.
“Bart doesn’t seem to be in any too sad a shape either. I think the big guy may be falling in love. His good mood is driving everyone around here crazy.”
Katherine didn’t argue. She’d been around Sarah enough to see in her the mirror image of what Cody saw in Bart.
“Look!” Cody yelled. “There’s Bart now. He drew the straw to make the first test run.”
All three turned to the sound of an engine approaching. The roar of the plane grew louder.
Pointing skyward, Cody added as Bart’s plane circled, “I can always spot him. He’s worn that midnight-blue scarf of Sarah’s every time he’s flown since the day he met her.”
A plane disappeared into the clouds. Wheeler rubbed his oily hands on an equally dirty rag as he looked at Katherine. “Good to see you again, mademoiselle.”
“Nice to see you, Mr. DeJon,” Katherine lied. She could still remember how the mechanic had rubbed dirt on her. “Are you still giving every pilot a fistful of luck before he goes up?”
Wheeler shook his head. “Didn’t get here in time today. Had to fix one of the trucks.”
Katherine wished she could think of something else to say. She glanced at Cody, hoping he would pick up the conversation, but he was just staring at the clouds. Katherine followed his gaze to the empty sky.