Seaspun Magic

by Christine Hella Cott

"You know it's all in her head!" Arianne pointed out. "Aunt May is the world's worst hypochondriac!"

  "Of course, darling. It just means she needs someone to talk to. As a matter of fact, why don't you join us as soon as you're finished work? Wouldn't you like Christmas with sunshine and palm trees, rather than pouring rain and cedars?"

  Arianne agreed it sounded very nice but didn't commit herself to Christmas in Palm Springs. She probably would go; after all, Mikey would be there, and Christmas was a time to be with family—

  But she was still left without a chaperone, and Leo was in a foul mood. When people were angry, all sorts of things were possible. She considered asking him to leave, but then realized she couldn't do it. She'd just have to wait out the mysterious situation. She shivered slightly, then went to finish supper.

  What with one thing and another, she stayed out of Leo's way until supper was ready, and then, when she went to call him to supper, there was a loud, adamant knocking on her front door. It was Reggie who was standing out in the chilly gloom. She gaped uncomprehendingly at him. What a day this had been!

  "Gracious, Reggie, what are you doing here?" she asked vacantly.

  "Well...." He hesitated awkwardly, staring at her, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his raincoat. "That's quite the welcome."

  "What did you expect?" she asked lightly, not inviting him in. She felt curiously detached, as if she hardly knew the man with whom she'd spent four years of her life! He looked exactly the same as he had the day she'd left him, when he'd thrown the mink coat down the stairs after her. He was still every bit as good-looking, but that didn't matter anymore; it had stopped mattering a long, long time ago.

  Reggie took advantage of her pacific nature and pushed past her into the living room. He glanced curiously around.

  When she joined him he said, "So... you're looking good."

  "Reggie, what are you doing here?"

  "You've changed so much, Anne. You've become cold and hard! I came to ask if.. .we could try again. I know it sounds crazy, but... I want you back, Anne. I really do!"

  She gazed at him, thunderstruck. Leo or no Leo, she hadn't a shred of interest—or anything else—left for the man standing in front of her. She noticed he didn't look quite so arrogant as he used to, though.

  "I can't come back, Reggie. Not possibly!"

  "But... it must be pretty hard making it on your own. I mean, look at the place!" He waved at her walls. "Bare! And no carpet... no art... no furniture to speak of! Anne, at least agree to see me again and I'll take care of you. I'd be only too happy to take care of you!"

  "I'm afraid you're too late, Reggie. Anyway, I can take care of myself. I always have."

  "Anne, what about the boy?''

  "What if I told you he's not your son!" she said, challenging him suddenly, angrily. She didn't care that he had found out; he was bound to, sooner or later, and in any case, it was immaterial. And his hesitation proved her point. "You see, you're not so sure about wanting me back, are you?" she taunted. "You want a son, don't you, Reggie, but do you really want me in the bargain? I don't think so. Don't you just cringe at the sight of my crystal ball!"

  "Anne, if the kid is mine... well... I'd like to try!"

  "Let me put it this way, Reggie. Rae is your son. I'll grant you that much. If you insist, I'll even grant you visiting rights. But that's it."

  Right at that moment a door slammed upstairs and Leo came down the stairs. Upon seeing the man in Arianne's living room, he stopped short. His hair was wet, and with a towel slung around his shoulders, it couldn't have been more obvious that he wasn't a casual visitor.

  He looked at Arianne, leaning against the back of the couch, her hands tensely gripping the high curved back. She pulled herself together to make the introductions.

  "It looks like you're having a good time, anyway," Reggie remarked stiffly. Arianne blushed, embarrassed at his terrible manners and also at the delicious implications of his words—they were all true despite everything! Leo just smiled ever so faintly and was faultlessly polite.

  His charming manners seemed to have less than a salutary effect on Reggie, however, for his deteriorated still more. "Just who the hell are you, anyway?" he demanded.

  At the sound of Leo's voice Rae came barreling out of the kitchen. They heard his boisterous progress down the hall before the little boy appeared in the living-room doorway. Hurling himself at Leo delightedly, he was his most endearing.

  Leo scooped him up, lifting him high, so that the boy shrieked with merriment. From the vantage point of Leo's shoulders he pointed confidently to the windows. Clear as a bell they heard him cry, "Snow, mommy, snow, snow!"

  Automatically everybody looked out the window. It wasn't snowing.

  "It's a good thing I had my snow tires installed this morning!" Leo exclaimed.

  "It never snows in this part of the state!" Reggie snorted witheringly.

  With the utmost certainty Leo shook his head. "If Rae says it's going to snow, it's going to snow!"

  Rae gurgled and repeated cherubically, "Snow!"

  "You mean—" Reggie gulped and started again, stuttering in shock. "Y-you mean... he's like y-you?" He stared aghast at Arianne.

  At her brief nod he winced.

  Cheerfully Leo suggested, "You really should change your tires to snows... on your way out of town. If you hurry, you might make it back to Seattle before it's too late. I'll phone the local garage and tell them you're on your way for a tire change."

  Reggie simply gave up, although he did tell Arianne to call him should she change her mind. While she leaned weakly against the couch, glad to see him go, Leo saw Reggie Sutherland out the door.

  When Leo returned to the living room she announced that his supper was ready and that she had promised to baby-sit for Jill. Not meeting his eyes, she took Rae off of him and left him alone with his dinner. It was a mean trick, especially after he'd sent Reggie on his way with such a marvelous minimum of fuss, but collecting that rotten dossier on her ESP had been a mean trick, too.

  On her return home, it was snowing as if a featherbed had burst apart in the heavens; the air was white with thick, fat, huge flakes. But it was also so warm she was sure it wouldn't last until morning. Leo had gone out. Sighing in relief, Arianne wondered how long she could keep up this ridiculous game of hide-and-seek. Hopefully Leo didn't hold a grudge. Arianne decided to call her mother, and that night it was Rianna who picked up the receiver before it had a chance to ring.

  "We are getting better at this!" Arianne laughed.

  "It seems so, doesn't it?" her mother agreed. "Hello, darling!"

  "Mom, Reggie was here today. How did he find out where I was? He knew about Rae, too."

  "It's a long story, but your ex was making the rounds again, looking for you. Well, I let slip something about country living agreeing with you better than he did, and naturally that blew the New York version of your disappearance."

  "Naturally!" Arianne said dryly.

  "So then he was suspicious about the whole story. In the end I just had to tell him, dear. As much as I dislike him and didn't want to tell him, I felt I had no choice. I know you're not really angry about it, so don't give me a lecture now. By the way, wasn't it time to get him out of the way?"

  "I suppose so... only I'd rather have picked my own moment for the job! But he wasn't interested in Rae once he found out he has ESP."

  "Do you expect me to be surprised?"

  Arianne sighed. "Reggie hasn't grown on you any, has he? No matter, he's gone now...."

  ***

  By the time Leo came home that night, Arianne had already bathed and changed and shut down the house. All but one lamp was left burning in the living room for her guest. She was upstairs in her room, in bed with a book.

  She heard the door downstairs closing and unconsciously started holding her breath. There was a brief pause... he must be kicking off his boots. The next thing she heard was the creaking of the old stairs as he came up. Slowly she
released her pent-up breath, afraid to make too much noise.

  He was probably going straight to bed, too. Once more the creak of old wood gave him away and she followed his footsteps to the washroom and from there back toward his room. She expected to hear his door shut, but then the footsteps returned.

  She couldn't believe it when her doorknob turned and Leo, unapologetic in his pajama bottoms, filled her doorway. Her mouth simply dropped in amazement. She had never even thought to lock her door in all the time he'd spent with her, but she began to wish she had now.

  She scrambled out of her reclining position, clutching the bed sheets to her scantily clad shape. "Get the hell out of my room right this second. What the hell do you think you're doing!"

  Carefully he shut the door behind him. "Don't you ever avoid me again!" He was still angry.

  "I'll avoid you whenever I please!"

  "And I suppose that's going to solve everything?"

  "Leo let's discuss it in the morning!" she pleaded.

  "We'll discuss it right now. I've been trying to talk to you for days and all I get is put off. No more!"

  "But you can't just walk into my bedroom anytime you please! How dare you!''

  "If I walked into your bedroom every time I pleased I'd never leave!" He stalked to the foot of her bed. "You're too good at hiding things. Arianne, you've had too much practice! Well, you're not going to hide in here another night! If we can't talk downstairs, we'll talk up here! You got that?"

  "Um, yes... but how about meeting me downstairs in five?"

  "Not a chance! You stay exactly where you are! And—" he bent forward and without warning yanked the blanket away from her clutching fingers "—quit covering up! I already know you, Arianne, all of you. Or are you conveniently forgetting that again? I could refresh your memory!" His eyes skimmed her short pajama top and long bare legs.

  "Oh, no," she gulped, edging off the bed. "I remember! Very clearly! Too clearly."

  "What's come over you? You've changed. All of a sudden I can't get near you."

  No, not since she'd discovered the file. What a position to be in! She would dearly love to ask him what he was planning to do with that much ammunition, but of course she couldn't, because that would be incriminating herself. Her position was hopeless, and terribly frustrating.

  "Well, and what's come over you?" she challenged, instead. "You've changed, too. What made you decide all of a sudden that you wanted to touch me? Yes, I remember the lovemaking, but I also remember that you couldn't wait to leave the next morning and that when you came back, it was your choice not to have it happen again!" She could fight better with her feet on the ground, she found. "All I'm doing is sticking to the original agreement! And you are not!"

  "Arianne, I can't! It was a stupid idea in the first place. I was right out of my mind. I still am!" He came around the foot of the bed toward her.

  Arianne slid back on the bed and swung her legs over to the over side. "Leo, stand still. You're making me nervous!" They faced off on either side of the mattress.

  "I guess I thought if I didn't make love to you I might not fall in love with you. It didn't work. Or I was already in love with you and it was much too late."

  "Well, I'll be darned." She raised her eyebrows. "A reluctant hero! Forget it, Leo! Scram!"

  He brushed both hands through his blond hair in a tired, exasperated gesture. "Arianne, I've been working nonstop lately. I haven't had time to live. You wouldn't think I had time to fall in love, but I have. If I've been a little erratic, can't you at least talk to me? Do you have to walk huge circles around me? Do you have to leave the room when I come in? Honey, how are you going to fall in love with me if you don't try?"

  Arianne practically gaped at him. She recouped in a second, though. "If you think you can just waltz in here and flip a quick, 'I-love-you' key to unlock my bed, well, tough luck, Leo. Scram. Shoo!" She waved hand toward the door. That should get rid of him, she thought composedly; she didn't think his pride would take being told to shoo.

  He didn't like it, but he didn't leave. He stood there glowering at her from under lowered brows. Arianne took another deep breath and held it, apprehensive of his next move. Her heart was beating like a sledgehammer against her ribs. She wanted him so much it hurt.

  "I thought, that is, you made me think you were... fond of me," he said, watching her closely.

  "I was—once." She looked down at her bare feet.

  "What changed your mind?" he asked gently, coming back to his first question.

  Put on the spot like this, Arianne didn't know what to say. She had tried to antagonize him into leaving and she had been rather rude. Beginning to wish she'd never stepped a snooping foot in his room, Arianne shook her head miserably, "Oh, I—I can't say…"

  Leo had used her unwary moment to finish up in front of her. She raised her eyes to him with a slight gasp.

  "If we tried a kiss just to make absolutely sure there's nothing left of that fondness..." His fingertips wafted enticingly up her arms.

  "Oh, please don't!'' Her voice trembled with feeling.

  His hands closed hard around her shoulders. "That— that lieutenant of yours, has he changed your mind?"

  "What right do you have to talk about my friends in that tone of voice?"

  "You are the last person I'd expect to be taken in by a pretty smile and a fancy car!"

  "Now just one minute! Don't you think you're going too far when all you really are around here, Leo, is a paying guest?"

  "Are you using Larry for a little diversion since you can't finish what you started with me? Are you, Arianne? Look at me!"

  "You were the one who practically insisted I go out with him! You just had to baby-sit that night! Very well, then, be happy with what you started!"

  "That was one of the stupidest things I've ever done!''

  His hands stayed on her shoulders, holding her closer than she would have liked, confused as she was. The naked brown chest with the smooth mat of blond hair and the broad shoulders right in front of her eyes were inciting riotous feelings. She kept on having kaleidoscopic flashbacks of the last—and first—time they had made love.

  "But what do you mean 'what I started'? What did I start? What happened that night, Arianne?"

  Arianne wondered whether she ought to be honest and tell the unvarnished truth—and damage her vanity by saying that Larry had just barely remembered to kiss her good-night. Or should she make use of Larry again and hint that rather than eating and dancing and driving they had wiled away the hours in a roadside motel? She couldn't do it. Arianne found she didn't even want to admit that one quick good-night kiss.

  "Arianne, I would like an answer!" He sounded so grim that he must be imagining the worst.

  She wanted to smooth the frown from his brow with kisses and tell him that she could never make love to anyone else, not when she loved him, but she didn't do any of that. Instead she said waspishly, "Nothing happened, no thanks to you! What's more, I don't like your attitude. You're acting like a jealous husband, harping on and on about Larry!"

  "I am jealous. I'm burning up!" His hands cupped her face as he pressed a hungry kiss on her soft, red lips.

  It was just the sort of thing she'd been desperately trying to avoid. She couldn't withstand such an attack on her senses. Her hands went out to him unconsciously... and when her fingers touched bare skin they fused to it, and then very gradually they crept up his chest as the kiss lengthened into one long passionate exploration.

  When his hands dropped again to her shoulders he was breathing raggedly. He managed, under his breath, to utter, "Oh, Arianne, you've been keeping secrets again!" before his hands traveled slowly down her back, moving her against him, while hers went up and over his shoulders. His startled ice-green eyes devoured her face, seeking further affirmation of what the kiss revealed.

  She slid her fingers into his hair and brought his head down for another kiss. Eagerly his hands held her to him, as tightly as possible, as if he w
ere afraid she would slip away somehow, as if he were afraid she would slap his face in a moment and had only that long to convince her of his love. When it fully sank in that the lady had changed her mind once more, that although she had said scram not more than five minutes earlier, now she was saying something quite different, his hold changed, and his hands began a slow and soft caress... down to follow the hourglass of her waist and the rounded bottom... slowly around her hips where his thumbs traced the twin curves of her hipbones.

  Arianne tipped her head back to catch her breath, her body leaning relaxed against him. How fabulous to have his strong arms holding her again! Behind his neck her hands unlocked to glide along his shoulders, savoring the feel of him and the sweet heady satisfaction of being able to touch him. Her clasp slid down his upper arms, sensitive to every flexing muscle underneath, to the warmth and strength and possessiveness of his support.

  Only her flimsy pajama top and his bottoms separated them, and the heat generated all but melted them away. His lips ravished the length of her white throat, sending her pulse into greater tumult, and a half sigh, half moan escaped her. As his mouth trailed along her jaw with a myriad of small and tantalizing kisses, she moistened lips that were already swollen and a darker shade of red from the imprint of his desires, and with just a slight twist of her head, had their lips meeting again.

  While the kiss was as delicate as could be it was also devastatingly erotic. With his hands spread on her ribs, his palms cupped the outside swell of her breasts. Then the tip of his tongue outlined the shape of her lips. He nibbled on a corner, and his tongue slid inside to follow the bottom lip and the top... and he put an arm around her shoulders, which she rested her head on as the leisurely, intimate, heavenly caress continued. His other hand began to search out the buttons of her pajama top, wedging between them, sliding underneath the thin cotton fabric to scorch the soft skin awaiting his touch.

  It took quite a while to get all three buttons undone. Finally, he filled his hand with her breast, seeking out the firm round uptilted beauty. The pointed tip that pressed against his palm invited heightened sensuality and exultant passion and the hot attention of his mouth.