“I think she’s wonderful,” Jade said.
“Great.”
“I—”
A shriek—a loud, loud shriek—suddenly made its way up the stairs. Then another, even louder. Their eyes widened with alarm. Together, they turned and raced down the stairs.
Mattie, flushed and alarmed, was running into the living room, wringing her hands in her apron.
“Jeff! I don’t know what got into them. I can’t stop them. The boys—all of a sudden—”
Jeff rushed on past Mattie, out the door to the backyard. Jade was hot on his heels. She gasped when she got outside, astounded to see Sean and Ryan rolling on the ground in an intense and bitter struggle. Sean was on top, with a fistful of Ryan’s hair clutched in his fingers.
Jeff lost no time in pulling Sean away from Ryan, his face a hard mask as he separated the two boys. He kept them at arm’s length as he asked harshly, “What in God’s name is this all about?”
Both boys were stubbornly silent. Jade swallowed, painfully aware that Ryan was going to have a shiner, while Sean’s lip was swollen and bloody.
“What is going on here?” Jeff demanded again in a voice that brooked no disobedience.
“You tell him!” Sean raged at Ryan. Tears filled his eyes. “You tell him what you said!”
“It’s true!” Ryan shrieked back, fighting his father’s hold.
“What?” Jeff’s voice boomed.
Ryan suddenly looked a little white, a little frightened and very small. But he straightened his spine, clenched his jaw so that it looked very similar to his father’s and spoke.
“His mother!” He pointed at Sean. “His mother is nothing but a tramp and a whore and she’s only after your money and your position.”
Jade gasped from the doorway, stunned not only by Ryan’s language, but by the venom in his voice.
After her gasp there was a miserable silence. Utter silence, in which only the breeze whispering through the trees could be heard.
That silence made the sound of Jeffrey’s palm striking Ryan’s behind all the worse.
“No,” Jade breathed. “Jeff, no…”
But it was too late. Ryan was already pulling away from his father and racing toward the house. He turned back to stare at Jeff, tears streaming down his face. “It’s true, it’s true, it’s true! You can beat me forever, and it will still be true!” he screamed.
He turned again, ignoring Jade’s outstretched hand as he tore into the house.
Then Sean burst into tears, too. Jeff put a hand on his shoulder; Sean shook it off.
Jeff took an angry step toward the house, but Jade caught his sleeve, stopping him.
“Let me go. He can’t go around talking like that. He’s going to apologize, and he’s going to do it now.”
“No!” Jade moistened her lips to speak, shaking her head vehemently. “Don’t. We both know he didn’t think that up by himself. He’s just repeating what he’s been told.”
She didn’t think she’d ever seen Jeff look so hard or so cold, and for a moment she shivered inside, glad that his anger was not directed at her. “Jeff, listen to me, please! Just let it go.”
“Let it go! I’ll be damned if I will! He needs to learn a lesson, and Diana needs to learn one, too! She’s the one who’s filled his head with such garbage. By God, I’ll kill her! I’ll wring her neck. I’ll—”
“No! Dammit, Jeff! This time, just let it all go. Don’t you see—Diana wants a reaction, and that’s exactly what you’re giving her. Jeff, please….”
“She can’t keep poisoning Ryan like this!”
“Jeff—”
“All right! All right!”
He stormed back into the house, past Mattie, into the kitchen. Jade went over to Sean, slipped an arm around his shoulders and hugged him close. She could hear Jeff even though the kitchen was some distance away. He was pouring himself a drink.
“Let’s go home for now, huh?” Jade whispered to Sean.
“Forever!” Sean said violently. There were still tears in his eyes. “I hate Ryan! I hate him!”
“No, no, don’t say that, Sean,” she said softly. “He really doesn’t mean to hurt me. He’s just hurt inside himself. Can you understand that?”
Sean shook his head violently. Jade sighed. She bade Mattie a quiet goodbye and turned to leave. She wasn’t going to talk to Jeff again in his present mood.
* * *
He was at her office in the morning before she was, talking to Sandy. Jade greeted him with a curious, worried look and was further perplexed when he refused to let her sit behind her desk.
“We’re going,” he told her.
“Where?”
“To Georgia.”
“But—”
“Sandy’s got everything under control here in the office. We’ll be back by seven tonight. Toby is picking up Sean from school; Mattie will get Ryan.”
“But—”
“We’re going to get married this morning. I’ve got a car waiting for us at the Atlanta airport. We’ll get the license, see a justice and have the afternoon together. We’ve got a flight back out at five-thirty, which brings us home at seven.”
“But—” Jade tried again.
“Get out of here,” Sandy interrupted this time. “You’ll miss your flight out.”
Jade was still uneasy, still trying to argue, as their plane lifted high above Miami and a smiling stewardess slipped a complimentary glass of champagne into her hand.
“This is too sudden! After last night—”
“I know it’s sudden,” Jeff put in impatiently. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said tenderly, picking up her hand and playing with it idly. “I’d meant for us to have some time together, some special time alone. But I guess it’s going to have to come later. I really wanted the works for a honeymoon, something wonderful. Paris, Hawaii. Long, lazy days just to be together.” He smiled ruefully. “I wanted to make you deliriously happy. I”m sorry it isn’t working out the way I’d hoped.”
“I don’t care about a honeymoon,” she said mechanically. “Or Paris, or Hawaii, or any place or thing like that. But Jeff, I was thinking that maybe we should wait. Maybe we should let Ryan get accustomed to the idea of our marriage. We might really cause him some psychological harm—”
Jeff’s fingers tightened around hers, and his face hardened into the determined look she had seen the night before. “We’re going to do it, and he’s going to learn to live with it.”
“But, Jeff, Sean and Ryan hate each other now. They used to be best friends—”
“And they will be again.”
“I have no right to do this without telling Sean.”
“He’ll understand.”
“Jeff—”
He released her fingers impatiently. “I’m not going to beg, Jade. I’m in love with you. I can’t stand living in separate houses anymore. Why should we have to snatch moments alone like two guilty high school seniors? I want to be married, man and wife, living together, sleeping together, sharing a room, with no excuses or pretense. I can’t go on this way. And it isn’t doing the kids any good, either. I love my son. I would do just about anything in the world for him—except let him grow up to be a little brat because of his mother’s mind games. If I’m asking too much of you, fine. We’ll go to Atlanta, look around and have lunch and come home. We’ll forget the whole marriage bit. Then we can stop seeing each other. That will make Ryan happy—and Diana. Is that what you want?”
“It sounds like a threat,” Jade retorted.
Jeff shook his head impatiently. “Maybe it is. I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want to tiptoe around. I love you; I need you.” For all his protestations of love, his tone was as cold as ice. He glanced at his watch. “We still have an hour in the air; you’ve got an hour to decide what you want.”
She felt like crying. It was a threat: Marry me now, or never see me again. She wanted to dump her champagne over his head; she wanted to tell him that he wasn’t being f
air, that they needed time to work out their problems.
But she didn’t speak to him. She stared straight ahead and blinked back tears. God. She was a coward. She was afraid of Diana—afraid of Ryan, even.
What if Jeff was using her as a buffer? Legally married to Jade, he couldn’t easily remarry his ex-wife. He’d have a woman at home, a preventative against finding himself in bed again with the wicked beauty who had once hurt him so badly, yet was so lovely that he feared he could not resist her.
Tears welled up in her eyes again; stubbornly, she refused to let them fall. She still didn’t look at Jeff, but she could sense him beside her, smell the masculine fragrance of his after-shave, feel the vitality of his movement, the heat of his body. She was even aware of the texture of his suit, slightly rough against her bare arm. She loved him, loved him desperately. She couldn’t begin to imagine life without him. She felt that she would die a little bit each day she was away from him. She loved him when he was happy, when he was excited, when he was somber, even when he was cold and stubborn—and angry. She loved him as a friend, as a lover, even as the stranger he could become when his mind was set, when he turned away from her, as he had now.
At eleven-thirty on the nose, their flight landed. Jeff led her off of the plane. Then, in the middle of the hallway, with people rushing all around them, he paused and stared at her.
“Well? Are we having lunch—or getting married?”
It was so different from the sweet proposal she longed for. His eyes were like ice chips, as uncompromising as his stance.
But, oh, she was so pathetically in love. She couldn’t even think of letting him go. Suddenly she felt nothing but the thrill of excitement. Marriage…marriage…she’d be his wife. For a dizzying moment, she couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that he loved her so very much, that she would really be able to touch him, sleep with him, love him…forever.
Jade lowered her eyes and hurried past him.
“We’re getting married,” she replied, her answer as curt as his question. She didn’t have the nerve to look into his eyes again, so she kept walking in a tremendous hurry, totally unaware of where she was going.
He caught up with her, placing a hand on her back. He didn’t speak, but she could have sworn his hand trembled.
They were out of the airport in seconds. Downtown in minutes. And before twelve noon, they were holding a legal license to be married.
They still hadn’t spoken, not to each other. The only words they’d uttered had been their stiff answers to the clerk filling out the application.
When they left the courthouse, Jeff finally spoke to her. “This is it. Do we, or don’t we? It’s your very last out.”
Jade couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t really be happening. She wasn’t really about to marry him. What about Diana and Ryan?
She forced Diana and both children from her mind in a sudden spirit of recklessness. Today…these few hours…were hers.
She didn’t know that she lifted her chin, that her eyes took on an emerald sparkle of challenge, or that the Atlanta wind gave her hair a wild and abandoned beauty all its own.
“Let’s do it,” she whispered.
Moments later, they were standing before the justice of the peace. She heard herself saying the words of the marriage ceremony, heard Jeffrey saying them beside her. He hadn’t had a chance to buy a diamond or a wedding band; it was his college class ring that he slipped on her finger.
It was huge and threatened to fall off any second.
“With this ring…”
It didn’t matter at all that the ring was too big, that their surroundings were less than romantic.
She was suddenly, legally, really and truly married to him.
CHAPTER 11
He felt like throwing his hat in the air, except that he didn’t have a hat. It was done; they were married. Her fingers were shaking in his hand, and he felt just like primitive man, triumphant, and terribly possessive and territorial. She was his wife.
“Kiss the bride,” the justice of the peace intoned. He did, with absolute pleasure, love and desire.
The Justice cleared his throat; Jeff ignored him.
Despite his joy, he was feeling a little guilty at the way he had threatened Jade. It had all been a bluff. No matter what she had said or done, he never would have let her out of his life. He’d been adamant because he was convinced that their being together was the very best way to handle the problems they faced. No matter how difficult their days, they would have the privacy of their bedroom at night, each other to cling to, touch and love.
Lord, he loved her so much. He loved the soft feel of her hair against his fingers, the color of her eyes, lush like a meadow, the sound of her voice. He loved her mind, loved watching her face as she thought things through. He loved her gentleness and her temper; her loved her honesty. He loved to kiss her, the way he was doing now….
“Mr. Martin…”
The justice of the peace finally caught Jeff’s attention. Laughing, Jeff released Jade, thanked the man, paid him and dragged Jade back out to the street.
She was flushing, a bright shade of red. Her lips were damp and swollen from his kiss, her eyes sparkling with outrage.
“How could you do that to me? Jeff, they were all staring at us! How—”
“Easy, Mrs. Martin, easy!” Mrs. Martin. His wife. He laughed out loud again and swept her back into his arms. Pedestrians walking by them stopped to stare and smile.
“Jeff!” she protested at last, breathless as she pulled herself away from him. “Jeff, we’re on a public street—”
“Then let’s get off it,” he said huskily. “Unless you want lunch. No, we’d better not. I might wind up attacking you on a tablecloth…”
He was so glad to see her giggle. When she laughed the outrage disappeared from her eyes. She slipped her hands around his neck and leaned against him, still laughing. “We haven’t any time; we’ve got a flight back to Miami in a matter of hours—”
“A matter of hours? Hell, woman, give me fifteen minutes and you’ll remember it for a lifetime, I swear.”
“Egotist,” she accused him.
“With a one-track mind,” he agreed.”
“Jeff!”
“Let’s go. I’ve got to make love to my wife. Now.”
He already had a room reservation, she discovered, at a spectacular hotel in the Peachtree Center.
The door was barely closed behind them before his hands were on the zipper of her dress. “What time is it?” he asked.
She tried to glance at her watch, which was difficult, since her arms were caught in the dress he was slipping off her body.
“One forty-five.”
“Umm. The champagne is due at two. We’ve got time.”
“Time? You mean that someone is coming to this door in fifteen mintues? Jeffrey Martin, you leave my clothing alone—”
“Gladly. As soon as it’s no longer on your body.”
“Jeff—room service will be here—”
“In fifteen minutes. I told you, a lot can happen in fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, you conceited—”
She tried to escape him and tripped over her dress. Jade winced, hoping that it wouldn’t rip. She hadn’t anything else to wear.
“Jeff—”
“Shh! You’re wasting time!” Her shoes, panty hose, slip, bra and panties followed her dress to the floor, all despite her intent to stop him. She was laughing breathlessly when he lifted her to the bed and shed his own clothing in a flash, sending his jacket flying in one direction, his shirt in another, his pants in still another. For a moment he stood before her, regally, wonderfully male. Then he plunged down beside her, like a diver into the ocean, and her giggles were stilled by the damp heat of his mouth. Surrender came to her quickly as his closeness filled her with warmth and instant longing.
Fifteen minutes…fifteen minutes of hunger and awe. His body merged with hers, weaving a magical spell about the two of them.
Their movements were like a dance, the cadence of their breathing and heartbeats like the music for that dance.
Fifteen minutes…and the cad was right…. The egotistical cad was right; she would remember them all her life. She would remember how she had gasped in exquisite pleasure just as there was a tap at the door. She would remember how smugly he smiled as he met her eyes, how he laughed when she desperately fought free of his weight and disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Seconds later he joined her there. He was stark naked, carrying a silver tray of champagne and glasses in his hands, his dark hair tousled over his forehead, his crooked grin in place.
“You didn’t—you didn’t answer the door like that!” Jade asked, shocked.
“Well, of course.” He set the tray on the tiled floor and started the water running in the huge tub.
“You didn’t!”
“Well, all right, I didn’t.”
She was laughing again, giggling while he filled the tub, and still chortling when he deposited her in it and joined her. He told her to drink the champagne, and she tried to. But he was sudsing her body, causing her laughter to turn to gasps. Eventually, she put her glass down and clung to him while his fingers moved along her thighs and between them.
She couldn’t smile or speak when he suddenly lifted her from the tub, water sluicing from them both. She could only hold onto him, staring into the intensity of his eyes as he carried her back to the bed. He didn’t join her though. He disappeared and returned with the champagne.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” he said, pouring a tiny stream of champagne onto her belly. She gasped.
“Jeff—that’s Dom Perignon!”
“I want to taste it…all over your body.”
“Jeff…” She started to giggle again, but cried out instead. The tip of his tongue was moving where the champagne had been. He touched her, laved her breasts and her thighs, her toes, kneecaps, throat…the most intimate of places. All the while he whispered how much he loved her and reminded her that she was his wife. She couldn’t remain still; she wanted to share the champagne with him…his way. Time stood still; it was measured by the beat of their pulses, the heavy rasp of their breathing, the incoherent things they murmured. At last they came together with tender ferocity. The explosion within her was so intense that Jade screamed. She felt as if she were surrounded first by soaring light, and then pitched into darkness. She trembled as the world at last ceased to spin, and she lay there, amazed that such ecstasy could really exist.
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