by Cajio, Linda
Burrows banged the staff again for silence. “I vote yes. A majority approval has been reached.” The boys cheered. “The Grand Master will now give the Oath of Blood.”
Reluctantly, Rae rose to her feet. She hadn’t meant to vote against Jed joining, knowing the boys, especially Michael, would be disappointed in her if she did. The Barkeley Club was for them, after all. But something inside her had protested loudly against admitting him to the inner family circle.
She walked slowly around the table until she was in front of him. Jed stood up. She kept her eyes focused on his robe. She could see his broad chest rise and fall with each breath.
Burrows took her hand and pricked her forefinger with a needle. Blood welled up from the tiny cut. He did the same to Jed, then bound their fingers together with a piece of string. Surpressing a shiver, she felt as if the binding went far deeper than ceremony. She forced herself to continue with the initiation.
“Raise your right hand, Jedidiah.” When he did, she said with a straight face, “A Barkeley will always believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. A Barkeley will like school and always eat his peas. A Barkeley will have fun at all times, but never at the expense of another. A Barkeley will be kind to his fellow human beings and deal fairly with them. A Barkeley will keep his body and mind fairly clean. Above all a Barkeley will uphold the honor of all the Barkeleys.” Finally she looked up into Jed’s face. Expecting to see amusement in his hazel eyes, she found their expression dead serious instead. Swallowing, she added, “To accept this oath is to accept the responsibilities that go with it.”
He gave her a tiny half smile. “I accept.”
“Then by my authority as Grand Master of the Barkeley Club, I now pronounce you a full member.” The boys cheered as soon as she finished.
“Congratulations, sir,” Burrows said, stepping forward to untie their fingers. “You are now a true Barkeley.”
Rae shuddered at the thought.
After the basement lights had been turned on, Burrows shepherded the boys back to bed. Rae blew out the candles and began to gather them up. She tried to ignore Jed as he watched her.
“You lied to Michael, you know,” he finally said, breaking the silence.
She had appeased her nephew’s feelings by telling him she’d only wanted to add a little spice to the voting with her objection.
“I know.”
“It’s only a children’s club, Rae.”
She turned around to face him. “I used to think so, Jed. Just a little bit of scary secret fun in Uncle Merry’s basement. It wasn’t until I had to give you the oath that I realized I’ve never drifted far from the words. It bothered me somehow to let someone into our group who was never going to take the oath to heart. They’re not bad words to live by.”
He gazed at her for a moment, then held out his hand. “Come upstairs. I have something to show you.”
The sincerity in his eyes made her come forward and take his hand. They walked through the basement and up the stairs in silence. The house was quiet, with only the foyer light on to guide their way.
Jed led her into the drawing room and switched on a lamp by the sofa.
“I’ve already seen the sofa,” she said in a lame attempt at a joke.
“Sit down, Rae.”
All too aware that she was alone with him, she sat on the edge at one end and toyed nervously with her robe.
He sat down next to her and picked up a pile of papers from the table. “These are the company reports of the various properties we looked at before we decided on the estate. I asked for them to see if we missed anything anywhere that would make one of them more attractive to the company as a site for the Condos. Instead I found something else. Do you know what Merriman’s selling price was?”
She nodded.
“A little low, don’t you think?”
“It seemed so to me,” she said cautiously. “But real estate is cheaper here in Jersey.”
“That’s true.” He flipped through several pages, then pointed to a line. “This is an old Port Authority warehouse down in Gloucester. We didn’t go for it because of the refineries across the river. Not exactly a great view for luxury condos. Look at the price.”
She bent over and carefully read the computer line detailing the size, location and price of the property. It wasn’t very much less than the price of the estate, but it seemed to her quite a lot for an old warehouse. “It’s overpriced, isn’t it?”
“It’s reasonable for a commercial property. Rezoning would have been another problem.” He flipped the pages again. “This one is an abandoned restaurant with available acreage right on the Delaware Bay in the Villas.”
She read the line and looked up at him. “It’s nearly the same as Uncle Merry’s, but that’s commercial, too, right?”
“Residential properties can go for more down there. It’s a summer resort town. Rezoning it wouldn’t have been a problem, like the warehouse.” He grinned at her. “Unfortunately, horseshoe crabs commit suicide by the hundreds on the bay’s beaches, and the tide isn’t strong enough to take them out to sea. Not all the towns along the bay bother with the expense of removing them, and the smell can be … unpleasant on a hot day.”
“Ah.”
He showed her several more properties, residential and commercial, and she began to see a pattern. Though the properties were priced lower, each had some undesirable element to them. “I understand now. Even though the estate is higher in price, it’s still the best suited for your marina complex.”
“No, that’s not it. Not quite. The point is that these are all developed properties, though not kept up, and their market price is not much less than what Merriman agreed to sell for. Haven’t you noticed all the housing construction that’s been going on in south Jersey? It’s true property in Jersey is still cheaper than in the surrounding areas, but when you’re talking about a marina complex on the Delaware River, you’re talking about a limited amount of viable property still left to build on. This place is akin to a czar’s summer palace, and yet Merriman was ready to sell it for a fraction more than the others.”
“He really must have wanted to get out,” she said in a low voice.
“Did he? Remember, he’d never put it on the market. I came looking to buy, which was to his advantage.”
“Now I don’t understand.”
He made a face. “I was hoping you wouldn’t say that, Rae, because I don’t understand it either.”
She remembered what had originally caused him to show her the reports. “What does all this have to do with the club?”
He chuckled. “I’ve always liked to think that my parents took over for Santa and the Easter Bunny, rather than admit they didn’t exist, and I always eat my peas. I’ve done things in my life that I haven’t been proud of, but the deal for the estate isn’t one of them, Rae. Merriman was very willing to sell, and it didn’t take much to reach a price.”
She leaned back against the cushions and closed her eyes. She believed him. It wasn’t that she hadn’t before, but she’d been able to place him in a villainous role. Now, though, she could see just how big a part her uncle had played by making the deal too good to pass up. He must have known what he was doing too. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he’d actually been trying to dump the estate on Atlantic Developers.
She felt Jed settle back on the couch next to her. Turning her head slightly toward him, she opened her eyes. It always surprised her in some way that he wasn’t the young boy she remembered so well. Maybe it was the mustache, she thought.
He gently traced her cheek with his forefinger. “I’m not a knight in shining armor, but I’m trying to keep you safe, Rae.”
“I think,” she said slowly, “that I believe you, Jedidiah Waters.”
Jed smiled. “It’s a start.”
Eight
The words swirled enticingly through Rae’s mind. Maybe it was a start for both of them … an understanding. A heady warmth flooded her veins at the
thought, and she smiled at him.
Jed muttered a soft curse, and lowered his head. His lips touched hers softly, almost hesitantly. They lifted, then dropped back again for another teasing caress, and another, and another, before his mouth settled upon hers and moved slowly. Her spine tingled. She knew she shouldn’t allow him to kiss her. Jed’s kisses were dangerous. And tempting. She savored the way their lips merged as if made for each other. His fingers curved around her jaw in a gentle grip, even as their tongues entwined in a languorous mating. She told herself she shouldn’t be doing this. She really shouldn’t. Things were complicated enough between them.
But it was just one little kiss. Just one, she silently promised herself. Just one.
She slid her palms up his chest to encircle his shoulders, her fingers finding the iron-hard muscles underneath his robe. His arm tightened around her, bringing with it a long-sought feeling of warmth and protection. Suddenly, he pulled her hard against him, and the kiss exploded in a white flame of desire. She groaned in the back of her throat, as the last of her resistance crumbled against the onslaught of his tender demands. Dimly, she realized that something inside her had been waiting—waiting for Jed, and now that something had surfaced, dragging her helplessly into the kiss. To push him away would be to push away an integral part of herself.
Her mouth twisted and turned in perfect response to his, and all the while she hungrily wanted more. Her fingers delighted in the feel of his hair, the strong column of his neck, the tensile strength of his back. His hands gently cradled her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples into aching points through the robe. There was a roaring in her ears, and she clung to him, the torment inside her beyond anything she’d ever known before.
Jed felt as if he were back in his dream. No other woman had held the honeyed fire she possessed. It was what he had been searching for in the cold mists of the park. It was what he held in his arms now. The overwhelming want and need pounding through his body demanded the satisfaction of reality. Desperately, he buried his mouth in the hollow of her neck, tasting the satin flesh he’d always longed for. The unique scent that was Rachael Barkeley filled his senses. He’d waited a lifetime to claim her, he thought. He knew that now, and she would know it too.
He eased her back on the sofa, his body pressing hers deep into the cushions. He slid lower, his lips exploring every inch of her through the soft wool. Her nipples were diamond hard, and he suckled them. Her belly quivered under his mouth, and her thighs shifted restlessly, tantalizing him with her need. He resisted her hands as they clutched at him, trying to draw him back to her. Kneeling at her feet, he stroked her slender ankles, marveling at the fragile bones. He glanced up at her face. Passion flushed her cheeks, and her lips parted slightly as a low moan escaped her.
“Jed, please,” she murmured in a husky voice.
“I want to know all of you,” he whispered, his voice raspy.
Slowly, he slid the white robe up her body, exposing the slim calves, the lush thighs. He sucked in his breath at the sight of her white silk bikini panties, which barely veiled her shadowed femininity. The smooth curving line of her hips blended into a small waist, and his hands devoured the silken skin of her ribcage as he pushed the robe higher. Finally, he exposed her full, upthrust breasts and the coral-tipped nipples that were beckoning to him. The glory of her pulsed within his already rock-hard body, and his last remnant of control broke. Heat scalding his cheekbones, he fumbled as he tried to get the robe off her. Gentle hands helped him finish the task. He skinned off the panties, then yanked his own robe over his head. His briefs swiftly followed.
He lowered himself between her parted legs, the shock of his hot flesh meeting hers shuddering through him. He nuzzled first one breast, then the other, swirling his tongue around the velvet pebbles. She twisted feverishly under him, and he gently draped her leg over the top of the sofa to make a place for himself in the cradle of her thighs. He groaned as he sank into her moist depths, as he felt a pleasure so intense he was engulfed by it.
Rae cried out at the twin sensations of fire and ice rampaging through her. She knew only Jed could create this, and only he could quench it. Unconsciously, she clawed at his back, and he began to move inside her. She met each thrust with a fervent one of her own. She was aware of nothing but his hungry mouth on hers, his chest hard against her breasts, their hips stroking deeper and deeper in an ageless rhythm. Her body burned, and her flesh shivered, as raging red and icy blue sensations spiraled outward, mindlessly tossing her in their maelstrom. Jed’s strong fingers gripped her thighs, and he chanted her name as he thrust into her one last time. Under her hands, his body shuddered almost violently. The fire and ice suddenly rushed together, breaking over her in wave after wave of ecstasy. It flooded her mind, coursed through her heart, and found the eddies of her soul. Then it pulled her under, tenderly enfolding her in its loving currents.
Rae became aware of her surroundings at the same moment she became aware of a chuckle rumbling in Jed’s chest.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, feeling as if her body were floating.
“I was just thinking,” he said, “that it was a good thing I knew you before only as a little girl. If you had been a few years older, you would have wreaked havoc with my adolescence. Lord, you’re a dangerous woman.”
She smiled into the warm skin of his shoulder. They lay together for a long moment in contented silence. Finally, she asked, “Jed?”
Her voice sounded unsure, and he knew that he had to dispel the doubts that were beginning to resurface. He raised his head and gazed down at her. She was so beautiful, he thought, and so vulnerable. Smiling, he smoothed her hair back and said, “I would never hurt you, sweetheart. Never. I promise.”
She buried her face in his shoulder and nodded.
He would keep that promise, he vowed, as he held her in a tight embrace. She may not realize how much trust she had placed in him tonight, but he was well aware of it. He sensed that she had never allowed another man inside her barriers as she had him. To hurt her would be to hurt himself. It was awfully soon to make love, but they had both surrendered to a need that had been too strong to fight. He admitted that it was the best damn thing that had ever happened to him. He had no regrets.
Cool air wafted across his back, and he realized that the room was rapidly growing colder—or rather he was just beginning to notice it now.
“It’s late, Rae, and you should be in a nice warm bed.” He grimaced in disgust, knowing he wouldn’t be joining her. The boys’ presence had brought them together. Now, it would keep them apart.
Her arms tightened around his neck. “Not yet.”
Jed decided he’d be a fool to protest. Concerned that his weight might be too much for her, he shifted to his side, keeping her between himself and the back of the sofa. Lazily stroking the slope of her hip, he said, “Now don’t fall asleep, or else your nephews will get quite an anatomy lesson in the morning.”
“Then you’d better stop what you’re doing, because it feels too good,” she said, tracing his collarbone with a forefinger.
He closed his eyes at the tingling sensation. “And you’d better stop what you’re doing, otherwise I might do this.”
He let his hand drift lower, his fingers spreading across her luscious derriere.
She leaned back and gazed up at him with knowing green-gray eyes. “Don’t make any promises you can’t keep, Jed.”
He sensed that her teasing was an attempt to lighten her mood, and he was all for it. Pretense sometimes became reality—with a little help. He lightly kissed her nose. “Don’t tempt me to try it. You’d be asleep halfway through the proceedings.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but a yawn emerged instead. Covering her mouth with one hand, she sheepishly lowered her eyes.
“The prophet has spoken, my dear,” he said, chuckling. “Time for bed. Besides, my tush is freezing.”
She giggled again, and he rolled over to pick up the robes from the fl
oor. Her white bikini underwear wasn’t in the pile. Frowning, Jed leaned further over the edge of the sofa to check underneath its skirt. He leaned too far. Losing his balance, he slid right off the sofa and landed with a thump on the carpet. Surprised, he sat there for a moment. A short time ago, the couch hadn’t seemed nearly so small.
Rae stretched toward the edge of the cushions and rested her chin in her fist. “Is your tush warmer now?”
He wondered if she knew what a beautiful picture she made, with her dark hair falling forward to frame her face, and her body gleaming like ivory in the glow of the lamp. He grinned at the mirth filling her eyes. “It’s getting hotter by the minute.”
“Probably just a rug burn, Jed. Nothing to get excited about.”
Her full curving lips were inches from his, and unable to resist, he kissed them … slowly … leisurely. When he finally lifted his head, she gave a satisfied sigh.
“Now that’s a rug burn, Jed.”
“I know.”
It was some time later that they reluctantly dressed and left the room. It was with even more reluctance that Rae watched him turn away from her bedroom door and continue down the hallway to the trophy room. He hesitated, his hand on the doorknob. In the darkened hallway, she sensed more than saw him give her one last look. Then he opened the door and slipped inside.
Once settled in her own bed, she found her body satiated and her mind restless with thoughts. She acknowledged she had created her own trap and had walked into it with her eyes wide open. Everything she’d done to keep her resistance up had had the opposite effect. She had been totally caught up in a sensual moment.…
Liar, she told herself in a sudden burst of honesty. She had allowed their lovemaking to happen—had wanted it to happen. In a lousy attempt at absolution, she had tried to convince herself she’d been “caught up” in something she never could have resisted. She had known what she was doing. From the beginning, her control had been almost nonexistent with Jed. Yet she’d gone right ahead and kidnapped him, allowed him to stay, and brought in her nephews who, instead of keeping them apart, had in a roundabout way actually thrown them together. If only there hadn’t been a meeting of the Barkeley Club. If only Jed hadn’t wanted to show her what he’d discovered in the reports. If only.