TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY

by Sandra Brown

  "Taylor, I'm sorry." Lisa reached for his arm as he brushed past her. "I thought we had an understanding."

  "We did. The understanding was that there was no understanding."

  She gazed up at him through her lashes. "I didn't realize how much you meant to me until I lost you. I've missed you."

  "Have you?"

  She set her drink down and pressed herself against him, looping her arms around his neck. He felt her pert, braless breasts against his chest. "Very much. And I know you've missed me."

  "How do you know that?"

  Her smile was as smug as a reader who guessed who done it after skimming only one chapter of an Agatha Christie. "What you and your wife do in bed couldn't be as good as what we did."

  "It's different," he said diplomatically.

  She cuddled him between her slightly parted thighs and felt him grow hard behind the fly of his tuxedo trousers. "Keep your wife, Taylor," she whispered. "I had a husband and discovered that marriage wasn't for me. I like being unencumbered. But I also like you. A lot." She rubbed against him like a she-cat in heat. "We're both discreet. I see no reason why we can't continue as before. Before you got careless and knocked up Ria Lavender."

  His eyes turned cold as he said curtly, "Ria's not pregnant."

  Lisa smiled maliciously. "Not now. But she was. That's why you married her, isn't it? When did it happen, Christmas Eve, after the Grahams' party?" Her eyes narrowed. "I envision this scenario. You were angry with me for going on the ski trip without you. You met a reasonably attractive woman at the party. She had no scruples about a one-night stand. You went to bed together.

  "Ah, well, I forgive you, darling. You're a man. I know better than anyone how virile you are. Besides," she added mischievously, "I was snuggled up with a ski instructor at the time."

  She puckered her lips and made a tsking sound. "I walked away from that rowdy encounter unscathed. Isn't it a shame that you got caught? Poor baby, you did the honorable thing and married the girl. For nothing."

  Taylor had more common sense than to nibble at Lisa's bait. He would admit nothing. Nor would he argue points just to set the record straight. Oddly enough, her sordid capsulization was enlightening. Was that how Ria felt? Did she still feel like nothing more than a receptacle for his lust?

  Goda'mighty, until now, he'd never looked at this thing from her point of view. He needed to clarify things. Soon. He couldn't let her go on thinking that she had been, and still was, nothing but a convenient roll in the hay.

  But first he had to deal with Lisa. He feigned boredom. "You don't know what you're talking about, Lisa."

  She tossed her head back and laughed. "Oh, but I do. Delia Starr likes to drink, Taylor. Remember that the next time you grant her an interview. After a few Scotches, her tongue unwinds like a spool of thread, and she tells all."

  "What do you intend to do with this information? Blackmail me? What's the price of keeping you quiet, sexual favors? Do I have to play stud for you to shut you up?"

  "I'd never stoop to anything so crass." She slipped her hands into his coat and tweaked his nipples through his shirt. "But people are interested in their new mayor and his bride. I might blurt out something in conversation that I didn't intend to."

  "You're a slut."

  She flinched, but recovered quickly and smiled lazily. "You're right. But I've got a lot of money. I move in the right social and political circles. You can't afford to make me unhappy." She stretched up and kissed him softly. "What's the problem, Taylor? I'm not asking that you give up your wife. I don't object to her as long as she doesn't interfere with us. A brunette wife and a blond mistress. What more could a man ask for?"

  She breathed the question against his lips, then came up on tiptoe and arched herself against him. He grabbed her around the waist to maintain his balance. Lisa's open mouth moved carnivorously over his; her tongue darted in and around his lips.

  It was a sudden intake of breath that caused Taylor to whip his head around. Ria was standing in the doorway. She was a glittering, dazzling sight in the sequin dress. Her glossy black hair shone just as brightly as the dress, and her eyes reflected the same light.

  But they were icy.

  Taylor pushed Lisa away. "Ria."

  "Good evening, Mrs. MacKensie," Lisa said, laughing.

  "Good evening," Ria replied coolly. She moved her gaze from the woman to her husband. "They told me downstairs I could find you here."

  "Ria, this isn't what it looks like."

  "Taylor, how trite," she said. "I hope you're more eloquent when you give your acceptance speech." Turning on her heel, she left the room. Taylor knocked Lisa aside on his lunging, headlong pursuit of his wife, who was halfway down the corridor by the time he caught up with her.

  "Ria, wait a minute."

  "We haven't got a minute. We're going to be late for the banquet."

  "You're staying?"

  "That was our agreement, wasn't it?" she asked tightly. "That I remain with you until you were officially sworn in? I'm going to sit beside you at the head table and smile and pretend that I didn't just catch you slobbering all over your whore."

  She angrily punched the elevator button. The doors opened immediately, and she stepped inside. He got in with her, but she didn't give him time to speak. "You're jumping the gun, aren't you? When you said we'd pursue our own interests, it was my understanding that you meant after tonight. Obviously I was wrong."

  "You refuse to listen to an explanation, don't you?" Taylor asked as they rode down.

  She smiled up at him sweetly. "Go straight to hell."

  "I didn't think so," he said out of the side of his mouth. The elevator doors were already opening, and as they alighted they were surrounded by a crowd of people wanting to shake hands with the couple of the hour.

  As soon as they were seated at the head table, the banquet commenced. Ria couldn't swallow a bite. She was nauseated. Her head was throbbing. Her eyes seemed determined to tear, though she willed them not to.

  She couldn't concentrate on anything. Her mind was focused on Taylor holding Lisa in his arms, kissing her. She wanted to scream and shout and throw something, but she behaved impeccably, just as the first lady of the city should.

  She considered excusing herself and giving sudden illness as the reason, but she was determined not to give Lisa the satisfaction of seeing her cowed. Nor would she let Taylor off that lightly. If sitting through this banquet, with its endless number of mediocre courses, was uncomfortable for her, it must have been pure hell for him. What a tight squeeze, to be wedged between one's wife and one's mistress at a dinner where one is on public display. Talk about a hot seat. Ria hoped he was frying.

  The dinner was finally over. Waiters cleared the tables. People in the audience turned their chairs away from their tables in order to face the dais, where the emcee was telling jokes as stale as Ria's smile.

  Following the emcee's warm-up, brief speeches were given by various dignitaries. All of them led up to the introduction of the distinguished new mayor, Taylor MacKensie.

  "And now," the emcee intoned, "I'm going to ask Taylor MacKensie and his beautiful wife, Ria, to join me at the podium for the swearing-in."

  Ria was stunned. She hadn't known she would be called upon to stand with him. Taylor placed his hand beneath her elbow and assisted her up. The audience applauded them as they made their way down the row of chairs next to the head table, toward the podium.

  Later she didn't know how she survived those next few minutes while Taylor took his oath of office. His voice was clear and distinct. She recalled hearing it filled with humor, with fury, with passion. It seemed to seep into her marrow like a powerful narcotic. It lulled her into believing that he was a man of integrity, a man who could be trusted. A man who could be faithful to his wife. But she knew better.

  After being sworn in, he smiled at the applauding audience, then turned his head and smiled down at Ria. Cupping her face, he bent his head and kissed her quickly. The
ovation swelled, making the crystal cylinders vibrate in the chandeliers overhead. When he released her, the emcee escorted her back to her chair and Taylor took over the microphone. His speech was eloquent and entertaining. His confident voice rang with enthusiasm and optimism, which were contagious. When he concluded, the audience as one came to its feet.

  Reluctantly Ria stood up with them to applaud her cheating husband.

  After that it was only a matter of surviving another round of picture-taking and hand-shaking before they could leave. They waited together in the garage for the valet to bring their cars around. Hers arrived first. She got in and drove off, leaving him impatiently waiting for his car.

  Ria was almost too upset to drive. She kept forgetting the most fundamental aspects of operating an automobile and negotiating traffic. She wanted to go to her house, but remembered that she didn't have the key with her. She'd have to go to Taylor's first. She left her car idling as she ran up the steps and unlocked the front door. A mad search through the house finally produced her other set of house keys. She was on her way back out the front door when Taylor materialized and blocked her path.

  "Get out of my way, Taylor."

  "No."

  "I don't want to listen to anything you have to say and I know you don't want to hear what I have to say, so please, let's make this as easy on each other as possible."

  "What is it that you know I don't want to hear?"

  She glared up at him. "What a despicable, two-faced, hypocritical bastard you are."

  "Why do you think so?"

  Stunned, she fell back a step. "Maybe in your rule book it's okay for a husband to go around kissing his former bed warmer, but it's against my beliefs."

  "I wasn't kissing Lisa."

  "Then that was one helluva realistic dream I was having." She tried to move him aside, but he wouldn't be budged. He turned the tables on her and bodily moved her out of the way so he could close the front door. She looked up at him mutinously. "You're being childish, Taylor. I'm not staying here with you a minute longer. Why don't you stop playing bully and just let me leave?"

  "Not until you know the facts."

  "I witnessed the facts," she shouted. "You were either kissing fervently or one of you was giving the other mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. And if that's the case, was it necessary for her to massage your heart as well?"

  The memory of Lisa's hands crawling over his chest inside his tuxedo jacket made her livid. "How could you? You were lucky that I was the one who walked in on you. My God, anybody could have seen the two of you together. Everything you've worked for would have been destroyed. Was that kiss worth it? What were you thinking of?"

  "You."

  She stared at him incredulously. His cruel teasing made her so angry that tears spurted from her eyes. "Damn you, don't play games with me. I don't deserve it."

  "You deserve to be turned over my knee and paddled for jumping to the wrong conclusion."

  "What? You were caught red-handed with your ex-lover. But then"—she snickered mirthlessly—"Lisa isn't your ex, is she? Has it been going on behind my naive back from the beginning? Or did you resume more recently? After the miscarriage, when I was out of commission?"

  A muscle in his jaw flexed. "You'd better stop before you say something ugly that you'll regret."

  "I won't regret any ugly thing I say to you. I can't even think of enough ugly things to say to you." She turned her back, wishing that the dress didn't dip so low. She felt exposed, vulnerable. "I was a fool to come to you in the first place. Then to let you talk me into staying!"

  She spun around. "That's it, isn't it? Having a wife gives you respectability. It keeps your critics at bay. The baby would have been an added bonus. You probably counted yourself lucky that day I came into your office and told you I was pregnant. You saw a way to have your cake and eat it, too, didn't you? I'm a screen, shielding you while you carry on your tawdry little affairs. Well, not any longer, Taylor. I stayed with you out of a sense of duty and obligation, but no more. I've had it with you. Finis. This charade is over as of now."

  Her breasts were heaving with agitation. Her green eyes were glittering like emeralds. At her sides, her hands were balled into fists. Every hair on her head was bristling with righteous indignation. She was quivering, as taut as a piano wire.

  Rightly, he should have tucked in his tail and skulked off to nurse the wounds her tongue-lashing had inflicted. Instead he calmly asked, "Are you finished?"

  "I just said as much."

  "I meant with your temper tantrum, not our relationship."

  "The answer to both is yes."

  "Good. Now, shut up and listen to me." He pointed a finger at her. "About half of what you said is tripe." She opened her mouth to protest, but his eyes shot her a clear warning to keep quiet. "All that about your staying here out of a sense of duty and my wanting you to stay to cover my ass, that's crap. You stayed because you wanted to. I asked you to stay because I wanted you to. So let's not deceive ourselves into thinking that either one of us had an altruistic motive."

  "All right, so we're both at fault for this bizarre marriage. But at least I was faithful to it."

  "So was I!"

  "I didn't go out and have a fling."

  "Neither did I. Tonight was the first time I've even had a private conversation with Lisa since well before Christmas."

  "Well, you certainly made up for lost time." Ria turned her back on him again.

  This time he came up behind her, grabbed her arm, and spun her around. "I didn't even kiss her," he said through clenched teeth. "She kissed me."

  "What's the difference?"

  "A helluva lot."

  "Your arms were around her."

  "She knocked me off-balance about half a second before you walked in."

  "Do you expect me to believe that?"

  "It's the truth."

  "And I suppose you have a perfectly good explanation for why her hands were inside your coat."

  "Yes. She was fondling me. But I didn't have my hands inside her dress, fondling her."

  "Yet."

  He swore viciously. "She stayed behind after everybody had left. She came on to me, Ria, not the other way around."

  "Good thing I didn't catch you in bed together. You would have tried to convince me that she was raping you."

  "Augh," he growled, raising his fists toward the ceiling.

  "If you're so innocent, why did you stay in there with her?" Ria asked. "Why didn't you just walk out?"

  "Because of what she was saying."

  "Dirty talk? I never knew you were into that."

  The scathing look he gave her should have reduced her to a puddle of ectoplasm. "Apparently she got Delia Starr drunk. Lisa knew about our baby and the miscarriage."

  He quoted his and Lisa's conversation word for word. Ria crossed her arms over her middle. It seemed profane for Lisa to know about the child she'd lost.

  "So you heard her out to save your skin."

  "And yours."

  Ria laughed. "I guess you got aroused just to be convincing."

  His face went blank with guilt. "How do you know I was aroused?"

  "I can see, Taylor," she said, pointing to her eyes. "When you turned around, you were definitely…" She faltered, then gathered steam and shouted at him, "Aroused!"

  He took two menacing steps, grabbed her hand, and plunged it down past his waist. "Yes, I was hard."

  "Stop it."

  "I still am. And do you know why?"

  "I don't—"

  "Not because of Lisa. Because of you. You. She was talking about you, my brunette wife. She said that what we did in bed must be good." He wouldn't release her hand, but kept it pressed against his lower body. "After she said that, it was all I could think about, us in bed."

  "I don't believe you."

  He knotted the fingers of his free hand in her hair and pulled her head back. His breath struck her face in hot, rapid pants. "Yes, you do. I've been hot for you sin
ce the first time I laid eyes on you. That toothpick of yours poleaxed me on Christmas Eve. I've never known desire that potent. It's still there, Ria, stronger than ever, and you damned well know it.

  "In my own house I've been unable to eat or sleep or do anything else for wanting you, and trying to hide it so you wouldn't get scared off. I've tossed and turned on that blasted sleeper sofa, thinking about you in my bed, wanting to be in it with you. Beside you. Inside you. Wanting to be so deep inside you that I thought I'd go nuts if I couldn't be."

  He kissed her hard and angrily, working her lips open with his. "You know I've been faithful to this marriage, Ria. Damn you, you know I have. Now, kiss me."

  Anger, it seemed, had always been an aphrodisiac for them. It was frequently the spark that ignited their short fuses. Ria became pliant against him. Her neck relaxed and her head fell back, making it easy for his tongue to penetrate her lips and stroke her mouth.

  She clutched the black satin lapels of his jacket, thrusting her breasts high against his chest. He bent his head and kissed her throat, working his mouth down into the deep V of her bodice.

  "I want you. Oh, Lord, how I want you."

  "Today … the reason I was late … I had a doctor's appointment." Taylor's head snapped up. His eyes shone like twin blue flames. "Take me to bed," Ria said huskily.

  He didn't waste a second, but carried her through the darkened house into the bedroom. One small beam of light shone down from the ceiling onto the bed, making it an oasis of sensuality in the surrounding dark.

  They undressed each other. Long kisses detained them, but they eventually faced each other naked. His hands moved over her, lightly, deftly. She leaned forward and took a love bite out of the meaty part of his chest and moved her hand caressingly down his middle.

  They didn't bother with folding down the bedclothes. They lay directly on top of the mink. When he parted her thighs and caressed her, she was already moist, but he kept dipping his fingers inside her until she was slippery and almost incoherent with need.

  He entered her with one smooth stroke and lay motionless for a long while, relishing the way her body tightly enveloped his.

  "Am I hurting you?"