by Ann Cristy
“Do you mean it?” His voice had the roughness of velvet rubbed the wrong way. The bones in his face seemed to crack, spread, and mend in different places as he struggled with the words she had spoken to him. “Cady, my God, you do choose your times!” His voice seemed forced from his throat. “What do you think my father would say if I picked you up in my arms and ran out the door with you?” He was trying to be flip, but Cady could see the blue flame leaping in his eyes as he watched her. He began dancing with her again, his body bent over her in a protective bow.
When the tempo changed to a rock and roll beat, Emmett was not the only one who frowned. Rafe’s face creased with concern as Cady swung away from him, her body gyrating in delighted concert with the music.
“What’s the matter, big brother?” Gareth jibed, dancing close to them, a curvy brunette dancing opposite him. “If you can’t hack it, I’ll dance with Cady.”
“The hell you will,” Rafe said, smiling at his brother and at once moving with his wife to the music. “Are you sure it’s all right, love?” His eyes couldn’t seem to stop roving over her body.
Cady felt alive, light as air, and as beautiful as Cinderella because Rafe was looking at her like that. If only he would just tell her he loved her, life would be absolutely perfect.
The day after Christmas they flew to Santo Tomas Island. Rafe left firm instructions that he was not to be disturbed unless it was a state of national emergency.
Cady stared at her slightly rounded belly protruding over the bikini bottom and poked her tongue at the mirror image. Rafe came into the room in the briefest silky trunks. “My God, woman, you drive me wild with desire.” Cady stared at him, open-mouthed, thinking he was mocking her, when she became aware of the arousal he took no pains to hide.
He grinned at her. “What’s it going to be like when I’m ninety and I have to explain to our great-grandchildren how their great-grandmother still arouses me? Aren’t you ashamed to have such power over me?”
“No.” She opened her arms to him as he lifted her. and carried her out to the beach. “You’re always carrying me,” she muttered into his ear. “Are you positive it’s safe?”
“Yes. I can’t seem to keep my hands off you.” Rafe gave her a rueful grin as he set her on the blanket he had spread out on the white sand. His eyes held a wicked gleam. “What say we swim nude, lady?”
Cady looked around her at the empty beach and water. “We can’t. Can we?”
“Sure we can. There’s no one around, wife of mine.”
“You won’t think I’m awful to look at?” she ventured.
Rafe’s mouth dropped open. “Awful to look at? Lord, Cady, you’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.” He put his lips to her belly. “And I love this best of all. Swim with me, Cady.”
Cady couldn’t take her eyes off her naked husband as he led her into the water. The freedom of swimming in the ocean without clothes and with Rafe was such an exhilarating experience that she shouted out loud as he swam under her and surfaced next to her. They frolicked like children.
When Rafe carried her out of the water, he didn’t stop at the blanket but kept going right into the house, then to the bedroom. “You’ve had too much sun,” he mumbled into her neck as he followed her down onto the bed. “Besides, I have something to tell you.” He leaned on his elbows over her body. “I never would have said anything if you hadn’t said you loved me, Cady. You know you told me that when we first married, and it made me so happy. But I was afraid to accept that you really did. After all, you were only eighteen when I married you.” He held her face between his two hands. “I loved you so much before I left your bedroom, that first day we met, and I kept loving you more and more after we were married. After a few years I had the feeling that you were growing tired of me.”
“Bruno kept telling me stories about you… and Durra… and women.” Cady felt as though she were floating.
“I know that now. I didn’t then. I stayed away from you, hoping that you wouldn’t want to leave me if I gave you enough freedom. But I’ll tell you, Cady, I wanted you with me every second of every day. I love you so much that if I start now and tell you for a thousand years, I’ll still come up short.”
“Me, too.” Cady felt a tear roll down her cheek. He had said the words, reaffirming their lifelong commitment to each other.
“You’re all I have ever wanted, all I’ll ever want.” Rafe lay down at her side, cuddling her to him until the inevitable heat built between them. The gentle explosion rocked them both, awing them with its scope.
Six months later Rafe Nesbitt Densmore was born, thrilling Cady with his fluff of dark brown hair and his shoe-button blue eyes.
After the birth, Rafe pressed his face into her breast and whispered to her over and over again, “I love you, Cady. I love you.” The damp glitter of his eyes told her that nothing could tear them apart.
She had tread softly on Rafe’s dreams, and he had made all hers come true.