by Diana Palmer
IT WAS THE sort of wedding Karina had dreamed of having. The altar in the living room was decorated with white roses and lilies, and all the cowboys and most of Micah’s business associates came down for the wedding.
Burt led Karina down the aisle to the strains of the “Wedding March,” played by a small band hired for the occasion. Karina said her vows with tears in her eyes behind the lacy veil that obscured her from Micah’s eyes. If only her parents could have been there, to see this. But she felt that they knew, somehow, that she’d landed well in life.
Gerda was the matron of honor and Janey was the maid of honor, beaming as she watched from the sidelines. She was wiping away tears as well, when Micah spoke his vows and bent to lift the veil and kiss his new wife.
Karina thought that she’d never known such happiness in her life. Not even winning the gold medal at the Olympics was so poignant.
Paul and Gerda hugged them both. The twins were headed to the kitchen with Janey, where Burt was just putting finger foods on trays to be carried out to the tables where the wedding cake waited to be cut.
A photographer hired for the occasion took snapshots of them feeding each other cake. He did candid shots of the guests as well.
“The jet’s flying in this afternoon at three,” Micah told her. “We’re headed for the Bahamas. Janey’s going back with Paul and Gerda and the boys.”
“What about Burt?” she asked.
“He gets several days of full control of the television set and no people to complicate his life,” he told her. “He’s ecstatic.”
She grinned. “I don’t know what we’d do without him.”
“Neither do I.”
“Do you dance, Mrs. Torrance?” he asked, using her married name for the first time as the band tuned up in the rec room, which had been cleared as a dance floor.
“Not very well,” she confessed. “I mean, I can do ballet, but it’s not the same thing.”
“I’ll teach you,” he whispered softly, and his eyes were saying that he had in mind teaching her more than just dancing.
She flushed prettily. “Okay,” she said.
He chuckled as he led her onto the dance floor.
* * *
TIME FLEW. THEY were on the jet and headed for Nassau so quickly that the whole wedding seemed like a dream.
“Happy?” Micah asked.
“So happy,” she replied.
They were both wearing casual clothes, comfortable for the trip. They hadn’t packed much because, as he remarked, they could buy anything they needed once they were at the hotel.
“Where are we staying?” she asked.
“The British Colonial Hilton,” he replied. “It’s right on the beach. You can watch little tugboats turn the big cruise ships as they head out of the harbor to the open sea,” he chuckled.
“It’s right downtown?”
“Yes, on the site of old Fort Nassau.”
“History!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, and there might even be ghosts!”
“You’ll have to protect me from them,” she said with twinkling eyes.
“Honey, I’ll protect you from the whole world,” he said softly. “I’m the luckiest man alive right now.”
“I’m definitely the luckiest woman.”
They held hands almost the whole way.
* * *
IT WAS MADDENING to get checked in. Apparently half the world had decided to check in at the same time. But eventually they were taken up to their room, overlooking the bay.
“What a view!” she exclaimed at the window.
He tipped the bellboy and closed and locked the door behind him. “The view inside is even better,” he mused.
She turned as he pulled her into his arms.
“I don’t know very much,” she blurted out. “Is it all right?”
He framed her face in his big warm hands. “Yes, it’s all right. And I’ll treat you like fragile porcelain. I promise. Don’t be afraid.”
“Will it hurt?” she asked, a little apprehensively.
“Even if it does, you won’t mind.”
She cocked her head, not understanding.
He just smiled as he bent to her mouth. “You’ll see...”
* * *
SHE HADN’T DREAMED that her body was so capable of pleasure. His hands were slow and tender as they worked on her nudity, learning her, exploring her, in a heated passion without words.
She arched up to his mouth, shivering as he took her from one plateau to the next, learning all the ways that love was expressed with kisses and caresses and building hunger.
She felt his lips on the soft inside of her thighs and was astounded by the sensations they provoked. She moaned and began to shiver with increasing hunger. He laughed softly, deep in his throat, at her exquisite responses. It had never been like this with a woman. To her, it was all new and exciting and mysterious. Even his first wife had been experienced; Lindy had lived with several men before Micah became engaged to her. But Karina was innocent. It excited him beyond bearing to know that.
His mouth slid up her soft thigh to her belly and pressed there, hard. He thought of babies. He’d loved Janey so much when she was born. He couldn’t help wanting another child, several more children.
He nuzzled her firm, hard-tipped breast and his hands slid under her hips as he moved slowly down against her.
He touched her in a way he never had before. She jerked a little, but she didn’t resist. Yes, she was ready. More than ready. It shouldn’t be too difficult.
Her nails bit into his upper arms. He felt her stiffen.
“It’s all right,” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.”
As he spoke, his hips moved, very gently. He felt the ease of his passage, despite the tightness that he’d anticipated. His breath sighed out at her lips as he felt her body resist for just a few seconds before it relaxed and allowed him to penetrate it.
“God!” he exclaimed, shuddering at the poignancy of the moment. He lifted his head and looked into her wide, shocked eyes. He was fighting to breathe. His heartbeat was shaking him. But he held back the avalanche of need, giving her time to adjust to him, to her first intimacy. “Okay?” he whispered huskily.
Her nails stopped biting into him. She swallowed. “O...okay,” she whispered, dry mouthed.
His nose nuzzled hers. “First times are hard. It gets easier.”
“It does? Oh!” She gasped and shivered when he moved suddenly, spreading her thighs even more as he shifted up against her and went deeper into the sweet, dark heart of her.
“Better?” he whispered, smiling tenderly.
“Yes...yes...better!” she panted. Her eyes widened as the sensations began to build on each other, until she was climbing and climbing and climbing, so high that the fall would surely kill her!
He framed her face in his hands as he moved, his body fencing with hers in a rhythm that very quickly sent her right off the edge of the world.
She cried out helplessly, a sweet, keening cry of ecstasy that made him wild with pride. Her first time, and he could feel her climaxing under him. “Micah!” she sobbed as he moved deeper, faster. She couldn’t bear it. What she’d thought was fulfillment was only a step up a long path to unbelievable delight. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she arched and shuddered rhythmically, sobbing as she felt a kind of pleasure she’d never dreamed could exist.
He gave in to his own need as he satisfied hers. His hands dug into the mattress at either side of her head as he went into her roughly, quickly, bringing the pleasure crashing down on him like a wall. He groaned out loud and whispered her name, over and over again, as he endured the most delicious ecstasy he’d ever known in his life.
They lay together in the aftermath, drenched with sweat, shivering together.
“Oh, gosh,” she whispered, shaken.
His mouth moved lazily up her chin to cover her soft, swollen lips. “Well?” he murmured dryly.
“Well, what?”
“Did it hurt?” he asked amusedly.
He lifted his head and looked down into her wide, fascinated eyes.
She drew in a long shivery breath. Her whole body felt as if it had exploded and then suddenly relaxed into lethargy. “No,” she whispered. “Oh, no, it didn’t hurt!”
He grinned. He kissed her tenderly. “I forgot to ask.”
She linked her arms around his neck. “What did you forget?” she murmured, smiling against his warm mouth.
“To ask if you wanted me to use something.”
She cocked her head and searched his dark eyes. “We talked about that before. I’d love to have children with you.”
He sighed. “Me, too.” He smoothed his hands under her relaxed body, feeling the delicious softness of her skin. “I wasn’t sure you’d want them this soon.”
“We’ve already agreed that pregnant women can go to college,” she teased.
“Well, yes.”
“And that I can do distance education for my master’s work,” she added.
He ran his fingers through her damp hair. “I wouldn’t have asked you to give up skating,” he said solemnly.
“I know that. But I don’t want to be away from you and Janey most of the year,” she replied. “And when the first baby comes, I want to be home all the time.”
He smiled. “We both will,” he promised. “I’ll make sure I put good people in key positions, so that I can delegate authority when I need to. No more letting the business run my life. I’ll run the business instead.”
She smiled back. “Why did you draw back after we came home from San Jose?” she asked curiously.
He traced her eyebrows. He looked very somber. “You have a rare talent,” he began. “I didn’t want you to be distracted while you were spreading your wings on the ice, seeing what you and Paul could do.” He grimaced. “Too, I wasn’t sure you could give it all up to live on a ranch and have babies. It isn’t a glamorous life I’m offering you.”
“I’ve had glamour,” she replied. “And fame. And fortune. Know what?” she added. “They’re very lonely. Paul had Gerda, always cheering him on, looking after him, comforting him. I had nobody.”
“And now you have a ready-made family,” he said.
She laughed. “I love my ready-made family,” she assured him. “All of it. Even Dietrich. I can’t think of anything that will make me happier than just being with you for the rest of my life.”
“I can second that.” He brushed his mouth over hers and his hips shifted.
She caught her breath. He was capable again. Something stirred in her, a new hunger, a new need.
He raised both eyebrows.
She laughed softly and arched her hips.
He laughed, too, as his mouth covered hers once more.
* * *
THEY ARRIVED BACK at the ranch, tired and content, the day before Karina’s next class in Jackson.
Janey hugged her and hugged her, aglow with all the presents Karina had brought for her. There were colorful skirts and blouses and sashes, with lace and embroidery. There were coin purses and a big woven bag with a hat that matched in shades of purple. There were sea shells and T-shirts and even a pearl necklace.
“I’m rich!” Janey exclaimed, going from present to present like a bee searching for pollen. “Thank you, Karina!”
Karina hugged her warmly. “You’re very welcome. I’d have brought you skating stuff, but it’s rather the wrong climate for it in Nassau,” she teased.
“Oh, I’m happy with what I’ve got! This hat is so cool!” She tried it on and grinned up at Karina and her dad.
“It suits you,” Micah told her warmly.
“Welcome home!” Burt called as he came in the back door. “Everybody hungry?”
“We had peanuts on the plane,” Micah sighed.
“He had four bags of them,” Karina added, indicating Micah.
“They wouldn’t have filled up a hollow tooth,” Micah sighed. “We need to do something about food service on the company jet.”
“Take it up with the board of directors next meeting,” Burt suggested. “I’ve got a whip and a chair around here somewhere...”
Micah chuckled. “Next time, we’ll pack in some sandwiches,” he said, compromising.
“I’ll rustle up some grub,” Burt said. “How was Nassau?”
“Fascinating,” Karina replied. “I loved every minute we spent there. We saw forts and one night, he took me to the casino on Paradise Island. I lost five dollars,” she added on a sigh. “I guess I’m not cut out to be a gambler.”
“Good thing,” Burt replied. He hesitated. “I, uh, have a confession to make,” he said worriedly.
Micah’s eyebrows rose. “What sort?”
Janey grinned. “Tell them!”
“Well, you know that really great photo we got of Paul and Karina on the podium, accepting their gold medals at the Olympics?”
“Yes,” Micah replied. “We used the telephoto lens on that new camera Janey talked me into.”
“Well, I sort of sent a copy of it to someone.”
Karina and Micah both looked at him while Janey laughed.
“I thought Lindy should know that somebody besides her could win a medal.” His wicked smile was contagious.
They burst out laughing.
“What did she say?” Karina asked.
“I don’t know. She blocked my number,” Burt chuckled.
“Well, that made my day,” Karina confessed.
“Mine, too,” Janey said.
Micah shook his head. “All those pointed comments about how neither of you would ever be able to skate in a competition.” He smiled at Karina and Janey. “I learned something from the experience as well.”
“What?” Karina asked softly.
He leaned toward her. “That crow tastes terrible,” he said in a stage whisper.
She laughed along with the others and hugged him warmly.
“I have to study when we get through with supper,” Karina said as she pulled back. She grimaced. “I’ve got a class first thing in the morning.”
“I’ll have the jet take you to Jackson and bring you home,” Micah said with a smile.
“Don’t you have to be at some meeting in Denver?” she asked suddenly.
He waved a hand. “They can have a meeting without me for once. I’m going to Jackson with you.”
“You are?” she asked, and her face brightened.
He chuckled. “I don’t want to let you out of my sight. Not just yet.”
“In that case, I won’t mind going.”
“Can’t I come, too?” Janey asked plaintively.
He pursed his lips and looked at Karina. “What do you think?”
“I think she can come, too,” Karina laughed. “You can take her to the rink while I have my class, and then we can have lunch somewhere.”
“Do you like sushi?” Micah asked.
“I love it!” she exclaimed. “We had it in Kyoto, when we went there a few years ago.”
“It’s one of my favorites, too,” Micah said. “I had grilled eel in Osaka.”
“So did I,” she laughed. “It was delicious, wasn’t it?”
“We are not eating raw fish in this house,” Burt announced with mock hauteur.
“Well, you won’t,” Micah agreed.
“Good enough,” Burt added as he finished making sandwiches. “I catch fish with my bait. I don’t eat it.”
“Spoilsport,” Micah chuckled. “And what’s the difference between raw fish and raw steak?”
“I like raw ste
ak. That’s the difference,” Burt chuckled.
Karina sat down with the others at the table and smiled while Micah said grace before they dug into their sandwiches. She was part of a family. She only wished her parents could see her now.
Fame and fortune were lovely goals, but they were lonely goals. No amount of them was enough to compare with a loving family and the comfort of a home, a real home.
She smiled and picked up her sandwich. The future looked very bright indeed.
* * *
SHE FINISHED COLLEGE, got her Bachelor of Arts degree and enrolled in distance education to begin her master’s work.
That was just before she started losing her breakfast. Micah found her in the bathroom, assuming the position in front of the toilet, and he let out a whoop that brought the other occupants of the house running.
“What is it?” Janey asked worriedly. “Karina, are you okay?”
“I’ll say, she’s okay,” Micah chuckled, wetting a washcloth for her. “She’s pregnant!”
“We don’t know that...yet...” She had to pause for another round of nausea.
“You’re never sick,” he pointed out, handing her the cloth.
“A baby,” Janey exclaimed. “Wow! I’ll have a brother or a sister! I won’t be an only child anymore!”
Micah hugged her warmly. “Whichever it is, you’ll be Big Sister,” he told her. He smiled affectionately. “Love is better when you spread it around.”
“Yes, it is,” Karina laughed weakly. She struggled to her feet, with Micah’s help.
“Can I get you something to settle your stomach?” Burt asked worriedly.
“Some ginger ale, if we have any.”
She stopped and only then noticed that there were three other people in the bathroom besides herself. “This looks very strange,” she pointed out as she went to wash her face.
“No, it doesn’t,” Micah said with a grin. “It’s a big bathroom.”
She laughed. “Okay. I’ll give you that.”
She rinsed out her mouth. Micah swung her up in his arms. “Bed for you,” he said softly.
“I’m not an invalid,” she protested.
He kissed her nose. “Shut up. You’re an invalid until your stomach settles down. Deal?”
She managed a wan smile. “Deal.” She snuggled close as he walked down the hall and placed her gently on their big king-sized bed.