Destiny Bay Boxed Set vol. 2 (Books 4 - 6) (Destiny Bay Romances)

by Helen Conrad

The call came. She went to the blocks, lane five. On either side were girls not much more than half her age. But once she was there, she hardly noticed the whispers, the sidelong looks. She began to put her concentration entirely on the race.

  “On the blocks, please, ladies.”

  She mounted the platform, toes over the edge, arms loose at her sides, aches and pains forgotten, mind focused on only one thing—winning.

  “Swimmers, take your marks.”

  She tensed, and then the gun went off, and they were flying through the air, each of them determined to win.

  In a twenty-five-yard pool, a 1650 meant 66 laps. She took the first few almost in a glide, her stroke so smooth, so strong, she felt unbeatable. Jace was holding the lap counter at the wall. “Slow down,” his hand signals told her, meaning she was off pace and would tire if she didn't save a little more of herself. But she couldn't seem to slow herself down. There was a demon inside her desperate to finish this race. She didn't slow. Instead, she got faster and faster. “Slow down!” The hand signals got more and more insistent. But she couldn't. She had to hurry and get to the end of the race ... before . . . before ...

  Too late. The pain was blinding, shooting through her, curling her into a ball of agony. Water rushed around her and she couldn't breathe. Pain obliterated thought. She didn't know which way the surface was. Her mouth was full of water, her throat, her lungs. ...

  Strong arms were lifting her out of the pool. She heard herself coughing, felt the wrenching shudders as her body took oxygen again, but all that was in the distance. Much closer was the pain.

  Voices swirled around her, Jim saying, “I thought it was just anxiety”; Jace snarling, “Your goddamn theories aren't worth dying for”; Maxie saying, “The paramedics are here.” Then blackness, and she was gone.

  CHAPTER NINE:

  A Time To Heal

  Appendicitis. That was the first word she heard when she came out of the anesthesia.

  “So that was it,” she whispered to herself, and went back to sleep.

  When she woke again, she was first aware of the I.V. in her arm, then of the uncomfortable bindings around her middle, and finally, Jace and Jim lounging about the doorway, one leaning on the doorframe, the other fidgeting in his wheelchair, and both looking irritated.

  “Hi,” she managed to mutter through dry, swollen lips. “Did I win?”

  Jace was at her side in an instant, his eyes clouded with concern. “Kathy, darling. . . .”

  She tried to smile but the muscles of her face didn't want to work just yet. “Did I make it through the operation?” she asked hoarsely. “Will I ever play the piano again?”

  His handsome face broke into a grin, though she could have sworn his eyes looked misty. He grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers. “You'll play better than ever,” he declared, his voice choking slightly. “They've grafted two extra fingers onto each hand. You'll be able to cover the keyboard.”

  “Good.” Her smile was better this time. “I was worried about that.”

  She looked down at the foot of the bed where Jim was sitting, his brows drawn together. “And what about swimming?” She asked, trying to keep the same light tone despite her fear of the answer to this question. “Does this kill my chances?”

  “Of course not,” Jim said hotly, but at the same time she could feel Jace's hand tighten on hers, and when she looked at him, she could see anger pulsing at his temple.

  “We'll have to see,” Jace said firmly, casting a murderous glance Jim's way. “Don't worry about that. What will be will be.” He reached out and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, his eyes full of tenderness. “In the meantime, I'm going to be in charge of your recovery.”

  Jim cleared his throat. “We need to get her back home as soon as possible,” he began.

  Jace cut him off. “No way. I've got plans for this lady.” He pressed her fingers to his lips again, his eyes smiling into hers. “You just let me handle things from now on.”

  She could feel the animosity glowing red-hot between them, and she knew that she was the cause, but she was too tired to do anything about it right now. She needed to bask in Jace's affection. She needed to rest. So she closed her eyes and drifted off. Everything else could wait.

  The light from the bedside lamp fell like a splash of gold on Kathy's beautiful skin. Jace lay beside her, propped up on his elbow to watch her even breathing while she slept.

  The sheets were mauve satin. The fabric of her nightgown was a silvery gossamer silk. The Las Vegas hotel room around them was a penthouse suite complete with a sunken bath and hot tub, not to mention the fully stocked bar and refrigerator, the football-field-sized bed, the atrium, the outdoor patio, and the grand piano. And here she was, his bird in a gilded cage.

  He had to laugh at himself. It was a joke, really. He'd kept her here ever since the operation, weeks ago, drowning her in luxury and hoping it would make a difference. But what was he really trying to prove? That he could wean her away from her dream? If so, he was being more of a fool than usual.

  Reaching out, he played with a strand of her gold hair, and its tendrils seemed to curl about his fingers with a will of their own, like a climbing vine. Her hair was soft. Her skin was soft. Her mouth was soft. Lord, how he wanted to bury himself in her softness.

  But not yet. It wasn't time yet.

  She was much better now. She was healthy and making a remarkable recovery. She'd twisted in her sleep so that the sheet was pushed aside. With a tug of his fingers he could pull her nightgown apart, revealing her abdomen with its fiery red scar.

  It was getting better. It wasn't as red or as swollen as it had been. She was healing. Pretty soon this time alone together would be over.

  His fingers trailed down from the scar to where she was so warm, touching lightly, lovingly, drawing back when she stirred.

  He was very still, but his heart was beating wildly. He wanted her so badly. He'd waited a lifetime here in this room. Had he ever waited so long for a woman before? If so, he couldn't remember it. Probably not. But Kathy was worth waiting for. Kathy was worth everything.

  He looked at her sleeping face, still unsure just why she was so special to him. He'd had so many women in his life and never once had he been tempted to make a permanent commitment. Beverly had been an aberration. Their marriage had been her idea, not his, and he'd gone along with it because it seemed like the thing to do at the time. But he'd never wanted her the way he wanted Kathy. He'd never felt this searing intensity, this absolute desperation to make a woman a part of his future. He couldn't imagine life without her.

  At least he'd kept her entertained. She would have to admit to that. He'd raided lounge acts all up and down the Las Vegas Strip, bringing in clowns and jugglers, acrobats and mimes, comedians and singers, all ready to put on their acts just for Kathy. Everything she could possibly have wanted he'd brought right here to the suite for her.

  She'd been incredulous at first, and then delighted. He loved to see her delighted. Her joy was his contentment. And that was a new experience for him.

  They'd hardly mentioned swimming since the day he'd brought her here. Jim and Maxie had gone back to Destiny Bay. They hadn't heard much from them—a phone call here, a letter there, a present at Christmas. As far as he was concerned, they were ancient history. If only he could find a way to make Kathy feel the same.

  He loved her. Strange but true. He'd thought he was in love before, but now he knew better. This overwhelming emotion that he felt for Kathy was nothing like the boundary exploration he'd made with Beverly—the roller-coaster highs and lows, the residue of hate and bitterness their relationship left behind. That couldn't happen with Kathy. Never.

  For the first time in his life he cared more for someone else's happiness than he did for his own. That was new for him. But the real surprise was that it felt so damn good! When she was sad, he wracked his brain to find ways of cheering her up. When she was happy, his life was pure enchantment.

 
; He didn’t want to share her with anyone, but he’d had to relent a few times. Her grandfather, Calvin Carrington, had called to talk to her a few times and he’d been surprised to find that they had a close relationship, unlike what she had with her father. Her mother had stopped in to see her on her way to a university seminar. But there had been no word from her father.

  “Why would he get in touch with me?” she’d said sensibly. “I didn’t win anything.”

  Jace winced, remembering that. He gazed at her now, loving her. The fabric of her nightgown was so transparent, he could see every detail of her breast through the cloth. The nipple was flat and smooth, like a new rose petal that had never been touched. So beautiful. He wanted to touch, but it wouldn’t be fair.

  Fairness was an issue he wasn't sure he wanted to explore too fully. How fair was he being to her, keeping her here, locked away from the world? He had her a virtual prisoner here, trying to seduce her into the luxurious life, the life she could have if she married him.

  What would she do if she knew that was what he really wanted? They'd kidded about her being his make-believe wife so often, he was afraid she wouldn't take marriage to him seriously now. But he did. More seriously than he'd ever taken anything in his life. For once, he was having to work for something. And it wasn't easy.

  But he hadn't had the nerve to ask her yet. He knew her comeback was still uppermost in her mind, even though she hadn't talked much about it lately. When she was ready, she would go back to it. She would leave him if she had to. That thought cut through him like a jagged blade. He could hardly stand to know that she wanted something more than she wanted him. That thought hurt, and he thrust it away with a frown.

  He wished with all his heart that he could keep her away from swimming. At first he'd merely thought her trying to regain world-class ranking was a kooky idea. Then he'd been a bit intrigued with it. For a while he'd actually thought she might be able to pull if off. But now . . . after taking this time off, he didn't think she stood a chance. She wanted to succeed so desperately. But what if she failed? What would that do to her? How could he protect her from that?

  Kathy stirred, her eyes flickering open to find Jace smiling down at her. She smiled a slow, lazy smile and stretched languidly, performing half for him, half for herself. Her nightgown fell open, but she didn't care. Everything she had was his anyway, whenever he wanted it.

  “Hi,” she purred. “What are you doing?”

  “I was just about to wake you up. It's almost midnight.”

  She raised her head to look at the clock. “New Year's Eve,” she murmured. “A new year. Do you think it will be a better one?”

  “Finding you has been the highlight of my life. They don't get any better than that.”

  “You say the sweetest things.” She touched his cheek with a finger, wishing she could believe he really meant those things. And on the other hand, glad that she couldn't. If he were only charming her, she didn't have to take his words seriously. And if she didn't take them seriously, she didn't have to face the consequences of acting on them.

  He reached across her and pulled a bottle of champagne out of a bucket of ice. “Let's toast the New Year as it comes in,” he suggested, taking two fluted glasses from the table beside his pillow.

  From downstairs they could hear the horns and cries of celebration. Outside, fireworks lit the sky with sprays of magenta and electric green.

  “You should have let me bring in some entertainment for you,” he said as they clinked glasses and sipped the golden liquid.

  She shook her head. “I wanted it to be just you and me,” she told him, her eyes smiling into his.

  They took another sip and then kissed softly, her head tilting back so that her silky hair fell down into the V of her naked back.

  “Happy New Year,” she said.

  “Happy New Year,” he whispered back.

  “Jace,” she said tentatively as they put their glasses down. “It's a new year. It's probably time we had a talk about the future.”

  “What about the future?” he asked curtly.

  “I'm so much better, Jace. It's time I got back to the real world. Back home. Back to swimming.”

  He stared hard at a pin dot on the wall. “I don't want you to go,” he told her bluntly.

  “I know you don't.”

  He turned to her, his eyes hard as a pane of tinted glass. “I don't want you to go back. I want you to stay with me.” His eyes narrowed as though preparing for pain. “Marry me, Kathy. Forget about this crazy dream.”

  Her eyes were huge, shocked. “Marry you?” Was he serious? She knew that he adored her right now, that he enjoyed her company. But he was a man who had gone through life having any woman he wanted, any time. What on earth would he want to tie himself down with her for? She couldn't imagine it. After his experience with Beverly she would have thought he would never want to risk that again.

  She stared at him, trying to read his motives. She'd never even allowed herself to think about actually marrying him. Marriage was a serious thing, something much too serious to think about right now, when she had other things to occupy her mind.

  “Jace, darling. . . .” She took his hand in hers.

  “I know,” he said, his voice tight. “You have to swim first.”

  She nodded. “I know you want to protect me, but you can't. I have to go back and face the challenge. You know I do. If I didn't at least try, I could never live with myself.”

  “Haven't you already proved something by going this far, getting all the publicity, making people aware of Jim's theories?”

  “No.” Her hair swung about her shoulders as she shook her head. “I failed again. I didn't meet my goals.”

  His fist hit the mattress with a ringing thud. “Dammit Kathy, who cares about your goddamn goals?” he thundered.

  “I do.” She took a deep breath. “You know what I'd like to do? There's an indoor pool in this very building. ...”

  “No.”

  “But hear me out.”

  “No. You're not ready yet. Not until the doctor says so.”

  “I'll have to try sometime.” She cupped his cheek with her warm hand. “Will you be able to accept it? That I have to go back?”

  His eyes were clouded with doubt. “I'll do anything I have to to make you happy.”

  She kissed him on the mouth, then slipped down into the covers, biting her lip. How she loved him, if he only knew. Didn't he understand that she couldn't come to him the way she was, imperfect, unready .,. . unproven? There were things she still had to do. This was her last chance, after all. If she didn't make it now, it was all over. She couldn't just give up and expect him to change her life for her.

  She'd made that mistake before, with Greg. Falling in love had seemed like the answer to her prayers. The happy ending. All doubts and fears laid to rest. Her prince had come and he would make everything work for her.

  That whole scenario had been a lie. She knew better than to try to delude herself again. She wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

  Jace watched her, all his fears, desires, affection, churning inside. Not yet, he told himself. No, not yet.

  He turned off the light and rolled over to go to sleep.

  Kathy lay very still, waiting for his breathing to signal that he was no longer awake. Then she waited longer, just to be sure. Slipping silently from the bed, she went into the walk-in closet and opened the bottom drawer of the tall chest. She quickly found her swimsuit, cap, and goggles—all she needed. They'd been lying there, unused for weeks, and yet they were ready for action.

  “I have to try it,” she whispered to no one in particular, but she knew she was actually speaking to Jace.

  Her body was still as slim as ever. She'd been careful with her diet. The suit felt slick and wonderful. She donned a terry cloth robe and let herself out of the suite.

  The elevator took her straight to the basement level, where she found the pool easily. It lay still and unused in th
e empty, echoing room. No one had seen her come. Anyone who was still up was celebrating in the disco. There was no lifeguard, and swimming without one was against the rules, but she would have to risk it. This was special. It was also dangerous. What if something happened?

  What if she got a cramp or hurt her scar tissue and couldn't pull herself out? She was risking a lot here. She was being stupid. She really should have gotten Jace to come with her. But he would never have allowed her to come. It was a Catch-22 situation, which had already exhausted her patience. She had to know.

  Slowly she slipped into the water. It was cold. Her teeth were chattering. But it felt good. She sank into the water. It was now or never. She began to swim.

  She was stiff, and it hurt. Not her arms or legs. Her stroke felt fine, and so did her kick. In fact, they felt wonderful. But her abdomen was sore, and she was afraid to extend it. Gently, she did one lap, rested, then did another. Each lap was easier. Her body was getting used to the fact that this was what it was meant to do. Another lap and she stopped, laughing softly.

  Yes! There was still a chance. She could feel it. She could do it.

  To get out, she paddled over to the stairs instead of vaulting up on the side as she would usually do, still very careful of the tender area where her scar was. Drying off, she got back into the elevator and rode back to her room, letting herself in as quietly as she could.

  A moonbeam lay across Jace's face. One arm was outstretched, as though he'd been reaching for her. Love and passion surged within her. It had been far too long.

  She dropped the robe, and then her suit, to the ground. Her hair was still wet, plastered to her neck, her shoulders. Completely naked, she crept up beside him on the satin sheets, pulling away the covers so that she could see all of his dark, beautiful body.

  “Jace,” she whispered, trailing her fingers along the inside of his thigh. “Wake up.”

  He groaned and shifted position, but his eyes didn't open. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his navel, letting the hairs that circled it tickle her nose, exploring the indentation with her tongue. She drew away and placed her palms over his hipbones as she gazed down at him.