by Jacobs, Ann
“I feel as though we’ve known each other forever.” And he did. He couldn’t put it in words, but he’d sensed it from the first, a connection with Althea that had nothing to do with how long or how deeply they’d been acquainted.
With one hand she reached up and stroked his cheek, much like he’d just touched hers. “Still…”
“You feel it, too.” He caught her hand and brushed it across his lips.
“Yes, I feel it.”
The way she worried her lower lip, she could have been a child, but no child had ever made Jared ache like this or caused his body to tremble with such visceral need. “When can I see you again?”
“Call me.” Her voice sounded husky.
When he met her gaze he saw her eyes were bright, full of promise. “All right, I will. Have happy dreams tonight.” He longed to kiss her again. Hell, what he wanted was to take her inside and sample every inch of her sexy body, bury himself inside her and make love until they both collapsed from the pleasure of it. If he did, though, he feared he’d never want to let her go.
Softly, he tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. Drawing her in his arms for one last taste, he let her go while he still could. Then he stepped back and watched her go inside. After she’d closed the door behind her, he strode to his car.
Damn! He’d never wanted a woman so much.
And he had no clue what it was about Althea that made him feel this way. She was no seductress but she’d seduced him. Beneath her air of innocence Jared glimpsed the promise of a sensual woman. A woman he wanted to discover, one he sensed might fill the empty spaces in his dreams.
▪ ▪ ▪
She felt empty. Not since the day of Bill’s funeral had Althea felt so alone. She lay in bed and ached. She shouldn’t have let Jared put her off. If she hadn’t hesitated she could be in his arms right now. She could be sampling the pleasures she’d glimpsed but never fully experienced with Bill.
Sitting up, she turned on a lamp on the table by the bed. Bill’s solemn face stared at her from its oak frame. Althea pulled the other pillow over, arranged it against the headboard and leaned back. For the first time in months, she let her bittersweet memories have full rein.
Why had Bill insisted they wait, denied them both the pleasure of fully expressing their love? He’d wanted her. She’d known because she’d felt him get hard inside his clothes. He’d touched her breasts, made her hot and damp, wanting more. Yet he’d denied her every time.
How she’d begged him to ease the insistent ache he’d caused deep in her belly! Suddenly she was furious. Bill had been a fool, holding out for a wedding night that would never be. Now she’d never know if making love with him would have fulfilled the sexual promise of his touch.
She set the photo down. When she recalled Bill saying the wait would make their wedding night sweeter, she laughed out loud. He’d been so damn wrong, saying God would reward them for waiting until they said their vows. Althea wanted to scream, to rail at God for taking Bill away.
They’d made it before the altar in the little church where her father had preached, all right, just not the way they’d planned. She’d stood by his casket there, saying her last goodbye. She hadn’t had the chance to wear her mother’s wedding gown. Instead, she’d worn the same plain black dress that she’d worn for both her parents’ funerals.
Bill had been Althea’s salt of the earth. She had a feeling Jared would be her spice. Gently she rubbed her finger across one nipple and felt it tighten beneath her touch. If she knew how, she’d ease the tension that was drawing her insides as tight as a fiddler’s bowstring.
She’d learn. If only because he’d be checking the progress she was making on his quilt, Jared would come back. And she’d seduce him.
Never again was she going to put off pleasure or wait for some nebulous time in the future that the fates might snatch away.
Chapter Five
The next morning Trina’s truck was already in the parking lot when Althea came out of her cabin. She forced a sleepy smile and waved while crossing the parking lot to the porch of the shop. “Morning,” she yelled as she fit her key in the lock of the front door.
“You must’ve had a real good time over at the festival.” Trina raked Althea with a knowing gaze, from the top of her tousled head to feet she’d shoved into the first pair of sandals she’d found.
Althea smiled. “We did. Did your boys blow off those firecrackers you said they brought home from South Carolina?”
“They sure did. You’d have thought they were shootin’ off dynamite, all the noise they were making. Me, I’d rather have gone and watched the fireworks show over in Dahlonega. Here, I saved us a piece of jam cake. Want me to make the coffee to go with it?”
“Go ahead. I want to see how far you got the other day, piecing Jared’s quilt.”
The older woman grinned. “Anxious to start quiltin’ it for him after you two spent the day together?”
“We had fun.” The memory made Althea smile.
“Did he put the top down on his fancy car?”
“Uh-huh. The wind felt good.” Not as good as his hard, lean body had felt, pressed against her from shoulder to thigh. Nor as sweet as the taste of him on her lips. Althea gave up counting quilt blocks and set them back on the worktable. “Do you know how many blocks you made the other day?”
“Thirty-two. I ought to be able to finish the rest of them this morning. Then I can start sewing them together. Have you got pieces cut out for the border?”
Althea nodded. “They’re in the drawer.” She took a slice of cake and set it on the tray beside her quilting stand. If not too many customers came in, she’d be able to finish the crib quilt today. She took a nibble from the tangy-sweet cake. “Trina, this is delicious.”
“It’s my boys’ favorite. You know, my little Joe was askin’ about you yesterday. He told me he might come courtin’ you when he gets back from Chattanooga next month.”
That was the last thing Althea wanted. Lanky, slow-talking Joe Wells hadn’t appealed to her when they were kids, and he didn’t make her heart beat any faster now. Besides, she imagined he was the serious, devout kind who’d start thinking marriage long before he’d even consider having any fun.
“Well, Trina, I’m sort of dating Jared now.” She didn’t want to hurt Trina’s feelings by discouraging her son’s interest in her without giving any reason. Smiling, she finished her cake then started quilting the last section of the crib quilt.
“I thought you might say that. Much as I’d love havin’ you as a daughter-in-law, I know it’s not gonna happen. I’ve been trying to sic little Joe on Mary Jane Douglas over in Blairsville.” Trina grinned. Then she aligned the edges of two triangles, snapped the presser foot down and set the sewing machine to humming.
Warning off the local boys was an advantage to going out with Jared that Althea hadn’t thought of before. Trina wasn’t the only well-meaning neighbor who’d tried to set her up with a son or brother since Bill’s death. Althea grinned. Who could intimidate would-be suitors better than a man who’d made it big enough to buy himself an entire mountain?
When the first customers came in, she got up and showed two Florida ladies her quilts, ringing up a four-figure sale when one of them decided she had to have a flashy Lone Star quilt for her son’s bed back home. A steady stream of customers kept Althea getting up every few minutes, but she managed to get some quilting done despite the interruptions.
By noon, Trina finished the blocks and set them out on the worktable in the order Althea had sketched. A little later, Althea put the last stitch in the crib quilt. She’d drop it off at Jim and Mary’s place tonight after she closed the shop. Maybe if Trina finished piecing it today, she’d take Jared’s quilt top, too. She could stop by his place and show it to him.
▪ ▪ ▪
“I hear Jared Cain took you to the festival over in Helen,” Jim said when Althea climbed the four stairs to his front porch.
She smiled. �
��News around here travels fast. Where’s Mary?”
“Inside with Gracie. She tripped over a rock up there and skinned her knee.” He gestured toward the path that led to an old well, then at the package in Althea’s hand. “What’s that?”
“A present for your baby boy.” The oak-slat rocker she sat down on reminded Althea of another porch, one where she could hear the rushing water and smell new wood mingled with the pungent fragrance from a massive cedar tree overhead. “Thanks for sending Jared my way. I’m making a quilt for him. Trina finished piecing the top today.”
“Thought you could use the business.” Jim met her gaze then turned back to the block of wood he’d been whittling when she arrived. A man of few words, her brother.
“Althea! Tell me all about our mystery man.” Mary was as bubbly as Jim was taciturn. With three year old Gracie on her hip, she waddled over and sat beside Althea. “You know Jim won’t put two words together if he can help it.”
Jim looked up from his carving and smiled at his wife. “Cain’s no different from you and me, sugar. Want me to take Gracie?”
“She’s okay. I don’t see Jim Simmons riding around the countryside in a two-seater convertible, makin’ grown women stop and stare when he walks into a store.”
“Those gawking women are greedy. They know Jared’s worth millions. Billions, maybe.” Jim scowled. “The man puts on his pants same as any other man.”
Mary shook her head and shot her husband an exasperated look. “Come on, tell me, Althea. What’s Jared really like?”
A friendly hound thrust his head in Althea’s lap. “Hey there, boy.” The hound’s ear felt as soft as velvet when she scratched it. “Jared’s fun to be with. Easy to talk to.”
“Don’t forget he’s handsome as sin,” Mary said, her eyes twinkling.
When Althea looked over at Mary’s face, she thought it seemed a little bloated. Althea doubted the redness in her cheeks had anything to do with sun exposure. “Are you okay?”
Mary shifted Gracie on her lap. “I will be, soon as this baby gets here. Doc says I’ve put on way too much weight.”
That reminded Althea why she’d come over. “Here. I finished the baby’s quilt today,” she said, setting the package on the table next to Mary’s chair. “Hope you’ll like it.”
“I’m sure it’s beautiful. But you didn’t have to—”
“Hush. I wanted to make my nephew something.”
They chatted a little longer, until Althea sensed Mary was getting tired. When she got up to go, Jim followed her to her car. “Is that Cain’s quilt?” he asked when he looked on the passenger seat and saw the folded quilt top.
“Yes.” Althea reached over and lifted a corner of the material. “Trina finished piecing it this afternoon.”
“Did you two have fun at the festival?”
“Lots. We went tubing, did some sightseeing. Jared’s a nice man.” More than nice. The guy was sex on the hoof—hot as some of her students would say.
“You goin’ home now to start quilting it?”
“I’m going to see Jared first. I want to show it to him, make sure it’s put together the way he wants it.”
Jim frowned. “You be careful, goin’ to that man’s place all by yourself. I don’t want you getting hurt. Don’t know how well ol’ Jared would take to bein’ prodded with a shotgun. He’s been away from these hills a long time.”
Twelve years her senior, Jim had been looking out for Althea ever since their folks had died. She sighed. “I’m not looking for a husband, just some fun. I can take care of myself.”
“If you say so.” He didn’t sound as though he believed her. “Cain’s just a few years younger than me. He’s probably used to loose city women. Watch out for yourself.” His brow furrowed, Jim straightened up and met Althea’s gaze. “I better get back to Mary. I’m worried about her.” Then he hurried inside.
Althea was worried, too, but anticipation nudged her concern to the back of her mind as she headed for Big Bear Mountain. The sun had disappeared beyond the horizon when she pulled up in front of Jared’s cabin. A cool breeze ruffled her hair, making her shiver as she climbed the stairs to the porch and lifted the door knocker.
▪ ▪ ▪
At first Jared thought it was the wind. Then he heard the noise again, more insistent this time. Setting down the political thriller he’d been reading, he got up, hurried downstairs, and opened the door.
It was Althea, standing on the porch, a limp looking quilt draped over one arm. “Come on in,” he said, happily surprised to see her again so soon.
Her smile warmed him, and her sweet scent filled the foyer when she stepped inside. Jared itched to touch her. Was she as soft all over as she was in the places his fingers had already explored?
She gestured toward the quilt top. “I brought this for you to see.”
Her smile nearly took his breath away, and her soft drawl reminded him of summer nights like this one. Nights and beds and naked flesh—draped with patchwork the colors of the forest.
“Come on in. Let’s see how it looks on the bed.” Desire slammed into him. It took incredible effort to keep his hands to himself as he reminded himself they were still hardly more than strangers.
Althea went upstairs ahead of him, her movements as graceful as the curved staircase. He followed her to his bedroom, mesmerized. She smoothed the tangled covers where he’d dreamed last night, and then she spread the quilt top across his bed. When she stepped back, she stepped right into him.
No force on earth could have kept him from wrapping her in his arms, drawing her soft curves against the hard angles of his body. As he buried his face in her hair and smelled sweet flowers and sweeter woman, his heart raced. Blood left his brain so fast it left him breathless. He slid his hands along her soft, flat belly. Higher. Cupping her firm breasts through the thin layers of her clothes, he felt her nipples and toyed with them.
“Jared.”
God, was she responsive! On her lips his name sounded like a prayer—or a plea. “You like this?” He brushed his thumbs across the rock-hard nubs, a little harder than before. Then he bent his head and blew on the shell of her ear.
Sighing, she wiggled her backside against his swollen sex. He’d never gotten so aroused, so fast. Never wanted so much to strip off his clothes and hers, toss her across the bed and bury himself inside her until he couldn’t tell where he ended and she began. “Althea?”
She turned and framed his face with trembling fingers. “Take me to bed.”
When he met her gaze he saw desire—and something else. Fear? His body screamed for him to give her what she said she wanted, but his mind urged caution. “You’re sure?”
She nodded, feeble confirmation but enough for a brain already dulled by desire. With eager fingers he began slipping the small white buttons of her blouse from the loops that held them closed.
In slow motion, Althea reached down to tug the blouse loose from her skirt, but Jared clasped her hands. He pulled the quilt top off the bed, jerked back the covers and tumbled them onto the bed.
He finished taking her blouse off then took time to stroke her incredibly soft skin, note its paleness against his own tanned hands before reaching around her to grapple with her bra.
“Hurry, please.” The desperate sound of her voice fueled his need, and he made quick work of the bra. He dipped his face into the valley between her breasts and inhaled her sweet, clean scent while cupping her breasts in both hands.
She felt like heaven. He wanted them skin on skin, head to toe. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman quite so much. Impatient, he tugged at the waistband of her skirt.
And then she trembled. It was all he could do to pause when she crossed her arms in front of her as though to hide her swollen nipples from his gaze.
Concerned, he touched her cheek and looked into eyes that suddenly seemed afraid. “We don’t have to do this.”
“I want to.” Her words came out strong and she met his gaze, appar
ently determined to prove she spoke the truth.
“Good.” Jared didn’t know where he’d have found the willpower to stop. Although no one he knew of had ever died from unrequited lust, he figured he might easily have become the first. He finished undressing her, then stood. “I’ve got on too many clothes,” he said with a smile.
She licked her lips. Watching her watch him undress made him crazy. His fingers clumsy, he fumbled with his zipper. When he hooked his thumbs into the waistbands of his jeans and briefs, shoved them down and kicked them onto the floor, he saw the hungry look in her eyes. It nearly made him explode on the spot.
“You’re awfully big.”
He wasn’t going to last long, not with her staring at him as though he were a banquet she couldn’t wait to sample. “That’s what you do to me, sweetheart.”
After lying back down, he took her hand and brought it to his cock. As much as he needed to have her under him, surrounding his hungry flesh, he made himself lie still. While she explored him with gentle fingers, he rolled her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers.
Curiosity. Delight. Desire. He read the changing emotions on her face, was touched by her wonder. Her innocence. With difficulty, he clamped down on his own urgency. She’d probably had very few lovers, probably no one except the boy who had died. “Easy,” he told her, capturing her hands and bringing them to his lips.
“Love me.”
He wanted to. But he also wanted to make it good for her. Marcie’s complaints rang in his ears, made him doubt himself. He felt inept, as if he were traveling this path for the first time. He pulled Althea into his arms, tugged up the covers. “Let’s slow down a little. Relax. We’ve got all night.”
Then the phone rang.
Chapter Six
“Let it ring.”