“Very.”
With a slight smile, Aly brushed several strands of hair from her eyes and dipped the cup into the bowl.
Clay savored each of her ministrations, his head sinking against her shoulder and breast as she cradled him upward enough so that he could drink without spilling the water from the mug. After three cups, he nodded.
“Thanks, honey.”
Quiet settled around them. Aly looked at her watch. It was nearly 0500. Soon dawn would break, and another day would begin in the village. “You’re welcome,” she whispered, laying him back down on the pallet. Maneuvering herself around so that she sat facing him, Aly felt Clay’s forehead.
“Your fever’s gone.”
“I had one?” Clay hungrily absorbed her beauty into his heart. She looked incredibly frail and exhausted.
“Yes, for about twelve hours. Madalena, the shaman, assured me that it wouldn’t last long.” Aly reached over, sliding her fingers down the length of his forearm, holding his hand. “As usual, she was right.”
Clay weakly squeezed her fingers. “But as usual, you worried?”
Aly rested her cheek against one knee that she’d drawn up against her body. Looking at him through her lashes, she admitted, “You know me too well.”
His fingers tightened around hers. “I want to know you a lot better.”
Aly’s eyes widened, her heart racing momentarily.
He smiled gently. “When that Gila monster bit me and I started slipping into unconsciousness, I thought I was going to die, honey. And then I heard your voice, far away, telling me that you loved me.” His smile dissolved, and Clay held her vulnerable blue gaze. “Was I making it up, or did you say it?”
She shut her eyes, afraid as never before. “No…I said it.”
“Did you mean it?”
“Yes.”
“Come here,” Clay whispered huskily, pulling on her hand. “Lie next to me. I want you close.”
She opened her eyes, staring down at him. The tenderness burning in his gaze told her so much. Aly slipped to his side, propping herself on one elbow, her face very near his.
Clay slid his bandaged left hand down her arm, coming to rest on her hip. He gazed at her, memorizing her shadowy features. “I’ve never met anyone with the courage you’ve had,” he began quietly. “I nearly destroyed you in nine months, and yet you took every beating, every insult and dig I could throw at you, and kept your head up. Looking back on it, I think I figured out why you were able to do that.”
“How can you hate someone you’ve loved from the moment you met him?” she asked, her voice strained with tears.
“I fell for you the day we met, too, Aly.”
She nodded, her throat constricted.
“It was your love for me that allowed you to take my hatred, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Clay sighed deeply, feeling the pain that she’d carried so long in her heart. “I don’t deserve you, but I’m not going to throw this chance away.” He raised his hand, outlining the contour of her cheeks, watching her tears drift silently down them. “It took my almost dying for me to realize that my biggest fear was of losing you after I admitted how much you meant to me.”
Aly sniffed, and held his burning gray gaze. “It was my biggest fear, too.”
He snorted derisively. “Figure it out—we both didn’t want to admit we loved each other because we were afraid the other would say ‘no.’”
“Will you?” Aly quavered, fear at its height in her. She’d admitted her love to Clay, but he’d whispered his love to her as he’d fallen unconscious a day ago. Did he remember saying it?
Murmuring her name as if it were a reverent prayer, Clay slipped his hand across her shoulders, asking her to lean down so that he could kiss her. Aly came, a willow bending to his desire, her breath moist as she shyly touched his mouth. Although he was incredibly weak, Clay framed her face with his hands, molding his mouth to hers, showing her just how much she meant to him. Aly was willing and vulnerable to his campaign to convince her, his mouth claiming hers in a fiery kiss that consumed both of them in those explosive seconds.
“There,” he growled thickly, holding her captive inches from his face, “does that answer your question?”
Aly managed a bare nod, dazed in the aftermath of his hungry desire.
His eyes glinted with an unknown emotion. “After we get rescued, and after I get back on my feet, you and I are going to do some serious talking, Aly.” A weak semblance of a boyish grin split his serious features. “I’m so damn weak, I can’t even undress you with my eyes. But that’s going to change once we get home. You can count on it.”
“Doc, if you don’t release me today, I’m going to climb these damned walls.” Clay stared at the Navy doctor who stood at the end of the bed, studying his chart. After being rescued by the coast guard a day after he’d confessed his love to Aly, Clay’s world had changed drastically. Another rescue team had flown across the mountains and picked up Dan Ballard. They had all been flown to Oaknoll Naval Hospital, situated in San Francisco, for treatment.
Dan was recovering quickly from his serious concussion in another wing of the huge hospital. And Clay was being monitored closely for the first week after his arrival. The doctors were unable to understand how he’d survived the Gila monster bite. Clay tried to explain Madalena’s care of him, but they didn’t want to believe that an Indian shaman might have been responsible for saving his skin.
Clay had a deep belief in the power of the unknown, and readily accepted that Madalena’s ancient skills had helped to some degree. Aly didn’t care who had saved him, just as long as he survived the experience. After one day in the hospital, Aly had been released for two weeks’ recovery time. She had flown back to Florida to be with her family.
“According to all reports from the nurses, Lieutenant Cantrell, you’ve been peeling paint off these walls for at least a week already in your efforts to get out of here,” Dr. Kenneth Black answered dryly, looking over his spectacles at Clay.
“Aw, come on, doc. Give me a break, will you? I’ve been in this place for two lousy weeks. My lady’s due back from Florida three hours from now.”
Black smiled slightly, penning his initials on several sheets of paper he’d brought with him and had attached to the clipboard. He hung the board back on the hook at the end of the bed. “I hear Lieutenant Trayhern has been spending her recuperation time with her parents down in Florida.”
Clay got up, pacing the small white naval hospital room. He was dressed in a pair of light blue pajamas and a blue robe. “That’s right.” He shot Black a dark look. “And if you guys had released me a week ago, I could have spent a week with her in some Florida sunshine recovering there instead of being locked up in this box they call a room.”
“You badger the nurses like this every day, Lieutenant?”
Cantrell stopped pacing and grinned. “A hundred times worse. I’ll stop badgering them if you’ll release me, doc.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“But your people would breathe a big sigh of relief if I was gone.”
Black rolled his eyes. “Normally, someone who’s been poisoned as you were doesn’t bounce back this rapidly.”
Clay looked out the window that overlooked the colorful autumn gardens surrounding the huge hospital. “I had a big reason to get well in a hurry! Look, if you release me right now, I can just make it to the San Francisco Airport in time to meet her plane.” He shot a look over his shoulder. “Get rid of me, Black. I’m a pain in the ass to everyone here. You know it, and so do I. I’m fine. I’m in the pink of health. That medicine woman gave me a hell of a start back on the road to recovery.”
Chuckling, Black headed toward the door. “Get out of here, Lieutenant. You’ve tongue-lashed my people to death for the past week. Go meet that woman of yours.”
Rubbing his hands together, Clay grinned. “Thanks, doc. You’re a prince.”
“I’m doing this to protect m
y nurses and orderlies from you, Cantrell.”
Clay didn’t take the doctor’s dry teasing to heart. He headed for the closet where a set of civilian clothes hung. Late last week, Lieutenant Miles Cartwright had brought over clothes, and parked Clay’s Corvette in the visitors’ lot. Clay grinned over at the physician. “You’re doing the right thing, believe me.”
Black opened the door and smiled. “I’ve also approved your thirty days’ leave.”
Clay pulled the door open, grabbing his slacks. “How about Lieutenant Trayhern’s leave? Were you able to swing it with that sourpuss officer over at Moffett Personnel? Did you convince him that Aly needed another month of recovery time before she sits back in the cockpit of a P3?”
Black shook his head. “Both sets of orders are approved, signed and on the clipboard, Cantrell.” Black stood a second, watching Clay throw off the robe, draping it across the bed. “Tell me something, Cantrell.”
“What?” Off came the pajama top. Clay slipped a fresh white T-shirt over his head, and then shrugged into a plaid shirt, rolling up the sleeves on his forearms. Only a small bandage remained around his left hand to remind him of his brush with death.
“Do you always get what you want? This past week, I’ve seen you pull strings and manipulate people like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before.”
Smiling wolfishly, Clay climbed into his dark brown slacks, zipping them up. “Doc, when you want something bad enough, you’ll do anything to get it. I’m in love with a beautiful lady, and I’ve got big things in store for us. I spent two weeks lying in this bed with nothing do but think, scheme and dream.” Clay glanced up after slipping his belt through the loops on his trousers. “I owe you one. Thanks for all your help.”
With a wave of his hand, Black disappeared out the door, laughing. “Any time, Clay, any time.”
Hurry! Clay glanced at his watch, his mind racing ahead. It would take thirty minutes via the Bayshore to get to the airport. Great! That meant he had just enough time to get the rest of his plans set into motion. Whistling happily, Clay sat down, pulling on his dark brown socks, then pushing his feet into his favorite loafers. In quick movements, he reached into the closet, pulled out the corduroy sport coat, threw it over his shoulder and grabbed the clipboard. Wait until Aly saw him at the bottom of the ramp, waiting for her as she disembarked from that commercial flight! She thought he was still a prisoner in a hospital bed.
Aly’s exhaustion over the six-hour flight was torn away when she saw Clay standing at the bottom of the ramp with two dozen purple, yellow and white irises in one hand, and the biggest welcoming smile on his face that she’d ever seen.
A day after their rescue, Dr. Black had told her that her family was worried sick about her. Clay had cajoled her into leaving him to fly back and visit with her parents while he was in the hospital. After all, he’d argued reasonably with her, he couldn’t fool around with her under those circumstances, being so weak and all….
“Clay!” she cried now, throwing her arms around his broad shoulders.
“Mmm,” he whispered, picking Aly up and holding her so tightly that the air was forced out of her lungs, “I missed the hell out of you, lady!”
Laughing, Aly kissed him repeatedly, not caring who was watching them.
He lowered her back to the floor, molding her close to him, his mouth hotly claiming hers. For that moment, nothing else existed in Clay’s world but her ripe, sweet mouth moving in hungry abandon against his. Finally he broke free, breathing hard, laughing with her.
“Here,” he said, bringing the bouquet between them, “these are for you.”
Aly blushed and gently held the flowers. “They’re beautiful, Clay. This is September. Iris doesn’t bloom now. How did you—”
“Never mind,” he gloated, pleased that she was enthralled with his gift. Actually, it had taken several long-distance phone calls to Mexico City to have the flowers flown up. Clay threw an arm around her, and they walked leisurely through the dissipating crowd. “I like it when you blush.”
Aly inhaled the flowers’ fragrance, leaning against Clay. “And you make me blush constantly. Clay, thank you for the irises. They’re so beautiful!”
“You’re welcome. And you,” he said, kissing her hair, “love every second of my teasing.”
“I can’t deny it.” Aly looked up, studying him in confusion. “Clay, you weren’t supposed to get out of the hospital until tomorrow! What happened? Did you browbeat those poor people on your floor until they released you?”
He shrugged bashfully, walking on air because Aly was in his arms, where she belonged. “Something like that,” he answered vaguely. God, she was beautiful in that long-sleeved gold silk dress. It brought out the gold highlights in her hair and in her sparkling eyes. The black leather belt only emphasized her gorgeous legs. She was all elegance.
“Are you feeling okay?” Aly asked, concerned.
Clay tried to cover his leer, not succeeding.
“You’re fine,” she muttered, trying to hide a smile.
Clay squeezed her, bringing her close and kissing the top of her head. “You’re gorgeous—” he looked down “—and what a pair of legs! Lady, you’d put a thoroughbred to shame.”
“Now you’re calling me a horse, Clay!”
“You’re right!” He swept Aly off her feet, irises and all, and swung her around and around. Her laughter was sweet music to his ears as he finally set her back on her feet. They were both so dizzy that they had to lean against each other to stay upright. Clay barely gave any attention to the people who made a wide circle around them. But those he saw were all smiling.
Breathless, Aly leaned against him. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Well, for starters—”
She laughed. “I knew I shouldn’t have given you an opening.”
Clay ignored her, digging out two sets of orders, waving them under her nose. “As I was saying, the good doctor who handled my case managed to wangle thirty days’ leave for both of us.” He placed the orders in her hand, watching the shock set in.
Aly read the orders in disbelief. “This—this is incredible, Clay!” She looked up at him. “How did you manage this? I called Moffett Personnel to talk to Donnelly, but he turned me down flat.”
“Guess it’s just my silver tongue,” Clay congratulated himself, watching the joy come to her eyes. “Thirty days of vacation, honey.” He took the orders, neatly folded them and put them in the breast pocket of his sport coat.
Dazed by all the good news, Aly shook her head. “It’s all like a dream, Clay….”
Placing his arms around her shoulders, he rested his brow against Aly’s hair. “And that’s not all. I’ve got my ’vette out front in a No Parking zone. Provided they aren’t towing it away yet, we’ll grab your luggage and head south, along the coast. There’s a nice little bed-and-breakfast inn overlooking Monterey Bay. It’s quiet, beautiful and private. How’s that sound for starters?”
Tears filled Aly’s eyes. Since their rescue, they’d never had the time they’d wanted together, always driven apart by orders or needs of others. She reached out, caressing his recently-shaved cheek. “I think it sounds wonderful,” she quavered.
Clay lost his smile, pressing his lips to her temple, cheek, and finally finding her mouth. He tasted the salty tears on her lips, kissing them away. “And I love the hell out of you. Come on, we’re going to Monterey Bay. Just you and I, little hellcat.”
Hampton Inn stood beneath the twisted Monterey pines, a hundred feet away from a sheer cliff that dropped off to a beach below. The inn overlooked one of the most scenic bays on the West Coast. Aly stood beneath Clay’s arm, watching the red sunset, the ocean glassy and calm. The wind was gentle and warm, filled with the fragrance of the sea.
“It’s lovely,” Aly breathed.
“No,” Clay corrected, looking down at her, “you’re lovely. That bay hasn’t got a thing on you, lady.”
Standing on tiptoe, Aly pressed a s
hy kiss to his wonderfully mobile mouth. “Mmm,” she murmured moments later, “you taste so good.”
He rocked her gently back and forth in his arms. “Must be all the champagne we drank earlier, huh?”
She giggled. “Yeah, on an empty stomach, Cantrell. That wasn’t such a wise idea. I’m feeling giddy and silly.”
“So am I.” And he kissed the tip of her nose, content as never before. “You make me happy, Alyssa Trayhern, you know that?”
Closing her eyes, Aly leaned against his strong body, her mouth resting against his cheek. “No one can be happier than me.”
“Wanna bet?”
She giggled and held Clay at arm’s length. “You’re such a rogue.”
“No, Rogue would say that about himself,” he teased, referring to her Border Collie. He saw the sudden concern in her eyes. “And don’t worry, Dan Ballard and his wife promised to take loving care of Rogue for you while we’re on vacation. You know his kids will love the collie.”
That was true. Aly gave him a mischievous look. “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”
Clay sobered slightly, running his fingers slowly through her short, silky hair. “I hope I have….”
“What’s next?”
“Dinner with my best lady down at a very fashionable restaurant, and then dancing at a very trendy place a bit farther down that same road. Game?”
“Am I ever!”
“Well, let’s go. We’re going to do some heavy celebrating tonight!”
Aly made a face, dancing close to Clay. “Do I look like a turkey?” she asked.
He chuckled and studied her. She wore an incredibly beautiful pink silk dress that had a scoop neck, showing off her perfect collarbone and slender neck. The dolman sleeves moved like ripples in the breeze each time he swung her around to the slow beat of the music. Arching an eyebrow he said, “Definitely not a turkey. Why?”
“I feel like one. I ate too much, Clay.”
“That was a good dinner,” he agreed. The lobster in drawn butter had been superb, but her company was his dessert.
Aly settled against him, head resting on his shoulder, and closed her eyes. “I’m so happy, Clay.”
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