She poured a generous amount of Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir Bath Oil into the rushing hot water and breathed in its intoxicating fragrance.
Sure this would work to lure her to sleep, she pinned her hair on top of her head, shrugged out of her nightgown, and stepped into the deep tub.
Sighing, she lay back, allowing the hot water to soothe her jangled nerves.
Just as she’d hoped, at last she began to feel the tiniest bit sleepy and closed her eyes.
In a few more minutes I’ll get out and sleep like a baby.
An explosion of barking shocked her eyes open.
She sat up and heard the clicking of the pug’s tiny paws on the wood floor beneath the bedroom windows and the Newfie’s galloping thumps.
Atlas gave two more deep, loud woofs.
“Atlas, be quiet before you wake up Connor,” she called through the open bathroom door.
The pug broke into short staccato yelps loud enough to wake the dead.
“Oh, no,” Venus groaned, standing up, reaching for a towel.
“Venus, are you all right!” Connor shouted, bursting half-dressed into her bedroom.
Through the open bathroom door their eyes met.
Every cell in her body went numb. Stark naked, she couldn’t move, couldn’t look away from the shifting emotions in his emerald eyes.
Without words, he slowly pulled the bathroom door closed.
Only then did reaction sting her to life. Shivering, she sank back down into the hot water. The warmth, the fragrant steam rising around her, and her own overheated emotions made her feel light-headed. Taking deep breaths, she gripped the side of the tub to keep from fainting for the first time in her life. She shook her head, trying to clear away the image of Connor gazing at her in a way that, she swore, made her heart skip a beat.
She laid her head against the edge of the tub and closed her eyes. Burning hot tears stung her skin as the truth settled into her heart and soul.
If it had been any other man on the planet I’d be forever grateful to have looked into his eyes and had my aha here he is at last moment.
Sobbing, more tears streaming down her scalding cheeks, she wrapped her arms around her bent knees and rocked herself.
I know Connor is the one. Just as I know I can’t ever have him.
Barefoot, shirtless, Connor raced into the small, enclosed backyard beneath Venus’s bedroom window.
The cold November night air didn’t touch him. Thinking of Venus, the slope of her shoulders, her breasts, the long line of her legs glistening with water, her eyes wide and frightened, his body felt on fire.
He’d wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms, press kisses on her lips, touch her, show her with his mind and body how he felt. When their eyes met he let go completely to accept that he wanted Venus more than he’d ever wanted anyone or anything in his life. And nothing would stop him from having her.
As he’d learned to do, he clamped down on his feelings to concentrate on what needed to be done.
First, I have to make sure she’s safe.
Atlas and Georgia at his heels, he ran across the brick patio toward the wooden fence.
The gate hung open. Beyond it, the alley lay silent and empty before him.
Whoever had broken in, alerting the dogs, had fled.
“Good job.” He patted Atlas on the head and leaned down to tickle Georgia under her chin. “Special treats for both of you. C’mon, let’s go back to the house.”
His gut clenched in anticipation. Will Venus be waiting for me?
All at once fear broke through her pain. Where’s Connor? Has he gone after the intruder?
In a panic of worry, she stood, grabbed her aqua cashmere robe off the hook on the back of the door, belted it tight at her waist, and ran down the stairway.
“Connor, where are you?” she called through the empty rooms.
When she saw the back door in the kitchen wide open, she screamed. “Oh, no, he’s running around half-naked in the freezing night to defend me.”
She yanked the heavy antique rolling pin off the shelf to use as a weapon and bolted toward the door.
Watching him walking safely back toward the town house, overwhelming relief made her knees feel weak. She sagged against the door frame.
“Did you find anything?” she called, watching him cross the patio.
“Whoever it was broke in through the back gate and escaped the same way.”
Again the thought of Connor’s getting hurt because of her sent a bone-chilling ache through every inch of her body. “Thank goodness he wasn’t waiting for you out there. Come into the kitchen. I’ll make you coffee.”
Not giving Connor time to respond, afraid she might give away her feelings, she turned and walked to the small galley kitchen. She flipped the switch on the coffeemaker she always had ready for morning caffeine.
She paced the floor. Shivering, she curled her toes into the hard, cool wood floor.
I’m just going to confront this head on. Well, part of what happened anyway.
Hearing him at last, she swung around, poured him a mug of coffee, and handed it to him. “Here. I know you like it strong and black.”
“Thanks.” He took a long drink and nodded. “It’s good.”
Even though he’d slipped on his blue vee-neck sweater to cover his impressive chest, it wasn’t enough to cool her aching need to touch him.
I should put more distance between us while I do this.
She wandered to the granite countertop and leaned against it to watch him, legs apart, stare back at her.
“Okay, let’s just get this out in the open, Connor. If even half the stories about you and your cousins are true, naked women are a common occurrence in your life. I’m surely not the first one you’ve ever seen.”
His lips curved a bit deeper at the corners than usual when he smiled. “No, you’re not.”
“Exactly my point.” She yanked at a curl of her hair hanging on her shoulder. “So there’s no reason for either of us to feel embarrassed about this.”
“Then why are you playing with your hair?” he asked, firmly placing his mug on the butcher block.
Realizing too late she’d given herself away, she folded her hands primly in front of her. “Your ear tips are beet red.”
“Not because I’m embarrassed.” Never taking his eyes off her, in three steps he stood mere inches away. She felt the heat from his body. “I know you hate my guts and you don’t trust me. But believe me when I tell you I’ve never in my life seen anyone more beautiful than you. Never be embarrassed about your body.”
Is this how Rebecca felt with David? As if a portal opened up inside her that only he could fill?
“I don’t hate you, Connor.” Hearing a strange quiver in her voice, she cleared her throat. “I don’t understand or accept your actions against my father and never will unless you explain. Since you can’t, or won’t, where do we go from here when we both want… want to…”
“Kiss,” he mercifully interrupted.
Slowly, he brushed his hand against her cheek, trailed his fingers down her throat to rest at her pulse.
“Do you do that so you can feel how my heart is pounding?” she whispered through the hot, tight feeling in her chest.
“No, I do it because I love how soft your skin feels there.” He pressed a kiss where his fingers had been.
Tiny shivers running along her spine, her resolve dissolving, she slid her hands under his sweater, her palms cool on his warm, smooth, firm-muscled chest. “Your heart is pounding, too.” Unable to resist, she gazed into his eyes. “This time it’s your turn to kiss me.”
Laughing huskily, he dragged her closer. He touched her lower lip, rubbing gently back and forth with his thumb until she closed her eyes.
His kiss felt so soft, so coaxing, her lips opened to the strokes of his tongue.
Aching to be closer, she slid her hands around to his back, tangling her fingers in the silky hair at the nape of his neck.
Frightened by such powerful erotic feelings when she knew they were wrong and could only hurt both of them, she pulled away.
With another husky laugh, he brushed his lips over her ear, nibbled at the warmth of her throat beneath the collar of her robe. “Your turn,” he whispered.
I must stop.
Her sense of self-preservation rose up to save her, but a primal need she didn’t even know she possessed urged her on.
Just one more kiss can’t hurt. It will be the last.
Her fingers caught in his hair, pulling his head down, their mouths meeting in a searching kiss, deeper and deeper until his breathing changed.
Still she pressed even closer. Caught up in spinning sensations of desire she’d never known in quite this way, she wanted to melt into his muscles and bones, the hard heat of his body.
A shrill ring and the dogs barking tore them apart.
She saw an echo of her frustrated longing in Connor’s dazed eyes and heard it in his breathing, matching hers.
“If someone’s calling at four in the morning, something’s wrong.” Trying not to tremble, she backed up two steps and spun around to look at caller ID.
“It’s Brad,” Connor said behind her, his hands cupping her shoulders, his fingertips stroking the pulse pounding at her throat. “Don’t answer it.”
Waves of feeling shook her and she leaned back into Connor’s strong, warm body.
The second ring broke tonight’s strange spell.
There can’t be so little space to pass through from loathing Connor to loving him.
Wanting, needing to believe danger had somehow intensified her feelings and made the attraction between them move so quickly it took on a life of its own, she shook her head. “I need to answer it.”
Connor’s instantaneous withdrawal left her feeling cold. Shivering, she picked up the phone.
“Brad, why are you calling at four in the morning?” Watching Connor stride out of the kitchen, Atlas and Georgia following, left a frozen lump of longing in her throat.
“I’m too keyed up to sleep and I miss you.” It was the whiskey voice of a man after a few drinks accustomed to getting his own way.
With no time for his spoiled antics, she sighed. “Brad, go to sleep. You’re tired and you’ve had too much to drink. Good-bye.”
“Wait, Venus!”
His urgency made her hesitate.
“Promise to go to the Black and White Party with me on Friday and I’ll be able to sleep like the dead.”
Because of tonight, because of Connor, she suddenly had a desperate need to clear away all the shadows from her past. That included Brad.
I’ll do this one last thing with Brad to end it completely between us.
“All right, Brad. Now go to bed.”
The cold lump in her throat expanded into her chest as she made her way past the empty guest bedroom and down the staircase.
In those few minutes she’d been on the phone, Connor had gathered up his duffel and the dogs and now waited at the front door.
Looking into his eyes, she knew Connor had shut down, closed himself off from her. His striking face looked as controlled and inscrutable as she’d once thought him. Somehow he’d turned off the raging emotion she’d felt in his body when they kissed.
I’m trying to do the same thing. Am I hiding it as well?
“I didn’t want to leave without saying good-bye. No one will make another attempt to break in here tonight. I feel sure you’ll be safe.”
His formality seemed ludicrous to her since mere moments ago they had been pressed chest to breast in multiple passionate kisses. Obviously he didn’t want to talk about it and neither did she.
Tension beat in the air between them, but she followed his cool cue, pulling her robe collar higher around her throat. “I hope this proves to you that I’m right and the real thief is trying to retrieve the brooch.”
At last she saw a spark of emotion in his emerald eyes. “It proves you’re in danger. Since you won’t give me back the brooch will you at least promise not to wear it like a damn bull’s-eye?”
“Even if I don’t wear it, the real thief knows it’s here. But that’s what we want, isn’t it. To catch the real thief. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can get Bridget and Tony back together.”
And, I hope, you will either tell me what happened with Dad or realize you are wrong about him like you are about Tony. And all my anguish over you will be worth it.
What she left unsaid quivered between them.
“Venus, I understand what you want from this. I can’t make any promises.” He took a long, deep breath and squared his shoulders. “What I do promise is that I will get additional police surveillance on this block to keep you safe and, I hope, catch the thief.”
“But you won’t tell them about Tony or how I got the brooch?” she asked, wanting to confirm what she already knew in her heart. In this Connor could be trusted.
“No. I can get it done without too many questions being asked.”
Knowing the Clayworths had the power to make it happen, she nodded. “That’s good. Then you won’t feel like you need to be on nightly guard duty to protect me.” She forced lightness into her voice when her insides felt like a melting honey pot.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Solemn, his face like smooth granite, he stared into her eyes. “Do I have your promise not to wear the brooch?”
Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she stared right back at him, hiding her heartache. “Yes, I promise. But I’m not giving up on what I want, Connor.”
“I’m not either, Venus,” he said softly and walked out her door.
His cryptic words, the flare of emotion in his eyes, and her own bruised and battered feelings kept Venus sitting on her window seat, staring out, watching the sun rise over Lake Michigan.
Her stupid plan to entice Connor into telling her all the secrets about her father scattered around her like a broken strand of pearls.
She needed to restring her life so it was strong again.
I’ll never stop wanting to help Dad. But now I want Connor, too. How can I have everything I want?
Chapter 17
Her head fuzzy from lack of sleep, Venus walked slowly toward her dad’s house for their weekly Saturday morning breakfast date before she opened Pandora’s Box for the day, and noticed the same police car cruising past her four times.
Two blocks farther west she spied yet another police car parked in the alley.
Her insides felt warm and gooey, as if she was melting from confusion, and… No! I will not put a name to my burning feelings. I’ll simply accept that Connor takes his promise to protect me very seriously.
Finally reaching her dad’s beloved “money pit,” and running late as usual, Venus rushed up the wide stairway to the second floor.
Hearing Rebecca’s voice surprised Venus as she strolled into the shabby, chic library with its slightly saggy wood floor and bookcases lined with his beloved tomes on mythology, history, literature, and a sprinkling of serious business books.
Rebecca and Kate sat on the tartan plaid love seat talking to Diana, who was curled up in front of the fireplace, which, as always for this time of year, had crackling logs warming the room.
“This is a nice surprise. We’re all having breakfast together?”
Her father stood behind his desk. “Yes, now that you’re here.” He reached out and she walked into his arms for a warm hug. The tiny gleam of sadness she always saw now in his eyes reminded Venus again why she’d plotted against Connor to find out the truth.
But what do I do now?
“Darlings, I’m sorry to interrupt your family time but I couldn’t wait another second to tell you all my news.”
If Rebecca wanted a totally attentive audience, she had it, as they all turned to look at her. Even the logs stopped crackling and spitting.
“David and I are going to have a baby girl,” she cried, her eyes filling with tears.
An instant of shocked silenc
e all at once split into shrieks of feminine joy and her father’s deep true laughter.
“Oh, my God, how wonderful.” Venus rushed to hug her.
Diana rose quickly to her feet to do the same.
Their father held Rebecca’s hands in his and looked deep into her eyes. “My daughters are the great joy of my life. I wish the same for you and David.”
Intensely private and self-contained, Kate pulled Rebecca close for a second and then smiled in the encouraging, understanding way of a dear, trusted friend who couldn’t be happier for her. “You will be an exemplary parent.”
“Thank you, darling. David and I are both still in a state of shock.” Rebecca dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief passed to her by Kate. “He is such a worrywart. This is considered a high-risk pregnancy because of my age, which means I’ll need to be monitored more often. But I know everything will be fine.”
Seeing Diana’s smile and nod of agreement gave Venus a profound release from worry. She hoped that Diana had a good vibe from the universe about Rebecca’s blessed event.
“Now, Alistair, you fully understand why I’m agreeing to David’s request to cut back on my schedule. Kate is a much better editor than I could ever hope to be.”
Alistair and Kate exchanged tentative smiles. “Not true,” she said briskly. “However, I look forward to working on Alistair’s fascinating book. Goddess mythology will be much more interesting than my usual facts and figures.”
“Perfect.” Rebecca sighed. “Like my life. To think I once thought of David as the new boss from hell. The man who had taken away my identity. Yet in actuality he is the man who has expanded me and my world beyond my wildest dreams. And trust me, I’ve always been able to dream big.” Rebecca laughed through her tears.
Her words struck such a resounding blow to Venus’s confusion that she gasped. “How long did it take for David to go from boss from hell to love of your life?”
Completely ignoring Diana’s sudden, penetrating stare, Venus watched Rebecca’s enraptured face light up the warm, dusty library.
“I’m sure there were many small ‘aha’ moments along the way. But it only seemed to take an instant when it happened.”
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