“It’s myself I had to forgive. I’ll tell you everything later.”
Joshua, caught up in the joy that he was to father a child, refused to think of the possibility that Vanessa could be indicted by the very people he worked for. He would worry about that later—much later.
Vanessa waded into the clear, blue-green waters of the Caribbean, nimbly dodging the waves rolling gently against the beach bordering Joshua’s house.
After a light breakfast, which she was able to keep down, Joshua gave her a tour of the two-story, white stucco structure with a red tile Spanish roof. Everything about the house was wholly West Indian in character—from its design to the furnishings—and she was totally enthralled with the beds, armoires, tables, chairs, desks, china, linen and serving pieces from a bygone era.
She had opened all of the Creole jalousie shutters on the second floor, letting in the cooling breezes from the sea. When she’d stood looking out at the lushness of the property, the distinctive smell of salt water and tree-ripened fruit had filled the large rooms which overlooked a veranda enclosed by elaborately designed wrought-iron.
She’d felt a special thrill when Joshua told her that the house now belonged to her, and she could decorate it any way she wanted it.
She sat down in the water, feeling more like a child than an adult. She’d missed the ocean. When she first moved to New Mexico she had been awed by the unending landscape and the mountains, and hadn’t realized how much she missed seeing the ocean until she returned to California to visit her parents.
Joshua said he was willing to relocate to Santa Fe, and she wondered if he, too, would miss living near the water. He had the Atlantic Ocean in Palm Beach and the Caribbean in Ocho Rios.
Her thin cotton dress was soaked through by the time she stood up and walked back to the beach where Joshua lay face down on his folded arms, naked.
At first she had been startled when he walked down to the beach, shed his clothes, and swam nude. He’d explained that he owned more than five miles of the surrounding beach. Even knowing that the beach was private, she hadn’t felt comfortable enough to swim nude. Not yet.
The tropical sun had bleached his hair white and tanned his skin until he was almost as dark as she was. And the contrast between his face and eyes was shockingly hypnotic.
Sitting down beside him, she wrung the water out of her dress. Without warning, he sprang up and eased her back to the sand. His penetrating gaze rested on the shape of her bare breasts clearly outlined through the damp fabric.
She held his gaze with her own. “Who did you get your eye color from?”
He shifted a pale eyebrow, seemingly surprised by her question. “My hair and eyes are my mother’s. My height and coloring are my father’s.”
“What about the rest of your face?”
He smiled at this question. “It’s my maternal grandfather’s.”
He continued to stare at her, and Vanessa felt an increasing uneasiness under his penetrating examination.
“I’m married to you, yet I know very little about you. Why is that, Joshua?”
“Because you haven’t asked, that’s why.”
“I’m asking now. I want to know everything you’re willing to tell me.”
He released her, and she sat up. Undoing the buttons on the front of her dress, she slipped out of it and spread it out on the sand to dry. She then removed her panties and lay them on the sand beside the dress.
Joshua stared at her perfectly formed, ripening feminine body. “How do you expect me to concentrate when you’re tempting me?”
Combing her fingers through her wet hair, she turned her face up to the sun and closed her eyes against the blinding rays. “There’s nothing to concentrate on. Just open your mouth and tell the truth.”
His hands went to her shoulders, holding them gently. “The truth is that I love you and that I’ve missed you.”
A seductive smile curved her sensual mouth. “Missed me how?”
“Like this,” he said softly as he touched his lips to hers. “And this.” His mouth moved lower to the base of her throat. “And especially this.” He fastened his lips to her belly, his tongue tasting the salty particles clinging to her velvety flesh.
“Hello, little baby,” he crooned against her flat belly. “This is your daddy. I want you to be good to your mommy while you grow strong inside of her. And when you’re ready to be born I’ll be right here to love and protect you.”
Vanessa cradled Joshua’s head as her eyes flooded with tears of joy. Lowering her cheek to his hair, she whispered, “Make love to me, darling. Now!”
His head came up, his eyes wide and questioning. First she’d balked at swimming nude, and now she wanted him to make love to her under the heavens.
Pulling her dress closer to where they lay, he eased her down on it, then moved into her outstretched arms. The heated blood rushed to his groin, leaving him lightheaded with the rising passion.
Settling himself between her thighs, he kissed her mouth with the lightness of a butterfly’s wing. Her slender arms tightened around his neck, increasing the pressure of his mouth on hers.
His hand had barely touched her breast when the nipple hardened against his palm. There was no doubt that she was as aroused as he was.
Adjusting his body, he angled for position and eased his swollen flesh into her, both of them sighing with the intense pleasure of flesh meeting flesh.
She had asked him to love her, and he did. He took her, alternating between long, deep thrusts and shorter, quicker ones that prolonged the ecstasy neither of them wanted to experience—not yet.
The sun burned brighter, hotter, but it could not match the torrid lust fusing the two people on the beach into one.
What Vanessa and Joshua could not do was put off the inevitable; they could not prolong or temper the blinding, scorching passion screaming for escape.
Lifting her hips, and cradling them in the palms of his hands, Joshua surrendered his passion, breathing out the remnants of his explosive release into her open mouth at the same time Vanessa abandoned herself to the explosive ecstasy shattering her into tiny bits of brilliant light.
They lay on the beach, spent, their passions sleeping until the next time.
Joshua rolled over, bringing Vanessa with him. He smiled up at her and was rewarded with the sensual smile that never failed to melt his heart.
“Let’s go inside before we burn,” he suggested. “I’ll wash your back if you’ll wash mine, and I’ll tell you whatever it is you want to know about me.”
Vanessa sat beside Joshua in the vintage automobile as he drove expertly along a narrow road in what he’d called the back country. He had promised to take her to a restaurant where she would sample some of the best Jamaican food served on the island.
Maneuvering into a large clearing, he turned off the engine. She sat up straighter and stared out at more than a dozen bungalows painted in tropical pinks, yellows, and blues. Each had a matching red tile roof.
Her eyes brightened. “Oh, Joshua, they’re charming.”
He smiled at the excitement lighting up her face. “The restaurant is another two hundred yards. Do you mind walking?”
“Of course not.” She unlocked her door and waited for him to circle the car and help her out.
His arm went around her slim waist as he led her through what looked like a small village. The scent of her perfumed body wafted in the night air, reminding him of the passion they’d shared earlier.
He’d told her of his mother’s affair with Samuel Cole and detailed his being estranged from his half-brothers and sisters until his older brother, Martin, sought him out a month before he entered college. What he did not tell her was that the college was the Military Academy at West Point.
He also revealed that his relationship with his siblings improved slowly over the years until they had developed an accepting respect for one another.
His fingers grazed the smooth flesh over her bared back. When he
told Vanessa they were eating dinner out, she had put on one of the few dresses she’d brought with her—a slim, white halter dress with a generous slit up the front that ended several inches above her knees which flattered her slender body and rich, dark coloring. Her high-heeled sandals clicked rhythmically over the narrow cobblestone path laid out along the perimeter of the pastel-colored bungalows to a larger, lime green stucco structure.
The distinctive sound of steel pans playing an upbeat tune drifted from the ocean windows, along with the sounds of laughter and voices raised in song.
Vanessa glanced up at Joshua, smiling. “It sounds like a fun place.”
“It is,” he confirmed with a mysterious smile.
A white-jacketed waiter stepped aside as they entered the restaurant. Inclining his head slightly, he flashed a warm, inviting smile, displaying a set of beautiful white teeth.
“Good evening, Mr. Kirkland. We’ve been expecting you.”
“Thank you, Duncan.” Pulling Vanessa closer to his side, he glanced down at her. “I’d like to present my wife. Vanessa, this is Mr. Duncan Alton.”
Duncan bowed again. “Mrs. Kirkland.”
She flashed her winning smile. “Mr. Alton.”
“Come right this way. Your table is ready.”
Vanessa looked around her as they were shown to their table. The restaurant was larger than it appeared from the outside. There were dozens of tables, all of them crowded, a bar, an area set aside for a dance floor and an elevated stage where a quartet played a rocking rendition of a popular calypso.
The rattan furniture, potted palms, banana trees, the orchids hanging from poles rising high above the wooden floor, were all in keeping with the tropical locale, while the mouth-watering aroma of food wafting from the kitchen reminded her of the need to put some food into her stomach. She had eaten sparingly, not wishing to undergo another bout of nausea similar to the one she’d experienced when she’d shared lunch with Lisabeth.
When they reached their table Duncan stepped back politely and permitted Joshua to seat his own wife. He waited for Joshua to take his seat, then said, “Lindsay will serve you tonight.”
Vanessa smiled across the small table at her husband. He’d elected to wear white: a banded collar linen shirt, a pair of loose-fitting linen slacks and an unconstructed matching linen jacket. His overall appearance was breathtaking with his sun-bleached white hair; it was an attractive contrast to his shimmering, sun-browned face.
A young man approached their table, a shy smile softening his already youthful face. Vanessa guessed he was no more than seventeen or eighteen.
“Good evening, Mr. Kirkland.” He gave Vanessa a surreptitious glance. “Mrs. Kirkland. It will be my pleasure to serve you this evening.”
He’s so charming, she thought, giving him a warm smile. He was a younger, darker version of Duncan Alton. Even his voice was the same: soft, refined, with a hint of a British accent.
“How is your sister, Maryeles?” Joshua questioned.
“She is well, Mr. Kirkland. She boasts a great deal, saying she does a fine job taking care of your house while you’re away.”
“And she does, Lindsay. A very fine job indeed.”
Lindsay stood up straighter, flicking a nonexistent piece of dirt from the sleeve of his pristine white jacket. “Are you and your lady ready to order?”
“Can you give us a few minutes to study the menu?”
“But you wrote the menu, Mr—” Lindsay clapped a hand over his mouth when he realized he had made a serious faux pas.
Joshua did not glance up, but continued to study the selections printed on the menu. “But Mrs. Kirkland is not aware of what is on the menu.”
“I—I will be back whenever you are ready,” Lindsay said quickly, then scampered away.
Moving the small votive glass with a burning candle to a corner of the table, Vanessa leaned forward and stared at Joshua’s bowed head. “Now, what was that all about?”
He pretended interest in the menu. “Nothing.”
She placed a hand over his. “Do you own this place?”
His head came up slowly. “Yes. And my brother Martin and I are partners in three other ventures just like this one.”
Her eyebrows shifted. “All in Jamaica?”
He nodded. “Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Port Antonio.”
“What else are you hiding from me?” she questioned softly as her gaze narrowed.
“Nothing else.”
“You’re not lying to me are you, Joshua Kirkland?”
“No.” And he wasn’t. If he didn’t deny something she’d questioned, then he wasn’t lying.
Removing her hand, Vanessa turned to study her menu. “I want something to drink. What do you recommend?”
“Try the soursop. It’s like a milkshake.”
“What about the food? If it’s spicy it’s not going to stay down.”
“Mama’s got to eat, and baby’s got to eat,” he mumbled to himself. “What do we order?”
Vanessa managed to eat a small portion of baked swordfish, plain white rice and several slices of sweet plantains. They settled easily in her stomach, along with the deliciously chilled soursop. Joshua watched her carefully with each forkful she put into her mouth.
“Do you feel like dancing?” he asked after she finished.
“No, Joshua.”
Pressing his fist to his mouth, he shook his head. “I remember you enjoying a dance with me on more than one occasion.” Rising to his feet, he circled the table and gripped her elbow. “Up on your feet, Mrs. Kirkland.”
“I can’t,” she whispered, protesting with every step she took as he led her out to the dance floor.
Pulling her flush against his body, he held her firmly. “Follow me, Angel.”
And she did, dipping and swaying to the rocking calypso beat. Everyone in the restaurant was up on their feet, gyrating and grinding, and when Joshua swung her out Vanessa found herself in the arms of another man who swung her around wildly, then handed her back to her husband.
A trio of singers joined the band and they played an extended version of “Dollar Wine.” After twenty minutes on her feet Vanessa told Joshua she had to catch her breath. He led her outside, both of them laughing and breathing heavily.
Without warning, he bent slightly and swept her up into his arms. “Let’s go home and have our own private party,” he whispered seductively in her ear.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
He carried her to the car, where they hummed and gyrated on their seats until they arrived at the house where they would reaffirm their love—over and over throughout the night.
* * *
Vanessa felt a rush of disappointment the moment the plane touched down at the Santa Fe airport late Monday afternoon. It was back to reality and back to living a lie. The man she had spent three full days with had given her a glimpse of what her life would be like if they could live openly as husband and wife, and she had wanted that to last—forever.
They were silent as they sat in the back of the taxi. The driver would drop her off first, then take Joshua to his hotel. Making certain she was safely in her house, he kissed her passionately. Then, without saying a word, he turned and walked back to the waiting taxi.
Vanessa stood in the entry, listening until the sound of the departing car’s engine faded completely. Then, she made her way slowly up the staircase to her bedroom. Falling across the bed, she closed her eyes and slept until the alarm woke her early the following morning.
Chapter 29
Vanessa strolled into the reception area of GEA tanned and relaxed.
“Nice tan,” Anne commented when she exited the elevator.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
“Looking good, partner,” Shane complimented as he passed her. Turning around, he backpedaled, winking.
“Thanks, partner,” she returned, waving.
Walking into her office, she dropped her leather case on a chair, opened the v
ertical blinds, and flopped down on the chair behind her desk.
Before she had the opportunity to pick up the messages on her voice-mail the phone rang. Inhaling deeply, she picked up the receiver. “This is Vanessa.”
“I heard you were back, Girlfriend. Now, tell me, where did you go to get your tan?”
“Lisabeth,” she whispered softly. “I’m not back three minutes, and the gossip mill is grinding.”
“When you work for GEA you don’t have a private life.”
“Tell me about it.”
“No. Tell me where you were over the weekend.”
“Give me a few minutes to make a phone call, then come on around to see me.”
Vanessa rang off, then flipped through her Rolodex for the number of her gynecologist. She spoke to the nurse at the doctor’s office, explaining her findings, and the nurse gave her an appointment for later that afternoon.
The moment she replaced the receiver in its cradle Lisabeth stood in the doorway, hands folded on her rounded hips. Her sharp gaze took in Vanessa’s radiant face.
“Hey, Girlfriend, you look wonderful.”
Vanessa waved her closer. “I feel wonderful.”
Lisabeth wagged her head. “No more nausea?”
“Nope.”
Walking into the room and sitting down on a chair beside the desk, Lisabeth leaned over and glanced up at Vanessa from under her eyelids. “Tell me something. Where did you go?”
Vanessa opened her mouth, then closed it. Joshua stood in the doorway, trapping her within his mesmerizing gaze. Lisabeth, seeing the direction of her gaze, turned slowly on her chair. Standing up quickly, she gave him a tight smile. “Mr. Kirkland.”
He waited until she was abreast of him, then stepped aside. “Miss Nelson.” Closing the door behind the departing personnel director, he leaned against it. His tender gaze reached across the space separating him from Vanessa, enveloping her in a cocoon of warmth.
She frowned at him. “Why do you do that to her?”
He arched a pale eyebrow. “Do what?”
“Intimidate her.”
“I didn’t come here to discuss Lisabeth Nelson.”
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