by Jackie Black
“Okay,” she said, stepping back to let Sonny in the house. “She’s in her father’s study . . . studying, naturally. That’s all she ever does these days.” Her voice imparted a faintly accusing note to the last sentence.
Sonny ignored it and gave Darla a stunning smile as he stepped past her and headed for the study.
As he approached the closed study door, Jay, dressed in his white karate outfit, came down the hall from the direction of the kitchen and stopped short at seeing Sonny.
“Well . . . hello . . . ?” Jay said curiously.
Sonny didn’t bat an eye. At this point, Elvis Presley could have risen from the grave and confronted him in Lissa’s hallway, and Sonny would have walked right past him.
“Hello,” he responded with a nod, and without pausing, he opened the study door and disappeared inside, shutting the door firmly behind him.
Chapter Fifteen
Elizabeth was curled up on the leather sofa with her dark head bent over a textbook. She was concentrating so intensely that she didn’t hear Sonny come into the room, and he stood silently for a moment drinking in the sight of her.
Then Elizabeth sensed his presence and looked up. Sonny saw her eyes widen and her lovely skin pale with the shock of seeing him there, and, in a flash, he was across the room, kneeling in front of her.
Elizabeth drew back and stared at him as though she’d never seen him before.
“Don’t look at me like that, Lissa,” Sonny pleaded softly. He reached and pulled the book she held from her resisting fingers, then took her hands in his own. “We’ve got to clear things up between us.”
Elizabeth continued to stare at him, her gaze turning hostile. Though her heart was beating with excitement at seeing Sonny again and having him touch her, her mind was simmering with anger.
“I tried that,” she said flatly. “You wouldn’t let me explain.”
Sonny nodded. “Because I thought another man had won you, Lissa. I thought you were sleeping with him and had chosen him over me.”
That was the last thing Elizabeth had expected him to say, and she couldn’t hide her shock.
Sonny began to explain, speaking quickly. “I’ve always thought there was another man in the picture, Lissa, and that’s why you were reluctant to get involved with me. But I thought we had so much going for us, I could beat him out eventually. Then, the evening I got back from Florida, I called here for hours, and you didn’t answer. It bothered me, but I didn’t go around the bend until I called here very early the next morning, and Danny answered the phone . . . only I didn’t know it was Danny, or that he was your brother. And since it was obvious he’d just woken up, and he implied some things that led me to believe he and you were ...”
Sonny paused, unable to put into words what he’d thought. His expression pained, he shrugged and added, "Then, I went around the bend. I thought you’d made your choice in his favor, and I was devastated.”
Elizabeth's head was whirling, and her expression showed her complete incredulity. “You mean it wasn’t because you found out that I was the Vixen that you shut me out?”
Sonny shook his head and took a deep breath. “I admit, that was a shock as well, and I was furious that you’d been keeping something like that a secret from me, but I was even more furious at seeing you up there on that stage with the man I thought you’d chosen over me. Later, when I calmed down, I realized my attitude about the Vixen was the reason you didn’t tell me. That it was my own fault you’d kept it from me. But there was still Danny between us, you see, and I couldn’t get around him.”
Elizabeth was too dazed to comment for a moment. She still couldn’t completely accept the truth. “But you looked so furious when you left the auditorium,” she finally said.
“I was,” Sonny agreed. “I saw you and Danny up on that stage together, and it nearly killed me. Anger was better than dealing with all that pain.”
“But I sang you that special song to tell you how I felt,” Lissa said, torn between her still-simmering resentment toward Sonny over the pain he’d caused her and a burgeoning sympathy for the pain he’d endured.
Sonny lifted his shoulders in a gesture of futility. “When I realized who you were, that song and the way you sang it went right out of my head, Lissa. I was irrational, I guess. I couldn’t think straight and sort it all out.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief, then opened them again and glared at Sonny.
“But Sonny, I told you in the beginning there wasn’t another man in my life!”
Sonny grimaced and shook his head. “You weren’t very convincing, Lissa. And another man was the only reason I could come up with that you wanted to ignore what was happening between you and me.” Lissa knew she hadn’t been convincing that night she’d told Sonny there wasn’t anyone else in her life, but she was still angry and didn’t want to let him off the hook.
“And the night we first met at the charity concert, Danny mentioned during his introduction that he came from a local medical family, and that was why we were doing the benefit concert. Didn’t you put two and two together when you learned I was the Vixen?” “He did?” Sonny looked and felt blank. “I didn’t hear him,” he said. “I guess I just wasn’t listening. I was too upset about Maggie’s infatuation with you and the group.”
That remark crystallized Elizabeth’s anger at him. “Yes, I could tell what you thought of me,” she said bitterly, “and it became even clearer when you came back to my dressing room after the show in New York.”
Sonny didn’t try to deny it, nor did he hide his look of regret. “I know. I thought you were a tramp, and I was ashamed of myself for being attracted to such a woman. I didn’t understand it. But that song you sang at the first concert . . . the special one—‘You’re the Only Man for Me.’ That song got to me, Lissa. I went out and bought the damned album and sneaked around like a kid to listen to it. And when you sang it again at the club, I came back to see you to try to understand what the hell was going on with me more than anything else. Then, when you kissed me—”
“It’s the fact that you thought I was a tramp from the beginning that bothers me, Sonny,” she broke in coldly. “And that you thought you were too good to be attracted to someone you were judging unfairly anyway.”
Sonny nodded. “I don’t blame you for being upset with me, Lissa. I was a prejudiced snob. All I can do is ask your forgiveness and try not to be such a jerk in the future.”
Elizabeth hesitated. His willingness to apologize, and to try to do better began to take the steam out of her anger with him. Then, she remembered that she hadn’t helped matters with the performance she’d put on in her dressing room the night he’d kissed her for the first time, and her anger melted a little more.
“I deliberately played on your prejudice against the type of woman you thought I was in my dressing room in New York that time, Sonny,” she admitted, her tone more reasonable.
Sonny was puzzled. “Well, I admit I was wrong to judge you without knowing you,” he said, “but why did you behave so out of character and try to make me think you were going to sleep with someone for giving you a job?”
Lissa sighed and shook her head. “Because I sensed it would get rid of you, and I was afraid of you.”
Sonny felt astonished. “Afraid of me? Why, for God’s sake?” Elizabeth gave him a level look. “Because you were a doctor, Sonny . . . and more important, you were a doctor who practiced in Boston who had exactly the sort of prejudice against rock singers that worried me. That’s what the makeup and clothes were all about, Sonny. I didn’t want the medical community here in Boston to find out I was playing the role of the Vixen temporarily. 1 was afraid they would never take me seriously, and my career as a doctor would be damaged for completely spurious reasons.”
Sonny hung his head in an expression of shame and disbelief for a moment, before he raised it again and shook it, staring at Lissa with helpless regret.
Slowly, Elizabeth’s anger
drained away completely. She began to accept that Sonny really had learned his lesson and that he was sincerely sorry for the misunderstandings his prejudice had caused between them.
“Sonny she began tentatively.
“Yes?” he responded, gazing at her with tender love and dawning hope in his eyes.
His look made Elizabeth smile. “Aren’t you uncomfortable down there on your knees? Why don’t you come sit beside me?”
Sonny looked even more hopeful. “I have a better idea,” he said as he stood up without letting go of Elizabeth’s hands. “Why don’t you come up here with me?”
Gently, he tugged at her hands, and his heart surged as she allowed him to pull her to her feet and stood gazing at him as though she were waiting for something.
“Lissa . . . ,” he said softly. “I love you completely. Please say you forgive me and give me another chance.”
Lissa hesitated. “What if I have to fill in for Darla again someday?” she asked quietly. “Will that bother you? Can you love me as the Vixen, too?”
Sonny held her gaze steadily, a small smile on his lips. “I wanted the Vixen before I wanted Lissa Farrell,” he replied. “Now, if I can have both of you, I’ll be the happiest man alive.”
Elizabeth believed him, and she began to feel as though a heavy weight were slipping off her shoulders, leaving her free to enjoy life to the fullest ... to love Sonny the way she’d always wanted to love him.
“Then what are you waiting for?” she asked softly. “Both of us are here for the taking.”
Staring down into her eyes, Sonny whispered, “Not a thing.”
And he bent to her mouth, kissing her with reverential sweetness at first, until Lissa circled his neck with her arms and leaned into him. Then, the fire that had been simmering inside him for so long burst into flame and the kiss took on an entirely different character.
Elizabeth met his kiss with as much urgency as he gave it, until both of them knew they couldn’t go on like this until they had complete privacy. Then they simply held on to one another, very tightly, for a few long, frustratingly satisfying moments.
Finally, Elizabeth drew back and said shakily, “Come on. I guess I’d better introduce you to the rest of my household.”
Sonny gave her a speaking look. “Can we be alone together later? I still feel petrified when I think of how close I came to losing you . . . and we’ve waited long enough, don’t you think?”
Elizabeth searched his face with her eyes, suddenly fearing her own capacity to satisfy him. “I hope I don’t disappoint you, Sonny,” she said softly. “I’m not at all experienced.”
“I’d begun to guess that.” He smiled at her tenderly. “But don’t worry about disappointing me, darling. It won’t happen.”
He enjoyed Elizabeth’s look of relief and anticipation enormously, then his curiosity got the better of him. “Why aren’t you experienced, Lissa?” he asked. “Have you never been in love before?” He hoped she hadn’t. He wanted to be everything to her.
“No, I’ve never been in love until now,” Lissa said, and received a stunning look of love for her confession. “But it wasn’t only that. I’m a doctor’s daughter, remember? By the age of twelve, I knew every technical detail about sex there is and I didn’t need to experiment to find out what it was all about. It held no mysteries for me ... at least, no intellectual mysteries.” She gazed at him with her heart in her eyes, and added, very softly, “It wasn’t until I met you that I began to understand what sex is really all about.”
Sonny returned her look, feeling joyous and yet humble ... eager and yet a little scared of the responsibility of introducing Lissa to her own womanhood. He hoped it didn’t turn out that he was the one who disappointed her.
“Then I hope I don’t disappoint you either,” he said, his voice husky.
Elizabeth smiled at him, and the smile was sweetly sensual. “I’m not in the least worried about that,” she assured him softly. “If your foreplay is any indication, I can’t wait for the rest of the experience.” Sonny suddenly grinned, and his eyes began to glow with heated anticipation. “I can’t either,” he said, “so let’s get married as soon as possible.”
A knock on the door prevented Elizabeth from answering, and Sonny groaned and closed his eyes.
“Come in,” Elizabeth called, laughter in her voice.
Darla stuck her head in the door. “Dinner’s ready,” she said with a cheerful lack of repentance over what she’d interrupted. “Are you two hungry?”
In a dryly resigned tone, and perfectly straight-faced, Sonny answered for both of them. “I think I can safely say we’re both starved.”
Later that night, in a suite Sonny rented in Boston’s best hotel, Elizabeth came out of the bathroom dressed in her best peignoir, and found Sonny waiting as eagerly for her as she could wish for. She wasn’t the least nervous, and she came into his arms as naturally as though they were already married, though the wedding wouldn’t be held until the following Saturday.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled her sweetest smile. “I think my brother was a little shocked when you carried me away with you,” she teased, “though I guess it helped when you told him you were going to make an honest woman of me next week.” Though Sonny could understand how any brother might feel under the circumstances, his grin was unrepentant. Despite Danny’s explanation of why he’d behaved as he had on the phone with Sonny, Sonny had rather enjoyed paying Danny Farrell back for that early-morning conversation they’d had which had resulted in one of the worst weeks in Sonny’s life.
“I can see you aren’t interested in Danny’s brotherly feelings,” Elizabeth said with mock soberness.
“Not in the least,” Sonny agreed. “The only feelings I’m interested in right now are yours and mine.” And he ran his hands up the silk of Elizabeth’s gown suggestively, while his eyes began to take on a glow Elizabeth recognized and which excited her into a breathless state.
“I feel the same,” she murmured, moving closer to him. “So take me to bed, Dr. Strotherton. I’ve read all the texts on sex, and now I’m ready for some hands-on experimentation.”
“You really are a Vixen underneath that ladylike exterior, aren’t you?” Sonny said with a great deal of satisfaction. “And I’ll be more than happy to complete your education.”
Elizabeth was amazed when Sonny bent and picked her up in his arms to carry her to the bed.
“That wasn’t in the textbooks,” she said with surprised approval after he kissed her, then placed her on the bed and straightened to remove his clothes.
“I have a lot of things to teach you they don’t put in books.” Sonny grinned as he joined her under the covers.
“Oh, I hope so,” Elizabeth said fervently as she came into his arms and snuggled against him. “Those illustrations were so . . . so . . .”
“Technical?” Sonny teased, caressing her with his smile and his look as surely as he had begun to with his hands.
“And emotionally sterile,” Elizabeth agreed breathlessly, lifting her mouth for a kiss.
Sonny kissed her in a way intended to erase any notion she might still have that making love had anything to do with technical sex, and in the process reduced Elizabeth to a state of trembling anticipation.
“Show me more,” she whispered huskily, when Sonny at last let her breathe again.
“With pleasure,” he murmured huskily, and moved his mouth to the base of her throat before beginning to trace an erotic path from there to the curve of her breast above the nightgown she wore.
As he nuzzled her flesh in a tantalizing way, Elizabeth cupped the back of his neck with her hand, aiding his exploration.
“Wouldn’t this work better if I didn’t have this gown on?” she finally suggested, her voice trembling slightly.
Sonny raised his head, and his smile and the gleam of blue fire in his eyes were as exciting to Elizabeth as his touch.
“That’s another thing the textbooks don’t tell
you,” he said in a low, erotically caressing tone. “There’s an art to each stage along the road to where we want to go.”
“Then I’ll be quiet and learn, while you demonstrate,” Elizabeth said shakily.
Sonny shook his head. “I don’t want you to be quiet,” he said, his voice thickening as he watched Lissa’s reaction to the rubbing of his thumb near the tip of her breast. “And I don’t want merely to demonstrate. I want you participating in everything that happens between us from beginning to end.”
Elizabeth’s eyes began to cloud with passion, and her willing smile grew sensually inviting. “Oh . . . well, in that case . . . ,” she whispered from deep in her throat. Pressing on the back of his neck, she raised herself slightly to meet his mouth, kissing him as uninhibitedly as though they’d been making love for years.
Sometime later, they passed the point where Sonny demonstrated the fine art of removing her gown, and he was poised above her, his eyes glistening with a mixture of passion and concern.
“This may hurt a bit at first,” he said, his voice grating thickly with the effort he was making to hold on to his control.
“No, darling . . . ,” Elizabeth gasped. “I want you. Do it, Sonny . . . please . . . now . . And her next gasp was one of pain as Sonny obliged, but the pain was quickly replaced by pleasure. *
“Darling, I’m sorry,” Sonny said shakenly, his body and mind in severe conflict.
“Don’t be,” Elizabeth said shakily. “Just make love to me.”
And slowly, with tender gentleness at first, they made love until Elizabeth had completely forgotten the hurt of the initial invasion and was again caught up in the joy of his loving.
Sonny reacted to her vibrant response by gradually loosening the tight rein he was holding on himself, and as the power of his love- making increased, Elizabeth’s senses began to reel. She gave an inarticulate little cry of surprise and pleasure as she felt herself going completely over the edge of control and plunging into the shuddering bliss of sheer ecstasy, and she held Sonny tightly against her as she felt him join her in a shuddering release of his own.