From the Torrid Past

by Ann Cristy

  "There's nothing wrong, Mrs. Petrakis. I think he was just a little too excited earlier in the evening."

  "Thank you, Susan, go back to bed. I'll take care of it."

  Sean was lying in his bed, his lashes aflutter, so that D'Arcy knew he was on the rim of sleep. "Mommy, tuck me in."

  "All right." She smiled and kissed the little face almost slipping away into sleep.

  "Do you mind that I took the chance to look at your son?" D'Arcy jumped and turned to look at Steve Linnett.

  "No. Come closer. I'm afraid you won't see too much of him awake. He's about gone." She smiled and crooked a finger, bringing him to her side.

  They stood close together, not speaking, watching the little boy's mouth sag in sleep.

  "He looks healthy," Steve muttered. "Of course 1 don't know anything about children but I'd say you have a future football player there."

  D'Arcy winced. "Please, I'd rather he didn't pick that sport."

  Steve gave her a mock glare. "You are talking to a former quarterback, lady. It's a great sport."

  "It's a modern death game for contemporary Centurions and contemporary Roman spectators," D'Arcy hissed back, shushing Steve when he started to laugh.

  He put his hand over his mouth and tiptoed in an exaggerated way back to the hall.

  D'Arcy laughed. "You look like an actor in an old-time horror movie."

  "You are a terrible hostess, insulting me at every turn," Steve mocked her.

  They leaned against the wall of the wing that led toward the open balcony over the spacious foyer.

  "Are you happy, D'Arcy?"

  "Yes." D'Arcy hoped that Steve hadn't noticed the hesitation.

  "Keele's a lucky man. I wish I had seen you first." There was no smile on Steve's face as he leaned toward her.

  D'Arcy knew he was going to kiss her. She knew that she should stop him, but she didn't.

  The kiss was pleasant. D'Arcy had to bite back the sigh that threatened to escape her as she thought of the Fourth of July that was Keele's lovemaking. No man would ever make her feel like that.

  She saw the pained look on Steve's face when he pulled back from her and knew that he was aware of the same thing.

  "As I said, Keele Petrakis is a lucky man." He took her arm and led her toward the balcony. "We had better get back to your guests."

  As they stepped from the more darkened hall into the well lit balcony, D'Arcy blinked.

  "Hello, Gerta, were you looking for me?" Steve asked the mannequin-like woman who looked from D'Arcy to Steve and back again. Steve released D'Arcy's arm and took the other woman's and drew her to the curving stairs that led down into the foyer.

  The party was a success. No one even made a move to leave until well after midnight.

  D'Arcy was disappointed that Keele didn't ask her to dance again, but she was sure, after twice around the floor with Gregor Arfos, that her legs would fall off.

  Henry was flushed with wine and elation when he danced with her. "You and Keele give a beautiful party, dear. Adelaide and I are very proud of you. We have always worried about you ever since that disastrous marriage to Rudy, but now that you have found love in the person of such a good man as Keele Petrakis, we feel our prayers for you have, been answered." He whirled her around, making her laugh. "By the way, did I tell you that that husband of yours has just invited Adelaide and me to stay the night. He says that there is no reason to drive the roads at night when we have a room here."

  D'Arcy nodded. "He's right. I'm glad you're staying."

  "What is this thing that he wants to speak to Adelaide and me about tomorrow?" Henry asked, his words only slightly slurred.

  D'Arcy's forehead creased. She shook her head as she looked up at her uncle. "I don't know."

  Henry shrugged, then gave her up to a smiling Steve.

  Steve seemed preoccupied as he maneuvered her away from the other dancers. "D'Arcy, it's probably nothing, but Keele has been giving me murderous looks. I don't know if Gerta mentioned something to him about seeing us upstairs, but I thought I should warn you."

  Ice cold fingers gripped D'Arcy's stomach but she smiled up at Steve. "Thanks, but it will be fine."

  Steve studied her face with a worried look. "All right, if you're sure, but I don't want you to..."

  "He's my husband, Steve. He wouldn't hurt me." In a flash D'Arcy knew that what she said was the absolute truth. Keele would never hurt her knowingly. He had told her on that long-ago evening in his apartment in London that he wouldn't hurt her, and he had tried very hard to make sure that she wouldn't be hurt. "Ah... what did you say, Steve?"

  "I said I don't know how you put up with that cold-faced aunt of his and that Elena Arfos. They tell me they are staying the night."

  D'Arcy hoped that he hadn't noticed how startled she was by that remark. Why had Keele invited all these people to stay the night? D'Arcy went over and over that thought in her mind and didn't come to any conclusion.

  When the guests were departing, D'Arcy took her place next to Keele, saying good night and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. She put her hand on his arm to call attention to something someone was saying to her and felt him jerk away from her. When she looked up into his gray rock face, she tried to interpret the icy rage she saw there.

  He ushered her into the living room when the last guest was gone, still not speaking to her.

  Henry and Adelaide were passing around coffee and small shrimp puffs that were left from the party.

  Keele took a cup and quaffed the contents before speaking. "D'Arcy and I have decided to spend Christmas on Keros and because it would be a great hardship for Sean to be parted from Henry and Adelaide, I want them to accompany us to Keros for Christmas."

  When the flurry of remarks had subsided a little, Anna Davos spoke up, her brows lifting a little. "It will be crowded but we will make do."

  "We will not be staying with you, Anna. I have opened up my father's house and have had it prepared for us. There is plenty of room in the villa."

  "But you have always stayed with me." Anna bit the words.

  "I am a married man. My wife likes to decorate her own homes. Much of the furniture in the house is good, but D'Arcy will want to add her own touches to our places..."

  "How many places do we have?" D'Arcy hissed, rigid with outrage that he had decided, without consulting her, where they would be staying for Christmas.

  "Six," Keele rasped. "One in Athens, one in London, this one, the one in Keros, one in Scotland, one in the Bahamas."

  "Goody." She caught the venom in the look he gave her but she gave it right back to him. How dare he decide her life on a whim! How dare he always be in a temper with her! Well, she wouldn't take it, not from him, not from anyone.

  D'Arcy was still fuming as she raced around in the short time allotted to her before they left for Keros, trying to get everything done.

  She was totally unprepared when she went in for her annual checkup and her doctor told her she was pregnant. She sat back in her chair and stared at him. "So that's why I've been so tired... sometimes nauseous in the morning. I thought I was getting the flu. Damn irregular periods."

  The doctor laughed and congratulated her, telling her she was well and could do anything she chose within reason.

  Chapter 10

  Christmas on Keros was warm, languid, mellow. Sean loved it. When he swam in the turquoise waters of the sea he would gasp and cling to his father, laughing but wary. Each day he became closer to Keele and his father never tired of telling him that he was Sean Petrakis now. The first time they took Sean sailing, D'Arcy had to restrain herself to keep from clutching Sean to her. Keele wouldn't allow it.

  "Watch him, D'Arcy. He's a natural," Keele whispered, his one arm at her waist as a warning not to interfere.

  "He's not even five years old," she said through dry lips.

  "And you don't trust me to keep my son from harm, is that it?" He ground out the words into her ear, his eyes never leaving the boy who sat
on the other side of the tiller from him. "You made a mistake not trusting me the first time we met, D'Arcy. Why do you keep compounding the mistake?"

  "I do trust you with Sean," she said, the words struggling from a parched throat as she watched her husband's golden body, clad only in the briefest silk, the dark arrow of hair on his chest pointing into the briefs. He was a beautiful man and she loved him beyond reason. She had felt every hair on that body against her own naked form, for despite their differences, Keele came to her each night and held her until dawn. It was getting more difficult to hold back the cries of love that rose in her throat each night, but each morning she was more determined than ever that Keele not know how she felt about him.

  Tennis was another game that Keele introduced his son to and this while he played D'Arcy to love in three games. She glared at the hard amusement in his eyes when she failed to return a forehand drive that just hit the base line. As usual, Sean loved trying; more often than not his tongue protruded from his mouth as he listened to his father and then tried to emulate him.

  Christmas Day dawned bright and shining and Sean was delighted with his toys—a truck carrying miniature logs and a fishing rod. Neither D'Arcy nor Keele wanted him spoiled with too many gifts. Later in the day a call came from the States to tell Sean that Rag had given birth to four puppies and that mother and babies were doing well. Sean considered that another Christmas gift and couldn't wait to tell Henry and Adelaide. Since Gregor and Elena would be accompanying Anna Davos to the house for a Christmas dinner, Sean made everyone promise that they would let him make the announcement about Rag.

  Gregor as usual overdid it. He brought Sean a pony that he could ride on Keros, with a red saddle, intricately carved.

  "I told him that it was wrong," Anna said through pursed lips. "He will spoil the boy."

  "I told him that as well." Elena looked at her father with a curled lip.

  "Be quiet, the two of you," Gregor roared, watching Keele lead Sean around the white stone drive. "He will not be spoiled. He has good stuff in him."

  Henry patted Gregor on the arm. The two men had become good friends and often had an amicable war on the chessboard. "I agree with you, my friend. He has good stuff in him."

  "Yes, but he should not be indulged with too many material things. Nothing truly belongs to you until you give it away. That is the way that D'Arcy was raised," Adelaide responded, her usually soft mouth firm and resolute.

  "He would be a fool if he gave away Petrakis money," Anna said stiffly.

  "Indeed he would," Elena agreed.

  D'Arcy could feel herself swell in defense of her aunt. Before she could say anything, Gregor thundered at the two women.

  "What would you know of anything? I will give him my money to give away if he wants it." The bearlike Greek thrust his chin forward as though daring the two women to answer him.

  When Sean was finally coaxed from the pony, they sat down to dinner. Keele had insisted that they have a traditional dinner of turkey and cranberry sauce because his son had told him how much he liked that.

  "Sean will be staying here for several more days with Henry and Adelaide." His bland tone brought D'Arcy's head up. "My wife and I will be heading to Colorado for a ski vacation that I arranged while we were in Nevada getting married."

  When D'Arcy was about to protest that she didn't want to leave Sean, Henry rose to his feet, his glance sliding away from D'Arcy's.

  "I propose a toast. To my nephew-in-law who is providing a much needed vacation in the sun for my wife and me and it won't do Sean a bit of harm either." Henry raised his glass, the others did the same.

  D'Arcy glared at her uncle. He had euchred her, knowing full well that she couldn't protest about wanting to stay with Sean after remarks like that. He was a traitor, D'Arcy thought, grinding her teeth.

  It seemed to her that Henry and Adelaide conspired with Keele to get her packed and loaded on the helicopter for the flight to Athens.

  Then Keele took over, not allowing her to speak almost until she was on the plane winging back to the States. She was groggy by the time she had boarded another jet for the flight to Colorado and the lovely ski resort of Aspen.

  The chalet that Keele had leased for them clung halfway up a mountain like a jewel in the snow.

  D'Arcy had a feeling of being the only person on the planet as she stood staring out the window wall of the chalet at the dots on the snow that were people skiing down the mountain.

  "You'll like it, D'Arcy. I've already arranged for lessons for you in the morning, and in the afternoons I'll be taking you out myself."

  She expelled a deep breath. "Why do I have the feeling that I could come cartwheeling down that slope and end up draped in liniment and bandages?" She allowed herself to lean back on her husband's muscular chest. She could feel the rumble of his laughter at her back.

  "No way. I wouldn't let it happen."

  For some strange reason D'Arcy relaxed, believing that if Keele said it wouldn't happen, it wouldn't.

  They decided to have dinner at a Rathskeller Keele knew that specialized in German dishes.

  Keele woke her from her nap to tell her this.

  "Don't tell me, let me guess. You used to ski here. Right?" D'Arcy looked up at him leaning over her, one hand on either side of her body.

  "Right." Keele laughed. "I studied for a year at UCLA and whenever we could we used to fly into Aspen and ski."

  "Rough life you've had, mister." D'Arcy tried not to let him see how affected she was by his nearness. It always made her nervous when Keele became amorous in the daylight. She felt more protected in the dark where he couldn't read the love in her eyes.

  "The toughest part of my life has been dealing with you, lady, convincing you that your place is with me," Keele rumbled, his eyes on her mouth, those leonine eyes narrowing when she licked her dry lips. "I have the feeling that I'll never really tame you."

  "You won't," D'Arcy said firmly yet through shaking lips. She tried to hold his gaze as his mouth came toward her but her lashes fell on her cheeks.

  His mouth grazed hers, a rough gentleness that sent her pulse into high gear. His lips chased over her cheeks and to each ear, then down her neck.

  D'Arcy could feel her body arching toward his as his mouth teased her. "Stop it. I should get dressed for dinner."

  "I was just thinking of unwrapping that sheet from you," Keele mumbled into her neck, his nose nuzzling the sheet further from her body.

  "We'll be late."

  "For what?" His hand brushed across her breasts, bringing the sheet away. "Ummm, you taste so good. I won't need a dinner after all..."

  "Ohhhh, Keele, don't..." D'Arcy groaned, feeling his mouth travel down her body, her navel contracting with sensation.

  "Relax, little dove, relax." Keele's mouth and hands made featherlike forays into the valleys and caves of her body, igniting a fire that seemed to pour from every vein. She could feel her breath coming in short pants as though she were losing her lung power. "Agapi mou, you are mine."

  "Yes," D'Arcy sobbed, her arms wrapping around him, her form molding to his.

  They crested together with a gush of feeling that seemed mint new to D'Arcy.

  "Tell me that no other man has ever made you feel this way, my own. Tell me." Keele still clutched her to him, his face still pressed to her body.

  "No other man has ever made me feel this way," D'Arcy said, hating him to know that, afraid that she would lose him if he knew how much she loved him.

  He lifted his head and stared down at her for long moments, unsmiling, then he rolled free of her, out of the bed and to his feet. He stretched, his Adonis body gleaming like a statue in the rays of dying sun pouring through the window. He turned to look down at her. "Come and shower with me."

  "I... I have to shampoo my hair," D'Arcy stuttered, not able to stop looking at him.

  "Fine." He shrugged, reaching down a hand to her. "I'll do it for you. Then you can do mine." The hot, liquid look in those
lion's eyes gave her the feeling that her heart was fibrillating.

  The shower was fun and Keele seemed determined to make it so. He teased her, washed her, caressed her, until D'Arcy was sure that they were going to forego food altogether.

  Keele rinsed them both, then lifted her into a fluffy bath sheet. "D'Arcy, you had better dry yourself. I have the feeling that if I did it, we would go back to bed."

  She laughed, feeling young and carefree. She was with Keele. She had him to herself for six days. Perhaps in that time she could make him love her a little. Oh, she knew that she had a strong hold on him through Sean—and through sex—but she wanted more. She wanted him to want her just because she was D'Arcy, not because she was Sean's mother.

  Keele had told her to dress casually, that ski pants and apres-ski boots would be fine for the place he was taking her.

  She had no idea how he managed to get the snowmobile, but she didn't bother to ask him, knowing by now that when Keele Petrakis wanted something, he reached for it and it was there.

  Her face was protected by the plexiglass visor on the helmet she wore, but still when they entered the door to descend to the Rathskeller she could feel that the cold had reddened her cheeks.

  The round tables were oak, small but sturdy. Keele again surprised her by ordering their dinner in German, then going to the bar and bringing back two foaming steins of beer.

  "Are you sure we're in America?" D'Arcy wiped foam from her lip and looked at Keele.

  "Wait, you missed some." He leaned over and placed his mouth over hers, sucking gently on her lower lip. "God, woman." He leaned back in his chair. "You have a power over me." His eyes never left hers as he lifted his stein in a salute to her.

  She lifted hers and touched it lightly to his. "I like the beer and that's funny because I don't usually drink the stuff."

  "You don't usually drink anything alcoholic," Keele chided her. "I don't know why, but I like that. I have never in my life been bothered by what women do, how they dress, anything..." He lifted a shoulder, as though he found his shirt too tight. "With you, it's different. I want to know everything you do. It knocks the hell out of me that you have such good taste. I love your clothes, the way you do the house. I can't ever remember thinking about it before, let alone caring."' He tipped the stein into his mouth, then set it down and looked around the small smoky room.