From the Torrid Past

by Ann Cristy

  D'Arcy felt dry-mouthed. She couldn't have said anything if a cattle prod had been put to her. She reeled with the thought that he must care to speak that way. She scolded herself for being too quick. It was the German beer. It made him talk funny.

  The food was very hot and very good. Keele laughed when her spaetzle kept dropping from her fork. She almost burned her mouth on the sauerbraten. Twice Keele wiped gravy from her chin. Finally he hitched his chair closer to hers.

  "I'm going to arrange to have you strapped in the youth chair the next time we come." He laughed at her when she groped for her beer and took a deep swallow to cool her stinging mouth.

  D'Arcy glared at him, fanning her mouth. "What a monster you are, laughing at me when I'm burning to death." She held up her stein. "I need more beer."

  Keele laughed and shook his head. "I'll have to lash you to me for the trip home if you have much more." He rose and went to the little bar, returning with two filled steins.

  D'Arcy wanted to have some of the cheese kuchen, but she couldn't find the room.

  The dancing was energetic and welcome after such a heavy meal. In between dances, the musicians would raise their steins and sing a song called "Ein Prosit," then they would salute each other and drink.

  D'Arcy was having a wonderful time. It amazed her how good the beer tasted after the lively ethnic dances. She clung to Keele and laughed and jumped eagerly to her feet when each dance began. It delighted her that her husband knew all the steps and never seemed to tire of dancing with her.

  Once they returned to their table, instead of sitting in her own seat, D'Arcy plopped herself into Keele's lap and lifted his stein to her mouth.

  "No one in this room would guess that I had a career photographer in my lap. And no one here would guess that you're old enough to be a mother." He nuzzled her ear, holding her close to. him, but taking the stein from her grasp. "Enough of that, I think. I don't want you getting sick."

  D'Arcy felt lazy, yet on fire and reckless. She let her lips run down his cheek. "Would you be sad if I was sick?" D'Arcy babbled into his face.

  "Yes," Keele said, not turning his head, an amused look on his face.

  Under the hand she had pressed to his chest, D'Arcy felt his heart accelerate. He wasn't as indifferent as his smile seemed to indicate.

  "Then you'll just have to take good care of me." D'Arcy nibbled at his earlobe.

  Keele surged to his feet, letting her slide down his body but not releasing her. "I'll pay the bill."

  D'Arcy felt his hands linger on her shoulders as he helped her into her down jacket. He zipped her up tight, tying her hood under her chin.

  Outside the wind was down, but the night was crystal clear and crisply cold. The stars looked like ice chips on black velvet, the moon like a pearl. She clung to Keele on the trip back, eyes closed, wishing on the moon that she could be close to him always.

  He lifted her off the snowmobile and carried her into the house, shutting the door with his foot. He didn't even pause in the lower area but strode straight up the stairs and to the bedroom.

  He lowered her onto the bed. When he would have lifted up, D'Arcy tightened her hands on his neck, pulling him down to her. Their clothes were dispatched with a speed that was remarkable if they had thought about it. Their thoughts, hands, and mouths concentrated only on each other. They made love in total silence, then fell asleep in each other's arms.

  In the morning she woke first, feeling happy, not wanting to move, knowing that she would be sick when she did. She raised her head and felt the first queasiness. She made it to the bathroom in time for the wrenching nausea to spend itself. She felt a cool hand on her head as she gasped for air.

  "I had a feeling that was too much beer for you. You're not used to it." Keele lifted her to her feet, then took a warm, moist cloth to her face. His expression showed concern for her. "You should stay in bed this morning. I'll cancel the ski lesson."

  "No need to do that," D'Arcy said, leaning against him while he wiped her face. "It wasn't the beer. I danced most of that away." She looked up at him and grinned. "You're going to be a father again."

  "What? Are you sure? Are you well?" He swept her up into his arms. "That damned long plane ride couldn't have been good for you." He strode from the bathroom into their room, holding her against his naked body.

  She lay back against the pillows, watching him as he climbed in beside her and gathered her to him. "It tired me, but I'm fine really. My doctor said anything within reason and he said it would be fine as long as I didn't overdo. You go along and ski and I'll take my lesson."

  "No," Keele growled into her forehead. "Where you go, that's where I'll be. Are you warm?"

  "Umm, toasty." D'Arcy never wanted to move away from him.

  After a warm shower, she and Keele dressed, smiling at each other. He seemed to be wherever she was. He insisted on fitting her walking boots to her feet, then on putting extra sweaters and socks into his pack for her.

  They breakfasted in the main lodge on eggs and ham. Then Keele introduced her to her instructor and told the handsome young man that he would be coming along.

  Keele fussed so much about putting on her skis and making sure it wasn't too windy that D'Arcy was embarrassed.

  She found the lesson on the beginner's hill more fun after she was able to dissuade Keele from staying with her and assuring him that she would be more comfortable if he did his runs while she had her lessons. She was aghast at the amount of instruction he heaped on the head of Carl, the teacher, before he would finally leave.

  "Whew." Carl pretended to wipe his forehead. "I've heard about guys like that, but I didn't think they could be this bad. He's crazy about you, isn't he?" Carl grinned as he showed her the stem christie.

  "Is he?" D'Arcy looked at him hopefully.

  "You're quite a kidder, Mrs. Petrakis."

  Carl assured D'Arcy that she would be on the intermediate hill before the end of the week as he watched her snowplow to a stop. Then he shook her hand and said he would see her tomorrow.

  D'Arcy nodded, then went to the lift.

  "Where do you think you're going?"

  "Keele! I thought you went up the mountain." D'Arcy rocked on her skis as she watched him move in effortless grace toward her.

  "I did and skied down." He reached her and squinted into her face. "Are you sure you're not cold?"

  "No. I had a hot chocolate with Carl. I would like to try to ski some more."

  "All right, but I won't let you get tired," Keele warned her.

  The skiing down was exhilarating. D'Arcy found it easier than getting off the lift. When she stumbled doing that, Keele was there to hold her.

  That night they dressed for dinner. Keele hired a car to take them the short distance to the restaurant.

  They had lemon sole and crepes.

  "Your appetite is so good at any time that I wouldn't be able to guess that you're pregnant." He frowned at her through the smoke of the Corona Colorado he was rolling between his fingers. "Which makes the episode with the ladder far more serious, D'Arcy. You could have aborted if I hadn't been there to catch you."

  "Yes, I know, but in my defense I didn't guess then that I was pregnant. It wasn't until I went to Dr. Steeler for my physical that he discovered it. I'm always so irregular, I didn't think anything of it when I missed a period." She reddened under his gaze, glad when he took her hand to lead her to the dance floor.

  "I always loved dancing, but with you I'm addicted to it." His breath feathered her cheek. "I had the feeling that my wife was trying to seduce me last night," he drawled after long moments of turning round the floor in silence.

  D'Arcy pulled back from him irrationally angry that he should be so perceptive. "Would that anger you?"

  "God, D'Arcy, the thought of it made me so happy, I couldn't get up the stairs fast enough last night." His lips gnawed at her ear as he leaned over her. "After Rudy's funeral I tried so hard to find you," Keele breathed, their tightly locked bod
ies merely swaying to the music. "The detectives I had looking for you weren't able to trace you in the States at first. They were backtracking at the university Alessio attended when you turned up on Keros. That's the closest I've ever come to passing out, when I turned and saw you in Anna's lounge."

  "Me too." D'Arcy stroked the crisp hair at his nape. She had the strangest feeling as she looked up into his face and saw the gold fire of his eyes as they touched every pore of her face. He had looked at her like that in London and had both frightened and titillated her.

  "Did you ever think of our night together?" Keele's face looked hewn from rock, the bones pushing through the too taut skin.

  D'Arcy swallowed, wanting to look away from those gold laser eyes, wanting to tell him "no." She had the feeling that if she looked over her shoulder she would see her bastions crumbling, her bridges burning, her defenses flattened. "Yes." Her voice was hoarse and she couldn't seem to clear it. "There were some days that I only thought of you a little, but I had to be working at top speed."

  Keele's throat worked as though he had swallowed a stone. His lips parted, but no words came, as both arms enveloped her, his fingers kneading her skin.

  D'Arcy looked back at him, awed by the unpeeled look in his face. Hope sprang up like a fountain in her. "When I was far along with Sean, I used to put my hand there and feel him leaping and was so sure he would be a boy, just like you, and I was glad."

  "D'Arcy," Keele groaned, his eyes glazed as he looked around him. "We have to go home."

  On the short ride home, his one arm kept her close to his side, his chin rubbing her hair. He insisted on lifting her from the car, cradling her like a baby in his arms. "I'm caring for you now."

  He lowered her onto the large couch in the living room, then put a taper to the newly built fire. He sat down next to her, pulling her into his arms. "Was it bad for you, D'Arcy? Having Sean, I mean?"

  She looked up at him, savoring the emotion she saw there, the open want. "Well, the first one is usually the worst, they tell me. I was a little rundown. The labor was a little longer than I would have liked." She glossed over those awful moments when she had cried out his name over and over, sure that she was going to die. "When they brought the baby to me, one of the nurses said that she thought the name Keele was an unusual one for a baby, but that is what I had told them I was going to call a boy." D'Arcy soothed him when he moaned into her hair, feeling his pain.

  "God, I should have been with you. You were so alone. You needed me." His voice cracked.

  D'Arcy saw the moist gold of those eyes as he looked down at her. "I'll always need you. I need you now." She felt a boulder lift from her spirit. The sudden freedom gave her the feeling that she might float to the ceiling at any moment.

  His mouth was on hers, the firm tenderness of his tongue branding her mouth, searching and finding her tongue. "You are mine, D'Arcy. Kiss me." His mouth latched to hers, coaxing hers to become part of him. "I love you, D'Arcy. I have since I saw you in the hallway of that hotel in London. I thought, 'that's what I want.' You told me you were married in that puritan way that you had—and I wanted to kill the guy for taking what was mine. Then I saw the way Alessio looked at you and knew that he hadn't a clue to the woman you were, the woman you still are." His hands strayed to the zipper at the back of her silk sheath. D'Arcy leaned forward to make it easier. He sighed as the dress fell forward into his hands, exposing the creamy swell of breasts. He took one rose tip into his mouth, sucking gently. "Are your breasts fuller already, love?" he murmured, lifting his head to look down at her, his one hand caressing the fullness.

  "Yes, I think so, but not much." D'Arcy was having trouble breathing.

  "Did you nurse Sean?" Keele couldn't seem to get enough of her breasts.

  "Yes, for about five months," D'Arcy mumbled arching her neck so that he would continue to kiss her there as well.

  "God, I'm jealous of him, my own son, that he had what I want and need for five months." Keele finished removing her bra and began rolling her panty hose from her body. "I used to have nightmares about Alessio making love to you, then sometimes I'd dream of you with other men. It was hell. For two years after you left me, I used to drink myself to sleep so I wouldn't dream."

  She tightened her arms around him, wanting to drive the bogeys away.

  "When I thought another man had made you pregnant and right after you returned to the States after leaving me, I went out and got so drunk, I couldn't stand. Some of the fishermen who knew me as a kid let me sleep on their boat. Yanos told me that I kept calling out to someone named D'Arcy." He kissed her knees, then looked up at her, smiling. "You remember, don't you?"

  "Yes." D'Arcy felt aglow. "You did that the night we met. You kissed my knees and I almost fainted at your gentleness with me. To me, it was the first time, and that's how I always thought of it, that the night you made love to me was the first time that it had happened to me.

  He scooped her up into his arms, looking down at her naked body with a grin of possession. "I feel so damn good."

  "Me too." She let her hands rove through his hair as he took the stairs two at a time. "I love you, Keele, and you belong to me." She glared at him when he lowered her to the bed. "I'm Irish, you know, and they can be just as possessive as Greeks."

  "I belong to you." He laughed. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

  When he enfolded her to him, she forestalled him by placing one finger on his mouth. His brows lifted in question. "What is it, my love?"

  "Do you remember when you gave me my ring, you told me that you had had it made for me?"

  "Questions at a time like this, woman!" Keele groaned, burying his face in her neck. Then he lifted his head, a lopsided grin on his face. "I often wondered if you thought about that remark. I could have kicked myself for saying it."

  D'Arcy let her fingers feather his jaw. "You didn't buy it for me in New York, did you?" She felt her heart pick up speed at the look in his eyes.

  "As I've said before, you don't miss anything." He kissed her once, hard. "I ordered that ring for you the day after I met you in London. I knew then that I wanted to marry you."

  "Darling." D'Arcy felt her eyes fill as she clutched him to her. "I knew I loved you that night too."

  One evening in late winter as she lay cuddled in her husband's arms in front of the fireplace, she was nodding off to sleep comforted by the steady beat of Keele's heart.

  "Did any of them mean anything to you, D'Arcy?" The words seemed yanked from his mouth.

  Blinking, D'Arcy lifted her head to look at him. "What? Who?"

  "Steve Linnett and the other men you saw while we were apart. Did any of them mean anything to you?" he asked, his voice hoarse. "I was so damn jealous of Steve I could have broken his neck."

  D'Arcy straightened so that she could look him in the eye. "From the time you made love to me in London, there was no one else but you. Oh, I dated a few times, but I found it boring. Even worse than boring were the times that made me think of you," she crooned to him, running her fingers through his hair.

  "I love you, D'Arcy. I'll always want you."

  "That's the way I feel." She frowned at him for a moment. "Did your women mean a great deal to you?"

  He pulled her down to him again, chuckling. "I had some 'arrangements' with women before and after you, but they had no meaning after I met you. I was just trying to forget you."

  "How about Gerta Olsen? Elena Arfos? Marianne Bolle?" D'Arcy punched the names out.

  Keele shrugged. "What about them? I transferred Gerta to a new division in the Carolinas. She's a smart woman but she was getting on my nerves. Elena is a nuisance but she is Gregor's daughter, so I have to put up with her. Marianne Bolle has shares in Athene Ltd. To me she is a bore but..." He shrugged again. "It's not good business to alienate the stockholders."

  D'Arcy looked at her husband's lion eyes and saw the truth there. "I love you, Keele Petrakis, and I'm so happy you love me and my bulbous body."

&
nbsp; "Don't say that about my beautiful wife," he muttered, pushing her back into the cushions and beginning to caress her.

  The hot July morning Keele raced to the hospital, he was white-faced but calm. He stayed with her through the labor, helping her with her exercises, walking with her.

  Katherine D'Arcy Petrakis was born with a minimum of fuss, flabbergasting her father with her beauty.

  D'Arcy overflowed with love for him when she felt the moistness of his cheeks when he held her close to him. "I love our daughter, but you, my love, are my life, and when I saw your body clench in pain, I felt the pain and I knew there would never be a life for me without you."

  D'Arcy felt his mouth on hers like a gentle covenant, as she stroked his stubbled cheeks and sighed in contentment.