A Taste of Honey

by Iris Leach

  “Yes,” he agreed. “I like it very much. I thought at first I’d modernize it, but now I think that would be a pity.”

  “Oh, don’t change anything, Will. It’s perfect.”

  He bowed his dark head. “Your word is my command.”

  He took a step closer. Her heart beat so painfully. “The colors are so restful.”

  “The colors?”

  She pointed toward the interior of the room and his gaze followed her pointing finger. “Iris blue and lemon.”

  “Oh. Yeah, I suppose they are restful.”

  He moved in a step closer. She moved two away from him.

  “It must be hard to keep clean.”

  His head jerked back slightly. “Excuse me?”

  “The sofa, being lemon, keeping it clean I mean, it must be difficult, I should think.” Oh God, she was rambling. “Still I expect you have extra special detergents, or some such thing.”

  “I have a housekeeper, a Mrs. Plunkett, who comes in four days a week, a more than capable woman.” He peered down at her. “You’re not one of those women who want to do her own housework, are you?”

  “Heck no. Housework and me are enemies from way back. It’ll be great never having to clean and polish anymore.”

  “You’ve got better things to do with your time.”

  It wasn’t what he said, it was the way he said it. He moved in closer. Charli looked nervously left and then right. There wasn’t much room for her to move. He was enclosing her into a trap … his trap. If you make love with him, you’re doomed. Be strong. Be vigilant.

  He bent his head. Her eyes crossed as his mouth came closer and closer. Blinking, she raised her glass and drained it. She thrust the glass toward him, forcing him to pull back from her.

  “Care for another?” he said.

  She was flooded with relief, albeit temporary, that he would be leaving her, giving her time to regain some sort of composure. “Yes, please.”

  She took several deep breaths of the cool night air. The suddenly black night sky shone the moon a brilliant orange. A million stars were cobwebbed across the sky from the tip of the moon to the beginning of the world. Somewhere in the background she heard the soft strum of guitars and a fragrance, not unlike jasmine, enveloped her. Her senses reeled and she put out her hand to steady herself.

  Pull yourself together, Charli girl, you’re a grown woman. And you can bet your last cent that Will arranged this whole kit and caboodle.

  “Enjoying the view?” his voice was soft and soothing. It lulled her.

  She took the proffered drink. “Yes.”

  “It’s getting cold. Wouldn’t you rather come inside?”

  “No, it’s not cold. I mean the night’s cold, but I’m not cold, because I’m warm you see.” Idiot, you idiot, it’s the middle of winter, for God’s sake. And she was doing it again, babbling like a brook. Don’t lose control of the situation. Keep ahold of your senses. But she was so darn nervous.

  He removed the glass from her trembling hand. “Well I’m cold, so please me by coming inside.” He placed the glasses on a small cane table, placed his hand around her waist and steered her inside.

  She walked to the corner of the room; picked up a magazine and pretended to browse through it. The words were a blurred mess.

  “Planning on gardening?”

  “What?”

  “You’re reading Earth Garden. Are you a greenie?”

  She flung the magazine to the floor. “I was simply browsing through,” she said.

  “Do you want to change?”

  “Yes.” She was so dreadfully shy. Completely unsure of what to do or say.

  “Have a shower.” He was practically ordering her, and she felt powerless to prevent him from doing so.

  “I’d like first to see where I’m sleeping.”

  He grinned. She likened it to a pit bull terrier gnawing through your leg. “You’ll be sleeping with me.”

  “Oh no, that’s where you’re wrong. We had an agreement. Each to his own. I insist on my own room.”

  A flash of annoyance. “We’re married.”

  “And that’s enough for any mortal woman to contend with.”

  “That’s fine by me,” he said as he preceded her out of the living room and up the stairs. “This is my room. You can take any of the others.”

  “I’ll take this one,” she said, indicating the one next to his. Why hadn’t she worked out the sleeping arrangements before the wedding? And why was she so disappointed that he hadn’t argued with her?

  He grunted. Walked into his bedroom. Returned carrying her suitcases. He placed them near the bed. “Everything to your satisfaction?”

  “Perfect.”

  He touched her hair. She drew back. “Rice,” he explained.

  “Oh.”

  He ran his finger across her bottom lip. “Wedding cake.”

  “Wedding cake?”

  He kissed her mouth. “Impulse,” he said.

  “I always go with an impulse.”

  He kissed her brow, her eyes, her cheek, down to nuzzle her neck. She held her breath. He unbuttoned the back of her dress. “Like to help anyway I can.”

  “I always need help.”

  Her dress pooled around her feet. He pulled her into him, his fingers fumbling with the hooks of her bra. She stood before him clad only in her brief lace panties. He touched the sacred Inca Tumi? “Lovely,” he said.

  “It protects the wearer from negative forces and possesses the power of eternal love.”

  “Is it working?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He traced the outline of the necklace with his fingertip. Trailing down her belly, circling her navel and threading his fingers beneath the elastic of her panties. His hand ran over the smoothness of her hipline. She shivered.

  He stood back and admiration flashed into his eyes. She was wonderfully alive, and past caring what was right or wrong. She wanted Will. She trembled as he ran his hands lightly over her breasts. Her nipples tightened. A zigzag of pleasure speared the nub of her.

  “Undress me,” he said softly.

  With trembling fingers, she slipped his coat from his shoulders. His tie and shirt followed. Sweet seduction filled her as she slipped the belt from his slacks.

  He was naked and he was more magnificent than she remembered.

  He was broad of shoulder and slim hips. His skin was evenly tanned and the muscles rippled with each move he made. It was obvious he worked out, the sinewy muscles in his arms and chest were testament to that.

  Her eyes traveled down his chest to his fascinating naval, to the thick thatch of hair trailing down to his penis. My God, this man lacked nothing.

  She closed her eyes tightly but the image of him danced before her eyes. Her eyes flew open. He had his back to her placing his watch on the bureau. His sculpted back. The deep indentation of his spine. The manly curve of his hips and the tightness of his backside excited her. She ached to run her hands over the smoothness of his skin.

  Furiously her heart thumped. Her blood pressure rose as desire swept through her. She stirred. Her sex throbbed. Whatever else Will was, he was desirable.

  He turned and smiled. Her heart melted. “Take your panties off for me.”

  She wiggled out of her underwear, kicking them away with her foot.

  With one easy movement, he lifted her into his arms and placed her on the bed. He kissed her hair, her brow, her eyelids, the tip of her nose and finally her waiting mouth.

  His hand pressed her breast. Her arm wrapped around his neck as she brought his mouth down. He suckled her.

  His mouth left her breast and claimed hers in a wild and passionate kiss. He loomed over her. His dark head bowed. Where his mouth touched, electricity burned.

  He found the essence of her.

  A myriad of sensations flooded her. The sweet anticipating thrill in her groin.

  Her body rocked.

  Her heart thundered.

  More alive than
she’d ever been.

  He lowered himself upon her. She welcomed the sensual weight of him. They rotated their bodies. She wrapped her legs around his hips. Clasped her arms around his shoulders. He buried his head in the cradle of her neck.

  “I love you,” she said as he entered her.

  His hand slid beneath her waist as he dove deeper inside her.

  He grunted as they went into rhythm.

  She held him as if she would never release him. Her fingertips pressed into his back, her nails dug into his flesh, and Will groaned as if the pain thrilled him.

  “I love you,” she repeated in her delirium.

  He collapsed on top of her. He’d uttered no words of love or affection.

  She placed a trembling hand on his hair. It was damp with perspiration. She stroked his back and shoulders.

  She’d never understood what love was all about until now. Never knew what giving meant, until now. Never realized what it was like to love another more than herself, until now … until Will.

  She kissed the top of his head. He moaned softly.

  He held out his arm and she cradled into him. “We can make a go of this marriage,” he said.

  Don’t say anything. Don’t make it mundane. Let me pretend, if only for this night, that you love me.

  Fool. Silly fool. And she wished he’d leave her alone so that she could curl up in her misery.

  Oh, my God. Had he heard me when I’d said I loved him? Please, no. Don’t make me any more vulnerable than I already am with him. Make me as unrelentingly cool as he is toward me. Don’t let me show Will how much I love him. How much I want him.

  “Yes, I suppose we can.”

  “Honor and respect, they’re the key words. Anything can work if you have honor and respect.”

  “Hope you’re right.”

  “Yeah, everything’s going to be fine.”

  Charli would never tell Will how much he affected her. How the mere touch of his hand sent her emotions in different directions until she couldn’t tell if she was on solid ground or walking on air.

  She knew positively that if Will had the remotest idea how she truly felt, he’d tease her unmercifully. The power it would give him would be intolerable. He was arrogant enough now. Whatever happened between them, she had to keep her deep love for Will a secret. He must never learn the truth or her life would be hell.

  It didn’t matter how he made love to her; the truth would always separate them.

  He spun away from her. She could hear his labored breathing, quickly turning into a deep, bordering on snore-like, sound. He was sound asleep, but she could never sleep. She wanted to lie here beside him and wonder at the things he had done to her. She wanted him inside her again. She was insatiable.

  She snuggled into his body and he stirred slightly. She buried her face into the warmth of his back and kissed him gently down his spine. She fingered his hair at the base of his neck, wallowing in the thick texture of his hair; the way it curled slightly up at the end. She rang her fingertip across one shoulder and then the other, and his hand came up to brush her away and to scratch where her fingertips had tickled the skin. Her knees came up to curve into his buttocks and she placed an arm around his waist; her body protected, warm, and completely relaxed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A Marriage of Convenience, the phrase is a calque of French: marriage de covenance, is arranged for personal gain.

  Charli opened her eyes and looked straight out of the bedroom window into a china-blue sky. It was a glorious day with no hint of rain.

  Will.

  She spread out her arm; the bed was empty. She sat upright and heard the shower running and, relieved, she lay back among the pillows.

  She stretched luxuriously under the warm covers, reluctant to start the day. She glanced at her bedside clock. Would it matter if she didn’t get up? If she wanted to, there was nothing to stop her from lying here all day and dreaming.

  She laughed softly. What a romantic fool. But if she lay in bed long enough Will would come back and find her eagerly waiting for him.

  She flushed. Will now monopolized her.

  He entered the bedroom. “Good morning,” he said and came and sat on the edge of the bed.

  She lowered her eyelids. Wanting to look at him, drink him in, but afraid she wouldn’t be able to control her emotions. “Good morning,” she replied.

  “How about breakfast on the terrace?”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Mrs. Plunkett is preparing it as we speak.”

  Charli was ravenous as if she hadn’t eaten food for days.

  He pulled back the covers. “Get ready,” he said and playfully spanked her rump as she got out of bed.

  She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She didn’t appear any different and yet somehow she was. She seemed surer of herself, as if an aura of confidence surrounded her. Boldness, more daring. She peered closer at her image. Her skin seemed clearer; her eyes brighter. Throwing her arms high into the air, she did a small pivot. From this moment on her life would become exciting just from the fact of knowing him. He had brought her to heights that she didn’t know existed. He had given her a glimpse of paradise and she wanted more.

  Stepping into the shower, she stood under the steaming spray of water and, in top voice, broke into a chorus of “Waltzing Matilda.”

  Dressed in a bathrobe, she joined him on the terrace. He stood. Charli gasped as strong hands spanned her waist. Her breath caught in her throat as he pulled her into him. His lips moved over hers and they kissed, hungrily.

  His mouth never left hers as he moved them from the terrace back into the bedroom. He fell beside her on the bed and they made love.

  Charli had the delicious thought that he loved her as deeply as she loved him.

  • • •

  They had just finished breakfast. Charli gazed out over the city skyline; the day was dull and hazy. She turned her gaze to Will, absorbed in reading the Sunday morning paper. It would be strange working with him now that he was her husband, but not impossible. She was too much the professional to allow their altered relationship to interfere in the efficient running of Knight Books. The company meant too much to both of them.

  He spoke to her. “Settling in okay?”

  She smiled. “Yes, very much so.”

  “Good.”

  “When do you use the hotel room?”

  “Mostly when interstate or overseas visitors come.”

  “Will we take the tram or will we drive?”

  His turn to look surprised. “Tram? I don’t understand.”

  “To work.”

  “There’s no need for you to work.”

  “There’s every need in the world,” she argued. “I’m chief editor and most importantly, I need to work.”

  He chewed his bottom lip. “I didn’t suppose you’d want to work now that we’re married.”

  She relished the flash of anger. Did he really expect her to sit home and watch soapies on television? “I intend to work, Will. I intend to run Knight Books with you. I intend to make decisions and — ”

  “You intend?” He threw down the newspaper and stood. Hands on his hips. “What about me? What about what I intend? You know my feelings about working with women.”

  “Because of your first wife? The way she cheated on you and took away your star writers?”

  “Yeah, that’s exactly why I want you to stay home where you belong.”

  “Where I belong? What is this? The eighteenth century? We’ve had women’s lib for a long time now, Will.”

  She drew in a stabilizing breath. “So you think I might run off. Cheat you. Destroy you as she did?”

  He had the grace to look ashamed. “I didn’t exactly mean that.”

  She controlled her temper with effort. “I intend to work for the sake of my sanity.”

  He chortled. “For a minute there I thought you were going to say for the sake of love.”

  “I’d rather love a ra
ttlesnake.”

  “I have no illusions about your feelings for me, but — ”

  She cut in on him. “And I have none about yours for me, let’s keep it that way.”

  “That’s fine with me. Can you tell me what in the hell I’m doing here?”

  “Yeah, wasting your time.”

  “You’re my wife and there are certain obligations that go with that privilege and I expect you to uphold each and every one of them.”

  “You pompous ass. Privilege? My God, just who do you think you are? So I must never blemish the Knight name.”

  “You’re dead right, because you wouldn’t like the consequences if you did. Do I make myself clear?”

  She didn’t answer him.

  “Do I make myself clear?” he repeated.

  “Abundantly clear,” she said. “I hate you.” Oh my God, what a childish thing to say to him, but she was so darn mad, so frustrated she could scream.

  His eyes glittered. “I can live with that.”

  “I wish I’d never married you.” She so wanted to stir him up, hurt him like he was hurting her. She was being such an idiot. Why didn’t she stamp her foot and drop her bottom lip?

  “Too bad,” he said, his jaw tense, the veins in his neck standing out like rope.

  She hated him. She loved him. She hated him. Oh, dear God, she loved him.

  She tilted her head and stared defiantly into his eyes, refusing for him to see how his words had hurt her. “I never anticipated love from you. We made a deal and I’ll stick to it.”

  “All the way?”

  “All the way.”

  “That’s all I want,” he said, and her heart died.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Marriage is considered a business contract, yet, with time, many couples fall deeply in love.

  On weekends, mostly Charli spent her time in the garden. She’d never tire of the beauty of the house and surrounds; in an odd way, she was content with her life, and though contentment was a long way short of love it was about all she could expect.

  Dinner that night was pleasant, except Will was engrossed with papers he’d brought from the office. “More salad?” she inquired. He didn’t answer. She sighed and tried another tactic. “There’s a grub on your lettuce?”