One Night With You

by Gwynne Forster

  “You’re asking for trouble,” she said as the glow of desire began to warm her.

  “I know, but it was worth it. What did you bring to sleep in?” She told him. He looked at the yellow-and-black lace teddy. “Why bother? You might as well sleep nude.”

  “Lots of times I do. I’m really impressed with Philip. He’s very generous, and it’s clear that he loves you a lot. I hope his interest in Claudine is genuine.”

  “Trust me, it is. He told me he’d give anything if she’d stay here with him.”

  “He doesn’t know anything about her.”

  “They fell in love with each other. What do you expect them to do? Drop it? They want to be together, just as you and I want to be together.” He sat on the side of her bed and took her hand. “She isn’t your little sister anymore, Kendra. She’s twice-grown. Let them love each other.”

  “Oh, I’m happy about this relationship. I see how they feel and I’m praying it will last forever.”

  “Good. Philip’s going to bring you a television, and I’ll bring you some food.”

  She didn’t relish the thought of a four-hour ride lying in the backseat of a car, but she didn’t see an acceptable alternative. He’ll make it as pleasant as he can, she told herself, so grin and bear it.

  What surprised her was Philip’s obvious reluctance to let Claudine leave him. He stood beside the car looking down at Claudine, and finally, as if he had exhausted his willpower, he took her into his arms and kissed her as if he would never again get the chance. She hadn’t seen Claudine cry since they were in their early teens, but her sister put her head on Philip’s shoulder and wept.

  “Are you in love with him?” she asked Claudine when they finally headed off the estate.

  “Love him? I’m crazy about him. I never dreamed I could feel this way about a man. He said, ‘Hello.’ That’s all. I looked up and saw him staring down at me, and I…I just lost myself to him. That minute. And I knew it was mutual.”

  “Did you two make plans to see each other soon?” Reid asked her.

  “He’s coming to Alexandria next Saturday. I don’t know how I can wait that long.”

  “You will,” Reid said. “He’s a prince of a guy, but don’t make it too easy for him, and be sure you don’t get out of character. Always show him the real you. If he can live with that now, he can live with it forever.”

  “Why can’t I go to work?” Kendra asked Reid the following Thursday morning. “I can walk, and I can get my robe on.”

  “I can’t force you to stay home, sweetheart, but please, at least let’s have a doctor examine you before you go back to work. Or wait until Monday.” She agreed, and later that day, a doctor told her to wait until Monday before returning to work, and gave her a doctor’s certificate. “You’ll need to be very careful for a while,” he told her. “You can easily reinjure this shoulder.”

  “Have you forgotten that the performance of our play in the park is two weeks from now?” Reid asked her. “As much as you like to move around on the stage, you need to be healthy for that.”

  “You’ve done everything for me except bathe me, Reid, and I won’t ever forget your tenderness and patience, but I want to sit out in my garden and feel the sun on me.”

  “Okay. Tomorrow after I come from work? Speaking of work, I have something to tell you. My lawyer said the date’s been set for a retrial of my case. He’s negotiating for the venue.”

  She didn’t ask him the date. She didn’t want to know the day on which he would probably walk away from her.

  “I couldn’t turn down this opportunity,” Reid told Jack Marks after signing the contract to design a twenty-five-storey office condominium building and a summer mansion for Reginald English on the Outer Banks. “But you can take that other deal anyway. I’ll design the building for you as a consultant, if you want me to.”

  “You’re a straight guy, Reid,” Jack said, working his mouth in the manner of one clearly touched. “I won’t forget it. If you ever need me, you know where I am. I’ll let you know what I envisage for this building, and you draw up a contract as a consultant. Is this your last week with us?”

  Reid nodded. “Yeah.”

  Jack stood and extended his hand. “Could we have lunch together Friday? Oh, yes, and will you let me know if you get a retrial in that Brown and Worley case? I just got a new customer who wants me to renovate a house they built less than two years ago. I may be of some help to you.”

  “Thank you. I’m probably going to need it.” He went back to his office, phoned Marcus Hickson and gave him the news. “The signature on your factory will be Reid Maguire, Architect, Incorporated. I’m back in my own business.”

  “Knock one back for me, man. This is the best news I’ve had in ages. Get ready to sweat, because I’ve had at least eight calls about this building. People like your work. It looks nothing like a factory. Amanda said that from the outside, it looks more like a private club. I’m going to give a big party when I open, and I want you and Kendra to come.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  He hung up and looked at his watch. Four o’clock. I’m a free man. I can do as I like, and what I want todo right now is find something real nice and take it to Kendra. He drove to a gourmet caterer midway between Caution Point and Queenstown and bought a quart and a half of lobster bisque, an assortment of imported cheeses—Stilton, Chaumes, Saint Andre, Pipo Crème and Cheshire—pumpernickel bread, mesclun salad and several bottles of Châteauneuf du Pape, his favorite red wine. Kendra had to be tired of his cooking; he certainly was. She didn’t want him to do her housework, but she hadn’t hired anyone to clean, and he knew how to do it. So he did it. She wouldn’t allow him to help her bathe, so he imagined she took a sponge bath with her left hand while he stood outside the bathroom in case she needed him. He’d seen every inch of her flesh, front and back, and he didn’t see why the devil she risked falling in the bathroom because of a foolish modesty.

  As he’d done at least three times every day since he brought her back from Dickerson Estates, he walked down the alley beside the house in which she lived and, using a key that she had given him, entered her house through the back door.

  “Hi,” he said to alert her to his presence, “it’s me, Reid.” He knocked on her bedroom door.

  “Come in.”

  “Did you do this?” he asked her, handing her a red rose and frowning as he observed the tidy room.

  “My friends, Reba and Letty, heard that I was sick and dropped in. They just left.”

  “How nice! And they straightened up your room. We’re having something different tonight. I hope you like what I got.” He told her that he’d resigned from Marks and Connerly, signed a contract with English and that he would plan Jack Marks’s building in the capacity of consultant as she had suggested.

  “That idea pleased Jack, and you know what? He may have evidence that will support me in my case against Brown and Worley.”

  “I’m glad, Reid. You’re rebuilding your company, and you don’t feel that you’re being disloyal to Jack. Does Mike want us to rehearse before our performance in the park?”

  “I imagine he does, but if you’re not up to it, we’ll have to skip it. I’ll call him.”

  He used his cell phone to call their producer/director. “Mike, this is Reid. Are you planning another practice session before our performance in the park?”

  “Tuesday night. The show is Thursday evening.”

  “I suppose you know that Kendra is recovering from three busted ribs and a dislocated shoulder? She thinks she can make the Thursday date, but she’s not sure about an earlier practice date.”

  “I heard she wasn’t in court. How’s she doing?”

  “Sorry, man. I have no idea what kind of progress she’s making. I’ll ask her to call you.” He hated lying, but he wasn’t going to be tricked into exposing Kendra. He busied himself setting the table and laying out the food. After heating the lobster bisque, he went to Kendra’s room
to help her out of bed, but saw that she was up and had managed to put on her robe.

  “When are you going to return Philip’s car?” she asked him.

  “I told him I’d bring it back when you’re well.”

  “In that case, you should return it to him this weekend.”

  “Philip will be in Alexandria with Claudine this weekend. I’ll call him and see if he’d like me to meet him there. It would certainly save me more than half the distance between here and Denton.” He telephoned Philip, who agreed that they should exchange cars in Alexandria that Sunday morning.

  After helping Kendra with exercises that the doctor had prescribed to ease her into the free use of her right arm and hand, Reid took her left hand, walked with her into the living room and sat with her on the velvet sofa. He preferred leather furniture coverings, but he liked Kendra’s taste. Indeed, he liked everything about her.

  He draped an arm around her shoulder and tugged her closer to him. “We love each other, we like each other and we’re friends,” he said. “We also suit each other as lovers. I’m ready to commit to you for the long haul, but I don’t feel free to ask you to marry me until I get that last stumbling block out of the way.”

  She’d been relaxed against him, and now she sat up and turned so that she could face him. “I don’t expect you to lose that case against Brown and Worley, but if you do, does that mean it’s over between us?”

  “I…I haven’t thought in terms of losing.”

  “Well, think about it,” she said. “Don’t you believe my faith in you will survive any loss you sustain, whether it’s a court case, your architectural firm or every penny you own? Huh? Don’t ask me to pay for Myrna’s crimes, Reid. I refuse to accept a maybe-if relationship with you.”

  “And I don’t think I suggested that, either. I want so much for you, for us, and I can’t see myself offering you the shame of a man disgraced in his profession. Until I clear my name, that’s the tag I carry.”

  She leaned away from him. “My good sense told me that we shouldn’t become involved in an affair.”

  He suppressed a laugh, because he knew she was not in a mood for jokes. “Good sense doesn’t have a lot to do with what goes on between a man and a woman who are attracted to each other. From the moment I first saw you, I knew I had a choice of yielding or leaving town. Leaving town never occurred to me. Look,” he said, settling for what he could get, “let’s at least remain the closest of friends. These next two weeks are going to be hard on both of us.”

  “I know. Probably harder than you realize.”

  Two days later, Reid cleaned out his desk at Marks and Connerly, packed his personal belongings and went to each office to tell his colleagues goodbye. He believed in courtesy, even though, in this case, he thought that some of his fellow architects there would be glad to see him leave.

  “I read in the Maryland Journal this morning about that plum of a contract you got,” Gene, one of the senior architects, said when they shook hands. “You’ve got your work cut out, but I don’t expect it will stretch you. It must be a great feeling to have your hat in the ring again.”

  “It is. But it’s been so long since I was stressed out that I probably won’t recognize myself after a month or so.”

  “Anytime you feel like swearing at the top of your voice, give me a call and we can share a beer instead.”

  “Thanks, man. I appreciate that, and I’ll be in touch.” Among his associates at Marks and Connerly, Gene Faison was the only man, other than Jack Marks, who had welcomed him as a colleague. He was also the most competent. When you know your stuff, Reid thought, you don’t envy your competition. So he’d gotten some press coverage. He hoped that news didn’t encourage Brown and Worley to strengthen their hand. When he got home, he phoned his lawyer.

  “Dean, this is Reid. Any rumblings from Brown and Worley?”

  “They wanted the trial moved back to Baltimore, but you’re legally a resident of North Carolina, and they’re registered here, so you’re entitled to sue here if you want to. Other than that, they’ve been quiet. I suspect their lawyer won’t accept any Native Americans on the jury because of the furor over Albemarle Gates, so we’ll probably have a one-sided jury. But if Judge Rutherford will permit me to enter into evidence the architectural examiner’s report on her house, that along with the mountain of information you and I collected gives us a very strong case.”

  “I think we have a good one, too,” he said, “although if Rutherford is the judge, we can’t use Helligman’s affidavit.”

  “I’m not so sure, Reid.”

  Early Sunday morning, he left Queenstown for Alexandria, Virginia, arriving there shortly after nine o’clock. “How’s it going, Philip?” he asked his friend.

  “Great. How’d you know Claudine and I would get on so well?”

  “She’s so witty, and she has such a fast mind.”

  “Fine, so far as it goes, but by the time I discovered that, I was already a goner. Anyhow, I’m grateful to you. How’s Kendra?”

  “She’s improving, and she plans to be back on the bench Monday. As soon as the trial is over, I hope to get a permanent commitment from her. Man, she’s changed my life. I’d better start back. I don’t want her fooling around in the kitchen yet. She doesn’t move her right arm to suit me.” They embraced each other. “Thanks for the car, Philip. I’ll be in touch.”

  He drove back to Queenstown without stopping. Kendra thought she was well, and he didn’t doubt that, in his absence, she would overextend herself. It surprised him that, as he turned his key in her back door, she opened it, her face blooming in a big smile. She had dressed in pants and a T-shirt that didn’t button down the front, but he didn’t question her about that. The doctor had cautioned her about raising her arm. He shrugged off his concern, bent and kissed her.

  “Mind if I get something cold to drink?” he asked her. “I’m practically dehydrated. I spent exactly thirty minutes in Alexandria. I was in such a rush to get back here and fix your lunch that I didn’t even see Claudine.” He headed for the kitchen to get whatever thirst-quenching drink he could find and stopped at the kitchen door. Dumbfounded.

  “Woman, what on earth have you done?” He stared at the mess that covered the stove and a part of the floor in front of it. “What were you doing and why couldn’t you wait until I got back? It’s only a quarter of one. Why does it bother you to be dependent on me? I know this is the twenty-first century and that women are as competent and as efficient at most things as men are, but while you’re recovering, you are not.

  “I’m not playing at being the superior male, Kendra. I love you. I thought you needed me, and I wanted to take care of you, but—hell! Just look at this mess in the kitchen. Did you scald yourself?”

  “No, I didn’t,” she said in the voice of one vacillating between regret and anger. “And I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t chew me out. I don’t like it.”

  “I stand corrected,” he said, but he was damned if he’d apologize.

  “You didn’t see Claudine? Are she and Philip all right?”

  “According to Philip, they are. I forgot where you keep your towels.” She told him. “I want you to get comfortable somewhere while I do this.” He tied the towel around his waist for an apron, cleaned the stove and mopped the floor.

  “I suppose you’re hungry. Since you’re dressed, would you like to go out for lunch? I guess you’re tired of the house.”

  “I am, and I’d like us to go somewhere for lunch, but not if you’re mad at me.”

  He grasped her arms and looked into her eyes. “Angry at you? My temper is not so subdued as this. Trust me. I’m disappointed, not angry. I am concerned that you may have retarded your progress. Sweetheart, can’t you see that I want to help you and to…to protect you? Oh, hell. If you can’t see it, there’s no point in telling you. Let’s go eat.”

  It didn’t surprise Kendra that Reid knocked on her back door Monday morning—he had returned her key because she
had declared herself well—with a thermos of coffee and a toasted bagel unwrapped in a saucer. “Here,” he said. “I’m not coming in. I just wanted to be sure you got something to eat before you left home.”

  She grasped his right forearm, pulled him into the house and kissed his mouth. He put the thermos and the saucer on the floor, wrapped her in his arms and ran his tongue across the seam of her lips.

  “Let me in, sweetheart. It’s been so long.” She sucked his tongue into her mouth and, at once the fire of desire shot through her. She wanted to drag him to her bed and have her way with him. He stepped back and looked down at her. “Can we be together this evening? I’ll be practically a cripple all day.”

  “If I’m not too tired for company,” she said, for she refused to make that kind of date with him. He stared down at her for a long minute. “Right. After all, it’s your first day back at work. I’ll call you at five.”

  “All right. What will you do today? I mean, where will you be?”

  “I have to find office space, and I’m thinking of locating in Edenton. It’s only a thirty-minute drive from here, and there’s no architect located there. It’s also a much bigger city than Queenstown.”

  “How far is it from the location of your projects on the Outer Banks?”

  “Same distance as from here, and the driving is easier.”

  She traced a finger down the front of his shirt. “I hope you find something suitable. Thanks for the food. See you this evening.” She kissed him again and watched him lope down the lane while she devoured the bagel.

  She would have welcomed a better supply of energy when she walked into court. On her first day in that court, she’d had to reprimand the lawyer who was there representing another client. The man liked to pull tricks, and she knew she’d better remain alert. By the end of the last session, tiredness hung over her like an iron yoke.