by Peggy Webb
The words were foreign on her innocent lips. Gwendolyn again, no doubt. Good Lord, he didn't know whether to thank the woman or to shoot her.
He cupped Jenny's face and ripped it toward his. "Jenny, I want you more than any man has ever wanted a woman, but I was waiting because I wanted you to have everything in its proper order ... a courtship, an engagement, a wedding."
"I don't want to wait. This is not a ... a whim, Daniel. It's a need. I need you here ... and here." She placed her spread hands over her breasts, then on her abdomen. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating her lush body.
Daniel felt as if all the treasure in the world had been laid at his feet. Jenny was freely offering him what he wanted to take. Still, he hesitated.
Nobility. Honor. Protectiveness. Scruples. For weeks he'd told himself that was why he couldn't make love to her. There was only one reason left, and that was fear.
With the insight that sometimes comes in the darkness when the day's worries are cast aside and the spirit is free, he realized that he'd postponed a physical union with Jenny because he was afraid. He'd failed too many people. He was terrified of failing Jenny, of not being wise enough and tender enough and strong enough to make the physical side of love special for a very special woman.
She was waiting for his answer, standing before him with the innate dignity that had captured his imagination from the moment he'd seen her.
"Daniel, teach me. Please."
He put a finger over her his. He didn't want Jenny to beg. Not his Jenny.
"I want to take you to my bed and love you in a way that will banish all your doubts. I want to kiss every inch of your exquisite body and explore all your sweet, secret places. I want to love you, Jenny, not as your teacher, but as an equal."
Then his beautiful, artless Jenny stepped back and slid her gown from her shoulders. It cascaded to the floor in a silken heap, and she stood, revealed.
"See?" she said, lifting her breasts. "You do this to me."
"I want to do more, Jenny." He covered her breasts with his hands, reveling in their ripe weight and satiny texture. Her nipples responded instantly to his touch. "Tell me if you want me to stop . Anytime, Jenny. Just say the word and I'll stop."
"Don't stop." Her face was filled with rapture. "Oh, Daniel. I like it. Please, don't stop."
He bent down and circled her nipples with his tongue. She caught his hair and instinctively pulled him closer.
o0o
Remarkable sensations were spilling through her body, feelings she'd never known existed. And all of them originated in her breasts, where Daniel lavished his attention.
She knew nothing except what Daniel had already taught her—that to kiss him was rapture, that to have him touch her skin set off Fourth of July sparklers along her nerve endings, that sometimes merely looking into his dark eyes made her feel buttery soft inside.
His hands were moving now, moving along her upper arms and down to the tips of her fingers. With his fingers lacing hers, he kissed her breasts.
She felt a moist heat blooming between her legs, and a restless driving need to get as close to him as possible. Cries like a small animal in pain escaped her throat, and she pushed her hips against him.
"Jenny." His eyes were wide with concern as he looked down at her. "I don't want to scare you."
He bent down and scooped her gown off the floor. She would die if he stopped now.
"No." She put her hand out to stop him. "I don't understand this ... sweet aching." She pressed her hands over her breasts. "I don't want it to stop."
"It won't stop, Jenny. It just gets better."
Daniel was so virile, so worldly. He'd done this hundreds of times with women far more sophisticated than she. Suddenly Jenny felt shy and uncertain. She folded her arms over her breasts and looked at him from under her lashes.
He brushed her hair back from her face, then gently removed her hands.
"Don't hide yourself from me, darling. You're very beautiful."
"You like seeing me naked?"
"Yes. I like it." He ran his hand from the base of her throat all the way down to her navel. Goose bumps rose on her skin. "You have an exquisite body. I want to touch you all over." His hands made small erotic circles on her abdomen. "May I, Jenny?"
"Please, Daniel. Do."
He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. Daniel's bed. Oh, the joy of it. She spread her arms wide, feeling the cool sheets against her skin.
"The bed is cool and you're hot," she said.
His chuckle was low and sexy. "I certainly am, love. And you made me that way."
"I did?"
"Yes, you did. A woman who loves a man unconditionally as you do wields a great power over him."
"I don't want to wield power, Daniel. I want..." She didn't have the words to describe what she wanted. She lifted her eyes to his, hoping he'd understand.
o0o
It was all Daniel could do to keep from giving her everything she wanted in one blinding rush. He wanted to be inside her, feeling her hot flesh surround him. He wanted to hear the cries of pleasure in her throat and see the joy of discovery in her eyes.
With great effort he reined in his feelings. Jenny's were the ones that counted tonight.
"Let me show you what you want" He brushed her erect nipples with his fingertips, then traced a hot, sweet line downward. She was moist and swollen, and his fingers entered her slowly, delving briefly, then easing back.
"Daniel! It's ... oh, it's better than flying."
Gwendolyn hadn't told her everything. She'd never imagined pleasure such as this. And with hands. Would hers do the same thing for him?
"If I touched you like that, would you like it, Daniel?"
"I would die from pleasure, my sweet Jenny."
"I don't want you to die. Not yet anyhow."
Her sassy reply delighted him.
His fingers parted her slick flesh, setting up a gentle rhythm. Jenny's breath quickened. He watched her face as he brought her closer and closer to the edge. She arched her back and pressed upward, then she splayed her hands out and clutched the sheets.
"Daniel... oh, Daniel."
"Go with the flow, sweetheart. Fly."
Jenny felt as if invisible strings were tugging at her whole body. She stiffened, trembling, then a hot, sweet explosion ripped through her, and she called Daniel's name.
He caught her close and pressed his face into her neck. "Sweet Jenny, sweet Jenny."
"I can't find the words, Daniel. Wonderful is too pale for what I feel."
He lifted himself on his elbows and pushed her hair back from her face.
"Do you trust me, Jenny?"
"With my whole heart, Daniel."
"There will be a little bit of pain the first time."
"There's more?"
"Much more. But only if you want it."
She cupped his face and pulled it close to hers. "Show me, Daniel."
He kissed her on the tip of the nose, then slipped into the bathroom and readied himself for her.
She felt the great power of him as he levered himself over her. Already sensitized, her nipples came erect the minute his chest hair brushed against them. Sensations rippled through her as his heavy rigid flesh sought, probed, then slid into her. The flash of pain caught her unexpectedly. Reaching backward she caught the headboard.
"I'm sorry, sweet Jenny."
"No ... it's all right." Impaled and not knowing what to do about it, she hung on to the headboard.
"There will be no more pain." She shook her head, afraid to open her mouth lest she cry out and make a fool of herself. "The rest is better ... I promise."
Daniel began to move, sliding deeper and deeper. At first Jenny resisted, and then the most miraculous thing happened. The pain vanished and in its place was a wondrous pleasure such as she'd never known. Her heart, her whole body, sang for joy.
She wrapped her arms and legs around Daniel, wanting to hold him so close, he drowne
d in her. Her hips danced against his, and she whispered his name, over and over.
In this miraculous joining, it didn't matter that she was special. Her body knew what to do, and it was neither clumsy nor uncertain. She thought she would burst with joy.
And finally she did. Everything was hot and bright at the same time, and she fell, melting, against the sheets. Daniel rolled them to their sides, still joined, and lay stroking her face and hair.
"You're wonderful, Jenny. Magnificent."
She smiled a secret smile because she knew he spoke the truth.
"So are you," she said, feeling wise and generous and born anew.
Chapter Nine
They stayed in Raleigh three more days, giddy as teenagers and greedy as children. And when they came home at last, Daniel lingered on her doorstep, reluctant to let her go.
"You're my world, Jenny."
"And you're mine." She held on to both his hands, her eyes wide and earnest. "Can we be together the way we were in Raleigh?"
"Just let somebody try to stop us, Jenny. I'll turn them into dog food and sell them at Sullivan Stores."
He left her laughing on the doorstep. Jenny's beautiful image was still with him when he passed through his security gates and turned into his driveway, then it vanished as if it had been wiped out with black magic.
The car in front of Daniel's house made his blood run cold. A red Fiat, Georgia license plates. Claire's car.
How the hell did she get through his security?
He gunned his car up the driveway, fishtailing as he rounded the oak tree. He was close enough to see her sitting in the driver's seat, black hair drawn back in a French twist that left curls curving onto her olive skin, full lips and dark eyes accented enough to enhance but not enough to detract. Everything about her was meant to look casual. Daniel knew from experience that appearances lied.
His tires squealed as he braked, and he was out of the car almost before it stopped. Rage propelled him across the driveway.
Claire let down her window. "Hello, Daniel," she said as calmly as if it had been only three days instead of three years since she'd seen him.
"Leave, Claire."
"Why, Daniel. Is that any way to greet a wife?"
"You're no longer my wife."
"Is that why your hands are shaking?" He rammed his hands into his pockets. Her laughter was soft, intimate. "Is that why a muscle is twitching in your jaw and why your back is rigid? Because I'm no longer yours to do with as you please?" Her smoky voice dropped another octave. "And you were pleased quite often, weren't you, Daniel?"
"Damn you to everlasting hell."
They were locked together by the look that passed between them, locked together as surely as gladiators fighting to the death.
The sweet summer air trembled around them, full of cricket song and twilight. Beside the door, gardenia bushes perfumed the air. Recent rain had dampened the earth, and its rich aroma surrounded them.
Everything around Daniel was filled with promise. And Claire had come to destroy it all.
Her bravado vanished as suddenly as it had come.
"You don't have to damn me to hell, Daniel. I'm already there."
She looked genuinely remorseful. Daniel hardened himself against her act.
"I don't know what impulse brought you here or what you hope to achieve by coming, but my advice to you is to leave before I have you removed for trespassing. You gave up all claims to me and the children three years ago."
"I can't leave, Daniel."
"Why? Is something wrong with your car?" He could be a tough, coldhearted bastard when the situation merited it... just like his father. A chilling thought.
"No, Daniel. Nothing's wrong with my car. I just came to talk."
"We have nothing to talk about."
"I think we do, Daniel." Claire fidgeted with the clasp on her purse then looked him squarely in the eye. "I've come to get my children."
Chapter Ten
"I'll see you in hell first." Daniel jerked open the car door and started in. "Move over."
"Are you crazy?" Claire tried for defiance even as she scrambled out of his way.
Daniel got behind the wheel and roared out of the driveway. The tires screamed in protest as he took the curves.
"What are you doing?" Claire clutched the dashboard. Jaw clenched, Daniel ignored her. "You're going to get us both killed."
Daniel didn't stop until he got to a motel on the outskirts of town; then he jerked open the car door, marched Claire into the office, booked her for one night, and ordered a cab.
She was panting when he locked the bedroom door behind them.
"Now talk," he said. "You have fifteen minutes."
“Daniel... you've gone mad." Her hands shook as she reached into her purse for a cigarette.
"Fourteen."
With the lazy grace of a cat, Claire strolled to the bed and stretched out. Putting her hand on the mattress, she tested the springs.
"Ummm. Comfy. You always did know how to pick a bed, Daniel."
He glanced at his watch. "Thirteen."
"You're serious, aren't you?"
"Claire, I've always been serious. Life is not the game you seem to think it is."
"All right... all right." Her hands shook as she crushed her cigarette in the ashtray on the bedside table. "This is not a game. I want to see my children."
"By all the saints, why?"
"Because I love them."
He thought he'd see the lie in her face; instead he saw something that looked like emotion and a vulnerability he'd never expected.
"It's been three years, Claire. They barely remember you. I can't let you slip in and out of their lives on whim."
Claire paced the room, her lovely legs showing through the slit in her skirt Every now and then she gave him a smoldering glance from underneath her long eyelashes. Daniel almost laughed. Why had he ever thought her beautiful and innocent?
"You can't or you won't, Daniel?"
"I won't. The children went through hell when you left the first time. I won't let you put them through hell again."
"I don't think you're going to have any choice in the matter." Claire swept her purse off the bed and made a great show of opening the clasp. She'd always been partial to the dramatic gesture.
When she threw the newspaper clipping onto the table, Daniel's heart stopped. A picture of two people kissing topped a lengthy article. He didn't have to look to know who they were.
"It's because of her, isn't it, Daniel?"
"Leave Jenny out of this, Claire. She has nothing to do with my decision."
"Well, she has something to do with mine." Claire jerked the clipping off the table and held it under his face. " 'Jenny Love-Townsend was seen smooching the elusive entrepreneur Daniel Sullivan at the grand opening of another Sullivan Store,' " she said, quoting from the article. " 'The famous Down' syndrome artist was wearing a ring said to be a Sullivan family heirloom.' "
Claire flung the paper across the room. "Do you think I'm going to leave my children in the hands of a retard?"
Daniel had never wanted to strike a woman until that moment. A muscle in his jaw ticked as he faced the woman who had once been his wife.
"I knew you had no morals, Claire. I never knew you were vicious."
"Morals! You preach to me about morals. I'll bet that little number can't wait to get her hands on your money... or is it your family jewels that interest her most?"
Only a massive effort at self-control kept him from giving vent to his rage.
"Your time is up, Claire." He started to the door.
"Do you think you can win that easily, Daniel? Do you think I'll slink off into the night after you walk out on me?"
"I don't give a damn what you do, Claire."
"You will, Daniel. You will."
o0o
Two things were paramount in Daniel's mind: checking on his children and checking on Jenny. He found his children in their bed already fast asl
eep. Miss Williams hovered anxiously in the hallway while he stood watch over each small bed.
Megan stirred, opened her eyes, then reached for him. "Daddy? I was dreaming you didn't come back."
"I'll always come back. Always." He kissed her sleep-warmed cheek, then tucked the covers under her chin. "Go back to sleep, sweetheart."
Patrick was curled into a tight ball with his fist under his cheek. A heavy sleeper, nothing could awaken him.
Daniel picked the teddy bear up off the floor and tucked it back into Patrick's arms. "Sleep fast, my son," he whispered. "I won't let any harm come to you."
Miss Williams was still waiting in the hallway when he came out. "Mr. Sullivan, is anything wrong?"
"Yes. Follow me, please."
In his study he gave his instructions. She was not to let the children out of her sight. She was never to entrust them to anyone whom Daniel had not specifically assigned to take care of them. He would give her a list of people who could talk to his children on the telephone; all other callers had to be approved by him.
"Tomorrow I'll enhance the security by hiring bodyguards who will accompany you and the children at all times. Do you have any questions or any problems with these changes?"
"Are the children in danger, Mr. Sullivan?"
Were they? Claire had been capable of leaving them without a word. Was she capable of taking them the same way?
"I honestly don't know, Miss Williams, but I have reasons to want extreme care taken with them."
"And my salary?"
"It will be handsomely increased."
"You can count on me, Mr. Sullivan." She lifted herself up to her full height. "Godzilla can't get past me when I make up my mind."
After the nanny left, Daniel sat at his desk pondering Claire's threat.
I don't give a damn what you do, Claire.
You will, Daniel. You will.
She'd been enraged about Jenny. Was there a chance Claire would try to harm her? It was a chance Daniel wasn't willing to take.
o0o
He posted one of his security guards outside the nursery, then drove to Jenny's. A light rain had begun to fall. His first instinct was to protect her without causing alarm. Jenny's bright, her doctor had said. She understands everything. He'd learned that lesson well in Raleigh. Not only did Jenny understand, but she wanted to be treated as if she did.