A Season Of Miracles

by Christine Michels

  She groaned in protest. What was the matter with him? Didn’t he want this as much as she?

  In the next second she felt herself swept off her feet, cradled in Geoff’s arms as he negotiated his way through the house And then he was setting her on her own two feet before the bed m the guest room His bed. With passion-glazed eyes he stepped back to look at her clad only in her bra and skirt. “You are so beautiful,” he murmured as he reached out to caress her left nipple with the index finger of his right hand. It leapt to attention beneath the subtle caress and Devon gasped at the riotous sensation that rocketed through her.

  With a groan he stepped forward to embrace her once again, to kiss her as he slipped her bra off and then he lowered his head to take her taut aching nipple into his mouth. Devon almost screamed at the exquisite agony of it. It had been so long Too long And as a great yawning chasm of need opened up within her, Geoff became her whole world.

  Somehow, without Devon ever knowing quite how they’d gotten there, she discovered they were on the bed.

  And once again, her hands found his waistband Unfastening his trousers, she pushed them down his hips as far as her arms would extend. He lifted her skirt, bunching it around her waist, as he removed her panty hose. Then, discovering that his own movements were hampered by the pants now clumped around his lower legs, he lifted himself away from her to kick them off, abandoning them in a heap. Devon, aching for his return, fumbled to remove her skirt from about her waist.

  And then he was back, gripping her in strong hands grown rough now with the force of his lust, but she was too far gone in her own aching need to care. The passion driving them was too powerful for subtlety Too hot and raw for lingering.

  She felt the furnacelike heat of Geoff’s big body pressed to hers as they lay on top of the thick spread, felt him jutting hard against her thigh as he molded her breasts to the shape of his hands, lifting them, weighing them, and a delicious wave of sensual heat overcame her. Her pounding heart accelerated until her pulse roared in her ears. Her breasts tightened, aching for more than the mere touch of his hands. And a flooding, loosening sensation in her loins made her clamp her thighs together

  It had been much too long. Sex had always been good with Geoff. Better than good

  Much better, she thought on the heels of a groan as the pad of his thumb grazed her nipple. He slanted his mouth over hers with an open hunger, a greed that stunned her with its intensity even as it reduced her to the essence of what she was: female. Woman to his man He caught her chin with one hand, holding her still as his tongue moved deep inside her mouth, a blatant demand for her surrender.

  And Devon surrendered body and soul

  She had never been wanted like this before Never with such swiftness, such fury She felt certain he was bruising her with the force of his kisses, yet she wanted more. His hand moved down to find her already slick with desire and he growled deep in his throat—a satisfied, animalistic sound. He studied her then with a hard, predatory expression, the tempered fierceness of arousal, and Devon’s breath froze in her throat. He was so handsome, so male, so very impossible to resist. And so very passionate. How could she ever have thought this new Geoff to be lacking the passion of the man she’d married?

  He removed his hand and her hips arched in silent protest as primal instinct flared to life. But, in the next instant, he was moving over her, kneeling between her thighs and she felt the hardness of his sex pressing against her own yielding softness. Bracing himself on his arms, he held her gaze with his own as he slowly pressed into her.

  Devon’s breath tangled in her throat and her eyes fluttered closed as she clutched him closer. She was vaguely aware of a roughness beneath her palms as her hands explored his back, puckered flesh which once had been smooth, and in a distant corner of her mind, she ached for the pain he had suffered... without a loved one near. But as his thick sex filled her to bursting there was no more room in her mind for thought. No room for anything but the sensation of being with him again.

  His male flesh throbbed within her as he held himself still for just a moment, and then he began thrusting with heavy power. Hard and deep. The impact shook her entire body and she clung fiercely to him as his hips flexed, his rhythm gradually quickening. Her soft moans mingled with his harsh breathing. He reared back, baring his teeth as he pounded into her, pushing her legs higher. Stoking the fires. Elevating the tension.

  The end, when it came, was as violent as a prairie thunderstorm, convulsing her body beneath him until she cried out. He echoed her cry—more harshly, a guttural male sound—and with one last powerful thrust shuddered his release into her and collapsed. While the last small quakes rippled through them, while their heartbeats slowly thudded back to normal speed, while the heat of their spent passion slowly evaporated from their perspiration-slick bodies, Devon slowly, mindlessly stroked his hard, muscled body, loving the feel of his heated skin against her palms.

  Then, limp with utter contentment, she drifted into sleep.

  Two hours later, Devon came awake with a start. The chill of the night had begun to seep into her bones, for they still lay atop the bedspread, and gooseflesh sprinkled the flesh of her arms and breasts. Had the cold awakened her?

  She frowned slightly as she listened to the silence. Geoff lay behind her, one arm thrown casually, possessively over her waist, but his big body only kept her backside warm Still, she didn’t want to move, didn’t want to let reality in, so she pressed more firmly against him for warmth and allowed her eyes to slowly dnft closed again.

  A crash, muted and distant, but loud in the silent house jarred her. Her eyes flew open and she jackknifed into a sitting position

  “What! What’s the matter?” Geoff demanded as her sudden movement jerked him into wakefulness.

  “I heard a noise,” she whispered hoarsely. “In your office, I think.”

  “I’ll check it out,” he said as he got off the bed and hastily pulled on his pants. “It’s probably nothing Maybe the cat knocked something over.”

  “I don’t have a cat,” Devon informed him as she, too, rose and began to dress. “The only pets we have are fish.”

  A frown drew his brows together as he reached for his shirt. “But there was a black cat at the door this morning asking to come in.”

  “That’s the neighbor’s cat, Priscilla. The kids feed her occasionally, and she’s taken that as an invitation. You didn’t let her in, did you?”

  He shook his head as he shrugged the shirt on and opened the door. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured. “Stay here”

  “Like hell,” Devon returned in a whisper, not caring if he heard or not. Hastily buttoning her blouse, she trailed after him through the silent house Thank heavens they’d left most of the lights on. At least they wouldn’t have to betray their presence by turning any on.

  Geoff reached the closed door of his office and stopped to press his ear to the wood, listening.

  “I didn’t close the door when I left the office,” Devon said in a faint whisper next to his ear.

  He nodded acknowledgement and slowly turned the knob. Then, keeping his body pressed against the wall, he flung the door open. There was a bang as the door struck the coatrack within, knocking it over. Then, a loud boom split the night and something buzzed by Devon’s ear. Before her confused mind had a chance to identify the source of the boom, or the insectlike buzzing sound, Geoff shoved her away from the door—hard—and dove into the room.

  Geoff’s arms wrapped around the intruder’s legs, bringing him down like a rock, but even then the intruder didn’t drop the gun. Wrestling him, looking down into the anonymity of a black balaclava that somehow made the man’s presence in the house even more ominous, Geoff grabbed his gun arm. He had to gain possession of the gun before the bastard took another shot at Devon...or himself.

  Damn! The guy was strong despite his leanness.

  Finally managing to get some leverage, he slammed the intruder’s gunhand against the floor and the
weapon flew from his grasp. That was when something struck Geoff a blinding blow on the head. A thousand tiny lights danced in his brain for a fraction of an instant in time, and then darkness descended.

  “Geoff! My God, Geoff, please wake up.”

  Devon! She was crying!

  Wanting to reassure her, he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but the instant he moved the light seemed to stab through his eyeballs and into his brain with the force of an ice pick. Pain erupted in his skull. Groaning, he closed his eyes and subsided as he reached for Devon’s hand. “How long was I out?”

  “I don’t know. Four...five minutes maybe.”

  “Is he...gone?”

  He thought she must have nodded then, for there was a pause before she responded, but he couldn’t open his eyes. “He ran out through the garden door. I think that’s how he got in too, because he knocked over my umbrella plant on his way in That must have been the noise I heard. I guess he didn’t know that we never use that door.”

  She was rambling. Still frightened? “The gun?” he asked when she paused for breath

  “He grabbed it on his way out.”

  “Are you...all right?” He scarcely recognized his own voice.

  “Yes Yes, I’m fine But he hit you on the head with the base of the desk lamp. Your head is bleeding.” She sounded panicky.

  He groaned inwardly. Why did his head always seem to have to take the brunt of everything? “I’ll be okay,” he reassured her. “My head is used to aches But, do you think you could get me an ice pack?”

  He felt her brush his hair off his forehead with a tenderness that made his heart stumble in his chest. It was nice to have someone care about you. Nicer than he’d ever imagined in more than two years of imaginings. “All right,” she answered softly with a slight sniffle “I’ll be right back. And then I’m going to call the police.”

  Two and a half hours later, after dusting almost every surface imaginable in Geoff’s office for prints and leaving a mess of black powder in their wake, the police had left. They’d also removed the bullet from the wall and examined the footprints outside. Unfortunately, since there wasn’t much snow at the moment and the ground was too hard to absorb a print, they hadn’t been too encouraging about finding anything useful.

  Geoff wasn’t surprised. He thought that they were probably dealing with professionals People paid to do a job made fewer mistakes.

  Ensconced in bed with his head bandaged, he was now being doctored by Devon, who was a damn sight better looking than old Bill had been on his best day The cut on his skull, high on the left side above his temple, hadn’t looked as though it would need stitches—it had stopped bleeding readily enough—so he’d refused to go to a doctor He much preferred Devon’s tender ministrations.

  “Are you absolutely certain you won’t see a doctor?” she asked for the fourth time as she removed the ice pack from his head and placed it in a basin beside the bed. “I mean, it is possible that you have a concussion, you know.”

  He shook his head—cautiously—and said, “I don’t think so. I’ve had one before and this doesn’t feel anything like that. And yes, I’m sure.” Having him near, caring for him, was keeping her mind off what had happened here and that was what she needed at the moment. He didn’t want her thinking about the intruder and what might have happened, letting her thoughts feed her fears And more importantly, he didn’t want to leave her alone while some doctor kept him in an impersonal room at the hospital for observation. “Lie with me for a while?” he asked. The digital numbers on the clock on the dresser proclaimed the time as 1 05 a.m. “You should get some rest.”

  She hesitated, meeting his gaze for the first time since they’d encountered the intruder, and he saw the shadows in the depths of her eyes. That was when he realized that he’d been wrong. Caring for him wasn’t keeping her mind off what had happened; she simply wasn’t speaking of it. “All right. Let me just go and check the doors and shut off the lights”

  Devon was trying to hide the children in the small space beneath Geoff’s desk, shielding them with her own body as she watched the shadow of the intruder, gun in hand, loom ever larger on the wall. He was coming closer’ A whimper of fear rose in her throat, but she choked it off. She mustn’t make a sound or he’d find them.

  She shrank back, trying to conceal her shudders of fear from the children. Who was he, this masked intruder who sought to end their lives? And why did he want to kill them? It made no sense If only she knew who, then perhaps she could figure out why.

  Holding her breath, she cautiously looked over the edge of the desk. The intruder’s form looked vaguely familiar, the way he held his head, the slope of his shoulders. She should know this person. If only it wasn’t so dark.

  Then, as though in answer to her desire the silver light of a full moon suddenly shone through the garden door, spotlighting the intruder...and herself. As though in slow motion he brought the gun to bear on her, and yet she couldn’t move for she was held captive by the familiarity of the eyes she found herself staring into Olive green eyes Unreadable eyes Geoff’s eyes

  “No!” she screamed It was a wail of denial more than of fear. The sound of her own voice made her bolt upright in bed.

  “What? What is it, Devon?” Geoff asked out of the murky predawn darkness from his position at her side

  But the lump in her throat made it impossible to speak. Leaning her elbows on her upraised knees, covering her face with her hands, Devon merely shook her head.

  “You had a nightmare,” he surmised.

  Hugging her legs, trying to warm the chill in her heart, she nodded “Yes.”

  “I’m not surprised,” he murmured as he put his arm around her, pulling her back against his chest. “You’re cold, too.” He began to rub her arms to warm her. “Talk to me, Devon,” he murmured. “Tell me about it.”

  But she could only shake her head. How could she tell him that, in her dream, he had represented the danger in her life, the danger in her children’s lives. It would only hurt him. And yet, in a strange way, it was true. For had she never found Geoff, had he never come back into their lives, she was certain that their lives would never have been threatened this way.

  “Stay dead!” the note had said Both she and Geoff had ignored that directive But at what price?

  “Devon?”

  “I need some coffee,” she murmured. “You want some?”

  There was a moment of silence as he tried to read her expression in the gray light “Sure,” he said, finally “And I could also use a couple more aspirin if you have them?”

  Oh, heavens! In her own fear, she’d almost forgotten “How is your head?”

  “A bit of a headache, but otherwise it doesn’t feel too bad. Considering.”

  “I’m glad.” She swallowed and rose. “Well, I’ll go make the coffee and find the aspirin. You can join me when you’re ready.”

  An awkward silence engulfed them as they shared their coffee at the breakfast table. Perhaps Geoff sensed that she had something on her mind. For her part, Devon knew what she wanted to say. No. What she needed to say, but...finding the words was difficult. The terror she’d experienced the previous night had made it clear that she was not ready to accept Geoff back into her life. Not yet. Not when things were so uncertain She was afraid of being hurt again, terrified of being subjected once again to the emotional agony of losing Geoff to something she didn’t understand. To protect herself she needed to prevent a deepening of the emotional bond between them—at least until they’d solved the issue of someone wanting Geoff dead. And she knew of only one thing that might work

  “Spit it out, Devon,” Geoff suddenly said, startling her.

  She glanced at his handsome face He’d removed the bandage from his head, and showed no outward sign of the confrontation he’d had with the intruder. Then, because she couldn’t look him in the eye just then, she fixed her gaze guiltily on her coffee cup and ran her thumbnail down a small crack in the glazing that she’d no
t noticed before. “I don’t know where to start.”

  “Start. Then, if you need to, you can back up I’ll listen.”

  Devon nodded and drew a deep fortifying breath. “All right. I don’t know how it is for you, or for men in general, but for me to be able to begin a physical relationship there has be some emotional connection in place. And then after...” She made the mistake of glancing up at that point, right into Geoff’s too-intense eyes Hastily lowering her gaze, she sought the thread of her thought before it unravelled completely. “And...when a physical relationship is entered into more...frequently, it seems to serve as a catalyst for deepening that emotional connection. Do you know what I mean?”

  Geoff considered her. “Sex makes the heart grow fonder?” he asked bluntly.

  Devon felt the heat of a flush rising in her cheeks. “Well, yes, I guess that’s it.”

  “I thought that was the way it was supposed to be. You have a problem with that?”

  She cleared her throat. “Yes, actually” Lord, how did she explain this? “I don’t want to resume a physical relationship until...”

  “Until what?”

  “Until we know what it was that tore us apart before, Geoff. Until we know who it is that wants you dead. Until it’s...safer,” she concluded weakly.

  Geoff set his coffee cup down on the table with exaggerated care. “Let me get this straight. You think you can protect yourself, keep yourself from coming to care for me too much, by not making love with me. Is that right?”

  Devon shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. But I hope so I just can’t do this any other way, Geoff I’m sorry.” Finally, she risked looking at him. “Please understand.”

  He frowned slightly and the expression was a bit forbidding, but when he spoke he sounded more confused than upset. “I can’t say that I understand, Devon, because I don’t. I think this must be one of those times when it’s simply impossible for the male psyche to make sense of female reasoning. It seems a bit convoluted. But.. if that’s what you want, I’ll accept it. For now ”