Tea and Destiny

by Sherryl Woods

She opened her mouth, but he touched a finger to her lips. “Don’t you dare say you only know what you like.”

  She laughed. “I was not going to say that. I was going to tell you that I used to write an art column for my college paper.”

  “Oh,” he said meekly.

  His humble deference lasted another thirty seconds before he was touting the virtues of another craftsman a few booths away. “Look at this jewelry. What do you think?”

  “It’s lovely,” she said distractedly, barely looking at the bold silver pieces that she normally would have loved.

  “You’re not even looking.”

  “Where are the kids?”

  “Across the street, three booths down.”

  She looked in the direction in which he’d pointed. They were all there, every one of them. She counted just to be sure.

  “I’m not going to let them get lost, Annie,” he said quietly, tilting her chin up so he could look directly into her eyes. “I promise.”

  “Okay, so I get a little crazy.”

  “You’re a mother.”

  “Yes. I am.” She said it as though she was trying to make a point, but with Hank staring tenderly into her eyes, she lost track of the message she’d had in mind.

  Just then they were joined by the kids. “Can we get some ice cream?” Paul pleaded.

  “I want ’ade,” Melissa said.

  Hank turned deliberately to Jason. “You know where the food booths are, son?”

  “I saw ’em.”

  “Then you make sure that everyone stays together,” he said, handing over some money. “Meet us on the corner in a half hour.”

  Jason seemed startled by the gesture. Ann caught a fleeting look of pride in his eyes before he hid it behind his usual moody mask. “Come on, guys,” he said, sounding put-upon.

  “I’m not sure that was such a good idea,” she said worriedly. “Shouldn’t we go with them?”

  “Tracy’s with them, too, and he has to learn that we do trust him.”

  “But you don’t,” she countered. “You’ve said all along that he was heading for trouble.”

  “I know and I still think that’s possible, but we’ve got to do everything we can to head it off. I thought the job would help, but it hasn’t.”

  “I think it has. He won’t let you see it, but he seems more self-confident. The responsibility has been good for him.”

  “Annie, he’s not accepting the responsibility,” he blurted, then immediately looked as though he wished he could retract the words. Ann’s heart sank.

  “At least not the way I’d hoped he would,” he amended hurriedly.

  “What do you mean?”

  Hank sighed. “Let’s talk about this later.”

  “We’ll talk about it now.”

  “Annie…”

  She finally lost patience and snapped, “Hank, just tell me. What’s wrong?”

  “He hasn’t been coming in to work.”

  “Why on earth not? What does he say about it?”

  “Ted says he’s had an excuse every time. Not terribly legitimate ones, but he has been calling in, which I suppose is something.”

  “Haven’t you confronted him about it?”

  “No. He reports to Ted. For the time being, I’m staying out of it. If he gets fired as a result of his behavior, it may do him good to realize that there are consequences.”

  “Dammit, Hank, you should have told me about this. I would have talked to him.”

  “A boss doesn’t go running to Mother when an employee acts up. Besides, I didn’t want to upset you.”

  “Well, I am upset.”

  “Exactly.” He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. The crowds continued to mill around them, but as far as Ann was concerned it was just the two of them—and Jason.

  She sighed. What would it have been like to have met Hank at a time in her life when she was totally free of responsibilities, when she would have been free to get to know him without all the pressures they faced now? Well, she thought with a pragmatic shrug, there was no point in wondering about that. As Hank liked to remind her, this was the hand they’d been dealt. They either had to fold or play it out. Since Hank seemed unlikely to drop out, she wouldn’t, either.

  “We are not going to let this spoil this vacation,” he insisted now. “We have three days up here…”

  “Two.”

  “Whatever. There will be plenty of time after that to decide what to do about Jason. For now we are all going to enjoy ourselves. Understand?”

  “Just like that?” she said with a skeptical snap of her fingers.

  His eyes twinkled with amusement. “Just like that.”

  “Well, since you seem to be in charge, then I suppose we’ll just have to follow orders.” She caught the glint of satisfaction in his eyes and hastily amended, “For the moment.”

  “Your submissiveness is duly noted.”

  “Enjoy it while it lasts,” she said dryly as the kids caught up with them.

  “Oh, I intend to,” he said, his gaze locking with hers.

  After another hour of browsing, Hank declared it was time to move on to Liz and Todd’s.

  “Yes, captain,” she said, giving him a jaunty salute.

  He leaned down to whisper, “Watch it, lady. You can be court-martialed for that kind of disrespect to an officer.”

  “And the punishment?”

  He slid his hand up her side until it rested just below the curve of her breast. “I have several things in mind,” he said, his expression very serious. Ann’s heart thumped unsteadily.

  “Shall I enumerate?” he asked huskily.

  Caught up by the expression in his eyes and the rasp in his voice, she could only shake her head. Hank responded with another of those slow, deliberate winks, then blithely walked off, leading the family back to the van. Ann had to jerk herself out of the sensual torpor he’d left her in.

  At Liz and Todd’s she was hardly aware of the food or the activity that swirled around them. She responded to Liz’s curious questions with what she hoped were rational answers, but she couldn’t seem to focus on anything other than Hank as he played touch football with the whole gang on the front lawn. Even David had been persuaded to join in and after an initial hesitation, he was now wholeheartedly engaged in the competition. Just more evidence of Hank’s magic, she thought.

  “Interesting,” Liz observed, sitting down beside her on the grass.

  “Hmm.” She blinked and turned to her friend. “What?”

  “You seem awfully absorbed in the game.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Or is it one of the players you’re attracted to?”

  “Hmm.”

  “Ann!” Liz said in exasperation.

  She dragged her attention away from the sight of Hank in jeans and T-shirt sprawled on the ground under a whole gang of giggling children. They were tickling him, which she didn’t recall as a traditional tactic in the game. Still, he seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly. She caught herself smiling.

  “Ann!”

  She dragged her attention back to Liz. “What?”

  “What’s going on between you and Hank?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Oh, really. I find that difficult to believe. He’s a very attractive man. You’ve been living under the same roof for weeks now. Surely there are sparks of some kind.”

  Sparks? There was a veritable forest fire. She was not ready to admit it.

  “You know for a psychologist who touts the healing virtues of communication, you’re awfully quiet. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?”

  She turned a baleful look on Liz. “And you, my friend, are treading on thin ice.”

  Liz chuckled as she got to her feet. “Gee, you seem to be in about the same state Hank was in when he was here for dinner a couple of weeks ago. I can’t tell you how glad I am that it’s all working out.”

  “Working out? Nothing is working out,” she said adamantly as Liz wen
t back inside. Ann strode purposefully after her. She had to straighten her out before she got some crazy notion in her head. “Did you hear me? Nothing is working out. Do not gloat. Do not get your hopes up. Nothing is working out.”

  “Hmm,” Liz said.

  The noncommittal reply set Ann’s teeth on edge. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  Liz returned her gaze innocently. “I think you’ve just said it all.”

  “Oh, go to hell,” she snapped, just in time for Hank to hear her. He pulled her into a casual hug.

  “There she goes again,” he said to Liz. “Has she always had this tendency to swear when she gets upset?”

  “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen her upset before.”

  “Interesting,” he commented, never taking his eyes from hers. “Very interesting.”

  “Leave me alone,” she growled.

  He shook his head. “Come with me.”

  “Where?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Do you have to question every little thing? Just come.”

  Something in his voice told her not to argue. With a last look back at Liz, who was grinning broadly, she went with Hank. Outside, he led her to the van and urged her inside.

  “Hank, we can’t leave,” she protested even as a sweet tension began to build inside her.

  “Oh, yes, we can.”

  “The kids…”

  “Will be just fine. Liz is a teacher. She’s used to handling more kids than this.”

  “But they’re going to think we’re terribly rude.”

  “I assure you that is not what they’re going to think.”

  Her eyes widened. “Hank, exactly what did you tell them?”

  “The truth, that I wanted to be alone with you.”

  “And they went along with it?”

  He gave a secretive little smile. “Let’s just say they owed me one.”

  Ann folded her hands tightly in her lap and stared straight ahead. “Hank, I am not ready for this.”

  “Annie, believe me, we are both more than ready for this. Before the afternoon is out I’m going to prove it.”

  “But that’s just it, it’s afternoon.”

  “Late afternoon.” He peered at her. “You have something against making love in the afternoon?” he teased.

  Well, there it is, she thought wildly. The words were out in the open, lying there between them like a gauntlet that had been thrown down. “It all seems so calculated somehow,” she retorted.

  “Annie, we are living with six children. I can almost guarantee you that making love would have to be calculated under circumstances like that.”

  She regarded him closely. “Doesn’t that bother you? Isn’t spontaneity better?”

  His voice dropped to a seductive murmur. “Annie, I want you in my arms. That’s the only thing that matters.”

  She swallowed hard as he continued. “I want to kiss every single inch of you. I want to get to know your body as well as I know my own. I want to bring you alive under my fingers. If I have to do a little calculating to accomplish that, I can handle it.” He turned his head toward her. “Can you?”

  “I don’t know,” she said honestly, though her heart was beating so hard and fast she could barely hear herself think.

  He reached over and took her clenched hands in his. “Annie, once we get there, once we’re inside and all alone, if this isn’t right for you, we’ll forget it. I promise. Okay?”

  She heard the raw hunger in his voice, saw the depth of desire in his eyes and still she recognized the sincerity of the promise. Hank would be guided by her needs. What she wanted would always be uppermost in his mind.

  Suddenly the last of her doubts fled, replaced by a wild, pounding urgency she’d never thought to experience. Responding to that frantic need, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed the scarred knuckles, the callused palm. She felt the shudder that gripped him at her touch and asked softly, “Think you can drive any faster without getting caught?”

  Chapter 11

  One of the few advantages of winter, Ann decided, was that darkness came early. She was grateful for the rapidly dimming light because the minute they walked through the front door of Hank’s house, her timidity returned. The twilight shadows helped her to hide her fears from Hank, though they did nothing to keep them from her heart.

  Even though a part of her yearned desperately to be in Hank’s arms, wanted to know the sheer physical pleasure of abandoning herself to his possession, another part was still holding back. She was still deeply troubled by the cold planning of it, worried even more about the long-term consequences for her emotions. The risks seemed enormous, far too great for a woman who’d only gambled on love once and lost everything.

  They’d barely made it into the living room when Hank said, “I’m a mess from the football game. I think I’ll take a shower.”

  He said it matter-of-factly, as if there were nothing more important on his mind than washing away a little dirt and grass. The comment was so far from the romantic murmurings she’d been anticipating, Ann felt like laughing hysterically with relief. Then she felt like screaming. If they were going to make love, why couldn’t they just do it and get it over with? Why this slow torture, when they’d already waited far too long? She hadn’t felt this nervous the first time…the only other time.

  “Hank,” she began, intending to protest, only to have him take her hand and squeeze it gently.

  “Come with me,” he suggested softly, his gaze locked with hers.

  Heat pulsed through her, quick and hard and thrilling. Excitement and that maddening, intense desire warred with caution. “I don’t know…”

  “You can scrub my back.”

  It was a light, almost innocent taunt, but the prospect of touching him, of running her fingers over his shoulders set her blood on fire. The temptation was irresistible. Further denial would have been as pointless as trying to hold back the tides.

  Willing herself not to think beyond the moment, she went with him through the house to the master bedroom suite. The previous night she had avoided this end of the house, not daring to envelop herself in the intimacy of Hank’s room. She’d been afraid to enter a room that was so very much his domain. Now she gazed around with rapt curiosity.

  The carpeting was a thick, dark navy. The bed was king-size, the only size large enough to accommodate a man of Hank’s stature. Staring at it made her pulse race. The comforter was a rich, masculine pattern, the lines of all the furniture clean and modern. Vertical blinds let in the last of the muted afternoon light and shadowed images of the garden beyond the sliding glass doors. It was expensive, understated and very male.

  She scanned the dresser and nightstand for any additional clues to Hank’s personality, but found not one bit of evidence that would tell her his taste in books, his preference in after-shave or his family history. The room looked as though the decor had been completed by a disinterested professional the month before and as if it had been cleaned religiously each week since then. She might have attributed the tidiness to his absence had he not been in the room last night. There wasn’t even a tossed-aside T-shirt or an empty beer bottle to indicate that he’d spent that time here, either. The bed had been remade with army boot-camp precision. She doubted there was even a dent in the pillow to indicate where his head had rested. No wonder the man had been appalled the first time he’d walked into her house. He was compulsively neat. Her professional training kicked in and she wondered what had caused it. The question was definitely untimely, but valid nonetheless.

  A little bit stunned, she sank down on the side of the bed. “Hank?”

  A worried frown creasing his brow, he knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. “Second thoughts?”

  “Not exactly. How do you live like this?” She gave an all-encompassing wave around the impersonal room.

  Following the sweeping gesture, he stared around blankly. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s so…steril
e.”

  Shadows crossed his eyes, but he merely shrugged. “I guess I’ve never paid much attention to it.”

  “Don’t you have any pictures of your parents? An ex-girlfriend? Something?”

  He grinned at that. “You’d actually be happy to find a photograph of an ex-girlfriend by my bed?”

  She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, then touched his beard. “I actually think I might prefer it to this.”

  “Why?”

  “This doesn’t tell me anything about you. I feel as though I could be in the room of a complete stranger or even a totally impersonal hotel.”

  “You already know all you need to know about me.” He drew her hand to his chest. “You know what’s in here.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. How can I really know what’s in your heart without understanding you? You told me about your mother and father, but there’s more to growing up than that. Tell me about you, Hank. What were you like when you were a little boy? What subjects did you like in school? Did you always want to be an engineer?”

  He touched a finger to her lips, then trailed it down along her jaw, finally moving to her breast, where he drew slow, deliberate circles around the already erect tip. Ann felt the effect of that lazy touch all the way down to her toes. As a distraction it was very effective, but she had no intention of letting him win out this time. In the long run, they’d both lose if she did. She seized his hand and held it, pressing her lips to the scarred knuckles.

  “Talk to me,” she pleaded.

  “Now, Annie?” His voice was low, incredulous and threadbare with desire.

  “Now,” she said firmly, plumping up the pillows at the head of the bed and settling herself there. It was a deliberate attempt to put some distance between them without removing them entirely from the seductive atmosphere. This was a time-out, not an ending.

  “I thought I was the one who was supposed to be on the couch for a session like this,” he said with an edge in his voice.

  She ignored the tone and patted the place beside her. “Join me.”

  He studied her intently. “You’re really going to insist on this, aren’t you?”

  She nodded placidly, comfortable in the role of inquisitor as she hadn’t been in the role of seductress. “I think I am.”