by Sharon Sala
Amelia took down her hair and gave it a thorough brushing before gathering it at the nape of her neck with a ribbon that matched the turquoise slacks and blouse she was wearing. She’d already called home and asked Effie if she’d stay long enough to get the aunts into bed without going into details. It wouldn’t do to tell the only woman in town who had hinged jaws that she was going out to a man’s house to beg for forgiveness.
So she locked the library, got into her little red car and headed out of Tulip. She had to see a man about her life. It was on hold until he smiled at her again.
Tyler slammed the back door as he entered the house. Another long day at work had passed only to come home to an equally long night alone. He glared at the contents of his refrigerator and then shut the door with a sigh. He didn’t want to eat. He wanted Amelia.
It had been eight of the longest days of his life since he’d left her standing on the front lawn of her home. He’d come to the conclusion that if anything ever worked between them, it would have to be at Amelia’s choice. And so he’d waited and waited, and she didn’t call, and each day his confidence waned until he physically ached for the sound of her voice.
He shrugged, unbuttoned his shirt, and headed for his bedroom and a warm, welcome shower. If he was going to be miserable…he’d do it clean.
Amelia parked her car and sat for a moment, hoping that Tyler might come out. But the door didn’t open. The big red hound beside the porch didn’t even bark. She felt unwanted and unwelcome and disgusted with herself for being so hesitant about something this important.
“Okay, this is it,” she muttered. “Either he’ll forgive me or he won’t. He gave up on Amber out of disgust. He may give up on me, too, out of frustration.”
Her chin quivered and her lower lip trembled while tears pooled, liquid shimmer on a blue-green surface. Her knees went weak as she got out of her car and started toward the house. When her footsteps echoed loudly on the wooden porch, it startled the hound into one weak carol that ended in a snuff of disinterest.
Amelia knocked, and then started to pray.
Water from his shower was still clinging to his body when the first knock sounded.
“Hell!” Tyler said. “It never fails.”
He grabbed at a pair of clean jeans and pulled them on his still damp body, fumbling with the buttons as he yanked a shirt from his closet and headed down the hall. His bare feet made a pat-pat sound as he hurried to the door, but when he yanked it open, he forgot what he’d been about to say.
A wall of pain hung between them as Tyler stared at the woman on his doorstep.
Amelia held her breath, waiting for him to make the first move, but the look on his face frightened her even more than she already was. Pooling tears finally overflowed.
The tears were more than he could stand. He dropped his shirt and held out his arms. “Come here,” he groaned, and pulled her into his house and into his arms, kicking the door shut behind him as he held her close.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
His mouth stopped the rest of her apology and nearly her heart. She was soft in his arms and pliant to his demands, and she had on too many clothes for his peace of mind. His hands shook as he lowered her feet to the floor. It had been heaven holding her. Turning her loose was going to be hell.
His hands cupped her face. His fingers lovingly traced the gentle contours of her cheeks and chin before traveling down the fragile curve of her neck. “I’m awful glad to see you, darlin’, but I need to know why you’re here.”
Amelia nodded. That was fair. She rested her forehead against his chest, trying to find words to say what was in her heart. But his skin was hot and his body was hard and she was finding it difficult to think. She wanted inside this man’s world in the very worst way. Finally, she just slipped her arms around his waist and leaned back in his arms, the better to see his face.
“I came to say I’m sorry.”
He relaxed and pulled her lower body tightly against him.
“What else?” he asked and moved once against her.
Amelia moaned as her eyelids dropped. This was why she’d come, but was she ready for this?
“What else, Amelia?” he repeated. His voice deepened as his hands moved slowly up and down her body, coaxing the answer from her slightly parted lips.
“I need to tell you that I…”
He moved again. Only harder. A gentle thrust between friends and lovers.
“Oh!” Her eyes flew open as she looked into promises she needed him to keep.
“Tell me what?” he persisted, and moved again. Only this time he moved away then smiled gently as she followed his retreat.
“Tell you that you’re driving me crazy. That I don’t know what I’m doing from one minute to the next. That I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I…”
They were as close as clothing would allow. “I get the message. Do you get mine?”
She started to shake, but walking away from this man and what he wanted from her was impossible. Her pulse raced as she traced the band of muscles across his chest, lingering longer on the wild rhythm of his heart. Her eyelids fluttered as she accepted the powerful swell of his lower body pushing at her boundaries, then with a heartfelt sigh, she took his hands and placed them on her breasts.
When she filled his palms, he groaned. Moments later, she was in his arms as he carried her down the hall, never taking his gaze from her face. With a reverent kiss, he lay her down upon his bed and then stood back. She lowered her eyes, suddenly shy of the man who’d stolen her heart, although she knew it was time to show him how much she cared.
Tyler sat down beside her and tilted her chin. “Don’t, Amelia. Don’t turn your face away from me—not ever again. No more secrets between us for as long as we live, okay?”
She jerked as if he’d slapped her. Secrets! There was still one awful one hanging around her neck that needed to be told.
“Tyler, there’s something I should…”
But he slipped off her blouse and she forgot what she’d been about to say, and when she was lying upon his bed staring at the magnificence of his body, she lost what was left of her mind. There was nothing left in their world but sight, and touch, and gentle whispers that promised heaven.
The small foil packet he took from a drawer was his last rational act, because when her arms lifted and encircled his neck, he slid between her legs and tried very hard not to die from the joy.
Breathing came in the form of one short gasp of pleasure after another, rocketing through a world of rhythmic motion. There was nothing but a white-hot need that kept on burning as they loved and made love.
Amelia was lost in a world of emotions and sensations. His hands on her body, his weight an anchor to the splintering fire that kept teasing her sanity. His mouth coerced as his body demanded. She took everything he was willing to give and then more. And then the pace changed—intensified to the point of blinding passion as she cried out his name.
Tyler heard her but was too far gone to speak. He gave her the only answer of which he was capable. With a final thrust, he sent heat spiraling throughout her body and waves of pleasure that ebbed and flowed until she was limp beneath him.
Her soft shudders gave him joy. He buried his face in the valley between her breasts to hide a smile. She might be shy on foot, but in bed she was more woman than any man had a right to expect.
With a low, weary moan, she buried her fingers in his damp black hair. “Tyler…Tyler.”
“Is that all you can say, darlin’?” he said, then smiled when she blushed.
Amelia looked into his eyes, treasuring the love she saw there, knowing it shone for her. There was plenty she should say to this man, but now was not the time. What just happened was out of a dream. He had stolen her heart long ago, and now he had her. For the first time in her life, she knew what it meant to love, body and soul.
“Oh, Tyler, it’s all I can say, at least for now. But later, we have to talk.”
He groaned beneath his breath and held her close. Hell! Being in love was not easy.
“Tyler?” Amelia’s voice was hesitant, nearly a whisper against his cheek.
“What, darlin’?”
“Could we do this one more time…before I go?”
He burst out laughing as he rolled her into his arms and rolled them both across the bed, tangling their arms and legs in the process.
“It would be my pleasure, Amelia Ann.”
And it was.
Eleven
Tyler drove up to the Beauchamp house in the old blue Chrysler and parked, breathing a small sigh of relief that he’d made it all the way back to Tulip without something falling off the ancient car, or it quitting on him.
He was anxious to see Amelia. Her unexpected arrival at his house had unleashed the passion between them. Just thinking about the sensuous way in which she’d returned his love made him sweat. He wiped his hands on his blue jeans as he got out of the Chrysler, trying to concentrate on other things. Wilhemina would have a stroke if he walked in the house with his libido this primed. It was going to be hell getting on the good side of that well-aged woman as it was, but he’d do it or die trying. Amelia and her aunts came packaged as a set of three.
As he walked up the steps then knocked, a flurry of footsteps inside the house made him chuckle. He could just imagine Wilhemina ordering the pillows to be fluffed and the magazines put back in order. And if he knew Rosemary, she was fussing with her hair and straightening her belt. But he didn’t care, the woman he’d come to see was Amelia. He waited in anticipation, wondering which personality would greet him, Amelia of the staid propriety, or the Amber of his dreams?
Amelia hovered at the windows watching for Tyler’s arrival. She knew Aunt Witty was upset about her interest in him, but she didn’t know how to assure her that loving Tyler didn’t mean she no longer loved her, too.
The night they’d made love had shifted their relationship onto a higher plane. She’d never known it could be possible to fall in love and have a nervous breakdown at the same time. If she didn’t tell him soon about her deceit, she was going to lose what was left of her mind.
And then he drove up and her heart fell at her feet as she watched him walking toward the door. Oh God, she prayed. Don’t let me lose this man.
A knock sounded throughout the house.
Rosemary jumped to her feet, patting at her hair and fussing with her collar as her cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. “He’s here!”
Amelia smiled. If she didn’t know better, she’d think Rosemary was the one with a beau.
“I’ll get it,” Amelia said, and bolted for the door, knowing that if Aunt Rosie answered, she’d never get Tyler to herself. She hadn’t seen him since their night together and leaving him later had been the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. She’d come home to a lonely bed and hadn’t slept two good hours since. All she could remember was what it felt like to lose one’s sense of self in a strong man’s arms.
Wilhemina glared as Amelia raced toward the door. She heartily resented the fact that both Rosemary and Amelia had consorted with the enemy. It made her feel isolated and abandoned by the two she loved the most. How could they place so much importance on a man’s appearance into their lives? Didn’t they know that men weren’t to be trusted?
Just as he was about to knock again, Amelia opened the door.
For a moment, she let her eyes feast on his wicked, knowing smile, his broad shoulders and those long legs. She shuddered slightly, remembering how strong they felt as he’d wrapped them around her body. Instead of throwing herself in his arms, she had to settle for the chaste kiss he gave her.
“Hello, Tyler. I’m glad you’re here. Did you have any trouble with the Chrysler?”
Breath caught in the back of his throat as he looked at her and remembered, then he whispered for her ears only. “I’m glad I’m here, too.” Then he spoke a little louder. “I didn’t have a bit of trouble. The car seems to be running normally.”
Rosemary perked up. The car was back! “That’s good news,” she chirped, and peered past the couple to the old blue car parked beside Amelia’s new red one.
Tyler caught the gleam in Rosemary’s eye and realized it was time to reveal his idea. He squeezed Amelia’s hand and then greeted Wilhemina.
“Miss Wilhemina, I hope you’re healing just fine.”
She sniffed. If only he would show some boorish behavior, it would be easier to hate this man. “Thank you, Tyler. I suppose that I am.”
He smiled. “That’s good, because I have a proposition that might be of some interest to you.”
Wilhemina pursed her lips, then fussed with her skirt tail, making certain that her wrapped ankle didn’t show. It wasn’t seemly.
“May I,” he asked, waiting for permission from Wilhemina to sit beside her.
She sighed and nodded.
“Now that Amelia has her new car, I wondered if you ladies were considering putting the Chrysler up for sale. What with the increase in traffic from the new highway leading into Savannah and the faster speed limits, I thought you and Miss Rosemary might not be so interested in getting behind the wheel anymore.”
Amelia clutched her hands behind her back, resisting the urge to throw them around Tyler’s neck, instead. That was the most dear and diplomatic out she’d ever heard a person give another. Wilhemina and Rosemary had just been handed a much-needed excuse. Now they wouldn’t have to admit they could no longer handle a car. All they had to do was agree with what he’d said. She held her breath, praying that Aunt Witty wouldn’t balk.
Wilhemina’s chin tilted angrily. She knew what he was getting at and certainly didn’t like to be reminded of her age. But she also knew that when Rosemary had absconded with the Chrysler the other day, it was divine intervention alone that had kept her safe. That and the fact that Tyler Savage had driven her home. She disliked the notion of being indebted to a man for her sister’s welfare. It made her next comment churlish.
“If we sell our car, how do you expect us to get around? Thanks to you, it’s quite obvious that Amelia won’t be around forever.”
The moment she spoke, she regretted what she’d said. The look of guilt on Amelia’s face made her sick, but it was too late to take it back.
Rosemary gasped. It was the first time in her entire life she could ever remember Wilhemina being selfish.
“Willy! The very idea! Amelia has a right to her own life. She’s under no obligation to wet-nurse us and you know it. I’m ashamed of you.”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed as his thoughts scrambled for order. He knew what Wilhemina was up to. This only proved his theory that guilt had played a big part in Amelia’s deceit. She was loaded with all kinds of hang-ups that these two elderly women had unwittingly built into her system.
If she’d had any sort of normal life, she would never have considered hiding her identity to obtain a second job.
Tyler slipped his hand over Wilhemina’s and gently dropped the keys into her palm.
“You’re the best judge for what’s safe and proper, Miss Wilhemina,” he said quietly. “But you should know something now. When I asked your permission to court Amelia, I had no intention of taking her away from you. On the contrary. I fully expected that if I was ever so lucky as to have Amelia for my wife, that you and your sister were part of the package. I was sort of counting on getting three women for the price of one.”
And when he gave her a teasing wink, she turned red from the neck up.
Amelia blinked back tears. It was the single most endearing thing a man had ever said about her. She walked
up behind him and slipped her hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently to remind him of her presence.
Wilhemina was trapped now and she knew it. “I’ll have to think about selling the car. I don’t suppose we’d get anything out of it. It’s quite old.”
“You might be surprised,” he said. “If you’re interested, let me know. I have a friend in Atlanta who restores old cars. He’d probably pay a premium for one in such good condition.”
Wilhemina was intrigued in spite of herself. She had no intention of ever driving the car again, and if it was gone, Rosemary would have no opportunity.
“Really? Well then, I suppose you may give him our number. If I think it’s fair, I might be interested.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tyler said, trying not to grin. “If he calls, don’t take less than five thousand dollars. He’ll pay it if you remain firm.”
Wilhemina’s mouth dropped. “That’s more than it cost new.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said, and then smiled at her. “But sometimes things with ‘character’ are worth keeping—just like people.”
“We could buy that new dishwasher,” Rosemary cried. “I’d love to have a dishwasher. You know how soap makes my hands burn. I have such delicate skin.”
Wilhemina glared. “There is not one delicate thing about you, Rosemary. Lazy, maybe, but definitely not delicate.”
“I’m not lazy,” Rosemary argued. “I simply chose to live at a more ‘leisurely’ pace than you, dear. You should try it sometime. It’s quite good for the digestion.”
Amelia interrupted before their fuss escalated and Aunt Rosie got into colorful descriptions of digestion.
“You two talk it out,” she said. “I’m going to run Tyler home. We’ve imposed on his time enough for one day.”