by Nancy Radke
Elenora re-shelved the volume, then looked around. “I really must show this to John.”
“You share everything, don’t you?” Ellen asked. The two worked together so smoothly, they gave new meaning to the word “love.”
“That’s what makes a marriage work. Did you notice, tonight, how often Jared looked for you?”
“Are you sure? Vanessa was with him—-”
“Monopolizing his time. I could have kicked my granddaughter. I tried to disengage her, but couldn’t. She tends to attach herself to the most eligible man around, no matter who it is.”
Ellen nodded as they left the room. She had caught Jared looking at her, quite a few times. But he could have been just making sure she was doing things right as his hostess.
Jared had the papers memorized, and as he and the Van Chattans signed them, Ellen kept them in order.
The yacht was well over a million and Ellen wondered if she would ever get used to the amount of money that changed hands. The checks she wrote for the company to pay some of the suppliers had seemed hefty at the time, but they were small compared to the total.
Although... yesterday, five of the checks she had written were almost twenty thousand each.
With the purchase complete, the Van Chattans left while Ellen and Jared put the documents away.
“How did you memorize all that?” she asked.
“I asked Donna to put it on a CD so I could study it while I was driving around.”
“Clever man. I discovered one thing about you though; one habit I bet you don’t know you have.”
“Which is?”
“Whenever you’re going to talk someone into something, you half-lower your eyelids, tilt your head back and focus all your attention on them.”
“I do?”
“You do.”
“Now that I’m aware of it, I’ll have to break it off.”
“Don’t. It gives me advanced warning.”
“Oh, it does, does it? Then I’ll really have to watch myself.” He placed the papers in his briefcase, to be returned to the office on Monday. “That’s it,” Jared said. “Let’s wrap this up. The Van Chattans have invited you and me to join them on their first trip through the locks.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes. Want to go?”
“I’d love to.” Had Elenora included her because she knew it might further Ellen and his relationship... if there was one? Ellen thought it might just be, and could have kissed the older women. As she had said, she was hopelessly romantic.
“We’ll drop their friends off at the Kirkland marina first, travel through the locks, take a short cruise around Elliot Bay, then go to Shilshole, which will be their home berth.”
The caterers placed the last of the food on the Affinity. Larry was in the wheel house with George and John, leaving Jared and Ellen free to help Elenora with the passengers.
As soon as they were under way, Jared called Ellen over to the main stereo unit.
“Which one do you prefer?” he asked, showing her five CD’s with quiet dance music.
She looked over the selection and picked out one with Glenn Miller on it. The majority of the Van Chattan’s friends were in their sixties or older, so they should enjoy it. “This one. And this other one looks good, too.”
“Fine.” He put both into the changing tray, pushed the controls and adjusted the volume as the music swirled around them. “I do this to keep the mob settled.”
“A good idea,” she said, then indicated the discs in her hand. “Where do these go?”
“Lay them on the shelf there. I always include a few with the sound system. It helps ‘sell’ the yacht concept to others.”
She did so, and he stepped closer, reaching out to take her hand. His next step brought him to within dancing distance and Ellen felt excitement stir within her, highlighting the moment with vivid brightness. A swirl of sparkling effervescent energy bubbled up from her toes to the top of her hair... hair that came tingling alive with sensation when Jared casually tucked in a strand that had fallen loose.
“Also, I don’t want to have to repair the yacht afterwards,” he whispered to Ellen, leading her out onto the deck and swinging her expertly into the dance. “Slow music keeps the troops quiet.” Several couples joined them, then more.
Held securely in his arms, Ellen tried hard to stomp on her feelings before they skyrocketed above the yacht’s tall antenna.
He’s just doing this to set an example; to get others to dance, she told herself sternly. He told you so, plainly. It has nothing to do with you.
Her reminder proved useless. His expensive cologne, with its hint of spices, was designed to stir a woman’s senses and shatter her rationale. His personal charm and quiet authority further destroyed her defenses, so that she willingly relinquished herself to his magic.
Soft moonlight did a dance step of its own on the calm surface of the lake. Black, highly-polished shoes matched her gray-green heels as Jared spun her into a circle of dreams.
His hand, low on her back, pressed her firmly against him. Through his dinner jacket she could feel the strength of his body. He consisted of lean, rock-hard muscle and bones... in contrast to her soft yielding. The sensation overcame her mind’s last lingering resistance and she laid her head on his shoulder.
“Did I say how lovely you looked tonight” he asked, his mellow voice fueling the fire roaring within her.
“Yes. Several times, thank you.”
“Then I’ll say it again. That delightful smile you have made everyone feel welcome.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
“You did more than you realize. Three couples have decided to look at our yachts—the smaller ones—and several others expressed an interest.”
“But I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“Sure you did. They saw how much you were enjoying yourself and what a delight you took in showing things off; and they wanted to feel that way.”
Again she struggled, confused. She must not read into his words things that weren’t there. This was a business occasion; he was talking business. He complimented her because she had helped his business, not because he loved her.
“I was excited, I guess. It’s the first time I’ve ever been on a megayacht. Not literally, of course; we were aboard her the other day, but she was still on land. Once in the water, she acquires a life of her own.”
“And is that the only reason you look so radiantly happy?”
“Why, yes. At least I think so. What other reason could there be?”
He sighed. “If you don’t know—-”
“Know what?”
The music stopped and they stood where they were, facing each other. “Never mind. But I thought...” He drew his hand roughly through his hair, wiping out the suave neatness of the business man.
“Don’t talk in riddles.”
“I guess I feel I still have to. Anyway, riddles were made to be answered. And I mean to have an answer to mine before this night is over. Now, please see to our guests, a little longer.”
*19*
Confused by Jared’s words, Ellen sidestepped a young man headed her way and retreated to the table set at one side of the deck. The hors d’oeuvres were no longer beautifully arranged, but there was substantial food left and she helped herself.
It was just something to take her mind off Jared. He was dancing again, this time with Vanessa. That—if anything—should have taken the wind from her sails, leaving her becalmed, her hopes lost forever.
For she had been hoping, just the tiniest, that she would be the one to put an end to all those names in his book. Hoping that he talked to Vanessa about her because he could not keep his mind off her anymore than she could him.
Hoping he might fall in love with her.
Ellen smiled automatically at the young man who had approached the table, nodding “yes” when he asked her to dance. He was a talker, and her efforts to return his chatter kept her whirling thoughts
at half an arm’s length... for a few moments. It did nothing to calm her emotional turmoil, and she marveled that it was so easy to appear in control when she was so totally out of it.
She maintained the act all the way north to Kirkland, her smile pasted on her face for everyone to see.
There they dropped off the group, including Vanessa. Just the Van Chattans, Larry, and the crew remained aboard with them. As they sailed westward across Lake Washington, Ellen turned her attention to the trays of food, taking out the few remaining items and transferring them all to one large platter.
“Let me help.” It was Jared, his jacket gone, holding a plastic garbage bag into which she threw the unsalvageable items. The simple act, working beside him, was enough to whirl her off into the clouds again.
She didn’t know how she was going to survive their closeness and hide her attraction to him. He was not blind. He had already been questioning the stars in her eyes with his riddles earlier. Or at least, she thought that was what he had been doing.
“That was quite a party. If Vanessa was a little younger, I’d have spanked her—a little older, I could have snubbed her. How’re you doing?” He tied a knot in the bag and set it on the floor, then washed and dried his hands. He appeared cheerful, unaware of her happy reaction to his words, unaffected by her presence.
“Fine. I guess. Just don’t ask me to smile for a week.”
“Jaw ache?”
“Yes. I can’t imagine it ever feeling relaxed again.”
“I know. Mine feels that way, too.” He lowered his voice, stepped intimately closer to her. “It’s this area, back of the jawbone, right?” Reaching out, he touched her cheeks and the lobes of her ears, his fingers brushing both sides of her face with a gentleness that set her heart tripping over itself in wild anticipation.
She nodded, breathing in the soap’s clean fragrance which lingered on his hands, afraid to speak and break the spell.
“Want me to make it better?” he asked, his fingers sliding along the ultra-sensitive areas behind her ears and through her hair.
Ellen’s heart pounded with rapid applause, urging him on. “Oh, yes,” she whispered, barely able to breathe, all her hopes returning. Her heart cast off its mooring lines. She was going to take her own pleasure cruise, following the wind and waves to see where they carried her. “Yes!”
“Good.” He kissed each cheek then paused, his hands cupping her head, fingers gently stroking along the nape of her neck, the feather-light touch rocketing her senses, impelling her onward. One more kiss to each spot, then his lips brushed against hers in gentle exploration.
Jared pulled back and Ellen opened her eyes to find him studying her slightly parted lips. His gaze lifted to lock onto hers before he leaned forward to once more kiss her with the very barest of contact—then drew back again, as if testing the waters.
Too slow. Much too slow. She wanted every inch of him. Unsatisfied, her lips aching to touch his, she pushed against his restraining hands, seeking to quench the desire that surged within her, begging for more.
He still hesitated, his hands holding her captive, his thumb brushing her lower lip in tantalizing strokes of fire.
Her body suffused with heat, her breathing quickened as she reached out for him, the deep need pulsating from within. Her hands, pressed against the fine fabric of his shirt, moved upward to clasp around his neck, trying to hold him still so she could reach his lips: the objects of her frustration. Why wouldn’t he kiss her?
Instead, he shifted one hand under her chin and moved the other through her hair, loosing the coiled braid, then ran his fingers through the length so that the strands fell soft and wanton across her shoulders, making her feel more feminine and desirable.
“I want to do this every time I’m with you,” he murmured, stroking its red-gold glory.
She became liquid copper in his hands, waiting to be molded into a sculpture of unsurpassed beauty.
“Precious,” he whispered, again meeting her lips in the fleetest of kisses, teasing her senses into an overwhelming blanket of desire.
“Jared.”
“Yes?”
He stepped backwards and she moved with him, her mind focused on his lips hovering just out of reach, her entire body hungry, burning with sensation, demanding the release of her love. “Stand still. You keep moving—”
“As you wish.” He caught her lower lip with his, drawing it into his mouth, stroking it with his tongue. He held her closely, his arms surrounding her with an energy every bit as fierce as his demanding possession of her lip.
She pressed against him, entrapped in magic, wishing this would never end. She wanted him; needed him.
Did he need her in the same way, with all those other women? She must remember them. She must not be added to his list. He needed her until he learned to read, but that alone could not keep love alive. A clear image returned—of his back, as he turned away from her in the restaurant parking lot. She stiffened slightly, trying to deny the surging power of her love.
“Relax.” He drew one finger across her sensitive lips, encouraging all the emotions she struggled to subdue.
Reaching up, she caught his hand and held it away. “Don’t do that. I can’t think—”
“Awful, isn’t it.” He chuckled and his voice dropped into a low murmur. “You’ve blown my concentration all night. Every time I glanced around, I searched for you. And when I’d finally spot you, you were always looking back.”
“I....” She stopped. It was true. What defense could she offer?
“Kiss me again. I know you want to. And you have to know by now, how much I want it.”
“I can’t—”
“Yes, you can.”
“I shouldn’t—”
He chuckled softly once more, eyes smiling, his delight in her evident. “Yes, teacher. You should.”
He touched his lips to hers again, then kissed her, hungrily.
Her love swelled like an incoming wave, surging as restless as the sea. She found herself pliable in his arms; susceptible to his every movement, unwilling to stop their flight to the stars. It was evident one learned by experience when Jared taught the course.
The teacher was being taught by a master—and his instructions were thorough; a liberal education with the major course of study being romance. He was well past the introduction and she was learning fast.
He was very experienced, she reminded herself as she returned his kisses. All those other women. Would he ever want to commit to just one?
At that moment Elenora walked into the room and they jumped apart like startled children. “Oh, there you are,” she said, looking flustered. “I need you to show me how to work the stereo system. There’s a garden show I listen to on Saturday mornings. I don’t want to miss.”
“Of course. Ellen can help you with it.”
“I don’t know anything about radios, Jared,” Ellen protested, her heart pounding. The interruption had startled her, further confusing her senses and she struggled to regain control of her mind and body. “My stereo looks nothing like this one. You show her.”
He laughed. “We’ll find the manual and go through it together, all three of us.” He turned to Elenora. “Then if you have any problems, you’ll be able to look it up again.”
“Why don’t you go ahead while I finish cleaning up in here,” Ellen said, wanting a few more minutes to compose herself—and to cherish what had just happened. She couldn’t switch emotions as fast as he could.
He smiled at her as if amused, shaking his head slightly. “No. I insist. I’ll point out the features while you,” he slowed his words, “you read the manual... out loud. That way, Elenora will have a better chance to learn it.”
“Oh!” A hot flush of embarrassment swept over her face. How could she have forgotten? She clasped her hands together, speaking brightly. “You’re absolutely right. Why didn’t I think of that.”
“Uh... I hope, uh... I wasn’t interrupting anything,” Elenora said, loo
king more closely at the two of them, as if just seeing them for the first time.
“No. Nothing,” Jared said, still smiling broadly. “We can help you right now.”
“If you insist.” Giving them one last suspicious glance, Elenora walked out the door. Jared winked at Ellen before he turned to follow.
He’s treating my lapse like a huge joke, Ellen thought. Well, maybe it was. There were lots of times lately when she had forgotten he couldn’t read.
She caught up with him in the passageway.
“So Elenora interrupted ‘nothing,’ huh?” she asked, in an undertone.
“Nothing that can’t be finished later,” he whispered to her. “It takes a while to go through the locks.”
By the time they finished tuning the radio, the yacht had stopped to signal the bridge tender to open the Ballard Bridge. The signal, one long blast and one short from the yacht’s horn, reminded Ellen she had heard similar signals earlier. They had already passed under four other bridges, each one having to stop traffic and raise its span for them to go through.
After Elenora thanked them and excused herself, Ellen stepped over to the window to watch the opening of this bridge. Soon they would be entering the Government Locks which linked the fresh water lakes with the saltwater of Puget Sound.
Jared joined her. “The next signal you hear will be one long blast and two short ones. That alerts the Lockmaster to lower the salt-water barrier before we get there. It’s just upstream from the entrance to the large lock.”
“What does it do?”
“It keeps salt water—which is heavier than fresh—from going into the lakes. The barrier sticks up from the bottom, but it’s hinged, so deep-draft vessels can get past it. Shall we go outside to watch the bridge open?”
“Sure.”
Ellen followed him out onto the deck, feeling as excited as a kid at an amusement park. It was fun to be under the bridges, as the huge spans disengaged and lifted overhead with a rumble of their mechanical parts.
They passed under the Ballard Bridge and across Salmon Bay, then paused to wait for the salt-water barrier light to go off and the green lock light to let them proceed. It was late, but traffic was heavy during the summer. A group of boats coming through from Puget Sound had to first file out of the locks and past the yacht. Their passengers waved and smiled up at them.