Winds of Heaven

by Karen Toller Whittenburg

  For a moment lost in time Kylie met his gaze and felt her senses reel at the sight of him. Everything else diminished in importance, and she was suddenly, inexplicably complete.

  “Hello, Nick,” she said as casually as if her heart weren’t pounding madly. “How have you been? I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by to discuss the production report from Southwest. I’m sure you’ll remember my prediction.”

  “Hello, Kylie,” he interrupted with no hint of emotion. “May I introduce you to my mother and my aunt?”

  Swallowing her impulsive need to talk, Kylie snapped her manners into place and stepped forward. She acknowledged the introductions with a courteous smile, feeling slightly uncomfortable under Nick’s intent gaze. Did he think she was going to make some horrible social blunder or something?

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” she murmured with a polite cordiality that within moments warmed to sincerity. Gray eyes, so like Nick’s, welcomed her. Jane Braden McKaye was like her son in other ways too. Her sable-dark hair was misted with silver, and the latent amusement in her eyes and in her smile was softer, but even so she reminded Kylie of Nick. Her charm was quiet and unpretentious, dispelling Kylie’s reticence with its patience.

  Aunt Rosemary’s charm, on the other hand, demanded an immediate response. Her blond vivaciousness was both compelling and a little overpowering. In the second it took the speculating blue eyes to assess her, Kylie felt she’d been weighed, measured, and checked for cavities. Still, if Nick hadn’t forewarned her about his aunt, Kylie doubted that she would have recognized the thoroughness of the survey; it had been handled with such finesse.

  “Please sit down, Kylie.” Mrs. McKaye assumed the role of hostess and motioned Kylie to a leather-upholstered chair. “Nick has been so mysterious about you that we must have a chance to get acquainted. Men can be so frustratingly closemouthed at times, you know.”

  Kylie glanced at Nick for reassurance or guidance or some equally vague assistance, but he didn’t acknowledge her request. He just perched on the edge of the sizable desk, folded his arms over his chest, and watched her with expressionless serenity.

  “Yes.” Kylie tried the affirmative answer, hoping it would fit somewhere. Sinking into the rich leather, she attempted a nonchalant smile as Rosemary Jamison circled the chair to sit opposite her.

  “So you’re Kylie.” The statement was delivered with such a knowing look that Kylie wondered just how close-mouthed Nick had actually been. Her gaze strayed helplessly in his direction, but finding no response, returned to his aunt.

  The stylish hairstyle didn’t alter by a single blond strand as Rosemary gave a discerning nod. “You’re Kylie,” she repeated as if confirming a suspicion. “You really made quite an impression on my son, Alex. But then, apparently you made quite an impression on everyone.”

  Kylie felt compelled to glance at the “everyone” in question and thought that he didn’t appear very impressed. “I’m afraid that’s a little exaggerated,” she said with a determined sigh. “Even at the end of the seminar there were a few holdouts. Some people just can’t seem to focus on the positive aspects of life.”

  “Thick heads, no doubt,” Nick’s mother inserted blandly.

  Kylie blinked in surprise at the benign humor and resisted the urge to agree aloud. Instead she lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. “I’ve been told that differences of opinion add zest to life.”

  “Only if you define zest as bickering, quibbling, and a general state of dissension,” Rosemary said, reclaiming Kylie’s attention with an almost disarming laugh. “Personally I can’t understand why anyone’s opinion would differ from mine.”

  Although she felt sure Rosemary was only joking, Kylie wasn’t sure how to respond. With a mental flip of a coin she chose a light comment. “I sometimes feel the same way, but luckily I’m wrong often enough to keep me humble.”

  “And right often enough to keep you confident,” Jane McKaye added with a hint of admiration. “I understand you can be very assertive.”

  Kylie curbed the inclination to check Nick’s reaction. “I like to think I’m capable of responding appropriately, whether the situation calls for assertiveness or deference to another’s opinion.”

  Rosemary arched a thoughtful eyebrow. “Tell me about these seminars you give, Kylie.”

  This time Kylie couldn’t keep her gaze from Nick. Was he never going to say anything? What was he thinking as she sat here chatting aimlessly? His expression told her nothing, yet she could sense his thoughts, his feelings reaching toward her.

  Her hand trembled with the need to touch him, to share her uncertainty and to receive his reassurance. She was here in his office because she loved him, would always love him, and she couldn’t sit casually discussing something as mundane as a seminar. Not now.

  She felt the curious stares of the other women as she looked at him, desire etched deeply in her face. Nick’s eyes never left her face. Longing laced a path to her fingertips, but she dared not move to go to him.

  Nick closed his eyes, and for one devastating second Kylie thought he was going to get up and leave the room, but slowly his lashes lifted, and she saw the emotion, her own emotions, mirrored in his gaze.

  “Mother, Aunt Rosemary,” he said as he stood and walked to where she was sitting. He raised her slowly from the chair. “If you’ll excuse us, Kylie and I have some things to talk about.”

  Nick, holding her arm, propelled her toward the door. They were halfway there before Kylie heard Mrs. McKaye’s tentative “It was nice to meet you.” And they were halfway through the reception area before Kylie gave up on trying to force a reply past the lump in her throat.

  She wondered where Nick was taking her and when he would finally say something, anything. But even when they were alone in the elevator, he was silent.

  Kylie maintained the distance of a few inches that Nick had established between them and eyed him with uncertainty. “I’m beginning to think your mother is right,” she said. “You’re being frustratingly closemouthed.”

  He turned, and the cleft in his chin made an unexpected appearance. “Kylie, right now I don’t know whether to wring your neck or kiss you breathless.”

  Her hesitation was only momentary. “I’ve always found the positive approach to be the best.”

  “Really? And which approach do you consider positive? Wringing your neck or kissing you breathless?”

  Venting the full force of her frown on him, she lifted her chin. “If that’s the way you’re going to be....”

  His hand cupped her chin and tilted it up even more. “This is the way I’d like to be.” The words fanned her cheeks in the instant before his mouth laid claim to hers. Kylie wilted against him, lost, at last, in his kiss.

  But just as his arms curved around her, the elevator swooped to a stop, and Nick stepped back.

  “I’m not breathless yet,” she said with a fragile smile.

  “Give me a chance, Kylie.” He reached for her hand as the elevator doors opened. “This isn’t the ideal spot for a thorough demonstration.”

  “Do you know someplace better?”

  “Much better.”

  She glanced at him as they walked from the building into the fading sunlight. “Is it private?” she asked provocatively. “I mean, there aren’t any live-in blondes or anything like that?”

  “Only if you count the cocker spaniel next door.”

  Kylie wanted to laugh aloud with the giddy wonder of loving him. She was with Nick again, and everything was going to be all right.

  When he held open the taxi door, she slid across the seat to make room for him and then suddenly remembered. “Nick, my purse.... I must have left it in your office.”

  He slammed the door and nodded to the driver. “You won’t need it. We’ll get it later.”

  “But my overnight case and the briefcase with the production report in it?”

  “You won’t be needing those, either.”

  “I might.
” Her voice lacked both concern and conviction as she looked into his eyes and arched a teasing eyebrow. “I know you’ll want to discuss the report with me.”

  His hand slipped warningly around her nape. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to kiss you until you’re speechless.”

  Her lips slanted in a saucy smile. “If you think you can.”

  Nick accepted the challenge without hesitation, and by the time the taxi pulled to a stop, Kylie had long since conceded defeat. She had neither the will nor the desire to speak as she accompanied Nick into the two-story brick building. His apartment was at the top of a graceful stairway, and Kylie entertained fanciful thoughts of floating up the steps and into his arms every day for the rest of her life.

  Inside, his apartment was neat, modern, and crisply masculine. But she had little time for observation. Nick closed the door, turned the lock with a definite click, and drew her to him. His hands held her provocatively against the hard muscles of his thighs. “Now that we’re alone, why don’t you tell me why you’re here?”

  Kylie had no intention of teasing, of being coy, of waiting to hear a declaration of love before admitting that she cared. She wanted to tell Nick all that she felt, and she no longer had any fear that he would reject her love. He loved her too. She knew it with every beat of her heart. But, caught somewhere between the duskiness of his eyes and the sweet desires that held her hostage, she couldn’t speak.

  The words of love filled her, rising and thickening inside her with the need to be expressed. Such simple words, but so achingly, beautifully complex when coupled with the emotion that gave them voice. And still she stood silent, letting the words abide in her eyes, placing her trembling finger against his lips to convey the depth of her love. Then she slipped free of her sandals to raise herself on tiptoe and lift her face to his. She brushed the corner of his mouth with the promise of a kiss.

  “Nick, oh, Nick.” She whispered his name until at last emotion broke the bonds of silence. “I love you.”

  It felt so good, sounded so wonderful that she smiled and said it again. “I love you.”

  His arms tightened around her, and the same hesitancy she’d experienced only a moment before now echoed in his eyes. But Kylie waited, knowing that when he spoke, the words would be rich with feeling.

  “I love you,” he murmured huskily, and then he shifted to swing her into his arms. Cradling her to his chest, Nick locked her in his gaze. “I thought I was imagining things when I saw you walk into the office today. And then I decided that you’d only come to taunt me with that production report.”

  “Well, I...,” Kylie began tentatively. “It was a good excuse for coming, and I would like to know that you at least looked at the report and what you thought about it. Even if you won’t admit that I was right or that I did help you.”

  His eyes spoke a rueful apology. “I looked at the report. I thought it was a very convincing argument. I admit you were right in your assessment of the situation at Southwest. You did help. We’ll go over it item by item, if you like. Later. Right now we have better things to do.” He started toward the bedroom, his arms firm and tender beneath her, his voice a soothing accompaniment to his strides. “Until today, Kylie, I didn’t realize why I fell in love with you so quickly and so completely.

  “From the moment I first saw you in the airport, I knew there was something special, something different about you. But today, watching you with Mother and Aunt Rosemary, it occurred to me that you possess the qualities I most admire in them. You’re strong and independent, and yet you’re still sensitive and vulnerable. I’ve never before found that combination in a woman.”

  As he lowered her onto the bed Nick caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “And now you’re here with me.” His sigh revealed the strain of the days they’d spent apart. “I convinced myself you really didn’t care for me. It seemed like you were fighting me, arguing with me at every turn. That day on the telephone when you kept repeating Alex’s name, telling me what he said, how he felt….”

  “I only wanted you to understand, Nick.”

  “And I misunderstood entirely. I just couldn’t believe the seminar could be as effective as you said. But you proved its value, and you deserve the credit for resolving a touchy situation.” He shrugged free of his jacket, tossed it aside, and lay beside her. “I’ve missed you, Kylie. You can’t know how much.”

  “Show me,” she whispered, curving her arms around his neck and pressing into his embrace. “Please, Nick, show me.”

  It was a scene Kylie had envisioned many times during the long empty nights without him. A moment she had feared would never be hers. Yet now that she was here, her body warmed by his and her heart beating in rhythm with his, she could hardly believe it was happening. It was too perfect, too precious to be real.

  But as piece by piece the mound of discarded clothing on the floor grew, her lips and her fingertips explored the reality that was Nick. And he rediscovered her in a myriad of ways, touching, stroking, and searing her skin with dozens of tiny, sipping kisses.

  His mouth at her breast gave her intense pleasure, and she felt his satisfaction as her hands remembered the ways to please him. She rubbed her foot along his hair-roughened leg and delighted in his response. Their lips met, parted, and met again in long, yearning kisses that transcended the moment and soared into eternity.

  The hunger to feel his possession throbbed within her, and Kylie arched her body into his, seeking to give and receive a sweet fulfillment.

  Passion flared in fiery waves, but for all the urgency of their union Kylie felt the same lingering seduction of her senses, the completeness that she knew belonged uniquely to her and Nick.

  The satisfaction remained long after the storm of their desire had spent itself. Kylie lay content, wrapped in his embrace, too bemused with loving him to do more than sigh occasionally.

  Nick rubbed her shoulder in slow, soothing strokes. “Now that you’re here, Kylie, I intend to keep you.” His breath warmed her temple, and she closed her eyes to savor the wispy touch. “You know that, don’t you?” he asked. “I don’t want any arguments about it. We’ll plan a wedding during the Christmas holidays. That will give you plenty of time to relocate your main office and move in here with me.”

  “Wait, Nick,” she protested, turning to look at him. “Did you just say we’re getting married? At Christmas?”

  “Well, I’m thinking you’ll want a decently long engagement. Long enough to plan a wedding, anyway.” He paused, hesitated. “You will marry me, won’t you?”

  “Yes, Nick, of course I will, but what is the point of a long engagement?”

  “We’re going to need time to relocate your company in San Francisco. This will be a good opportunity for you, Kylie. Your business is bound to benefit by a move north. I have a lot of contacts here and I should be able to talk some of those aging, autocratic idiots you’re so fond of into hosting your seminars.”

  Kylie kept very still, listening to his careful plans. They were solid plans, wonderful plans for the future that she could agree with completely...except for one tiny detail.

  Her sigh sailed past lips frozen in a frown. “Nick, did you ever once consider asking what I thought about all this? It might not be feasible to move my business at the moment. I might not want to wait until Christmas to be married. I might have plans and commitments of my own to consider. Couldn’t you ask me before you start making decisions that affect both of us?”

  His breathing slowed, and she felt caution flood through him. The moment lengthened into a weighty silence as Nick increased the pressure of his embrace and then released it. “I think, Kylie, that I’m afraid to ask.”

  For all the steadiness in his voice she heard the uncertainty, recognized his unspoken need for reassurance. “Nick, I love you. I need you. You’re a part of my life now. I couldn’t make any plans that didn’t include you if I tried. It’s just that I want to be, insist on being, an equal partner in our relationship. I
can’t settle for less than that.”

  “I want that too,” he agreed huskily. “I’m just not at all sure how to go about establishing equality. I know I’m stubborn at times.” He paused to wrap her in a smile. “Not as stubborn as you are, but stubborn just the same. I want to give you so much, Kylie. I want to protect you and love you. I want to be needed by you.” He inhaled a low deep breath. “We’re both strong willed. Do you think we can make our marriage a success? I want a long-term commitment, Kylie. I won’t settle for less.”

  Turning onto her side, Kylie braced herself against his chest and planted a confident kiss squarely on his lips. “I’ve always had a firm belief in positive thinking, and I’d be happy to give you some individual instruction. Could I interest you in private lessons?”

  “We should begin the lessons immediately. But, I warn you, it may take years for me to get the hang of it.”

  “I’m not worried,” she assured him solemnly. “You’ll have a lifetime to practice.”

  His arms curved invitingly, pulling her close and allowing his lips access to the delightful hollows of her shoulder. “And a lifetime to practice other equally important activities. Perhaps I might interest you in a different type of lesson?”

  “Mmmm, I don’t know.” She savored the seductive heat of his kisses. “I’d have to know exactly what kind of lesson you have in mind.”

  “Forget I asked. This is one time you’ll just have to accept my decision as final.” He sealed the command with a tender tasting of her lips.

  Kylie drew back and smiled into his love-darkened eyes. “I don’t intend to let it become a habit, but just this one time I will lovingly acquiesce to your wishes.”

  “Thank God, I was afraid you were going to argue.”

  “I love you, Nick,” she whispered. “How could I possibly argue with that?”

  “I adore a woman who knows her own mind.”

  Her lips formed a curve of surrender. “And I’m fascinated by an assertive man. Isn’t it lucky we found each other?”