Heiress

by Zingera, L. C.

  Mel sighed.

  “The grassy slopes on the right hand side are vibrant green and there are some colorful wildflowers, I don’t know what kind, I’ve never been much of a gardener...but they are beautiful...like you...” he added without thinking. Mel didn’t say anything, he dared a glance at her features, her lips were curved in a Mona Lisa smile.

  “The house, at least I think it’s your house is coming into view. A large rustic wooden home with gabled roofs and small turrets?”

  “No, it will be the next one,” she supplied.

  Ryan drew in a breath as the enormous mansion came into view a couple of hundred yards further along the coast overlooking the cliff. “Red brick and stone, small attic gabled windows...looks very English?” he asked.

  “That’s the one,” she chuckled. “I’m glad you like it.”

  “That’s an understatement!” he said through clenched teeth. Despite being aware that Mel was enormously wealthy, this house was the epitome of it in ways that her Hollywood home wasn’t. This one stood out amidst the rest. In Hollywood, hers was just another mansion, here it was as though the house itself was making a statement in grandiose style. It dwarfed its competition. Quietly, Ryan pulled into the sweeping driveway. A small cheerful dark-haired Italian woman hurried forward to greet them, swiftly hugging Mel as she descended easily from the vehicle using the newly installed running boards.

  “Cara mia!” the woman exclaimed. “It is so very good to see you!” She kissed Mel on both cheeks and slipped her arm through hers. “I thank you so very much for your understanding! The house is in good order, I have stocked the pantry and the fridge for you and your...” she paused glancing at Ryan and raising her finely shaped black eyebrows.

  “Personal assistant,” supplied Mel merrily.

  “Ah, your very personal assistant,” chuckled the woman winking at Ryan.

  Suddenly the smile slipped from Ryan’s face as the two walked arm in arm into the house leaving him to carry in their bags. Unsure what the innuendo meant, if anything, he didn’t want to be viewed as a plaything.

  So far everything between him and Mel had been on the up and up. Very clear, minus a little harmless flirtation, and yet...what did the woman mean... ‘I thank you for your understanding’?

  Holy crap! She wasn’t going to be here was she! That explained the assumption about their relationship. The cheerful little housekeeper was going away just like Drew and Nick, he was going to be here in this remote mansion alone with Mel for a month or more.

  Nick was going to bloody kill him.

  Chapter Six

  They were alone. He shouldn’t feel so freaked out about it, but he did. Mel was behaving just the way he’d become accustomed to. Still, he half expected to turn around and find Nick looming over him waiting for him to put a foot wrong. He escorted her upstairs to her room and discovered his was just across the hall. She was currently taking a nap, claiming the long drive had made her sleepy. Raven, of course was with her mistress at all times.

  Ryan paced his room. It was bright and cheerful, a little feminine in its decor perhaps, but nothing he couldn’t deal with, this was a woman’s home after all.

  It had become quite clear after a series of dramatic hugs and kisses that Mel and her housekeeper wouldn’t be seeing each other again for quite some time, but if Mel only made it out here once in a while, and the housekeeper whose name he’d discovered was Marina, was on her way to a family reunion in southern Italy, then it might be quite a while.

  Ryan looked out the old casement window at the view below and wished with all his heart Mel could see it and experience it the way he could. The wild windy coastline was rugged and rocky, the waves crashing hard against the rocky shore as seagulls screeched overhead. The beach was deserted, but it wouldn’t surprise him to discover it was a private section of beach below, the sand dunes providing a ragged barrier of privacy to the occupants.

  Ryan tossed his suitcase onto the bed and unloaded his sparse collection of clothes, he wasn’t much of a beach goer, he’d have to go shopping for the correct attire if Mel wanted to spend much time on the beach.

  A slight scuffling noise in the corridor outside his room caught his attention. Raven? She rarely left Mel’s side unless directed to do so. He opened the door, maybe Mel hadn’t been able to sleep after all, but the corridor was empty.

  Old houses had a tendency to make some strange settling noises, particularly with so many wood floors and being so close to the damp ocean, shrugging, he closed the door and lay down on the bed, a short nap wouldn’t be a bad idea, it had been a pretty long drive.

  Closing his eyes and tucking his folded hands behind his head, Ryan slept.

  ***

  “Ryan, Ryan...Ryan,” the soft feminine voice whispered over and over again. Ryan smiled. Mel. Had she really wanted to be alone with him enough to give all her staff the summer off? He opened his eyes slowly, sure that she was in the room and was met with only the shimmering shadows of light coming in through the window. It was dark. He was alone. Had he dreamt it?

  Opening his door the lights were ablaze in the rest of the house. Mel’s bedroom door was open and clearly the room beyond was empty. Stifling a yawn, Ryan hurried toward the sounds emanating from downstairs.

  “Hello, sleepyhead!” Mel chuckled as she heard him enter the room. “Nice nap?”

  “Yeah, real nice!” he admitted. She was seated on the couch with Raven at her side, an old book spread out across her lap.

  “What are you reading?”

  “It’s an old book given to me by a friend, one of the earliest Braille books available just for women, an historical romance,” she said with a slight smile.

  “Do you read many books in Braille?” he asked, sitting on the armrest beside her and looking at the ancient tome. With so many books available in audio format these days, he was surprised that she’d read Braille simply for recreation when there were so many other options available now.

  “I like to keep my hand in,” she chuckled, wiggling her delicate fingertips at him. Suddenly he was almost overcome with the urge to take her small hand in his and kiss every single one of her fingertips. “A gentle quiet read in my own inner voice, not listening to someone else’s interpretation is important sometimes, and this book isn’t available in any other format that I know of.”

  “Ryan?” she asked, when he didn’t immediately respond.

  “Hmm?”

  “Do you like the house?” she asked, closing the book.

  “I love it. Does it have a history?”

  “Yes, all old houses do, don’t they?” She smiled and he could scarcely take his gaze from her plump smiling lips.

  “Tell me about it?” he asked.

  Mel patted the seat beside her, willingly he sat, close. His thigh brushing against hers, their shoulders touching. Instantly the heat flared in her cheeks. Barely able to contain the urge to stroke the backs of his knuckles down her heated skin, he tucked them under his thighs while he sat and waited for her to begin.

  “The house was built in 1819, it belonged to an English sea captain and business man who traded with the locals. He was lost at sea. They say his young wife never truly recovered from the loss, some say she’s still here, awaiting his return.”

  “What was his name?” he asked, an eerie shiver creeping its way down his spine, he had an uncanny feeling that he already knew the answer.

  “Oddly enough it was also Ryan, Captain Ryan Grady, of the small English island of the Isle of Wight. Don’t have any relatives there, do you?” she teased.

  “No, none that I am aware of. How did the house come into your family?” he asked.

  “My father bought it twenty-five years ago. He rented it for a few summers and eventually decided to purchase it. It was a favorite haunt of his, a place to get away from the daily grind so to speak. He loved it here, so did my mom.”

  Ryan already knew, thanks to a late night chat with Drew, that her parents had both died alm
ost ten years ago in a car accident. He was oddly glad to hear that they’d had a chance to enjoy it for some years too. From the amount of family pictures scattered around her Hollywood home he could see that they had been a happy family. It was obvious that this place must hold a lot of very special memories for her too.

  “It’s beautiful, I can see why he fell in love with it.”

  “Me too,” Mel answered softly, a warm smile curving her lips.

  Ryan had the distinct impression that neither of them were talking about the house any longer.

  Chapter Seven

  Ryan took Raven jogging along the cliff’s edge the next morning, while Mel occupied herself with her morning shower and making coffee. Thankful that some smart person had thought to have a stout fence installed, perhaps it was Mel’s family, but it ran the length of the cliff edge as far as the eye could see, well beyond Mel’s property line.

  When he returned it had begun to rain, Raven shook her shaggy self the instant they entered the house, showering both him and Mel with dog scented rainwater.

  “Ah, I thought I heard rain!” Mel tipped her head inhaling the fragrance. “Nothing smells quite as sweet as the cool rain after a drought.” She reached into a nearby closet taking out a towel and rubbing a delighted Raven who took the opportunity to give her a few swift sloppy licks. “Is the sea rough today?”

  “Yes, a cloudy swirling mass of angry gray reflecting the clouds.” Ryan knew she liked him to be descriptive, he worked at it more each day. She was seeing the world through his eyes.

  “Will you walk with me, Ryan? I love to walk in the rain.”

  “Sure, I’ll just hop in the shower real quick. I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes.”

  The warm spray of the pulsating shower felt so good, soothing aching muscles from his now daily jogging episodes with Raven. He’d always worked out, but he was in better shape than he’d been in for a while, now that he wasn’t seated at a desk in an office for more hours than he could count. He didn’t miss it.

  Not one little bit.

  “Ryan, Ryan...Ryan...” Quickly rinsing the shampoo from his hair, Ryan hopped out of the shower and threw a towel around his waist hurrying out into the adjoining bedroom expecting to find Mel there hurrying him along. But once again he was alone.

  Dressing quickly, he heard a soft tap at the door. “Ryan, can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  “Mm, I love the scent of your shower gel. It’s...very crisp and refreshing.”

  “Ah, yeah, thanks.” Was Mel actually flirting with him, just a little? Not sure ‘crisp and refreshing’ could be called flirting though. And she was a perfumier, with an extremely acute sense of smell. No, not flirting. Mores the Pity.

  “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah, ready.”

  ***

  Mystified, Mel hooked her hand into Ryan’s arm. There was no way she could have heard him calling her. He’d been in the shower for heaven’s sake! But she’d heard something, she had a very keen sense of hearing. The sounds were muted, distant as though carried on the wind itself as it whistled around the outside of the house. “Are you ready...” the voice had seemed to say. Hurrying up to his room she’d tapped on the door, and had been embarrassed to realize the poor man had barely finished dressing, searching for something sane to say she’d come up with a lame comment about his shower gel. Dumb!

  He had to know she had a serious crush on him. It wasn’t smart, but she couldn’t help herself. Everything he did, he did with such kindness and gentleness, she loved hearing him talk to Raven when he thought she couldn’t hear him. Raven loved people to chat with her, she’d sit there and grumble odd little responses under her breath like they were actually having a conversation. Ryan had such a deep resonant tone to his voice that rolled over her in smooth caressing waves...

  But the distant voice she’d heard today had reminded her of one she’d heard a very long time ago. And a shiver ran down her spine.

  “Awe-inspiring isn’t it?” Ryan said, snapping her out of her wandering thoughts. They were at the thick heavy duty fence-line her father had installed many moons ago, when her vision had begun to change. She held onto it with both hands, tossed back her head and allowed the fine ocean spray to cascade over her face. “It’s getting pretty choppy down there.”

  “I love the sound of the crashing waves. I can understand why people are so drawn to the sea.” Reminding her of the sea loving Captain Ryan Grady and the sweet wife who’d waited for him for so long. Only to be disappointed. Local legend had it that Victoria had waited day after day, year after year, walking the cliff’s edge and watching the ocean for her own special captain to return.

  ***

  The cool wind whipped Mel’s hair about, she hadn’t bothered with either a scarf or an umbrella. Ryan could see why. She was holding her face up to the spray, enjoying the feel of the wind, and the cool ocean mist, her blue eyes sparkled in delight. It was hard to believe she was virtually blind; he didn’t even know why. Mel hadn’t offered an explanation and neither had Drew or Nick, it wasn’t his place to ask, but he couldn’t help but be curious, he wondered if she’d ever been able to see.

  Mel tucked her hand into his arm as they walked casually along the sturdy fence-line at the cliff’s edge.

  “...so, I’m thinking of adopting two Chinese penguins and a Bengal tiger...”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And it will be your job to look after them, along with Raven. Okay?”

  “Hm-mm.”

  “And eventually I thought I’d buy a zoo, and you’ll be the chief zoo keeper.”

  “What?”

  “Ryan, I don’t have to see you to know you aren’t paying attention.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Lost in thought, hmm? What is on your mind?”

  “I...er...um...”

  “You think I’m cute, don’t you?” she teased.

  “Er...yeah!” he admitted.

  “I knew it! Ha!” Her lips curved upwards.

  Ryan, flabbergasted, stared, unsure what to say.

  “You’re staring at me again, aren’t you?”

  “Sorry.”

  “So what do you really want to know?” she asked, her teasing expression suddenly becoming a little more serious.

  “I’m curious, Mel, if you’ve ever been able to see? When I describe things to you, do you picture them because you’ve seen them, or are you painting a picture in your mind of what you think they are?”

  Mel was silent for a minute, her brow furrowed pensively, she paused, holding onto the thick ice cold fence, turning her face to the ocean, her expression became wistful. He wondered if he’d offended her, but she had said on his first day that if he ever wanted to know anything he just had to ask. Maybe he’d gone too far.

  “I could see when I was a little girl,” she answered, her gaze focused off into the distance. “I can clearly picture everything you tell me. I love hearing the way you describe things, Ryan. I...” she paused, turning to him, holding out her hand. He took it, sucking in a breath when she raised it to her cool cheek, damp from the ocean’s spray. “I think something is happening between us, Ryan. Am I mistaken? I can’t see your expression, but...”

  “No, you’re not mistaken.” He took the opportunity to caress her other cheek with his free hand. She leaned into his caress and when he drew her close she came willingly into his embrace. He held her, just enjoying the feel of her wrapped tightly in his arms.

  “It’s a degenerative eye disease, Ryan, it may halt and grow no worse, or I may one day see nothing at all.” Ryan swallowed hard.

  “I’m sorry, Mel,” he said softly. Hoping she wouldn’t be angry, he knew she hated anyone to feel sorry for her.

  “Me too,” she answered, reaching up on her tip toes to drop a light kiss on his chin. “I would like to see you.”

  Ryan, unable to wait a moment longer and taking her light inviting kiss as an invitation for more, dropped his head and pressed
his lips to hers.

  Mel’s kiss was stunning. He didn’t know how else to describe it. Her lips met his in a subtle blending of heat and desire, slowly at first she caressed his lips with hers; he took his pacing from her, she touched and teased his lips with her own, savoring the texture and heat, and finally with a sweet and subtle touch of her tongue, she coaxed his lips apart and delved inside. Ryan took over, kissing her with all the pent up emotion and desire he’d felt and held in check for the past weeks under Nick’s hard scrutinizing gaze.

  Mel’s hands encircling his neck tugged him closer until their bodies were aligned. He no longer felt the rain, the crashing of the waves below or the spray of the ocean. Just Mel in his arms where she was meant to be.

  “Uh-oh! We’d better go! That’s close,” Mel said, bringing him back to reality, they pulled apart as the thunder crashed loudly overhead and lightning flickered brightly close by. Even with her virtual lack of vision, Mel could see the vivid flickering of the lightning.

  “It’s dangerously close, Mel!” Ryan kicked himself for getting so distracted he’d put them in peril. He had taken his eyes off the clouds and the distant lightning, and concentrated solely on Mel as the storm had rapidly moved closer. “Do you trust me, Mel?”

  “Yes!” she breathed.

  Ryan hooked a firm arm around her waist. “Run!”

  Mel barely stumbled at all, her hands holding onto Ryan’s other arm as he guided them both quickly over the grassy slope back to the house with Raven galloping ahead.

  Ryan flung open the door, they hurried inside slamming it behind them, laughing breathlessly.

  “That was exhilarating!” she gasped, “I haven’t run in...so many years!”

  “Anytime, Mel, you just let me know. Okay?”

  Mel pulled a couple of towels from the cupboard by the door, handing him one and dabbing at the droplets cascading down her face from her soaking wet hair, as Ryan did the same.