Moonlight in the Morning (19 page)

“They’re good dancers,” Jecca said.

“No better than we are together,” he said softly, his lips on her ear. “Other women get scared when I try to dip them. But not you. You’re the best I’ve ever danced with.”

“Really?”

“Very much so. I’m beginning to think you’re the best at everything.”

She couldn’t help smiling at his words. “I’m—”

“I know,” he said. “Leaving.” He nibbled at her earlobe. “My dear niece is going to spend the night at my dad’s house. Want to have a sleepover with me?”

She took a breath before answering. “Yes,” she said at last and felt a shiver of anticipation run through her.

When the song ended, Al and Nell bowed to each other, and she returned to the booth. Jecca moved out of Tristan’s arms but she stayed on his side. Their food was served, and the talk turned to the playhouse.

Jecca answered all Nell’s questions, but it wasn’t easy, as Tris’s hands were on her back, and twice he ran his fingers down her bare arm. By the time they’d finished, Jecca was ready to throw him across the tabletop, but Nell insisted that she had to have dessert. She told Al they wanted three pieces of cherry pie.

While they waited, under the cover of the table Tristan put his hand on Jecca’s knee and moved upward. When he felt the stockings, which left an expanse of her thigh bare, he choked on his drink.

“You drink too fast,” Nell said as Al handed around plates of pie.

Tris looked at Jecca. “I like Miss Livie’s dress.”

“Me too,” she said, smiling. “And this is just the way
she
wore it.”

“Pole dancing and now this. Just when you think you know someone, you learn something new,” he said. “Nell, you think you could speed it up in eating that pie?”

“No,” she said. “When are we going to leave for Uncle Roan’s cabin?”

“He’s expecting us tomorrow. Is that okay with you, Jecca?”

“Great,” she said, but she was having difficulty concentrating. Tris’s hand was moving slowly up her leg.

“Can you bring the pictures of the playhouse?” Nell asked.

“Uh . . . yes,” Jecca said.

“Uncle Tris got me all the colored pencils and paints and paper you told him to.”

“Good,” Jecca said. “We’ll . . .” She moved away from Tris before his hand drove her crazy.

“More pie?” he asked Jecca. “Or would you like another dessert?”

“I bet Grandpa will still be at the party,” Nell said as she turned a couple of cherries over for the fourth time. “Maybe I should stay with you tonight.”

“Not tonight,” Tristan said. “I have another engagement. Nell, if you finish that pie in four seconds I’ll buy you a—” He broke off.

“Buy me a what?” Nell asked.

“I can’t think of anything I haven’t already bought you,” he said, making Jecca laugh.

“Okay,” Tris said, “we’re out of here.”

“Can I—?” Nell asked.

“No,” Tris said.

“But maybe—”

“Absolutely not,” Tris said. “You’re staying with Grandpa tonight, and he’ll take you to Miss Livie’s tomorrow morning, then we’ll all go to Roan’s.”

“When?” Nell asked.

“Whenever I get out of bed,” Tris said as he hurried her to the door.

“You love to stay in bed,” Nell said in disgust and looked at Jecca. “Sometimes on Sundays when Mom and I get back from church he’s still in bed.”

“He sounds like a very lazy man,” Jecca said.

“He is.” Nell obviously didn’t want her uncle to send her away for the night.

Jecca couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious as Tris drove Nell to the rented house his father was using. This is it! she thought. While he walked Nell to the door, Jecca sent a text to Lucy saying she wouldn’t be home tonight.

WE’D BE DISAPPOINTED IF YOU WERE
Lucy wrote back.

By the time Tris got back to the car, Jecca was as nervous as a high school girl on her first real date.

But she needn’t have worried because Tris immediately put her at ease. On the drive back to his house, he got her to talk about her afternoon workouts. By the time they were at his front door, their shared laughter had relaxed her.

Once they were inside, he turned to her. “I wanted to have champagne chilled and rose petals for our first time,” he said. “But when I heard about you and the dress and the party . . .” He shrugged.

“You ran to get on a plane.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t want to drag Nell with me, but she has a way of persuading a person . . .” He broke off when Jecca took a step toward him.

He held out his arms to her and she went to him, his mouth capturing hers in a deep kiss. In every other kiss they’d shared she’d held back. They were too newly acquainted or the time wasn’t right. There always seemed to be some hindrance. But now they were alone and had the whole night together.

His tongue found hers as his hand on the back of her head turned her so he had better access to her lips.s te t His hands ran over her body, down the silk of her dress.

“I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you,” he whispered against her ear. His lips nibbled the lobe.

“And when was that?” she asked, her head back as his mouth claimed her neck.

“Years ago, but this time it was when you arrived. I saw you get out of your car and you were as beautiful as I remembered.” He kissed the skin just below her ear. “I liked the way you stretched.” He kissed the base of her throat. “I liked that you closed your eyes and breathed the air.” He bent her head down to his shoulder and kissed the back of her neck. His hand was on her zipper and as he lowered it, his lips followed it down, inch by slow inch.

As he reached the bottom, the dress fell away, leaving her standing there in lacy black underwear and some very high heels.

“Beautiful,” he said as he turned her around, his eyes and hands caressing her.

His arm was around her as they went up the stairs. There was a dimmer on his bedroom lamp so the light was soft and warm.

Tristan led her to the bed, then stood back and looked down at her.

Jecca was glad she’d worn the stockings, glad for all the lace and the silk.

Tristan stepped back from her, his eyes never leaving hers as he began to undress. First the tie, then the jacket. When he came to the shirt, Jecca sat up and motioned for him to come to her. Her fingers were trembling as she unfastened the buttons of his shirt.

Part of her wanted to leap on him, to let out all the passion she felt, but the larger part wanted their first time to be slow, languorous. Most of all, she wanted to
see
him, to fill her senses with the sight of him. She knew the sounds of him, the sweet fragrance of his breath, and the feel of his body against hers. The missing part was looking at him, drinking in the color of his eyes and hair and skin, seeing the way the whiskers grew on his jaw, the way his hair curled about his neck.

She kissed his chest as she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it out of his trousers. He started to lean forward to kiss her, but she put her hand on his chest and held him away. She wanted to look at the way his muscles played under his skin. She ran her hands over his chest, curved down over his well-developed pecs, felt the ridges of his stomach.

“All right?” he asked.

She thought he was joking, but when she looked back at his face she saw that he was genuinely concerned that she found him pleasing. He had to know he was beautiful, but at the same time his only concern seemed to be that
she
found him attractive. Not the world in general, but her, Jecca Layton.

She smiled at him. “More than all right,” she said, and he smiled back.

“Jecca,” he said as his arm went around the back of her and pulled her up to him. He kissed her long and hard, and when he moved away, there was such fire in his eyes, a blue fire, as though the ocean was ablaze, that Jecca almost backed away. Almost.

“Oh yes!” she murmured as he began to remove her clothing.

He sat down beHe s cheside her and put her leg across his lap. He still wore his trousers, and she could feel the wool against the bare part of her thigh. He unclipped her stocking and rolled it down, his lips following his hands.

First one silk then the other until her legs were bare. He ran his hand from her foot to her thigh, his thumb moving just inside her panties.

Jecca put her head back, her eyes closed, as she gave herself over to his touch.

He lay her back against the bed, and when he stretched out beside her he was nude. She could feel the soft cotton of the sheet, the silk of her underwear, and the delicious warmth of his skin.

He was kissing her body, her stomach, then back up to her neck.

She buried her hands in his thick hair and brought his mouth to hers.

Somehow, her bra fell away. Her senses were so taken up with the feel of him that she was no longer aware of what was going on. Tristan surrounded her, overwhelmed her. It was as though she could only feel, hear, smell, taste
him
. Nothing else mattered outside this man.

His mouth on her breast made her arch her back, and when she did, he slipped her panties down her legs, his hands caressing as he moved.

When he entered her she gasped and he put his mouth over hers.

His strokes were long and slow, and Jecca felt the sweet buildup in her. Her hands were on the back of him, feeling the way his muscles played under his skin, how they moved as he entered her deeply, rhythmically.

He put his leg around hers, then flipped onto his back, taking Jecca with him.

She straddled his hips and looked down at his beautiful face, at his wide expanse of chest with the golden skin stretched over lean muscle, and she knew she’d never before felt such desire.

She began to move on top of him, up and down, harder and harder. His hands held her hips, his arms helping her. She bent forward, her hands on the headboard, going faster and faster.

Tristan tossed her onto her back and thrust into her so that she cried out with the pleasure of it.

They came together in fireworks, holding on to each other, their bodies going through wave after wave of passion.

Tristan rolled off of her, sweat gleaming on his skin. “That was . . .” He didn’t seem to know what to say.

Jecca moved onto her side to face him, her hand on his chest. “That was the beginning,” she said.

He smiled at her. “You’ll have to give me a minute before we can start again.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m an artist. To create is my creed in life. When I get through with you, you’ll be more than ready to go again.”

“If that’s a challenge, I accept,” he said. “Gladly.”

Jecca wanted to touch him, to slide her skin against his, to feel the curves of her body move against the planes of his. She lay on top of him, her back to his front, and liked touching only him, no sheet, no clothes, just flesh on flesh. She moved he. Sbody move r feet on his, ran her hands on his forearms, feeling the hair on them. When she moved her posterior over the center of him, he groaned.

Turning over, she faced him and put her face in his neck, breathing the familiar scent of him. His hands stroked the back of her, down her shoulders, her arms, to her waist, curving over her buttocks.

Rolling off of him, she nudged him to turn over, and she repeated her exploration of his delicious body. Again, she touched only him, bare skin against bare.

Her movements went from sensual until she began to feel the urgency of wanting him, needing him, her body filling with desire.

Tristan moved out from under her and this time he took her with a white-hot passion.

As Jecca had imagined when she first saw Tristan’s bed, they rolled off of it. He hit the floor first, holding Jecca to him and never breaking contact, her on top. His long fingers gripped her hips as she dropped down on him with a very satisfying thud.

Minutes later, he pulled her to a big chair and pulled her ankles up to his neck. A long while afterward, they were out of the chair and Jecca’s knees felt the burn of the carpet.

When they at last came together, the sun was beginning to glow in the sky.

Tristan picked Jecca up with his arm about her waist, dropped her onto the bed, then fell down beside her. They were asleep instantly.

Thirteen

Jecca awoke to the delicious sight of Tristan, showered and shaved, wearing only a pair of Levi’s, his upper half and feet bare.

He smiled at her. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

She stretched deliciously, the sheet barely covering her breasts. “What time is it?”

“Eleven.”

“You’re kidding! I slept the morning away?”

He sat on the side of the bed beside her and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I had a good time last night.”

“Me too.” She kissed his palm. She still wasn’t used to seeing him. His voice was familiar and she’d know his hands anywhere, but his face held mystery for her. “Chanel.”

“The perfume? I’m fresh out.”

“You know when you walk into a big department store and there are all those different cosmetics counters?”

“Not from personal experience, but I’ve seen them.”

She put her hand on his bare chest. “Each company has its own look, and you’re like the guys in the posters at the Chanel counters.”

It took Tristan a moment to get her meaning. “You’re saying I look like a
model
?”

“Well . . .” she said. R. Sbo8221;20;Older, but yes.”

“So now I’m an
old
model?” He was leaning toward her.

“Very old,” she said.

He put his face against her neck. “I’ll have you know that I am a doctor, not a model, and right now I think you need examining.”

Jecca’s answer was a giggle as she slid down into the bed.

By the time they’d made love again, showered—where they had a quickie—then showered again, it was one o’clock.

“I need food,” Jecca said as she dried off. “And I need something to wear besides silk.”

“Looks like you did all right at the Chanel counter,” Tris said and took a step toward her.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said. “I would have thought Nell would be here by now.”

“She was, but I sent her back to Miss Livie’s.”

“Please tell me they aren’t all over there now, waiting for me to get out of bed,” Jecca said.

“Sorry, but they are.”

“And I’m going to show up wearing the dress I had on last night.” She groaned. “Very embarrassing.”

“Miss Livie wouldn’t let that happen.” He left the room for a moment, then returned with a paper grocery bag and handed it to her.

Inside was a pair of Jecca’s jeans, sandals, a pink linen shirt, and underwear.

“Nell brought it over at about nine this morning and I gave her Miss Livie’s dress. We’re invited for lunch.”

Jecca dressed in minutes. There was even a bag of cosmetics in the bottom, and the kind thoughtfulness of the women made her smile. Is this what it was like to have a mother? she wondered.

Tristan seemed to know what she was feeling. “Nice ladies,” he said.

“Very nice.”

As they started out the door, he caught her arm. “Jecca, about going to Roan’s cabin . . . We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

Turning, she smiled at him. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Are you sure? His place is rustic, and besides, both Nell and Roan will be there. Maybe you’d rather go somewhere else.”

“To a place that’s more luxurious? Where I can have a morning at a spa?”

“Yes,” he said, his face serious. “With you living in New York and all, I’m sure your tastes are more sophisticated than ours here. Maybe you’d like something more cultured.”

“You’re forgetting how I grew up. If Roan owns a chainsaw, I’ll show you guys how to properly use it.”

Laughing, Tristan kissed her. “I’m envision217217;ll sing you in Miss Livie’s dress with a chainsaw.” He sighed. “We better go. Nell said Miss Livie and Lucy have been cooking all morning. I’m to take as much food up to Roan as my old car will hold.”

“So they know Roan?”

“Are you kidding? He teases them until even I’m blushing. He says that flirting keeps him attached to his Southern roots, since he’s not allowed to so much as look at his students in California.”

“Glad to hear that,” Jecca said. They were walking along the trail to Mrs. Wingate’s house, arm in arm. To their left was the path to the playhouse. At the diner, Jecca had told Tris and Nell about Mrs. Wingate’s garden ideas. “Think there’s enough sun in there for plants to grow?”

“There’s a dying elm that needs to be taken out,” Tris said. “Once it’s gone, there’ll be plenty of light. Maybe you can use a chainsaw on the tree.”

“Me?” she said, looking aghast as she moved away from him. “But I’m a
girl
!”

“Are you?” Tris asked, his voice low. “That was something I hadn’t noticed about you. Better let me check to make sure.”

When he reached out to touch her, she stepped back, but then halted when she realized she was going down the path to the playhouse.

“Good idea,” he said. “I think we need to look at that place together. I’ll show you how we can lock the door.”

“There you are!” said an unmistakable voice. It was Nell, and she was at the head of the trail, still on Wingate property. She was glaring at the two of them. “We’ve been waiting
forever
,” Nell said. “We’re all starving, and Uncle Roan doesn’t know where we are.” Nell sounded like a mother lecturing her children, and Jecca felt guilty that she’d slept so long.

But Tristan just laughed as he ran at his niece, picked her up, and kept going.

As Jecca hurried after them, she tried to think of some excuse—a lie really—to explain why she was so late. But when she entered the house she knew she didn’t have to worry. The women were too busy to ask questions.

The kitchen was cheerful chaos, and every surface was covered with utensils or prepared food. Lucy and Mrs. Wingate looked like they’d been standing over steaming pots for hours. Or rather, Lucy did. Her hair was in wispy curls about her face, and her apron was covered with fruit stains.

Jecca thought she looked great and couldn’t help using her cell phone to snap a photo of her. While Tris was being given samples of everything they’d made, Jecca sent Lucy’s photo to her father. S
UNDAY AT THE
W
INGATE HOUSE
she wrote. She thought about sending a photo of Tristan but decided not to. That would send her dad into one of his interrogations about the man’s intentions.

Stepping back, Jecca watched Tristan with the two women and saw how familiar they were with one another—and how the women adored him. Royal princes had never been treated so well. The women held out spoons and forks full of food for him to taste, bum t width=ttered pieces of bread, sliced-off cheese. Lucy got a plate and started filling it for him.

“He’s their favorite toy,” Nell said, making Jecca laugh. “Could I see your drawings of the playhouse? Whenever you’re ready,” she added. It looked like she’d been told to be polite.

“Sure,” Jecca said, but she looked with longing at the food that was everywhere. Most of it had been put into containers and the lids sealed. No one had mentioned when they were going to sit down to eat.

Jecca started to the door, but Tris caught her arm.

“You don’t want your plate?” He held out the food she thought had been assembled for him.

“Why don’t you take it upstairs?” Lucy said. “Poor Nell has been waiting for hours. She’s dying to see the pictures you made. Don’t forget to take her into my sewing room and talk to her about curtains.”

“And slipcovers,” Jecca said as she took the plate, smiling because she hadn’t been forgotten.

Mrs. Wingate handed Nell two glasses of iced tea. “Let us know when you’ve packed your clothes and we’ll fill the cooler.”

Smiling, Jecca gave a wave to Tristan—he was standing by the stove and eating—then she ran up the stairs, Nell right behind her.

As soon as Jecca was out of the kitchen, the two women turned to look at Tristan, but he just kept eating.

“So?” Mrs. Wingate said.

“It’s good,” Tris said. “Not quite as spicy as last year’s batch but good. Maybe you should add a few more peppercorns.”

“She’s not asking about the damned pickles,” Lucy said, “and you know it! We want to know about
Jecca
!”

“My, my,” Tristan said as he used tongs to lift another piece of chicken out of the skillet. “You two are certainly feisty this morning. Well, let me see, three times Jecca and I—”

“Tristan!” Mrs. Wingate said in the voice of an adult to a child.

Smiling, he sat down at the kitchen table with his plate. “I like her,” he said. When the women continued to stare at him, he said, “I like her a lot. She’s easy to be with. She fits in wherever we go. Al called her Jersey Lil.”

Mrs. Wingate nodded as she sat down across from him. “After Lillie Langtry,” she said. “Albert always did love PBS, and he’s right. Jecca’s beauty and sophistication cover her blue-collar background. Just like Mrs. Langtry.”

Lucy and Tristan were staring at her in astonishment.

“I didn’t know you knew Al,” Tris said. “He—”

“Livie knows everyone,” Lucy said in dismissal as she took a seat. “We want to know about you and Jecca.”

“Jecca is going back to New York at the end of the summer,” Tris said. “She tells me that about evethadiv hry ten minutes.”

Lucy sighed. “I haven’t liked
any
of the young women you’ve dated, but I do Jecca. Can you imagine that one . . . What was her name? Melody?”

“Monica,” Tris said.

“Yes, that’s it. Monica. Can you imagine Monica helping me cut bias strips for binding? Jecca did. And she used the small binding attachment to cover six armscyes. I tell you, she has a natural talent with fabric. And with my machines. Even Henry behaves with her.”

“What I like about Jecca,” Mrs. Wingate said, looking at Tristan, “is that she cares about
you,
not just the look of you. But then I remember your telling me that you wished to find a woman who cared for you in spite of your face. And
wish
is the key word here.”

She was referring to his Frazier cousin’s Heartwishes Stone. It was alleged to grant wishes if they came from a person’s heart. Tristan gave a little scoff. “That’s ridiculous. If that were true, it would mean my broken arm—”

“Which led to your having time off—” Mrs. Wingate said.

“Which caused me to be home when Jecca was here and—”

“To stumble over her in the chaise. And you got to know her in the dark, where she couldn’t see your face. Ultimately, it all led to your being given what you wished for. Wished for from your very heart, I might add,” Mrs. Wingate said.

For a moment, Tristan looked at her in silence. “I don’t believe it.”

“Have it your way,” Mrs. Wingate said. “It’s just that things do fit together rather well, don’t they?”

“Cosmic coincidence.”

Mrs. Wingate looked at him. “The first time I saw Jecca after she’d spent the evening with you, she was downright starry-eyed. I didn’t think anything about it because silly girls often react like that to your external self. But later, when Jecca kept repeating that she’d never
seen
you, I put it together. She is a very sensible girl, and Lucy and I have become quite fond of her.”

“Me too,” Tris said.

“Better than Colin Frazier’s wife?” Mrs. Wingate asked.

Tristan smiled at her way of phrasing that. He wasn’t in the least surprised that she’d seen his feelings for Gemma, and now she was reminding him of Gemma’s marriage to another man. “Yes, which I’m glad of, because Jecca seems to be rather fond of me too.”

“Then you must make Jecca stay in Edilean,” Lucy said. She knew all about the Heartwishes Stone and believed in it fully.

“Every time I mention her staying, Jecca . . .” Tristan lifted his hand. “Well, let’s just say that that girl has a sharp tongue on her.”

“What did you say to provoke her?” Lucy asked, her tone showing that she was on Jecca’s side.

Tristan went over his suggestions of local jobs ff l But lor Jecca and her replies.

“I see her point,” Lucy said. “A job is very important to a woman.”

“I wonder if Jecca would like to be an interior decorator,” Mrs. Wingate said. “She seems to have a talent for it.”

“She just wants to paint her watercolors and have them sell,” Tris said.

Lucy sighed. “That they don’t sell is a big problem to her.”

“She told you about that?” Tristan asked, astonished. “Kim told me, not Jecca.”

“We talk a lot in the evenings when we sew,” Mrs. Wingate said. “Jecca is very good company. She tries to pretend that she doesn’t mind about her paintings not selling, but she does. And why hasn’t she told
you
about this problem in her life?”

“I don’t know,” Tris said. “Maybe it’s because I don’t put her on a couch and grill her. And speaking of revealing secrets, what have you two told her about
your
secrets?” He looked at Mrs. Wingate. “I heard you nearly passed out at the mention of Bill Welsch’s name. What was that all about?”

“I, uh . . .” Mrs. Wingate got up and went to the stove.

Tristan looked at Lucy. “Now where was it that you grew up? Are you married? Any kids?”

Lucy went to stand next to Mrs. Wingate.

Tristan took a long drink of his tea, then stood up. Both women had their backs to him. Grinning, he put himself between them and an arm around each one. “I’m doing my best, okay? I like Jecca more than I’ve ever liked any woman before and I’m doing all that I can to get her to stay. But it takes time.”