Tread Softly (16 page)

"Oh, Rafe..." Cady could feel her eyes filling with
tears as she turned toward him on the bed. "You're such a good man."

"Good
enough for you to keep, my love?" Rafe quizzed her, his voice gruff.

"Rafe, you're so foolish. Of course I want to keep you.
Didn't I show you that all the months you were so ill?" Cady let her
fingers trace his chin line, liking the roughness of his stubbled skin.

"I don't
want your pity, Cady. I want more," he mumbled, his face in her hair.

"How
could you have more? You have all of me now." She felt as daring as if she
had just disclosed high-level state secrets.

"Have I?
That's what I want, Cady—all of you, all the time. I can't settle for less. The
wanting is stronger every day, my love."

"Mine,
too," Cady breathed, turning on her side to face him on the pillow, mouth
to mouth with him, skin to skin.

"Cady,
darling, you're so warm. You make me feel that I'll never be cold again as long
as I have you near me." Rafe's breathing was ragged on her face.

Cady
could see the streaks of color run up his neck as his muscles grew taut with
need. She could feel her own shivering response as he began the familiar exploration
of her body.

"Cady,
darling, I need this so. I want it so," he mumbled, letting his mouth
rove her form, his tongue a hot pleasure that fired her feeling for him.

His
hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs lifting to tease her hardening nipples
even as his lips moved down her body. His hoarse mutterings of satisfaction
increased as his mouth traced a path down her abdomen to her thighs.

Her
body quivered in involuntary reaction to the joy he was giving her, arching
toward him like a drawn bow. "Rafe... I... can't believe my
feelings," she groaned, her hands digging into him to pull him even
closer.

He
gave a husky laugh and tightened his hold on her, but when he leaned back to
say something to her, Cady wouldn't release him, nibbling at his chin.

The
heat built in both of them to an intolerable pressure. When Cady thought
surely she would fly apart, they climaxed together. She felt as if the planet
had separated, all the stars in the galaxy had fallen earthward, and only she
and Rafe were floating out there in space. They descended slowly back to earth,
still clinging to each other.

"Rafe,"
Cady mumbled from the tight haven of his arms. "It's more beautiful than
ever to me. Is it to you?"

He
chuckled into her hair. "Cady, love, it's you. You keep getting more
beautiful." He leaned back from her, letting one finger lift her chin so
he could look at her. "When I was in the nursing home, I used to look at
you and weep inside, knowing that I could never love you again. That was sheer
agony for me. I wanted you so much and couldn't reach out and touch you. When
you would lean over and kiss my forehead, I wanted to yell at you to kiss my
lips so I could feel your mouth—if only for a moment. My eyes could see you
lift my hand and put your lips to it, but I couldn't feel you do it and it tore
me apart." Rafe's voice had the sound of ripping cloth as he described his
feelings.

"Oh, Rafe,
I hated it when you were paralyzed. I could feel how you hated it, too. That's
why I went ahead with the operation." She enclosed his head with her arms,
striving to comfort him, wanting him to forget those awful days when he was a prisoner
of his own body.

"If you
keep stroking me like that, Cady love, we'll never leave this bed." When
Rafe lifted his head, she saw he had that elfin look on his face, the laughter
in his eyes not masking the heat that glittered there.

"I
remember on our honeymoon we did that. Stayed in bed all day, I mean."
Cady felt out of breath as she looked at her husband. "I don't suppose you
could tell Ray that we're too tired to join him for..." Cady felt herself
lifted and put aside as Rafe reached for the phone.

In
a few terse words Rafe was through and turning to reach for her again. "So
much for that. Now where were we?"

Cady felt
balloon-light as her husband began to caress her again. Rafe was hers, if only for
a short while. The  campaign would take him again and there would be other
things to pull him from her side when they returned to Washington, but for now
he was hers.

The next day
they returned to their lakefront home and prepared for the clambake they were
giving for some people who, Rafe informed her, were fence-sitters in the
campaign. When the guests began arriving in the early afternoon, Cady was once
more gratified by the number of people who approached her and mentioned her
work on the Hill.

"You're
an asset to Rafe, daughter." Her father smiled down at her after
overhearing some of the guests sing his daughter's praises. "I think Rafe
agrees with me." Professor Nesbitt strolled with Cady around the grounds
while she stopped and spoke to people or just smiled and nodded.

"I
like to think that I'm a help to Rafe," she said, waving to some children
who were riding horseback down the cliff path. She took her father's arm and
squeezed it, feeling a sense of deep happiness. "Rafe looks wonderful,
doesn't he?"

Her
father followed her gaze, watching Rafe laughing with some men, a stein of beer
in one hand, the other hand in its characteristic position on his hip. As
though he felt their gaze, Rafe turned, fixing his eyes on them, then smiling,
his lips pursing in a kiss as he looked at Cady.

"He's
never looked better." The professor tamped his pipe on his open hand, his
forehead creasing as he watched a man approach them. "Cady, is
that...?" He squinted.

Cady looked in the
direction her father was staring and started. The medium-tall man with the
thinning sandy hair and rather dissipated air was familiar. How could she ever
have thought Todd Leacock attractive, she mused as he came closer. More to the
point, what was he doing at Rafe's fund-raising clambake? Cady racked her brain
as she tried to remember if Todd had ever talked of having political leanings.
She could not recall that he had. She shrugged inwardly. Perhaps he had decided
to get more involved in politics.

She
couldn't help thinking how poorly he compared to her husband. Like a good
politician's wife, she summoned up a smile, even though she wasn't glad to see
him.

"Hello,
Cady. Professor Nesbitt." Todd's smile had the assurance of someone who
assumed he would be welcome.

Cady stared at
him—his receding hairline, his beginning paunch—and her smile widened.
"Todd Leacock. How are you? I had forgotten that you live near us in
Seneca County." She kept her smile as natural as she could, even though
she was laughing inside at the young and foolish eighteen-year-old who had
thought herself in love with him. Still, Todd had served one purpose. If she
hadn't been upset and gone to her room, Rafe would never have come there to
soothe her. Just thinking that made her smile more genuine and her handshake
more enthusiastic. She was a little puzzled by the smug look that came over
Todd's face before he turned to greet her father.

Cady
remembered that the professor had never liked Todd much, so she wasn't
surprised when he excused himself and wandered off toward the group surrounding
Rafe.

"Well,
Cady, tell me about yourself." Todd put his arm around her waist.

At once Cady
moved away, annoyed. "I'm fine. Very happily married to Rafe, as you can
see. How are you?"

"I'm very happily
divorced," he said ironically, as if mocking her. "For a while I
worked for a camera supply outfit in the city. Then I opened my own camera
shop. I photograph weddings and other events, sell equipment to photo buffs.
It's a pretty good business. I like being my own boss." He looked at her
for long moments. "I did some work for some associates of your husband
when he campaigned in Rochester. I enjoyed that."

"Sounds good," Cady replied, struggling not to
yawn. It had been a long day.

"I'd like
to take some pictures of you, Cady." Todd shifted the camera from his
shoulder.

She
blinked. "Why?"

He
shrugged. "Oh, sometimes I write articles for the Sunday supplements, and
I think I could sell pictures of you to them. You know, senator's wife, that
sort of thing." Todd's smile had a stale charm, Cady thought.

"All right,
but I think the papers and periodicals already have plenty of pictures of
me." Smiling into the camera, she looked up, then away. She was rather
baffled when Todd went into a kneeling position on the ground and clicked his
camera up at her. After several such shots she called a halt.

"Just
a couple more, Cady. There..."

"No more,
Todd. You must have thirty shots of me. No magazine will buy all those."
She smiled at him mechanically and began walking away. "I really do have
to circulate."

"I'll walk
with you." He seemed impervious to any hint.

For
the next hour Todd remained as if glued to her side, and Cady was very aware
that he was still shooting pictures of her.  She could feel her irritation
with him growing. All at once, when she had just about had enough, he seemed to
disappear. Cady heaved a sigh of relief, because she had been on the point of
telling him to get lost no matter what people might think of her. Todd Leacock
was a pest!

The
clambake was a success, but by the time everyone was leaving, Cady was
exhausted. She looked for Rafe and her father and found them saying good-bye to
friends on the front lawn. When the last car finally left, Cady tried
unsuccessfully to persuade her father to stay for a snack. He had a class in
the morning and was eager to get home.

Cady
noticed Rafe's silence as they walked around the yard, picking up the trash in
a desultory fashion. Tomorrow their handyman, Sid Gresham, would tidy the place
in earnest. "Is something wrong, Rafe?"

"Why
didn't you tell me that you had invited your old boyfriend to the
clambake?" Rafe crumpled a foam cup in his hand before tossing it into the
plastic-lined trash barrel.

"Because I didn't invite him! He used to live near here
in Seneca County, but he lives in Rochester now." She shrugged, emptying
an ashtray. "I guess he was visiting his folks for the weekend. Who
cares?"

"You don't?
Thomas reminded me that he was the one you were going with when I met
you." Rafe turned to look at her, a muscle jumping in his cheek.

"Yes,
I couldn't help thinking that was the one good thing Todd did."

Rafe's jaw worked as though it had a rusty hinge. "And
what might that be?"

"If he hadn't shocked the daylights out of me by being
in bed with Marina, I might not have come home when I did. Then a certain
congressman might not have come up to my room." Cady smiled at him.

"I'll
send him a Candy Gram." Rafe's voice was still hard, but there was a
flicker of blue heat in his eyes.

"Could that
be construed as a bribe, Senator?" Cady felt her pulse jump out of rhythm
as Rafe laced his fingers through hers.

"A payoff, I think," Rafe muttered, his hand
still holding hers as he went behind her to press her closer to him.
"Maybe we should clean up the bedroom now. No doubt it's a mess."

"No
one was in there," Cady muttered into his neck.

"Let's
check." He leaned back from her, his eyes lasering her. "Why aren't
you angry with me for being such a jealous jackass?"

Cady lifted her
free hand and touched his jaw. "I'm waiting until you're three kinds of
jackass. Then I'll get mad at you."

"Long-suffering
little thing, aren't you?" His hand slipped under her breast, squeezing in
gentle motion.

"A
true martyr," Cady gasped, her body yielding to him. "Senator, I
don't think we should shock the neighbors, in case anyone should wander
by."

"True."
He turned her body but didn't allow her to move away from him. His arm
tightened around her waist, he began leading her back to the house.
"Election Day is almost on us. Feel the bite in the air. Still, we've had
a beautiful autumn so far." He stopped her for a moment, lifting her chin
so that he could watch her. "Whether I win or lose, we'll have to leave
for Washington right after the election."

"You'll
win. I know it." Cady wrapped her arms around his middle, her cheek
pressed to his. She felt his lips on her hair.

"What I'm
trying to say, wife of mine, is that we'll have precious little time alone back
in Washington, so let's not waste the hours we have now." Rafe grinned at
her. "How would you like to spend the next three days in bed with your
husband?"