“I can’t remember right now.” Adrian’s head reeled. She might have held on to reason a little while longer if Rooke hadn’t handled her like she owned her. Adrian dropped her head back, her hazy eyes half closed, her lips parted sensuously. “You make me feel so damn good.”
Rooke rocked her thigh between Adrian’s legs and watched her
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start to surrender. She slipped one hand between them and caressed the outer curve of Adrian’s breast. Adrian sagged and Rooke couldn’t think of anything except having her. Until Adrian told her to stop, she would follow the call of Adrian’s flesh. Bending her knees slightly, she cradled Adrian’s rear, lifted, and set her up on the counter.
Astonished, Adrian gripped Rooke’s shoulders and automatically spread her legs to let Rooke slide between them. When she glanced down, her center was pressed to Rooke’s abdomen and oh God, she ached to have her bare sex against the tight muscles she’d glimpsed earlier. She wanted to be touched. She wanted Rooke to touch her. She sensed danger, but she couldn’t think. She couldn’t think.
“I can’t think,” Adrian gasped, frightened and so terribly aroused.
Rooke unbuttoned Adrian’s blouse and pushed it off her shoulders.
She kissed the prominence of her collarbone, the soft hollow beneath, and rubbed her cheek over Adrian’s breast still cupped within her satin bra. “I’ll stop whenever you want me to. I swear it.”
“Oh God,” Adrian half laughed, half sobbed. “I can’t. I can’t stop now. Please, God, Rooke. Touch me.” She moaned when Rooke squeezed her still-covered nipple, arching like an overstrung bow about to snap. Desperate for the silken heat of Rooke’s mouth, she pulled her bra up herself, baring her breast. “Please…your mouth. I need your mouth.”
Rooke cradled Adrian’s breast in both palms as she lowered her head. She sucked Adrian’s nipple as she softly kneaded the firm flesh in her hands. Adrian’s cry of shocked pleasure made Rooke’s clitoris jerk and she thrust her pelvis against the hard edge of the counter. She groaned at the twin sensations of Adrian’s ripe nipple in her mouth and the sharp pressure in her groin. While she worked her way back and forth between Adrian’s breasts, she tugged off Adrian’s blouse and bra until Adrian was bare to the waist. Then she ran her tongue down the center of Adrian’s torso and around her navel.
“I want to taste you,” Rooke murmured, her mouth against Adrian’s skin, her fingers gripping the snap on Adrian’s jeans.
Adrian lurched, her ass tensing as a spasm ran through her sex.
She was too far gone to hold back now, her mind nothing but a blizzard of pleasure and need. “Yes. Yes, yes, please.”
Swiftly, Rooke unzipped Adrian’s jeans, then gripped her around
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the waist, raised her up, and tugged her jeans down. Grasping the material with both hands, she pushed the material below Adrian’s knees.
“Rooke, please. Touch me,” Adrian groaned.
“Soon.” Rooke slowed everything down. This she wanted to savor.
She trailed the backs of her fingers up the insides of Adrian’s thighs until she brushed the drenched lips of Adrian’s sex with her fingertips.
Delicately, she plucked the tender flesh between her fingers, opening her so she could take in every beautiful detail. She skimmed along the edges of the dusky rose cleft and gently fingered the swollen flesh shielding Adrian’s clitoris. When she lightly massaged the firm ridge buried beneath the hood, Adrian’s hips bucked.
“Do you want me to come?” Adrian cried. “You’re going to make me.”
Rooke kissed her mouth, licking the inner surface of her lips as she lightly caressed her clitoris. “Are you close?”
“Very. God.” Adrian clutched Rooke’s shoulders and ground against the fingers stimulating her. “Seconds from coming in your hand.”
“Can you wait?” Rooke teased at the corner of Adrian’s mouth, then thrust her tongue deep inside. Adrian writhed in Rooke’s arms, moaning and sucking on Rooke’s tongue. Rooke slid three fingers inside and Adrian instantly clamped down on her.
Adrian’s head flew back. “Oh my God!”
Rooke dropped to her knees and covered Adrian’s sex with her mouth. Casting her gaze upward, she met Adrian’s stunned, storm blue eyes.
“Take me,” Adrian whispered.
Rooke sealed her lips around Adrian’s clitoris and the instant she sucked, Adrian climaxed. Rooke pushed deeper inside as muscles rippled and rolled. Adrian’s hips thrust hard against her mouth, over and over, her cries of release searing Rooke’s soul. Rooke kept licking and stroking until Adrian cupped her jaw and eased her face away.
Standing, Rooke gathered Adrian close and kissed her damp cheek. She tasted tears.
“Are you okay?” Rooke whispered.
Adrian clung to her, her mind fuzzy and her body demolished.
Rooke felt like the only solid thing in the universe. She’d kept her
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eyes open as long as she could, wanting to see Rooke taking her. Just remembering the fierce possessiveness in Rooke’s eyes made her clitoris jerk to life. She’d never been so completely controlled by anyone before. She wrapped her arms around Rooke’s shoulders and rubbed her breasts against Rooke’s chest. When she rolled her swollen sex over the rough cotton of Rooke’s sweatpants, she shivered and came again.
“More?” Rooke whispered.
“No more. God, I’m shattered,” Adrian groaned once she caught her breath. Body and soul. Oh God, what had she done?
Rooke hooked an arm behind Adrian’s knees, lifted her from the counter, and walked the few feet to the sofa where she lay her down.
“That was impressive,” Adrian said weakly.
“You’re not that heavy, and no rough edges at all.” Rooke knelt by the sofa and stroked Adrian’s hair away from her face. Adrian’s eyes were still hazy with spent desire. She gently disentangled Adrian’s jeans from around her ankles. “I’ll get something to cover you up with.
Be right back.”
Adrian struggled against the incredible lethargy that made it difficult to even raise her head. “We’re not done yet. I want you naked.
I want to take care of you.”
Rooke kissed her. “I’m fine. Better than fine. You’re unbelievably beautiful.”
With effort, Adrian pushed up on her elbows. She’d just broken every one of her rules and she had no one to blame but herself for opening herself up to this aching chasm of vulnerability and need, but she’d be damned if she’d just take. “I want to make love to you. I want to give you what you gave me.”
“You gave me everything…more…more than I ever imagined. I feel great.” Rooke kissed her again and then rose. “You’re half asleep already. I’ll be back in a second.”
“To hell with that. Has anyone ever touched you?” Adrian demanded, sitting upright, refusing to give in to the torpor that sapped her strength. She still had her temper even if her brain had turned to mush. “What are you waiting for?”
Rooke couldn’t answer, couldn’t explain she was waiting for the one thing she couldn’t ask for. “I’m not trying to upset you. Can’t you believe me when I tell you how amazing it was to touch you?”
“What about me, Rooke? What about what I want?”
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“I don’t know, Adrian. What do you really want?”
Adrian fell silent, her gaze locked with Rooke’s. The words Rooke needed to hear, that she wanted to say, wouldn’t come. Their encounter had been so intense, her body, her soul, had been stripped bare. She feared wanting that—feared needing anyone, wanting anyone, so much that she let them inside her defenses. If she surrendered control and let herself care, really care, she would be helpless. And then she would be destroyed. As the seconds passed, Adrian retreated and Rooke must have felt her withdraw. Rooke’s eyes were gentle, but they were also heartbreakingly sad.
“I’m sorry,” Adrian whispered as Rooke finally rose and walked away.
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ChapTER TwEnTy-fOuR
Rooke paced in the middle of her bedroom with her extra pillow and blanket in her arms, trying to sort out where she’d gone wrong. She came up with half a dozen answers—the biggest being that Adrian had told her she needed time, needed to slow down, and Rooke hadn’t listened. She’d indulged herself, lost herself, in the pleasure of pleasuring Adrian. She’d been selfish. Gripping the pillow tighter, Rooke gritted her teeth. Pops’s voice echoed in her head as clearly as it had the very first night when she’d ignored Adrian’s phone call for help. You make a mistake, you make it right.
She could try, although she wouldn’t blame Adrian if it wasn’t enough. When she reached the living room her heart sank. Adrian stood by the sofa, dressed, her coat in her hand. They both spoke at once.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
Rooke stared as Adrian laughed self-consciously.
“You’re leaving?” Rooke asked.
“If you’re feeling all right, there’s really no reason for me to stay.”“I’m fine. I’ll drive you home.”
“No,” Adrian said quickly. “It’s late and you definitely shouldn’t be driving after your accident.” She grinned wryly. “License or not. I’ll call a cab.”
“I want to apologize for what happened,” Rooke said, placing the stack of bedding on the corner of the sofa.
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Adrian kneaded her coat, searching through her jumbled thoughts for the right words. “We had
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sex. We’re both adults. I…” She shook her head. “I’ve been wanting to do that pretty much nonstop for a while now. Have sex with you, I mean.
I guess that came through loud and clear. So I’m the one who—”
“You said you wanted to wait,” Rooke said, interrupting what sounded like an apology she did not want.
“My head said that. My body sure didn’t.” Fleetingly Adrian wondered how her heart fit into the equation, but she quickly pushed that aside. She couldn’t deal with any more tonight.
“Your head counts too,” Rooke said softly, “but I didn’t listen to what you said you wanted.”
“You are not totally responsible here. I know I’ve been sending mixed signals.”
“Okay,” Rooke agreed. “Maybe part of you called to me, but I didn’t have to answer.”
“Didn’t you?” Adrian asked, wanting the very answer she feared.
Say yes. Say you wanted me. Say you needed me, had to have me. Say you… Shaken, Adrian viciously stilled the voice that sounded so much like Melinda’s. She sat down abruptly, her legs trembling.
Rooke knelt in front of the sofa, her dark eyes shadowed. “I wasn’t thinking at all. You called to me the way the stone calls to me.
In here.” She touched her chest, remembering the rightness, the stirring of recognition that she couldn’t quite capture. “That’s the language I know.”
Adrian wanted to touch her, but stilled her hand in mid-motion.
She was still completely open, so raw she hadn’t a single barrier left. “I got angry when you wouldn’t let me touch you, and that was completely unfair. You have every right to guard yourself—to decide who touches you and when. I certainly do. It doesn’t matter why, and you do not have to explain it to me.”
“It’s always been that way for me. But I think maybe I was wrong this time.”
“If you were,” Adrian murmured, “you’ll know.”
“Are you still mad?”
Adrian shook her head. “What we had was a marvelous case of miscommunication, on both sides.” She took a chance and caressed Rooke’s cheek. She caught glimpses of steeply banked embers waiting to flare to life, sensed hunger barely sated and a deep, aching need. She was almost disappointed when she couldn’t sense anything beyond the
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now and wondered if she’d lost the ephemeral connection, if all that remained were crumbling stone walls and ghosts.
“You look sad,” Rooke whispered.
“I’m not. Not about what happened earlier. Don’t think for a second it wasn’t incredible.” Adrian smiled unsteadily. “God, better than incredible.”
“For me too.” Rooke pointed to the pillow and blankets. “So will you stay? I know you’re tired. It’s not the most comfortable place in the world to sleep but—”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay.” Adrian couldn’t bear the idea of returning to the huge, cold empty house. Knowing Rooke was in the other room was surprisingly reassuring.
“Thank yo—” Rooke’s cell phone, lying on the coffee table, rang and she automatically picked it up. “Hello?…Hi. No, I’m home.”
Almost eleven. Adrian knew who was calling. She wondered if Melinda called every night, perhaps to wish Rooke sweet dreams. Or dreams that were perhaps not so sweet, but filled as hers were lately with visions of lust and desire. Adrian tried not to listen, but it was impossible.
“No, no problem,” Rooke said. “I had a bit of an accident earlier…
nothing serious. More of a scratch than anything else.”
Rooke glanced at Adrian and signaled one minute with her finger.
“No, really. Adrian came with me. Everything is fine…She’s here.”
Rooke frowned. “I don’t think so. I still have things to do…Okay. I’ll work it out.” Rooke held the phone out and settled on the sofa next to Adrian. “She wants to talk to you for a second.”
“Hello, Melinda,” Adrian said coolly.
Melinda laughed. “Am I interrupting your evening?”
“No, not at all.”
“I’m sending a car for the two of you tomorrow afternoon. I need Rooke here for an promo event midweek and I want to make sure she’s prepared.”
“If it suits Rooke’s schedule, that’s fine with me.”
“Are you taking good care of her?” Melinda asked playfully.
Adrian ruthlessly banished every image of her previous intimacy with Rooke because she wasn’t convinced that Melinda couldn’t read her mind even over the phone. “Just keeping her company. She’s fine.”
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“Are you in bed?”
Adrian’s throat closed and she almost couldn’t answer. “No, not that it’s any of your—”
“Pity. I know what I’d be doing if I were there alone with her. And what she’d be doing to me.”
What makes you think Rooke is yours for the taking? Adrian set her teeth to keep the words inside. She could hardly challenge Melinda with Rooke sitting next to her.
Melinda chuckled. “For such a beautiful, sensuous woman, you’re terribly afraid of your own desire.”
“Thank you for making the travel arrangements.” Adrian bit off each word, then handed the phone back to Rooke. “Here.”
Looking surprised, Rooke took the phone. “Melinda? Anything else?…I’ll call you when I arrive. Good night…Thanks, you too.”
Rooke disconnected. “You know, if tomorrow is bad for you, I can go down by myself.”
“Tomorrow’s fine.”
“I’ll check your house when I take you home in the morning. I asked Dom earlier today to stop by if the weather gets bad again before we return.”
“Good. Thanks.”
Rooke frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Adrian said abruptly . Only that I’ve slept with you and it was amazing and that should be enough, but it isn’t. Oh yes, and Melinda wants you and, unlike me, she definitely won’t be afraid to show you.
v
How she could be so aroused when her limbs were so heavy, her mind so lethargic? Adrian struggled, torn between escaping the hands that caressed her breasts and belly, stoking the white-hot flames that licked between her thighs, and wanting to spill her pleasure into the mouth that tormented her.
You know what you want, why are you fighting it? Why are you fighting us?
“No,” Adrian murmured, caught in the depths of hungry green eyes. “Not this way.”
Warm lips glided over hers, an insistent tongue demanded entrance,
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and between her legs, a hot mouth coaxed her to climb onto the pyre and burn. She couldn’t remember why she shouldn’t surrender. She wanted to come, needed to come. Back arched, she offered her breasts to the silky fingers that teased and twisted her painfully engorged nipples.
Remember how it felt when you came in her mouth. How the ecstasy flooded through you and all you felt was mindless bliss.
She fought to hold back, breasts throbbing, distended clitoris aching. Her stomach contracted and she bowed in the arms of the woman plundering her mouth. An unexpectedly tender hand caressed her face and cradled her head against lush, full breasts. She moaned, lifting to the lips that kissed her sex, the tongue that licked her.
“I can’t…”
Look down, darling. See how she takes you with her mouth. Let her make you come. Watch her drink your passion. You know how much you want it.
Rooke’s hands, holding her open, exposing her. Dark eyes so fathomless she could sink beneath their surface and drown in the endless pleasure. She whimpered, impaled on twin spikes of arousal, devoured by emerald and obsidian eyes. She couldn’t hold back, didn’t want to hold back. Never had surrender felt so sweet.
My hands, her mouth…say yes. Let her have your passion. Let me drink yours.
Wrong, wrong somehow. Not what she wanted. But oh God, she needed—
“What?” Adrian gasped, jerking upright on the sofa. Flat gray winter light suffused the room and Rooke knelt on the floor beside her.
Adrian pulled the blanket close around her. She was naked—when had she taken her clothes off? “What happened…Rooke?”
“Adrian,” Rooke whispered. “I’m sorry, I thought I heard…”
Oh my God, Adrian thought, her face flushing with embarrassment.
Oh God, please tell me she didn’t hear any of that. She hadn’t climaxed, and for that she was grateful. Strangely, she felt the grip of the dream arousal receding faster than it ever had. But then, she’d never awakened with Rooke beside her. Impulsively, she gripped Rooke’s bare arm below the sleeve of her T-shirt and blessed calm infused her. That had never happened before either. Hoping she sounded somewhat normal, she asked, “Did I wake you? Was I talking in my sleep?”
“No,” Rooke replied, looking perplexed. “I was asleep, at least I
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think I was. And I thought I heard you call my name. I thought you…
needed me.”
Adrian tried to smile, but she knew she was shaking and probably couldn’t pull it off. “Thank you for coming, then.”
“I’m sorry I woke you for nothing.”
“Oh no,” Adrian said almost breathlessly. “Not for nothing. It’s definitely time for me to get up.”
“I don’t think so.” Rooke leaned closer and cupped Adrian’s chin, tilting her face until the pale light illuminated it. “The shadows under your eyes are darker. You didn’t sleep well.”
“Remember what I told you about commenting on a woman’s appearance when she’s not at her best,” Adrian said.
“I remember, and what I said is still true. You’re beautiful.” Rooke skated her thumb over the arch of Adrian’s cheekbone. “But something’s wrong. What can I do?”
“Would you believe you’re doing it just by being here?”
“It seems there should be more.” Rooke slid onto the sofa where Adrian had sat the night before and guided Adrian’s head into her lap.
She smoothed her fingertips over the golden brows. “Relax for a few more minutes.”
“What would you be doing if I weren’t here right now?” Adrian asked, luxuriating in the slow, gentle tempo of Rooke’s fingers tracing the bones in her face. She always avoided casual touch, even with the women she’d slept with, because other than at the peak of passion, when pleasure eclipsed all other sensation, she was too defenseless. But now, she basked in a rare moment of feeling completely safe.
“I’d probably be sculpting.”
Rooke sounded far away and Adrian didn’t want to lose her.
Reaching back, she curled her arm around Rooke’s thigh. Hard muscles vibrated beneath her fingers. “Do you want to go to work?”
“No. I want to stay here, just like this.”
“Mmm,” Adrian murmured, half aroused, half asleep. “Can I see them?”
Rooke’s hand stilled for a second, then resumed the tender caresses. “Yes.”
“Good.” Adrian gazed up at Rooke. She was so tired, and the dreams weighed so heavily on her soul. She couldn’t keep fighting, not every second. “Would you lie down here with me for a few minutes?”
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“Yes.”
Rooke lay down beside her, the blanket still between them, covering her nakedness. Adrian rested her head in the curve of Rooke’s shoulder and settled one knee a little way between Rooke’s legs. As she drifted, she registered how perfectly their bodies fit together, and how Rooke’s arm around her waist felt just exactly right.
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ChapTER TwEnTy-fivE
Rooke was content to lie quietly, Adrian’s breath wafting lightly against her throat, as the weak winter sun slowly brightened the room. She judged it to be close to eight and wondered why Pops hadn’t called as he usually did by seven thirty, inquiring about breakfast.
Maybe he hadn’t wanted to disturb her because Adrian was here. She’d never had anyone stay overnight before, and he knew that. They rarely talked about personal things unless there was a need, and she’d never needed to talk to him about her sexuality. She’d always assumed when there was a reason, she would, and he would understand. As she stroked the curve of Adrian’s bare shoulder, she thought maybe the time had come.
Adrian, who’d been sleeping soundly for several hours, murmured and snuggled closer. She nestled tightly against Rooke’s chest, her leg sliding higher until her thigh settled firmly in the notch between Rooke’s legs. Rooke couldn’t help but become aroused, and she found the torture exquisitely pleasant. Adrian, slowly awakening, pressed her mouth to Rooke’s throat, her hips gently undulating in the curve of Rooke’s pelvis. Adrian hummed in pleasure and threaded her arm around Rooke’s neck, knocking the blanket askew and exposing her breast. Rooke’s hand inadvertently grazed the firm curvature and the sensual shock was so swift and so deep she moaned.
“Oh God,” Adrian whispered in Rooke’s ear, growing suddenly still, “I’m doing it again, aren’t I.”
“Sleeping?” Rooke asked, her throat dry.
Adrian inched away until her head rested in the curve of Rooke’s arm, but their bodies were no longer so intimately touching. After
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hitching the blanket up until her breasts were covered, she smoothed her palm back and forth over Rooke’s chest. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to maul you when you couldn’t defend yourself.”
Rooke smiled. “I’m not complaining. How did you sleep?”
“Wonderfully.” Adrian frowned. “Really wonderfully. I didn’t have a single dream. I think it’s the first time I’ve slept without dreaming since I’ve been here.”
“Bad dreams?” Rooke skimmed her fingers up and down Adrian’s back as they talked, enjoying the heat against her fingertips.
Adrian laughed wryly. “Let’s just say they’ve been vivid and disturbing, and I am grateful to you for keeping them at bay for a while.”
“Anytime.”
“Careful,” Adrian murmured, “I might take you up on that.”
“Okay.” Rooke kissed her.
Adrian let herself enjoy the soft seduction of Rooke’s mouth for longer than she should have, and she shifted closer again. She loved the hardness of Rooke’s body against her breasts, her belly, her thighs. She loved her heat, she loved the strength in her hands, and she loved the way she kissed—thoroughly, with gentle demand and clear, unquestioning possession. She loved the way kissing her made her want Rooke inside.
And that was when she knew it was time to stop. With a little groan of pleasure and regret, she forced herself to break the kiss.
“What time is Melinda’s car arriving?” Adrian asked breathlessly.
“Three.” Rooke kissed the pulse shimmering in Adrian’s throat.
“I heard you tell her you had things to do.” Adrian was rapidly losing her train of thought as Rooke’s mouth explored her neck. She needed to go home and pack. She needed to talk with her grandmother about the house. She needed…she needed not to end up begging Rooke to make love to her again. She’d asked for time, and maybe it was out of fear and she hated being a coward, but whatever was happening between them was powerful and profound and she didn’t want to rush.
She didn’t want to make a mistake and she didn’t want to run away, and God help her, part of her wanted to run. The part that never wanted Rooke to stop touching her.
As if sensing her reluctance, Rooke lifted her head and eased away a fraction. “I have to go over the orders I just finished with Pops and
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make sure the work is okay. Melinda wanted photographs of the rest of my sculptures—the ones she didn’t see.” Rooke paused. “Maybe when I show you, we could take them.”
Adrian’s heart leapt. Rooke was offering to share a piece of herself, a critical piece of herself, and Adrian wanted that more than she could ever remember wanting anything. Even more than she wanted Rooke to touch her.
“I can’t wait to see them.” Adrian kissed Rooke, putting every bit of tenderness into the glide of her mouth over Rooke’s that she could.
“Thank you.”
Rooke shook her head, her eyes dark and serious. “You don’t have to thank me. I’ve been waiting to show you.”
Wordlessly, Adrian nodded, humbled by Rooke’s trust and selfishly pleased that she was the one with whom Rooke had chosen to share her creations. She stood, the blanket haphazardly draped over her shoulders. She thrilled to Rooke’s appreciative expression as her gaze swept Adrian’s half-nude body. “I’ll get dressed, then.”
For a second, she thought Rooke was going to grab her and pull her back down to the sofa, and no matter what good sense might dictate, she would have let her. But after a long moment in which the very air around them seemed to tremble with desire, Adrian broke the tension, scooped up her clothes, and started for the bathroom.
“Breakfast first,” Rooke called after her.
“Good, I’m hungry,” Adrian called back. How hungry, you’ll never know.
v
“So you’re headed to New York this afternoon,” Pops said, dishing omelettes onto plain white stoneware plates that he’d set in front of Adrian and Rooke.
“Uh-huh,” Rooke said, passing Adrian a green plastic basket lined with a napkin and piled high with toast.
“Thanks,” Adrian said, feeling just a little bit self-conscious showing up for breakfast in a pair of Rooke’s jeans and one of her Tshirts, both of which were too tight. Not so tight as to be uncomfortable, but showing off her rear and her breasts a bit more than she ordinarily would, especially in front of Rooke’s grandfather. Most especially not
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after having spent the night in Rooke’s arms, even though he wouldn’t know that. Then again, he might, considering that every time she looked at Rooke her libido skyrocketed and every erotic point on her body throbbed.
As if Rooke had read her mind, she glanced up halfway through the process of buttering her toast and smiled at Adrian. Her smile was completely unguarded and her eyes shone with that deep dark sexy glint that made Adrian shiver, as if Rooke had caressed her. Her heart fluttered and her thighs tingled and she definitely wasn’t hungry for food now. How had she gotten in so deep, so fast? And why oh why did it feel so good?
“Charlie Phelps thinks the contract looks okay,” Pops remarked, as if Adrian and Rooke weren’t spilling pheromones all over the kitchen.
“He says he doesn’t know if the percentage is fair, but all the legal bits look right.”
“So I’ll sign it,” Rooke said matter-of-factly.
Adrian glanced at Pops. His expression seemed to invite a comment. “I don’t have any experience with art dealers per se, but I know something about entertainment law, and I have friends who know more. I don’t mind getting some information for you, if you’d like.”
“You don’t trust Melinda?” Rooke asked.
Not for one single second. Adrian wanted to be fair, because Melinda’s representation was likely to be very important to Rooke’s future, and Rooke deserved every advantage. “Everything I’ve heard about her says that she’s a complete professional and the expert she claims to be. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get the best deal possible.”
Rooke lifted her shoulder. “I’m not about to quibble over a few dollars one way or the other. If it weren’t for Melinda, I wouldn’t be doing this at all.”
“Fair enough.” Adrian disliked the possibility that Rooke might feel any sense of obligation to Melinda, but admired her loyalty. “Then let me make a few phone calls to see if her figures are in the ballpark—
if they are and your attorney thinks the contract is reasonable, then we’ll call it a day.”
“Sounds good.” Rooke set down her coffee cup and squeezed Adrian’s hand. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Adrian automatically threaded her fingers
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through Rooke’s before she realized what she was doing. Then she quickly released her hand, but not before she caught the interested expression on Pops’s face.
Rooke pushed back from the table. “I’ll grab the contract for you.
I need to get the camera anyhow. Be back in a minute.”
Adrian swiveled to watch her walk away. Rooke’s black jeans fit her completely differently than they did Adrian, filling out just enough over her narrow, tight ass to invite squeezing. Her hands shook with the memory of sliding her hands over that ass, gripping the hard muscles as they bunched each time Rooke pumped between her thighs, almost making her come. Quickly, she averted her gaze. She just could not look at Rooke in front of Pops.
“Appreciate you looking after her yesterday,” Pops said, seeming to be fascinated by something in the depths of his coffee cup.
“Of course. There’s no need for thanks.”
Pops lifted his gaze to hers. “This trip…there’s nothing she can’t do, but New York City is a lot different than here.”
“I agree with you completely,” Adrian said gently. “There’s nothing she can’t do. But she’s staying with me, so if there’s anything she needs or has a question about, I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”
“That’s fine, then.” Pops leaned back, apparently relieved, and regarded her contemplatively. “Ms. Singer seems to like Rooke quite a bit. I imagine she’ll do all right by her.”
Adrian’s vision went red before she got the quick blast of temper under control. “Melinda Singer is a very well-respected art dealer.”
Pops flashed a wisp of a smile. “That’s what I understand.” He rose and began proficiently clearing the table. “It’s nice that Rooke brought a lady friend to breakfast. I’m glad you could join us again.”
“Thank you,” Adrian said softly, quite liking the idea of being Rooke’s lady friend. And she intended to make it very plain to Rooke and Pops that Melinda Singer was not.
v
Rooke unlocked the door to her shop and pushed it open for Adrian. “So, just have a look around while I take some photographs.”
Adrian took a deep breath and crossed the threshold. “Thanks. I will.”
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She purposely didn’t rush to look at the sculptures that sat on the floor and shelves, but took her time absorbing the spirit of Rooke’s space. This was Rooke’s most private place, where she revealed her heart. Adrian guessed from the tight set of Rooke’s shoulders as she turned away, ostensibly to take pictures, that she was nervous. Knowing that Rooke felt anxious, probably exposed, made her want to go to her immediately and put her arms around her. But she didn’t. Rooke had given her a gift, and she wanted to honor it.
The room was much bigger than she expected, extending back from the front portion of the garage for a good sixty feet. A series of big bay doors ran down one side, probably used at one time to admit large machinery. A forklift was tucked into a corner at the far end of the room and she could easily envision Rooke maneuvering the machine into the room with huge blocks of stone balanced on its extended metal arms. Closer, she identified tanks with dangling black hoses—air compressors. She’d read that most stone carvers used power tools now, but she remembered Dominic saying that Rooke didn’t.
“What do you do with the power drill?” Adrian asked.
“I use it to cut up the big stones before I carve them,” Rooke said over her shoulder.
Adrian approached the closest sculpture, a nude figure of a woman standing, her arms entwined and curved above her head as if she had just risen from bed to stretch after a long sleep. As she studied the nearly four-foot-tall figure, she became aware that the woman had not just risen from sleep, but was luxuriating in the aftermath of spent passion. Her back was subtly arched, her breasts high, her nipples tight, her slightly rounded stomach almost undulating with the last shivers of pleasure.
“She’s beautiful,” Adrian breathed, extending her hand toward the figure. She caught herself and stopped.
“You can touch her,” Rooke murmured.
Tentatively, Adrian stroked the outside of the woman’s arm, over her shoulder and along her flank. She caught her breath and stared at Rooke. “She’s warm.”
Rooke’s eyes lit up. “You feel it?”
“Oh yes.” Adrian nodded vigorously. “Why is that?”
“Because she lives for you the way she does for me.”
Adrian caught her lip between her teeth to keep it from quivering.
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Through eyes slightly blurred with unshed tears, she scanned the other figures, all women—all radiant, vibrant, heartbreakingly beautiful women. “They’re wonderful.”
“Thank you.”
“No, I mean, they’re wonderful. ” Adrian hesitated, but could not keep the truth from Rooke. Rooke deserved only truths. “Melinda was right to search for you, and she’s right about your work. You are remarkable. Your sculptures are amazing. I’m glad Melinda is arranging a showing.”
“I’m glad you like them.” Rooke clasped Adrian’s hand. “That’s enough for me.”
“Okay,” Adrian said a little shakily as Rooke’s touch sent spirals of electricity shooting up her arm and into her chest, “I accept the compliment. Thank you. That means a great deal to me.”
Still holding Rooke’s hand, Adrian turned partially away so she wouldn’t throw her arms around Rooke. If she did, she wasn’t sure she would stop until she touched her, everywhere. The combination of being alone with Rooke here, in this place, surrounded by such incredible beauty and passion, made her desperate to be close to her. No, more than close to her. She wanted to drown in her. “What about this big one, covered up in the middle of the room? What’s under the tarp?”
“Ah, she’s not done yet.”
“She? Always she?”
“Always.”
Adrian dragged Rooke a little closer to the hidden piece and rested her hand carefully on the tarp. Rooke watched her with such intensity she lost her grip and tumbled into those shimmering dark irises, slipping into the shifting landscape of black and gold and shades of brown. When they’d made love, she hadn’t felt the earth move because her body and mind had already taken flight, but she saw it move now in Rooke’s eyes. Her blood quickened and her heart stirred and she knew.
“You’re waiting for her, aren’t you?”
Rooke nodded.
“How long?” Adrian whispered.
“Since always. Until forever.”
“Rooke…I…” Adrian swallowed hard, overwhelmed by such powerful, fragile passion. So much had happened recently she didn’t understand, so many frightening, unsettling dreams and desires, but of
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one thing she was certain. She would never do anything to hurt Rooke, including making promises she might not be able to keep.
“There’s a long time in between always and forever.” Rooke smiled gently, no trace of disappointment in her face. “Plenty of time.”
“Thank you.” Adrian brushed away the tear that had somehow found its way to freedom and gestured to the sculptures surrounding them. “For all of this.”
Rooke pulled her into her arms, and Adrian went willingly. She needed Rooke’s touch. Rooke’s breath was warm as her mouth brushed over Adrian’s ear. “Don’t thank me. You make me happy.”
Adrian trembled in her embrace, determined not to think of cold, barren hearths and crumbling stone ruins, of great warriors broken by betrayal and infidelity. “I’m glad. You make me happy too.”
“Then let’s go to New York.”
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ChapTER TwEnTy-SiX
Rooke dropped her duffel bag in the kitchen and held the back door open for Pops. “I could have driven to pick Adrian up.”
“You could have,” Pops said as he walked with her to the truck.
“But you’ve been doing enough driving lately. No use pushing your luck.”
“Probably,” Rooke agreed, climbing in the passenger side.
Pops pulled out onto the road to Adrian’s. “I’ve got suitcases you could have used.”
“The duffel is fine.”
“You have enough money?”
“Plenty.”
“You have that ATM card I gave you?”
“Yes, and I remember the PIN. If I need extra money, which I won’t, I’ll ask Adrian to get some out for me.” Rooke grimaced, feeling a little bit like a twelve-year-old going away to camp for the first time.
She wasn’t worried, but she owed it to Pops to make sure he wasn’t either. “I’ve also got the medical and emergency contact cards in my wallet. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“I know that.” Pops pulled the visor down against the slanting afternoon sun. “Ask Adrian to take some pictures at the gallery. I don’t imagine you’ll remember.”
“The show isn’t for another few weeks,” Rooke said. “Maybe you could come down with me then. It’s not that far and—”
Pops put his hand on her knee and squeezed gently, then returned it to the wheel. “I guess I’ll have to buy a new suit.”
Rooke laughed. “Why? I’m not going to.”
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“I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those ladies doesn’t convince you otherwise.”
“One of those…oh, Melinda and Adrian.” Rooke sighed. “Yeah, Melinda will probably have something to say about that.”
Pops shot her a quick look. “She looks like a woman who gets what she wants.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You two, ah—”
“No,” Rooke said as Pops turned into Adrian’s driveway.
“Not that my opinion matters, and whatever you decide is fine with me,” Pops shut off the engine and sat with his hands on the wheel at ten and two, “but I noticed Adrian has a way of looking at you like she sees you, all the way through.”
“I know,” Rooke said. “Feels that way too.”
Pops nodded. “That’s good, then.”
“Yeah, it is. I better see if she needs a hand with her luggage.”
Rooke opened the door and jumped out, then leaned on the open door until her grandfather turned to look at her. “Thanks, Pops. I couldn’t ask for a better family.”
“Same here,” Pops said gruffly. “Now go help the lady.”
v
“Really, Grandmother, there’s no need for you to call out the cavalry,” Adrian said, trying valiantly to harness her irritation. With the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, she crossed off items on her list as she took one more walk around the house. “Everything here is under control, and I’m sure both my father and my brother have better things to do than drive up here to check on the things I’ve already taken care of. Besides, I probably won’t even be gone a week.”
“I don’t understand why you have to go back to the city so soon.
What can be so important, it can’t wait?”
“I told you a few minutes ago. Rooke Tyler is going to be staying with me for a few days while she prepares for an upcoming show.”
Adrian sat down on the bottom step of the wide, curving staircase that led to the second floor and closed her eyes. Whenever she mentioned Rooke, her grandmother seemed to develop a case of selective deafness,
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and she was tired of it. “Rooke is very important to me. Why is that so difficult for you to accept?”
“Don’t you think you’ve asked your family to accept quite enough,” Elizabeth Winchester said, her tone rife with disapproval.
“Really? And what would those things be? My desire to choose my own career? My refusal to let the men in the family plan my life?
Or maybe the fact that I’m a lesbian—”
“There’s no need to be disrespectful,” Elizabeth snapped.
Adrian sighed, still amazed that her family could press her buttons so easily. “How could you condone Ida Hancock disowning her own daughter and then refusing to acknowledge her granddaughter? She’s your best friend—why didn’t you try to change her mind?”
“She had good reasons for her decisions.”
“What reasons could there possibly be? You have no idea what an amazing woman Rooke—”
“Really, Adrian, you’re starting to sound quite taken with her.
I realize that you’ve always wanted to be different, so of course you would be enamored of someone who’s different—”
“Different?” Adrian laughed harshly and dropped her head on her bent knees. “Oh, Rooke is different, all right. She has no agendas.
She’s completely honest. She’s amazingly sensitive and more talented than anyone I’ve ever met. She’s…” Adrian stopped short of saying, she’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman. There were some things her grandmother would never understand and there was no reason to punish herself by trying to make her. “Let’s not argue.”
“We wouldn’t have to argue if you would simply stop your stubborn insistence on casting aside every standard your family values.
You are well past the age for adolescent rebellion.”
Adrian shot to her feet. “I’m not rebelling, Grandmother. I’m choosing my own life.”
“And I suppose you would choose someone completely unsuitable for you in every way, just to make your point?”
“No,” Adrian said. “Not to make a point. To have an honest life.”
Elizabeth Winchester snorted. “Oh my dear, such idealism. No wonder your parents despair of you ever coming to your senses.”
“I have to go now, Grandmother. Rooke is here. I’ll speak to you later in the week.”
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“Don’t make a decision you’ll regret,” Elizabeth said.
“Believe me,” Adrian said as she softly disconnected, “I’m trying hard not to.”
Adrian put the phone back in the kitchen and pulled on her field jacket just as a knock sounded at the front door. She grabbed her briefcase and hurried into the foyer. The anger and sadness her grandmother’s words had prompted melted away in anticipation of seeing Rooke. She pulled open the door and Rooke was there, her eyes alight with the same expectation that trembled in Adrian’s chest. Adrian dropped her bags and threw her arms around Rooke’s neck, kissing her with abandon. Sometime in the middle of the kiss, Rooke must have wrapped both arms around Adrian’s waist because when Adrian, breathless and exhilarated, tore her mouth away from Rooke’s, her feet were no longer touching the porch.
Laughing, Adrian said, “Put me down.”
In answer, Rooke kissed her and spun her in a circle, then gently released her. “Hi. I missed you.”
Adrian’s giddy excitement instantly coalesced into arousal. She gripped the front of Rooke’s leather jacket in her fists and tugged her toward the still-open front door. “You have no idea.”
“Adrian,” Rooke said, her voice low and husky. “Melinda’s car will be at Stillwater in fifteen minutes.”
“They’ll wait.” Adrian unzipped Rooke’s jacket and curled her fingers inside the waistband of Rooke’s jeans. “I missed you too.”
“Pops is in the truck.”
Adrian went rigid. “Oh my God. Oh. My. God.”
Rooke laughed. “It’s okay. But we probably should get going.”
“Your grandfather just saw me attack you like some sex-crazed maniac.” Adrian’s voice was shrill. “I can’t get in the truck with him now.”
“He probably wasn’t watching.” Rooke grinned, grabbed Adrian’s briefcase, and pulled the front door closed. “And even if he was, he won’t care. He likes you.”
“He likes me,” Adrian repeated softly, and her throat closed. She hadn’t realized until just that moment how much she cared that Rooke’s grandfather like her. Because Rooke loved him, and he loved her.
“Who wouldn’t?” Rooke said with absolute sincerity.
“My family, for starters.” Adrian smiled sadly, feeling the old
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familiar ache that came from knowing she wasn’t the daughter or the granddaughter her family wanted.
Rooke frowned. “What happened?”
Adrian waved a hand as they made their way down the sloping curve of the drive toward the truck. “Nothing that hasn’t happened dozens of times before.”
“Are you all right?” Rooke paused before opening the door to the truck and cupped Adrian’s chin, searching her eyes. “Adrian?”
“I am now.” Adrian longed to throw herself into Rooke’s arms again, to feel herself soar in the incredible freedom and safety of her embrace. Instead, she pressed her palm to Rooke’s chest and found solace in her immutable strength. “Just stay close, okay?”
“Right here.” Rooke covered Adrian’s hand where it rested on her chest. “Right here.”
v
“Pretty fancy ride,” Rooke commented after she and Adrian settled into the rear of the Town Car Melinda had sent for them.
“Melinda knows how to treat her clients,” Adrian muttered. A smoked glass privacy window separated them from the female driver in front. The young redhead, dressed in the requisite dark suit, white shirt, and black tie, had greeted them with professional friendliness as she loaded their luggage into the trunk. When she’d held the door open for them, however, she’d surveyed Rooke with blatant interest. And when she’d noticed Adrian watching her cruise Rooke, she’d smiled with a hint of challenge. Adrian had managed to bite back a retort, but she was fuming. Was she just now noticing that every woman in the world had sex on the brain, or was it just that every woman who saw Rooke suddenly got hungry? Of course, she could completely understand it.
Rooke wore a pale blue button-down-collar shirt and broken-in jeans that were faded in the knees and crotch. With her dark hair and eyes and her brown leather bomber jacket and scuffed brown boots, she was mouthwateringly sexy. Adrian could barely look at her without wanting Rooke all over her. She wondered what Melinda’s driver would report if Rooke fucked her blind right here on the plush leather seat. The image slammed home and Adrian gasped.
“Something wrong?” Rooke asked.
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“No, nothing.”
Rooke didn’t look as if she believed her, but she didn’t push.
Instead, she leaned back and stretched out her legs, her long lean thigh lightly brushing Adrian’s, making it even harder for Adrian not to straddle her lap and beg to be taken. Even Melinda’s simmering seductiveness hadn’t melted her mind like this. She had to find a distraction before she embarrassed herself, so she tried to put herself in Rooke’s position. What must she be feeling about the upcoming show?
What must it be like for her, about to become immersed in a city of a million strangers?
“What about maps?” Adrian asked. “Are they of any use to you?”
“I’m good with spatial orientation,” Rooke said. “I never get lost when I’m driving, but I haven’t traveled very far. I can look at a map and remember general relationships between continents and things like that.”
“Wait a minute.” Adrian dug around in her briefcase and found a dog-eared map of Manhattan with the bus routes and subway system in one of the pockets. It’d probably been there for years. She unfolded it, shifted closer to Rooke, and balanced it on their laps. She traced the outline of Manhattan with her finger. “This is what the borough looks like.” She pointed to her neighborhood and then the location of Melinda’s gallery. “I live here…and Osare, Melinda’s gallery, is over here.”
“Uh-huh.” Rooke traced off the intersections. “Ten blocks east, four blocks south.”
“Exactly.” Adrian hugged Rooke’s arm. “Even if you’re off by a block or so, anyone would be able to tell you which way to go as long as you know my address.”
“Are you planning for me to get lost?”
“No,” Adrian said quickly, then realized from Rooke’s smile that she was being teased. “I just…I didn’t think you’d want to be dependent on me to get around. Not that I mind, because I’d love to sho—”
“Adrian.”
Rooke took Adrian’s hand and in a single beat of her heart, the car, the snowy fields flashing by outside the windows, the muted glow of the dying sun disappeared, and all Adrian could see were the flames of a thousand lifetimes burning in Rooke’s eyes.
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“God, you’re beautiful,” Adrian murmured.
“I’m looking forward to being with you. It doesn’t bother me to need your help.” Rooke entwined her fingers with Adrian’s and rested their joined hands on her knee. “Show me the rest of the city on the map.”
“Okay,” Adrian said, keeping a tight hold on Rooke’s hand. She loved touching her, something else that was completely new for her.
“Here…”
A faint crackle followed by the driver’s announcement that they had arrived startled Adrian back to awareness. She’d completely lost track of time as she’d answered Rooke’s questions and described the city. Sometime during the trip, night had fallen.
“It will make more sense to you during the day,” Adrian said as they waited inside the car for the driver to unload the luggage. “We’ll go for a walk tomorrow.”
“How about tonight? Too cold?”
Adrian squeezed Rooke’s hand. “I’d love to go for a walk.”
The redhead opened the door and Adrian and Rooke climbed out.
“Thanks,” Rooke said.
“My pleasure,” the redhead said, handing Rooke an embossed white business card. “My name is Valencia. Feel free to call me if you need anything. Ms. Singer has instructed me to be at your disposal.”
She paused. “Night or day. Call my cell.”
Rooke put the card in her jacket pocket without a glance. “Thank you. I’m sure Adrian will have everything I need.”
Valencia laughed softly. “You never know.” Then she gave a small salute, walked around to the driver’s side, and a few seconds later the car pulled away.
Rooke grabbed her duffel bag and Adrian’s briefcase. “Should we put these inside?”
“Come on,” Adrian said, unexpectedly excited to be having a houseguest. Not just any guest. Rooke. She was torn between wanting to show her some of the city sights at night, when everything looked cleaner and brighter, and staying inside with her, only the two of them, cocooned from the world. Selfish of her, probably. She’d grown up here.
For Rooke it was a brand-new universe. She opened her apartment door and held it wide. “You can just dump the bags in the living room for now.”
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When Adrian turned on the lamp, Rooke scanned the room. The not overly large room appeared at once lived-in and subtly luxurious—
gleaming hardwood floors, a large oriental wool area rug, a sofa and matching chairs in a muted navy pattern, brass lamps with silk shades, and a huge oak table that Adrian used as a desk in front of three bay windows. Floor-to-ceiling built-in dark wood bookcases occupied one entire wall, and every shelf was full. Several piles of magazines sat on the coffee table and end tables.
“This is nice,” Rooke said, enjoying a glimpse of Adrian’s life even though she couldn’t help but notice how far apart their lives were.
“Thanks, you look good in it.” When Rooke laughed, Adrian slung her arm around Rooke’s waist and kissed her cheek. “Let’s take that walk.”
v
Rooke had a headache by the time they returned. She’d thought she’d known what to expect, but her preconceptions hadn’t been anywhere near the reality. They’d walked as far as Times Square because she’d wanted to see the place she’d heard about in so many of her audiobooks. The picture she’d had in her mind was somewhat accurate, only several orders of magnitude less chaotic. The sheer weight of humanity—the crush of pedestrians at an hour of the night when most people in Ford’s Crossing were in bed, the clamor of bumper-to-bumper traffic, the flashing marquee lights advertising the names of people and events she couldn’t read. Earlier when she’d looked at the map, she’d been confident she could site a few landmarks and be able to orient herself enough to get around, even alone. Now she wasn’t sure at all.
“Let me take your jacket,” Adrian said.
Rooke rubbed at the ache in her forehead and wondered what she should do.
“Are you feeling all right?” Adrian asked quietly.
“Yeah. Sorry. I’m a little tired, I guess.” Rooke grinned wryly.
“And the damn Steri-strips itch.”
“The doctor did say you should take it easy for a couple of days.”
Adrian shook her head, looking unhappy. “I don’t think traveling to
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New York and traipsing around the city for half the night qualifies as taking it easy. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Hey.” Rooke grasped Adrian’s upper arms and rubbed them gently. “I wanted to go, remember? And we’ve been through this before.
You’re not responsible for me.”
Adrian smoothed her hands over Rooke’s shoulders. “Maybe not.
Maybe I just like looking after you.”
Rooke drew Adrian closer and rubbed her cheek against Adrian’s hair. “I kinda like it when you do.”
“Good.” Adrian tightened her arms around Rooke’s neck and kissed her, a quick brush of lips that was all she dared. “Now I think you need to get some sleep. Let me show you where you’re staying.”
“Thanks. I’m sorry I—” Rooke cursed as her phone rang. She yanked it off the waistband of her jeans. “Hello.”
“Good evening, Rooke love,” Melinda said. “Valencia told me you’d arrived. I’d love to see you tonight. It’s been so terribly long.
Perhaps for a drink?”
Adrian had gone to stand in front of the bay windows, and Rooke glanced at her rigid back.
“I don’t think so. Not tonight. Thanks.”
Melinda sighed dramatically. “All right then. But you’re all mine tomorrow. I’ll send Valencia at ten. I want to go over some things with you and then I want to take you shopping.”
“Shopping? What for?”
“You may wear those jeans I find so devastating for the showing if you want, my darling, but I want to dress you up and show you off at the reception I’m giving. There’ll be reporters and art critics and the like attending.”
“I suppose it’s really necessary?”
“Occasionally you must play the artiste.”
Rooke rubbed her forehead again. “I’m sure I can find something myself.”
Melinda laughed. “Please, indulge me. You wouldn’t accept my hospitality, at least let me do this. I’ll enjoy it, and I promise you a good time.”
“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Rooke hung up. “That was Melinda.”
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“I gathered.” Adrian struggled to get a grip on her resentment.
Rooke and Melinda were going to be spending quite a bit of time together in the next week, and she couldn’t turn into a raving lunatic every time Melinda so much as spoke to Rooke. “I guess the madness starts tomorrow.”
“Sounds like it.” Rooke shouldered her duffel, waiting for Adrian.
“She’s sending Valencia for me in the morning.”
Adrian narrowed her eyes. “Is she. That was thoughtful.”
“Something bothering you?”
“No,” Adrian said, leading Rooke down the hall to the guest bedroom. “I’m happy you’re going to have this opportunity. I mean it.”
She pushed open the door to the bedroom. “Here you go. Bathroom’s through the door on the right. I’ll be across the hall.”
“Thanks.” Rooke hesitated, then stroked Adrian’s cheek. “Sleep well.”
“You too,” Adrian whispered, wondering how she would ever get to sleep with Rooke so near, and fearing what she might dream if she did.
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ChapTER TwEnTy-SEvEn
Couldn’t sleep?” Adrian asked when she discovered Rooke sitting on the sofa in the living room, her chiseled profile cast in moonlight. She didn’t know what had awakened her from a dense heavy sleep, but she’d opened her eyes and was instantly on guard. Her skin tingled in warning, but when she listened for sounds of danger, she heard only deep silence. Still uneasy, she’d gotten up to search and had been drawn to Rooke, as surely as if Rooke had called her name aloud.“Did I wake you?” Rooke said, her tone dull and flat. “I’m sorry.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Adrian sat down next to her, aware for the first time that Rooke wore only boxers and a sleeveless T-shirt. She felt even more exposed in a tank and panties. But she couldn’t worry about that now. “What’s wrong?”
“I had the dream again. The one with the gravestone. I was so cold, so cold, and it was so dark.”
Adrian caught her breath at the confused, almost forlorn note in Rooke’s voice. She stroked her arm to comfort her and a surge of soul-numbing cold instantly suffused her. The moonlight disappeared and the air around her became murky, as if she were underwater. Her chest constricted and when she tried to take a deep breath, nothing happened.
Panic threatened to consume her, but before she succumbed, she focused all her will on the one thing she trusted more than any other. Rooke. She drew on that remembered strength and tenderness, and dragged herself free of the suffocating vision. Quickly, she knelt on the sofa and pulled Rooke into her arms, cradling Rooke’s head against her breasts.
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“You’re all right, baby,” Adrian murmured, caressing Rooke’s icy cheek. “You’re all right.”
“They were touching me, touching me, and I couldn’t get away.
I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t get away.” Rooke shivered. “I was drowning, Adrian.”
“No. That’s not going to happen. Do you hear me?” Adrian grasped Rooke’s face between her hands and forced Rooke to look at her. “No one is going to hurt you. You’re not going to drown, baby. I promise.”
Rooke blinked and shuddered. “Jesus. What was that? Adrian?”
“Just a bad dream,” Adrian murmured, hugging Rooke tightly again. She kissed the top of her head. “Just a dream.”
“You feel so warm,” Rooke murmured. “So good.”
Adrian held her fiercely, wanting to protect her and just wanting her so badly she physically hurt. Now wasn’t the time to give in to that desire, not when Rooke was so vulnerable. Only two days before, Rooke had barely escaped serious injury and that, added to the stress of being suddenly immersed in a metropolis she could barely comprehend, must have her completely off balance.
“Does your head hurt, baby?” Adrian settled back on the sofa and guided Rooke’s head to her shoulder.
“No. Just tired.”
“Think you can sleep?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, why don’t we try. Come to bed with me.”
“Not a good idea,” Rooke mumbled. “Want you.”
Adrian nearly cried out when her sex seized, one forceful contraction that made her crave more. She wouldn’t be able to lie next to Rooke like this. “Me too.”
With a sigh, Rooke sat up and rubbed her face. “I’m sorry about this. I used to have nightmares about being trapped in a cold, dark place when I was really little, but then they went away. I’m not usually like this.”
“It’s okay.” Adrian took Rooke’s hand. “I’ve been having really crazy dreams myself lately. I keep dreaming of fire and… Well, let’s just say you’re not the only one dreaming of people touching you and taking you places you don’t want to go.”
Rooke kissed Adrian gently. “I think you chased my bad guys away.”
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Adrian laughed, her heart so full she feared it might spill out of her chest. “I’m so glad.”
“Want to try the sleeping thing again?”
“I’ll walk you to your room.” Adrian stood and held out her hand.
When they reached the guest room, Rooke whispered, “’Night.”
“See you in the morning.”
Adrian lay awake for a long time, worrying about what demons haunted Rooke’s dreams and how she could protect her.
v
“So, I don’t know how long this is all going to take,” Rooke said, standing by the door a few minutes before ten with her jacket in her hand. Adrian had been quiet during breakfast, distracted and distant.
Rooke could sense her struggling. On impulse, she handed Adrian her cell phone. “Would you program your number in here and tell me what the speed dial code is for it? I have the keypad pattern memorized, so I’ll call you if I’m going to be late.”
Adrian took the phone and some of the tension in her face disappeared. She worked through the menu on the phone and after a few minutes, handed it back to Rooke. “Seven.”
Rooke smiled. “Lucky seven.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine. Have Melinda give you a printed copy of your itinerary so I can see it. That way I can help you plan for the rest of the week.”
“Okay.”
“You have the copy of the contract?”
Rooke patted her jacket. “Right here. Thanks for checking on the details.”
“I’m going to be here working all day. So if you need anything…”
“I promise I’ll call.”
Adrian nodded, hesitated, then smoothed her hands over Rooke’s shoulders and kissed her. “For the record, I think you look fabulous in exactly what you’re wearing. If you looked any better, you might not be safe out in public.”
“Thanks.” Rooke hadn’t known what to expect of the day, so she’d
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dressed up as much as she ever did, in a black V-neck sweater, black jeans, and boots. Rooke cupped Adrian’s face and brushed her thumb over Adrian’s lower lip. “Be back soon.”
“Don’t get into any trouble,” Adrian murmured. Then she pushed her out the door before she could beg her not to go.
v
The Town Car was idling at the curb, and when Rooke climbed into the back, Melinda was waiting.
“At last.” Melinda leaned across the seat and kissed Rooke on the cheek. “How are you, Rooke love?”
“Fine. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Melinda’s eyebrow arched. “What would that be?”
“The clothes thing?”
“Oh, most definitely. What could be more enjoyable than spending the day admiring you.”
Rooke laughed. “I could think of a million things.”
Melinda ran a fingertip along the edge of Rooke’s jaw. “That’s because you haven’t the slightest idea how incredible you are.”
“You’re confusing me with my work.”
“No,” Melinda said softly. “I’m not.” She tilted Rooke’s face toward her, fixing on the Steri-strips above Rooke’s right eyebrow.
“How badly were you really hurt?”
“It’s nothing.” Rooke eased free of Melinda’s grip and watched the city as the car moved slowly through traffic. She tried to pick out landmarks, hoping to get a general sense of where they were going.
Being in such completely foreign territory was disorienting, and her headache was back.
First they stopped at the gallery, which was larger than she expected but also more intimate. The bilevel space was carefully lighted to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere with individual spots highlighting the eclectic array of sculptures on the podia scattered throughout the main floor. Artwork hung on the walls, illuminated by individual brass sconces. She’d never seen so many pieces in one place before, and all of them amazing.
“I’m not so sure my work measures up,” Rooke said.
“Oh. Believe me, it does.”
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“Where will you put them?”
“I’ll show you the planned layout in a moment. They’re in the storeroom right now. We won’t bring them out until the week of the show.” Melinda took Rooke into a small office in the rear. Two leather chairs faced a large granite pedestal desk. Rooke sat while Melinda went behind the desk. She handed Rooke a single piece of paper.
“Here’s what we have scheduled so far.”
Rooke glanced at the list, then rested the paper on her knee as Melinda reviewed the highlights. Rooke carefully memorized the dates.
“So I can go home this weekend and you won’t need me again until closer to the opening.”
Melinda leaned forward and cupped her chin in her hand. “So eager to leave?”
“I told you, I have work.”
“Well, perhaps you’ll change your mind after you discover all the city has to offer.”
Silently, Rooke handed her the signed contract.
“Wonderful, then we’re official.” Melinda dropped the contract into a drawer without looking at it. After showing Rooke the floor plan for her show, Melinda rose from her desk and took Rooke’s hand. “Let’s go get you dressed.”
Melinda led Rooke back to the car where Valencia waited. When they arrived at the store, a discreet Fifth Avenue boutique, Rooke was surprised to discover that shopping meant being shown into a room appointed with plush sofas and chairs, a credenza bearing fresh coffee and pastries, and a very beautiful brunette of about forty who announced that she would be Rooke’s personal assistant. Rooke glanced at Melinda, who smiled indulgently.
“If you don’t like what Sophia brings you, just tell her and she’ll choose another selection.” Melinda gestured toward a curtained area.
“The dressing room is in there…unless, of course, you prefer to change out here.”
“Melinda,” Rooke said, shaking her head.
“Mmm, I do so enjoy a challenge.”
Sophia approached with a tape measure. “If I might have your jacket, Ms. Tyler.”
Rooke handed it to her and stood self-consciously while Sophia slowly and methodically measured the width of her shoulders, the
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circumference of her chest, and the length of her arms. The entire time Sophia moved around her, she touched her fleetingly on her shoulder, her flank, her lower back. Valencia stood against the closed door to the room, as if on guard, and Melinda reclined on the sofa. Both of them watched intently.
Melinda appeared almost sedate in a tapered taupe skirt, matching fitted jacket, and black shell until she crossed her legs and the skirt slid upward, revealing a long expanse of creamy bare thigh. Valencia was in uniform again, although Rooke noticed that a sheer, nearly translucent shimmering pale silk shirt replaced the white broadcloth one she’d worn the day before. She wasn’t wearing a bra and the rosy hue of her hard nipples was obvious when she shrugged out of her jacket and draped it over one shoulder. Rooke looked away, but not before she saw the mocking smile on Valencia’s lips. Rooke jerked when Sophia skimmed one hand down the center of her back and then reached around her waist with the measuring tape, her fingers trailing over her abdomen.
When Sophia knelt and pressed the flexible tape to the inside of her leg, drawing it slowly along her inseam to her crotch, Rooke shifted uneasily.
Melinda chuckled softly and poured champagne from a standing sterling silver ice bucket into two etched crystal flutes on a low table in front of the sofa. “Relax, darling, and have some champagne. I think you’ll find this quite enjoyable.”
“No thanks,” Rooke said, even though her throat was dry.
Sophia left and returned a few minutes later with an assortment of clothes draped over her arm.
“If you’ll come with me,” Sophia said softly.
Rooke followed her into the dressing room.
“Start wherever you like.” Sophia held up a charcoal gray suit with a silk shirt that matched the subtle black pinstripe. She extended one hand but stopped just short of touching Rooke’s face. “This would look stunning with your coloring. I’ll bring you shoes. Nine?”
“Yes, thanks.” Rooke took a step back.
“Come out when you’re changed. Ms. Singer will want to see you.”
Melinda stood when Rooke emerged, her expression avid. She circled Rooke wordlessly, then ran her hands over Rooke’s shoulders
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and down her sides. “Something with a little more flair, I think, Sophia.”
“Very well,” Sophia said.
Rooke had never before experienced anything like this disconcertingly personal attention from strangers. She wasn’t entirely certain how long the process went on, with Sophia tending to her and Melinda studying her as if she were one of her art works, all the while running her hands over the fabrics, over her. Finally, Melinda announced that she was satisfied with the selections. By then, Rooke was feeling even more disoriented than she had during the car ride. When Melinda offered her the champagne flute, she took it without thinking. She realized for the first time she was cold, and the champagne warmed her.
She accepted another glass, welcoming the way each swallow dulled the hollow ache in her stomach.
When they left the boutique, it seemed like it might be late afternoon, but she didn’t know how that could be. Her entire sense of time and place had become confusingly distorted.
“Are we done?” Rooke asked once back in the car.
“Not just yet.” Melinda ran her fingers through the errant strands of hair brushing the collar of Rooke’s shirt. “I adore the wild look, but I think a little trim will make you look even more handsome.” She flicked a button on the panel set into the partition separating them from the driver. “Valencia. Take us to Marguerite’s.”
“Yes ma’am. Should I call her to let her know we’re coming?”
“Mmm,” Melinda said as she idly stroked Rooke’s thigh. “Tell her I’m bringing someone special for her attention.”
Rooke watched the slow sweep of Melinda’s blood-red nails up and down her leg, gradually losing track of what direction the Town Car was headed. When the vehicle finally stopped, she had no idea how long they had been driving. She jerked as if she’d been asleep, but she knew she hadn’t been. Her leg trembled beneath Melinda’s still caressing fingers. “Where are we?”
“East Eighty-eighth.”
Valencia pulled to the curb and Rooke trailed Melinda out onto the sidewalk in front of an enormous stone building. She’d never seen this kind of work before, and she craned her neck to study the façade with its ornate cornices and arches.
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“This is amazing,” Rooke said, feeling suddenly energized again.
“Isn’t it,” Melinda murmured, slipping her arm through Rooke’s.
“I knew you would like it. Come with me. Marguerite will take care of you.”
By now, Rooke didn’t know what to expect, but not the salon that was more of an apartment, with a luxurious sitting room and private cubicles where Marguerite did whatever it was she did. In Rooke’s case, that meant seating her in a leather swivel chair in front of a gilded antique mirror and slowly walking around her, studying her. Occasionally, she would cup Rooke’s chin and turn her face from side to side or run her fingers through the hair at Rooke’s temples or the back of her neck.
Melinda, seated in a high-backed chair with intricately carved arms and legs, watched while sipping dark liquor from a heavy crystal glass.
“Take off your sweater,” Marguerite whispered, her fingertips resting on Rooke’s neck as the room lights dimmed.
Rooke stripped down to her T-shirt and Valencia took her sweater, handing her a glass with the same dark liquor Melinda was drinking in exchange. Rooke automatically sipped it, tasted smoke and wood, and fire kindled in her belly. Melinda’s gaze dropped to her chest at the same time Marguerite draped a black silk sheet over her, and Rooke tensed at the subtle brush of fingers over her nipples. She pushed back in the chair, uncertain. She might have imagined the caress.
Marguerite played her fingers through Rooke’s hair. Her breath trickled over Rooke’s ear. “Beautiful.”
“Yes,” Melinda murmured.
Suddenly, the grating clash of steel on steel sounded in her head and a chill settled over her. Craving warmth, Rooke shivered and swallowed more of her drink. Ice coated her skin, seeped into her chest.
Frigid fingers twisted in her depths and she closed her eyes in pain. Her arms ached, her chest hurt, and she didn’t have enough energy to move.
A hand cupped her jaw, fingers caressed her cheek, and the sweet scent of crushed roses drifted over her lips.
“So much power,” someone whispered hungrily.
A hand slid over her abdomen, moved lower, and Rooke jolted.
“Valencia, no,” Melinda said, sounding very far away.
Rooke forced her eyes to focus. Valencia loomed over her, her mouth a fraction away from Rooke’s. Her eyes gleamed, golden irises flickering.
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“Beautiful,” Valencia whispered.
“Beautiful,” Marguerite crooned, her hands sliding over Rooke’s shoulders and onto her chest.
“That’s enough.” Melinda’s voice whipped through the room like a raging arctic wind.
Rooke gasped, lungs burning. She couldn’t escape, couldn’t find her way. Couldn’t breathe. Cold, drowning, dying.
You’re not going to drown, baby. I promise.
Adrian’s voice. Adrian.
“No!” Rooke lurched to her feet. Dizzy, disoriented, she thought she saw Melinda fling Valencia aside. She couldn’t be sure of anything, wasn’t even sure what had just happened. All she knew was she needed Adrian. She needed Adrian, and she fled.
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ChapTER TwEnTy-EighT
Rooke, wait,” Melinda called. “Darling, don’t leave. I’ll take care of you. Just wait.”
Frantically, Rooke searched up and down the hallway outside Marguerite’s salon for the stairs. They’d ridden up in the elevator, she wasn’t exactly certain how many flights, and she wasn’t sure she could figure out the right button to push to go down. Besides, she just wanted to keep moving, to get out, to get home. She hesitated in front of a plain door, the only one on the floor with a sign above it. Melinda hurried closer.
“Rooke!”
Rooke pushed open the door, saw the stairs, and hurtled down.
When she could go no farther, she exited and found herself in the lobby.
Outside the darkened street beckoned and she tasted freedom. The guard at the desk asked if anything was wrong, but she didn’t answer.
Within seconds she was on the street, and in another minute, a block away. When she stopped to catch her breath, she was aware of the cold for the first time, but this was a brisk, invigorating cold and nothing like the freezing paralysis she’d experienced just a few minutes ago. Her insides roiled with the lingering heat of the alcohol, and her head ached, but the lethargy was gone.
She took a deep breath, felt the bite of winter air in her lungs, and started to walk. After another few minutes, she stopped to take stock.
She had her wallet and her phone. She didn’t have her jacket or sweater and now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, she was shivering.
Walking to the edge of the sidewalk, she watched the traffic. Most of
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it appeared to be taxicabs. After several minutes of trying, she flagged one down.
v
Adrian’s cell rang and she snatched it off the table. She’d been willing it to ring for the last three hours.
“Hello?”
“Adrian?”
“Rooke,” Adrian said with a sigh of relief. “Hey. Where—”
“I’m right out front. I wasn’t sure which buzzer I should push.”
Adrian closed her eyes, berating herself for not showing Rooke which buzzer was hers. “Just wait in the foyer and when you hear the lock on the inside door buzz, push it open.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Adrian had expected Rooke to call when she was done for the day, so she thought she’d have time to change. She’d worked all afternoon in nothing but ratty old red sweatpants and an NYU T-shirt.
She was barefoot, with no underwear, and hadn’t done anything with her hair other than brush it and pull it back in a loose ponytail. She imagined compared to Melinda, who was always impeccably dressed and elegantly turned out, she must look a mess. Before she had time to dwell on her shortcomings, a knock sounded at the door and she jumped up to let Rooke in.
“Hey,” Adrian said happily, swinging the door wide. “I was just—
God, Rooke! What happened?”
Rooke was pale and shaking. Adrian pulled her inside and slammed the door. She ran her hands over Rooke’s shoulders and up and down her arms. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Baby, what happened?”
“I don’t know.” Rooke sagged against the door and closed her eyes. “I don’t know what happened. Melinda took me to get a haircut.
And then Valencia and Marguerite…” Rooke opened her eyes. “I don’t know what happened. Maybe nothing.”
“Who’s Marguerite?”
“A friend of Melinda’s. She cut my hair.” Rooke rubbed the back of her neck. “Didn’t she? I…it was all so confusing, like a dream, only I think it was real. I’m not sure now.”
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“Just tell me what you remember.” Adrian cradled her face in both hands. “Talk to me.”
Rooke shuddered. “I was cold, really cold, and Valencia gave me a whiskey. I couldn’t get warm, even though it burned. They were…
touching me…I think they were touching me.”
“Melinda?” Adrian asked with lethal intention. She would kill her for this. Kill her.
“No, Valencia. And Marguerite.” Rooke closed her eyes tightly.
“It was so hard to breathe, so hard to think.”
Adrian sucked in a breath, ruthlessly forcing down her fury.
Gentling her hands and her voice, she said, “Come sit down.”
When Rooke made no move to follow, Adrian slipped her arm around Rooke’s waist and led her to the sofa. She pulled her down and held her tightly. “What do you remember happening, baby?”
“Nothing, really.” Rooke shook her head. “I just…I’m not even sure they really touched me, but I felt…here.” She ran her hand down the center of her chest to the top of her jeans. “I felt hands here…and it made me…Jesus, Adrian.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Adrian pulled Rooke close and rubbed her back in soothing circles. She was going to tear them apart one at a time, limb by limb. Rooke was hers. Hers. “Everything is going to be okay.”
“Melinda told them to stop, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t…
make them stop.” Rooke buried her face in the curve of Adrian’s neck, immersing herself in Adrian’s scent. “Everything was cold, murky, like I was drowning. And then I heard your voice, so clearly. So clearly. And I knew if I could just get to you, I would be all right.”
“Oh sweetheart. Baby, I’m so sorry.”
“I needed you, and you came.” Rooke raised her head, found Adrian’s eyes. “Somehow, you came.”
“And I always will, I promise.” Adrian kissed her, needing to show her what she hadn’t dared to say until now. Now she couldn’t think of a single fear greater than her need for Rooke to know she was safe and cherished. “I love you, Rooke. I’m so in love with you. Tell me what you need.”
“Just this.” Rooke took a deep, uneven breath. “Just be with me.
Touch me.”
Adrian froze. She wanted her, God she wanted her. But now more
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than ever she wanted it to be right. For Rooke. “Are you sure, baby?
Because I’ll wait forever—”
“No.” Rooke stopped her with a kiss, a deep kiss that started out searching and became urgent as Adrian’s heat called her blood. She pulled back, gasping. “I’ve waited so long.”
“So have I,” Adrian whispered.
“Adrian.” Rooke pushed her down on the sofa with the weight of her body, kissing her mouth, her throat, the edge of her jaw. “I love you. I need you so much.” She worked a hand under Adrian’s T-shirt and cupped her breast. She stroked the pliant flesh, sweeping the erect nipple with her thumb.
“Yes. Oh, yes,” Adrian said before slipping her tongue into Rooke’s mouth again.
Rooke groaned. Adrian tasted of spices. She smelled citrusy-sharp, like crisp mountain air. With every sweep of Adrian’s tongue, every stroke of her hand, Rooke’s spirit shed the dark pall of nightmare dreams and bitter rejections. Strength flowed through her muscles and while her soul rejoiced, her body, her body craved completion.
“More.” Rooke bunched Adrian’s T-shirt in her fist and pushed it up, exposing her breasts. She took one with her mouth and glided her hand back and forth over the soft skin of Adrian’s lower abdomen. With each stroke, she edged her fingertips a little lower beneath Adrian’s sweatpants. Whimpering softly, Adrian undulated slowly in her arms. Want pounded in Rooke’s belly and pulsed between her thighs.
Pressure, pleasure, sweet agony ripped at her insides. Pushing against the inside of Adrian’s thigh, she forced Adrian to open her legs and immediately shot her thigh between them. Adrian lifted her pelvis and Rooke pumped into her with short, hard thrusts.
“Oh yeah,” Rooke muttered, abandoning Adrian’s breast for her mouth again. She nipped at Adrian’s lip while each thrust of her hips jacked her a little bit higher, a little closer to where she needed to go. Her vision telescoped down to nothing and she raked the side of Adrian’s neck with her teeth. “Want you. Want you so much.”
“Rooke.” Adrian jammed both hands flat against Rooke’s chest and pushed with all her might, forcing Rooke to raise her head. “Baby, we need to go to bed right now.”
Hissing in frustration, Rooke flexed her thighs and forced herself harder against Adrian. “Not stopping. Need you now.”
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“I want to touch you. I want to make you come, and you’re getting close.”
Rooke grabbed Adrian’s hand and pushed it between their bodies, molding it to her crotch. “I need you.”
“Oh baby,” Adrian gasped, “I need you too. I want you so much.”
She twisted her arm free and caressed Rooke’s face. “All of you. Naked.
Now. In bed. Now.”
“Don’t let go,” Rooke groaned as she raised herself up, pulling Adrian with her.
“I won’t. I won’t. Ever.” Adrian wrapped her arm around Rooke’s waist and dragged her down the hall toward her bedroom.
Halfway there, Rooke jerked Adrian to a stop and pushed her against the wall, boxing her in with her arms and legs. She kissed her hungrily. “Tell me you love me again.”
“I love you. I adore you.”
Rooke plundered Adrian’s mouth while she cupped Adrian’s sex, squeezing in time with the thrusts of her tongue.
“Oh God,” Adrian cried, clutching Rooke’s hips. “I love you. God, Rooke, don’t make me come right here.”
Rooke made an inarticulate sound and buried her face in Adrian’s neck, her chest heaving. “Need a minute. Want you so bad.”
“I know, I know.” Adrian, half out of her mind to have Rooke inside her, ran trembling fingers through Rooke’s hair. “I want the first time I touch you to be special.”
“Every time with you is special,” Rooke whispered. “Every touch.”
Too much. More than she’d ever hoped. Adrian cried.
“Don’t cry.” Rooke lifted Adrian into her arms. “I love you.”
“Then take me to bed. Please.”
Rooke carried Adrian down the hall and into her bedroom, laying her gently down on the bed. She flicked on the bedside lamp and, watching Adrian’s face, pulled off her T-shirt. Smiling at the way Adrian’s eyes devoured her, she skimmed her hand down her abdomen and popped the button on her jeans.
“I’m going to come just watching you,” Adrian groaned, her eyes huge indigo pools of desire.
“Go ahead.” Rooke unzipped her fly. “I’ll just make you come again in a few minutes.”
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“I want you first. Right now.” Adrian ripped off her T-shirt and pushed her sweatpants down.
Rooke shoved off her jeans and briefs.
“Come closer,” Adrian demanded, rising to her knees.
Taking a step forward, Rooke braced her legs against the side of the bed. Adrian wrapped her arms around Rooke’s hips and rubbed her cheek against Rooke’s belly. Rooke circled her pelvis against Adrian’s breasts. When Adrian rimmed her belly button with the tip of her tongue, Rooke reached back and released the band that held Adrian’s hair. She twisted the thick blond strands in her hands and held Adrian’s face hard against her rigid abdomen.
“You make me want to come so bad,” Rooke whispered.
“You’re beautiful, baby,” Adrian murmured, her mouth wet and hot against Rooke’s abdomen. She massaged the rock-hard muscles in Rooke’s ass and rubbed her breasts over Rooke’s crotch. Liquid heat painted her nipples and she moaned. Rooke’s skin blazed under her tongue, igniting her hunger. She swung her legs around and sat on the edge of the bed, forcing Rooke to open her legs wide for balance.
Holding Rooke steady with one arm around her taut hips, Adrian slipped a finger on either side of her clitoris and exposed her.
Rooke clenched her fists. She needed to come.
“God, you’re so hard. So wet.” Adrian licked her and Rooke shuddered. “Easy. Easy, baby. Let me have you slow.”
Through half-closed lids Rooke watched Adrian kiss and suck and lick her until her abdomen cramped from holding in her orgasm.
She felt herself swell, felt her control slip. She was going to erupt any second.
“I need you to make me yours,” Rooke groaned.
“You are mine.” Adrian funneled her lips and sucked.
“Adrian. Adrian, I’m going to come.”
“Mmm,” Adrian hummed. Never, never had it been like this.
Rooke’s legs went hard as iron and her clitoris hammered between her lips. The power lashing through Rooke’s wire-tight frame struck at Adrian like barbed lightning and she cried out, her teeth grazing the rigid shaft locked between her lips.
Rooke jerked, let out a hoarse shout, and then she was exploding, shaking, burning up from the inside out. She came in Adrian’s mouth
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for a long time, until her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees, exhausted and drained.
“I love you,” Rooke gasped.
“I love you.” Adrian dragged Rooke fiercely against her, cradling her head on her breast. “I’ve always loved you. I will always love you.”“Adrian.” Rooke’s voice was low, slurred, satisfied.
“Hmm?”
“Can you do that again?”
“Oh, baby,” Adrian breathed, guiding Rooke onto the bed. “I can do it forever.”
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• 250 •
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ChapTER TwEnTy-ninE
Biting wind buffeted Adrian as she clung to the edge of a rough stone parapet beneath a midnight sky. Her thin cloak flailed behind her and her hair whipped free from its leather tie, lashing her cheeks. Tears gathered on her lashes and her heart thrashed wildly in her chest. Through stinging eyes, she willed the figure to appear, but she remained alone. When she’d nearly given in to the darkness slowly eclipsing her spirit, she saw the shadows distill into a tall, broad form.
Weary and bloodied, the warrior approached, and with her every step, the wind died and the raging storm receded. Adrian felt the fire in the great hearth leap to life.
“You’ve come back,” Adrian whispered. “I was so afraid…”
“I promised I would not fail as long as you believed.”
“You’re hurt.” Adrian touched the blood streaming over the bold contours of her face.
“No,” she said, holding Adrian hard against her chest. “I am healed.”
Adrian gasped. “Rooke?”
“Right here.” Rooke leaned over her and kissed her mouth, then cradled her breast and kissed the place where her heart pounded.
“I was dreaming.”
“Good dreaming?” Rooke rubbed her cheek against Adrian’s breast and fondled the nipple.
“Yes. I dreamed of you. Of how much I love you.” Adrian traced the chiseled muscles in Rooke’s shoulders and back, loving her strength.
Rooke’s stone-roughened fingertips chafed her nipple, and she went wet. Grasping Rooke’s hand, she guided it down her middle into the
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valley between her thighs. Arching against Rooke’s hard body, she curled her fingers over Rooke’s and pressed them to her center. “Inside me. Deep.”
“I love you,” Rooke said, obeying Adrian’s command.
Adrian watched Rooke’s eyes go black, felt her filling her body, her soul. She lifted her hips to take more and slid her hand over the firm ridges of Rooke’s abdomen to cup her sex. Rooke was wet and engorged, ready for her. Adrian gripped her, alternately squeezing and stroking.
Rooke moaned and thrust against her palm. An exhilarating surge of power arced between them and Adrian took Rooke’s mouth hungrily, breathing her in. Rooke’s hand, exquisitely demanding, pumped inside her and flames licked at her core. She would come soon.
“I love you inside me.” Adrian rocked the heel of her hand on Rooke’s tense clitoris and then dove inside to tease the spot she’d discovered would make Rooke explode. In and out, in and out.
“You’re going to make me come,” Rooke murmured against Adrian’s mouth.
Rooke’s eyes were hazy and unguarded. Fierce love pierced Adrian’s soul and she tumbled into orgasm without warning. She went rigid with the shock and her fingers spasmed, driving Rooke over with her. Adrian trembled in her arms, totally helpless, and totally unafraid.
“I love you…want you…so much,” Adrian cried.
“Never want you to stop.” Rooke collapsed with a shattering groan, dropping her head onto Adrian’s shoulder.
“I won’t stop.” Adrian caressed her damp cheek, stroked her quivering body. She loved knowing all that strength, all that power, was hers. “I adore touching you. I love when you touch me.”
“I want you all the time.”
“Good.” Adrian kissed Rooke’s temple. “I need you to want me.”
Rooke kissed Adrian’s throat. “You’ll have to go away, won’t you.
For your work.”
“Sometimes. Baby—”
“Will you come back to me?”
“Oh, baby,” Adrian whispered, trying to hold in so much love that tears escaped. “Yes. Yes, always. I won’t go very far, for very long. I need you too much.”
“I can get a house, or I can come down here…”
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Adrian leaned back so Rooke could see her face, so she could read the truth. “I don’t care where we are, all I need is you. Tell me you love me.”
Rooke slipped on top of her and braced herself on her forearms, her gaze as sharp and clear as the lines she carved in stone. “I love you.
I will always and forever love you.”
“And I love you,” Adrian whispered. “Always and forever.”
v
“Don’t answer it,” Adrian said when Rooke’s cell phone rang for the fifth time that morning. It was noon and they were still in bed. She had no desire to get out of bed anytime in the next century. She felt as if she’d never touched a woman before, never been touched before. She couldn’t stop wanting her.
“It’s okay.” Rooke kissed her swiftly. “It’s probably Melinda.”
“Not okay then,” Adrian grumbled. As much as she wanted to grab the phone and rail at Melinda, she held back. Rooke was capable of taking care of herself. “Answer the damn thing.”
“Hello?”
Rooke pushed up against the headboard and Adrian curled up against her. The phone was between them and Adrian heard Melinda say, “Rooke love, I’ve been trying to reach you since last night. Are you all right?”
Rooke sifted her fingers through Adrian’s hair. “I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry yesterday was trying for you.”
“I survived.”
Adrian grit her teeth and rubbed Rooke’s chest. Muscles flickered beneath her fingertips.
Melinda laughed. “Of course you did, darling. You’re far too strong to be taken anywhere you don’t want to go, by anyone. But I do hope you’ll give me the chance to make it up to you. I promise to take very good care of you.”
“I’m going to kill her,” Adrian muttered.
“I agreed to let you show my sculptures,” Rooke said. “That’s as far as our arrangement goes.”
“You will come to the reception tomorrow night?”
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“Yes. And I’m bringing Adrian.”
After a moment, Melinda said, “Of course. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you both.”
When Rooke hung up, Adrian said, “She wants you, you know.”
“Melinda wants every woman, I think,” Rooke said.
“She can’t have you. You’re mine.” Adrian stroked Rooke’s abdomen, endlessly fascinated by the ripple of muscles, stacked like bricks beneath satin.
Rooke pulled Adrian on top of her. “And you are mine. I’ve seen her look at you, and I know what she can do when she turns on her charm.”
Adrian nipped Rooke’s chin and straddled her. “I’ve had you inside me. No one will ever touch me but you.”
“Then Melinda has no power, does she.” Rooke cradled Adrian’s hips and guided her in a slow steady circle over her stomach. Her grip tightened as wetness coated her skin.
“None at all,” Adrian murmured, her lids fluttering closed. “I need you again.”
“I’m here.”
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ChapTER ThiRTy
I’ll say one thing for Melinda. She has excellent taste in clothes,”
Adrian said, assessing Rooke’s charcoal Armani. The slightly boxy jacket and tailored trousers accentuated her shoulders and gave her a lean and dangerous look. Adrian crossed the room and put her arms around Rooke’s neck. In the heels she’d chosen to go with her own black raw silk Prada suit, she was slightly taller than Rooke. Her two-button jacket was cut in at the waist and she’d decided not to wear anything under it except a strapless black lace demi bra. “You look incredible in that suit.”
“We don’t have to stay long, do we?” Rooke pulled Adrian hard against her and nuzzled her neck. “You’re practically naked under there.”
Adrian laughed. “Baby, we haven’t been out of bed for two days.”
“Is that bad?” Rooke blazed a trail of kisses from Adrian’s neck to the hollow of her throat and then lower, to the vee between her breasts.
“No, God no. Not bad. Glorious.” Adrian closed her eyes and gripped the back of Rooke’s head, pressing Rooke’s mouth to the inner curve of her breast. When the burn ignited in her core, she pulled away.
“Baby, stop. Another second and I won’t be able to go anywhere. I won’t be able to walk.”
Rooke raised her head, pupils flaring. “Then let’s not go.”
“We have to.” Adrian skimmed her fingers through Rooke’s hair, loving the way the ends refused to be tamed, curling over her ears and at the back of her neck. Everything about Rooke hinted at wild energy
• 255 •
RADcLY fFe
and unbridled sensuality, and she adored knowing all that passion was hers. “Despite the many ways I want to dismember Melinda, I know that professionally she’s unrivaled. If you can tolerate working with her, then I think we should do what she suggests regarding promotion.
If she says this party is important, I’m sure it is.”
“I can handle Melinda. I’m all right now.” Rooke clasped Adrian lightly around the waist, keeping their lower bodies in contact. “I was thrown when I first got here, but I have you now. I’ll be okay.”
“Then we should go.” Adrian kissed her swiftly. Rooke might think she could handle Melinda, but she intended to be certain of it.
v
As soon as they left the building, Adrian saw the limo idling at the curb. She narrowed her eyes when Valencia stepped out and came around the front of the car. The woman didn’t walk. She prowled. “Did you know Melinda was sending her?”
“No,” Rooke said. Despite the temperature, Valencia did not wear a topcoat and tonight her black suit was conservatively cut, blunting the feminine angles of her body, and her white shirt and dark tie were equally sedate. Rooke had a fleeting memory of the savage hunger she’d glimpsed in Valencia’s eyes those few seconds in Marguerite’s salon.
She felt nothing at all for her now. Not anger, not outrage. If anything, she felt sorry for her. She doubted that Valencia ever managed to satisfy her hunger.
“Good evening, Rooke. Adrian.” Valencia held open the rear door.
Her tone was neutral but her eyes lingered on Rooke as Rooke climbed into the vehicle.
“In case you have any doubts,” Adrian murmured, “Rooke is not available.”
Valencia’s eyes glinted darkly and her full, sensual lips thinned, but she nodded in assent. Satisfied, Adrian slipped inside. When the door closed, she put her arm around Rooke’s waist and rested her cheek against Rooke’s shoulder.
“I’m having a sign made for you.” Adrian kissed a spot just below Rooke’s ear. When Rooke shuddered, she felt a thrill of satisfaction.
“Property of Adrian Oakes.”
Rooke laughed. “I think that might be overkill.”
• 256 •
SecretS in the Stone
“I know you do.” Adrian kissed the angle of Rooke’s jaw and very subtly rubbed her breasts against Rooke’s arm. “One of the many things I love about you.”
“Adrian,” Rooke’s voice carried a warning, “if you want us to go to this thing, you have to stop exciting me all the time.”
“Can’t. Don’t want to.” Laughing softly, Adrian turned Rooke’s face toward her and kissed her mouth. “Won’t.”
“Fair enough.”
Rooke slipped her tongue into Adrian’s mouth, dragging her into the flames. For a few seconds Adrian completely forgot where they were or where they were going. All she knew was the utter sense of completion that flooded her every time Rooke touched her. When Rooke finally released her, she was gasping.
“Okay, you win,” Adrian murmured. “I’ll behave. Because I’ll be damned if I’ll let Valencia or any of the others have a clue as to what they’re missing.”
“They’re not missing anything.” Rooke tangled her fingers in Adrian’s hair, tilted her head back and kissed her throat. “Whatever I am, is yours alone.”
v
“Rooke love,” Melinda exclaimed as Adrian and Rooke walked into Melinda’s penthouse apartment. She grasped Rooke’s hands and kissed her on both cheeks before turning to Adrian. She stepped very close, her green eyes taking on a heated glow. Her gaze lingered on Adrian’s before slowly tracking down her body and then back to her face. Her breasts, temptingly displayed in a deep V-neck, figure-hugging midnight blue Versace dress, flushed a delicate rose.
“You look beautiful, darling. And you smell,” Melinda took in a slow breath, her lids flickering, “divine.”
“Thank you,” Adrian said coolly, grasping Rooke’s hand to anchor herself. Melinda’s desire was tangible, her allure nearly hypnotic.
Rooke’s fingers closed on hers, and she deliberately ignored Melinda, looking round the room instead.
The spacious room commanded an impressive and undoubtedly exorbitantly expensive view of the Hudson. Among the elegantly attired men and women working the room, she recognized a few reporters and
• 257 •
RADcLY fFe
art critics from after-show press parties she’d been to with Jude. Others were family business acquaintances. Some she only recognized from the gossip columns.
“Quite the gathering,” Adrian remarked.
Melinda glanced at Rooke, her expression rapacious. “She deserves it. Don’t you think?”
“I do,” Adrian said. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Let me take her to meet some of her soon-to-be adoring public, then.” Looking supremely satisfied, Melinda threaded her arm through Rooke’s. “I’ll take good care of her.”
Adrian tried not to clench her jaw, but couldn’t quite manage it, and said through her teeth, “Be sure that you do this time.”
Melinda raised an eyebrow, then smiled secretively. “We’ll come find you, darling. Don’t worry.”
Rooke held back and kissed Adrian’s cheek. “I’ll be back soon.
Will you be all right?”
“I’ve survived worse at my parents’ parties,” Adrian said, grazing Rooke’s chest with her fingertips. She hated to let her go. She hated the absence of her touch. She also understood that what Rooke needed most was to know that she would always be there for her. “I’m so proud of you. Go. I’ll be waiting.”
“I love you,” Rooke whispered, and then she was gone.
Adrian shivered, as if someone had opened a window and let in a blast of cold air. For a second, she panicked as the crowd closed in on her, and then she remembered the overwhelming sense of love and desire and safety she’d experienced waking in Rooke’s arms that morning. Her flesh, her spirit, drew strength from the total trust and utter sense of belonging she’d felt with Rooke beside her. Inside her.
She was not alone, she was not vulnerable. She was loved.
“Can I get you something to drink?” a beautiful brunette with striking turquoise eyes and a voice like a siren’s song murmured close to her ear.
“No, thank you,” Adrian said.
“I haven’t seen you at one of Melinda’s gatherings before.” The brunette’s expression telegraphed interest. “Are you here alone?”
“No. I’m definitely not alone. If you’ll excuse me.”
Adrian worked her way through the gathering, speaking to those
• 258 •
SecretS in the Stone
she knew while watching Melinda and Rooke make the circuit. Rooke seemed at ease, and some of her anxiety abated. After she judged that Melinda had had enough time to make appropriate introductions, she set out to reassert her claim on Rooke.
Her arm was grasped by a distinguished-looking middle-aged man, and she halted abruptly.
“Adrian? Is that you? I didn’t realize you were back in the country.”
“Hello, Jeremy,” Adrian said, trying and failing to peer around the New Yorker arts editor without being obvious. By the time they’d exchanged pleasantries and the obligatory small talk, she’d completely lost sight of Rooke. Furthermore, she couldn’t find Melinda. The chill she’d experienced earlier settled around her heart like a block of ice.
Everyone faded from her awareness as she cut her way toward a hallway on the far side of the room. Rooke was there, she knew it.
The first room she looked into, an apparent guest room, was empty.
A door at the other end of the hall was slightly ajar, and she pushed it open. Melinda’s bedroom, she presumed, since Melinda stood next to the king-size bed.
“Where is she?” Adrian demanded.
“Hello, darling. Your timing is exquisite.” Melinda glided over to her. “Rooke handled everyone marvelously, but I thought she needed a little break so I spirited her away somewhere quiet.”
“To your bedroom?”
“She’s in the bathroom freshening up, darling.” Melinda gave her an innocent look before running a fingertip down Adrian’s bare arm.
“I’m sorry we’ve been neglecting you. I couldn’t wait to be alone with you and our Rooke.”
“There is no our Rooke.” Adrian barely registered Melinda’s hand on her arm. Her caress felt as inconsequential as rain sluicing off marble. “There never has been, there never will be.”
“Something’s happened,” Melinda said quietly, searching Adrian’s eyes as if the answer were in their depths. Maybe it was. “You’ve slept with her.”
Adrian almost laughed. Shaking her head, she said, “Melinda. It’s much more than that. Can’t you feel it?”
Melinda caught her breath before quickly masking her shock
• 259 •
RADcLY fFe
with a smile. “You always were more open to me than she was, but now… You did more than sleep with her.” She shook her head. “You’re together, aren’t you?”
“Completely.”
“If I told you that I could show you both more pleasure than you ever drea—”
“No,” Adrian said, “you couldn’t. We have each other—that’s all we need. Everything we need.”
“Well.” Melinda sighed. “I shall try to survive my broken heart.”
“I don’t care what you have to do, as long as you don’t touch her.
Ever.” Adrian slipped her arm from Melinda’s grasp. “And keep your friends away from her.”
“Believe me, they’ve been dealt with.” Anger flashed in Melinda’s eyes. “They mistook her for one of our playmates. They won’t make the same error again.”
“I’d ask for your word, if I thought you would keep it.”
“You have it, but you know you don’t need it,” Melinda said.
“Can’t you feel it?”
“I can’t feel you at all,” Adrian said.
“Precisely.”
Adrian turned as Rooke walked into the room. “Hi, baby.”
“Hi.” Rooke kissed her. “Melinda, am I done with the show-and-tell?”
“For tonight, love,” Melinda said.
“Good.” Rooke curved an arm around Adrian’s shoulders. “I want to go back to Ford’s Crossing tomorow.”
“I’ll need you here the week of the opening. We have a very busy pre-show schedule then.” Melinda looked from Rooke to Adrian. “All right?”
“That’s Rooke’s call,” Adrian said.
“Fine.” Rooke kept her arm around Adrian as they walked down the hall to rejoin the party. “I don’t like this part very much, but I feel a lot better when you’re with me.”
“Then I’ll be sure to stay right by your side,” Adrian said softly.
• 260 •
SecretS in the Stone
ChapTER ThiRTy-OnE
Adrian stood at the window in her grandmother’s library, watching the river road through a thin swirl of snow, arms wrapped tightly around her middle in a futile attempt to ward off the chill she couldn’t seem to shake. She’d expected Rooke hours ago, and as every moment passed, she grew more and more uneasy. Last night had been the first night she’d slept alone since Manhattan, and although her dreams had finally been free of the tormenting erotic images and the foreboding sense of loss, she’d nevertheless awakened tired and unsettled. She knew why. She hadn’t awakened in Rooke’s arms.
She never would have imagined that such a short time away from a lover would affect her this way. When Rooke had told her on the train ride back to Ford’s Crossing that she needed to work, wanted to work, as soon as she got home, Adrian had understood completely. Rooke’s art was crucial to her life.
“I have work to do too, baby,” she’d said. When the cab they’d taken from the train station slowed in front of her grandmother’s house, she’d kissed Rooke quickly before sliding out. “Call me later?”
“As soon as I can. I love you,” Rooke said.
“I love you too, baby.”
But Rooke hadn’t called, and now it was the next day. Rooke hadn’t come to start the work on the house the way she’d said she would either. Rooke didn’t answer her phone, and Adrian didn’t know what to do with herself. She wasn’t hungry. She couldn’t concentrate on her research. She didn’t call her grandmother because she knew when they spoke she’d tell her about Rooke, about being in love with her, and when she did they would fight. The way she felt right now, she’d say something that would create a rift they’d never heal.
• 261 •
RADcLY fFe
Her heart felt leaden, as if every beat were an effort. Nothing felt quite right. This haunting sense of emptiness was nothing like the loneliness she’d lived with all her life. That had been merely a distant ache she’d learned to ignore by refusing to acknowledge her needs and desires. This was like having a piece of her soul missing.
Adrian’s heart leapt at the site of the Stillwater truck coming down the road. She was on the front porch, brushing impatiently at the snow collecting on her eyelashes, before the truck came to a stop in the driveway. Dominic stepped out and after a few seconds, she realized he was alone. Disappointment sliced through her.
“Hey, Adrian,” Dominic called as he stomped his way through the freshly fallen snow to the porch. “Thought I’d do some inside work today. Can’t do much outside.”
“Where’s Rooke?”
“Pops said she’s been working since yesterday morning.” Dominic shrugged. “She does this every once in a while. Gets so into whatever she’s into that she forgets to eat or sleep or anything else.”
“You didn’t talk to her?”
“Just Pops.” Dominic regarded her pensively, with none of his usual flirtatiousness. “Sometimes she overdoes it, you know? Pushes too hard.”
“Does she.” Adrian took him into the house and retrieved her jacket and keys from the foyer. “Lock the front door when you leave.
I’ll be out for a while.”
“Sure thing,” Dominic said. “Take your time.”
v
Adrian pulled into the driveway at Stillwater and tried Rooke’s cell again. No answer. Pops had the kitchen door open before she could knock.
“Hi, Pops,” Adrian said.
“Adrian. Nice to see you.” Pops beckoned her in. “Something I can help you with?”
“I…” Adrian chewed her lip, her hands balled in the pocket of her jacket. Her anxiety had blossomed into a paralyzing sense of dread.
“I’m worried about Rooke.”
“She worked all night. Could probably do with something to eat
• 262 •
SecretS in the Stone
about now.” He hesitated. “You want to fix her something and see if you can get her to take a break? We kind of share the kitchen over here, so you’re welcome to use it.”
“Actually,” Adrian said slowly, seeing her worry mirrored in his eyes, “I was hoping maybe you could do the cooking, and I’ll do delivery.”
“I could do that, sure,” Pops said, the creases in his face relaxing.
“I could do that right now.”
“Great,” Adrian said.
“Everything go all right down in the city?” Pops asked as he pulled bread and cold cuts from the refrigerator.
I found my heart, she thought. My love. Pops regarded her quizzically and she smiled. “I know you know this, but Rooke is really special. Really special. She handled it all just fine.”
“Figured she would.” Pops buttered toast, assembled a sandwich, and handed it to her on a napkin-covered plate. “Having you there musta helped.”
Adrian kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Pops. I shouldn’t worry when I know she has you taking care of her.”
“I think what she’s needing is more along the lines of a visit from you.” He paused, seemed to consider his next words carefully. “Maybe more than just a visit.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be going anywhere.”
“That’s good, then.” He fished a key off a row of them next to the door and handed it to her. “That’s to the main door. She’ll be in her shop at the back.”
“I know where it is.” Adrian took the key. “We’ll see you later.
Maybe dinner?”
“Whenever, you just let me know. You just see to her now.”
v
The first thing Adrian noticed when she let herself into the shop was that it was cold. No fire burned in the wood stove. She’d expected noise of some kind, the whine of a drill or the sharp report of metal on stone. The silence was unnerving and her pulse kicked up. She didn’t give herself time to consider that Rooke might not want to be interrupted, that she might resent an invasion of her private space.
• 263 •
RADcLY fFe
Adrian loved her, and if Rooke had a problem with being taken care of, she would just have to get over it.
“Rooke?” Adrian called, knocking firmly on the closed door to Rooke’s shop. “Rooke? It’s Adrian.”
Adrian held her breath, straining to hear a reply. After what felt like an eternity, she heard the rasp of metal as the lock snicked open and a second later, Rooke stood in the doorway. Grimy trails of sweat and stone powder streaked her face, her hair lay plastered to her forehead in damp strands, and her soaked T-shirt clung to her chest and shoulders like a second skin. She was a mess. She was the most gorgeous woman Adrian had ever seen.
“Hi, baby,” Adrian said, lifting the plate. “I brought lunch.”
“Lunch?” Looking confused, Rooke reached for her, then abruptly halted. She pulled her T-shirt up, exposing chiseled muscles, and wiped her face on the shirt. “I can’t touch you. I’m…”
“I don’t care.” Adrian set the plate blindly on the counter next to the door and threw her arms around Rooke’s neck. She kissed her, tasting iron and salt and things of the earth. Instantly, every aching, empty corner of her soul was filled. “I missed you so much.”
Rooke lifted her from the floor, crushing her to her chest, kissing her back, drinking her in. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Always.” Adrian wrapped her leg around the back of Rooke’s thigh to keep her close and caressed Rooke’s chest. The flesh beneath their fingertips quivered and she realized Rooke was trembling all over.
“You’re exhausted, baby. You need to get some sleep.”
Rooke rested her forehead against Adrian’s. “I had to finish. I’m sorry, I forgot to call but—”
Adrian stopped her with another kiss, then murmured against her mouth, “No. Don’t apologize. I was just worried.”
“Will you stay?”
Adrian laughed. “Try getting rid of me.” She stroked the hair from Rooke’s forehead. “If you can stand to have me around, I think I might need to hang out with my computer in your apartment while you’re working. I was going crazy without you. At least if I’m upstairs, I won’t miss you so much.”
“You’re all I could think about while I was working,” Rooke said, her voice gravelly. She gripped Adrian’s hip and pulled her more firmly against her pelvis. She raked her mouth over Adrian’s neck, sucking
• 264 •
SecretS in the Stone
softly until Adrian whimpered. Rooke groaned. “I’ve wanted to make love to you for hours.”
“God,” Adrian gasped, “I need you. I need you inside me.”
“I have to shower first. Come with me.”
Rooke backed her toward the door, still ravishing her with kisses, but Adrian resisted with her little remaining strength. She grabbed fistfuls of Rooke’s hair and dragged her head back. “I want to see what you’ve done. Will you show me now?”
Chest heaving, Rooke finally loosened her hold. She pulled Adrian by the hand to the center of the room where the previously covered sculpture now stood exposed. Wrapping her arms around Adrian from behind, she embraced Adrian tightly, her chest hard against Adrian’s back. Her hot breath trickled over Adrian’s neck. “You were all I saw, all I felt, while the stone called.”
“Oh,” Adrian breathed, gripping Rooke’s hands where they clasped her waist. The figure Rooke had given life stood defiantly, her head thrown back, long, thick hair flowing wildly, breasts lifted high, the muscles in her arms and legs taut with tension. Her left hand was closed in a fist, the right held a shield, and her mouth was open in a cry of victory. “She’s glorious.”
“She is that and more.” Rooke kissed Adrian’s neck, then brushed her mouth over the shell of Adrian’s ear. “An ancient myth tells of shield maidens, warrior women who defended the keep when the warriors rode to battle.” Rooke turned Adrian and cradled her face, her dark eyes shimmering with the reflections of flame on stone. “She is the protector of the warrior’s heart, like you are mine.”
Adrian cleaved to Rooke, deluged with the flickering images of fire and blood and unbreakable promises. She found Rooke’s hand and clasped it to her breast, molding it to the spot where her heart beat only for Rooke. “I pledge to keep your heart safe, through this life, until the end of time. I love you, Rooke. Now. Forever.”
“I give you my love,” Rooke whispered against Adrian’s throat,
“eternally carved in stone.”
• 265 •
About the Author
Radclyffe is a retired surgeon and full-time award-winning author-publisher with over thirty novels and anthologies in print. Seven of her works have been Lambda Literary finalists including the Lambda Literary winners Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and Distant Shores, Silent Thunder. She is the editor of Best Lesbian Romance 2009 and 2010 (Cleis Press), Erotic Interludes 2 through 5 and Romantic Interludes 1 and 2 with Stacia Seaman (BSB), and has selections in multiple anthologies including Best Lesbian Erotica 2006, 7, 8, and 9; After Midnight; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; First-Timers; Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear; Hide and Seek; A is for Amour; H is for Hardcore; L is for Leather; Rubber Sex, Tasting Him, and Cowboy Erotica. She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ award for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.
Her latest release is an all-Radclyffe erotica anthology, Radical Encounters (Feb. 2009) and the romantic intrigue novel Justice for All (April 2009). Her forthcoming 2009 romance is the sixth in the Provincetown Tales, Returning Tides (Nov. 2009).
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books The High Priest and the idol by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi’s relationship is put to the test when the Guardian sends Jemeryl on a mission that puts her not only in harm’s way, but back into the sights of a previous lover. (978-1-60282-085-2)
Point of ignition by Erin Dutton. Amid a blaze that threatens to consume them both, firefighter Kate Chambers and property owner Alexi Clark redefine love and trust. (978-1-60282-084-5) Secrets in the Stone by Radclyffe. Reclusive sculptor Rooke Tyler suddenly finds herself the object of two very different women’s affections, and choosing between them will change her life forever.
(978-1-60282-083-8)
Dark Garden by Jennifer Fulton. Vienna Blake and Mason Cavender are sworn enemies—who can’t resist each other. Something has to give.
(978-1-60282-036-4)
Late in the Season by Felice Picano. Set on Fire Island, this is the story of an unlikely pair of friends—a gay composer in his late thirties and an eighteen-year-old schoolgirl. (978-1-60282-082-1) Punishment with Kisses by Diane Anderson-Minshall. Will Megan find the answers she seeks about her sister Ashley’s murder or will her growing relationship with one of Ash’s exes blind her to the real truth?
(978-1-60282-081-4)
September canvas by Gun Brooke. When Deanna Moore meets TV personality Faythe she is reluctantly attracted to her, but will Faythe side with the people spreading rumors about Deanna? (978-1-60282-080-7)
no Leavin’ Love by Larkin Rose. Beautiful, successful Mercedes Miller thinks she can resume her affair with ranch foreman Sydney Campbell, but the rules have changed. (978-1-60282-079-1) Between the Lines by Bobbi Marolt. When romance writer Gail Prescott meets actress Tannen Albright, she develops feelings that she usually only experiences through her characters. (978-1-60282-078-4) Blue Skies by Ali Vali. Commander Berkley Levine leads an elite group of pilots on missions ordered by her ex-lover Captain Aidan Sullivan and everything is on the line—including love. (978-1-60282-077-7) The Lure by Felice Picano. When Noel Cummings is recruited by the police to go undercover to find a killer, his life will never be the same.
(978-1-60282-076-0)
Death of a Dying Man by J.M. Redmann. Mickey Knight, Private Eye and partner of Dr. Cordelia James, doesn’t need a drop-dead gorgeous assistant—not until nature steps in. (978-1-60282-075-3) Justice for All by Radclyffe. Dell Mitchell goes undercover to expose a human traffic ring and ends up in the middle of an even deadlier conspiracy. (978-1-60282-074-6)
Sanctuary by I. Beacham. Cate Canton faces one major obstacle to her goal of crushing her business rival, Dita Newton—her uncontrollable attraction to Dita. (978-1-60282-055-5)
The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of original Sin by Colette Moody.
Pirate Gayle Malvern finds the presence of an abducted seamstress, Celia Pierce, a welcome distraction until the captive comes to mean more to her than is wise. (978-1-60282-054-8) Suspect Passions by VK Powell. Can two women, a city attorney and a beat cop, put aside their differences long enough to see that they’re perfect for each other? (978-1-60282-053-1) Just Business by Julie Cannon. Two women who come together—each for her own selfish needs—discover that love can never be as simple as a business transaction. (978-1-60282-052-4) Sistine Heresy by Justine Saracen. Adrianna Borgia, survivor of the Borgia court, presents Michelangelo with the greatest temptations of his life while struggling with soul-threatening desires for the painter Raphaela. (978-1-60282-051-7)
Radical encounters by Radclyffe. An out-of-bounds, outside-the-lines collection of provocative, superheated erotica by award-winning romance and erotica author Radclyffe. (978-1-60282-050-0) Thief of Always by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou. Stealing a diamond to save the world should be easy for Elite Operative Mishael Taylor, but she didn’t figure on love getting in the way. (978-1-60282-049-4) X by JD Glass. When X-hacker Charlie Riven is framed for a crime she didn’t commit, she accepts help from an unlikely source—sexy Treasury Agent Elaine Harper. (978-1-60282-048-7) The Middle of Somewhere by Clifford Henderson. Eadie T. Pratt sets out on a road trip in search of a new life and ends up in the middle of somewhere she never expected. (978-1-60282-047-0) Paybacks by Gabrielle Goldsby. Cameron Howard wants to avoid her old nemesis Mackenzie Brandt but their high school reunion brings up more than just memories. (978-1-60282-046-3) Uncross My Heart by Andrews & Austin. When a radio talk show diva sets out to interview a female priest, the two women end up at odds and neither heaven nor earth is safe from their feelings. (978-1-60282-045-6)
Fireside by Cate Culpepper. Mac, a therapist, and Abby, a nurse, fall in love against the backdrop of friendship, healing, and defending one’s own within the Fireside shelter. (978-1-60282-044-9) A Pirate’s Heart by Catherine Friend. When rare book librarian Emma Boyd searches for a long-lost treasure map, she learns the hard way that pirates still exist in today’s world—some modern pirates steal maps, others steal hearts. (978-1-60282-040-1) Trails Merge by Rachel Spangler. Parker Riley escapes the high-powered world of politics to Campbell Carson’s ski resort—and their mutual attraction produces anything but smooth running. (978-1-60282-039-5)
Dreams of Bali by C.J. Harte. Madison Barnes worships work, power, and success, and she’s never allowed anyone to interfere—
that is, until she runs into Karlie Henderson Stockard. Aeros EBook (978-1-60282-070-8)
The Limits of Justice by John Morgan Wilson. Benjamin Justice and reporter Alexandra Templeton search for a killer in a mysterious compound in the remote California desert. (978-1-60282-060-9) Designed for Love by Erin Dutton. Jillian Sealy and Wil Johnson don’t much like each other, but they do have to work together—
and what they desire most is not what either of them had planned.
(978-1-60282-038-8)
calling the Dead by Ali Vali. Six months after Hurricane Katrina, NOLA Detective Sept Savoie is a cop who thinks making a relationship work is harder than catching a serial killer—but her current case may prove her wrong. (978-1-60282-037-1)
Shots Fired by MJ Williamz. Kyla and Echo seem to have the perfect relationship and the perfect life until someone shoots at Kyla—and Echo is the most likely suspect. (978-1-60282-035-7) truelesbianlove.com by Carsen Taite. Mackenzie Lewis and Dr.
Jordan Wagner have very different ideas about love, but they discover that truelesbianlove is closer than a click away. Aeros EBook (978-1-60282-069-2)
Justice at Risk by John Morgan Wilson. Benjamin Justice’s blind date leads to a rare opportunity for legitimate work, but a reckless risk changes his life forever. (978-1-60282-059-3) Run to Me by Lisa Girolami. Burned by the four-letter word called love, the only thing Beth Standish wants to do is run for—or maybe from—her life. (978-1-60282-034-0)
Split the Aces by Jove Belle. In the neon glare of Sin City, two women ride a wave of passion that threatens to consume them in a world of fast money and fast times. (978-1-60282-033-3) night call by Radclyffe. All medevac helicopter pilot Jett McNally wants to do is fly and forget about the horror and heartbreak she left behind in the Middle East, but anesthesiologist Tristan Holmes has other plans. (978-1-60282-031-9)
Table of Contents
ChapTER OnE
ChapTER TwO
ChapTER ThREE
ChapTER fOuR
ChapTER fivE
ChapTER SiX
ChapTER SEvEn
ChapTER EighT
ChapTER ninE
ChapTER TEn
ChapTER ElEvEn
ChapTER TwElvE
ChapTER ThiRTEEn
ChapTER fOuRTEEn
ChapTER fifTEEn
ChapTER SiXTEEn
ChapTER SEvEnTEEn
ChapTER EighTEEn
ChapTER ninETEEn
ChapTER TwEnTy
ChapTER TwEnTy-OnE
ChapTER TwEnTy-TwO
ChapTER TwEnTy-ThREE
ChapTER TwEnTy-fOuR
ChapTER TwEnTy-fivE
ChapTER TwEnTy-SiX
ChapTER TwEnTy-SEvEn
ChapTER TwEnTy-EighT
ChapTER TwEnTy-ninE
ChapTER ThiRTy
ChapTER ThiRTy-OnE
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Свежие любовные романы в удобных форматах
Любовные романы
Канал с обзорами, анонсами новинок и книжными подборками
Книжный Вестник
ВКОНТАКТЕБольшая библиотека с любыми жанрами и авторами
Большая Библиотека
Библиотека с фантастикой и фэнтези, а также смежных жанров
Фантастика
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Топ фб2 книги