Chapter Thirteen

The Scent Of The Roses

It was pure heaven to be held so securely in Devon's arms once again. It almost felt as if I had never left. Which was a sweet lie I told myself as we circled the ballroom floor to the intimate strains of a slow waltz.

Devon had picked his moment, watching and waiting to gauge my level of comfort. I'd refused any offer of dessert and sat watching the dancers. I wanted to dance and was no longer in need of food. He seemed to understand that. He raised a hand toward the maître d' for our bill. Devon paid for our champagne, and I didn't argue.

He got up from his side of the table and came around to mine. He asked me if I wanted to dance and I didn't hesitate, emboldened by one too many glasses of the vintage wine. He drew back my chair and I stood up, sliding my wrist through the chain strap of my purse.

Again, we stood close together for a long moment. I could feel his warm breath caressing my bare shoulder as he inhaled the perfume on my skin and pressed a light kiss against the top of my shoulder. I turned to look up at him, tilting my head back. He was magnificent, filling up my sight. I saw no one but him.

"Come on, let's get out of here…" he said softly as he reached down and clasped my hand in his and took me across the restaurant and into the larger room.

It was a simple matter of turning to him and walking straight into his ready embrace. His arms closed around me and I was home again. He captured every one of my heightened senses. I was where I had always belonged.

Devon was a natural and elegant dancer. He never looked down, he seemed to know instinctively what to do and where to go. Once, when we first got together, I looked down and he immediately told me not to. He said I needed to trust him, to put all my faith in him, to guide and keep me safe.

From then on, I looked only at him, as I was doing now. His blue eyes never left mine. We could have been alone in the room for all the notice we took of the other dancers. People came and went around us, and the music changed through several different genres before returning to another waltz.

And still, we danced. The lighting had been slowly dimmed, encouraging a closer intimacy among the couples moving around the floor as the evening wore on. Several didn't hesitate to get closer to their partners and there were many whispered conversations and lingering caresses. I didn't want any of it to end.

"Happy?" Devon finally asked, looking down at me.

I knew I was wearing a dreamy expression. I couldn't help it. The bubbles of champagne made me feel as if I was floating on cherished memories of happier times. I inhaled him slowly and he smelt delicious. I wanted to taste him too.

"Very…" I finally replied with a long sigh. "I couldn't be any happier. This is the most perfect night."

"It's not over yet…" he promised in a low tone full of sensual tension as his hand at my waist slid lower to caress the curve of my hip.

I shook my head and didn't answer. I was enjoying the moment too much. The music changed again, encouraging an even closer intimacy as the lights were dimmed further.

"Tired?" he finally asked after a long pause as we circled the floor once more.

"Mmmm…" I murmured, suddenly dropping my gaze to study the crisp whiteness of his dress shirt with its pearl buttons. "But not that tired…"

There, I had finally admitted it. The words he'd been waiting for. The bubbles in the fine wine had given me the courage to say I wanted him. Now they prompted me to go further. To stake my claim more fully, beyond putting a hand on his arm for all to see and take notice of.

I looked back up at him and slid my fingers from his shoulder up into the thick blond curls at the back of his head. Then I went up on tiptoe to kiss him and he didn't resist. No one around us seemed to notice or care about our intimate connection as he gathered me closer with his arm at my waist and the kiss lengthened and deepened. We slowly stopped dancing.

He finally drew back and leaned down to rest his forehead against mine. I traced the line of his lips with one fingertip and his sigh feathered past my touch. Words of invitation trembled on the tip of my tongue.

"You taste like heaven, Luciana," he said, kissing the end of my nose. "I want more. So much more."

"I know…" I smiled softly and then said, "Cuisle mo chroí…"

He smiled at my accent, then nodded his agreement. "Grá mo chroí…"

The whole afternoon we'd spent together had been leading up to this single tremulous moment. But being the gentleman he was, Devon was waiting for me to make the first move. To be comfortable with my decision to stay the night with him. For me to be sure this was what I wanted. I had made that move and I had never been surer or wanted anything so much in my entire life.

The music faded to a halt and the lights came up as the musicians announced they were taking a short refreshment break. While those around us complained as they broke apart, we remained standing in each other's close embrace. There was no longer anything holding me back.

"Come on…" I encouraged, sliding my fingers down Devon's arm to his hand. "Let's get out of here."

We left the ballroom and crossed the lobby hand in hand. We didn't say a word to each other until we were standing outside my room. I found my key in my clutch purse and unlocked the door. We walked into the darkened room, and I closed the door behind me.

The only illumination in the room was the lights of the city beyond the un-curtained windows. I walked toward them, tossing my purse onto the lounge table and kicking off my high-heeled shoes. I was glad of the soft lighting that warmed the shadows and still allowed us to see each other.

I looked around the room, seeing it had been decorated with large crystal vases filled with bunches of red roses and baby's breath. Their heady fragrance hung in the air. I shook my head. Lucy had certainly been busy making everything perfect and utterly romantic. She knew how much I loved roses.

I glanced back at Devon. He was standing by the door watching me. This room was our private world. But could tonight finally lead to our happy ever after? Only time will tell. Time and this single night. I inhaled the sweet scents of the exotic blooms.

"Hang on…" Devon said, taking the DO NOT DISTURB sign from the doorknob and attaching it to the outside. Then he shut and locked the door, enclosing us in the intimate semi-darkness once more. "Now we can be alone."

I turned around when I saw him reach for the light switch beside the door and I put out a denying hand. "No… Please, leave the lights off."

"But I want to see you properly," he protested gently. "You do not need to be afraid. Not with me. I could never hurt you."

"I know…" I sighed. "But please, humour me, for now. I… like the dark."

"Very well. For now…" He held out his hand toward me. "Then, come here…" he commanded softly, and I didn't hesitate to obey.

※※※※※

As Carolyn walked slowly back to me, I shook my head at her gorgeous, and obviously very expensive, evening gown. It moved sensually with her every step and was moulded so closely to her sweet shape that it fired my imagination to fever pitch. But I didn't want to damage it in my eagerness to remove it.

"Does this come off easily?" I asked, sliding my arms around her slender waist and drawing her close.

Without her shoes, she was even smaller against me, fitting easily beneath my chin. I cherished the sensual contact of her soft breasts pressed against my lower chest, even as my fingers quested down the back of her dress. But I couldn't find any fastening. I frowned even as she took my hand and directed me to the cleverly hidden zipper tucked into the side seam.

"Very easily…" She smiled up at me.

"Good…" I breathed a quick sigh of relief as I reached for the tab and propelled it downwards.

She leaned back to allow the garment to slide down her arms and body to pool at her hips. The lacy silk half-bra beneath shielded nothing from my searching gaze. It cupped and defined her soft breasts lovingly. She was very beautiful, even as her uncertain gaze said she didn't think so.

I wanted the lights on to see her better. I wanted to see all of her, as naked and wanton as our shared passion. When I made love to her in the big wide bed I could see beyond us in the next room. But I would acquiesce to her wishes, for now. Her level of comfort was my main concern.

"Beautiful…" I breathed, to reassure her. I ran the tip of one finger along beneath the upper edge of the lace, detailing the rounded swell and dip of her shadowed cleavage and she shivered.

"I'm not twenty anymore," she admitted then.

I shook my head. "Nor am I," I replied softly, my eyes on what I was doing and how it was affecting her. "We have both lived other lives. But none of that matters. Not now. Not here…"

I smiled as I saw the soft blush-rose points of her breasts stiffen against the thin concealment of the silk. Her words might deny me, but her body could not. She shivered again as I dipped a fingertip inside to brush across one burgeoning point.

"You're still dressed…" she accused softly even as her indrawn breath hissed between her lips.

"Yes…" I didn't hesitate to stand back to strip off my jacket and drag away my tie. I tossed both aside and then put my fingers on the buttons of my dress shirt. She was immediately all concerned.

"You'll tear the fabric…" she whispered as she replaced my fingers with hers.

"I do have other shirts," I denied but allowed her to have her way.

She was deft and quick, her concentration total as she put her arms around me and tugged the tail of my shirt from the waistband of my trousers. My cufflinks followed – I didn't care where they landed – as I shrugged my upper body out of the fine linen. The shirt went flying across the room to land on the back of a nearby chair.

"Satisfied?" I asked, looking down at her.

"Not yet…" she whispered, her needy gaze focused on studying my chest and abdomen. "But I'm getting there…"

This time, I did not attempt to hide what her beauty was doing to me. I wanted her to see and understand the burning ache inside me that was almost too painful. I wanted her to know how desirable and intoxicating she was to me and that she could never disappoint me, even if we had all of eternity.

I allowed her to look her fill. There was time enough yet to make her utterly mine once more…

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I couldn't look away and nor did I want to. Devon in full evening wear had been devastatingly handsome. Now, half-naked, he was magnificent and gloriously masculine. The intervening years had treated him kindly. He obviously worked out to keep himself in such good shape and the strong muscles of his chest, beneath its fine coating of golden hairs, were still defined and taut. They moved sinuously beneath his tanned skin as he stroked his hands up and down my arms.

I wasn't so sure about myself, with those few spidery stretch marks from bearing my children. I wondered if he would notice. But I'd tried to keep in shape, and I was pleased that the blue dress had flattered me as well as it did. My waist was still trim enough to fit into it.

But now, Devon's narrowed gaze said I was wrong to worry so much. His questing fingers against the soft skin of my breasts had been an electric contact which had snatched my breath away. It had been a very long time since a man had touched me so intimately. And while I might write about it in my novels, a romantic and satisfying ending to a harrowing adventure of murder and mayhem, this new reality was something else entirely. I didn't want to disappoint him.

"Stop thinking so much…" Devon advised softly, as he stood still beneath my desire to look at him. "Just feel…"

"All right…" My gaze moved downward to the angle of his powerful thighs, and I could see how much my closeness was affecting him. I marvelled at my feminine power to do so. It had been too long, and I had almost forgotten. Almost…

"I want you…" Devon reached out and settled his hands on my hips. He dipped his fingers beneath the bunched silk of my dress and pushed it down over my hips and allowed it to drop to my stockinged feet.

"Come here…" he commanded again, and I stepped forward willingly, out of the dress and into his arms.

Now, the only barriers were his trousers and my sheer pantyhose and lacy underwear. I leaned forward to press a trail of questing kisses across the taut skin over each of his collarbones.

"You've still got too many clothes on," I complained, playing my fingers down the arch of his spine to the waistband of his trousers.

I pushed my fingers beneath to caress the flare of his hips and pressed into the hardest of his muscles there. I heard his breath hiss between his teeth at the intimacy of my touch and he pulled me fully against him. His seeking lips found the side of my neck and the erratic pulse that beat so rapidly there.

"Devon…" I revelled in the sensation of being held close against his vital masculine heat.

I pushed closer still, feeling his heated strength pressing hard against me. That part of him that made him such a virile man eagerly welcomed me to explore.

"Tell me…" he murmured against my skin as he moved to the edge of my parted lips. "Tell me what you want…"

He pressed himself tightly against me, making sure I was aware of everything I was doing to him. Oh, I was very aware…

"You…" I managed to reply throatily. "I only want you. Now and for always…"

"Always?" he questioned, leaning back just a little to look down at me with such love in his eyes.

"Yes, always…" I replied with a shuddering sigh.

He shook his slowly, everything he was thinking and feeling right then evident in his blue eyes. I knew my gaze was now just as open and honest. I'd decided it was time to drop every last barrier and I was glad they were finally gone.

I knew I could trust him now. He'd proven that by allowing me the time and space to come to my decision.

"The voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses…" he quoted softly. "I have never loved anyone as I love you, Carolyn. I never will."

"As I have always loved you and always will…" Tears burned at the back of my eyes but there was no place for them here. I blinked them away. "There never could be anyone else. Not for me."

In answer, Devon reached for my hand and pressed my palm hard against his waist, encouraging me to explore further. He did not stop looking into my eyes and I did not look away as my fingers quickly searched for the buckle of his belt and then the buttons at the waistband and finally the tab of his zip. I took it down slowly, infinitely slowly and we smiled together as my questing fingers finally found what they were seeking.

He didn't move or say a word as I delighted in the fullness of my discovery. I sighed as I went up on tiptoe to kiss him and his mouth opened eagerly beneath mine. His fingers tangled in the softness of my silken underwear and moved beneath to enclose the rounded softness of my behind in his palms.

He lifted me effortlessly as if I weighed not much at all. I wound my legs around his waist as he held me against his chest, where he had easier access to my seeking mouth, as he carried me into the bedroom behind us.

We tumbled together onto the softness of the big wide bed, becoming tangled in each other's arms in our eagerness to renew the love that we'd lost all those years ago. Soon every barrier to our rising passion would be gone.

Devon rolled over and I was sitting astride him. His hands moved slowly up my thighs toward where my body ached the most for his touch. He was allowing me to take full control and I revelled in the power of it all. We would make this night, a night to remember…

※※※※※

"Good morning…" I said against her hair as Carolyn finally stirred against me.

"Is it morning already?" she asked sleepily, stretching her full soft length along my naked body on a soft groan of repletion.

"It's almost afternoon," I replied, settling her more comfortably against the side of my chest. I didn't want to let her go. Not after last night. I never wanted to be parted from her again.

"Is it that late?" she marvelled, making no move to move away or get up.

"Well, we didn't get much sleep last night," I reminded her, kissing her hair again.

"No, we didn't, did we…" She chuckled, pressing a kiss to the centre of my chest. "I do hope these walls are soundproof. We surely made enough noise last night, getting to know each other all over again."

"Well, at least no one came knocking on the door," I teased.

I saw the soft colour that mantled her cheeks. She could still blush like a schoolgirl on her first date. It was a very endearing trait that I loved about her.

I loved all of her, from her topmost curl to the soles of her small feet. And the soft swell of her abdomen with its small spidery lines where she had carried my child. Everything about her said she'd managed to live a life, even after she'd been devastated by the terrible news of my untimely death. Inwardly I cursed our one-time masters for their casual cruelty and then dismissed them from my mind.

But I regretted that issue more than anything. That Carolyn had been left alone to cope in a cruel, uncaring world. How different would our lives have been if we'd stayed together? I shook my head slowly. The past truly was another country and there could never be any going back to how things used to be. The only true direction was forward.

"I need a shower," she finally complained, sitting up. "Don't go anywhere. I'm not finished with you yet."

I felt the loss of her warmth immediately, but I didn't protest. I enjoyed watching her get up and she did not try to hide from me as she looked through her suitcase for fresh underwear and suitable outer clothing.

We shared a laugh when her stomach softly rumbled, complaining about the lack of food. She pressed a hand over it and hurried into the bathroom. "I won't be long and then I think you'd better take me to lunch. My treat, this time."

She shut the door and I waited until I heard the shower turn on. I got out of bed and pulled on my underwear and trousers. Buttoning the fastener shut I left the room to go next door to mine. I hurried to the wardrobe and fished Kitt's commlink from the pocket of my sheepskin jacket. Carolyn's words about us needing a soundproof room niggled at me. That was something tangible I could fix. It had been her idea after all, for us to get away from the hotel and go somewhere much more private.

I clicked the link on, and the red light blinked at me. "Good morning, Devon," Kitt said immediately. "I trust you slept well. You are up rather late. I was beginning to be concerned." He paused. "How is Carolyn this morning?"

"She's fine. I think she's taking a shower in her room," I replied quickly, pressed for time but not willing to give too much away. "Look, I need you to do something for me. Something important."

"Of course," he said. "It is something for you alone or Carolyn as well?"

"For both of us," I replied, listening for any sign of the shower being turned off in the next room. "I want to get her out of this hotel and into somewhere a lot more private for the next few days and nights. I need you to research our renting a suitable lodge out of Sedona."

I hesitated, frowning as I tried to think of a reason to satisfy him. "Last night at dinner, she said there are just too many distractions here in this hotel. She wants to get started on her outline for her next novel and needs the peace and quiet to do so. That is the main reason why she's here. And I have a portfolio to complete."

"Ah, I see. Of course, consider it done," Kitt responded briskly after a moment's thoughtful pause. "I will be back in touch in due course." The commlink blinked and then he said, "I think it is a wonderful idea. And you can also get on with the reason why you are also here."

"Yes…" I grimaced, knowing from his tone, that the car was fishing for more information. His analytic mind was working overtime. 'Blast…'

"Thanks, Kitt. You can also find us somewhere we can go for lunch." I didn't wait for his reply.

I clicked it off and returned the commlink to my jacket pocket before I exited the room. I made it back to Carolyn's just in time.

She walked out of the steamy bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and frowned at my state of half-dress as I stood in the open doorway of the bedroom. "Are you going to go to your room and take a shower before we go out for lunch? My treat, remember."

"Yes…" I nodded, unwilling to confess what I'd been doing. "I won't be long."

I walked forward to take her by the shoulders and kissed her lingeringly. The rumpled bed behind us tempted me to take up where we left off last night, but I tamped down the need. We now had time enough. We had twelve days before we needed to decide our future together.

She smelled as fresh and lovely as the vases of roses in the room. I kissed her again before I let her go reluctantly to collect my discarded clothes and headed for the door. "See you soon."

I looked back to find her watching me in puzzlement as she towel-dried her hair. I knew she was curious about what I'd been up to while she was in the shower. Even though she'd suggested it, I wanted the move to a lodge to be a complete surprise for her. I also desired the aloneness that this busy hotel could not give us. And to confound those who'd conspired to bring us together. We were going to play truant again and I couldn't wait.

I knew I was being greedy. I needed to have her all to myself for the next twelve days of our stay in Sedona. I hoped Kitt would manage to come up with just the right place in time. I was sure he would not let me down.

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