Part 19 (1/2)

Were other mortal women like this? Not in his memory, long though it was. She was fire and peace, tease and balm for a lonely soul. To think he'd been content until he met her, and now he'd never know peace of mind again. The memory of Dixie LePage would last him for eternity and he owed it to her to make tonight her own.

He'd planned to make love to her. But she met him at every turn. He kissed. She stroked. He caressed. Her lips drove him crazy. He explored her body's secrets. Her fingers found nerve endings he never knew he possessed. Timeless equals, they loved as if they'd never part.

”Christopher, I want you,” she whispered, her voice husky with a desire that mirrored his turmoil. She smiled up at him, her eyes bright as moonbeams, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s proud and high, her legs pale as ivory, open and waiting.

”My love, I'm yours,” he replied, seeking her silken warmth.

She came as he entered her, her hips bucking, her arms grasping and nails sc.r.a.ping his back. Her body wound in a convulsion of pleasure, she cried aloud her joy as she quivered and trembled with the aftershocks of pa.s.sion.

Her sobs of pleasure snapped his control and he exploded in a paroxysm of emotion as he took her up to the heights again.

Together they soared in an arc of ecstasy that carried them to the stars, circled the planets and rode the comets before returning in each other's arms to the tangle of bedsheets, the soft warm embrace of limbs, the sweet, salty taste of sweat, and the scent of love in the night air.

They lay in silence awhile, lost in thought, emotion and each other. While the night scent of roses wafted from the garden outside, somewhere in the night an owl hooted his courting ritual.

”I'm so glad you came,” Dixie said, her voice half-m.u.f.fled by his chest. ”I thought I'd never see you again.”

”I had to see you one last time. I never intended to stay. I thought I had hurt you too much to ever be welcome again.”

She smiled up at him in the moonlight. ”You'll always be welcome.”

”I dread leaving you, Dixie. I'm not sure I can.”

She leaned up on one elbow. A frown creased her forehead. The glint of a tear gathered in the corner of her eye. Had he hurt her that much? ”You've got to go. Leave. Now,” she said, her voice taut with emotion.

Chapter Ten.

Christopher wiped the tear from her cheek. ”I never meant to hurt you.” What could he ever say or do to repay her?

”I'm fine. Or I will be,” she amended. ”It's you who's got to be careful, and not just of whoever tried to get you last time. It's the police. They think you killed Vernon.”

Christopher grasped her bare shoulders. Her skin under his fingers was warm with the afterglow of loving. ”What are you talking about? They think I killed Vernon? Why?”

She explained, biting her lip until it bled and he longed to taste. ”I just lost my temper,” she finished, shaking her head. ”I thought how they'd tried to kill you and succeeded in killing someone. I didn't know it was Vernon then. I just knew they couldn't get away with it. So I told the police it couldn't be you. I thought they'd start looking for the killers. I never dreamt they'd look in your direction.” She propped her chin in her linked thumbs and ran her hands over her nose and mouth as if praying. Maybe she was. Eyes heavy with worry met his. ”I'm so sorry, Christopher, I never imagined...”

”Hush, love, don't worry.” He wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders. Of course she hadn't imagined. How could she?

She was all honesty, openness and fairness. How could she think like that clutch of witches? ”You weren't to know. It'll work out. They can look all they want, but they won't find me where I'm going.”

Previous Top Next”Where are you going?”

She would ask and he'd hurt her by seeming not to trust. ”Somewhere safe.” He shook his head as she started to open her mouth. ”I can't tell you. It isn't my secret. I'll tell you anything else you want to know about me, but I can't speak for the others.”

”That's Justin and Tom, right?”

”Among others. We have a safe haven for times of trouble.”

”And you're in trouble now. Because of my big mouth.”

”Dearest, I'm still in existence because of you. I'm threatened because I'm caught in a coil of evil. If they found out I wasn't extinguished and realized who'd foiled their plans...” He let the unsaid words hover between them. ”I can't, won't risk your safety. I'm disappearing for several years and you've got to promise me to go back to the States.”

”I will.” He almost gaped at her acquiescence. He'd half-expected outright refusal. ”Soon, but not tomorrow. I've got some things I have to do.”

”What? Isn't saving a vampire enough for one summer?”

She elbowed him in the ribs. Gently. ”You're not the only person in the world. I've got to decide whether to sell or rent out the house. I've got money things to settle. I have to if I'm going back. I'm not leaving that to Sebastian. I don't altogether trust him.”

He wouldn't disagree on that point. ”Promise me you'll leave as soon as possible. Go back to South Carolina.”

”I will.” She looked up at him, eyes dark with worry. ”Quit worrying about me. Shouldn't you be going? There's a police warning about you.”

”The way I travel, no one will ever see me. I'm safe. You have to make sure you are.”

”What do you mean?”

”There are killers in this village, Dixie. They think I'm dead, but if they ever realize I'm not, and if they suspect your involvement...”

”Why would they?” She smiled as if dawn would never come. ”I'll never tell.”

She was his every dream come to life. He had to touch her again. He traced from the pulse at the base of her neck up to the warm curve of her chin. She moved and caught his finger between her moist lips. Her tongue teased his fingertip, pulling him in deeper to the warmth within. ”I want to make love to you,” she said. ”Do we have time?”

”What else is time for?”

Her smile promised joy beyond belief. The fragrance of her skin sent his head reeling. Once again, he was a crazed youth in the meadows by the Medway exploring the promises of love before the years at Cambridge and London taught him the cynicism of s.e.x. He bent to kiss her warm breast and nipped at her hard nipple until she squealed with pleasure as his teeth pulled at the sweet flesh.

”Stop that,” she giggled, wriggling under his hands.

”Why?” he asked through his lips, never moving his mouth from her breast.

”Because I want to make love to you.”How could he refuse such an offer? She leaned close, pressing herself against him with a need that stirred the marrow of his bones to l.u.s.t. He wanted to sate his need in her sweet warmth but that would deny him the pleasure she'd just promised, and more than eternity itself, he wanted Dixie LePage to make love to him.

She grinned. It was the only word for it. A grin of mischief, promise, and antic.i.p.ation. Having realized her power, she reveled in it, relis.h.i.+ng the prospect of reducing him to helplessness. Just as he welcomed the thought of becoming vulnerable in her arms.

”I want you,” she said. It was a declaration of need, loud and clear. ”I want you in every way I can imagine and a few more for luck. You're going before morning, and this is what I'll remember you by.”

A tear glistened in the corner of her eye. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. ”We'll remember each other. How could we forget?” He had eternity to miss her. He'd weep too, if he could.

Her lips swept him up in a maelstrom of need as her tongue slipped between his lips, teasing and exploring every recess of his mouth, dancing over his teeth, curving, stretching and provoking, testing her own strength within his and uttering little moans of delight at her success. ”Trying to drive me crazy?” he asked as she came up for breath.

”Oh, yes,” she replied, ”but that was just an appetizer.”

She slid to her knees, locking her arms around his hips and pulling him to her until his erection pressed against her face.

”Dixie,” he groaned, ”do you know what you're doing?”

”Of course.”