Part 20 (1/2)
Taylor stiffened. ”I did ask her to escort Dr. Montgomery, but I thought -”
Reva set her cup down with a clink. ”Why don't you go punch Hank?”
”I beg your pardon.”
”I guess that's not a good idea,” Reva said. ”After the way he took out Sam Ryan, I don't guess you'd stand a chance. But, you know, you do have an advantage-you are engaged to Amanda. Tomorrow night she's supposed to go to the carnival in Terrill City with Hank. Why don't you invite her to the fair? She'd have to go with you since you two are engaged.”
”To a fair?” Taylor asked, aghast. ”I hardly think so. There is, however, a reading of Thackeray's work tomorrow night at-”
”Reading?” Reva gasped, then leaned toward him. ”When you proposed, how did you do it?”
”I believe, Miss Eiler, that such things are personal.”
”Was it personal? Did you get down on your knees and swear undying love to her and say you'd die if she didn't marry you?”
”I hardly think-”
”That's what I thought.” She leaned back on the hard little couch. ”Hank would. If Hank proposed to a woman, believe me, it would be romantic. He'd probably hire violins, have a tub full of champagne handy, and he'd make the woman feel as if she were the most beautiful, most desirable creature on earth.”
”I see,” Taylor said, and he did see somewhat. Romance was what Miss Eiler was talking about. ”Do you think Amanda would like that?”
”All women like to be courted. All women want a man to be pa.s.sionately obsessed with them. That's what romance is-a man showing interest in a woman. It doesn't have to be flowers and violins, it could just be a man wanting the woman to be near him all the time. Talking is romantic. A man being jealous is romantic. If you love Amanda, then you have to show her.”
”I gave her a ring,” Taylor said, defending himself.
”Which I've never seen on her finger since we picked it out. You didn't by chance tell her I helped you choose it, did you?”
”I believe I did mention the fact.”
Reva groaned. There was pa.s.sion inside him, she could feel it, but he had it locked somewhere deep down. He needed someone to help him thaw out. ”Mr. Driscoll, if I may be blunt with you, you are losing Amanda. Unless you put up some fight for her, she's going to run off with Hank Montgomery, or maybe with a traveling salesman.”
Taylor just looked at Reva. How did one fight? Perhaps poems by Robert Burns would do it.
Reva could see his confusion. ”Invite Amanda to the carnival,” she repeated. ”Take her to the carnival and show her a good time. Win her some prizes. Take her on a ride or two. Take her through the Tunnel of Love and kiss her wildly. Bring her home and try to force your way into her room. Make her think you're going crazy with wanting her.”
Taylor stared at Reva. He couldn't imagine doing any of the things she mentioned with Amanda but he'd like to kiss Miss Eiler.
Reva saw his look, and more than anything in the world, she wanted to touch this man. There was something about the way he was so stiff and unbending that fascinated her. ”Perhaps, Mr. Driscoll,” she said softly, ”you haven't had enough practice in kissing women wildly.”
”Perhaps I haven't,” he answered just as softly.
They leaned toward each other very slowly and when their lips touched, electricity shot through them. Taylor put his hand to the back of Reva's head, holding her skull tightly.
She broke away first and looked into his dark eyes. Poor, she thought. Remember that. He's as poor as a church mouse. Fall for him and you'll end up with six kids and nothing to feed them. ”Not bad,” she said, ”but you need work. Take Amanda to the carnival and practice on her. I must go now.” She had to get out fast before she began ”practicing” with him. ”Good evening, Mr. Driscoll.”
”But the shop isn't open,” Amanda said to Hank as they stood before the dress shop window. Hanging inside was a gorgeous silk charmeuse dancing dress with a bodice of Chantilly lace.
”You know the story of Aladdin? I happen to know the magic words to open the door at any hour, day or night.”
She looked up at him. When he was smiling at her she felt a little weak-kneed. ”And what are the magic words?”
”I pay cash,” he said, and Amanda laughed. ”Come on, the owner lives upstairs. Let's get her to open the door and find you some clothes.”
Amanda felt a little jealous at the way the store owner so readily agreed to open the shop for Hank-again. He'd bought her other dancing dress there too.
As they were walking down the stairs, the owner in front of them, Amanda said, ”You two certainly seem friendly.”
Hank stopped on the dark stairs, then pinned her against the wall. ”If you and I were engaged or were really dating, I'd think that was a jealous remark. Are you jealous, Amanda?”
”Certainly not. How can I be jealous of you if I am in love with another man?”
”Who would you rather see kissing the pretty shop owner? Taylor or me?”
”I am most used to seeing you kiss any number of women. It's a wonder you don't put that as a requirement to join the union: All pretty women must kiss Dr. Montgomery before being allowed to join.”
He laughed at that and moved so she could continue down the stairs. Inside the shop, Amanda forgot about men altogether. She hadn't been inside a dress shop since she was fourteen and Taylor had arrived. She had been so busy since then trying to keep up with her studies that she hadn't given much thought to clothes Taylor had chosen st.u.r.dy, simple clothes that covered most of her exposed skin. But here were dresses of fragile fabrics, with laces and beading, beautiful transparent silk georgettes, satins, crepe de chines.
She turned to look at Hank ”Go,” he commanded, laughing at her expression. ”Try on everything. Buy whatever you want.”
”Send the bill to my father,” Amanda said before touching a sumptuous blue satin dress.
”I'll pay for everything,” Hank said quietly to the store owner. He very much liked the idea of having purchased what touched Amanda's skin. ”And put a couple of those in with the dresses,” he said, pointing to pink silk crepe underwear sets that were trimmed with satin.
Amanda tried on the dresses and modeled each one for Hank. She couldn't describe the way he made her feel, as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world. She chose five dresses and wore the one she'd first seen in the window. They walked together to his car, Hank carrying her packages.
”Do I look all right?” she asked. It was very dark, especially dark where his car was parked. ”I mean, if you were a man and I were a woman, an unattached woman, that is, would you be interested... I mean, would you think I looked all right?”
Hank dumped the boxes in the pa.s.senger seat of his auto, then took Amanda's hand and pulled her under the deep darkness of three palm trees. ”Amanda,” he said softly, ”if you were mine right now, I would be so overcome with your beauty that I'd...” He lifted her hand to his mouth and bit the soft, inside fingertip of her longest finger. It wasn't a kiss, it was more as if he were on the verge of devouring her skin. He began gnawing down her finger into her palm, biting the cup of her palm, sucking at it. His teeth and lips moved to the inside of her wrist, then up and up, pausing for a second at the inside of her elbow, then up again, kissing the most delicate, most sensitive parts of her arm.
Amanda had her head back, her eyes closed as his mouth moved over the lace on her shoulders then across her collarbone, over her right shoulder and down her right arm. He sucked at the palm of her hand then bit at her fingertips.
”Amanda,” he said. He had two of her fingertips in his mouth and she could feel his tongue, his teeth, the hot wetness of the interior of his mouth.
”Yes,” she said, and she meant yes to anything he asked of her.
”If you were mine, that's what I'd do to you,” he said.
Amanda looked at him, and even in the darkness she could see the hooded look of his eyes, the slight flare of his nostrils. In fascination, as a cobra watches a flute, she watched him move her fingers about in the interior of his mouth. Her body was beginning to weaken, and just as she was ready to fling herself at him, he dropped her hand.
”Let's get something to eat,” he said and walked to the car to help her in.
She got in, balancing the packages on her lap.
Hank didn't say much on the way to the restaurant. He knew he was playing with a deadly substance, but he was like an addict and couldn't help himself. He could take her away from Driscoll; he knew that. But it wouldn't be fair to either of them. Under Amanda's beautiful exterior was still the prim little lady he'd first met. She wasn't the woman for him, no matter how sweet she tasted.
Amanda was thinking nearly the same thing. He was a poor rabble-rouser and he wasn't the man for her. When he wasn't touching her she could see him as he was. He was the sort of man a woman had a fling with, but he wasn't a man a woman should love. The woman who loved him would have a painful future.