Authors: Heaven
Bobbi Smith (26 page)
Alex shivered with delight at his bold male play, and she gave herself over to him willingly.
The barriers of their clothes removed, they celebrated their coming together with joy and delight. Their caresses were abandoned as they each sought to please the other. Any shyness that might have existed before was swept away by the wildfire of their desire.
When Winn moved to possess her, Alex surrendered eagerly and took him deep within her. They moved as one, giving and taking, seeking and finding that glorious explosion of passion that rocked them both and sent them spiraling out of control. There was ecstasy in their oneness.
They lay together, completely lost in the wonder of their need for each other. They were perfect together. Winn had never known such bliss.
Alex clung to him, lost in a dreamy haze of contentment. She’d never known love could be so sweet. She never wanted to be out of his arms. She had found her heaven, and it was with Winn.
They made love again and again through the long hours of the night. Winn didn’t leave her until the threat of dawn forced him from her bed.
“What will we do today?” Alex asked as she lay watching him dress. It seemed a shame to her that he had to put his clothes back on. She loved his body and loved watching the play of his muscles as he moved.
“What I’d like to do, and what we’re going to do are two different things,” he told her with a rakish grin as he pulled on his pants and then his shirt.
She chuckled softly. “I know. I feel the same way, but we have to keep looking for the crown.”
“It’s strange . . . You know the crown has been a blessing for us, not a curse,” he remarked, feeling content. For just a few moments, he’d forgotten about the Anthonys and the quest. Reality had disappeared, and it had been just the two of them.
“You’re right. If we hadn’t been searching for it, we never would have met,” Alex pointed out.
“The more I learn about it, the more I respect it,” Winn told her.
As she watched him reach for his vest, Alex knew she had to love him one more time. His back was to her as she left the bed and went to him. She encircled him with her arms as she lay her cheek against his back.
“Are you sure you want to leave me?”
“No, love. I don’t want to leave you, but I have to . . .”
“Winn . . .” She said his name softly.
The feel of her breasts against his back quickly overpowered his determination to go. He turned to her and seeing the passion of her need in her eyes, he couldn’t resist. His hands cupped her breasts and his mouth covered hers in a blazing exchange. The clothes he’d just donned, he discarded without a second thought, and they came together in a rushed, rapturous joining that left them both sated.
Later when Winn finally slipped from the bed, Alex was sleeping peacefully. He dragged his clothes back on, and then, before leaving took one blossom from the bouquet and lay it on the pillow next to her. Regretfully, he returned to his own solitary bed.
The following day proved an exercise in frustration. They scoured the city looking for other places that might match Lawrence’s clue, but they found nothing. Everything pointed back to St. Joan’s. They returned to the hotel, thwarted and puzzled.
“I think I need to go back and speak to Mrs. Sutherland again,” Matt finally said.
“I had promised to take Alex to the opera tonight, but if you want us to go with you, we will.”
“There’s no need,” he told them. “Go ahead and enjoy the city while you can. Our next stop may not be so glamorous.”
“I’m going shopping for a while,” Alex said, leaving the men to their discussion. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Alex wanted to look beautiful for Winn that night, and as she left the hotel, she’d feared it might be difficult to find a suitable gown already made. To her surprise, she found the perfect dress in Madame Chenieux’s shop. The gown was made of deep, forest green silk and was off-the-shoulder in style. The bodice was low-cut, but not too daringly so, and the skirts flared out fully over a wide hoop. She was thrilled to find one that fit so well.
Alex headed back to the hotel and on the way, she passed a jeweler’s. She glanced in the window and stopped. There displayed on red velvet were a pair of gold cufflinks made in the shape of crowns. Without thought, she went in and purchased them for Winn.
Alex returned to the hotel, took a leisurely bath, and washed her hair. Her hair had grown out a bit, and it dried into a tumble of burnished curls that just barely reached her shoulders. She was pleased with the look for she felt very feminine tonight in her new gown. She was ready for Winn when he came to the door. She opened it quickly to his knock and was rewarded by a blinding smile when he saw her for the first time.
“I thought you looked lovely last night, but tonight. . .” Winn stared at her entranced. The dark green gown she wore was absolutely stunning. It bared her shoulders to his avid gaze, and the decolletage revealed just enough to entice. Heat pulsed through him, and he had to quickly remind himself that they were going out for the evening. “Tonight, you look even more beautiful,” he finished.
“Thank you.” She rose up on tiptoes to press a soft kiss to his mouth.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, but, first, I have something for you . . .”
“You do? What?”
“A present,” Alex told him with a smile. She drew him inside and closed the door, then left him standing there while she went to retrieve her gift.
Winn stared down at the small wrapped box she held out to him. “This is for me?” He lifted his gaze to hers questioningly. In London, he’d been the one who’d always given. The women had always kept one eye on his fortune and had taken from, not given to him. Her unexpected present, given so freely without cunning or conniving, touched him deeply.
“Yes. I saw them and knew they would be perfect for you. Here.” She practically had to force him to take the box.
Once he had it in hand, Winn quickly unwrapped the box. “They’re wonderful . . .” He stared at the crown-shaped cufflinks, thinking they were, indeed, perfect. “Thank you.”
“Let me put them on for you,” she insisted, taking the box again to retrieve the links.
While she did that, he removed the cufflinks he’d been wearing. Alex went to him and, as he held out first one arm then the other, she fastened the gold crown-shaped links at his wrists. He adjusted his cuffs once she’d finished.
The crowns gleamed in the lamplight.
“You’re right. They are perfect. Thank you.” He went to Alex. Lifting his hands to cup her face, he gave her a gentle, cherishing kiss. “They’re the best present I’ve ever received.” His words were spoken from the heart.
Alex blushed. “Oh, I’m sure you’ve had better gifts than mine.”
“None that meant more to me, Alex.”
They stood unmoving, gazing at each other for a long moment, and then, to his disappointment, Winn forced himself to move away from her.
“If we’re going to the opera tonight, we’d better get going now before my willpower surrenders to my desire for you.”
“I’m ready,” she said, but in her heart she would not have objected if he’d suggested spending the evening in her room.
With pride, Winn linked Alex’s arm through his and led her from the room for a night on the town.
Matt lingered in the men’s saloon of the hotel, trying to decide what to do with his evening. He knew Winn and Alex were going out, and that left him at loose ends. He mentally reviewed everything that had happened since they’d arrived in New Orleans, and he couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that young Tommy at the orphanage was keeping something from them. On impulse, Matt decided to go back to St. Joan’s and seek out Mrs. Sutherland one more time. He told himself he was going because he believed the clue was there with the boy. But the truth be told, he really wanted to see Mrs. Sutherland again.
Matt took a hired carriage to the orphanage. After paying the driver, he went up the front steps only to discover that the door was locked. He knocked, but when no one came, he refused to be discouraged. Matt skirted the building, hoping to find that the light was on in her office, but it was not to be. All was dark.
Frustrated, he had just started to leave the grounds when he heard what sounded like someone crying. He followed the direction and found Catherine Sutherland in a quiet little courtyard at the rear of the building.
“Mrs. Sutherland? Is something wrong? Can I help you?” He approached her quietly, not wanting to frighten her.
“Mr. McKittrick! What are you doing here?” Catherine started at his intrusion and quickly rubbed at her eyes in agitation.
“I came back because I wanted to ask you a few more questions. I was hoping you wouldn’t be busy tonight so we could talk. From the sound of things, I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
“No . . . no. It’s nothing. What can I help you with?” she asked bravely, wanting to distract him from her emotional outburst. It wasn’t like her to cry this way, but things were going so terribly in her effort to get the money to buy St. Joan’s that suddenly she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“If you’re crying, it’s not ‘nothing.’ ” He handed her his clean, dry handkerchief.
She wiped her eyes again. “Thanks.”
He knew she was trying to avoid telling him why she was upset, but he wasn’t going to let her. “ ‘Nothing’ can make you cry?”
“Sometimes, Mr. McKittrick, no matter how hard you try to do the right thing, it doesn’t help. Sometimes, all the good intentions in the world still lead to failure.”
“What’s happened?”
“The man who owns the orphanage is selling the building. I have less than two weeks to save the home for the children!”
“Why is he selling it?”
“The only answer I can get from him is that he’s tired of it and wants his money out of the building.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know. I’ve been trying to contact him personally to plead my case, but he refuses to see me. I’ve started trying to raise the funds to buy the building myself, but the responses haven’t been good. Most of our sponsors are strapped for money themselves right now. The way things are going, I’m afraid in a little over a week the children and I will be out on the street.”
A slow burning anger ignited within him as he thought of the man who could do this to a woman and a home full of orphans. “Who’s the owner?”
“Mr. Markham.”
“Why don’t I go talk to him tomorrow? Maybe I can get somewhere with him.”
Catherine lifted luminous eyes to Matt. “Would you do that for us? I don’t know if it will help, but it certainly can’t hurt.”
“I’ll try to see him first thing in the morning. I’ll come here and report to you after I do.”
“If you can convince him to save St. Joan’s, you’ll be a miracle worker.”
“Don’t give me that much credit. I just don’t want to see the children hurt anymore than they already are.”
“Do you like children?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been around many. I just know what it’s like to live in a home where no one wants you and where they remind you of the fact ten times a day.”
“It’s not like that here,” she defended her own home.
“I know.” He smiled at her gently. “That’s why I’m going to see Markham. I’ll be in touch.”
She looked irresistible in the moonlight, and he suddenly felt a driving need to kiss her. Only his common sense held him back.
She was a married woman!
She was a married woman!
“Thank you, Mr. McKittrick.”
“Matt, please.”
“And I’m Catherine.”
“I know.”
Matt touched her cheek where the trace of a silver tear still showed, then left her. He didn’t trust himself to stay with her in the privacy of the garden for too long. She was too lovely a temptation.
Tommy had heard voices in the garden below his window, and he’d looked out to see Miss Catherine talking to Matt McKittrick. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but still he kept watch, fearful that something might happen to her. When McKittrick left and Miss Catherine went back inside, Tommy crept downstairs to make sure she was all right. He hid just out of sight and watched as she entered her office. It was then that he got a glimpse of her face, and he was shocked to discover that she’d been crying.
Anger grew within Tommy. He wondered what McKittrick had done to make her cry. Tomorrow, if and when the man came back, he would find out.
“What are you doing down here?” Lisa asked in a whisper as she crept up behind where he crouched in the shadows on the steps.
Her sudden appearance startled him. “I thought you were asleep.” He kept his voice low so that they wouldn’t get caught.
“I couldn’t sleep tonight, Tommy. What’s wrong? You look worried.
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