Demon Wind (6 page)

LOVES NICOLO. They do have a unique way of making their point."

Having first hand experience with a similar occurrence, Jayden couldn’t dispute Emma’s words. "What about the book? Did your husband ever finish it?"

In response to Jayden’s question, Emma rose to her feet and walked to the counter where she picked up a box, and returned to the table. "He finished it, but we decided it shouldn’t be published. We didn’t want people swarming the beach trying to prove or disprove Robert’s findings, or worse yet, lonely people hoping Rachel and Nicolo would help them find their soulmate. We decided it was best to leave the Demon Wind legend as is, and leave Rachel and Nicolo with what ever peace they’ve been able to find."

Emma placed the box on the table in front of Jayden. "I’m giving the book to you for safe keeping. It might help you explain, when someone comes to you for answers, as you have to me."

* * * *

The ride home was a silent one, yet it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. They both had so much to absorb, so much to think about. Tyce put in a Norah Jones CD, and when he took Jayden’s hand and held it while driving with the other hand on the wheel, it felt so natural, so right. Jayden put her head back against the headrest, closed her eyes and listened to the music, relaxing for the first time since she awoke to find sand in her bed.

"You awake?" Tyce asked as he brought the vehicle to a stop.

"Yeah, just thinking. Where are we?"

"My place. After what happened earlier, I was afraid you’d have trouble sleeping in the cottage tonight,"

Tyce responded, then suggested. "I have a guest room, several in fact. You can take your pick." Jayden hesitated so long that Tyce was beginning to think he’d over stepped his bounds.

"What if I don’t want to sleep in a guest room?" was what she was thinking. What she said was, "I’d appreciate that. So much has happened today that I didn’t even consider how I’d feel in the cottage tonight."

"I don’t know about you, but except for Emma’s cookies, I haven’t eaten anything since this morning.

Are you hungry?" he asked.

Until Tyce mentioned food, Jayden hadn’t given it much thought. She was surprised to realize that she was indeed hungry. "Starving."

As a frequent visitor to the beach house before Kathy and Ben Clarkson were forced to relocate in Seattle, Jayden was familiar with the layout of the kitchen. Working together as if it were a regular evening routine, Jayden chopped red peppers, sausage links, and grated cheese for omelets, while Tyce got out the dishes, broke eggs into a bowl and used a whisk to beat them. They talked about everything, except Emma’s story and the Demon Wind.

"You and your grandmother are so close, I’m surprised you didn’t move in with her after her heart attack," Tyce said. His statement wasn’t meant as a criticism and Jayden didn’t take it as such.

Putting the knife aside, Jayden reached for the cheese grater as she answered. "I wanted to, believe me, but Grams is a proud lady. She’s terrified of losing her independence, so I didn’t press the issue. She has Helen, her live-in housekeeper, whom I trust totally. They’re more like best friends than employer and employee. If I use the path from the cottage to the main house, I can get to her almost as fast as I can

drive the distance; faster if I run."

"Wise decision," Tyce agreed. "Once their independence is gone, they seem to give up. I’ve seen it happen too often."

"What about you?" Jayden asked. "Why would a handsome young doctor take over a medical practice and settle in an area where the majority of his patients are senior citizens?"

"Something else we have in common. My parent’s were killed in an automobile accident when I was nine. I was raised by my grandparents, who were wonderful." Tyce turned the knob to the burner under the omelet pan and poured in a generous amount of olive oil. "I lost my grandmother to cancer my senior year in high school. My grandfather, my second year of medical school. Specializing in Geriatrics just felt right."

It was a beautiful night so they decided to eat outside on the deck. Over a glass of after-dinner wine, Tyce was the one to bring up the subject upper most on both their minds. "So, what do you think about Emma’s Demon Wind theory?" he asked.

"I don’t know, Tyce. Logic tells me it’s nothing more than a tragic, if compelling, fairytale. Yet another part of me wants to believe it," she admitted.

"Same here," Tyce said. "You realize that we may never know what really happened?"

"I know. But strangely enough, how we met doesn’t seem to matter so much anymore."

"All that matters is that we did meet," Tyce added, expressing for the first time what he’d felt from the moment he walked in the examining room and saw her standing there.

Their eyes met over the candle flickering on the table between them. Volumes of thoughts and feelings passed between them without a single word spoken. Then they were on their feet, finally in each other arms, their lips seeking and at last finding each other’s.

It was a kiss unlike any Jayden had ever experienced. His lips were warm and tender, giving as well as taking, evoking something inside her that went beyond mere physical desire, it soothed her soul, making her feel whole for the first time in her life.

Breaking the kiss, Tyce rested his forehead against Jayden’s with a sigh of relief. "You can’t imagine how badly I’ve wanted to do that."

"Hopefully as much as I’ve wanted you to kiss me."

"Things between us started a bit backward, didn’t they? I was holding back because I was afraid you’d think all I wanted was a repeat performance, instead of wanting you."

"And you don’t?" she asked.

"Don’t what?"

"You don’t want a repeat performance?"

"Hell, yes, I want a repeat performance, and an encore."

"A few curtain calls might be nice too," Jayden suggested.

Needing no further encouragement, Tyce picked Jayden up and carried her into his bedroom. Still holding her, one arm around her back, the other supporting her legs, Tyce lowered his lips to hers in a series of butterfly light caresses. That first night on the beach, they’d had wild, intense, incredible sex. It also had a surreal, dreamlike quality. Tonight he wanted slow and easy. Tonight, having sex wasn’t good enough. Tonight, Tyce wanted, needed, to make love to the woman in his arms. And tonight, it would be just the two of them ... without an audience.

* * * *

"Happy?" Tyce asked Jayden, as they passed her cottage and walked toward his house.

"I’ve never been happier in my life," she responded without hesitation. Had it not been for the couple walking along the beach in their direction, Tyce and Jayden might have stopped for a while at what they affectionately called their spot, the place where they made love that first night. The other couple smiled and nodded as they passed, Jayden and Tyce responded in kind, so wrapped up in each other they weren’t inclined to stop and chat.

They’d gone barely ten feet when they stopped in their tracks. "Did you feel that?" Tyce and Jayden spoke in unison. The wind was just a bare caress of coolness, subtle and brief, but unmistakable. Turning around, they looked back toward the young couple they’d passed.

They were gone.

"Tyce, look at the sand," Jayden said in dismay. "The only footprints in the sand belong to us."