Here With Me (20 page)

She tore her mouth away and leaned her head
back and he needed no further invitation. He kissed her neck, her
collarbone, the valley between her breasts. Her skin was warm,
delicious, and so damn tempting that he knew he could not turn
away. He was not strong enough.

“Oh, George,” she said. “Make love—”

A woman’s scream split the quiet afternoon.
Almost simultaneously, the dogs started furiously barking. He
jerked his hand out from underneath Melody’s shirt. He heard doors
slamming and voices yelling outside. It was bedlam.

He grabbed Melody firmly by the shoulders.
“Stay here,” he said.

“That was Grandmother’s scream,” she said.
She reached for the robe at the end of the bed.

He thought she was right. “Please,” he
begged. “Just stay here until I know it’s safe.”

She nodded and he ran from the room. He took
the steps two at a time. When he got to the bottom, he saw Pearl
and Bernard both on their knees, their backs to him. The dogs were
still barking and running in circles around them. The front door
was wide open. Tilly and Louis stood off to the side, unaware of
his presence. They were staring at the woman on the wood floor.

Genevieve. Flat on her back. Three feet away
from her, the large lamp that normally sat on the nearby table was
on the floor, lying on its side, a ten-inch crack through the glass
base.

He scanned the room, thinking that an
intruder had somehow gotten in and in the split second it took for
him to do that, he knew he would die first before he let anyone in
this family be harmed.

“What the hell happened?” he asked.

Pearl looked over her shoulder. Her face was
pale and her eyes watery, like she’d been holding back tears.
“Genevieve fainted,” she said.

It wasn’t good but it meant that Melody
wasn’t in danger. He could feel his breath come a little easier. He
took another step toward them and that set the dogs off into an
even louder barking frenzy. “Be quiet,” he commanded and he made
the hand motion he’d seen Genevieve make when she’d given them an
order. By some miracle, they stopped barking. He looked them in the
eye. “I’m not going to hurt her,” he said.

The two dogs crowded together, their ears up,
their teeth bared. But they let him pass. When he got to
Genevieve’s side, he saw that someone had put a pillow under her
head. Her skin was pale and there was a fine sheen of sweat on her
forehead. Her lips were absolutely colorless and one orange feather
was half-crumpled under her shoulder.

He squatted next to her and reached for her
hand. Her skin was cool and felt thin on her bones. She opened her
eyes and regarded him solemnly. He forced a smile. “Genevieve?” he
asked, hoping like hell she still knew her own name.

It took her a moment to answer. Then she
licked her lips and said, “You’d think none of them have ever seen
an old woman fall before.”

He felt the relief all the way through him.
He reached and gently pulled the feather out from beneath her. He
started to smooth down the edges but stopped when he heard
footsteps on the stairs. A second later, he saw Melody. She stopped
when she saw them, her hand over her mouth.

He stood up, moving fast. “It’s all right,”
he said. He got close enough to put his hand under her elbow. “Your
aunt fell but she’s fine.”

Melody broke away from his gentle hold, ran
to her aunt, and dropped to her knees. “Are you all right? Did you
hit your head?” She looked up. “Did someone call an ambulance?”

Call
what?
George looked at Pearl and
Bernard but they were shaking their heads. “She won’t let us,”
Bernard said.

Genevieve turned her head toward Bernard.
“Quit talking about me like I’m not here. It makes me think I might
be dead after all.”

That made Pearl smile. “Do you want to try to
sit in a chair?” she asked her sister.

Genevieve nodded. “If my choices are that or
lie here all day, I think I’ll take the chair. Help me up, George,
will you?”

He squatted next to her and put one arm under
her shoulders. He helped her sit up and when he saw that she was
steady, he helped her get to her feet. Once there, she stretched
out her hands and both dogs immediately came to her side. Several
seconds later her cat, which had obviously been hiding somewhere
close by, ran up and rubbed itself against her ankles.

George gave them all a moment and then he
wrapped an arm around her thin shoulders. The closest place to sit
was the piano room so he led her in there and got her settled in
the middle of the couch. Pearl immediately sat on one side, Melody
on the other. The dogs plopped down at Genevieve’s feet and the
cat, not to be outdone, jumped up into her lap.

“What happened?” Melody asked again.

George kept his eyes on Genevieve, unwilling
to look at Melody. He’d seen that she’d put the robe on but he knew
exactly what she had on underneath, and it wouldn’t do him any good
thinking about that.

Genevieve turned to her niece. “I was going
upstairs to get ready for dinner. I got dizzy and suddenly knew I
was going to fall. I think I tried to grab hold of the table in the
foyer and managed to knock the lamp off in the process.”

Pearl leaned forward. “I heard the lamp hit
the wood and by the time I got there, Genevieve was already on the
floor. I think I may have screamed.”

“You did.” That was Tilly jumping into the
conversation. She and Louis had taken chairs across from the couch.
“That’s what caused me to come.” She looked at Genevieve. “I
thought you’d had a heart attack so I ran outside to find Louis. He
and Bernard were both in the wine shed.”

Genevieve’s pale face took on just a hint of
color. “I guess I caused some commotion.”

Pearl shook her head. “That doesn’t matter.
As long as you’re all right. Are you sure you don’t want to see
your doctor?”

“Very sure.” Genevieve looked at the
timepiece on her wrist. “Dinner is in a half hour. What I’d like is
to enjoy a cup of tea now and then have my meal. Can we do that?
Can we just forget this last half hour?”

Melody stood up. “I’ll make your tea,” she
said. She left the room.

Bernard, who’d been quiet up until now,
looked at Louis. “Perhaps we could finish our discussion.”

George saw something flash in Louis’s eyes
and it resembled the look he’d seen often enough in men’s eyes
right before the cell door slammed shut. It was arrogance tinged
with fright. But he didn’t say a word. He simply nodded and the two
men left.

Tilly, a puzzled look on her face, stood very
still and watched them go. Then she walked over to the small table
in the corner. With one hand, she grabbed a bottle of wine and the
contraption they used to open it. With the other hand, a glass.

“Tilly,” Pearl said, her tone hesitant.

Tilly shook her head and gave her mother a
brief smile. “Worry about Genevieve, Mother. Not about me.” She
left the room without another word.

Once she was gone, it left just George,
Pearl, and Genevieve. He handed Genevieve the orange feather that
he still had in his hand. “For clarity of thought,” he said.

“My thoughts were clear,” she said, her voice
serious. “Just unhappy.”

That confused him. He looked to Pearl for
explanation. She reached out her arm and patted her sister’s hand.
It struck George once again how similar their hands were and how
similar they were to the hand that had helped Hannah pull him to
this time.

He desperately wanted to ask them, wanted to
be brave enough to know the truth. But now wasn’t the time. A
question like that could cause all kinds of other questions and
soon enough, he’d have both of them dropping to the floor.

“Genevieve and I were having a discussion
about. . .” Pearl’s voice trailed off and she looked at her
sister.

“Go ahead. I’m not going to slip off this
couch,” Genevieve said, looking irritated.

“We were discussing how I want things handled
once I’m gone. You know, my funeral and all the other things that
come after that.”

He’d had to organize Hannah’s funeral and
well-meaning people had asked him about music and prayers and what
she should wear to be buried in. It had been horrible. He’d been
ill-prepared and he’d worried that he was making choices that
Hannah wouldn’t have wanted.

“I guess it’s good to have those kinds of
conversations,” he said, careful with his words. He looked at
Pearl. “Probably puts your mind at ease now.” He switched his gaze
to Genevieve. “And will no doubt help you when the time comes to
make those decisions.”

Genevieve frowned at him. “I generally like
you, George, but not when you’re so damn reasonable.”

He smiled at her. “I generally like you,
too.”

They sat is silence for a few minutes and
then Melody returned with the tea. Steam rose from the two cups she
placed in front of her grandmother and in front of her aunt. It
smelled like the tea Hannah had loved.

Melody leaned forward and kissed each woman
on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re both okay,” she said.

“We’re fine,” Genevieve said. “And unless
you’re planning on wearing your robe to dinner, I suggest you leave
us old women alone.”

“You’re sure?”

Both Pearl and Genevieve nodded. Melody
looked over her shoulder at George. “I guess we should finish
getting ready for dinner.”

Well, okay. But that wasn’t exactly what
they’d been in the middle of. Unless getting ready for dinner was
the modern way to say he’d been just about to bed her. He motioned
for her to start up the stairs and he followed her. He shut the
bedroom door behind them.

She stood three feet away from him, looking
young and sweet. She ran her fingers across the edge of her robe.
“Well? This is sort of awkward, huh?”

Fifteen minutes ago he’d had his hand wrapped
around her breast, his fingers stroking her nipple. Yeah, he
guessed awkward was as good a word as any. “I’m sorry, Melody. I
should not have been so forward.”

“
Forward?”
She shook her head. “You
weren’t doing anything that I didn’t want you to do. I mean, I
think I was pretty clear. I wanted you to—”

“Please, stop,” he interrupted her. They
should not be having this conversation. “It’s done. It’s over.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. She looked
absolutely miserable and he knew it was his fault.

“We’re too. . .different,” he said. It wasn’t
a good enough reason but the best he had.

She backed up a step. “So we’re just going to
pretend it never happened?”

The hurt in her voice almost undid him. He’d
rather have taken a bullet in the back than hear that kind of pain.
“Melody, you are a beautiful woman. And I would be a fool not to
want you. But you know that I’m only here for a short time. It
wouldn’t be right for me to start something with you.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “So you’re doing
this to protect me?”

Her. Him. No one would be spared the pain.
“Yes.”

She stepped forward, closing the gap between
them. She poked him in the chest with her finger. “What if I said
that I don’t need protecting? That I’m capable of looking out for
myself.”

“I would tell you that I know you’re one of
the strongest, most capable women I know. But that doesn’t change
anything. A man makes choices, Melody. He can choose to do the
right thing or the wrong thing. And while taking you to my bed
would undoubtedly be a good thing, a great thing I suspect, it
would be wrong and I won’t do it.”

She let out a loud sigh and let her hand fall
back to her side. “I know this sounds crazy but I sort of wish you
were a little less principled.”

He’d spent the last six months hunting down
men, with full intent to kill them. He didn’t think that was what a
highly principled man might do. “Don’t make me out to be a saint,
Melody. I’m not.”

“Whatever.” He could hear the frustration in
her voice and she wouldn’t look at him. She walked over to the
dresser and pulled open a drawer. She yanked out something that
looked like a shirt, then wadded it up and threw it back in the
drawer. She pulled out a second one and then did the same thing. It
was like she needed something to do with her hands. “Look,” she
said, giving him a quick glance over one shoulder, “you need to get
cleaned up and while you’re doing that, I’m going to get dressed
and go on downstairs.”

In other words, she wanted to get as far away
from him as fast as she could. He felt sick to his stomach. “That’s
probably a good idea,” he said.

“By the way, the dinner party is tomorrow
night.” She sounded about as happy about that as a man who’d been
told he was going to hang before sunset.

“Your grandmother told me.”

“I’ve got a doctor’s appointment in Napa but
should be back in time.”

“You’ll drive yourself there?”

She nodded.

“Be careful,” he said.

She turned to look at him. Her eyes were dark
and her lips pale. “You do care, don’t you, George?”

He wouldn’t lie. “I do, Melody. More than
I’ve got a right to.” He walked past her and went into the bath. He
shut the door behind him and then leaned his weary body against the
door.

Yes, he cared. And he wanted. Neither of
those things mattered. Not when the footprints that would take him
home could come at any moment. He had to stay ready.

And he knew that if he took Melody Song to
his bed, he might never be ready again.

By the time George came downstairs for
dinner, Melody had a plan. She was going to seduce him.

Now, given that she was five months pregnant,
it was a fairly grand plan. But since the other alternative was
going to the hardware store and buying lumber and nails and all
kinds of other stuff, it seemed like the only logical plan.