The Lady Who Lived Again (21 page)

He stiffened, appalled. “You sent her out of the house? Alone? In the dark?”

After several beats, the woman finally looked up, her expression cool. “I did what I had to. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must tend to Laura.” She turned back to her daughter-in-law. “I’ll get you a nice cup of cool black tea, dear.”

Jace left the house, emitting a succession of curses as he boarded the buggy. Maddie’s crumpled shawl lay on the seat beside him, and he swore again that she’d been forced out into the cold. He drove at a brisk pace, keeping his eyes honed for any sign of her. The birth had progressed rather quickly, and Maddie had a long walk home.

In the dim light of the buggy’s lamps, he saw movement on the side of the road up ahead. It was Maddie. He snapped the reins hard. He stopped the buggy when he reached her, then helped her inside. Placing the shawl around her, he noticed a large tear in her dress.

“What happened? Are you all right?” he asked, unable to disguise his alarm.

“It’s nothing. I caught myself on the screen door on my way out.”

He took a quick breath of relief, but his fury lingered. Something terrible could have happened to Maddie out here all alone. He leaned to inspect the torn fabric at her elbow. “You’re bleeding,” he said, though it didn’t look bad. “We’ll stop at the office and clean it up.” He tightened the shawl around her trembling shoulders.

With a nod, she nestled into the wool, settling beside him. “Thank you.” She spoke casually, as though she’d been out for a stroll and not banished into the dead of night. “Everything went well?” she asked eagerly.

“Mother and baby are fine.”

Maddie smiled. “Boy or girl?”

“Boy,” he said. He placed his hand over hers. “I thought you were waiting down on the porch.”

She shrugged. “Her daughter was in the wagon.”

“One of your friends who died in the accident?”

Maddie stared straight ahead.

“That’s still no excuse.”

Her silence told him that she disagreed. Did she honestly believe she deserved the hostile treatment she received? She inched closer on the seat beside him for warmth or comfort or both. Whatever she was feeling in the wake of this latest rebuff, she obviously didn’t wish to discuss it. He obliged her silence as the buggy rolled toward town.

Once back at the office he ushered her inside. “Let’s clean up that cut.” He led her to the examination room and motioned to the table. “Up.”

She hopped onto the table and sat, feet swinging. Her mood seemed much improved, and he was glad she’d put the earlier unpleasantness behind her. Her resilience amazed him, and he admired the hell out of her. He also wanted her. Badly.

Inside the confines of the small room, her lilac scent was stronger. More alluring. Returning focus to the task at hand, he lifted the flap of torn fabric on her sleeve and peered inside. “Not bad at all,” he mumbled. He unfastened the buttons at her wrist. His concentration was hampered by the peripheral view of her breasts, rising and falling on each quiet breath.

Blowing out a breath of his own, he gathered a bandage and the supplies needed to treat the cut. He turned to pour some disinfectant onto a cloth. “This won’t take long,” he said over his shoulder.

“That’s good news, Doctor Merrick.” She used the sultry voice he’d come to know and like so well. “That leaves us a bit of time for other things.”

He grinned, closing his eyes, elated. He turned to face her. “The sooner you quit distracting me, the sooner I’ll finish.”

She smiled, and he smiled, too.

She hummed impatiently as he prepared a bandage. He rolled up her sleeve, his fingertips brushing her soft skin. With a deep breath, he proceeded to disinfect and dress the cut. Securing the dressing, he tied it off with one final knot. She placed her hand atop his, and he froze, meeting her eyes.

Tilting her head, she watched their hands move as she led his palm from her arm to her breast. She sighed, her eyes fluttering at the contact. Inhaling sharply, he drank in the sight of her lovely face. His pulse spiked with arousal. She was as eager as he. He cupped the luscious weight of her breast, his free hand greedy for the other. Leaning back on her arms, she arched her back to his touch and released a soft moan.

The sound of her pleasure filled the small room, and his shaft thickened with need. She leaned forward, hands in his hair. “I’ve been waiting for this all day,” she whispered into his ear.

The memory of last night had left him starved for more. He captured her face between his hands and kissed her, devouring her. Their tongues entwined in a frenzy. He would not last long.

He dove into the scent of her, kissing her neck, her throat, her hair. His fingers raced to unbutton her dress, and she slipped her arms free, wrapping them around his neck. Lifting her skirts, he spread her legs, pulling her to the edge of the table.

The swift maneuver forced her to release him, and she steadied herself on her arms. Grasping her bottom, he pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. The feel of her left him dazed. He told himself he’d recoup his wits later. But as he ground against the warmth of her body, he wasn’t so sure.

Panting, he stepped back, fumbling with her undergarments. They shed their clothing in a blur. He stood ankle-deep in discarded skirts and trousers as he lifted her to the table. He drank in the sight of her, perfect breasts, perfect face. “You astonish me.”

Her mouth opened, her expression so startlingly somber he feared she might cry. “Do you pity me, Jace?”

He blinked, stepping back. She may as well have poured a bucket of icy water on his lap.

“Do you?”

He shook his head in disbelief. “Never. I pity them.”

“Why?”

“For not seeing what I see.”

She tilted her head, dark eyes glimmering with emotion. “What do you see?”

“I see you.” He stepped closer. “Someone special.”

She lowered her eyes. “You mean damaged.”

He frowned. “I mean special.” His harsh tone softened as he lifted her chin. At that moment he’d have said whatever it took to be inside her again, but he still spoke the truth, every word. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

“Tell me then,” she demanded.

“I’m about to make love to you on my examination table, Maddie.” He touched his forehead to hers. “I think that says it all.”

Maddie had to agree, and she smiled at his handsome face. That was all it took to reignite the fire between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck again, her legs tightening around his waist. He thrust into her body, and her eyes fluttered closed in delight. Clutching his neck, she coasted on wings of sheer pleasure.

Jace lifted her from the table and drove into her, harder and deeper. She cried out his name and gave voice to wanton sounds she could not hold back. Sounds that would surprise and embarrass her had she the sense to care, but at this moment, she cared not a whit. So she clung to Jace, and she moaned, and she moaned some more. The sound of her ecstasy rebounded off the walls, the ceiling, the floor.

Jace moved faster, intensifying the urgency and her ascending pleasure. Rocking inside her, he set free a flood of wild sensations that spiraled through her center and careened out of control. She tingled in her limbs, her fingers, her toes. Every inch of her pleaded for the sweet mercy of release. She cried out through ragged breaths, “Please, oh, Jace, please.”

She grasped the damp flesh of his shoulders, holding tight. He groaned in response, moving faster. The tension wound through her core, winding tighter. Air hitched in her throat. There was nowhere to go, no spiraling higher. She threw back her head, reeling in pleasure as it all came unfurled.

Jace’s body tensed. Clutching her bottom, his deep moan filled her ears as he lifted her to the table and pulled away from her body. Gasping over her shoulder, he came in a surge of hot breath and vibration.

Easing away, he reached for a towel. Her legs trembled as he gently wiped his seed from her belly and between her legs. She closed her eyes as he kissed her, soft and sweet. She drifted into his touch, floating on the tranquil aftermath, ragged and spent.

Nothing outside the small room mattered to Maddie, nothing but the way she felt right now. Regardless of what lay ahead of her, of them, she was, for the first time in years, truly, incandescently happy.

* * * *

When Amelia dropped by the office a few days later, Jace insisted Maddie enjoy some time off with her friend. The wedding was less than a week away, and according to Amelia, there was still much to do. She and Maddie decided to discuss the remaining event-planning duties over lunch, and they soon found themselves sitting at a table by the window of a charming restaurant in town. The conversation flowed with the list of wedding preparations. Amelia gushed about floral arrangements, place card designs, and most importantly of all—to Amelia, anyway—the selection of the cake.

“My mother is so old-fashioned.” Amelia rolled her eyes. “She insisted charms be baked inside the bride’s and groom’s cakes, but I’ll not have my bridesmaids soiling their gloves searching for favors.”

Maddie smiled. There was a day she’d have frowned on the traditional practice as well, but after plunging her hands into the bloody wound of a dying deer, soiling her gloves with cake no longer seemed quite so distasteful.

They finished their meals over fine tea and fond memories. The sound of Amelia’s laughter carried Maddie back to a time when her life was so simple. To a place where girls spent their days planning for tomorrow and what might happen at the next ball or cotillion, oblivious to the fragility of life and the waning time in each other’s company. Time they had taken for granted.

“Oh, Mads, remember that afternoon down at the lake, when you feigned a twisted ankle to get Philip to carry you up to the house?”

Maddie nodded. “A trick I learned from you, I might add.”

Amelia laughed, nearly spewing a mouthful of tea. “And I learned it from Phoebe, who learned it from Susan.” She covered her lips with her napkin, laughing some more. “The Fair Five had no shortage of stratagem when it came to boys.” She shook her head, smiling. “So, how are you and Doctor Merrick getting on?” she asked, pulling Maddie from her thoughts of the friends she missed so much.

Maddie swallowed the last bite of her blueberry tart. “What do you mean?”

“Are you enjoying working at his office?”

She nodded. “It’s fine.”

Amelia sipped her tea, eyeing her over the rim of her cup. “And Doctor Merrick? Is he fine as well?”

Maddie shrugged. “I suppose.” For the briefest of moments, Maddie feared Amelia sensed the extent of Maddie’s relationship with Jace. For another brief moment, Maddie came close to confiding in her friend. She ached to tell Amelia about the wonderful intimacy she and Jace had shared. Maddie knew Amelia well enough to suspect she and Lester had likely engaged in similar behavior.

But Amelia and Lester were soon to be married, which, of course, was a different story entirely. She wasn’t confident her friend would encourage the risk Maddie was taking, and she was enjoying her affair with Jace far too much to risk tainting it with Amelia’s disapproval. “He’s a fine doctor,” she said instead. “I enjoy working with him, and it passes the time.”

“I’m glad for you, Mads. Truly. I only wish…” Amelia wiped the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “I fear this sham engagement of yours might do more harm than good.” She leaned forward in her chair. “You are eliminating your options.”

Maddie snorted. “I have no options.”

“Maybe not in Misty Lake, but—”

“Amelia…” Maddie shook her head.

“Philip is smitten with you.”

Maddie’s jaw dropped at Amelia’s candor.

“I’m certain of it. I can see it whenever you’re around.”

For her part, Maddie couldn’t dispute the possibility. She’d sensed Philip’s interest herself. “I like Philip, but—”

“But what?”

Maddie struggled for something to say.

“He doesn’t see you as the others do, Mads. Despite all the talk, he sees you as the same person he was besotted with when we were girls.”

And that was the problem. Maddie was no longer that person. She was no longer the girl whose biggest concerns consisted of choosing which bonnet to wear and which coy flirtation to employ on which beau. Maddie’s decisions now held real consequence. True relevance. Life and death hinged on her choices and the weighty repercussions of using her gift. Though her shoulders were slight, she carried a powerful responsibility. And an enormous, life-altering secret.

Philip had no idea who Maddie truly was. And sadder still, neither did Jace.

“We’re no longer girls, Amelia.”

“I know.” Amelia lowered her eyes, reaching for her tea. “So, what are your plans?”

“My plans?”

“Do you never think about your future?”

Maddie shrugged in lack of an answer. “I…”

“For goodness sakes, Madeline, have you never thought about leaving Misty Lake?”

Maddie frowned at Amelia’s sharp tone. “You know I cannot leave Grandfather,” she snapped back.

Amelia leaned in, studying her. “Are you certain you don’t use your grandfather as an excuse?”

Maddie stared, shaking her head. “He’s all I have, Amelia. Surely you can understand.”

Amelia tilted her head, her expression softening at Maddie’s distress. “I’m sorry. I don’t wish to upset you. Not for the world.”

“I’m not upset. I’m…tired.”

Amelia eyes widened as she glanced over Maddie’s shoulder to the window behind. “Oh, look, there’s Dolly and Gertrude,” she said. She craned her neck up and down the street. “And somewhere close by we’ll see… Yes, there he is. I knew it.”

Maddie followed Amelia’s gaze out the window. Matthew Webster stood on the street kitty-corner from the girls, watching and waiting as they entered the mercantile.

“Like clockwork.” Amelia shook her head. “There’ll be no shaking him now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lester told me that his uncle gave Matthew permission to marry Dolly next year.”

Maddie cringed in surprise. “He didn’t.”