Vivid (47 page)

Nate almost fell off his chair laughing.

Vivid took mock offense. "Mama! Nate
Grayson, stop laughing."

Vivid looked over at her father. He said,
“Vivid, you know good and well your mother is telling the truth. The day you
were born I held you in my arms and looked down into your bright eyes, and you
winked up at me big as day. I told your mama then and there, this one is going
to be real different from the other two."

More laughter followed that remark and
Vivid said, "Papa, new babies can't wink."

"That's what the doctor said at the
time, but I know what I saw."

That afternoon, Vivid took a slow walk
through her burned-out cabin. The flames had consumed everything from books to
instruments. Only a few charred and blackened logs still stood to announce that
there had once been walls. All the carefully documented medical histories she'd
compiled on her neighbors, months of work, gone because some unknown person
wanted to roast her like a piece of corn. In the back she found only the chains
from her swing and the burned-out hulk of her brand-new stove. She hunkered
down and fished the chains out of the ashes and debris. As she peered at it
sadly she sensed Nate standing behind her. She stood and looked over what had
been her life.

"I'll put up another swing in the
spring," he promised quietly.

She would miss the swing very much, but
the question kept echoing in her head, Who would do this? Aloud she asked,
"What have I done to make someone hate me this much?"

Nate had no answer. She turned away from
the cabin and let him escort her back to the house.

Anna Red Bird and her son had departed
earlier that afternoon. Eli and Maddie took their places at the dinner table.

After the meal, Vivid's parents excused
themselves to their rooms. It had been a long day for the recently recovered
Vivid so she, too, excused herself.

Alone in Nate's room, Vivid realized she
needed help with her buttons. She went to her parents' room and knocked on the
door, "Mama?"

She heard scurrying and laughter inside
and then silence, then laughter again. Then silence again, followed moments
later by her mother calling, "Just a minute, Viveca."

Then she heard her mother say with a
laugh, "Viveca, darling, unless the house is on fire, you'll have to come
back later. Your father—"

"Go away, girl!" she heard her
father shout. "Your mother and I are busy!"

She took the hint and went back to her
room wearing a stunned smile.

Inside again, she lay down fully dressed
and drifted off to sleep.

Around midnight, Vivid awakened feeling as
if she were bound up in a sack. She got up and tried to figure out how to undo
her buttons. Her fingertips were still too tender to accomplish such a delicate
task and she had to give up. She sighed with frustration and began to look
around Nate's room for a razor or a pair of shears. Maybe she could cut herself
out. She found nothing.

The house was quiet as Vivid noiselessly
made her way down to the kitchen. She knew Abigail kept shears in a drawer there.
Surely she'd be able to handle a pair of shears long enough to snip away the
buttons of her blouse and skirt. She could always sew them back later.

She made her way through the dark house
with the aid of the moonlight streaming in from the curtains. She paused a
moment when she saw the thin line of light beneath the door of Nate's study.
Quietly, Vivid placed her ear against the door to make certain she wouldn't be
interrupting anything. Silence. She knocked softly.

Nate opened the door, surprised to see her
on the other side. He looked behind her, then hustled her in, hastily closing
the door again.

"What's wrong?" Vivid laughed.

"Don't want your duenna to find
us."

"You'd better put out the lights
then."

"Good idea."

His comment drew Vivid's eyes to the
lighted lamps and she wondered how long it would be before she stopped
shuddering at the sight of a flame. She turned away until all the lamps had
been extinguished. In the darkness Vivid relaxed a bit.

He opened the drapes to let in the
moonlight. "How's that?" he asked.

"Nice," she whispered.

"Come sit with me then," he
offered, gesturing to the small loveseat beneath the big bay window. Nate sat
beside her, eased her onto his lap, and pulled her close. "Perfect,"
he declared.

And to Nate, for this period of time,
things were just that: perfect. He never thought he'd hold her again after the
terrible fire. The despair he felt when he first saw the cabin ablaze echoed
within him still. He hoped it would be the last time he'd experience such
wrenching helplessness. She'd survived, however, and because of that he could
continue to bask in her smile and watch her stride confidently into a room. He
could hear her laugh and see her tears, and rid himself of wondering how he
would spend the rest of his life without her love, as he'd done that awful
night. The emotions flared again and he gently pulled her close to stop the
ache that came with the memories. He whispered against her hair, "What are
you doing up so late?"

"I was on my way to the kitchen for
Abigail's shears. I can't undo my buttons because my fingertips are too tender
to work the holes."

He leaned back to peer down into her face.
"Oh, really? Then basically you're at my mercy, is that correct?"

"Basically, correct," she
agreed, looking up at him.

"Well, we'll take care of your
buttons later. Tell me how you're feeling."

"I'm recovering, I guess. Feels good
having you hold me again, though. Very good."

"I've missed you, too."

For a moment they sat in the moonlight,
content just being together.

Vivid said, "You and Eli seem to be
working out your differences. It's good to see the two of you friends."

He kissed her forehead. "We're making
progress."

"It will take weeks, maybe months to
restock my medicines and instruments. We can only pray an epidemic or something
serious doesn't occur in the meantime."

"I wouldn't worry. The day after we
found you, your mama began wiring the doctors over at the college in Ann Arbor
about what she needed to buy to get your practice back on its feet. I suppose
they wired her back, because she spent that whole next day over in Niles wiring
folks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, you name it, placing orders."

"Really? You said she did all this
the day after you found me in the tunnel? I don't remember her being gone for a
long period of time.''

"That's because you were asleep. You
slept for a good three days."

He must have felt her shock. "Your
father and I sat with you on the first day while Vernon took her to
Niles."

"Three days?"

"You were drifting in and out, but
yes, three days."

"It didn't feel as if that much time
passed."

"Well, it did."

"Thanks for finding me."

He whispered in response. "Thanks for
being alive."

Then she heard him say, "Now, what do
you have to barter in exchange for this help you need?"

"I have kisses," she stated, her
voice a quiet invitation.

He ran a long finger over her succulent
mouth and replied, "As I remember, they are quite sweet, but it's been
such a long time, I may need to sample a few to see if they are valuable enough
to offer as exchange."

"I think you will find them priceless..."

He brought his mouth down to hers and
found her welcoming kisses not only priceless but as sweetly fervent as ever.
He teased her parted lips with his tongue, nibbled her with his teeth, and when
he'd sampled enough, he reluctantly drew away.

Nate removed his spectacles and placed
them on the windowsill behind him. In a voice as velvety as the shadows he
requested, "Sit up a moment, princess."

Vivid rose to her knees on the settee
between his spread thighs, and he began to undo the buttons on her blouse. She
kissed his mouth and he paused to enjoy the treat. It had been such a long time
since they'd had the opportunity to enjoy their passion, each wanted to savor
the other slowly and without haste.

He spread open her blouse, then dropped
his head to flick the tip of his tongue against the hollow of her throat. Her
head dropped back under his fiery advance across the skin and she placed her
slender brown hands upon his broad shoulders for support. She shivered in response
as his hands cupped her breasts and raised the camisole-covered tips to his
lips, then her body arched as he kissed her breasts until the fabric was damp
and a moan slid from her lips. Before she could catch her breath he slid one
breast free of the bodice, then boldly suckled the peak. He bared the other and
to her delight pleasured it in the same wanton way.

When he released her he smiled smugly at
her expression. He then reached behind her, undid the buttons on the waistband
of her skirt, and tugged the skirt down until it pooled around her knees. The
blouse came off next. She knelt before him scandalously clad in her thin
drawers, dark stockings, and ribbon-fronted camisole. It took him only a
heartbeat to undo the tiny ribbons, and as the garment gaped open to her waist,
his manhood surged as his eyes feasted on her beautiful dark breasts in the
moonlight. He ran his palm over one satin bud, then the other. He kissed each
one in turn, then raised to kiss her lips. "Remember the morning I promised
to take you in a variety of ways?"

He didn't wait for a reply, his hands
began roaming sensuously over her behind, squeezing the backs of her thighs and
journeying up to tease her breast before sliding down again to her hips.
"Do you remember?"

He circled hotly over the shrine between
her spread, stockinged thighs and she'd no idea how on earth he expected her to
reply. She moaned as he boldly slid his hand inside her drawers.

"You're supposed to answer, not moan..."
he reminded her softly.

She'd gone without his touch for so long,
the initial feel of his hand pleasing her so magnificently had her already
tightening on the edges of release. "Yes, I remember..."

Release hovered but she didn't want to die
the little death so soon. She wanted the sensations to build even higher,
wanted to let the pleasure of his hands continue to make her bloom and flow.
His dalliance tempted her damp warmth with increased abandon, circling, and
tenderly plucking, making her hips rock sensually and her body's desire to gain
release harder and harder to stave off.

She was almost beyond control. Through
eyes lidded by the haze of passion she saw him watching her, his own gaze
diamond-hard. She heard him say huskily, "Don't fight it, princess, let
yourself go. I'll give you more, I promise..."

And on those words she exploded with such
shattering force, she shook as his fingers continued to stroke. She buckled
under the soaring impact, then buried her strangled cries into his chest as the
little death swept her away.

When she could move again he helped her
out of her drawers, then rose to undress. Vivid sat on the settee and marveled
at his stature as he stood nude in the moonlight. She wished she had a gift for
sketching so she could put on paper the powerful grace in his arms and shoulders,
the trim waist, and the sculpted chest. Because he would be her husband, she
would even be bold enough to render the beauty of his readiness presenting
itself so gloriously.

She reached out and closed her hand around
warm hard velvet and felt the familiar throbbing. Holding his power rekindled
her own desire, as did seeing the passion on his handsome face as her hand
began to move lazily.

Their eyes mated hotly and she heard him
say, "You keep that up and you're going to miss out on my adding to your...medical
training."

His last few words had been uttered in a
voice, barely above a whisper. She smiled the smile of a woman who had her man
in thrall and said, "Well, we wouldn't want that to happen...would
we?"

She leaned forward and treated him to the
same loving he had a habit of lavishing upon her, then as she heard his soft
groans of pleasure, leaned back and reveled in the sight of his closed eyes and
muscle-tensed stance. "You were saying?" she questioned, then treated
him to one last lingering lick before lifting her eyes.

It took him a moment, but Nate finally
managed to reply, "I was saying you are sometimes too vivid for your own
good."

She smiled.

He sat, saying, "Come let me
introduce you to something I think you'll enjoy."

And she did, immensely. She'd no idea love
could be made while a woman sat astride a man, but the wonder of it soon
passed, replaced by the feel of his desire impaling her so magnificently. The
positioning made for an erotic, languid climb back up to pleasure's peak and they
took turns setting the pace every step of the way.

Nate reached the pinnacle first. Gripping
her hips, he poured out his soul and she spiraled over the edge.