Whirlwind (28 page)

“Oh, Cliff,” she cried, trying not to weep. “Cliff, I—oh, damn you, if you're dead, I—I'm going to
kill
you!”

Feverishly, Liza ripped through the debris, but her frightened efforts were ineffectual, she realized at last. She was
making things worse. She scrambled off the pile, sobbing with terror.

“I'll have to go for help,” she gasped, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can't do this alone. Can you hear me, Cliff? I'll be back as soon as I can!”

I
T WAS A WONDER
she didn't wrap the convertible around a tree. But Liza managed to negotiate the car down the winding drive without smashing into the woods, and when she reached the highway, she floored the accelerator and flew toward Tyler, counting the seconds and trying not to think of Cliff buried under all that junk, bleeding, and perhaps dying. Her heart pounded and she bit back sobs of terror.

In Tyler, she blasted through the red light at the first intersection and screeched around the corner. After years of living away from town, she wasn't sure she could find the fire station or the new police barracks, so she headed for home and the telephone.

She flew around the corner and there, parked in front of the house, was the pickup truck.

And standing by the hood was Cliff himself.

Liza hit the curb and ran the convertible straight into one of her mother's bridal wreath bushes.

“Liza!”

He ran across the lawn and yanked open the T-bird's door. “Are you all right?”

Liza nearly wept with relief. “Cliff, I thought...I was afraid—”

“Calm down. Take it easy.”

Trembling, Liza rushed out of the car and wrapped her arms around his neck, breathing in gasps. “Oh, Cliff, I went to the lodge and saw the mess and I thought—I thought—”

“Easy, love,” he murmured in her ear. His embrace felt
like home, and his voice was deep and soothing. “I'm okay. Just a few scratches, see?”

Liza leaned back and took a good look at his face, touching his cheek with quivering fingertips. She saw a few scrapes on his forehead and one nasty slice in his cheek that oozed a little blood, but otherwise he looked healthy, indeed—just dusty and tired.

“I was so afraid you were dead. I couldn't stand it.”

“I couldn't die,” he said, his dark gaze full of emotion as he wiped at her tears with one bruised knuckle. “Not yet. I've got too much to live for.”

Liza tightened her arms around him protectively. “What are you doing here?” she asked, realizing suddenly how difficult the trip into Tyler must have been for him. “You left the lodge!”

“I came looking for you.”

“But—but—”

Softly, Cliff said, “You said I'd have to come after you, so I did.”

“I'm sorry I said that. I know how hard it is for you.”

“I'm here now,” he said on a shaken laugh, “and relatively in one piece.”

“But something must have happened. Something that would make you—”

He smoothed her hair, coaxing Liza to calm down. “Quiet down now, and I'll explain. I started cleaning up the mess you left at the lodge and realized the roof had leaked during last night's storm. When I went up to the attic to find the leak, the floor gave way. It was a hell of a fall, let me tell you—”

“You could have been killed!”

“That's what occurred to me as I climbed out from under the wreckage.” Cliff smiled wryly. “I couldn't help remembering the day I woke up in the hospital in the Philippines. I was hurt worse then, and I was almost sorry to find myself alive. But this time—Liza, I realized how very much I wanted to live.”

Suddenly Liza's throat was tight, and her eyes began to sting.

“I want to be with you,” Cliff said, his voice rough. “I need you.”

“Cliff—”

“I know I still have a lot of things to learn, a lot of things to change. I'll need your help.”

“You've already taken the biggest step of all,” Liza whispered hoarsely, joy overflowing in her heart. “And I love you for it.”

Cliff pulled her snugly against his frame, pressing his rough cheek against her softer one.

His voice was raw. “I love you, too, Liza.”

She stretched up and kissed him, her lips seeking to warm his the way his words warmed her heart. Cliff took charge of the kiss almost at once, his mouth communicating the one message Liza wanted to receive. He loved her. He poured his soul into hers, arms fastened tightly around her body. For an instant, Liza forgot the rest of the world and rejoiced.

How lucky she was! Coming to Tyler had been one of those reckless decisions she made in the middle of a bad situation. But this time she'd managed to find the one thing she felt as if she'd been looking for all her life. Of all the men in the world, she'd happened upon the one who needed her most, the one who had been created especially for her and no one else. She wanted to spend the rest of her life kissing him this way.

Reality swam into perspective in time, and Liza smiled up into his face. She took Cliff by the hand and drew him toward the house.

“Come inside,” she said. “Let me take care of those scratches.”

“No...”

“My mother will want to see you. You'll be okay.”

If Cliff resisted any longer, it was only for a split second. Trustingly, he followed Liza up the walk, glad to hold her
hand and feeling as if he'd never release it. “You made peace with your mother?”

“For the moment,” Liza said with a laugh. “Come on.”

Cliff managed to keep his anxiety under control as he entered Alyssa Baron's house for the first time in his life. Alyssa looked pale and emotionally worn out, but she brightened when she saw him standing awkwardly in the hallway. When Liza and Alyssa pulled him happily into the living room, he couldn't feel nervous. He knew them both so well, and he trusted them both to understand him. He took no notice of the furnishings or the quick bite of pain as they daubed his scratches and applied bandages, but he managed to respond to the conversation when it was necessary.

But most of all Cliff wanted to be alone with Liza. She must have seen his true felings, for she terminated their visit within a few minutes after cleaning up his wounds. Then she hurried him outside again.

“Let's go back to the lodge,” she whispered in his ear as they slid their arms around each other on the porch, under Alyssa's smiling eye. “I want to be alone with you.”

* * *

S
EVERAL NIGHTS LATER
, with the chill of autumn in the air, Liza found herself drawn to the lakeside. She left Cliff in the lodge where he was starting a fire in the hearth, a fire that would warm them against the evening's cool breezes and perhaps ignite the fires of passion as well. With her heart full of warmth for the man who had become the center of her life, she walked down through the grass, pulled to the lake as if by another force, another love.

An eerie mist hovered over the lake, shrouding the old dock in a ghostly fog. Liza hesitated on the grass, torn for an instant. She could smell the fresh earth dug up by Joe Santori's backhoe, but she resisted the urge to walk to the graveside. Whoever had lain beside the lake for so many years was gone now. Instead, Liza turned her face toward the lake. She narrowed her eyes.

“Granddad?”

Squinting, Liza could see a tall figure standing stock-still at the end of the dock, and for an awful moment she believed she was seeing a ghost. But the set of his shoulders was unmistakable, and Liza realized Judson Ingalls had come back to the lodge. She started toward him, her sneakers making little sound on the boards of the dock as she hurried to her grandfather's side. She was happy for the first time in years, and she wanted to share her newfound joy.

“Granddad, is that you? I didn't hear your car! What are you doing here? You should have joined us for supper.”

He did not answer, and Liza faltered suddenly, pleasure dying in her chest. Judson did not move, but stared at the lake as if hypnotized.

Somehow, Liza knew she had intruded.

Leaning forward, she caught a glimpse of his profile, saw the sheen of tears on her grandfather's otherwise stern face. “Oh, Granddad, what's wrong?” She took his arm tentatively between her hands. “Granddad?”

The ever-strong Judson Ingalls, a man of vision, a leader of men, a champion of industry in a town that needed men of his talent and ambition, heaved a painful, shuddering sigh and said, “Oh, Margaret, what have I done?”

“Granddad?”

Perhaps he did not even realize Liza was with him. He stood woodenly in the mist, staring out onto the still surface of the lake with tears etching his handsome face. Maybe he was remembering the past. Or perhaps he had begun to fear the future. It was impossible for Liza to guess.

Suddenly he bowed his head. Softly he said, “It's all my fault.”

Liza released his arm and stepped back. In a matter of days, her life seemed to have become a shining world of happiness and hope. Cliff Forrester was more than she'd ever imagined possible for herself. And having him was within her grasp.

But could she be truly happy? Somehow a lurking danger seemed to hang over Timberlake. A mystery remained unsolved. And it was a mystery, Liza feared, that might shatter her family completely.

“Granddad, can you tell me? Can you tell me what happened?”

He shook his head. “I can't. I only wish it had never happened.”

* * *

“W
HERE SHALL WE GO
?” Liza asked the next day, handing Cliff the picnic basket she'd prepared and folding the blanket over her arm.

“I know a place,” Cliff replied.

He led her outside into the sunlight and up the hillside behind the lodge. Through the trees they walked hand in hand. Cliff's steps were silent, but a little unsteady. They pressed through the fronds of greenery together, inhaling the fragrance of the forest without speaking. Liza was uncharacteristically quiet, still a little unnerved by her disturbing encounter with her grandfather the night before.

At last Cliff found the grassy hilltop that overlooked the farmlands surrounding Tyler. He heard Liza's sharp intake of breath as she absorbed the panorama below.

“It's lovely,” she whispered. “Like the top of the world.”

“I like to come here.”

“It's beautiful, but it's very lonely.”

“Not anymore,” said Cliff.

Liza smiled and bent to spread the blanket on the grass. She knelt a moment later and pulled Cliff down beside her. “I don't want you to be alone ever again. I'm going to stick by you, Forrester.”

“For the first time in a decade, I feel like I can put my life back together.”

“And I feel as though I'm just getting started with mine.” Liza opened the picnic basket. “Are you hungry?”

“For you.”

She laughed and allowed him to tumble her across the blanket. As the sky revolved overhead, Cliff pressed Liza into the earth, feeling the pulse of life all around them. The sun alone watched as he peeled off her clothes.

He took his time, undressing Liza and kissing her all over as each limb came to light. As last she lay naked beside him, and he brushed her hair with his fingers, murmuring love words and listening to her musical replies. Her kisses set fire to the blood that beat fast in his veins. Her blue eyes seemed to fill with sunlight as he touched her, and the summer breeze lifted the tips of her wisping hair to caress his face. She had never looked so much like an angel.

Though still fully dressed himself, Cliff stroked her slender body and admired each subtle curve and feminine muscle. Her skin was pale as pearl and sensitive to the slightest brush of his fingers. She smiled into his eyes, completely relaxed and trusting as he explored. In time, Cliff found himself unfastening the devil earring from her lobe and holding the small black object in the palm of his hand.

“Don't you like it?” Liza asked, watching the slight frown twitch between his brows.

“It seems like part of your personality,” Cliff admitted. “The wicked part.”

“Throw it away,” she murmured with a smile. “I want to be good for you from now on.”

But the earring was too much of Liza's persona—a part of her wicked side that just made her goodness much more lovable. Cliff tucked the little devil into a pocket, then buried his face in Liza's luscious body. He nuzzled her long throat first and nibbled her collarbone, and when her breasts became too tempting to ignore, he found her nipples in his mouth and let the scent of her fill his head like an aphrodisiac.

“I love you,” he said, reveling in the ease with which she lay beside him, trust glowing in her face. “I love your body and your spirit. I love the things you do to me and
the things you make me think about. I love the way you make me feel.”

She gave him a languorously sexy smile. “I can't promise we'll always have a peaceful relationship.”

“And I can't promise this relationship will last forever,” Cliff said, knowing he must tell the truth. “I'm still a wreck of a man, Liza.”

“A very nice wreck,” she murmured, tracing imaginary lines on his face. “I love everything about you. Your body. Your humor. The way you look at me when I do something stupid....”

“You're not stupid.”

“But I need a keeper sometimes.” She tilted a solemn look up into his face. “Don't lose patience with me, Cliff. I need you as much as you need me. Maybe more. You'll heal eventually. But me—I'll always be a pain in the neck.”

“That's only your own perception of yourself. I see a talented woman.”

“But you should know,” she said softly, “that I'm not as tough as I appear to be.”

Cliff smiled. “I know. Underneath that tough-talking exterior of yours is a center like marshmallow—sweet and soft.”

“I don't let most people see that part of me, you know.”