Wings of a Dove (36 page)

    His breathing ragged, Delaney tore his mouth from hers to press hungry kisses against her eyes, her ears, the column of her throat. He was consuming her, and she was quaking, drowning in the desire to be absorbed into him totally, to join with his body as she had joined with his spirit so long ago.

    Breathless, his familiar, loved face racked with a torment echoing deep inside her as well, Delaney drew back. His chest heaving, he swallowed in an obvious attempt at control. "You're shaking, Allie. Are you afraid of me?"

    "No. I could never be afraid of you, Delaney."

    "Allie…"

    Glancing up, Delaney appeared suddenly conscious of the hall nearby and the people milling around it. He looked back down into her face.

    "Allie, there are too many people here. I want to be alone with you. Will you come with me?"

   Giving the only answer her heart would allow, Allie nodded.

    Delaney's clear eyes held hers for a long moment in silence before he slid his palm down the length of her arm and gripped her hand tightly with his. Within moments they were moving through the semidarkness of the heavy foliage. Allie followed Delaney blindly. She knew she always would.

    Covering the ground with a rapid pace that all but lifted Allie from her feet, Delaney moved deftly through the trees. A sense of urgency drumming at his mind, he held tight to her hand. He had come too close to losing her. He had only just begun to realize the supreme price he would have paid for that loss.

    Allie was a part of him. He had never been more aware of his helplessness against his feelings for Allie than he had earlier in the evening when he realized he couldn't stay away from her any longer.

    At that moment he had decided to leave on the morning train. Within a short half-hour he had packed his belongings and tied up all the loose ends of his life except one.

    A familiar tightening within him signaled the return of the harsh image of Allie in James's arms. James kissing her, tasting her mouth. James taking what was his. His Allie.

    The blind fury that had suffused him had driven him to step forward just as Margaret Case appeared in the doorway of the hall. Her frailty had been obvious, and Delaney had been unwilling to shock her with an unexpected appearance just then. Instead, he had lingered in the foliage in the hope of getting Allie to himself. He had all but given up that hope when Allie had finally made her way down the path toward him. But his anger had fallen victim to a stronger emotion once he held Allie in his arms.

    Delaney drew to a halt at the edge of a small clearing. He quickly perused the dense woods surrounding them before drawing Allie forward into the silver moonlight that lit the leafy bower. The silence of the secluded spot was broken only by the sound of their rapid breathing, but Delaney knew his breathlessness was not due solely to their hasty flight.

    Cupping Allie's face with his hands, Delaney looked down at her in silence. The shimmering moonlight imparted an ethereal glow to the pale silk of her hair, deepened the darkness of her eyes, glistened on her lips. He noted the new hollows in her     cheeks. Allie was thinner than she had been when he had last seen her, but the effect was a further enhancement of her delicate bone structure and the unusual loveliness that was hers alone. Allie was beautiful, although he knew she would never believe it was true. She was a precious gift he had almost squandered.

    He knew he did not deserve her, but he surrendered to the selfishness that made him take this precious gift to his heart. His only consolation was that in her innocent way, Allie wanted him, too. She did not know the true scope of desire, but he would teach her all the glittering facets, and then he would sate them one by one if it took a lifetime.

    A compulsive shudder shook Delaney as he acknowledged for the first time the consequences of losing Allie. For he knew that Allie was his soul. Without her, he was lost.

    His heart filled to bursting, Delaney pressed his mouth to Allie's. It was incredibly sweet open, accepting, loving. Suddenly past rational thought Delaney devoured her lips, his fingers tightening in her hair to hold her fast to his ravaging mouth. The clinging warmth of Allie's arms moved to his shoulders as he tasted her fluttering eyelids, pressed heated kisses against the delicate pulse throbbing so wildly at her temple. Wild with the aching desire consuming him, Delaney spread moist, eager kisses along the line of her brow, the delicate curve of her ear. His heated murmurs caused Allie to tremble anew and all thought of Allie's inexperience was stripped from his mind by the passion that drove him. Accepting her loving response, demanding more, Delaney raised her with him on the radiant wings of a passion so supreme that he was lost in its beauty.

    The lace- trimmed bodice fell away under Delaney's impatient hands, and a new tenderness suffused him as the small, virginal mounds of her breasts were revealed to him for the first time. He covered the roseate tips lovingly with his lips, suckled them gently, a thrill moving down his spine at Allie's ecstatic gasp.

    His hunger for Allie was voracious, the need within him swelling with each moment he held her in his arms, and Delaney could bear the impediment of clothing between them no longer.

    His fingers were working at the closing of her skirt when he noted Allie's sudden stiffening. The warm flush that covered her face was visible even in the limited light of the small clearing.

    A pain stronger than any he had ever experienced drew Delaney's loving ministrations to a halt as she averted her eyes from his.

    Delaney took a deep, hard breath.

    "Allie, do you want me to stop?"

    Allie's eyes snapped back to his, her short protest simultaneous with a vigorous shake of her head. "No."

    But there were tears in her eyes that could not be denied.

    "Then what is wrong? Tell me, Allie."

    "II don't want you to be disappointed. I'm not beautiful to look at, Delaney."

    Profound relief flooded through Delaney as he touched Allie's warm cheek with a trembling hand. "You
are
beautiful, and you're all I ever wanted. Let me prove it to you, darling."

    Undressing her carefully, gently, Delaney followed the fall of fabric from Allie's body with his lips. He caressed her warm, sweet flesh as it was uncovered to his gaze, worshiping it with the love he cherished within him for the fragile child-woman in his arms.

    Allie was quaking under his touch as Delaney lifted his lips from her heated flesh. Compassion momentarily overwhelming the hunger that drove him, he scooped her up into his arms, carried her to a mossy pallet nearby, and laid her gently upon it.

    A low gasp escaping him as his body met Allie's fully for the first time, Delaney looked down into her passion-flushed face. Her heart raced beneath his own as he slowly drew the pins from her hair and set the pale strands free.

    "This is the way I imagined it, Allie, in all those dreams I pushed to the back of my mind. This is the way I wanted it to be. I can't deny it any longer. I've always loved you. I always will."

    Poised above her, Delaney paused a moment longer. A tender smile flicked across his lips at the fear that shone momentarily in her dark eyes, knowing it would soon be replaced by a light of another kind. Suddenly driving deep within her, Delaney exulted at Allie's stifled cry even as he regretted her temporary pain. Held fast and still as Allie's moist warmth closed around him, Delaney cupped her face with his palms, his clear eyes consuming even as he was consumed.

    "You're mine now, Allie. You'll never belong to anyone else the way you belong to me."

    Brushing her lips with loving kisses, Delaney began a slow movement within her and Allie fought to suppress the low ecstatic sounds escaping her throat. Clutching him tighter, joy overwhelming her discomfort, Allie closed her eyes, disbelieving the beauty that swelled with each penetrating thrust.

    She had not known she could feel like this. She had not known that in joining her body with his, Delaney would transform it into a vessel of love that would fill them both. She had not known that together they would soar high above this dim, still night in each other's arms until their vessel of love, filled to overflowing, would erupt in a flood of brilliance so complete that she would be encompassed by its splendor. She had not known that their joy complete, they would lie in each other's arms, never wishing to be free.

    She had not known.

    In the stillness that followed, grateful for the gift of love Delaney had given her, Allie clutched him closer still. She broke the silence with a soft whisper that echoed within her heart.

    "I love you, Delaney. I'll love you always, all my life."

    Margaret fought the quaking that had beset her as she continued to stare into the darkness outside the Farmers' Meeting Hall. She had not realized this evening would prove to be such a trial; she had not anticipated Allie's disappearance, James's barely controlled fury, or Sarah's rage.

    Looking back over her shoulder, Margaret surveyed the couples within the hall, dancing past the door with endless enthusiasm. Her tension mounted. The music would soon draw to an end, and she had no intention of revealing to the other families that Allie had disappeared with Delaney Marsh.

    Margaret knew without doubt this scandalous turn of events had not come through Allie's thoughtlessness. This flaunting of convention and disregard for public opinion was Delaney's work, and she was furious with him for taking advantage of Allie's love by compromising her in this way. He would be leaving soon, but Allie's reputation would be stained forever. She did not deserve such callous treatment. Margaret knew she had been right all along. She had known Delaney was incapable of making Allie happy, and she was determined he would not ruin Allie's life.

    James returned from another search of the woods, and Margaret motioned him toward her, then took his arm and lowered her voice so Sarah would not overhear.

    "William Sears is certain it was Delaney he saw near the rear exit earlier?"

    James paled, and fury twitched at his lips. "He's certain, Mama. Where else would Allie be? You know she wouldn't wander off by herself. I've checked the rooming house, the
News
office, and his 'friend' Lil's rooms. He's nowhere to be found. So he must be with Allie."

    "James, you mustn't upset yourself."

    James gave his mother a short, hard look. "I asked Allie to marry me tonight, Mama."

    Closing her eyes, Margaret found herself frighteningly short of breath. She was struggling against light-headedness when Jacob took her arm.

    "Margaret, you mustn't stand here any longer. James and I will find Allie. Go inside. Just sit down, smile, and pretend all is well, and try to relax. I'll tell Sarah to stay with you."

    Margaret shook her head. "No, dear. My daughter's company right now would be the final straw. I'm not up to another of her tirades."

    Jacob cast a disgusted glance at his daughter, who was pacing back and forth in obvious agitation. He silently cursed Sarah's supreme selfishness. He was only too aware that she had even managed to repulse Bobbie Clark's well-intended efforts as she allowed her jealousy to consume her. He turned back to his wife as she spoke again.

    "I have stopped berating myself for my failure with Sarah, Jacob. I did my best for her, and I would not have known how to raise her in any other way. If she has not turned out as we wished her to, I can only think it was beyond our power to change her. In any case, I prefer to remain here. I have a feeling there will be need of a peacemaker this night."

    "This is partly my fault, Margaret. Allie was always too trusting of Delaney. As much as I dislike admitting it, I should have listened to James from the beginning. He saw through Marsh as none of us did."

    "Jacob, we are jumping to unfair conclusions. Delaney may have spirited Allie away so he could talk to her alone. He"

    "Margaret, stop defending him! His actions tonight are inexcusable, and he will suffer the consequences."

    "Jacob…" Her heart beginning an uneven tempo that made breathing even more difficult, Margaret said softly, "Please, no scenes. I just want to take Allie home where her innocence will not be exploited again."

    "Margaret"

    "Please, Jacob, tell James the same. He is so upset, and I wouldn't want him to do anything he would regret."

    With a callused hand Jacob brushed a tear from Margaret's cheek, and she flushed. She had not realized she had lost control to that extent.

    "All right, dear. I'll tell James. I'll also tell him that Delaney Marsh is never to set foot on our farm again."

    "Thank you, Jacob."

    Turning away, Margaret strained her eyes into the wooded land shrouded by darkness. She bit her lip to hold back the tears, truly uncertain how this night would end.

    His face buried in the long silken strands glowing a molten silver in the moonlight, Delaney held Allie close. He was reluctant to separate from her. Her pale arms loosely encircled his neck, and he lifted his head to trail his lips over her smooth flesh before easing away from her.