TWELVE
MELODY stretched slightly, drowsily aware she was enclosed in a cosy cocoon. She cuddled deeper into the animal warmth that was the source of her satisfaction, her limbs heavy and relaxed. Quite when she became aware of the fact that a hard muscular forearm was curved over the dip in her waist she wasn’t sure. It could have been minutes or hours. But suddenly she was wide awake, her eyes opening.
‘Hi.’ Zeke’s voice was lazy and his kiss was deep and slow.
Her green eyes stared into ebony. ‘I fell asleep.’
He grinned, apparently not in the least put out. ‘That you did,’ he agreed smokily. ‘Which was a first for me.’
Melody didn’t know where to put herself. The culmination of months of anguish, worry and heartache and she had fallen asleep under Zeke’s lovemaking. She hadn’t meant to. She had been there with him every inch of the way—or so she had thought. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured helplessly. She remembered him kissing her after he’d undressed her, reassuring her, and then… ‘I must have been more tired than I thought.’
His grin widened. ‘But you’ve had a nap,’ he pointed out softly, enfolding her in a tender yet hungry embrace, his hands stroking down her spine from her shoulders into the concavity of her tiny waist and to the seductive flare of her hips as his tongue drew an arc round the curve of one ear before his teeth gently closed on the lobe. ‘And it hasn’t been that long. I bet the coffee is still warm in the pot out there.’
They didn’t put it to the test. They explored each other with sensual and hungry abandon, loving each other with a need which did away with any thought of shyness or restraint. Zeke’s fingers slipped down the length of her, defining her neatly rounded bottom with a languid caress as he pulled her into the hard strength of him. Even when his hands moved over the base of her spine and the tops of her legs she didn’t flinch, putting her hands to either side of his face as she pulled him down to meet her in a kiss that was as fierce as it was gentle.
The blood in her veins rushed to nourish the surface of her skin, a rosy glow turning her flesh translucent and releasing her intimate perfume. By the time he levered his body over hers she was aching for him, the feel of his arousal an aphrodisiac in itself. She couldn’t contain the desperate little whimper of desire that broke from her lips, needing him deep inside her, wanting the feeling of oneness, of closeness.
With one sure thrust Zeke entered the silken sheath that welcomed him, Melody’s muscles tightening to lock him into her. The rhythm of their shared passion mounted, and with each movement Melody felt they were reaffirming those vows they had taken two years ago, but with a special meaning now. Then they had been madly in love, giddy and intoxicated with the thrill of the newness of it all. Now they had come through the fire and their joining was all the more intense and passionate because of it. It was as though their very souls were merging and they were equal in their drawing strength from each other, their entwined bodied fitting together in a manner as old as time and as sweet.
Zeke filled her completely, the sensation extremely satisfying as he built their rapture until she thought she would float right out of her body into somewhere beyond time. When the culmination came its violence sent them both over the edge of reality. In all the times they had come together—times of deep passion and erotic exploration and need—it had never been so cataclysmic, and she knew he felt it too. He held her hard against him, his body trembling with the aftermath of their lovemaking as he kept her intimately joined to him.
‘I love you.’ His voice was deep and warm and very sensual. ‘More than life itself.’
‘I love you too,’ she whispered shakily.
He searched for something in the depths of her eyes and then kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You’re addictive, do you know that? Before I collected you from the hospital I promised myself I’d take it nice and easy. I’d just be there for you, no pressure, no strain, taking it as slow as you wanted. And now in the space of a few hours I’ve made love to you three times. My only excuse is that for the last three months I’ve lain awake each night in our bed wishing you were there with me, remembering how it was, driving myself crazy.’
He withdrew from her body but his arms came around her, binding her to him in a constrictive circle as he whispered, ‘I can’t believe you’re here now. When I woke up earlier and found you gone…’
She cupped his rugged face with her small hands, kissing him hard. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said gently. ‘I won’t do that again. I promise. I’m here now.’
He kissed her back, even harder, stroking her warm flesh as he moved her against him. ‘In mind as well as body?’ he asked quietly. ‘And don’t pretend to make me feel good. I need to know how you’re feeling if we’re going to beat this thing.’
In reply she curved her body around his, delighting in the way they fitted together. ‘I’m here,’ she repeated firmly. She slid her fingers over the damp skin on his back, powerful muscles responding under her touch before she stroked her way round to his flat belly, teasingly following the line of hair which arrowed downwards before flaring dramatically out again and providing a thick dark cradle for his masculinity. When her hand circled and caressed the erection her touch had brought forth, she smiled at him seductively. ‘Fancy making that four times you’ve forced your wicked way on me?’ she murmured throatily, kissing the corner of his mouth tenderly.
This time their loving was long and slow and infinitely satisfying, and when they had come back from the world of intimate light and sensation, Melody lay in her husband’s arms, her whole body so relaxed it felt boneless as Zeke pulled the duvet over them. The events of the past twenty-four hours and not least the weeks of misery and anxiousness before Christmas had caught up with her, but she didn’t want to sleep again. She just needed to be with Zeke, to feel him, look at him, touch him. She felt as though she had been on a long, dangerous journey and come home. Softly, she murmured, ‘You said you had some ideas about what I can do in the future earlier?’ She twisted to face him. ‘What are they?’
He cupped her buttocks and pulled her tightly against him, his mouth taking hers in a long kiss. When at last he released her lips he still held her close. ‘That I have,’ he agreed huskily. ‘How about I go and fetch us a drink and we’ll talk? There’s wine in the fridge.’
She grinned at him. ‘Isn’t it a bit early in the day for wine? It isn’t even lunchtime yet.’
‘Not at all. It’s Christmas Day. Ordinary rules don’t apply. Besides, it’ll give you an appetite for lunch—which, incidentally, I suggest we have here in bed. In fact I see no reason for us to get up today, do you?’
She gazed at him, loving him and thanking God that Christmas Eve had worked its magic and brought her to her senses. ‘None at all,’ she said softly.
The wine was icy cold and delicious when he brought the bottle and two glasses back to bed, along with the rest of the presents from under the tree in their little sitting room. She opened her presents in his arms, delighting in the dainty little gold wristwatch, gossamer-thin silk nightdress and negligee, her favourite perfume and other gifts, all perfect and chosen with love. But it was the eternity ring nestled between her engagement and wedding ring her gaze kept returning to. The ring was exquisite, but it was the statement behind it that made it precious beyond words. He had bought it when she had rejected him, spurned his love and refused to listen to him, because he loved her and was determined love was eternal. And it was. Oh, it was.
‘Before I make my suggestions about the future, can I just say they are meant to fit in with you having my babies?’ Zeke said softly as she snuggled down in his arms again.
Zeke’s babies. She could let herself believe it would happen now. She smiled at him, radiant in a way he hadn’t seen before and so beautiful she took his breath away. ‘That might happen sooner than you think,’ she said serenely. ‘We’ve made love four times in the middle of my cycle and I haven’t been taking the pill since I’ve been in hospital, so…’
‘You wouldn’t mind?’ he asked, a touch anxiously.
She touched his face lovingly. ‘Would you?’
‘I can’t wait to have you barefoot and pregnant,’ he said with deep satisfaction. ‘And it would fit in well with certain changes I’ve made in my own life in the last little while.’ He smiled at her frown of enquiry before kissing her.
He reached for their wine glasses, topping them up and handing her hers before he said, ‘A toast to the new owner of Media Enterprises—David Ellington.’
She stared at him in amazement and shock. ‘You’ve sold your business?’ David Ellington was a mogul billionaire.
‘Lock, stock and barrel,’ he said cheerfully, taking a gulp of wine. ‘I should have been with you the day of the accident instead of chasing my tail over some damn crisis or other. It was a wake-up call—a terrifying one. I vowed the night of the accident that if you pulled through I’d reassess what was important in my life. So I did. It didn’t take much thought.’
Melody was horrified. His empire was hard-won. He had built it up brick by brick and she knew he was immensely proud of what he had achieved. ‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ she whispered. ‘Can’t you change your mind?’
‘Too late.’ He smiled at her. ‘And it’s exactly what I should have done. You confirmed that yourself yesterday. You told me you needed to make a new life, separate from the hectic entertainment business we’ve been involved in, something that would cut out the excess of parties and other functions that took up so much of our time. Independently of you I had come to the same conclusion. It would have happened sooner or later once we’d decided to start a family. The accident merely precipitated things. You were right when you said there were too many people wanting a piece of me, but wrong when you thought you were just one of them. That was never true, however you felt. I didn’t feel it was the moment to tell you I’d sold up yesterday—there were other things to sort out first. But when I said to you I could give it all up and walk away without a backward glance or any regret, it was because I had done exactly that. My world was never the business or the contacts I’d made or the power games. Not after I had met you. You are my world, Dee. We’ve spoken about a family but if the children didn’t come along for whatever reason I would still consider myself blessed among men. You’re my sun, moon and stars. The centre of my universe.’
He touched her stricken face gently, stroking down her cheek and round her full lips with the tip of his finger. ‘I’m glad it’s gone, Dee. Truly. It was a stage of my life which was enjoyable while it happened, but I want to move on with you. It’s also made us a great deal of money,’ he added with male satisfaction. ‘More than enough for us to do anything we want for the rest of our lives.’
She could still hardly take it in that he had actually walked away from his empire. But if he had told her instead that he intended to sell she would have thought he didn’t mean it, she realised now. Was that why he’d made it a fait accompli? She would have felt guilty, felt he was only doing it for her, and would have attempted to persuade him they could go on as they had been. Maybe he knew her better than she knew herself? On second thought there was no maybe about it.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured softly.
Suddenly she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted. No more premières and red carpets and first-night parties. No more relentless rounds of functions and shows and receptions where you couldn’t wear the same dress twice or the knives would be out—always in the back. Of course some of the social occasions they’d attended had been fun, and overall she had enjoyed herself and relished being on Zeke’s arm as his wife, but the accident had changed something independent of the damage to her legs, and she wouldn’t have wanted to step onto the merry-go-round again. And now she didn’t have to. But at a huge cost to Zeke.
‘What will you do?’ she asked him tremulously, not knowing if she wanted to laugh or cry. He wasn’t the kind of man who could sit and do nothing.
‘Again, let me qualify,’ he said, settling her more comfortably in the circle of his arms. ‘This all has to fit in with what I see as my main job of being a husband and father, okay?’ He waited for her nod before continuing, ‘I have a couple of ideas, and they could run alongside the treatment programme your doctors and I have worked out, which will take one day out of the week every week for some time but could result in practically full mobility after six months or so, and excellent long-term prospects. There’s a Swiss doctor I’ve got on board who specialises in your sort of injuries—there’s no one to beat him, not even in the States—and he’s confident you’ll be walking normally by this time next year.’
She half lifted herself on one elbow and kissed him with single-minded intensity and sweetness. Just knowing he was ready to stand and fight with her was everything, and whether she regained all she’d lost didn’t matter so much now.
Zeke lifted strands of her hair and twined them round his fingers as he kissed her back just as strongly, and then he dropped a kiss on the end of her nose as he drew back a little. ‘First idea,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘We look for suitable premises and open a drama school for under-privileged youngsters. It would be the real McCoy, for kids from nine or ten upwards, so we’d need to employ teachers for the normal subjects as well as those specialising in drama and dance and so on. It could be a boarding school for those who wanted it, and a home 365 days of the year for others who need it. Children who have been kicked from pillar to post, kids in the care system or in dysfunctional homes. They’d all have to have a leaning towards acting or singing or dancing, but once they were with us they’d be there until they chose to leave. And the home part of the place would be exactly that—not an institution. A place of security and unconditional support.’
The sort of place he would have longed for as a confused and troubled boy, Melody thought, her understanding causing her to swallow the lump in her throat. Oh, Zeke, Zeke.
‘Of course you’d be in charge of the drama side—the hiring of staff and so on—and I thought you might want to be hands-on teaching dance? We’d need an establishment with plenty of grounds for a swimming pool, tennis court and so on, and a house separate from the school for us would be essential. I’ve no real idea of the mechanics of it all, but I know people who could make it happen as long as the funding was in place.’
‘And we could afford to do that?’ she asked softly.
Zeke smiled. ‘Several times over, sweetheart.’ He guided her glass of wine to her lips and took a sip of his own before he went on, ‘There are other options, of course. You might like to travel for a year or two once your treatment is over—a world tour, staying over for as long as you like if a particular place takes your fancy. Or we could run our own theatre? Something in that line? Or you could run a traditional dancing establishment?’
Melody came straight back to the idea that had fired her imagination. ‘This drama school—wouldn’t it be a huge undertaking to do it properly?’
‘Massive,’ he agreed. ‘The dance side would involve performance, choreography, management and dance theatre, including the history of dance and related arts, aesthetics and critical studies, production, music accompaniment and composition, and that’s without the drama side. Acting, directing, technical aspects, backstage crafts and writing for the stage would all be necessary, along with practical theatre.’
He paused for breath and Melody stared at him in wonder. ‘You’ve really looked into this, haven’t you?’
Zeke nodded. ‘It would be a total life change, Dee. But one which would fit with family life if it was done properly. We would afford to get the best folk for the children on board, people of like mind, and I thought—’ He stopped abruptly and she saw a muscle clench in his square jaw.
‘You thought?’ she pressed quietly.
‘We could make a difference. Not to every child, perhaps—I am a realist—but for the ones we give direction and purpose to it would be worth it. But it’s only an idea.’
She buried her face in his neck for a moment, overwhelmed at the turn their lives had taken. This was perfect, so utterly perfect. And only Zeke could have thought of it.
‘Dee?’ His voice carried a note of anxiety. ‘You don’t have to say anything until you’ve thought about it. It’s a big deal—’
She stopped him by winding her arms around his middle as she lifted her face to his. ‘I love you, I love you,’ she said, over and over again so he would know. ‘And I can’t think of anything better. Think of it, Zeke. Children who have nothing, given a foundation and a pride in the gift they have. Do you really think we can do it? Provide them with a home and hope?’
‘Of course.’ The words were pronounced emphatically, a declaration, and she knew in that moment he would make it happen.
She reached up and placed her mouth on his. It wasn’t often she made the first move, and his reaction was immediate and fierce as he crushed her into him, kissing her with a hunger that touched her to the core. He kissed her for a long time as they murmured incoherent words of love, drawing strength from each other. ‘I can do anything with you by my side, but without you I’m nothing,’ he muttered desperately. ‘Never leave me like you did this morning—without a word, a goodbye. I thought I’d lost you. I need you, sweetheart. You’ve got no idea how much.’
‘I think I have, because I need you every bit as much,’ she whispered brokenly. ‘I’ve been so miserable. Not because of the accident and knowing I’d never dance again, but because I thought I had to let you go. You’re my world, my existence.’
He gave a choked laugh. ‘So we’ve both been tearing ourselves apart because we love each other?’
She smiled tremulously. ‘Maybe we aren’t the smartest kids on the block,’ she admitted weakly. Joy, like warm honey, was spreading through her body with healing reassurance. She could believe this. She could trust him. She had wasted weeks of her life letting fear dictate her actions and rule her mind, but no more. She must have been crazy—stark, staring mad—to imagine Zeke would look at another woman or walk away from her. He wasn’t like her father or her grandfather. He was unique and all hers. Her husband, her love, her life.
They held each other tightly until the crescendo of emotion descended to a more controllable plane, and after one more long, lingering kiss she snuggled into him with her head on his chest. ‘I booked in to this hotel for a few days,’ she whispered drowsily, after a minute or two of listening to the steady beat-beat of his heart beneath her cheek. ‘We can spend them all in bed, can’t we? Have all our meals here?’
She knew he was smiling. She could read it in his voice when he murmured, ‘Sure thing,’ as his hands wandered soothingly over her skin, stroking her neck, her shoulder, her back in light caresses. ‘We’ve got some time to make up and I can’t think of a better place to do it. Besides, plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise—of the most beneficial kind,’ he added, squeezing one rounded buttock to give emphasis to his words, ‘along with good food and drink is just what you need. This is our time. No one knows where we are, the phone won’t ring, and my mobile’s switched off. There’ll be no taps at the door apart from Room Service.’
‘Mmm.’ Heaven on earth. Melody closed her eyes and felt herself gradually drift towards sleep. Zeke’s breathing had become slow and steady and she knew he’d fallen asleep, but one arm was draped over the dip in her waist and the other hand was tangled in her hair as though even while he slept he needed to know she was secure and within his grasp.
She thought of the snow family in the courtyard and smiled dreamily. Last night had been magical and infinitely precious, but they had the rest of their lives to look forward to now. Nights locked in each other’s arms and days spent together as they worked to bring hope to children who expected none, who were damaged like Zeke had been. This was a new chapter, a new beginning, and when the babies came—Zeke’s babies—they would be loved as neither of them had been loved when they were young. Their children would grow up strong and secure in their parents’ love—she and Zeke would make sure of that—each one knowing they were precious and unique.
Zeke stirred slightly, drawing her even closer as he murmured her name in his sleep, and as she floated into a warm, soft, safe place she knew that to him she was everything—the only woman he could ever love, complete and whole. And because he thought she was beautiful she was.
Sleep crept up on her, and in her hazy contentment she thought of Mabel and her wise words. She would go and see the old lady again, and take Zeke with her this time. She felt they were meant to be good friends, and the loneliness she had sensed in the brave old soul could be channelled to some extent. Children loved a grandmother figure, and always responded to dogs too. She could see Mabel joining them for days out once the school was up and running, and she was sure the old lady would play her part in counselling hurting little hearts the same way Mabel had comforted her that morning.
She slept, and the two of them continued to lie wrapped closely in each other’s arms—two hearts that beat as one, two minds intrinsically linked for eternity with that most powerful and sweetest of bonds, true love.
They had come through the fiery furnace. They were home.