The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes Read online

  ‘You have a prison surrounded by a big garden.’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ she whispered, her voice suddenly hoarse. ‘You don’t know what Xan really is.’

  ‘I’m not talking about Xan.’

  ‘Then what?’

  He bent over so he could face her eye to eye and took her face in his hands. ‘Not everyone hides her passion in the attic, Dee. Come out into the sunlight.’

  ‘As what?’ she asked, pulling away. ‘I can be a bulldog. Or maybe a seagull, except nobody really wants them around, no matter how cute they are.’

  He ran a finger down her cheek, setting off sparks all the way down her arm.

  ‘As the woman who painted those paintings.’

  He brought her to a stop. They’ll see me.

  Danny frowned. ‘Who’ll see you?’ Dee started. ‘You’re doing it again.’

  ‘Then maybe I am psychic. Tell me, Dee. Who’ll see you?’

  She drew in a deep breath, struggling to quell the hot rush of tears that crowded the back of her throat. She couldn’t bear to look at him. She watched the street.

  The Dollar Dayz took up a corner of Main near the highway, a graceless stretch of fast food and strip malls. She’d painted it in shades of umber and gray. ‘Do you know what a nightmare it was to be Delightful Dee-Dee? To never have privacy? To have strangers think they had the right to you? Those paintings are…’ She picked at a loose button on her cardigan. ‘They’re me.’ She knew her voice was small. ‘I should have the right to say who I share them with.’

  Gently Danny lifted her face. ‘You showed them to me.’

  The button came off in her hand. ‘You don’t understand them, either’

  ‘I understand that they’re the product of an amazing, beautiful, talented woman who should be able to share her vision with the world. I understand that I want her to smile more and worry less. That I’ve been thinking about wandering the world with her just so I can watch her paint my favorite places, because I can’t even imagine how they’ll look through her eyes.’

  How could something that sweet hurt so much?

  Danny took her by the arms. ‘The rest doesn’t matter, Dee. I promise.’

  Damn. The tears were swelling, searing her throat and forcing her to swallow. She nodded. ‘I promise you. It does.’

  ‘Then make love with me. As the woman who paints those paintings.’

  For a minute Dee couldn’t manage a single syllable. She could barely see him through the tears she kept sniffing back. ‘You don’t believe in her. And I don’t think you’d like her’

  ‘I have the courage to try. And I don’t think I’m going to be disappointed. Do you?’

  There was no air to breathe. Her heart hammered like an off-balance washing machine. Dee opened her mouth twice before she could answer. ‘Will you promise me something?’

  ‘My life, my wealth, my body.’

  ‘If you suddenly see somebody you recognize, just close your eyes?’

  His laugh was sharp. ‘You do make life interesting, Dee.’

  ‘Promise.’

  ‘I promise. But I’m not inviting anybody to this party but you.’

  His eyes were so sweet. So very dear and bright and clear. Dee sighed. ‘You may be surprised by who shows up.’

  ‘And you’ll make love to me without consideration of whether Xan is confronted or not. Or whether your sisters are having man troubles or Xan troubles or tattoo troubles. I assume they got them, too.’

  Dee gaped. ‘How did you know?’

  He grinned. ‘Because I know you’d never do that on your own. But you’d do anything for your sisters. Now, are you agreed?’

  ‘Where? When?’

  ‘Dee,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘We’re not scheduling a root canal. These things are better done spontaneously.’

  ‘Not in my house they aren’t. Lately, you just don’t know what’s going to happen there. Besides, I really, really don’t want any surprises. Well, more than are inevitable.’

  Her heart picked up even more speed. She was damp all the way down her back. She shook like a terrier, and a fire burned in her chest that threatened to melt her.

  Oh, God. She was going to try.

  With Danny James. Her lover.

  Well, there was no better way to spit in Xan’s face. If both of them survived, anyway.

  ‘The mountain,’ she blurted out.

  Danny took a second to consider. ‘I like it. Dancing up with the witches. It’s just about Beltane, isn’t it? I know the moon’s almost full. Doesn’t sex play a big part in the celebration?’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Researcher, remember? We’re all frustrated Jeopardy champs. I say we go right now. After all, my policy is to never put off something you want to do. Only the things you have to do.’

  She giggled like a nervous virgin. ‘It’s only five. A bit of discretion from the local personal banker is always a good idea.’

  ‘On the other hand, if you shatter your reputation like cheap ceramic, it’ll give you the excuse to take up painting full-time.’

  ‘I don’t want to traumatize the girls.’

  ‘Are you kidding? The girls are going to throw a parade in my honor’

  ‘I beg your pardon.’

  Reaching over, he pulled off her current rubber band and sent her hair flying. ‘You,’ he said, dangling the limp oval before her, ‘need to let your hair down more.’

  She wanted to giggle again, but she was too breathless. He was smiling, but his eyes gleamed hot. His eyes took the stuffing out of her knees.

  ‘Also, when we’re traveling the world, being sybaritic and feckless, I absolutely forbid you to wear cardigans. Math teachers wear cardigans. You will wear silk and linen and the odd feather in your hair.’

  ‘On a researcher’s salary?’

  He kissed her nose. ‘I’m going to live on your art. Clever, don’t you think?’

  She nodded again. She was beyond fear. Somewhere between anticipation and terror, she thought. And before she’d even so much as shed her shirt.

  He pulled her against him. ‘Kiss me to seal the deal?’

  Dee took another anxious look around. ‘Right here?’

  ‘It’s part of proving how brave you are.’ He blew gently in her ear. And how feckless.’

  Dee was glad he had a hold on her. Her knees failed again. Her nipples snapped to attention and showers of sparks washed down her neck. He was smiling down at her as if she were the last drink on a desert. She couldn’t have looked away if Xan had tapped her on the shoulder.

  She managed to lift her face and smile back. It was all the invitation Danny needed. Dee thought she heard a sigh of relief from him as he bent to her.

  Dee had been kissed before. Good kisses, bad kisses, kisses that curled her toes. In all the history of kisses, though, none was more perfect. His lips were so soft she wanted to lick them. His whiskers chafed her skin. His eyes, open so she couldn’t mistake him, darkened to midnight.

  He didn’t just kiss her. He claimed her, his mouth ravenous, his hand curled behind her head, his other arm wrapped so tightly around her she had no room for escape. He branded her with his lips and his tongue and his breath, and Dee couldn’t bear the idea of stopping. She raised her arms and wrapped her hands around his neck, and oh, yes, his hair was just as silky as she’d hoped. And fun to winnow her fingers through. Just another color of sensuality; damson maybe, rich and deep and delicious.

  For the kiss she’d use vermilion. Hot and sweet and impossible to turn from. Dee dined on that kiss. She let Danny plunder her lips and then returned the favor. She traced the tiny scar she hadn’t noticed at the edge of his mouth, and nibbled at his lower lip like a forbidden sweet. And his tongue. Oh, she couldn’t think of a thing that could give proper homage to his clever tongue. He sought out every part of her mouth, tracing ridge and hollow and the sweeping slope of her tongue. And then he returned to engage it in an unbearably erotic dance.