9781618850676UnchainedMelodyHunter Page 6

  That one tender night with Ethan had awoken a passion within her only he could answer. After that night, they had been constantly aware of one another. Keeping their distance during the day had been torture and as soon as they could get behind closed doors, they had been in each other’s arms. Annalise remembered the night of the bonfire…

  Since Ethan had been in charge, he had to stay until everyone else retired and the fire was put out safely. Annalise remained behind to assist him because there was nowhere else she’d rather be. After the last ember had died, he took her by the hand and led her back to his cabin. As soon as the door was shut, he pulled her to him. His kisses were like a drug to her. She clung to him, their tongues mating in the age-old ritual of seduction. Shaking with anticipation, they had undressed one another, flinging aside their clothes in fevered excitement.

  Ethan took control, laying her on the bed and kneeling at her feet. “I want to look at you.” Pushing her hair from her shoulders, he bent and kissed each eyelid. “I don’t have to ask if you want me, it’s written all over your face.” He lightly grazed her shoulders with his fingertips and then cupped both breasts, gently molding them, letting the hardened nipples graze his palm. The heat began to build.

  He trailed kisses from between her breasts down the center line of her body until he brushed the soft, tender skin just above the apex of her womanhood. Sitting back, he lifted both of her knees and spread her legs so he could see what lay between them. Annalise closed her eyes, relishing the knowledge of what was to come.

  “You are so beautiful.” He touched her sex, caressing the folds of her labia, opening her vulva and tracing its shape. “It’s like an orchid, tender and fragile.” Bending over, he began to kiss her creamy thighs, coming—oh so close—yet not quite touching the petals yearning for his attention. In supplication, she raised her hips, offering him access. His own control quickly slipping he gave her what she wanted.

  His tongue entered her, thrusting and licking. While he pleasured her, his hands clasped both breasts, rubbing the nipples into submission. Annalise couldn’t be still, she wanted to move. She wanted him inside of her. Ethan pushed her to the limit, laving her swollen clit until she screamed with joy. He ate at her, plunging his tongue deep within her vagina, setting up a rhythm designed to drive her insane. Just before she would have shattered into a million pieces, he retreated, licking a pathway around her labia, teasing her unbearably.

  “Ethan, my God. Please, let me come,” she begged. With a wicked little smile, he lowered himself to her and carefully took her whole nubbin into his mouth. Annalise gasped her appreciation. He set himself on a course specifically designed to drive them both mad. With lips and tongue, he massaged her swollen pearl until she literally screamed and sobbed with delight. Pushing her to experience every drop of delicious sensation, he retained a hold on her sweet spot, lapping and sucking until she was delirious with pleasure. Then he rose and pushed his thick staff deep within her, causing them both to gasp their joy.

  Annalise marveled at the sheer ecstasy of being completely and utterly filled. Too excited to take it slow, Ethan pounded her to another climax. Her moans of rapture pushed him over the edge and they both felt the world tilt precariously on its axis.

  * * * *

  No more would she see his eyes grow dark with desire as he looked upon the perfection of her body. It was no longer perfect. To firm her resolve, she forced herself to remember Jeff’s face as he had undressed her. He had been adamant they have no sexual contact until their wedding night. As youth minister of her parent’s church, he had preached abstinence and the benefits of sexual purity. Annalise knew why she married him; she had been so lonely and his attention a welcome change to the self-inflicted months of isolation. Her parents pushed for the wedding with every ounce of influence they had. Her dad, especially; it was as if he had a vested interest in seeing her tied to the serious young man. Her writing hadn’t been an issue with Jeff—that was one part of herself she kept hidden from him—he didn’t find out about that until after she broke off ties with him.

  He had courted her with purpose, promising her a life of spiritual union and delight in the marriage bed. But his pretty words had not been based in any sort of reality. On their wedding night, he had taken her to a nearby motel and hurriedly peeled her clothes off. At first, he had been fascinated by her breasts. Annalise realized she was likely the first woman he had ever been naked with. But instead of loving her, coaxing her or cherishing her in any way, he had pinched her breasts and twisted her nipples. She hadn’t known what to think; Jeff’s rough handling was so unlike Ethan’s tender, loving touch.

  Annalise endured his painful manhandling; thinking he would settle down and it would get better. Then, he had pushed her on her back and opened her legs in order to get a better look at what he’d acquired. The scars were healing, the doctor said her progress had been monumental. But Jeffrey recoiled in horror. “My God, what’s wrong with you?”

  She had not hid the rape, but his only question to her had been “Was there sexual penetration by the attacker?” Ashamed, she had tried to explain she’d been raped with an object and not a male penis. This had seemed to satisfy Jeffrey’s sense of misplaced decency. Later, she wondered what he would have done if she had told him of the nights of passion she had shared with Ethan and the countless times he had brought her to earth-shattering orgasms. If he had known that, Jeffrey would have never married her.

  Annalise wished a thousand times she had been honest. For when Jeffrey had seen her ruined body; the scars on her thighs, the remnants of the evidence of the surgical reconstruction of her vulva, he had thrown up violently over the side of the bed. After he’d recovered from his nausea, he had told her to get dressed. Jeffrey had driven her back to her parents’ house and left her there. He had assured her their marriage would be annulled as soon as possible.

  Despite the humiliation, Annalise had counted it as a valuable lesson learned. Far better to see those looks of revulsion on the face of someone she had little or no feelings for, than to see them on the face of someone she adored, namely Ethan.

  Annalise rolled to one side and buried her head in the pillow. The wonderful memories of Ethan were all she would ever have. She considered the endless years of celibacy that loomed ahead of her and knew she would live vicariously in the pages of her own books, writing of love she would never know again.

  * * * *

  Jeff Ramsey crept around the lake house hoping to find an unlocked door. He didn’t know what he was going to say to the bitch, but he was determined to make her pay for all of the shit she had put him through. He needed money and she had it. Prison had taken away a lot of his choices. No other church was going to hire him and being a youth director and song leader was all he knew. On top of that, he had developed a nasty habit: gambling. He was in so much trouble. If he didn’t get his hands on some dough soon he might not have any hands at all.

  His slut of a wife with her Frankenstein scars had more money than she could count. And she owed him big time. Glancing through the garage window, he was surprised to find her car gone. The bitch wasn’t here! He had to find her; Sebastian had given him a firm deadline. He had thirty days to come up with the cash or there would be hell to pay. Maybe if he could get in there would be some clue as to where she was. Perhaps he would just wait on her. Yeah!

  Cursing, he realized there wasn’t an unlocked window or door on the place. Coming around to the front porch, he saw a couple of newspapers laying there, untouched. What if she was planning to be gone for a while? What would he do then? If he could just get in maybe he could find some clue as to where she was, he doubted she left cash just laying around. Seeing an overturned flowerpot, he realized Annalise may have picked up her mother’s habit of hiding a key in what he always considered an obvious place. Flipping the terracotta container over, sure enough there it was.

  Jeff hastily unlocked the door. Opening it a crack, he slipped in. Damn! He realized there was an
alarm panel. Shit! He hadn’t seen the security decal on any window, but apparently his porn-writing wife had more sense than he gave her credit for. He knew he only had a few seconds before the alarm went off. Hell! He didn’t even know her birth date, so there was no reason to start punching in random numbers to disable the alarm.

  About that time the phone rang, the answering machine picked it up after one ring and Jeff was able to hear the caller. “Ms. Ramsey, this is Rayburn Security. We are calling to let you know we have been alerted that someone has entered your home and neglected to disable the security system. Pick up if you can hear me.” Jeff just stood there and listened. After a few moments, the voice resumed talking. “Ms. Ramsey, we will be sending someone shortly to check things out.” The call disconnected. Jeff knew he had a few minutes to play with. After all Annalise’s house was in the middle of nowhere. He walked to the phone, planning to delete the message. Hitting the wrong button, the device began to play the previous message.

  “Annalise, this is Cecile. I guess you’ve already left. I’m praying you’ll have fun. There is no one that deserves happiness more than you. I don’t tell you this very often, but I value our friendship. Our association is about more than those great books you write. Remember that, will you? You’re going to find out quickly that I helped fate along just a bit. I knew who owned Lost Maple when I urged you to go there. I stayed there the last time I went to the Hill Country. It didn’t take me long to realize the Ethan Stewart that you’ve immortalized in your books was the same gorgeous man that runs the best B&B in the state. I know you’re going to be there at least two weeks, so I’m praying for a miracle. Regardless, I know the words are going to come flowing out of that sensually fertile mind of yours. Call me when you get this message, so I can apologize. Lord, I hope you’re not mad at me.”

  Jeff smiled. He knew where to find her now. It was time to pay his wife a little visit.

  * * * *

  When the numbers on the digital clock read seven pm, Annalise checked on Tiny, locked the door of her cabin and walked the few steps to the main house. Before she took three steps, her cell phone rang. “Hello, Annalise Ramsey speaking.” She expected it to be Cecile. She was wrong.

  “Ms. Ramsey, this is Rayburn Security. The alarm at your home was set off. A message was sent to the local law enforcement agency. They went and checked everything and found the home locked and no evidence of a break-in. This is just a courtesy call to inform you of the malfunction. We think the alarm could have been set off due to a power surge.”

  “Thank you.” Annalise closed her phone. Everything was fine. Her house was secure and no harm done. So why did she still feel uneasy? Oh, well. She would worry about it later. Right now she had Ethan on the brain.

  She tapped lightly on the door and in only seconds Ethan himself let her in. Before she knew what was happening, he leaned in and placed his lips at the corner of her mouth in greeting—a soft, sweet kiss. It took everything she possessed to keep from turning her head the fraction it would have taken for their lips to meet completely. He took her by the hand and led her through the front room into their private living area. Annalise admired the tasteful decorations, someone had lovingly turned this place into a home. How wonderful it would have been to make this house a home for him, to prepare his meals, to care for his clothes, to please him in bed. Mentally she shook herself; she had to maintain control her very sanity depended on it.

  She could hear jovial male laughter coming from the kitchen and that is where Ethan led her. Alex, whom she had met earlier, was slicing a loaf of garlic bread. The younger brother, Bobby, was setting a very attractive table. These three men appeared to have no need for a woman’s touch. The Stewart men exhibited excellent taste. When they walked into the room, the other two brothers stopped what they were doing to look at her. Ethan had not turned her hand loose. He made the formal introductions. “Alex, Bobby, this is Lise Evans, uh, Ramsey. Lise these are my little brothers.” Both men came over and solemnly shook the hand she had to pry from Ethan’s grip.

  “It’s wonderful to meet you both,” Annalise spoke sincerely.

  The meal was stupendous, but the company was better. Soon the room was full of laughter. “You should see these old ladies lust after Ethan. When he walks by they act as if a Greek god just stepped down from Mount Olympus. But he is totally oblivious.” Annalise did not doubt it for a moment. Alex regaled them with other tales of the unwanted female attention Ethan received from all of the Red Hat ladies that tended to flock to Lost Maples. Bobby entertained them with stories about UT’s famous football coach, Mack Brown, and the legendary quarterback, Colt McCoy. Annalise and Ethan shared amusing antidotes about their miniature dachshunds and their peculiar, precious habits.

  Bobby was so taken with Annalise and the change that had come over his normally sad older brother he spoke up without thinking. “This is great! We haven’t laughed this much since before Ethan married Francine.” All grew quiet.

  Annalise couldn’t help but be surprised. She placed her hand over the place where the scar from the fishhook still showed plainly on her breast. That was the only scar she hoped would never fade. “You married Francine?” A niggling doubt and a faded memory were trying to push its way to the forefront. For the moment she ignored it. This news topped even Ethan’s revelation of the missed phone call and made the identity of his ex-wife that much more devastating.

  There was no condemnation in Annalise’s voice, nevertheless, for a moment Ethan paled at her question. “Yeah…not the smartest move I ever made.”

  “You can say that again,” Bobby chimed in. Alex punched his brother, who grunted from the blow.

  Annalise attempted to place everyone at ease. “Francine is a beautiful woman.”

  “She’s not as pretty as you are,” Bobby was having trouble keeping his mouth closed.

  “There are many kinds of pretty, Bobby,” Annalise explained. “There is sophisticated, elegant beauty and then there is pleasant attractiveness.”

  “More correctly, there is the cool beauty of a marble statue and then there is the warm, giving, sexy beauty of a real woman.” Ethan’s soft words sent shivers down her back.

  Alex got up. “Bobby, let’s take the dog for a walk and run a check on the cabins.”

  “We already did that,” Bobby protested.

  “Let’s do it again.” Alex pulled his brother to his feet and Ethan and Annalise were left alone.

  “Lise, my marriage to Francine was the worst mistake I ever made.” He left his seat and came to kneel by her chair.

  Unwillingly, her hand strayed to his soft, dark hair. She couldn’t resist soothing him as best she could. “She was determined to have you, Ethan. It was only a matter of time; you never really had a choice in the matter.”

  “It wouldn’t have happened if you had been here.”

  “What ifs will drive us crazy, Ethan.” His hand came up and rubbed her knee in slow, soft circles. She got up and walked away, needing to put distance between them.

  Desperate, thinking quickly, he decided to try another tactic.

  “Will you go out to dinner with me tomorrow? Just dinner—that’s all I ask.”

  “I don’t know, Ethan.” What would it accomplish—just more torture for her.

  He might be sorry, but he just had to know. “Have I changed, Lise? Do you still find me sexually attractive? Don’t you want me anymore?”

  She couldn’t believe the question. “What?” He must be kidding. The problem wasn’t with him it lay with her. “Ethan, you are much more handsome now than you were before and you were delectable then.”

  Delectable, huh? That had to be good. He continued to push the envelope. “But are you physically attracted to me, now, tonight?”

  Annalise bowed her head and shut her eyes. She stood up and walked to the back door of the kitchen. She knew that a path from the door led directly to her cabin. He stood up to follow her. She pointed one small finger at him. “Stay right where y
ou are. I will answer you, but you must promise me something.” He didn’t answer her. “Promise!” she demanded.

  “Okay, anything.” He had to know.

  “I will answer you and then I am walking out of here—you cannot follow me. I have to be by myself for just a little while. My emotions are in complete tatters. I need to think. Do you promise?” Her face was flushed, her breathing erratic.

  He thought she was the most beautiful thing God had ever created. “I will promise not to follow you, if you will promise to have dinner with me tomorrow.” He was beginning to enjoy this.

  She conceded, exasperated. “All right, I will have dinner with you.”

  “So, answer me. Are you physically attracted to me? Do you remember what it was like making love with me? Do you still want me, Lise?”

  A look of anguish came over her face that totally threw him for a loop. But her answer was music to his ears. “Yes, I find you more attractive than any man I have ever met. I remember every detail of every time we made love. I have relived it in my mind and in my fantasies, every facet of the incredible hours we shared, over and over again. And yes, I want you so much it hurts. I ache for you. I am starved for you, but—that’s where it must end. I don’t intend—I cannot allow myself to do anything about it.” With that amazing revelation, she was gone.

  Ethan was smiling. “Well, we’ll just see about that, won’t we?”

  Chapter Four

  Annalise flew back to the cabin, running as if the devil himself were chasing her. When she finally got the key in the door, she entered, slammed it shut, locked it and even engaged the dead bolt. She slid down the door and sat on the floor. If he came after her now, she didn’t think she would have the strength to reject him. Why did she said those things she? She knew why, because they were true! Oh, God they were true! All of the longing was still there. And now, she had foolishly promised to go out to dinner with him. How could she sit across from him and pretend everything was normal?