Always in My Dreams (49 page)

Walker sucked in his breath. The edge was back in his voice. "I've never treated you like a whore."

Skye had the grace to look away. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." She raised her eyes to him again. "But you never mentioned marriage until you knew I was Jay Mac's daughter."

"It doesn't mean I didn't think about it," he said. "Or do you think I'd be anyone's whore?"

Skye's head retracted as if she'd been slapped. When he reached for her, she stepped back. "I suppose you think I deserved that," she said. "But I didn't. It wasn't an accusation, merely a point. I know you didn't accept money from my father, yet I don't see how the fact that I am Jay Mac's daughter couldn't have influenced your proposal."

Walker sighed. The hand he had held out to her was raised now, and he rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head slowly. "It influenced the timing, nothing else. You could have been the Cavanaughs' daughter and it would have been the same." She wanted to believe him, he could tell, but a lifetime of suspecting the motives of others had made her doubt herself. "I don't need any money you bring to our marriage," he said. "Not only don't I need it, I don't want it. I earn an adequate wage. Not to your father's standards, but sufficient for our needs. Jay Mac asked me if I could care for you. I satisfied him on that account. How do I satisfy you?"

"Oh, Walker," Skye said softly. She stepped toward him, tentatively at first, then again, and then a final time that put her within the slender space of a moment from him. She raised eyes that glistened with unshed tears. "You satisfy me so well it frightens me."

"I didn't mean—"

She raised a finger to his mouth. "Shh. I know what you meant." Her hand dropped away and rested on his shoulder. She laid her forehead against his chest. "Be patient with me, Walker. I've never loved anyone before, not this way. I wasn't expecting it. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be returned." She felt his hands go around the small of her back. "I don't seem to know what to do with myself." Skye's breath caught on a sob that she couldn't quite contain. Her tears were making a wet track on his shirt. "Except make both of us miserable. I'm getting good at that."

Walker rested his chin against the crown of her hair. He held her close. "I thought you were only curious about me," he said quietly. "I was afraid to mistake your interest for love. I thought once you had your questions answered, you'd be bored and be done."

Skye found a handkerchief in his pocket and used it to dry her eyes. "You must think I'm shallow."

"I thought you were infatuated."

"If you're trying to extricate your foot from your mouth, you're not doing a very good job of it." She pushed the handkerchief back in his pocket. "I've been infatuated before, but never once with you."

Walker didn't know whether to be alarmed or pleased.

"I love you," she said, raising her face. The depth of her feeling was in the gravity of her voice, in the darkening centers of her somber eyes. "How do I satisfy you?"

"I'll show you." His head lowered. His mouth came across hers. The kiss was soft, searching. He felt the fullness of her response as she raised herself on tiptoe and leaned against him. Her arms circled his neck. Her breasts were pressed flush to his chest. Their lips parted, their tongues exchanged a touch, a taste. The fragrance of her hair was released when he took the combs from it. It spilled down her back. His fingers sifted through the silken, fiery threads. It was like a flame licking at his flesh.

Still holding her, Walker drew back slightly. Skye's mouth was damp and swollen from the kiss. Her face was flushed. The black centers of her eyes were dreamy and unfocused. "Tell me you don't regret this marriage," he said.

She was off balance enough that had he wanted to hear the sky was green, she would have complied. It was comforting to know that she wasn't compelled to lie. "I don't regret this marriage," she said huskily. She touched his lips briefly with hers. "No regret." She kissed him again. "None." Her arms fell away from his neck. She took him by the hand and led him into the bedroom.

The bed was already turned down. The lamp on the table beside it was lit. A few flowers from the vase had been removed and were lying on the plump pillows. Skye looked at Walker sideways. "Wishful thinking?" she asked.

He shook his head and answered solemnly. "Prayer."

She loved that he could make her laugh.

Skye was still smiling when he laid her back on the bed and covered her with his body. He nudged her nose with his, growled lowly, and swept away her amusement with a hard, hot kiss. Their naked bodies twisted under the sheets. His mouth traveled from her lips to her jaw. He made a damp line along her neck to the base of her throat. He went lower, taking the tip of her breast into his mouth. She arched as fire radiated from her nipple to her belly. Her legs parted around him. He came into her.

He didn't move immediately. She liked the stillness of him, the heaviness filling her, the denial that made his face taut and the anticipation sweeter. In the end it was Skye who lifted her hips, Skye who set the rhythm of their joining. It was her hands that gripped his shoulders and held him close.

She whispered in his ear, "I love you."

His climax was hard. Skye absorbed the shudder that released the tension and pleasure, and her body vibrated in turn. Her heart thrummed. Sensation washed through her limbs in undulating waves. There was a rush of sound in her ears and the delicious taste of his mouth on hers. Champagne kisses were intoxicating.

Walker rolled away and lay back on his own pillow. He lifted his head, pulled a crushed flower from under it, and handed it to Skye. She smoothed the damaged petals and tucked it behind her ear. He wished he had thought of it. The effect was exotic, beautiful.

"You're staring at me," she whispered.

He thought he could do it for the rest of his life and never get his fill. "I know," he said. He lifted himself on one elbow when she lay back. "I like looking at you." Walker dropped a kiss on her mouth. The flower's fragrance mingled with the scent of lavender in her hair. "You're going to have to get used to it."

"It will take a long time."

That suited him. "I'll give you a long time," he said. "Years. Scores of them."

She turned into him and Walker accommodated her body, slipping his arm under her head. "How soon do you have to go back to Baileyboro?" she asked. She felt him tense. "Did you think I didn't know you'd have to return? That's what you were trying to tell me this evening. It's what you were leading up to." His fingers were trailing across the outer curve of her breast. "Well," she said slowly, slyly, acknowledging that his seduction had been successful. "Part of what you were leading up to."

He grimaced. "I'm that transparent?"

"Like glass." One of her hands slipped under the sheet and she patted his chest consolingly, just above his heart. "But I think it's because I love you."

He had to trust that she meant it. Taking her hand, he squeezed gently. "I should go back tomorrow."

She nodded. "In the morning?"

"I don't know the train schedule. If there's something in the afternoon, I can wait until then. Parnell's expecting you to return with me," he said. "I didn't tell you that. I was supposed to follow you, find out who you were working for, then bring you back to Baileyboro. Parnell suspects the threats on his life are because of the multiple contracts."

Skye sat up suddenly, drawing the sheet to her breasts. The flower dropped on her lap, and she picked it up and twirled it between her fingers, using it as an extension of her hand to make a point. "Parnell knows I work for Jay Mac. He was in the house, remember? He thought I was a servant when he gave me the message for my father. I never saw him but he saw me. When I arrived at the Granville mansion, when I walked into the interview, he had to have been suspicious."

"When you walked into that room, he wanted you. That's why he hired you. It's why he wants you back." Walker sat up and leaned against the headboard. "I'm sure he remembered you from that night because he wouldn't accept that I didn't believe you were a housekeeper. I didn't understand that he had evidence that pointed to the contrary." Walker watched Skye's twirling slow. The flower petals ceased to be a blur of color. "He suspects now that you were sent there by Jay Mac, that it has to do with the engine, but a lot of that's my doing. From the beginning I tried to convince him that you were a threat."

"But why?"

"To get you away from there. I saw how he looked at you. He never bothered any of the other servants. Jenny Adams is too old. The twins were always together. No one except Corina lived at the house. I'd heard rumors about the housekeeper before you, though. She left without notice and I never could find out where she went."

"You tried?"

"I thought she might know something that could help me. I didn't try very hard. There wasn't much opportunity."

"I don't remember her name."

"Mrs. Givens. She was a widow."

"Like Annie," Skye said softly. "Do you think Annie's in any danger?"

He shook his head.
"You're
the one who'd be in danger. If I took you back, that is."

She frowned. "If? You're considering not doing it?"

"I'm not considering it at all. I've decided. You'll remain here with your parents. There's some work you can do for me." He got out of bed and walked naked to the armoire. He opened it and took out his dressing gown. He shrugged into it while he hunkered down and pulled his valise from the bottom of the wardrobe. He opened it and took out the list he had reviewed with Jay Mac earlier in the day. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he handed it to Skye and watched her unfold it. "It's an attendance list for the science and technological exposition. Those are the men who've indicated they plan to be there for some part of the three-day event. It's a partial list at best. I'm sure there'll be others who arrive unannounced." Her finger was trailing along the column of names, pausing briefly when she came to one that had been circled.

"I want you to go to every circled name and find out who has a contract with Parnell. If you can find out what they've financed, that would be better. You can ignore the names I've checked. I've overheard Parnell discussing contracts with those men with Corina."

"The contracts are in his desk in the library," Skye told him.

"I've looked there. There's nothing."

"I'm sure they're there. What else would agitate Parnell when he found me sitting at his desk? I wasn't poking around. I didn't know then to look for anything, but he didn't realize that. His behavior didn't make sense to me, but I know I didn't imagine it." She tapped the flower against her chin as she thought. "You looked in the hidden drawers, didn't you?"

"Hidden drawers?"

Her mouth pulled to one side as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I suppose that means you didn't." She sighed. "Parnell's desk is a copy of one I'm familiar with. It's riddled with secret drawers. They're not even hard to find if you know what you're looking for."

"How did you come by this information?"

She permitted herself a smug smile. "I told you I've studied lots of things. Antiques are a particular interest. So is the Granville history." She placed the flower on the bedside table and gave Walker back his list. "You need me," she said. "And Parnell wants me. I'm going back with you."

"No."

"Jay Mac can speak to all the men on your list. He'd do it better than I. They'll meet with him. Even if they gave me an audience they wouldn't believe me."

"No."

"This isn't only about an engine, Walker. It's about a treasure."

He didn't say no this time. He didn't say anything at all.

Skye was encouraged. Coming up on her knees, she let the sheet drop and slid her arms around his neck. The list slipped through Walker's fingers. She tumbled him onto the bed and whispered in his ear. "I'll tell you all about it on the train."

Chapter 15

"It's all right here," Skye said. The Granville family history lay open on her lap. The movement of the train jounced the heavy volume. Skye steadied it with two fingers. They were past West Point now. She had refused to open it earlier, afraid Walker would find some excuse to put her off the train. It would be more difficult now and he had to know she would follow him.