Echoes of Tomorrow (9 page)

While the music still played in the background he took a few steps forward, enclosed the tips of her fingers in his, and bent to kiss the back of her hand.  As he peered up at her through thick, black lashes, he turned her hand to kiss her palm and then placed it against his cheek. 

"May I...have the pleasure of this dance?"

A bolt of electricity seared a fiery trail from Elise's fingers to her heart.  Before it exploded, she slipped into his arms, as if she'd been doing it for years. 

She glowed with inner happiness.  Reed sucked in his breath,  and she knew his heartbeat had quickened.

They stood poised, seemingly captured in time.  Then Reed stepped and began the fulfillment of Elise's dream.

With just a few movements She absorbed Reed's rhythm and they moved as one.  She knew instinctively what he would do next.  As the music swelled, their dancing intensified into more complicated steps.  Elise never missed a beat.  She turned, spun, followed every move Reed led her through.

They circled the dance floor.  She relaxed and gazed around her.  She caught the shimmering rainbows that glistened from the chandelier.  She saw the out-of-season fire burning cozily in its grate.  Best of all, with each turn she could see herself and Reed reflected in the many mirrors lining the walls.   Reed moved her about the room with an assurance that came from complete self-confidence, and she saw herself swirling, snug in his arms, her generous silk skirts flowing and belling out around her with a gracefulness that belied her ability.

It was everything she had dreamed it would be, and more.

Oh, I want this to last forever.

There were many more dances after the first one, and the more she danced the more playful she became.  After they'd exhausted Elise's meager supply of classicals she picked a selection of her own.

"Now I'll teach you a few steps," she said mischievously.  "You've never seen these where you come from."

When the chords from an organ, sounding amazingly like a hymn, filled the room, Reed turned a quizzical look toward Elise.  Just at that moment the tempo changed.  It became quick and upbeat and the male singer sang about "faith."  Elise began to move in a very seductive, unusual manner.  She stood alone, swaying, moving her arms and legs.  To Reed this was very similar to the Voodoo dances he'd witnessed as a boy while safely hidden behind thick bushes.  She threw her head back.  A look of pure sensuality flowed into her face and translated into her movements.

She seemed to be in a world of her own.  "This is an old one, but it's one of my favorite songs," she whispered, her eyes closed. 

Her movements become more suggestive by the minute.  If she kept this up, he just might take some of those suggestions seriously.  Finally she seemed to focus on him again and grabbed his hand.

"C'mon.  You try.  It's easy!"  She backed away and motioned for him to mimic her.

Reed self-consciously began to move, ever so slightly.  There was no way he could duplicate some of the things she was doing.  But when he looked at Elise, her eyebrow quirked with a "you can do better than that" look on her face, the competitor in him rose.  Before long he felt more than adequate, and Elise was lavish in her praise.  It was ironic that she praised him for doing something that, in his time, would have gotten him banned from every drawing room in New Orleans. 

During a slower song she grabbed his hands and led him into a waltz.  She openly enjoyed his look of shock as she took the lead.  He decided to humor her and followed with only a slight amount of effort.  She began to incorporate some of her own steps into the dance and all went well for several minutes.  Before long, however, she started to giggle, and he had trouble keeping his own laughter in check.  Elise missed a step and their feet tangled hopelessly.  They found themselves side-stepping quickly to regain their balance, but before they knew what happened they both pitched forward to the floor.  Reed managed to throw himself around to cushion Elise's fall.

This only produced more laughter, which bounced off the mirrored walls and echoed throughout the ballroom.  The longer they laid there the harder they laughed.

As the last giggle worked it's way up Elise's throat she raised her head to smile at Reed.  With a jolt that penetrated every nerve of her body she became acutely aware of her position atop Reed, as well as his...condition...beneath her.  The look on his face was so intense, a look of wonder, of pain, and of longing, that Elise was completely at a loss.

Just as she looked away uncomfortably and started to roll off of him, Reed wrapped an arm around her and gently lifted her chin.

"Don't go," he whispered, and raised his head to softly kiss her.  The softness gave way to a long-denied hunger, and the pair slowly rolled over until Elise was beneath him.

She found herself on the receiving end of his unleashed passion.  It swept over her like a tidal wave, merging his emotions with her own, then rushing to engulf them both like an oncoming tide of heat.

She totally surrendered to his kiss, and as the moments stretched on, she gave as much as Reed.

She was amazed at her reaction.  She had discovered years ago that giving too much equaled pain and a battered ego, among other things.  She had become an expert at pulling away and suppressing her natural inclination to open up her heart.  Too many men, one in particular, had used her feelings to wipe their feet on and inflate their egos.

She shoved those thoughts from her mind and concentrated on the fiery sensations Reed created.  She was rewarded with a rumbling groan as he pulled her closer to him, so close she could actually feel his heart beating against her chest.

As their kisses continued, the tension drained from her body only to be replaced with a warm languor so intense
could have been she drugged.  An almost forgotten ache spiraled through her.  An ache that seemed to penetrate her very soul.  She welcomed it back joyously, for she had despaired of ever feeling it again.  Oh, dear Lord, it had been so long.

From her past experiences, Elise expected the usual kisses to graduate to a more frenzied pace.  Next the hands would begin to roam and grope.  She was surprised, and this time disappointed, when Reed slowed his kisses and gently pulled away.  She moaned as his lips left hers, and when she finally opened her eyes she found him smiling gently down at her.

When he moved to rise, she stayed his progress by cupping her hands tenderly behind his head.

"Please don't stop," she whispered, swallowing her pride and hoping she didn't sound desperate.

He continued to rise until he stood over her.  As he straightened he grinned down at her with a look that melted her bones.

"I have no intention of stopping, little one."  He bent and swept her into his arms, her skirts trailing beneath her.  When he spoke in a low, gentle voice her heart missed a beat.  "I also have no intention of making love to you for the first time on a hard, wooden floor.  First times are made for memories.  And believe me, I want you to remember this."

*******

The memory was better than any fantasy ever hoped to be.

Elise's mind came slowly awake, and she snuggled closer to Reed, backing herself tighter against his chest. In his sleep his hand tightened across her stomach and pulled her closer still. His arm scooted down to form a pillow for her head.

In the half-conscious state that sometimes precedes wakefulness, Elise's mind was a fuzzy blur.  At first she sleepily savored the lingering effects of the dream she'd had, hoping that it would become a recurring one.  But as the fog of sleep lifted, she realized the dream had been a reality.  A reality beyond anything that she had ever hoped for.

Her mind relived the hours spent after Reed had carried her upstairs, lingering over moments that even now caused her heart to pound.  She was filled with wonder at the thought of his gentleness, his infinite patience, his...slow hands.  She smiled. All men could take a lesson from the one beside her.

He had devastated her with sensations.  There were times she'd nearly cried from his overwhelming passion.  Yet the mechanics had not been all that different from the other two men who had come before - men who had left her with an emptiness that had never been filled.  Until now.

The difference, Elise realized with wonder, was not what was done, but in the attitude in which it was done.  Reed made her feel cherished.  She'd felt as if she were priceless, something he'd searched for his entire life, prepared to pay any price for.  And when he'd found her, he'd treated her as one treats anything that is totally and preciously unique.  He conveyed without words that no one in the world had ever made him feel the way she made him feel.

He had taken his time with her and made each touch and every movement seem original.  Though all their actions had been as ancient as time itself, Reed had reinvented them especially for her.

As she savored her memories and watched the light of dawn creep through the gap in the draperies, Reed's lips nuzzled softly along her neck.  Smiling, she rolled over into his embrace and let him prove to her that her waking thoughts were not mere remnants of a dream.

Reed had lain awake for some time, cherishing the warm body nestled close to his.  He couldn't believe this woman had given herself to him so completely.  If she had held anything back, then God help him when she gave her all, for she would surely kill him.

He felt a moment of red-hot jealousy when he thought of the other two men who had already known Elise in this way.  During the night she had spoken of her experiences with men only briefly, and even then with little enthusiasm.  This attitude was an enigma to him, for she certainly hadn't reacted with indifference last night, or this morning. 

At first he'd refused to accept the moral standards that would allow a decent, unmarried woman to take two separate men into her bed.  But he was forced to re-evaluate his opinion the longer he lived in the twentieth century.  It would be next to impossible to remain celibate in a society that bombarded one with sex, be it on television, in movies, or in every aspect of advertising.  But he remained steadfast in the belief of his own morals.

He wasn't proud of his lack of control last night.  He had broken his own moral code, and his only defense was that he had been overcome by the moment.  When Elise had pierced him with that heated, sea green gaze and asked him not to stop, he knew he was like the drowning man going down for the third time.  It didn't make it right, but he could have flown her plane easier than he could have resisted her body.

CHAPTER SIX

"Okay, darlin', I've been thinking.  We need to get you out and expose you to the world."  Elise slid their plates into the dishwasher, then wrung out a cloth to wipe the table.  "You've adjusted remarkably well to all the things around the house and the few ventures we've made outside.  Okay, I admit you'll never adjust to some of the TV shows.  You have to believe me when I say not everyone takes what they see on television seriously.  I mean, soap operas are about as far from reality as you can get, and those talk shows during the day...well, intelligent people just don't watch them.  People with lives don't find the sex lives of gay, transvestite hookers who marry their brothers interesting.  And that pretty much speaks for all the talk show topics."

Reed shook his head in disgust.  He'd never discussed even the most innocent aspects of nature with the opposite sex, and to have seen and heard more graphic conversations than he'd had with his male friends shocked him to the core.  He'd wanted to smash the television into a million pieces.

"Let's not discuss that, little one, it only infuriates me anew.  I just hope you plan to expose me to something more appealing than television."  This last he said with a teasing grin.

"Oh, I think it will be."  A mysterious smile curved Elise's lips.  "First, I want to take you on a tour of the plane I fly.  Unfortunately, I can't take you for a ride in it, but I can rent a Cessna and take you up."

Reed lowered his eyebrows.  She couldn't be serious.  He had no idea what a Cessna was, and he wasn't at all sure he wanted to go "up."

"C'mon.  It'll be fun.  Just imagine...doing what men have dreamed of doing for centuries, soaring through the sky with the birds, and bursting through a cloud!  Flying above a storm, with the sun above you and endless clouds below you is an experience too beautiful to describe."

The glow on Elise's face and her enticing description were too much for Reed to resist.  He'd always had an adventurous spirit, but he'd never had a chance to indulge it to any degree. And he couldn't imagine another adventure that would begin to compare to soaring above the clouds.

"When do we go?"  He slapped both hands onto the breakfast table in challenge.

"How about this afternoon?  There'll be a Boeing available at the airport, and I'll call and reserve the Cessna."

*******

One o'clock found them pulling into Moisant International.  Elise hustled Reed into the security area where she flashed her I.D. and acquired a visitor's badge for him.  In no time they were on the tarmac, headed for a 727 that had just seen the clean-up crew.