Mountain Song (13 page)

It was Claudia’s turn
to bristle, but she kept silent, wondering if Andy would be surprised to know
that she lived in a two-bedroom apartment. Clearly he still thought she was
living high off her father’s money. Well, the only way to battle that
perception, unfortunately, was to show him with her words and actions. Protesting
would just deepen his conviction that she was the same spoiled debutante she
used to be.

Not that it mattered,
really. She was here to give him some news that was guaranteed to take his mind
off of everything else. And render his opinion of her a lot less important.

“I...have some things
I need to say to you,” she began.

“Me too,” Andy said,
ducking a hand beneath her elbow and steering her through the living room. “I—the
last time we spoke—that is, when I was leaving the other night—”

Claudia allowed
herself to be led to a bright, open kitchen. Simple maple cabinets and tumbled
stone floors gave the room a definite masculine air, and the copper pots
hanging from the ceiling looked as though they saw little use. A bachelor’s
kitchen.

Claudia slid onto a
barstool as Andy circled the counter and began chopping a pile of vegetables
across from her. It didn’t seem likely that he was going to finish his
sentence, so Claudia did it for him.

“Your shirt,” she
reminded him, attempting a smile, managing only an awkward grimace. “You were
in a terrific hurry to get back your shirt. You must be especially attached to
it.”

Her lame attempt at
humor fell between them, making the silence worse. Andy hacked at a green
pepper, coming dangerously close to taking off the end of his thumb, and
frowned.

“Take it easy there,”
Claudia added. “I really appreciate the dinner invitation, but there’s no need
for you to spill blood over it.”

Andy paused, the knife
inches above the board. Slowly he lowered his hand and gazed at her. “Sorry. I’m
not sure how to begin here. I...enjoyed the time we spent together the other
night, to say the least.”

Claudia nodded her
ascent.

“It seems that some
things haven’t changed. Aw, hell, Claudia, I don’t know how to put this
delicately. I’m trying to say—”

“I know,” Claudia cut
in hastily. It didn’t seem right to let him continue down this road, given what
she had to tell him. “Last night meant a lot to me. Will always mean a lot to
me. But there’s something else we need to talk about.”

Now it was her turn to
be at a loss for words, but Andy seemed relieved that she’d interrupted him. He
moved around the kitchen, selecting a bottle from a wine rack. He examined the
label and uncorked it. Poured them each a glass. Swirling the ruby contents, he
hesitated before speaking again.

“Are you, you know,
starving or anything?”

Claudia smiled,
grateful for the diversion. “Actually, no. What with everything that’s
happened, and worrying about Bea, I’ve kind of lost my appetite.”

“That’s good,” Andy
said gravely.

“Good?”

“Yeah—I’m afraid
my cooking hasn’t improved at all in the last five years.”

“Oh. Guess I should have stopped off at—”

“—Ling’s Chinese
Delicacies,” Andy finished for her, a ghost of a grin around his lips. “We sure
ate a lot of meals from them. Probably kept ‘em in business, at that. They
closed not long after...you know.”

His smile faded. Then
he squared his shoulders and pushed a glass of wine in her direction. “Let’s
sit where it’s comfortable, as long as we’re not going to eat right away. There’s
a view from my den you might like.”

Claudia followed him. Off
the kitchen, on the side of the house, steps led up half a flight to an angled
room, with a desk in one corner beneath book-crammed shelves, and a single
couch placed to look out the wide bay window.

Claudia slowly lowered
herself to the overstuffed couch, unable to take her eyes off the view. The
room skimmed the tops of a few trees, and beyond the land sloped down to the
town below. Twilight was fading into evening, and lights were coming on in the
semi-darkness. Beyond, mountains rose up in inky splendor, and a few ribbons of
purple and orange were evidence that the sun had set beyond not long before.

“Wow,” was all she
could manage.

Andy took his seat
next to her. “It’s the best feature of the house. Sold me on the place, in
fact.”

“You didn’t build it?”

“No. I wish I could
take credit, but I suppose I lack the imagination. I’m strictly left-brain, I’m
afraid. You were always the creative one.”

Once again, the past
intruded on the present, silencing them both. Andy stared out into the
deepening night, his expression unreadable, and Claudia sipped her wine. It was
delicious, woodsy and smoky and rich, and she let it burn down her throat and
warm her heart just a little before she carefully set the glass down on a small
table.

“Uh, I know you want
to settle this thing about Bea,” Andy finally said.

“Actually, that’s not—”

“Let me just reiterate
that I’m certain we can find a situation that will suit everyone. If you’ll
just give me a chance to show you some of the options, I’m sure you’ll feel a
lot better.”

Claudia sighed. “Look.
If I promise to come and look at one of these nursing homes—”

“Assisted living is
what I have in mind.”

“Whatever. If I look
at the thing, will you finally stop pestering me about it?”

“Deal,” Andy said. “Although
I’m sure we’ll both agree that Bea’s feelings should weigh heavily in the final
decision.”

“Of course.”

“All right then.”

The subject seemed
closed. Claudia was relieved they hadn’t gone another round on the subject of
Bea’s future, and then immediately felt guilty. Bea’s needs were the most
important right now, weren’t they? Although you wouldn’t know it from her own
behavior, Claudia thought remorsefully.

Once she’d convinced
herself to tell Andy the truth about Paul, she’d moved with single-minded
determination. Coming here tonight, for instance, when she really should have
been with Bea. The orthopedist had been scheduled to stop by, to talk about the
upcoming surgery. Claudia should have been at her side.

More lights winked on
in the valley. The road up to Andy’s was a sparkling strand of jewels in the
dark forest. Claudia took a deep breath.

“I really think—”

“So what do you—”

They tripped over each
others words, then laughed nervously. “What I meant to say,” Claudia began
again.

And then her words
trailed off as Andy silenced her with a finger laid against her lips. He
followed that with a single kiss, soft, brief, but not the least bit tentative.

And then he sat back
and regarded her, eyes thoughtful.

Claudia was too
startled to react at first. And then her body returned a volley of its own,
heat pooling low in her belly, the echo of sensation on her lips leaving her
hungering for more.

She wanted him, more
powerfully today than yesterday, more even than she did all those years ago, if
she were to be completely honest with herself. Time had done nothing to dull
their attraction. Worse, having loved after so long a hiatus, her body yearned
to repeat the experience, responding immediately to his touch.

“I have some things of
my own to say,” Andy said softly, resting an arm on the back of the couch so
that he could play with the strands of hair at the back of her neck. His touch
sent shivers down her back and she leaned into it without thinking. “I know you
have...someone.”

“He’s—”

“Let me finish,
Claudia. This is hard, and I want to, well, get it all out. I know you love
someone else. But you aren’t committed yet. All I’m asking for...”

He leaned forward,
took another kiss, lingering this time, pausing to taste her parted lips. “...is
a chance to share my own feelings for you. To show you how good we could be. Again.”

He reached for her
again, but Claudia drew back, stopping him with two fingers lightly pressed on
his chin.

Just what were those feelings
, she wanted to ask. But she knew that was not
the sort of discussion Andy Woods undertook easily. Clearly it had cost him a
lot even to say what he had.

Words that took her
completely off-guard. When they’d spent the night together—part of the
night, anyway—Claudia had assumed it was nothing more for Andy than a
surrender to the passions of the moment. Fatigue, stress, some kind of
misplaced nostalgia, whatever. She didn’t for a moment allow herself to think
he intended anything...

Serious
? Was that the word?

But as Claudia
struggled to sort it out, Andy gently removed her hand from his chin. Lacing
his fingers through hers, he leaned forward and claimed her mouth again,
catching her as she fell back against his hand still entwined in her hair. Claudia
gasped as his kiss followed the line of her jaw, stopping to nuzzle in the
hollow below her ear. He tugged gently at her earlobe with his lips, and his
hot breath sent a shiver of pure arousal through her body.

Her objections
forgotten, Claudia threw her head back, exposing her long neck to Andy’s kiss. As
he traced the ridge of her collarbone with his tongue, she eased her hands
under the tail of his polo shirt, greedily splaying her fingers on his smooth,
burnished skin of his back, pressing him closer to her.

Andy ran a hand down
the front of her cotton dress, pausing to tease her nipple into arousal with a
flick of his thumb, then easing around her waist.

“Where’s the damn
zipper on this thing?” he growled into her neck.

“In back,” Claudia
breathed raggedly. This wasn’t a good idea, some stubborn part of her brain
protested, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember why.

In seconds Andy had
found the clasp and loosed the fabric, easing the sleeveless dress over Claudia’s
shoulders. Her skin was cool, impossibly cool and smooth against his own hot,
fervent caresses. He bent to taste her pale shoulder; encouraged by her shiver
of response, he ran his jaw along the tender skin of the inside of her arm, the
rough stubble scraping. He was rewarded with a guttural moan as Claudia locked
her arms around him, pulling her closer.

Andy slid his hands
under her bottom, spreading his fingers over the curves, enjoying the way she
fit perfectly against him. She rocked her hips upward against his hardness, and
his desire ratcheted upwards into a dull ache.

“Claudia,” he managed,
his voice hoarse, “I took the liberty of making a trip to the drugstore
for...supplies. Would you excuse me for a second?”

In response she
released her embrace and made way for him to ease off the couch.

In less than a minute
he was back, the delay only serving to heighten his anticipation. But he found
Claudia sitting up, arms wrapped around her knees, staring at him with eyes
even wider than usual.

“Andy,” she said
uncertainly.

She didn’t have to
continue. He read the query in those golden depths, a challenge he’d failed
once before.

And in a flash he was
back in that crummy apartment on a day early in March. Weak afternoon light
filtered through the windows as a few errant flakes of snow cast about outside.
Claudia had made a pot of tea, some citrusy blend that Bea had concocted the
summer before, and the scent filled the room. Andy had glanced up from his
book, a dense human biology text, and it had occurred to him for the hundredth
time how Claudia’s presence changed everything.

It was a such a
depressing little room. There were his bed and desk and an old dinette set with
two chairs, all from the thrift shop. The floor’s finish had long since rubbed
off, and the walls desperately needed patching and paint.

But there was Claudia,
sitting cross-legged on the floor and blowing steam across her mug, wearing one
of his old sweatshirts and her underwear. Nothing else. Already the sight of
her had distracted him from his studying for several hours, and he had to be at
the slopes to work the night ski shift before long, and he’d hoped to cover two
more chapters...

“Andy,” she said
thoughtfully, setting her mug down on the floor beside her and wrapping her
arms around her smooth, bare legs. With her chin propped on her knees, she
looked so innocent; and yet there was that expanse of silky skin, the calves he’d
molded his hands to dozens of times.

He felt the stirrings
of passion and tried to calculate how late he’d have to stay up to finish off
those chapters, if he went to her now.

“I’ve been thinking,”
Claudia continued as Andy put the book aside and went to sit down on the floor
next to her. She made it look so comfortable, her supple body folded like an
origami swan, but he found the floor hard and unforgiving as he pulled her to
him, resting her back against his chest, fitting his chin over the top of her
head, breathing her faint perfume.