This Love Will Go On (3 page)

“Big brother has offered to take us to see his wife, the star, in the play tomorrow night and then out for a drink afterwards just like they do in the big city. Sounds like fun, huh?”

The last thing in the world she wanted was to spend an evening with the two Kincaid men.  “I…”  She couldn't say she was planning on going with Julia. Julia had gone the night before and said that Michele was very good.

Across from her, his fingers wrapped around the top of the chair, Marc went very still. “You've been putting me off for two weeks, Raine. If you don't want to see me,” that Kincaid pride flying, “just say so, okay?”

“It isn’t that I don’t want to see you, Marc.  It’s just that…well, things haven’t been very good between Jade and Michelle since she started this play and…”

“I know that.  But tomorrow night’s the last performance and after that, they’ll be kissing and making up before you know it.

Would they?
  “Shouldn’t they be left alone then?”

He squinted at her and grinned.  “For Pete’s sake.  They’re married.  They can do that when they get home.”  He rose and angled the chair back toward the wall.  “Speaking of which, when are we going to get married?”

She met his comic leer with cool silver-gray eyes.  “Well, not this afternoon.  I have to proof three galleys.”  She bent her head and began to read, hoping he would take the hint and leave.

The soft voice that reached her hardly sounded like him.  “One of these days I’m going to propose and ask you for an honest answer, Raine.”

She looked up at him, her gray eyes faintly mocking, “If I said yes, you’d be scared to death.”

“Try me,” he shot back.

In this mood, he was infinitely appealing.  “Not today,” she said lightly. “I just told you, I’ve got too much to do.”

“Tomorrow, then.”

“For dinner, or marriage?” she teased.

“Take your pick,” Marc said lightly.

She made a wry face.  “If I have to choose, I’ll certainly choose to eat.”

Marc shook his head in mock sadness.  “No romance in your soul at all, is there?”

“Actually,” her tone dryly amused, “eating is sensual.”

“Explain,” Marc said focusing his light green eyes on her.

“Having to do with the senses.”  She kept her voice carefully light.  “Three of them, actually: taste, smell and touch.”

“I can think of something that involves those three senses,” Marc said, slowly unfolding his body from the chair.

She’d started this, she wasn’t quite sure why.  Now, with Marc taking the two steps toward her, she wished she hadn’t.  She regretted the impulse that made her goad him.  But she couldn’t back out now.  “What were you thinking of?”

She turned her chair slightly, facing him.  He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet.  “Making love,” he whispered into her ear.  Unresistingly, praying she would feel something, anything, she stood in his arms.  He brushed his mouth over her cheek and then kissed her, his lips warm and practiced.  He held her gently, supporting her.  He did everything right…and it was all wrong.  He had kissed her before many times, but this time he demanded more from her, probing with his tongue.  His lips seemed foreign, like something outside her existence.  Marc was kissing her, and she had never felt so alone and lonely.  In an effort to stave off the emptiness, she lifted her arms and circled his neck, drawing him closer.

The bell on the print shop door jangled its warning and the sound echoed in her ears.  She pulled away from Marc’s embrace and looked across the desk…directly into Jade’s hard face.

There was a sudden silence, as if a movie reel had stopped.  Then Jade turned to Marc.  “I saw your car outside.”  His voice was cool and matter-of-fact.  “I just thought I’d stop in and see if you had decided to go with me tomorrow night.”

Marc slid his arm around Raine’s waist and pulled her around to stand next to him, facing Jade.  “We were just talking about it.”

“So I…saw,” Jade murmured dryly.

Raine fought to keep her body from tensing.  He smiled an indulgent smile that lifted the corners of that attractive, cynical mouth.  “What did the lady decide?”

“She didn’t really give me an answer.”  Marc turned to her.  “How about it, Raine?  Want to go?  Big brother’s footing the bill, remember.”

She met Jade’s eyes and saw a flare of emotion, but what it was, she wasn’t sure.  It was a betrayal of his feelings, though.  As if Jade were aware that something had gotten past his carefully composed face, he shuttered his eyes with amber gold lashes.

Did he want her along, or did he hate the idea of her going with them?  She couldn’t begin to guess.  She only knew she wanted to be with him.  “I…yes, thank you, I’d like to go.”

This time, there was no mistaking the mockery in Jade’s smile.

In the darkened auditorium, Raine sat between Jade and Marc.  They were hardly into the first act when Marc grasped her hand and pulled it over into his lap.  She felt the warm strength of his thigh, and wished desperately that it was touching him that made her heart beat faster.  But it wasn’t. It was sitting next to Jade, being so aware of him that she could almost feel the movement of his breathing under the soft caramel-colored suede jacket and the white silk shirt he wore.  Against Jade’s trousered leg, the ruffles of her peach-colored sundress lay like bright swatches of light.  It was incredibly intimate to sit next to him and listen to the soft sound of his breathing, to hear him chuckle as the inept hero sank deeper and deeper into trouble.

Then Michele made her entrance, and his breathing pattern altered.  Raine could feel his nerves tighten as if they were an extension of her own.  She hardly recognized Michele, and it wasn’t just because her sister was made up for the stage.  Michele
was
Tiffany, she moved and talked like a woman accustomed to a wealthy, luxurious life.  Even Raine was aware that the audience loved her, and that Michele almost stole the show.  She had…what did they call it?  Presence.

When the play was over and the lights in the auditorium came on, Jade said, “The cast is driving over to Okoboji in Iowa.  We’re meeting Michele at the Outrigger.  It’s a restaurant and bar on the lake.

Marc’s protest was immediate.  “Holy cow.  That’s eighty miles away.”

“To theatrical people the night is young,” Jade said dryly.

“I’ll bet most of them have to get up and go to work at their day jobs just like we do.”

“Some of the cast are amateur volunteers like Michele, but the leads and the director are professionals from New York City,” Raine said.

Jade gazed at her.  “Yes.”  How could he say so much with that one tiny word?

The trip seemed endless.  Her nerves alive with tension, Raine sat in the front between the two men and knew this was the last time she would ever willingly spend an entire evening with Jade.  His closeness made erotic fantasies spin through her brain like cobwebby threads of bright light.  She saw herself touching his hands, playing with the fine gold hairs that grew on the backs, turning his palm over and pressing a kiss in it.  She saw herself tracing the hard outline of his face, the square contour of his jaw, discovering the prickly roughness.  Michele complained about his beard constantly, wondering aloud how a man who was so fair could have such a rough nighttime skin.  Raine had lain awake nights afterwards, her mind alive with vivid mental pictures…pictures of Jade, gloriously male and naked in a softly lit bedroom, inviting her to touch him intimately, and finally, touching her in that place that longed for him.  Self-consciously, she ran her hands down over her skirt, gathering it away from Jade’s thighs.

They drove through Spencer, one of the larger towns in Iowa, and began the trek up along the tiny towns clustered along the highway.  Jade slowed down and she looked out the window, watching as the amusement park came into view.  The neon lights of the merry-go-round, the Tilt-a-Whirl, and the roller coaster cast a watery rainbow on the lake.  One Sunday afternoon, she’d gone with Jade and Michele to the park and after they had ridden all the rides, they’d collapsed on a grassy knoll away from the carnival atmosphere.  Jade, stretched out beside his wife, had moved closer to shade her body from the sun.  He’d lain there, propped on his elbow, staring down at his wife for a long, breathless moment while Raine’s heart seemed to stop beating.  Then he had smiled down into Michele’s face and kissed her.  Her heart burning with an ache that was beginning to be her constant companion, Raine looked away.  That gentle, possessive smile haunted her dreams for years afterward.  Would any man ever smile at her with that same combination of love, tenderness, and protection?

She forced her mind away from the past and gazed out the car window.  She hadn’t been to the Iowa Great Lakes in years and she could see there had been some changes.  A landmark house next to the highway, a rambling, two-story affair with gingerbread trim, had been painted pink and spotlighted from the lawn. 

They drove past the park and Jade guided the car around a curve.  Their destination was the restaurant on the street of shops created inside the Old Central ballroom.  She had never been there.  Did modern people shop more than they danced?  Maybe that was what was wrong with the world.

When they walked down the long hall that led past the stores, Raine smelled a delicious mixture of chocolate candy, cinnamon stick spice and cedar wood.  The shops were all closed, of course, but their huge glass windows were lit from inside, displaying craft items.  At the end of the hall, Jade pulled on the rope handle of a big wooden door.  A sign that said The Outrigger bumped against the door.

Inside, it was cool, dark, and nautical.  The floors were rough and wooden.  A mainmast wrapped with gray rope rose to a three-story ceiling and the wood walls were covered with more rope, old anchors and heavy chains.  She wasn’t sure if she’d stepped into a restaurant or onto the deck of an old clipper ship.

“What would you like to drink?”  Jade’s voice came from just behind her ear.

“Something…cool.  A Tom Collins, I guess.”

‘I’ll have a Manhattan, brother.” Marc told him.

The cast wasn’t there.  There were just a few people at the bar and two couples seated at tables at the other end of the room.  Marc’s hand at her waist guided Raine toward a table that commanded a view.  Huge, floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the lake.  At least, she thought it was a lake.  In the night, boats seemed to float over a dark, silvery surface that was so still it could have been land.

Marc held out a chair for her and when she was settled, slid in next to her.  There were two empty chairs across the table.  Marc stared down into the little green hurricane lamp that held a candle.  The flame burned erratically in the drafty open space of the room.  “Pretty fancy place, huh?”

“It’s nice,” she agreed.

“What did you think of your sister?  Wasn’t she good?”

“She was very good.”

“Did you think so?”  The soft question came from Jade, appearing beside them, bending lithely over to set their drinks on the table.  Relieved of his burden, he sat down across from Marc, his eyes on Raine.

“Yes, I thought so.”  Desperately, she cast around for some other topic of conversation.  “Oh, look, there are stairs and a deck down below where you can watch the boats out on the lake.”

“How old is Michele?” Marc asked, sticking to the topic that she most wanted to avoid.  “She's older than you, isn't she?  She isn't quite as ancient as brother here.  He’s thirty-one.  Practically over the hill.”

“She's twenty-nine,” Raine said reluctantly.

“Too bad.” Marc shook his head, “I thought she was younger. She's really too old to be starting a career as an actress now.”

Raine glanced quickly at Jade's face. Dazed, she said, “I don't think there's any question about her starting a career.”

Marc’s shoulders moved lazily.  “She’s been bitten by the stage bug.”  He smiled at Jade.  “Brother here may find himself commuting to New York on weekends.” 

Marc gazed at Jade, knowing full well he had thrown out a line of bait.  Jade didn’t take it.  Instead he looked at Raine. 

“I forgot to tell you.  Tate sends his love.”

Raine felt her cheeks go warm.  “I’m glad he got over his flu.” 

“You haven’t sent me your bill.”  Jade’s voice sounded amused and a smile played over his well-shaped lips.

Marc's curiosity was instantly aroused. “Bill? Why should she send you a bill?”

“I called her for a midnight consultation.”

“I never did tell you how to give him that sponge bath.”

“I figured it out.”

A noise at the other end of the room saved them having from having to explain any more to Marc. The door burst open and the cast, noisy and high with excitement, poured into the room. There were several people in the group whom Raine didn't recognize. She decided they must have been behind the scenes, doing props and makeup. The last few people crowded into the room but Michele wasn't with them.

A lean man, tall, with silver hair, whom Raine recognized as the man who portrayed the movie actor in the play, sauntered over to their table and looked down at Jade.

“Are you Michele’s…husband?”  There was a faint air of condescension in the words.

Jade’s voice and face revealed nothing, but Raine’s sensitive antenna reacted at once to the tension radiating from his body.

“Yes,” Jade said softly.  “Is there something…”

“Michele asked me to tell you she'd be delayed. She was sorry.”

“Of course,” Jade said politely.

“She should be here in twenty minutes or so. She rode with Tony, our director, and he wanted to stop off at his apartment and change clothes there instead of backstage as the rest of us did. Now if you'll excuse me…”

Jade nodded, turned back, lifted his glass and swallowed the entire contents.

“Hey, brother, not so heavy on the Scotch. You gotta drive home, remember.”

“I remember.” The words were harsh. He got to his feet “You two ready for another round?”

Stricken with her own pain, Raine gazed at him. “No. I don't want another drink.”

Watching him stride across the room to get the drink that would anesthetize him, she felt helpless and angry.  What a fool Michele was.

Beside her, Marc looked down into his drink.  “That's not like him.”

“No, it isn't.”

“Maybe you were right.”

She turned to look at Marc. “What about?”

“About leaving them alone.” His grin was rueful. “I'm beginning to wish we weren't here. I didn't know things were so bad between them.”  Marc twisted the swizzle stick inside his glass. “Have you talked to Michele lately?”

She shook her head. “Not since she started driving to Canton every night for the play rehearsals.”  Raine turned her head to gaze out at the water.  Marc’s voice came low in her ear. “There she is.”

Michele, wearing a creamy silk beige dress Raine had never seen before, came in the door.  The gown outlined the mature curves of her figure, the high rounded beauty of her breasts. She clung to the arm of a darkly handsome man of medium height.

Michele was surrounded at once by members of the cast, and even from across the room, Raine could hear their effusive praise. “You were marvelous, Michele, just marvelous.  It’s been a privilege to be in the cast with you.”

And there, leaning with his back to the bar, stood Jade, watching.

Hardly knowing what she was doing, Raine jumped up.  Like a guided arrow, she homed in on Jade. Halfway across the room, Michele’s voice, newly resonant and precise, reached her ears.  Raine turned to look at her sister.

“…owe it all of course, to this darling man.”  Just as Raine reached Jade’s side, Michele kissed her companion.  It was not the obligatory peck of congratulation, it was an intimate kiss…a lover’s kiss.

A silence fell in the room.  The cast was strangely quiet, as if they were aware that another drama was being enacted.  Several people glanced furtively in Jade’s direction.  His face was a dark, impassive mask.  When Michele broke away from the man and laughingly told everyone to go have a drink, they began to move away from her toward the bar.  Soft music radiated from speakers and people began to dance wherever they were, glasses in hand.

“Hello, Jade.” Michele’s voice was cool, confident.  “You found us.”

He didn’t reply.  He simply stood and looked at her. 

His silence seemed to rattle her slightly.  “Darling, I’d like to have you meet my husband.  Tony Costelino, Jade Kincaid.”

Neither man extended his hand.

Tony Costelino turned to Michele.  “Have you told him yet?”

She gave Costelino a breathtakingly intimate smile.  “I haven’t seen much of my husband lately.  Now is as good a time as any, I suppose.”  She straightened slightly and fastened her dark blue eyes on Jade.  “I’m going to New York with Tony.  Tomorrow.”

Jade didn’t move a muscle.  In that low, controlled voice, he said, “Is that supposed to surprise me?”

Michele laughed, throwing her head back and exposing the smooth, creamy line of her throat.  “I should have known nothing surprises you.  See, darling,” she said to Costelino, “you’ve been worrying for no reason.”

The other man frowned slightly, drawing his dark brows together.  “Then you don’t mind if your wife goes to New York with me, Kincaid?”

He couldn’t quite believe that a man like Jade Kincaid would give up his wife so easily, Raine thought in stricken amazement.  And, neither, somehow, could she.

Jade picked up his drink from the bar, tipped the glass and downed the contents.  He replaced the glass carefully on the shiny wooden surface and then turned his head to gaze at Costelino.  “She stopped being my wife the minute she walked in that door on your arm.  You’re welcome to her.”

Raine stood frozen, unable to think of anything to say or do.

Michele had plainly not expected that.  With a proud lift of her head, she said, “Does that mean you’ll grant me a divorce?”