“If anyone’s terrified I am for putting you in that position this morning. I know what I did was unforgivable, but I knew if you couldn’t convince them, no one could.”
Terri sniffed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Slowly she lifted her head. “You actually thought I could accomplish what the creator couldn’t?”
His eyes wandered over each feature of her upturned face. “I once told you you’re a woman who lights her own fires. You stole into my hospital room and proceeded to transform my life.
“On that first afternoon when you got to the part where you told me you were divorced, my first thought was, thank God! Because you see by then, I had already fallen in love with you.”
“You did?” Her voice squeaked for joy.
“Yes, my love. You can’t imagine my guilt. There you were, trying to find your ex-husband. And there I lay, helpless to tell you he’d died, and loving you so deeply I knew I had to have you or nothing else in life mattered anymore.
“Make no mistake. If you hadn’t let me slip that diamond ring on your finger in Lead, I would have let the Atlantis sail without me because I wasn’t going anywhere without you.”
“Oh, darling—” She threw her arms around his neck. “I’ve loved you so terribly from the moment I looked into your eyes. Those beautiful eyes that reached out to me in pain and compassion. I wanted to ease your suffering. I wanted to climb on the bed next to you and hold you in my arms, comfort you.
“My guilt was so much greater, Ben. I had no idea if you had a wife or a lover. But it didn’t seem to matter. I’d found the man I’d been searching for all my life. I would never have let you go. I love you more than life itself. Lov—”
His cry of joy smothered the rest of her words as his mouth hungrily covered hers. He picked her up and carried her to bed, following her nightgown-clad body down against the mattress.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? How much I’ve been aching to make love to my precious wife? My very heart?”
Oh, yes. Terri knew. After such long suppressed passion, words weren’t enough. She had to show him what he meant to her and began devouring him in earnest.
She couldn’t help it. With one touch of his hands, her body exploded with desire. His mouth was driving her crazy. Entwined in his arms and legs, she’d reached a level of rapture that had set her on fire.
This was her adored husband loving her into oblivion. She had no sense of time or space. All she knew was this driving need for fulfillment with the man who’d captured her heart, body and soul.
When the phone rang, Terri groaned in displeasure. After a glorious night of lovemaking, she’d fallen asleep in her husband’s arms. She couldn’t bear for anything to disturb their contentment.
It kept ringing.
She felt Ben’s chest rise and fall in protest before he reached for the receiver. When he said hello, his voice sounded an octave deeper than usual. Terri loved it. She loved him. She loved everything about him.
After a minute she heard him say all right, then he hung up the receiver and promptly found her mouth as if he were starving for her. Since she’d been in that abandoned state since last night, she responded with a voracious hunger of her own, dying for the whole loving process to begin all over again and again.
They were both moaning in ecstasy when he suddenly pulled away from her and sat up.
“Darling—” she half gasped in protest and raised herself up on one elbow. “What’s wrong? Is it your shoulder?”
“No, my love.” He leaned down to kiss the end of her well-shaped nose. “That was Jim. He says we have a small window of opportunity to get back to the ship if we leave now. Otherwise we may have to wait another day.”
“Where is your pilot?”
“In San Cristobal. I drove here.”
“Oh, Ben. I always cause you so much trouble.”
“Hush.” He whispered the words against her mouth.
“We’d better not keep Jim waiting.”
It took superhuman effort, but she managed to get away from him and hurried into the shower. Ben followed, shutting them inside.
She blushed. “If you stay in here, I’m afraid we’ll never come out.”
His smile was wicked. “Tired of your husband already?”
“You know I’m not.” Her voice trembled. Much as she wanted to stay right here and forget the world, she knew she couldn’t do that. This was only the second day of the sailing. Everyone was depending on him.