One Touch of Moondust (18 page)
Read One Touch of Moondust Online
Authors: Sherryl Woods
The only light on in the apartment was the Tiffany lamp in the kitchen. He found Gabrielle in her bed, her cheeks still damp with tears. Had they been for him or for the life she'd given up?
Filled with wonder by her beauty, he gazed down at the hair spread across the pillow like threads of gold. He traced the full curve of lips still pouty from the urgent kisses he'd stolen before her parents' arrival. Such a passionate, giving lover. He'd never imagined such ecstasy
was possible, not for anyone, much less him.
But, despite the optimism he'd felt with his parents and on the long ride home, he wondered fleetingly if he was wrong. Could this really last? After the initial period of adjustment, he and Gabrielle had lived together in almost perfect harmony for these past weeks. But he'd always felt the arrangement was temporary. It was as if she was simply on loan to him, as if she could be taken away at any instant and returned to her rightful place in the world.
Suddenly he wanted, no,
needed
a commitment. Until now Gabrielle had been the one in search of new goals and possibilities. He had encouraged the search, but done very little to assure his own place in her future. Tonight had changed that in some immeasurable way. The link between them, always unspoken, but always at the center of his thoughts, had to be forged now into something lasting. If he lost her after this, he knew with absolute certainty that he would never find a replacement to equal her.
He brushed her cheek with a gentle caress,
then slipped from the bed. He needed movement to keep pace with his thoughts. He glanced into his own sparsely furnished room and wondered if he'd ever be able to sleep there alone again. He wandered through the living room, touching the tables she had refinished with such love, the sofa she had spent days cleaning until the fabric was almost as bright as new. He paused at the round oak table, still set for a dinner that had very nearly caused him to run from the one thing that would make his life complete: Gabrielle's love.
He touched the china, the crystal, the silver, the linen napkins. All bore the unmistakable mark of wealth and good taste. Yet Gabrielle had seemed perfectly content for all this time with cheap plates and stainless steel utensils. She had adapted to his life-style with an ease and willingness that astounded him now that he saw this new evidence of what she'd been used to. Even more remarkable was the fact that with the trappings of money so close at hand, she had never once imposed them on him. Until last night, when she had wanted to
do something special for the all-important first meeting between him and her parents.
His own compromises had been far less. In fact he'd done nothing to change his way of life to accommodate hers. If anything, he had taken advantage of her loss of income as a way of keeping her his economic equal. Consciously or unconsciously, he had been testing Gabrielle, waiting for her to fail, waiting for the moment when she railed at their modest life-style and demanded more. It made him sick to think how unfair he'd been.
So, tell her, he thought, staring out the window. Expose your own vulnerabilities for a change. Ask her to get married and see if she'll run or stay. It was, of course, the ultimate test.
As he peered into the darkness, telling himself it might be too soon to talk about a lasting, forever kind of love, too risky to make plans for the future, he saw the first flakes of snow drifting down. For the first time in his life, he saw them not as the promise of back-breaking chores, but as a hint of magic and beauty that had to be shared.
He went back to the bedroom, sat on the
edge of the bed and shook Gabrielle gently. “Wake up.”
A smile played across her lips, but her eyes remained tightly shut.
“Gaby.”
“Mmm.”
“Wake up. I want to show you something.”
“You're back,” she murmured with quiet surprise.
“I'm back,” he confirmed.
“I'm glad.” Her hand, still warm from resting beneath her cheek, crept into his and clung. Then she sighed contentedly and closed her eyes again.
“Sweetheart, wake up.”
“Is it morning?”
“No.”
She blinked, tried to focus her gaze, then patted his cheek. “Go back to sleep.”
He shook his head and grinned. He went back into the living room where he'd tossed his jacket across a chair. Then he came back and pushed open her window. He wrapped the covers securely around Gabrielle and scooped her up in his arms. She nuzzled against his neck, murmuring her contentment. The brush
of her lips against his skin almost made him forget his goal. It would be very easy to climb back into bed with her and go about waking her in an entirely different way.
But tonight was about more than their bond of physical love. It deserved a special kind of magic. Holding her tightly, he stepped out onto the fire escape.
The blast of cold air snapped her awake at once. She stared around blankly, her gaze finally locking with his. “Paul, what are we doing on the fire escape in the dark?” She glanced down, her eyes widening. “When I'm only wearing a blanket?”
“You'll see,” he promised evasively.
“Are you planning to throw me off the roof?” she inquired calmly as he began climbing up the fire escape.
He grinned. “Not unless you give me any problems.”
She nodded, yawning sleepily and nuzzling closer. “Good.”
When they were on the roof, he stared around at the scattered lights, the inky sky, then lifted his face for the soft touch of snowflakes
melting against his skin. “Look up,” he told Gabrielle.
She held her head back and gazed at the sky. When the first snowflake caressed her cheek, she touched the spot with an expression of dawning understanding. Her eyes sparkled with delight as the snow began to fall more heavily.
“It's snowing,” she said softly, her tone filled with awe. “The first time this winter.”
Paul shook his head, feeling a stirring of amazement and happiness deep in his chest. “It's moondust.”
She grinned at the whimsical statement. “There's no moon.”
“Of course not,” he explained patiently. “It's inside, being chipped into millions of specks of moondust. It only happens on special occasions.”
“Oh, really,” she said, laughing. “Which occasions are those?”
His gaze met hers and the sparks began to blaze, sparks so hot they endangered the snow. “When two people fall in love.”
She gasped softly and her eyes filled again
with wonder. “Oh, Paul. It's going to be okay after all, isn't it?”
Her lips sought his, warm and pliant and moist from the kiss of the moondust. There was magic in the kiss, a spell that dared him to go on, the words whispering across her mouth. “Marry me, Gabrielle.”
Her answer was in the soft moan of pleasure, the hungry demand of her lips on his, the teasing invasion of her tongue.
“Is that a yes?” he asked, breathing heavily.
“Yes.”
“We'll have problems,” he warned.
“Never.”
He'd never heard a more unrealistic claim, but he loved her optimism. “We'll work them out,” he corrected. “I may never be able to give you what you're used to. There won't be diamonds, just moondust.”
“This,” she said, curving her arms around his neck. “This is what I want to get used to. I was so afraid I'd lost you tonight. Do you have any idea how much you've given me, how empty my life would be without you?”
“I've given you?” he repeated incredulously.
“Of course. Hopes, dreams, belief in myself. Not to mention that I've never before been swept from my bed in the middle of the night to see the first snowfall.”
“I should hope not.”
“Don't make jokes. This is the most romantic proposal any woman could ever have. Our children will be awed and amazed that their practical, down-to-earth father did it.”
“Our children?” he said weakly, thinking that his first cautious step was quickly turning into a race toward the future. He felt as though he'd put one tentative toe into an ocean and been caught up by the tide.
“They'll be beautiful,” she promised, apparently captivated by the idea. “They'll be smart and creative. Very creative.”
“Obedient?” he asked hopefully, the prospect beginning to take on a certain appeal for him, as well. His mother would be ecstatic.
“Stubborn,” she said ruefully.
“No doubt. At the risk of sounding like I'm rushing things, how soon do you plan on expanding our family?”
“Well, it does take time,” she said with just
a hint of regret. “I can't just go to the store in the morning and pick out two or three.”
He chuckled. “I do know where they come from.”
She touched his cheek. “From nights like tonight.”
Emotion crowded his chest. Joy sang through his veins. He swallowed hard. “God, I love you.”
“Show me, then. Take me inside and show me.”
Inside, with the magic of moondust swirling around them, they found that little corner of heaven where dreams become reality.
* * *
Paul awoke in the morning to the touch of something very cold against his lips. His eyes snapped open to find Gabrielle kneeling on the bed beside him, her hands filled with snow. He grinned. “If you're planning to do what I think you're planning to do, forget it. I'm bigger and stronger and I will get even.”
“It's moondust, remember? I'm saving it.”
“It will have a very short life expectancy curled up in your hand like that.”
Her expression sobered. “Will our love melt the same way someday, Paul?”
He pulled her down beside him. “No. Not if we don't let it.”
“But you almost left me for good last night, didn't you?”
“Almost,” he admitted. “But not because of anything you did. Not even because I didn't believe in our love.”
“My parents?”
“Yes. They threw me. I realized how much I was asking you to give up.”
“It's my decision, Paul. Yours and mine. My parents will learn to live with whatever we decide.”
“I told you last night, I'll never be able to match the life you've left. Our children won't be wearing designer diapers and going to fancy preschools that teach piano to two-year-olds. Can you really accept that?”
“Designer diapers? Piano lessons?” she repeated incredulously. “That's really what's been worrying you, isn't it?”
His silence was answer enough. She went on. “Darling, if what I grew up with was so irresistible, do you think I would have left it? The only thing important for a relationship and
for kids is love and the commitment to do the very best we can. We have that.”
His hands caressed her cheeks as he searched her eyes. They were glowing with the truth of her love. “Then I guess there's just one thing left to do,” he said.
“What's that?”
“Set a wedding date.”
She threw herself into his arms. “I do love you,” she said, dropping kisses over his face.
He swallowed hard, torn between laughter and desire. She tilted her head and stared at him. “This is a very serious moment in our lives, Paul Reed. What's so funny?”
“Your moondust is melting down my back.”
An impish light flared in her eyes as she moved behind him. “We certainly won't want to lose any of that,” she said seriously as her tongue set out to capture every drop.
“Umm, Gaby,” Paul said as a shiver sped down his spine. “Do you think we might want to keep some of this moondust in the freezer? It may be hard to come by in August and I'm definitely beginning to see several interesting uses for it.”
She tangled her bare legs with his and ran her hands provocatively down his chest. “We can always use our imaginations.”
Paul closed his eyes and absorbed the wicked sensations. She was right, he thought before giving himself entirely over to her touches. The moondust would always be with them and, if treasured, like diamonds it would only increase in value with time.
* * * * *
“Sherryl Woods gives her characters depth, intensity, and the right amount of humor.”
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