Forbidden Temptation
Gwynne Forster

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Acknowledgments

To my dear friend Carole A. Kennedy, who has given me sisterly support, and who has always been there for me when I needed her throughout the many years that I have been blessed to know her. To my daughter-in-law, Meg, whom I love and admire and whom I am blessed to have in my family. To my beloved husband, who supports me in every way that he can, brightening my life. As always, I thank God for the talent he’s given me in such generous supply and for opportunities to use it.

Chapter 1

Ruby Lockhart rose early the day after Christmas. Her to do list resembled Santa’s naughty-and-nice list. Unlike him, though, her work was just beginning.

She stretched as she got out of bed and braced herself for the day. In a few hours, her sister Opal’s life would be forever changed. Little did she know, hers would be, too.

Yesterday’s Christmas celebration had been memorable, with her sisters and the men they loved exchanging gifts and enjoying camaraderie after the festive meal that she’d spent two days preparing. As the elder sister of Opal, Pearl and Amber, Ruby hosted the holidays, a habit they’d cultivated after the loss of their mother five years ago. As tired as she had been last night, Ruby hadn’t slept soundly. Last-minute details for the wedding occupied her mind throughout the night. Some would call her a control freak. She preferred to say she was proactive, doing her part to prevent any hitches.

She took the royal-blue jacket dress that she’d bought for the wedding out of the closet in her bedroom—the same room in which her parents had slept—and hung it on the back of the door. Amber, her youngest sister, always said she should avoid all shades of blue, because it didn’t flatter her dark skin, but Ruby didn’t care; she loved blue. Besides, people seemed to pay more attention to her light-brown, almond-shaped eyes than to her clothes or anything else about her.

She tried on the dress to be sure that the hem reached the top of her shoes, never a certainty at her height of her five feet, nine inches. Satisfied with the dress’s fit on her trim, size-twelve figure, she called the bride-to-be and announced, “I’ll be over in a couple of hours to check your dress.”

“Thanks, but you needn’t hurry. Pearl is here with me. Is Luther back yet? It’s too bad he couldn’t have Christmas dinner with us, but parents come first, especially on holidays.”

“I don’t know about Luther. I haven’t spoken with him.”

“You’re not going to the wedding with him?” Opal asked, her tone incredulous.

“I never planned to. Anyway, he’ll be there. You know he wouldn’t miss it. Luther is as faithful as night and day,” Ruby said, with the assurance of a preacher quoting scripture.

“Yeah,” Opal said, “provided you’re not thinking of Alaska where you can’t always count on daylight. Pearl just said that you can put my hair up.”

“Good. I’ll be over shortly.” In the meantime, Ruby could tick off a half dozen items on her mental to do list.

At five minutes of six and with her heart pounding in her chest, Ruby took her seat on the aisle of the third row in the Lakeview Baptist Church. When strains of “Here Comes the Bride” began, Ruby turned and saw Opal, so beautiful that she seemed to wear a halo. An odd sense of peace enveloped Ruby, and she relaxed for the first time in days.

“And by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.” The Reverend Wade Kendrick’s words brought tears to Ruby’s eyes, and she smiled through the stream that bathed her face. She didn’t think she had ever been so happy. D’marcus kissed Opal with the reverence of a man touching his newborn child for the first time. Ruby looked around, subconsciously seeking someone, anyone, with whom to share her happiness. Her gaze fell upon Luther who sat a short distance from her, and something quickened within her. Why was Luther looking at her with such a rapt expression on his face? Her eyebrows shot up, and he surprised her with a wink.

Ruby smiled at Luther, mainly because she always smiled at him, had since she was three and he was nine and she had followed him wherever and whenever he allowed. After the service, they met on the front steps of the church, and she hugged Luther as she usually did when they met. He stepped away from her quickly, and she gazed up at him with what she knew was a quizzical expression.

“I’ll see you at the reception.” He patted her shoulder and walked away with a limp that was barely noticeable.

“What’s wrong with Luther?”

Ruby turned to see Amber standing beside her. “I don’t know. He acted kind of strange.” However, she didn’t dwell on that. Luther was Luther, the Rock of Gibraltar, and she didn’t doubt that he would always be that way, and always be there for her and her sisters.

“Wasn’t it a beautiful ceremony?” she asked Amber. “I’d better get on to the reception,” she said without waiting for her sister’s response. She floated down the few steps as the sunset stared her in the face. Beautiful and powerful, the great disc colored the late December sky in shades of red, blue and gray and cast a fading glow on the wedding guests, enhancing their elegance. When she reached her car, she leaned against it for a minute thinking that even the light wind that freshened the air was careful not to disturb the women’s fancy hats and hairdos. The guests’ cars shone as if just waxed, and white carnations trailed up the posts around the church. Beauty surrounded her. She didn’t think she would ever forget the feeling of contentment, of pure joyous satisfaction she had at that moment.

Luther Biggens’s feelings about what transpired during the past hour and, especially, after the wedding ceremony did not conform to Ruby’s. During the ceremony, she had caught him looking at her with an expression that even a child should have understood. Shock registered on her face. Yet, he doubted that she understood what she saw. A gracious woman wouldn’t hug a man, knowing that he cared for her, unless she reciprocated his feelings. Ruby had hugged him as if he were her brother, and he’d barely been able to resist trapping her in a lover’s grip. He had been in love with her since she was a teenager, but she’d obviously never considered that possibility, nor had she treated him as anything other than a big brother, which meant that loving him hadn’t crossed her mind. Wearily, he got into his car and headed home to change for the reception that began at eight o’clock.

Luther had once dreamed of a life with Ruby, of a time when he would teach her to love him, and they would marry, have a family and grow old together. When he thought the time had come to pursue his dream, Ruby’s mother died, leaving her with the responsibility of shepherding her three sisters through school and into relationships that became marriage. Ruby had focused on her sisters and her career, denying her femininity as if she weren’t a woman herself, in need of a man’s love and affection.

He parked in front of his house, went inside and the loneliness of his life glared at him like a bare electric bulb swinging from a ceiling. He’d lived for thirty-five years and what did he have that was meaningful to show for it? Certainly not the ribbons and braid on the jacket he’d once worn as a commander in the navy SEALS. Or his citation for bravery during the daring exploits in Yemen that had cost him his right foot and a good part of his right leg. Prior to that, he been self-assured and fun loving, but what woman would settle for a man with his disability? The navy didn’t want him, and surely Ruby deserved better.

So he continued to love her from a distance and to be there for her whenever she needed him. All the while, wanting her.

He changed into a black tuxedo, white shirt and red cummerbund that he wore with a white carnation boutonniere. A pair of black patent leather shoes replaced his lizard-skin shoes and he slipped on his Oxford gray chesterfield coat and left home for the reception. He thought of calling Ruby to ask if she’d like him to accompany her, but realized that she would probably already be at the reception handling last-minute details. With God’s help, he’d get through the evening without being miserable. At times, he wanted her so badly that the pain became almost unbearable.

As the doyenne of the Lockhart family, Ruby stood at the head of the receiving line, greeting guests and making small talk. She’d been standing there about fifteen minutes, enjoying the drone of chatter that had become increasingly loud and the laughter that could be heard above it. Relaxed and happy, she let her smile tell all around her of her pride in the occasion.

“Good evening, Ruby.”

Her lower lip dropped, and she gaped at the man, helpless to do otherwise. “Luther, for goodness’ sake,” she exclaimed. “You…went home and changed.” What a stupid thing to say to a man, even if the man was Luther. “Gee, you look like a million dollars.” He winked, and tiny shivers raced through her. This was Luther? She managed to regain her aplomb and attempt to introduce him to the person standing beside her but suddenly couldn’t remember that person’s name or why the woman was standing there. As it happened, Luther was already acquainted with the woman.

Ruby watched Luther as he continued down the receiving line. Around six feet one inch and one hundred and ninety pounds, he carried himself so gracefully, no one would know he’d had that terrible accident.

And he was handsome. Why hadn’t she ever noticed that his long silky lashes cast a shadow over his big brown eyes? And those dark eyes against the olive tones of his face…Oh, well, there was no reason why she should have noticed, she told herself. After all, he was practically a member of her family. She shook her head in wonder. At least she should have noticed his mouth; that lusty bottom lip would win a prize.

The best man’s announcement of the bride and groom interrupted her lustful thoughts. The lights dimmed, and Mr. and Mrs. D’marcus Armstrong danced the first dance. Just as Ruby removed her jacket, exposing bare shoulders covered only with spaghetti straps, Luther asked her to dance. She hadn’t known that he danced, and she wondered how she should behave.

“Don’t be so careful,” he said. “I never attempt anything unless I know I can do it.”

“You look good,” she told him. “In fact, you look…uh…great.”

“Thank you,” he said, staring into her eyes. “I like the way you look, too.”

Why did he unnerve her? This was Luther, and she had always felt safer with him than with anyone else. “Thanks. Amber doesn’t like me in blue.”

A grin formed around the sensuous mouth that she’d just noticed for the first time, and a smile made his eyes sparkle. “Amber’s a woman. What would she know about what looks good on you?” He laughed, and she joined the mirth, although she wondered why she laughed when, in truth, she was thoroughly confused.

He led her in a slow fox trot, and it occurred to her that his disability made no difference. As they danced, he clasped her right hand lightly, but his hand at her waist proclaimed power and authority. She relaxed in his arms, and let the music flow over her. When the music stopped, he stepped back and half bowed, a bit mockingly, she thought. With his hand at her back, he walked with her to their table for ten, sat opposite her and fastened his gaze on her.

“Champagne, ma’am?” the waiter asked her. She took a glass from the silver tray and thanked the waiter. “They’ll be cutting the cake in a few minutes,” he said. “Right now, we’re preparing for the toast.”

She drank sparingly, usually an occasional glass of wine with dinner at a good restaurant. She hadn’t tasted champagne in ages. The best man offered the toast, raised his glass and invited the guests to join him. They had splurged on an expensive champagne, and after tasting it, she licked her lips approvingly and slowly drained the glass.

“This is good stuff,” her cousin, Paige Richards, said. “Just the thing in this candlelit room with the orchestra playing this soft, romantic music. It’s enough to make a woman say yes.”

Ruby’s gaze drifted to Luther, but she spoke to Paige. “Is that so? Then I think I’ll have another glass.”

Paige’s eyes widened. “I’m not sure you should do that, Ruby. This isn’t like you.”

“Of course it isn’t,” Ruby said as she accepted a second glass of champagne from the waiter. “Now, if I put on an apron and went into the kitchen back there to help with the cleanup, that would be just like me, wouldn’t it?” She took a long sip of champagne and the pit of her stomach immediately served notice that she shouldn’t drink too much more of it. “I’m sitting here in front of this good-looking man, listening to this befuddling music and with nothing to do with myself, so why shouldn’t I enjoy this champagne?”

Paige whispered something to Pearl, and Pearl leaned toward her older sister. “Ruby, maybe you shouldn’t have any more of that champagne.”

Ruby looked at Luther, raised the glass to her lips and let the wine drizzle slowly down her throat. Then she put the empty glass on the table. “Why can’t we have another dance, Luther? These two old fuddy-duddies are cramping my style.”

Luther got up immediately, put an arm around her waist and walked with her out to the dance floor. This time, he put both arms around her and moved in a slow drag. She put her head against his shoulder and let the champagne, the music and the aura of man encourage her recklessness.

When she missed a step, he held her a little closer. “Do you want to go back to the table?” he asked her.

“Nope. I’m perfectly happy right where I am.”

“If I were you, I’d be careful of my words,” he said.

She snuggled closer. “I’m always careful. Don’t you know that careful is my middle name? Careful Ruby, that’s me.” She glanced around his shoulder and saw Pearl and Amber talking. “I’ll bet they’re talking about me.”

“Who?” He stopped dancing and guided her back to their table.

“My guardians,” she said. “Amber and Pearl.” She took another glass of champagne from the waiter’s tray, sat down and took a few long sips. “What are you two saying about me?”

“That you shouldn’t drink any more champagne,” Amber said.

“Oh, pooh,” Ruby replied and, realizing that Luther had taken the chair beside hers, leaned over and kissed his neck. His eyes widened and he ran his fingers back and forth over his hair.

“Let her alone,” she heard him say. “She deserves to have some fun. I’ll take care of her.”

She drained her third glass of champagne and looked at Pearl. “If this good-looking man was with you, you’d be having a good time, too. Come on, Luther, let’s go see what everybody else is doing.” Amber’s gasp didn’t concern Ruby. She was having the time of her life, and she didn’t intend to let her sisters spoil her fun.

“Where are you taking us?” he asked her.

“Out here,” she said, leading him to the anteroom that faced their table. At the door of the anteroom, she traced his bottom lip with her right index finger. “I’ve been thinking about this lip all evening. I don’t know why I never saw it before tonight. It’s so inviting. Maybe it’s not real.”

His pupils dilated, and he stared down at her with hot, stormy eyes. “Why are you playing with me?”

“I’m not,” she said. “I just want to see what it tastes like.”

Luther couldn’t imagine what had gotten into Ruby when she reached up and sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, but he didn’t hold back. He couldn’t. He rimmed her lips with the tip of his tongue, and when she opened to him, fire shot through his veins and he plunged his tongue into her mouth, gripped her body to his and, mindless of their public posture, enjoyed the first sweetness he’d ever had from the lips of the woman he loved so desperately. He heard a gasp and set her away from him.

“What do you mean by starting that here in front of all these people?” he asked in a voice that trembled with the emotion that besieged him.

“There’s nobody else in here,” she said, but he could see that the kiss had discombobulated her, as well.

“I’m sorry that happened, Ruby.”

“Well, I’m not. I loved it.”

He shook her shoulders, though he did it gently. “Don’t you know better than to tease a man the way you’ve been teasing me all evening? I’m a man with feelings, Ruby.”

“Of course you are, and I haven’t been teasing you. You look good, and I’m enjoying it.” She looked around. “Where’s that waiter with the champagne?”

“I think I’d better take you home. We’ll take your car, and I’ll come back and get mine. You shouldn’t drive.”

“You listen to me, Luther Biggens. I am perfectly sober.”

“If you’re sober, why did you kiss me?”

Her hands went to her hips, but she quickly removed them. “I kissed you because I wanted to, and I fully enjoyed it.”

Luther couldn’t deny he had, too.

“I’m not going home to that big empty house,” she said. “If the wind blows the slightest bit, the whole place creaks. It’s too big, too old and too dark. I don’t like living there all by myself, and I’m not going there tonight.” She folded her arms like a recalcitrant child, poked out her bottom lip and pushed out her chin. “I’m going home with you.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” he said, feeling as if he were between a rock and a hard place. He wanted her alone with him in his house in the worse way, but he didn’t want to spend the night struggling to control his rampaging libido.

She walked to the table with head up and shoulders back in her usual regal stride, and got her jacket.

“Where’re you going?” Pearl asked her.

“Yes,” Amber said. “Are you leaving already?”

“After all that I did yesterday and today, you’d think I’d be tired, wouldn’t you?” he heard Ruby say, and as far as he was concerned, those were the words of a sober person. What the hell! If she wanted to go home with him, he’d take her there. Ruby tripped to the bridal table, kissed Opal, patted D’marcus’s shoulder and walked back to Luther.

“I’ll take you home, Ruby,” he said, wanting to do the right thing. “If you’re afraid to stay there by yourself, I’ll sleep on the living-room sofa.”

She laid her head to one side and looked at him with half-open, seductive eyes. “Didn’t I tell you that I’m going home with you?” She reached out and took a flute of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter, and before Luther could stop her, she emptied the glass down her throat. “Delicious. Absolutely delicious,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go.”

She didn’t seem to need steadying, but, nonetheless, he walked out of the room with his arm around her. At the cloak room, he collected their coats, helped her into hers and took his time getting into his gray chesterfield. He was stalling for time while he did some thinking, but she locked arms with him, reached up and kissed his cheek and urged him to the door. If he lived to be a thousand, he’d never forget this night.

He loved her and he desperately wanted her, but did he dare make a move? What if he misread her, took the wrong step and ruined the most important friendship of his life?

“All right,” he said to her when they got into her car with him at the wheel, “you said you want to go to my house, so I’m taking you there. But when you decide you want to leave, you only have to tell me.”

“I know that, Luther,” she said. “I’ve trusted you all my life. Sometimes I think you’re closer to me than my sisters are.”

For some reason, he didn’t want to hear that. He wanted some assurance that, when she got to his house, she’d sprawl out on the sofa and go to sleep or, at best, she’d go to the guest room and stay there. He parked in front of his house, walked up the stone path to his front door and inserted his key. He opened the door, and she strolled in.

“Gosh, what a beautiful place,” she said as she dropped herself on the sofa, crossed her knees and began swinging a shapely leg whose slope he knew so well that he could draw it from memory. “You wouldn’t have any champagne, would you?” she asked him. “I’ve decided that I like it. Imagine living twenty-nine years and not knowing how good champagne is.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any.”

“Then could we have a glass of wine? After all, this is the first time I’ve been here since you bought this place. I like it.”

“Since you’re tired, perhaps you’d like to turn in? I’ll show you the guest room.”

“What about the wine? Don’t you plan to be hospitable?”

“Look, sweetheart, it’s almost midnight.”

She didn’t move. “I’ve been up this late before. Lots of times, in fact.”

He took a deep breath, admitted defeat and went to his kitchen for the wine. When he returned to the living room with two glasses of white wine, she had removed her coat and the jacket to her dress, exposing her beautiful brown shoulders and just enough cleavage to excite him.

He put the glasses on the coffee table. Damned if he was going to let her make a joke of him. “As soon as we drink this, I’m taking you upstairs.”

He must have appeared foolish with his mouth agape as she picked up the glass, drank the wine, put the glass back on the table and said, “Okay. I’m ready.”

She walked up the stairs ahead of him, and he could have told her to save the rear action; he’d been looking at it for years, and he knew it well enough to write a sonnet about it.

“To your left,” he said, doing nothing to squelch the annoyance that crept into his voice. How was he supposed to deal with her? He didn’t know this side of her, wouldn’t have dreamed she had it, and seeing it made her even more enticing. “Not in there,” he said as she strode toward an open door. “That’s my room.”

Without so much as a pause, she turned and entered his room.

“I said this is my room,” he repeated. “You’re sleeping across the hall.”

“Okay,” she said. “Where across the hall?”

He directed her to the guest room, and when she walked in, he stepped out, closed the door and slumped against it. “Thank God, I can breathe.” Once inside his own room he removed his jacket, tie and shirt and sat on the edge of the bed to remove his shoes. Then he heard her knock. Now what? With a bare chest, but still wearing trousers, he got up, opened the door and gazed down at her.

He gulped. “What is it, Ruby?” The voice he heard must surely belonged to someone other than him; he’d never squeaked.

“Would you…uh…unzip my dress, please?” she asked him, managing to appear fragile and helpless. Oh, hell! Maybe it just seemed that way to him.

“Unzip your…Who usually unzips it?”

“Nobody. This is the first time I’ve worn it.”

Instead of turning her back, she stepped closer, and he thought his knees had turned to rubber. “Please,” she said.

“Turn around,” he said gruffly. His fingers shook as he attempted to grasp the zipper, and he fumbled uncontrollably. Finally he managed to hold it, closed his eyes and pulled. He didn’t hear the dress drop to the floor, and shock reverberated through his body when he realized that she had handed it to him. He opened his eyes and stared at the voluptuous beauty before him.

“My God,” he uttered with a groan. He pulled her into his arms, let his hands roam over her breasts, arms, waist and buttocks until she reached up, clasped his face between her palms and parted her lips beneath his. He lost himself in her arms.

Ruby awakened and sat up suddenly, alarmed at the weight of a hand on her bare thigh. It didn’t make sense. And why would a sledgehammer be pounding the top of her head? She looked to her left and gasped. Good Lord, that was Luther. What was…? It came back to her with blinding accuracy. At that moment he awakened fully and propped himself up on his left elbow.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you sleep?” He reached out to put his arm around her, but she slid farther from him.

“Wh-what have I done?”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry or that you didn’t know what you were doing,” he said. “I’m having none of that.”

She slid off the bed. “I’m sorry, and I apologize for…for…I don’t know what came over me. Would you please close your eyes?”

“Why?” he said in an odd voice that didn’t sound much like Luther’s comforting baritone.

“Just please close your eyes. I want to dress.” She got into her clothes as quickly as possible. “I’m going home. Do you know where my car is?”

He sat all the way up. “In front of the house. Are you telling me you don’t remember me driving your car here?”

“Luther, please forgive me for any pain or inconvenience I’ve caused you.” He started to get out of bed. “No, please don’t. I don’t want you to get up. I can find my way out. I…uh…thanks for everything.” She wasn’t sure why she was thanking him, but she hoped she would upon reflection.

She found her car keys on the table beside the living-room sofa, next to her coat. When she got into her car and put the key into the ignition, she glanced up at the house and saw Luther standing at the window.

“Lord, I must have been out of my mind to make love with Luther. He’s like a brother, and…what can he possibly think of me? She rubbed her forehead in an attempt to ease the pain. “That’s the last champagne I’m ever drinking. No. That’s the last alcohol. From now on, I’m going to stay as sober as a judge.”

She drove home, and after she walked in the door, her first thought was of the lonely echoes of her steps as she headed upstairs. The flashing red light on the phone beside her bed told her that she had messages. No doubt from Pearl and Amber. Tomorrow would be time enough to deal with them.

“What do they think?” she said aloud. “And Lord, what was I thinking? I had no business going to Luther’s house that time of night. I must have been out of my mind.” She showered, put on a nightgown and prepared to get a few hours sleep. She hadn’t been in bed five minutes when the memory of the moments in Luther’s arms came back to her as clear as a bright summer morning.

The man sent her through the stratosphere. For the first time in her life, she had exploded in orgasm after orgasm. And oh, how he had loved her. He’d worshipped every inch of her, kissed her from forehead to feet, and when he finally got inside her…the earth had moved, and it wouldn’t stop. She sat up in the bed and let out a sharp whistle. Then she blinked rapidly; she hadn’t known that she could whistle. She wondered what he’d thought of her wildness, her completely uninhibited behavior. If only she didn’t have to see him again. Well, he would learn that she didn’t plan to chase him. Never!

Luther stood at the window of his bedroom and watched as Ruby pulled away from the curb. What had he done to himself? An ache settled inside of him, more painful than any he’d ever experienced in the years of longing for Ruby. He’d known all along that, if he got a taste of her, he’d need her more than ever, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself. She had stood before him, almost nude, with her lips parted and that look of expectancy, that invitation to madness on her face. He couldn’t stand it. Her gaze had roamed his face and settled on his lips, and he’d pulled her body to his and plunged his tongue into her waiting mouth.

He turned, limped back to the bed—his limp was always most prominent when he was unhappy—and sat down on the edge of it. What a woman she was! She had come to him like a nail to a magnet, responding to his every touch, every kiss. And oh, man, when he’d finally got inside her, she’d gone wild, matching him stroke for stroke and bump for bump, exploding in multiple orgasms that he could feel, gripping his penis until he thought he’d lose his mind. She suited him as no other woman had.

He fell over on the bed, but sat up quickly when the musty odor of their lovemaking aroused him. “What do I do now?” he asked aloud. “She couldn’t get away fast enough. This prosthesis turned her off, and she was in such a hurry to leave that she didn’t even take the pains to hide that from me.” He knew he wouldn’t sleep, so he showered, changed the bedding to remove that reminder, went to his den and turned on the television. On the coffee table sat the two glasses he had placed there earlier, hers empty and his untouched.

“It’s a lesson I won’t forget,” he said. “Neither Ruby nor any other woman who’s likely to interest me will settle for a man with one leg. I might as well accept that and get on with my life.” He went into the kitchen to make coffee, turned on the tap and stopped with his hand suspended in the air. “Maybe it wasn’t my leg. Maybe I was mistaken. I thought I gave her all that a woman could ever want, but maybe I was so carried away with what was happening to me that I got it wrong. Yeah, that’s it. My prosthesis doesn’t look that bad. Oh, I don’t know. I’ll learn to live without…Oh, hell!”

In his semidark living room, Luther sat in the early-morning quiet, thinking of his life, of the woman he loved and had possessed but couldn’t have, of the family he wanted so badly. He had to fight back the threatening depression. He couldn’t let it sink him. And why should he? His mind brought back to him the story of Derek LaChapelle, who had won eight varsity letters at Northbridge High in Northbridge, Massachusetts, while playing with a prosthetic left leg. Derek had lived with it from childhood, Luther said to himself. At least he’d grown up with both legs, and nobody who didn’t know would guess he had a prosthesis.

He punched the sofa pillow and said to himself, “Heck, I’m going back to bed.”

Several afternoons later, while sorting out a problem in her office, Ruby answered a telephone call from Pearl.

“Paige and I are going to paint our bathroom and kitchen,” her sister said. “This yellow on the walls now was Opal’s suggestion. She loves yellow, but I’ve gotten to the place where I can hardly stand it. D’marcus will see so much yellow in his place that he’ll think he’s got jaundice. Say, why don’t you come over and help us?”

“Okay. I can leave here around five-thirty, but I’ll have to run home and change.”

“Good. Paige bought some frozen quiches, and we can make a salad. See you later.”

Ruby hadn’t been in the apartment Pearl shared with Paige more than half an hour when Luther walked in with containers of paint, two rollers and some paintbrushes. She stared at her sister. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d be here?”

Her face the picture of innocence, Pearl merely shrugged. “He who? You can’t be talking about Luther. Anything wrong with you two?”

“Of course not,” Ruby said, so quickly that Paige’s eyebrows shot up. “I mean, what could possibly be wrong with Luther and me?”

“Nothing,” Paige said. “The two of you left Opal’s reception when it was still going strong, and my tongue almost dropped out. Arm in arm is what I saw with my own two eyes.”

“You’re imagining things,” Ruby said.

“Maybe she was, but I wasn’t,” Pearl said. “I also didn’t imagine all that champagne you drank. I know you were happy for Opal, but you didn’t have to drown yourself in it.”

“Now, look here. I—Oh, hello, Luther.”

Pearl and Paige stared at Ruby. “Did you two have a fight?” Pearl asked without looking directly at either of them.

“If we did, I don’t remember it,” Luther said, his gaze piercing Ruby with an unmistakable and unspoken accusation. “Why do you ask?”

“’Cause you’re acting like you just met,” Paige said.

“Where do you want me to put this stuff?” Luther asked Pearl. “If I’d known you planned to paint this evening, I’d have worn something appropriate. If you can hold off till Saturday, I could do most of it myself.”

He went to the refrigerator, opened it and poured a glass of orange juice. “I love orange juice,” he said. “If I thought I could tolerate the local politics, I’d move to Florida.”

“Thank God you can’t tolerate them,” Pearl said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“You’d manage,” he said. Suddenly, Ruby realized that both Pearl and Paige were staring at her. Wasn’t she the Lockhart who was closest to Luther? Yet she hadn’t reacted to his suggestion that he preferred Florida to Detroit. Her second slipup. The first was not hugging him when he walked in.

Luther seemed preoccupied and in a hurry. “I’ll just set this stuff in the pantry, Pearl. If you need me to help you with it, give me a ring.”

“You going?” Pearl asked him, obviously astonished.

“Yeah. Call me if you need me.”

“Something’s gone wrong,” Pearl said to Ruby after Luther left. “You two are always like two peas in a pod. Did he give you a hard time about drinking all that champagne and playing up to him at Opal’s reception?”

“I didn’t play up to him,” Ruby said.

Paige rolled her eyes. “Girl, if you think you didn’t, then you really did have too much to drink.”

“Right,” Pearl said. “And if you don’t ever get kissed again, he sure laid one on you when you led him out to that little anteroom. Darned if I would have thought he had it in him.”

A frown distorted Ruby’s face. “I don’t believe a word of that, and if you two don’t stop putting me on, I’m going home.”

“My advice to you is lay off the drinks,” Paige said. “If you don’t remember that, you don’t know what you did after you left there.”

“Your imagination is getting out of hand, Pearl,” Ruby said, wondering why she hadn’t stayed home. She didn’t even like quiche. “Get off my case, or I’m leaving.”

“I haven’t said a thing,” Paige said. “It didn’t used to be so easy to yank your chain, Ruby.”

“Leave her alone,” Pearl said. “When I wake up tomorrow, I don’t want to see anything yellow. Let’s get started.”

Ruby wrapped her hair in a hand towel, grabbed a pair of rubber gloves, a roller and a can of paint, and went to the bathroom to begin painting. Luther had hardly acknowledged her presence. Would a man be so cool if he thought you were good in bed? She doubted it. And especially not Luther who, for almost as long as she could remember, had encouraged her in everything she did. Maybe she hadn’t satisfied him. She couldn’t remember how he’d reacted in the end. She only knew that he’d made love to her as if she were the queen of his heart, and she had seemed to float on a cloud, and then go higher and higher until she exploded in relief.

A tear fell on her hand. How could I do that? I’m so ashamed. He doesn’t want to be around me. I drank so much champagne I don’t know what I did to…Why did Luther make love to me?

“What about Wade?” Ruby heard Paige ask her sister, interrupting Ruby’s thoughts. “Maybe he won’t like the gray you’re putting in the bathroom.”

“You can’t get more conservative than gray,” Pearl said, “and you know how conservative Wade is, bless his heart. Gray walls, silver shower curtain, silver frames on the posters, gray carpet and gray and green paisley towels. That’ll be cool, right?”

“Works for me,” Paige said. “By the way, let’s see if we can get Ruby into something other than black and navy blue for your wedding reception.”

“You have to admit that the royal blue she had on on Saturday night was an improvement. I’m going shopping with her tomorrow. I’ll find her something to wear.”

“We’ve almost finished here,” Paige said. “Let’s put the quiches in the microwave, and you start on the salad.”

“Maybe we should call Luther and ask him if he wants to have supper with us. We certainly have plenty.”

“Okay,” Pearl said. “He was so nice to pick up all this stuff for me.”

Ruby put the paint roller on the tray and sat down on the closed commode. Did her family think her dull? She didn’t have anything against bright, fashionable colors. She’d simply been so busy since their mother died trying to be a role model for her sisters that she hadn’t given much thought to being fashionable and to making a life with a man of her dreams. No wonder she hadn’t been able to please Luther. But she had no intention of withering like a rootless plant in the hot sun. She would always be grateful to Luther for teaching her her sexual potential, but now that she knew what she was capable of, she wasn’t going to be timid about exploring it.

Ruby pulled off the rubber gloves and brought the paint and roller to the kitchen. “Where do you want me to put—” She broke off when she saw her sister on the phone. “Who’re you calling? Are you talking to Luther?”

“Just a minute, Luther,” Pearl said. “I think Ruby wants to speak with you.”

“I do not. I didn’t say I wanted to—” Pearl shoved the phone to her face. “Uh…hello, Luther. Actually I didn’t tell Pearl I wanted to speak with you. I asked her if she was speaking with you.”

“So I heard. I never did find out why she called. Let me speak with her.” Ruby listened for a few seconds, long enough to realize that he wouldn’t say anything else, and handed the phone back to Pearl, who, with her mouth agape, nearly dropped it.

“I’m going to skip the quiche,” Ruby told Paige, since Pearl was still speaking with Luther. “I’d rather shower than eat. Tell Pearl I’ll meet her at Saks tomorrow at five.”

She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

After Pearl’s wedding she told herself she’d take a nice long vacation. That would make it impossible for her sisters and their cousin Paige to pester her about her behavior during and after Opal’s wedding reception. Frankly, she was sick of hearing about it, because she was sure she hadn’t done anything dishonorable. She’d always heard it said that a person wouldn’t do anything when inebriated that she wouldn’t do sober. “I’m definitely counting on that,” she said to herself and walked into her house. Actually, it was the family home, and she’d give anything if her sisters would agree to sell it and share the proceeds. But no, they wanted to gather there on holidays and special occasions with her substituting for their parents. She didn’t mind, because she loved her sisters.

The phone rang as she walked in. She didn’t have to look at the caller ID; she knew she’d hear Pearl’s voice.

“Hi, Pearl,” she said. “What’s up?”

“Hi, Ruby. This isn’t Pearl. This is Trevor Johns. Pearl and Wade sent me an invitation to their wedding, and I…uh…would you allow me to accompany you?”

Well, maybe her life was about to become interesting. “Why, yes. I’d enjoy your company,” she said, seeing an opportunity to show Luther that he had nothing to fear from her, that she didn’t expect anything of him more than usual. “But I have to be there a little early,” she added.

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “Just tell me what time to come for you.”

She told him, adding that she would look forward to seeing him. She didn’t plan to mention the date to her sisters. Oh, they’d have something to say, but she wouldn’t hear them. She hoped Luther would notice that she wasn’t without a date at the reception. He hadn’t even said goodbye to her when they spoke on the phone, so he wouldn’t ask her to go along with him. Let him wonder about Trevor Johns and what he was to her. She just couldn’t figure out why Trevor had asked her when Detroit was full of younger and flashier women. If he had an agenda, she’d know it quickly.

Chapter 2

Ruby went to meet Pearl and Amber at the famous department store somewhat halfheartedly that afternoon. Reasonably satisfied with herself, she saw no reason to remake herself to suit anyone, including her beloved sisters. But a kind of restlessness pervaded her, and she couldn’t put her finger on the why or what of it. Granted that, after what Luther did to her, an eagerness to discover more about sex and to make up for lost time seemed to have gotten a solid hold on her. Still, that didn’t seem to be reason enough to dress according to Amber’s sense of fashion. Or Pearl’s, for that matter.

She strode into the store and headed for the bank of elevators where her sisters waited for her. “Sorry I’m a little late, but the traffic was awful.”

“I thought maybe you’d decided to let us mind our own business,” Amber said.

“Don’t think it didn’t occur to me,” Ruby replied.

“I saw a beauty in last Sunday’s paper,” Pearl said. “I hope you’ll like it, ’cause I think it’s perfect for you.”

When they wandered into the section containing evening gowns, Ruby stopped at the first rack. “That one’s pretty.”

Amber rejected it. “It’s blue and doesn’t have a bit of sex appeal. Try living dangerously for once, and wear something that flatters your figure. If I had your height and figure, I’d dress like Halle Berry and Tyra Banks. Give ’em something to whistle at.”

Ruby couldn’t help laughing. Amber knew how to make a case for the ridiculous. Something to whistle at, indeed! “I’m not wearing anything that has my nipples showing. Half of these dresses don’t leave a thing to the imagination, neither above nor below the waist.”

“Put one of ’em on, and I bet you won’t leave that reception alone,” Amber said.

Ruby wasn’t going alone, but she didn’t plan to tell them.

“How about this one?” Pearl said, holding up another gown. “It’s dazzling, and you can wear it.”

“It’s red,” Ruby said, wrinkling her nose and making a face. “Attention is supposed to be on the bride.”

“Oh, I’ll get enough attention,” Pearl assured her. “I just want you to look great. Try it on.”

“Yes, indeed!” Amber said. “That dress is to die for. Go on. Try it.”

Ruby hated pulling off her clothes, and liked even less trying on clothes in stores. But she knew when to give in. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Uh-uh,” Amber said. “We’re going in there with you.”

Resigned, she found a size ten and a size twelve and took both into the dressing room. She tried on the ten first and let out a gasp.

“What did I tell you?” Amber asked in a voice that held more than a note of triumph. Superiority was more like it, Ruby thought.

She had to admit that she’d never looked that good in anything. “But what about my shoulders?” she asked, hoping to finding something wrong with the strapless, draped sheath in brick red.

“What about ’em?” Pearl said. “This dress is perfect on you. Wrap it up, girl, and let’s go. Wade’s waiting for me. We have a date tonight.” She winked at Ruby. “In this dress you’ll get one, too.”

On New Year’s Eve Ruby wore the same royal blue dress and jacket to Pearl’s wedding that she’d worn to Opal’s the week before, but with her hair up in a French twist and Amber’s “Jezebel earrings,” as Wade called them. She looked much better. Even she had to admit that last week the dress didn’t do a thing for her. Except get her into trouble with Luther.

After the ceremony, she rushed home to change into the red evening gown for the reception. She stood at the mirror admiring what she saw and appreciating, at last, her sisters’ pleas to stop looking so dowdy. From now on, she vowed, there would definitely be some changes made. She slipped on her black satin shoes, got the matching purse and added her perfume—something else she intended to change. After wearing the same fragrance for over ten years, she could use a different scent. Yes, indeed, she told herself as she walked down the stairs, anybody who expected the same old Ruby was in for a surprise.

She let Trevor Johns ring a second time before she opened the door. He stared at her, and she’d swear with her hand on the Bible that his eyes doubled in size.

“Ruby?”

She squelched the laughter, but a grin broke out on her face nonetheless. “Hi, Trevor. Come on in while I get my coat.”

“You sure look pretty. Even prettier than you looked last week at Opal and D’marcus’s wedding. You ought to wear red all the time.” He handed her a bouquet of yellow roses. “I didn’t get red ones, because they’re supposed to be for intimate relationships, but I sure wish I had.”

She decided not to comment on that. If he was working up to something, she didn’t think she was ready to hear it. Not that he wasn’t interesting in some ways. He towered over her, and that was in his favor, as were his good looks. And the brother knew how to put on clothes; he looked almost as great in that tux as Luther did in his. Luther…She was not going to allow him to cross her mind. She put the roses in a vase on the table in her foyer and handed him her coat.

He helped her into her coat without allowing his hands to touch her bare shoulders—another point in his favor—and she let herself relax. The evening would be all right.

“I wonder what’s keeping Ruby,” Luther said to Opal and D’marcus, who had delayed their honeymoon in order to attend Pearl and Wade’s wedding. They stood near the door at practically the same spot where, only one week earlier, he’d kissed Ruby for the first time. It seemed as if years had passed.

“I think she’s with Pearl,” D’marcus said. “You know Ruby has to check everything out. I expect she’ll be out here in a minute or two. After all, she’s at the head of the receiving line, and it’s time for the reception to begin.”

Luther hoped they considered it normal for him to express concern about Ruby. He was worried about her; maybe he’d killed any chance that he could have a relationship with Ruby. He didn’t expect her to accept him as a lover, her behavior since rocking him out of his senses was proof of that.

What the hell! He stared in disbelief as Ruby—it was Ruby, wasn’t it?—approached them arm in arm with a six-and-a-half-foot turkey dressed up in a penguin suit. He shook his head in dismay. He wasn’t being fair, but he couldn’t help it. The knife stabbed his gut and then turned when she looked up at the guy and smiled.

“Hi,” she said airily, as if she hadn’t created a stir. “The place is lovely, isn’t it? And so romantic.”

“Hello, Ruby,” he said, struggling to keep his voice low and calm. “Well, I suspect you’re ready to begin receiving, so I’ll see you later.”

“Oh, Luther!” she said, as if he were an afterthought. “You’re supposed to be in the receiving line right after Amber and Paul. Where do you think you’re going?”

He wanted badly to tell her he was going where he wouldn’t see her, but instead, he said, “Where did you think I was going?” and headed down to where Amber and her new husband, Paul Gutierrez, shared a laugh with Paige Richards. He didn’t wait to be introduced to Ruby’s date. Indeed, he didn’t want to meet the man or even to remember what he looked like. And he prayed to God she wouldn’t drink any champagne. In all the time he thought about it, he hadn’t been able to figure out any other reason why she’d made love with him last week. She had appeared to be stone-cold sober, and he prayed that she had been, but then, why did she reject him? He shook his head. He wasn’t going into that again; he’d suffered enough about it.

“Who’s the guy with Ruby?” he asked Paul.

“Damned if I know, man. I hardly recognized her. Talk about a siren! She ought to come out like that all the time.”

“Tell me about it. Where are the bride and groom?” he asked Amber, effectively getting the conversation away from Ruby.

“They’ll be in as soon as the best man gives the signal, and he has to get it from Ruby,” Amber said. “Reminds me of Ford’s assembly line. Thank goodness Paul and I skipped all this formal stuff.”

Luther looked from Amber to his friend Paul, and for the first time that evening, a feeling of warmth and happiness enveloped him. When he’d sent his buddy to rescue Amber from Dashuan Kennedy—a no-good man if ever there was one—he didn’t dream that Amber and Paul would fall in love and marry. But as he thought of it now, it couldn’t have been otherwise. They seemed to suit each other the way pods suited peas. Perfectly.

He waited until Pearl and Wade entered, heard the toasts and gave his own toast as was expected of him. He was about to leave when D’marcus moved to the microphone.

“We have a little news for you,” he said with his arm tight around the waist of his new wife. “We hunted half a year for it, but today we found our dream house. I just wanted to share that with our families and friends and to let you all know that we’ll be staying right here in Detroit.”

“Well,” Pearl said when the applause died down, “congratulations, Opal and D’marcus. I’m happy you’ll be staying here, because I’ve decided not to audition for that record label in Nashville. I got a call from a label right here in Detroit, and I’m going for it. I can pursue a singing career and stay right here with my husband and my family.”

Luther gazed around him at the hugs and smiles of joy. The Lockharts had been a part of his life since he was a boy. They were grown now with men of their own, and they didn’t need him. His gaze locked on Ruby, dazzling in that red dress and those shimmering earrings, with her hair pulled back to expose her high cheekbones and sculpted face. Against the soft candlelight, she bloomed like an American beauty rose, her skin glowing above the strapless gown. He sucked in a breath. In his mind’s eye, he envisaged her escort with his mouth on her sweet breast. Damn! It was time he got on with his life.

He hugged Pearl and shook Wade’s hand. “Have a happy, you two. If you need me, you know where to find me.”

Then he thought twice about leaving so early, as anger stirred in him. He wasn’t an old shoe to be discarded with the advent of a new style. It was New Year’s Eve, three minutes to midnight. Damned if he’d let that guy kiss her at the stroke of twelve. He walked over to her and took her hand, delighted when her eyes widened and her lower lip dropped.

“May I have this dance?” he said. He didn’t wait for her to answer, and began the dance.

“It was a nice wedding reception, wasn’t it?” she asked him as they moved in the slow waltz.

“I dislike meaningless small talk, Ruby, just as I hate every other kind of superficiality.” She seemed to recoil from the blow of that comment, but he didn’t care. At least, she was still perceptive.

“Happy New Year,” someone yelled. Impulsively, he locked her to him, pressed his lips to hers, and when, in her shock, she parted them, he plunged into her. Caught off guard, she pulled him into her, loving him in return. His heart skipped a beat and then took off, as all of his blood seemed to head in one direction, straight to his groin, burning his veins with the heady heat of desire He stopped, almost pushing her away when fire roared through him. He’d meant to punish her with that kiss, but it was he who received the chastening.

He could feel the tremors that shook her, but no matter, he stepped farther away from her. “Happy New Year, Ruby.” Without looking at anyone or letting anybody catch his eye, he walked out. Not even the biting cold air sobered him mentally or tempered his desire. He got in his car and just sat there, listless, unable to will himself to start the motor and drive. He’d been alone plenty in his life, but he didn’t remember having been as lonely as he felt right then.

After nearly a quarter of an hour, he inserted the key into the ignition, revved the motor and headed home.

Ruby stood as he left her, catatonic, unable to move. What on earth had possessed Luther to do that in front of all those people? She looked around, expecting that she’d be the center of attention, that everyone would be staring at her, but it seemed that no one had noticed it, and she realized that others had been sharing New Year’s Eve kisses and hadn’t seen her exchange one with Luther. None, except Trevor Johns.

He strode over to her, took her arm and walked with her to the anteroom. “What was that about? What’s that guy to you?”

She didn’t like being questioned, although Trevor had escorted her to the reception and probably thought he had a right to know why she’d kissed another man in his presence.

“I didn’t expect that any more than you did,” she said. “If I ever find out why he did it, I’ll tell you. Right now I’d like to drop it. I’m sorry if it embarrassed you.”

“I’d been hoping that you and I might get something going,” he said, “but…Look, you kissed him back. I mean, you didn’t fool around.”

“Look, Trevor, I’ve known him since I was two or three. Think nothing of it.”

“If you say so. But can you kiss me the way you kissed him?”

Her face twisted into a frown. This man was too possessive. “I haven’t known you as long as I’ve known him,” she said and whirled around to go back to join her family at their table.

“Having a problem?” D’marcus asked her.

“Thanks. I can handle it.” If she’d driven her own car, she’d be on her way home right then.

“If you decide you want to go home, let me know,” D’marcus said. “This is what brothers are for.”

“Thanks, bro,” she said. “I’ll remember that.”

Later, after deciding that she didn’t know Trevor Johns well enough to trust him, she said to D’marcus, “Why don’t you and Opal drop by for a glass of wine or a cup of coffee on your way home?”

“I’m driving, so I’ll skip the wine,” he said, “but I’d love a cup of good coffee.”

Ruby had to tap Trevor’s forearm to get his attention. “I’m ready to go. Ruby and D’marcus are coming by for coffee. Are you ready?”

His expression of surprise suggested to her that he had either expected her to leave without him or that having her brother-in-law and sister for company had derailed his plans. “Is this some kind of family custom?” he asked her. “I mean…Well, hell. Let’s go.”

His response tempted her to tell him good-night then and there, but she restrained herself and forced a smile. “We’re ready, D’marcus.”

Trevor parked in front of Ruby’s big Tudor house and turned to her. “I’m really not in the mood for coffee.”

“Thanks for the pleasant company,” she said, allowing herself to sound insincere, and opened the door. However, Trevor hurried around to assist her, and she was glad he did, for she could barely maneuver in the slim sheath. When he walked with her to the front door, she told herself that inviting Opal and D’marcus for coffee was one of the smartest things she’d done.

She opened the door and, without entering, said to him, “Thanks again. Good night.” She extended her hand, but he ignored it.

“Good night, Ruby. It isn’t often I get to escort the belle of the ball. Be seeing you.”

She let out a long sigh of relief when Trevor met Opal and D’marcus on the walkway and nodded, but didn’t hesitate.

“Still want to make coffee?” Ruby asked her.

“Sure. Come on in.”

“He’s a decent enough guy,” D’marcus said. “What happened that caused you to dump him like that?”

“He got too possessive.”

“Maybe he got uptight when Luther kissed you,” Opal said. “Of course, it’s none of my business, but what was Luther mad about? He didn’t seem affectionate. And last night, you two acted like you hardly knew each other. I don’t get it.”

“Neither do I,” Ruby said and headed for the kitchen, grateful she had to make the coffee. When she returned to the living room with a tray, she stopped and stared at the newlyweds locked in a sizzling kiss. It hadn’t take them long to switch their minds off her and Luther, she thought. She put the tray on the coffee table and cleared her throat.

“I hope you and Luther straighten out whatever’s wrong between you,” D’marcus said, picking up the conversation where they’d left it. “He’s a great guy, and this family is very important to him. Who knows? Something could even develop between you two.”

Didn’t she wish! But Luther wanted no part of her, and he’d made that clear. Even when she’d shamelessly kissed him back tonight, hoping to let him know how he made her feel, he’d pushed her away. He’d done it gently, but he’d done it, and that told her more than words could have. Why did he have to be the man to teach her what lovemaking was all about, to cherish her as if she were the rarest gem and to make her explode again and again in orgasm? He wasn’t the first, but he was the only one who mattered.

She sipped the coffee and remembered D’marcus’s comment. “Me and Luther?” she exclaimed. “I was pie-eyed about him when I was three. I’m grown up now.” She looked at her brother-in-law with one raised eyebrow. “Wouldn’t that be a humdinger!”

Ruby slept late New Year’s morning and awakened feeling lost. For the first time in her memory, she didn’t feel like calling Luther to wish him a Happy New Year. Her reluctance to talk to him sprang from her fear that he would reject her gesture. How times had changed. Luther had been her solid rock, and now she feared calling him. Who would ever have imagined it?

She scrambled out of bed, showered, dressed and went downstairs to cook her breakfast. “If this is what the remainder of the year will be like,” she said to herself, “I’m not looking forward to it.”

After breakfast she decided to do her laundry. Nostalgia gripped her when she took the bedding from the hamper, remembered her lovemaking with Luther and thought how ephemeral happiness could be. She sat down on a stool in the laundry room and mused about her chances of finding that feeling with someone else.

I want to find out more about it while I’m still young and I can enjoy it, and I’m going to. Luther wouldn’t have noticed me last night if I hadn’t been wearing that sexy red dress, so I’m going shopping.

She spent the remainder of the day purging her clothing, most of which was better suited for a woman twice her age. The following Monday morning she called the Salvation Army. Then she went shopping.

She didn’t have to be told that the fashionable clothes, shoes and accessories she bought raised eyebrows, and with her hair cut in a pixie style and three-inch-heeled suede boots on her feet, she attracted a lot of glances. As she strolled through Twelve Oaks Mall, she couldn’t believe the amount of male attention she received.

A few evenings later when she walked into her house, the telephone began to ring and, thinking that the caller was one of her sisters, as was usually the case, she dashed to the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is Lawrence Hill. I hope you remember me. We met at the Harvest Ball the day after Thanksgiving, and I remember how well you dance. I’m calling to ask if you’d go with me to the local Kappa dance Saturday. I’d be honored.”

“Yes, I do remember you,” she said. “Let me think about this a little bit. Call me tomorrow evening. It’s formal, isn’t it?”

“Black tie. I’ll call about this time tomorrow, if you don’t mind, and I hope you’re going to say yes.”

“We’ll see. Thanks for calling, and have a pleasant evening.” They said goodbye and she hung up. You bet, she remembered Lawrence Hill. Who could miss him? The man was a stud if she’d ever seen one, but she’d turned over a new leaf; she was no longer the family wallflower who stood by while her sisters found their mates, fell in love and married. Not that she wasn’t happy for them. Lord knows she was, but there had always been that little voice inside that asked, “Why not me?” Maybe she’d go out with Lawrence Hill, and maybe she wouldn’t. If things were normal, she’d phone Luther and ask his views on the matter, but life was lopsided there right now, so she called D’marcus instead.

“Do you happen to know Lawrence Hill?” she asked him.

“If it’s the guy I’m thinking about, he’s a fraternity brother. Seems nice enough if you can handle a stiff dose of ego.”

“He asked me to go to the frat dance with him Saturday after next.”

“Must not be the same Lawrence. I don’t know of a Kappa dance coming up anywhere near here.”

She didn’t press it. “Thanks. Must not be the same guy,” she said, but she knew it was the same man.

She gave it to Lawrence Hill straight when he called and asked her, “Well, what will it be? I’ve waited impatiently all day for your answer.”

“I can’t imagine why, Mr. Hill. I spoke with my brother-in-law who I think you know. D’marcus Armstrong. He said the local Kappa fraternity isn’t having a dance on Saturday. Goodbye.” She hung up without giving him a chance to speak. Was he planning to say the dance had been postponed and then suggest that they go some place else? She wished she hadn’t been so hasty. It would have been fun to watch him wiggle out of the hole he’d dug for himself.

If this was a sample of the current dating game, Ruby didn’t want any part of it. With her sisters married as her mother wished, she could at last focus on her career, and that was what she planned to do.

Fine particles of snow dusted her face as she stepped out of her house and strode to the waiting taxi, her form of transportation until her car was serviced. She loved her work at Everyday Opportunities, Inc., and with her family responsibilities behind her, she was in a position to develop the consulting firm into a huge business. After all, small businesses employed more people than corporations did. In an expansive mood, she overtipped the taxi driver and marched with buoyant steps into the building that housed the consultancy, greeting employees and building attendants as she went. She hung up her coat and headed for her office, the company’s second most spacious accommodation.

“Looking good this morning, Miss Lockhart,” one of the clerks told her, his white teeth sparking against his nut-brown face.

Her new shoes, with the pointed toes and spiked heels, didn’t feel good on her feet, but apparently they made her look good. She gave the clerk a bright smile.

“Yes, indeed,” said her secretary, who happened by at that moment. “With those legs, Miss Lockhart, you ought to pitch all your flats straight into the garbage. ‘If you got it, flaunt it.’ That’s what my brother always said, God rest his soul.”

Such comments gave Ruby courage to accept as normal that men found her interesting and wanted her company, though it was a new experience. She kept that in mind when Joel Coleman, owner and operator of Diet Sensibly, Inc., a small business that she counseled, invited her to dinner. She accepted.

“Who’s the new man in your life?” Joel asked her as they waited for the first course.

She scrutinized him for a second to see if his question implied a hidden motive, decided that it didn’t and relaxed her face into a slight smile. “Why do you think there is one?”

“We’ve known each other for about four months and suddenly you’re a changed woman. That usually means a new love interest.”

“If that’s the case, why am I having dinner with you?”

Joel leaned back in the chair, poised, with a self-possessed air, and smiled. “I didn’t have the nerve to ask that question. Why are you having dinner with me?”

She realized that she hadn’t given the man his due. He was not only a clever businessman, he had a mind that served him well. “I thought you’d be a pleasant date. Was I wrong?” She added the latter in order to level the playing field; the man was sharp, and she meant to let him know that the trait wasn’t confined to him.

His left eyebrow rose slowly. “In other words, back off. Right? I try to be as pleasant as possible.” A few seconds passed, and he added, “Whenever possible.”

“Hmm. I don’t think I’ll ask about the occasions when it’s not possible to be pleasant.”

His shrug and half smile suggested that nothing could be gained by pursuing the matter. While they consumed as good a meal as she’d had in a long time and she discovered that they had much in common, she sensed a restlessness, an undercurrent of edginess in him that put her on guard. There’d be no invitation to come in for coffee when he took her home, she promised herself. This brother could be too difficult to control.

“Would you like to go to a night spot?” he asked her as they left the restaurant. “Brock Madison’s Trio is performing nearby.”

“I’d love to, Joel, but I have to get up early in the morning.”

“If you’re sure,” he said.

She couldn’t help being on edge. She hadn’t wrestled with a male since her early teens, the age at which the boys she knew confused no with go ahead. She imagined that some never got the responses straight in their heads.

“Since you have to get up so early,” Joel said as they stood in her open front door. “I don’t suppose I can expect a nightcap. But I would like a kiss.”

Like a thunderbolt the realization hit her that she didn’t want Joel or any man other than Luther to kiss her. She turned away just as he came in for the kiss.

“That’s what I suspected. Thanks for a pleasant evening.” With that, he strode down the walk whistling the “Toreador’s Song” from the opera, Carmen.

She closed the door, thinking that, if she had hurt his feelings, he certainly intended her to see that her rejection meant nothing to him. She could do without Joel Coleman, Lawrence Hill and Trevor Johns. In fact, she could do without any man who didn’t spell his name L-u-t-h-e-r B-i-g-g-e-n-s.

But she couldn’t imagine a future with the man she’d known almost all her life.

Deciding that it was past time he got on with his life, Luther drove slowly along Ford Road, organizing his thoughts and formulating the arguments he would need to convince his family to accept his proposal. He reached his parents’ home in Dearborn, Michigan, a few minutes before noon on the second of January.

“Happy New Year, everybody,” he said as he strolled into the den where his parents, his sister Glenda and his brothers Charles and Robert sat around the fireplace roasting nuts and enjoying the still-sparkling Christmas tree. They all jumped up when he walked in, but stood back until Irma hugged her oldest son first.

“We thought you’d never get here, son,” Jack Biggens said. “Your mother’s got the bread ready to bake, but she knows how you like to walk in and smell it perfuming the place. Come on over here and have a seat.”

He hugged his father, handed him a bottle of Scotch and greeted his siblings. “Mom, are you baking the bread here in the fireplace as usual?”

“Beats the oven anytime,” she said. “It’ll be ready in about forty-five minutes, just in time for lunch.”

He sat down and began cracking pecans, his favorite nut. “We got a lovely poinsettia from Ruby,” Glenda said. “I haven’t seen her for a while. How is she?”

He didn’t come there to talk about Ruby, and he didn’t intend to. “Ruby’s fine, as far as I know. When are you going back to school, Charles?”

“Classes start the tenth, so I’ll be leaving Friday.”

Their conversation roamed over a myriad of topics and, as usual, he enjoyed the love and camaraderie with his family. After lunch he decided that the time had come to tell them what he wanted. He waited until they’d left the table and were back in the den.

“I’ve been managing the dealerships ever since I recovered from that accident and left the service,” he began. “Dad’s ready to retire, Glenda doesn’t live anywhere near a dealership, Robert’s got his own thriving company, and Charles has never been interested in the automobile business. I hired an accountant to estimate the worth of the business, and I want to buy you out.” He heard the gasps, noted that they didn’t come from his parents and continued.

“I’ll buy five-sixths of that amount from you, and you can split it among yourselves as you see fit.”

“That wouldn’t be fair, son,” Jack Biggens said. “Since you’ve been the manager, you’ve increased the holdings and the profits. I think you should get a quarter, and that’s what I’m proposing.”

“You mean we’re going to sell to Luther?” Charles asked.

“Why not?” Jack said. “He busts his butt at it every single day, and you don’t give him a hand when you’re in town. I say we take a vote.”

“No vote’s necessary. I say we just do what’s right,” Irma said. “If the five of us split three-fourths of the proceeds, it’s just and right.”

Luther knew that, when his mother put her foot down, his siblings would fall in step.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll send the contract over before Charles goes back to the university. It’s a load off my shoulders.”

As he headed home, an icy mist threatened to make driving impossible, and he stopped several times to deice the windshield. He didn’t make New Year’s resolutions, but as he walked into his house, he promised himself that he would get over his almost lifelong passion for Ruby Lockhart. Pain lodged in the region of his heart when he let himself recall how, on that one night when she was his, she’d moved beneath him, rocking to his rhythm like an ocean wave undulating beneath the moon.

“It hurts,” he said aloud. “But she’ll never know how much.”

He wasted no time drawing up his plans to modernize the business and, before he went to bed that night, he knew where and how he’d start. “I’ll have my hands too full to think about Ruby, much less see her.”

However, Luther’s role in Ruby’s life remained basically as it had always been.

As she sped down the Edsel Ford Parkway three days after New Year’s, a blue SUV swiped the left side of Ruby’s car and sent it spinning into the right lane. She’d never prayed so hard in her life as she did while struggling to control her car. When it finally stopped on the right shoulder of the highway, she got out, wrote down the plate number of the offending vehicle and stood beside the driver’s door of her car waiting for the driver of the SUV. A big, lumbering man got out of the SUV half a city block away and started toward her but, unsure of what to expect, her nerves rioted throughout her body, and she took out her cell phone and dialed the one person she always relied on.

“Hello.”

“Luther, it’s Ruby.” The words rolled out of her at a rapid-fire rate. “I’m on Route 12, and somebody just hit my car. He’s a huge man, and he just got out of his SUV and he’s headed this way. Maybe I should just—”

“Get in your car and stay in it,” he said. “Lock the door and roll down the window just enough to speak with him. Did you call the police?”

“I forgot. I’ll call them now. Look, the man’s almost here, so I’d better hang up.”

“You’ll do no such thing. Keep that phone open and right where he can see it. Where are you on twelve?’

“Just past the intersection of Route 94 headed to Detroit.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

She hurried back into her car, closed and locked the door, rolled down the window about two inches and dialed the police. It hadn’t occurred to her to be afraid or even especially cautious, but she trusted Luther as she always had, and when the big man reached her car, huffing and puffing for air, she was on her guard.

“When did you get your driver’s license?” he yelled. His breath gave her the real reason for his having nearly run her off the highway.

“I’ve been driving for…let’s see…about thirteen years, and I’ve never had an accident. Please let me see your driver’s license.”

“Oh, yeah? You’re out of your mother-loving mind, lady. You hit me.”

“No matter who hit whom,” she said keeping her voice low and calm, “we have to exchange information, don’t we?” She didn’t dare rattle the man, and she wanted to keep him there until the police arrived. She was beginning to wish she hadn’t called Luther, because the man’s belligerent manner suggested that he’d use any excuse for a fight.

“Look,” she said, “we have to settle this. I’ll write my information out and give it to you.” She reached into the glove compartment, got a small pad and a pencil and handed it to him through the slightly open window. “You write your info out for me on that little pad, and we’ll be on our way.”

“You’re a slick one,” he said. “I wouldn’t trust a woman as far as I could throw her. It’ll cost me four or five hundred bucks to get my car painted. You can give me the cash or a check, I don’t care which. But if the check bounces, expect to see me again.”

In spite of the cold wind blasting her through the partly open window, perspiration beaded on her forehead. She couldn’t move the car without hurting him, and he had only to shove her car with all his strength and she’d be lying in the little ravine at the edge of the highway. As her mind raced for a solution, a car pulled up behind hers, but from her rearview mirror, she knew at once that it wasn’t Luther’s car. Her breathing accelerated, and the man at her car window turned to see who had parked behind her.

She noticed that his hands began to shake, turned around and saw a uniformed patrolman get out of the unmarked car and said a word of thanks.

“What’s going on here?” the patrolman asked. She jumped out of the car and handed the officer her license and registration.

“I was in the middle lane going fifty, officer, and he passed me on my left and knocked me all the way to where my car is. I spun around several times, till I thought I couldn’t get control of my car.”

The officer walked around the car, looked at the tires and the scratches on the left side of the car. He stopped in front of the other driver. “You had to be going pretty fast to do this. Both of her right tires are split. Let’s see your papers.”

“I…. uh…she hit me, Officer.”

“Your papers, buddy.”

“They, uh…they’re in my car.”

“I’ll walk with you.”

Luther drove up as the two men walked off, and she didn’t think she’d ever been so happy to see anyone.

“Are you all right?” Luther asked her.

“I’m fine,” she said, although she wasn’t. He showed no warmth, neither in his voice nor his demeanor. After walking around the car, he took out his cell phone and called a tow truck. “You can’t drive this till you replace these tires and check the wheel alignment. I’ll bet that joker doesn’t have a dollar’s worth of insurance.”

The patrolman returned with the man, wrote out a report, handed each a copy and told her, “He doesn’t have any personal insurance, but you may be able to recover your costs from his employer, who owns the car. Here’s the information. I wouldn’t drive your car till it’s checked.”

“Thank you, Officer,” she said.

“If you have anything in this car that you don’t want to lose, let’s put it in my car,” Luther said. They emptied her glove compartment and the trunk and put all of it in Luther’s car. “Go sit in my car. It’s too cold to stand out here,” he said.

The tow truck arrived minutes later. Luther gave the driver instructions, got a receipt and handed it to Ruby when he got into the car. “You ought to have your car back in a couple of days. If you need help, give me a ring.”

“Thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He didn’t look her way as he started the car and eased into the traffic. “You don’t say.”

Ruby felt his words like a punch to the stomach.

It didn’t seem right to be at odds with Luther, the one person who had always been there for her. If only she could think of something to do or say that would get them back to the warm camaraderie she’d had with him nearly all of her life. If only she hadn’t made love with him. No, she couldn’t be sorry for that. He was the man who’d given her her birthright. But she didn’t want it to end there. She was smart enough to know that there was more, and she wanted it. Yet, Luther was serving notice that she wouldn’t get it with him.

Well, she told herself, glancing at his steely face, we’ll see about that.

Chapter 3

Luther could feel the heat emanating from Ruby and knew she sensed the desire that seemed capable of running away with him. “Don’t lose that receipt, now,” he cautioned again, mainly because the silence was almost more than he could tolerate. Unfriendly, abnormal relations with Ruby chilled him like an icy grip on his heart, and he shuddered to banish the feeling. He stopped in front of the big Tudor house, a symbol of the Lockharts’ better days.

“I’ll take this stuff inside for you,” he said, but he meant to get out of her house quickly. Being alone with her would invite memories of her sweet surrender and reduce him to begging for her love. He was damned if he’d crawl no matter how much he needed her.

“Thanks,” she said. “Would you please put it over there near the stairs to the basement?”

He did as she asked and noted that she stood between him and the front door. He didn’t know if she’d positioned herself there on purpose, but it didn’t matter; on his way out, he gave her wide berth.

“Thanks for helping me, Luther,” she said, and he thought he detected a plaintiveness in her voice.

“It wasn’t much,” he said as he reached for the doorknob. “You know you’re welcome.”

For the first time in his life, Luther fled from Ruby. In his preoccupation with her, he’d almost forgotten the woman who was coming to his house for an interview.

Now that he was sole owner of the dealerships and would make all decisions without his father’s help, he’d probably be at it eighteen hours a day, so he needed a housekeeper or someone who’d take care of his house, do the marketing and at least cook his dinner. He had to get home in a hurry. He had interviewed one on the telephone earlier that day but she lacked good references. The woman coming to his house tonight seemed to have just the right credentials, but he needed to see her and talk with her.

He opened the door to a middle-aged woman who wore a gray felt hat and a gray coat. No points in her favor; he hated seeing dark-skinned women in grays, browns and blacks. She smiled as if she’d known him all of her life, and he couldn’t help responding to her.

“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Yates.”

“Glad to be here. Just call me Maggie, Mr. Biggens. Nothing fancy ’bout me.”

He walked with her into his living room and asked her to sit down. “I’d like to see your references,” he said, accepted them, glanced briefly at them and put the paper on the coffee table. “I want a woman who will look after my home as if it were her own, and that means cleaning, marketing and cooking. I send my shirts to the laundry.”

“With just one person to look after in this house,” she said, gazing around, “you better let me iron your shirts. I can do ’em as well as any laundry.”

“All right. We’ll try it. Punctuality is important to me. Unless there’s a blizzard or a hurricane, I’d expect you to be here on time. You’d have Thursday afternoons and Sundays off. You get five-fifty a week, plus transportation and your meals. I pay all of your Social Security and if you want to wear a uniform, I’ll buy them. If you don’t, fine with me. If we hit it off, you’ll get a raise.” He looked at her for a reaction.

“Sounds fine, Mr. Biggens. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

His left eyebrow shot up. “Why, of course.”

“How do you get along with your mother?”

He gaped at her. “My mother? Never thought about it. She’s my mother; I love her, and I’d do anything on earth for her.”

“Do you look after her and go to see her?”

Where was this headed? “I see my parents at least once a week. They don’t need anything, but if they did, I would provide it without being asked. I honor my parents. I’m the oldest child, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.”

“In my life, I’ve found that a man who honors his mother, honors all women. I think you’re a good man, and I hope you’ll decide that I can come to work for you.” She thought for a minute. “Just please don’t ask me to cook no chitterlings, Mr. Biggens. I can smell ’em a block away. Awful!” She made a face.

He squelched a laugh. “Let that be the last thing you worry about. I’ll check these references, and if you’re home around five tomorrow, you’ll hear from me.”

“If that’s all that’s standing between me and the job, I’ll be seeing you. The folks I work for always love me, and you will, too.”

Somehow, he didn’t doubt it. Common sense told him to check the references, but unless she got a really bad report, he’d hire her. He’d liked her on sight, and that didn’t happen too often.

As predicted, her references were impeccable. At five o’clock, he telephoned her. “How soon can you start?”

The next morning, he told Maggie what he liked and didn’t like to eat, gave her a key, a housekeeping budget, told her what kind of accounting he wanted and went to work. No more breaking the speed limit to get to the deli or the supermarket before it closed. In his first act as owner of his own dealerships, he made plans to partition the showroom and to build an attractive and comfortable room in which to discuss the cars, show videos of them and offer the customers complete comfort while they made up their minds.

“I’m not going to think about her, and I am not going to need her,” he said as he measured the space in the display room for the furnishings he would need. “I wish to hell I’d never touched her. She’s fire in my blood, and—Oh, hell!” Knowing it was a losing battle, he pitched the yardstick across the room.

Ruby hadn’t planned to go to the office that morning. She had appointments with the owner of a small knitting company and, later, with the manager of a florist shop. She’d spent the previous evening brushing up on the wholesale florist business, especially on the amount of waste a florist could absorb and still make a reasonable profit. She answered her ringing cell phone as she got into her car.

“Marva’s sick, and it’s serious.” The receptionist at work didn’t waste time with small talk. “You’d better come in. Several items on her desk require urgent attention.”

She cancelled her appointments, then headed to the office with the feeling that her life was about to change. And indeed it was: Marva Wright, the CEO, was hospitalized with a stroke.

For the first time in her memory, she worked all morning without coffee or a Danish. A stack of problems faced her, problems with which she had no experience, and each time she reached for the phone to call Luther and share her joy about the solution she implemented, she nearly wept. She knew she could do the job, but being unable to share her ideas with Luther, to boast about the smart things she did and to laugh with him about the silly things she contemplated doing hurt badly. The misery of it lodged in the pit of her stomach like a painful sore.

She answered the phone and heard Paige’s voice. “Say, girl, how about being one of my bridesmaids?”

“What? Girl, you get outta here! When? I want details.” Paige had been dating Lyman Epse for a while, but she’d never let on that she and the Detroit Chargers forward were that serious.

Paige chuckled. “Last night. I’m looking at this great big diamond on my finger right this minute.”

“You go, girl. Sure I’ll be a bridesmaid.”

“You don’t have much time. Lyman gave me all the money I need to pull the wedding off. He’s on the road so much, he’s left it all up to me. He’s going to Europe in February to play on some kind of a goodwill tour, so he wants us to get married before he leaves, and he’ll take me with him. Can you be at Jane’s Bridal Salon in Dearborn at five-thirty this evening?”

“Sure thing.” Ruby hung up and slumped in her chair, feeling as if all the air had been sucked out of her. Paige was her favorite cousin, and Ruby was happy for her. But she couldn’t suppress the feeling that it would never happen to her, that she would grow old without Luther. Oh, he’d come whenever she called, but that would be the end of it. It wasn’t enough.

She pulled herself up and resumed the task of stepping in as CEO of Everyday Opportunities, Inc.

“Your sister Opal is on line one, Ms. Lockhart,” came a voice through the intercom.

She wasn’t used to having a secretary answer her phone. She picked it up. “Hi.”

“I won’t keep you,” Opal said. “I was wondering if you knew Luther bought out his family and is now sole owner of Biggens Ford Family Cars.”

“What? When did that happen?” I need one more shock today. Just one more.

“In the last few days, I guess. D’marcus was talking to him, and you know Luther. He never makes a big deal out of anything. He told D’marcus that he couldn’t meet him for lunch because he’d just undertaken a big job and had to do a lot of the work himself. Turned out he’s renovating his showrooms. My husband had to squeeze it out of him that he’s now the sole owner. I knew you’d want to know, so you could call and congratulate him.”

“I will, as soon as I can. Marva had a stroke this morning, and I’m acting as CEO, plus doing my own work. All I want to do right now is keel over in bed and sleep.” Ruby wasted no time; she said goodbye to her sister.

With her left hand holding the receiver in the air and her right hand poised above the cradle ready to dial, she wondered whether Luther would welcome her call. She didn’t handle slights well at best, and since she wasn’t accustomed to getting them from Luther, maybe she shouldn’t call him. She hung up and the phone rang.

“Remember me—Trevor Johns?” the voice said. “I was wondering if you got over being mad at me and whether we can see the town tonight.”

When she could close her mouth, she said, “Of course I remember you, Trevor. I was never mad at you, but I do remember well why I decided that you and I mix like oil and water. Let’s forget about dating.”

“Well ’scuse me, babe. I don’t need no chick with her ass on her shoulder.”

“Really?” she said. “I’m sure you’ll find what you need if you head straight for a dark alley in the nearest slum district. Bye.” She hung up, and in her mind’s eye she saw his frustration at her comment; Trevor Johns liked to dominate a woman, and he liked to have his way. If he were only like Luther, gentle, sweet and…

Without thinking about it, she dialed Luther’s cell phone number. “Hi, Luther. This is Ruby.”

After a few seconds, during which time she knew he was dealing with the surprise, he said, “Hi.”

“Opal told me you’re now sole owner of Biggens Ford Family Cars. I called to congratulate you.”

“Thanks.” The silence that followed was tantamount to his splashing ice water on her.

She tried again. “Why don’t you come over this evening, and I’ll fix you dinner and we’ll celebrate. It’s an important milestone in your life.” She hadn’t meant to say any such thing, but…well, so be it.

“That’s nice of you, Ruby, but I just hired a housekeeper, and she’ll have dinner ready for me when I get home.”

What the heck! He didn’t offer an alternative and she didn’t want another slap in the face. She struggled to control the quivering of her lips. Maybe she just didn’t understand men. “I’m sorry, Luther. Congratulations on owning the dealership.”

“Thanks. I…uh…I’ll call you as soon as I get things straightened out here. Goodbye.”

Ruby hung up. He was kind even when he was being mean. She knew he didn’t plan to call her. She had to do something to take her mind off him. That was hard enough when she was at work, but in the evenings alone at home, it was all but impossible. She couldn’t call her sisters and chat on the phone; they were newly married and would want to spend the time with their husbands.

For several months, she had considered volunteering one evening a week at the community center in Morningside. She didn’t doubt that every shopkeeper in the area needed advice, so she made an appointment to give a talk there the following evening on the management of a small business with limited cash flow.

“I’ll have fliers out all over the neighborhood within the next hour,” the excited social worker told her. “And maybe I’ll see if a radio station that supports us will make a few announcements. This is the first good program I’ve had here in ages.”

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