Amy’s second day in court wasn’t nearly as terrifying as her first. Todd winked at her as she scooted into her seat to await her turn before the judge’s bench. He had bolstered her courage so much that she even winked back. As a matter of fact, she thought she might disturb the peace again just so she could come to court and see him in his robes. He looked dignified and imposing. Princely. Solid. Endurable. He looked like a man who could conquer anything, even death. She squelched the urge to run up to the bench and stroke her hands across his broad shoulders just to see if he was real.
She spent most of her day in court studying the judge. It seemed a safe enough thing to do, especially since he was sitting on a platform and she was way in the back of the courtroom, out of reach. She wondered why, as much as she loved touching, that touching Todd Cunningham disturbed her. Then she decided she wouldn’t think about it. The ceiling fans were lazily stirring the humid air, and the day was much too hot for introspection.
She tried to force her attention away from Todd, but he would no longer be denied. He was at the front of the courtroom, solid and unavoidable. He was a tangible part of her present, not some ephemeral dream of her past. Now that she had put away the seascapes and the pipe, wasn’t it time to move forward? Wasn’t it time to embrace the present and live, really live?
She studied the face that had become dear to her. She hadn’t realized how dear until that moment. It wasn’t just that he was handsome and princely in his judicial robes. It wasn’t simply the stunning blue of his eyes and the thick cap of dark hair that drew her to him. It was the man himself. His humor and compassion, the way he was strong when she need strength and light-hearted when she needed cheering up.
Here was a man who had come unbidden into her life, a man who offered her more than friendship, more than companionship. He offered her passion and joy. Did she dare reach out for him? Did she dare risk loving and losing again? She didn’t know. All she knew was that his charm was fatal. With a certainty that comes from self-analysis, Amy realized she could never again walk away from his embrace.
She could only guess when the time would come, but when it did, she would not turn away. She wouldn’t ponder the future or the past. She was going to live for the moment. Starting now.
With that thought she turned her attention away from Todd and onto her accuser, Mrs. Matilda Hildenbrand. The matriarch of Sunday Cove society glared down her long nose at Amy, scowling as if she had just caught sight of an odious bug. The look put Amy on the defensive. Although she was sorry the picnic had been ruined, she wasn’t sorry enough to roll over and play dead. She had come into the courtroom prepared to enter another guilty plea and have the business over with, but Mrs. Matilda Hildenbrand’s look of contempt made her change her mind. She vowed that today she wouldn’t be putty in anybody’s hands. It was a day for momentous decisions, she thought as she slipped from her seat to call her aunt Syl.
“I need Herman,” she said over the phone. “Can you bring him down?”
“Of course.” Even over the phone Aunt Syl’s voice vibrated with good cheer. “My curiosity is killing me. Why do you want Herman? I thought you and Todd had worked everything out.”
“I’ve changed my mind about pleading guilty.”
“Goody. Herman and I will be right there.”
Amy waited in the hall until Aunt Syl and Herman arrived. They were not alone.
“I’ve brought reinforcements,” she said. “You remember Clara, don’t you?”
“Oh, my goodness. Of course, I do.”
The tall, self-possessed woman had the look of a Confederate general getting ready to lead troops into battle. “Amy, your troubles are over,” she said. “I was at that luncheon and I can guarantee my support is not with that self-important old biddy.”
The strange little crew put their heads together for a quick consultation, and then they slipped into the back of the courtroom.
When her name was finally called, Amy pressed Herman’s switches and led him to the front. A murmur went through the room as the little robot whirred toward the judge’s bench.
Todd hadn’t missed a thing—Amy’s exit from the courtroom, her return with the robot. He wondered what in the devil she was up to. Only years of habit enabled him to keep his face solemn as he looked down at her.
“Amy Logan, how do you wish to plead to charges of disturbing the peace?”
“Not guilty, your honor.” Amy was proud of herself. Gone was the timidity that had marked her first day in court. She spoke so loudly that Mrs. Matilda Hildenbrand nearly jumped out of her seat. Amy’s plea was so forceful that even Todd was a bit rattled.
“Who is pleading your case?” he asked.
“I am.”
He didn’t bat an eyelash at the news. Now that the first shock of her bold move was over, he was eager to see what she would do next.
He heard the plaintiff’s story first. It took all his willpower to sit patiently through Mrs. Hildenbrand’s rambling account of a summer picnic gone awry. With dramatic gestures she painted such a villainous role for Amy that even the onlookers occasionally muttered in disbelief. There was a collective sigh of relief when the woman sat down and Amy approached the bench to speak in her defense.
She began her plea with simple eloquence.
“I plead not guilty, your honor, because I didn’t disturb Mrs. Hildenbrand’s summer picnic. A stray cat did.”
Todd couldn’t suppress his smile. He remembered how frightened Amy had been the last time she had been in his courtroom. He approved her newfound confidence.
Encouraged by his smile, she continued. “My robot...” She stopped and punched instructions into Herman’s computer panel. “Say hello to the people, Herman.” The little robot turned toward the packed courtroom and saluted. The crowd applauded. “As I was saying,” Amy continued, “my robot and I were merely walking down the street, when a stray cat crossed our path. The cat became frightened and ran up a tree bordering Mrs. Hildenbrand’s yard. The blue jays in the tree flew down into her yard and frightened the members of the Ladies’ Auxiliary. Hearing the screaming, I climbed over the fence to see what I could do to help.”
Clara and Aunt Syl led the loud burst of clapping from the onlookers.
“If I had stayed on the other side of the fence, your honor, Mrs. Hildenbrand would have had to charge the cat and the blue jays with disturbing the peace because she wouldn’t even have known I exist. My only crime is in being a good Samaritan. Should I have to pay for that crime? Should I be charged because a stray cat became frightened? Am I responsible for the behavior of all the cats in Sunday Cove?”
A loud “No!” resounded throughout the courtroom. Although Todd hated to reprimand Amy’s Greek chorus of supporters, he banged his gavel.
“Order in the court,” he demanded.
Mrs. Hildenbrand turned and stared at the crowd, apparently stunned to find public opinion so against her.
From the back of the courtroom, Clara called, “Looks like every cat in Baltimore will have to be brought to justice for disturbing the peace.”
Everyone started laughing, and even Todd had to bend down on the pretext of examining his notes to hide his smile. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what he had to smile about. Not only had Amy disrupted his quiet home, she had now turned his courtroom upside down. But through it all she had maintained an innocence and vulnerability that made him want to go out and slay dragons for her.
When he looked up again and pounded his gavel, calling for order, Mrs. Hildenbrand rose to her feet. As the courtroom refused to come to order, she opened and closed her mouth several times, unable to speak, then finally threw up her hands in exasperation.
“This is ridiculous!” she exclaimed. “I withdraw the charges!”
The spectators cheered. Amy smiled with relief and happiness.
“Case dismissed,” Todd declared, and banged his gavel down once. To be honest, he was relieved too.
As Mrs. Hildenbrand swept from the courtroom, Amy considered going home as well, until she noticed the way Todd was studying her.
She followed Aunt Syl and Clara into the hallfway.
“Both of you were just wonderful,” she said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Looks like you’ve got more to celebrate than winning the case.” Clara winked at her. “Looks like I can take a certain judge off my list as most eligible bachelor in town.”
“Have you been matchmaking again, Clara?” Aunt Syl asked her.
“Now and always. I’m looking for somebody for you, Syl.”
“What makes you think I need any help?”
“You’ve found somebody ready?” Clara clapped her hands. “This is too delicious! It calls for a long gossip session over a bowl of my peach cobbler.”
As they linked arms to leave, Amy said, “Do you mind taking Herman?”
“Of course not!” Clara said. “He’s cute as a button. What all can he do?”
“He can do dishes,” Syl told her, “but I wouldn’t recommend it.” With that, they waved at Amy and headed out, heads together, chattering in the way of good friends who pick up where they left off no matter how long it has been since they’ve seen each other.
Amy slipped into back into the courtroom, prepared to wait patiently.
Justice had never been dispensed so quickly as Todd hurried through the rest of the cases on the docket. After the last case had been dispatched and the courtroom had emptied, he took Amy’s arm and started leading her to his office.
“I must say I’m relieved Mrs. Hildenbrand withdrew the charges,” he said.
“Why?” Amy asked. She felt like a cork bobbing along in the lee of a great ship as she followed Todd. Being attached to all that steadiness and solidity was a pleasant feeling.
“Because as I listened to you defending yourself, I realized I couldn’t judge you impartially.”
He pushed open the door, ushered her inside and locked the door. With slow deliberation, he shed his judicial robe.
Amy’s heart tripped into double time as she watched him hang it in a closet.
“If Mrs. Hildenbrand hadn’t dropped the charges, what would you have ruled?” She meant the question to be light and teasing, but her voice was oddly husky.
“Amy Logan, if I could, I would sentence you to life.”
“In prison?” Her question was purely rhetorical. She saw destiny shining in his eyes.
“In my arms.” They came together, seemingly in slow motion. Without hurry he put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. The soft hair at her temple stirred felt exactly right against his lips.
“You are my rainbow. Amy.”
She hid her smile against his chest. “Why?”
“I don’t know. Who can explain joy?” He tipped her face up with a finger. “Who can explain how one woman out of the dozens I’ve known has the ability to wrap herself around my heart? I’m falling in love with you, Amy Logan.”
His lips descended on hers before she could protest. And then there was no more need for denial. The kiss said it all. Until Todd, she had never known that kisses were like this—erotic, unbridled, a pulsing imitation of lovemaking. Her arms slipped around him and she wound her fingers in his crisp hair. As his tongue explored the warm depths of her mouth, she was more than compliant. She was eager—eager to know and to be known, eager to take that one final step that would catapult her over the barriers of the past.
Only when she felt his hands move across the front of her blouse did she rouse herself enough to protest.
“Todd?” The small question in her voice made him pause.
“Don’t fight it. Amy.”
“Maybe we should talk.”
“We’ve gone beyond talking. I love you. What more is there to say?”
“I can’t say those words to you. Not yet.”
“It doesn’t matter. I want you.”
“Here?”
“Here. Now.”
“Todd ...” What more could she say? There was no need to deny that she wanted him. Her body had already betrayed her. She had known from the moment he had kissed her in the soap bubbles— perhaps even before—that they were destined to be together. What did it matter how or where or when? She could run from love until she dropped from exhaustion, but it would not be denied. “Todd,” she said again, and it was a soft sigh of acquiescence.
He needed no more invitation. He unbuttoned her blouse and pushed aside the restraining material, slipping it down her arms.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, right before he lowered her to his leather sofa.
It was magic. New sensations exploded in Amy. Tim, her sweet artist husband, had rarely taken the time to appreciate every aspect of intimacy. Theirs had always been a gentle, unimaginative coupling, almost sedate in its lack of fire and passion.
With Todd, she tipped off the edge of the earth.
Much later, she came back to the real world by degrees, first aware of his sweat-dampened chest against hers then the thunderous rhythm of his heart. She ran her hands lightly along his back, memorizing the feel of him.
“Amy?” His voice was muffled against her hair.
“Shh. Don’t talk. I just want to absorb you.”
Her hands made lazy circles on his back as her senses took in the setting. The leather under her felt soft and warm. Overhead the ceiling fan stirred the heavy air. Its almost useless whirring sounded loud in the quiet room. A noisy fly hummed near their heads, then moved on to light on a marble-top table. The burnished mahogany walls seemed to have absorbed the sunlight. Their polished red-gold surrounded her like a benediction. A stray sunbeam, drifting through the partly closed shutters, caught the swirling dust motes on the old hardwood floor.
The room exuded solidity and permanence. It closed them away from the real world and wrapped them in serenity. To Amy’s heightened senses, the room spoke love.
She sighed against Todd’s neck.
“Amy?” He lifted his head and looked down at her, searching her face for any sign of regret. All he saw was contentment. He planted a tender kiss on her forehead. “Come back with me.”
“Where?”
“To my apartment.”
“I’m not sure ...”
“I am. I’m sure enough for both of us.”
“Aunt Syl...”
“... will approve.”
Amy laughed. “You’re right. She’ll probably even applaud.”
“Does that mean yes?”
“It means maybe.”
“Then I’ll have to convince you.” He lowered his lips to her neck and she shivered.
“Hmmm,” she murmured.
“Is that a yes?”
“Not yet.”
His mouth inched downward and she gasped.
“Yes?” His voice was muffled against her skin.
“Keep convincing me.”
And he did.
By the time the convincing was over, the sun had dropped low in the western sky and the judge’s chambers were shadowed with purple.
Todd’s laugh was exultant as he sat up and pulled Amy into his arms. “This staid old courthouse has never known such excitement.”
She playfully punched his cheek. “And you a judge. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“I am. Mortified.” But he didn’t look mortified at all. Amy thought he looked like a pleased little boy who had just outwitted a roomful of adults.
She snuggled against him, completely at ease in her nakedness. “Do you reprimand all criminals this way?”
“Only those who disturb the peace.”
“Then I’ll have to disturb the peace more often.”
“How about twice a day?”
“Twice?”
“All right. You win. Three times a day.”
“It might interfere with other things ... like eating.”
“That’s okay. I can live on love.” He released her and reached for his pants. “I hate to leave.”
“Then let’s stay.” The suggestion just popped out. Amy knew that as long as they stayed in these chambers they were removed from the real world, set apart from all the bad things that could happen.
“We will if you don’t mind an audience,” Todd said.
“Who?”
“The night watchman.”
“In that case ...” She stood up and started dressing.
“We’ll call your aunt from my place.”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“You didn’t say no.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. What harm could there be? she wondered. After all, he wasn’t proposing marriage. He wasn’t asking for a longtime commitment. He was simply inviting her to his apartment for shared pleasure.
She took his hand. “I’ll come.”
“Remind me to send Mrs. Matilda Hildenbrand a dozen red roses.”
o0o
Todd had been right: Aunt Syl was delighted when Amy called her.
“I’m going to New York for the weekend, anyway,” she told her niece. “Now I won’t worry about you being alone.”
“You never mentioned a trip to New York.”
“Didn’t I? It must have slipped my mind.” Aunt Syl’s feigned innocence didn’t fool Amy. “I’m even taking Hortense, so you won’t have to worry about a thing. Just concentrate on the judge.”
Amy laughed. “I’ll have to ask his permission first.” Covering the receiver with her hand, she turned and asked Todd, “Is it all right if I concentrate on you this weekend?”
For an answer he put his arms around her from behind and pulled her against his chest. “If you concentrate on anything else, I’ll have you back in court so fast your head will spin.”
“In the judge’s chambers?” Forgetting about the receiver dangling in her hand, she turned and put her arms around his neck.
“Where else?” The kiss he gave her might have gone on forever if the squawking of the telephone hadn’t finally caught their attention.
Amy was flushed and breathless when she pulled away. “I forgot Aunt Syl.” She pulled the receiver up by the cord. “Aunt Syl?”
“I’m still here, dear, although I must say the heat coming from that end has nearly melted the phone. Why don’t you hang up, Amy, and get on with the romance?”
“ ‘Bye. Enjoy New York.”
“More to the point, dear, New York will enjoy me.”
Todd untangled them from the cord and hung up the phone.
“Now,” he said, “where were we?”
Amy unfastened the first button of his shirt and kissed him on the chest. “Here,” she said.
He slid his open mouth down her cheek. “I thought it was here.” His mouth moved over her throat. “Or here.” She tipped her head back, and he pushed her blouse aside. “Or here.”
There was no more time for words. He scooped her into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. She had a fleeting impression of heavy furniture and ordered masculinity before she was once more lost in the magic of his embrace.
By the time the magic ended, the first pale fingers of a summer moon lay across the bedcovers.
“One of us should be thinking about food,” Todd said.
Amy stretched drowsily and snuggled closer to him. “I thought you said you could live on love.”
“I lied.”
“Is that a habit of yours?”
“Yes. It came in handy when I was a child. Got me out of all sorts of scrapes.”
“I wish I had had brothers and sisters.”
“I wish you had, too, love. Having a family is like having a safe port in a storm.”
“Of course, I had Aunt Syl. And Hortense.”
His arm tightened around her shoulders. “And now you have me.”
And now you have me. The words seemed to echo in her mind. Did she really have him? He felt solid and lasting, but how did she know it would? Almost desperately she turned her face into his chest. Her mouth blazed a hot trail of nibbling kisses through the dark crisp mat of hair.
She absolutely refused to think any further than this weekend. She put on a brave smile and raised her head to look at him. “Do you intend to keep me captive in this bedroom, or do you intend to feed me?”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“The food?”
“No. The captive part.”
“I’m in lo—” She stopped to correct herself. “—bed with a tyrant.” Dragging the sheet with her, she bounced to the floor. With expert motions she fashioned a sarong. “That will have to do since all my worldly belongings are upstairs.”
His broad smile showed his admiration of her attire. “I like that. How did you learn that trick?”
“It’s no trick; it’s an art. I spent some time in India with Aunt Syl.”
He reached over and traced one bare shoulder. “What would happen if I untied the knot?”
“Don’t you dare. Unless you want me to cook in the nude.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.” His fingers inched closer to the knot.
She playfully swatted his hand away. “What if grease splattered on me?”
“I would apply burn remedy.”
He hopped out of bed and stood before her, splendid in his nakedness. Todd had awakened a sexuality she hadn’t known she possessed.
He stood in the moonlight, smiling at her, then suddenly reached over and untied the knot. The sheet slithered to the floor.
“I vote for a bath before we eat,” he said.
She stood very still, loving the way his gaze blazed over her. “Is this a democracy?”
“No. It’s a dictatorship.” He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bathroom.