Then again, maybe this was the perfect costume.
Say good-night, Scarlett, she said to the room and started to turn from the window. A jagged bolt of lightning flashed, spiking down into the water, illuminating the patio and the curve of rock steps that swept down the grassy slope to the lake cottage. And in that flash of light she saw him.
Rhett Butler. He ducked into the cottage just an instant before thunder rumbled overhead.
The first raindrops spattered the window. Trevor must have been on the boat shed seen and now hed gone into the cottage to wait out the storm.
When the lights didnt come on inside the cottage, she realized the shutters were closed. Trevor was alone down there, offering her the perfect opportunity to talk to him. This couldnt wait. She suspected hed been avoiding her because he, too, thought their engagement was a mistake. He couldnt avoid her now.
She braced herself, then opened the patio door, lifted the hoop skirt with one hand and, holding on to her hat with the other, raced across the patio to the rock steps that descended to the cottage.
Behind her, the wind moaned through the trees, sending leaves scurrying. Snatches of the music from the party chased after her but were quickly drowned out by the crash of waves. Lightning struck so close it raised the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. As she ran toward the cottage, rain slashed down, hard as hail and just as cold. Thunder boomed, deafening.
She was close enough to the water now that she could feel the spray from the waves. Her hand was on the doorknob when lightning electrified the sky overhead once more. This time the thunderclap reverberated in her chest.
The lights on the patio blinked out and behind her the main house went dark. She opened the cottage door, the room inside as black as the bottom of a bucket. Chilled, wet and a little disoriented by the darkness, she stepped in and quickly closed the door behind her.
Her lips parted as she started to say Trevors name, sensing, rather than hearing, him near her.
Before she could get his name out, his arm snaked around her waist and he dragged her to him, his mouth unerringly dropping to hers.
She gasped in surprise and pushed with both palms against his broad chest, the darkness so intense she couldnt see his features, could only feel him, the unfamiliar Rhett Butler costume mustache, the unfamiliar hardness of his body. Had he seen her coming down from the house and thought he could make things up to her by taking her to bed? Fat chance.
She tried to push him away, but he only deepened the kiss, holding her to him as if he never wanted to let her go, as if hed been waiting for her, needing her.
This wasnt why shed come down here. Or was it? Had she secretly hoped Trevor could change her mind?
He groaned against her mouth and she felt herself weaken in his arms. Hed never kissed her like this before. His body was so muscular, so solid, harder than it had been the last time theyd made love.
If this was his way of saying he was sorry She lost herself in his kiss, in the warmth of his body molded to hers, stirred in a way shed never been before by this unexpected ardor.
Her hat fell to the floor as he buried his fingers in her hair and pressed her against the wall with his body, his mouth exploring hers as his hand moved up her waist and over her rib cage to cup her breast in his warm palm. Heat shot through her.
She had never wanted him so badly. Her body felt on fire as he moved his hands over her, exploring her flesh with his fingertips in the blind darkness. She arched against him, strangely uninhibited. There was something exciting about not being able to see each other, only feel. It was as if theyd never touched before as his fingers explored beneath the confines of her costume.
His touch sure and strong, he swiftly and efficiently relieved her of her clothing, the hoop skirt, the entire dress, leaving only her skimpy silk panties and bra.
Outside the warm cottage the storm raged. She sighed with pleasure against his mouth, his lips never leaving hers as if hed feared what she might have said if he hadnt kissed her the moment she came into the cottage. Had he realized how abandoned and alone shed been feeling? How afraid she was that they were about to make a mistake by marrying?
Shed never felt more naked as his fingers skimmed over her skin, stopping to fondle her through the thin silk of her underthings. Hadnt she, in fact, worn the sexy lingerie hoping things would be different between them tonight, just as Trevor had promised?
She worked feverishly at the buttons of his costume, his kisses growing more ardent, more demanding, her need becoming more frantic as she worked with wanton abandon to free him of his clothing. His need matched hers as he relieved her of her bra and panties and helped discard his own clothing, and all the time, never stopped kissing her.
She shuddered at the first touch of his naked skin against hers, heard his soft groan as he dragged her down to the floor, their lovemaking as wild and frenzied as the storm outside.