LITMIR.BIZ

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waited patiently for a missed step.

      I came to the cottage, built on a natural shelf in the stone, and hanging over the edge. It was a bold design, with simple lines and a broad, sweeping form, almost like a wingspan. It was vermillion in the gathering dusk.

      I unlocked the double doors. Heat swirled out. It curled around my body, licked at my skin, and cajoled me to step inside. I gave in to it, to the warmth. I closed my eyes and savored it for a moment before I stepped over the threshold. And when I stepped a thrill went through my body. The bliss started somewhere deep inside me and bloomed like a flower, a precious desire that I wanted to last and last.

      I was only one step inside and already I was soaring. Wall-to-wall windows overlooked the sea and gave the impression of flight, of hovering in the heavens above the Earth. Standing perfectly still, I let the smells, the sights, the warmth of the house welcome me, chasing away any hesitation, any emotion other than rapture.

      The dining room was just beyond the entry, and a large teardrop chandelier hung over the table. In the center, facing me was a golden statuette. It was a nude, a reclining woman, whose long hair fell along the curve of her hips and skimmed the line of her breasts. She was reaching, her hand extended and open. The expression on her perfect face was expectant, waiting.

      The shadows were growing long. I needed to hurry. I could see the door to the bedroom and went down the few stairs into the sunken room. But when I saw what was beneath me, I stopped again, for my breath was sucked away.

      I stood on a floor of glass, and underneath, twenty feet below, were jagged rocks. A tiny strip of beach was there, and white-capped waves rolled onto the sand directly underneath me. “My God,” I breathed. There was only a thin plate of glass between myself and oblivion. I reveled in it, in the danger.

      I boldly stepped closer to the ceiling-high windows and looked out. There was a small deck that stretched away from the house, but I felt no need to step outside.

      I saw the whole world spread before me like a painting. I was enthralled.

      Reaching up my hand, I traced my finger over the glass. It was like velvet, and my fingertip left no trace behind. Everything that I ran my finger over— the island, the houses that dotted it, the waters below—it all seemed within reach, as if I could simply reach out and touch it and it would be mine. A picture of Lucas came to my mind and I laughed to think it could be that easy.

      Sunlight danced across the top panes of the house and everything around me was drenched in golden hues. The walls seemed somehow to tease color and detail from the world outside. I could even discern the rays of the sun as they descended into the depths of the ocean, like fingers plunged into the deep. The island seemed impossibly green, a forbidden, shimmering and fertile green. I instinctively knew that at night, with the cool blue and purple rays of the moon, the house would be at its finest.

      I had already lingered too long. I needed to hurry.

      The bedroom was off to one side, and I could see the door already open. I went inside, and the room was cooler, darker and had a neglected odor to it. In the rest of the house, the glass walls let in every detail, but here, in Celeste’s domain, the room was secretive. The walls were covered in thick velvet curtains and only a lonely sliver of dying sunlight streamed into the room. The dressing table was tucked into the far corner and the chair positioned as if time had stopped the moment Mrs. St. Claire vanished. There were still cosmetics on the tabletop—an open tube of lipstick, a hairbrush, a full-length mirror just next to the vanity.

      So this was her hideaway. It was so obviously a woman’s domain. With a lace-fringed comforter and pale pink pillows on the bed, it felt like I had stepped into her secret place. I wondered what about the ocean, the perilous view and the frightening floors appealed to her. Was it the same things that appealed to me? I supposed that I would never know.

      I walked to the vanity and looked for a jewel box, but there was none. There was, however, a string of pearls on the table. I traced my finger along the edge of those fat dollops of heaven, and felt a fine sheen of dust collect on my skin. It was sad and eerie, this place, as if time had stopped and was waiting for her. I decided to leave the trinket on the table and I turned to go, but then I hesitated, wanting to linger just another moment.

      There was a picture on the wall, and I stepped closer, analyzing it. Celeste St. Claire stared out at me with her chin raised, a defiant, almost arrogant look to her. Her hair was silver-white and styled into finger curls. Her beauty was apparent, but it was a cold beauty, self-aware. A dress hung from a hook on the wall. It was a floor-length silver silk gown. I ran my hand over the fabric, and the smooth silk caressed my skin in return. I lifted it and the dress lay languorously in my hand.

      I was, at that moment, possessed by a desire to be her—to be decadent and thoroughly intoxicating. Standing before the mirror on the dressing table, I pressed the silver gown against my body. It glowed in approval. I pulled my hair down from its bun, and a dark cloud dropped past my shoulders, heavy and thick. I shook it loose and pulled the curls forward, and foolishly tried to pose the way the lady in the statue did, hips jutted out, arm reaching.

      “Lovely,” said a voice. It was a deep male voice, jaded and mocking.

      I was startled and stumbled and a gasp gathered in my throat, but was squelched when I looked to the owner of the voice.

      The man was obscured in shadows, and a blade-width of darkness fell over his face. Only the straight line of his jaw and his full lips were visible. His body was tense and powerful.

      Then he came to me. There was a hitch in his gate that was forced. Even so, he ate up the space between us in a few steps and stood towering in front of me.

      Of course, I didn’t need to see him clearly to know that he was Lucas St. Claire. He loomed over me, hardened and angry. His eyes roamed my body and face with an awful, indifferent gaze, and then he reached out a finger and traced the line of my lips. I flailed backward, awkwardly, surprised at his boldness.

      “What are you doing here in my wife’s room?” His voice was low, almost a growl.

      “I—Mrs. Amber—”

      “Yes?” he interrupted. He pushed even closer, clearly enjoying my panic.

      “I was returning an item.” I took a breath. “Mrs. Amber told me to bring it here.”

      “I see.” He ran the back of his hand over a loose curl of my hair. “And this?” His touch slid farther down the tendril of hair, past my shoulder, only inches away from the shell he himself had once given me. “A game of pretend?” He leaned forward and whispered, his lips barely touching my ear. “Shall I play, too?”

      For a moment I was stunned. Was this the man who had once showed me such kindness? No, this man frightened me. He was different, hardened.

      The heat from his body surrounded me. Or maybe it was the heat from the house, I wasn’t sure.

      A palpable ripple, a shiver coursed through the house. I could even feel it in the wall at my back. I looked at Mr. St. Claire to gauge his reaction, to see if he noticed it.

      He didn’t. He was intent on me, his hands still in my hair, his lips just above mine.

      It was only my nervousness. My heart was beating fast making me breathless. But despite my fear, I had the overwhelming urge to do something bold and I gave in to it. I reached up and slid my hand between the buttons of his shirt, my fingertips barely grazing his skin. I pulled him toward me.

      It was the only encouragement he needed. I don’t know what shocked me more—the boldness of my actions or the feel of his lips as they collided with mine. The sheer force and shock of it stole all the breath from my body. His hands went to the small of my back, and pulled me against him.

      I became aware of another feeling, a rising recklessness within me. The awareness coursed through me and I felt emboldened, and possessed of a single-minded will that was entirely directed at Lucas St. Claire.

      My body rose to meet him and my hands roamed across the wide expanse of his shoulders. There was a deep

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