Night Whispers Part 1

Night Whispers.

by Leslie Kelly.

Prologue.

"I WANT TO SEDUCE YOU WANT TO SEDUCE YOU."

The five words were spoken softly, nearly whispered, yet Baltimore heard. Throughout the bustling city, people paused, falling under the spell of the sultry declaration that seemed to echo in the hot September night. Patrons in a Harbor Place bar hushed one another. Riders aboard a city bus craned forward to hear from the driver's tinny speakers. Lights were flicked off in apartments around town as residents sat back in the candlelight to listen to her voice.

"Seduction. Even the word sounds erotic, doesn't it? It rolls off the tongue and instantly floods the brain with the images that most excite us. Gentlemen, what would it take to seduce you? Is it soft, white lingerie, so pure and innocent it's utterly sinful? Is it the flash of a woman's eyes that says yes, even before you've asked the question?"

It was ten o'clock and tonight, as it had been for the past two months, Baltimore was at the feet of a mystery woman calling herself "Lady Love." Near Charles Street a cabdriver flicked off his "available" light, slid his car behind a closed shopping center and settled in his seat to listen. A woman in a downtown row house lay in her bubble-filled tub, letting Lady Love take her away. Couples married twenty-five years turned off their televisions and looked at each other, feeling the spark her words always ignited.

"Maybe it's a touch. If she runs the tip of her finger across your bottom lip, will you be able to think of anything except how much you want to kiss her? If she feeds you succulent fruit, letting you lick its juice from her hand, will you want to taste more? When she so carefully allows her short skirt to ride dangerously high on her leg as she steps out of a car, will you want to push her back in and take her to a secret hideaway?"

Most of the men she was speaking to screamed a silent "yes" in their brains, picturing the infamous Lady Love doing all these things. They'd never seen her, yet each felt they knew exactly what she looked like...she was tall and short, a redhead and a blonde, slim and elegant and built with Mae West curves. They laughed and kidded one another, telling ribald jokes even as they fantasized about meeting her, wondering if she could possibly look as good as she sounded.

Women wanted to hate her for the effect she had on their men. But once they listened to her, they understood that she was talking to them them even more than she was to their mates. In Lady Love's husky voice, they could hear their own fantasies and desires. even more than she was to their mates. In Lady Love's husky voice, they could hear their own fantasies and desires.

She had them and they adored her.

"And ladies, if he makes up his mind to make you desire him, can you possibly resist? If he stares deep into your eyes, and his breath comes faster across his lips, can you stop your body's response? If he kisses the palm of your hand and whispers 'I love the way you touch me,' can you stop yourself from touching?

"It's all about seduction. Making someone want you. Let's talk about it. I want to hear from you...tell me how to seduce you."

And, oh, how they wanted to tell her.

Baltimore settled back to spend four hours with their lady of the night, knowing now what she had in mind for them. They were never quite sure where she would take them when they turned her on. Some nights were light and playful, some heavy and erotic. She sometimes made them laugh, sometimes made them cry...but she always always made them hot. made them hot.

"This is Lady Love on WAJO...and you're listening to Night Whispers Night Whispers."

1.

"WHAT HAS SHE DONE TO MY YARD?"

Mitch Wymore stared out his kitchen window and shook his head. Rubbing a weary hand against his unshaved jaw, he closed his eyes briefly. He'd just returned from a six-month research stint in China-his luggage still lay heaped on the floor in the foyer. He'd looked forward to returning to his brownstone, to his own huge bed, some real American junk food, and familiar surroundings. But this place didn't look familiar! From the moment the taxi dropped him off in his driveway and he saw the little red sports car parked in his spot, he'd wondered if he was at the wrong house.

It wasn't just the yard. The kitchen was changed. There were frilly yellow curtains at the window, and copper pots hung over the cooking island. The last time he'd seen them they'd been gathering dust in a box in the bas.e.m.e.nt. A delicate-looking tea set perched on the sideboard. Pot holders and matching towels hung from a new towel rack. Fresh flowers burst out of a cut-crystal vase on the butcher-block table.

"Someone's also been messing with my kitchen."

Mitch didn't really expect Fred to respond. He'd been speaking more to himself than to his tenant.

"Yeah, looks nice, doesn't it?"

Mitch slowly turned on his heel and stared at him. He didn't know Fred that well, despite the fact that the man had been renting the top-floor apartment in his home for the past year. Fred was a young grad student-serious, studious and quiet-the perfect tenant, and, frankly, that was just how Mitch liked it. They'd never socialized, and in the few encounters he'd had with Fred, he'd never seen him crack a real smile. Now a huge grin creased his face.

"Is there anything else I should know about?"

Fred's grin widened, and Mitch nearly groaned.

"Well, she painted the dining room, fixed the cracked chair rail in the living room, and repapered the foyer."

Mitch didn't have to ask who "she" was. Of course, it was Kelsey.

He glanced back out the window and rolled his eyes. The quiet little courtyard he'd left six months ago had been a nice blend of stone patio, a few rosebushes and a little gra.s.s. Two stately old maples provided shade in the back corner. Nice and easy. Low maintenance.

Now it looked like the pictures of those English gardens, a ma.s.s of trees, shrubs and flowers. A stone path meandered around clumps of evergreens and mums. Some green, palmy thing hung right over the gate and he dreaded having to circ.u.mnavigate it when taking out the trash. A huge mound of wildflowers surrounded most of the back patio. There was even a fountain splas.h.i.+ng merrily near the fence.

He hated it.

"I'm gonna strangle that kid."

Tossing his keys onto the kitchen table, Mitch shrugged off his jacket and loosened his tie. All he wanted to do was strip away his stale clothes and take a forty-five-minute shower. Instead, he was going to leap into a confrontation with Kelsey Logan, the bane of his childhood!

"Kid?" Fred asked.

Mitch didn't pay him any attention. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to let her move in here. She's a menace, always has been, always will be. And she has liked nothing better than to irritate me since the day we met."

Fred seemed surprised. "I don't see her that way."

"Believe me, you don't know her."

Mitch wished he'd told her mother no when she'd called last spring to ask if Kelsey could rent one of the apartments in the Baltimore brownstone he'd just renovated. But of all the people in the world, Marge Logan was one he couldn't say no to. She'd done too much for him. He shuddered to think where he might be now if it hadn't been for Marge and her husband Ralph-in jail, dead...no telling. So he'd said yes, hoping the move would be temporary and Kelsey would be long gone by the time he got back from his trip.

"How long has it been since you've seen Kelsey?" Fred asked.

"Not long enough," he muttered. "Where is she?"

Fred pointed out the window toward the backyard. Mitch wasn't surprised.

"I'd better be on my guard. That monster dumped a bucket of fertilizer-fresh fertilizer-on my head once, just because her brother and I made the mistake of walking through her vegetable garden."

Fred laughed out loud until Mitch glared at him.

"I can't begin to tell you the number of acts of terror she's inflicted." Mitch mentally ticked off memories in his head of the times she'd run his underwear up a flagpole, hidden dirty diapers beneath his bed-and then there was the time she'd told half the neighborhood that Mitch slept with a stuffed bear and liked to dress her Barbie dolls up as Southern belles. Oh, the list went on and on. And those were only the harmless pranks. She'd gotten him into real trouble a couple of times.

Mitch had, of course, retaliated. He'd considered pounding her into the ground, and if she'd been a boy, and five years older, that's exactly what he would have done. Instead, he'd reacted by treating her exactly in the way he knew she'd hate most: he ignored her. It drove her nuts. He smiled at the memory.

"That was a long time ago, though," Fred said.

"Of course, fifteen years ago," Mitch conceded. "And I'm certainly not the type to hold a grudge. But I'm still going to strangle her."

Mitch burst through the French doors onto the back patio, wondering why he'd been surprised at what she'd done. He should have expected it. After all, her mother owned a plant nursery in western Virginia, and Kelsey had always spent more time digging in the dirt than playing with dolls.

Mitch stopped staring at the changes in his yard and took a brief moment to enjoy the slight breeze. It was an utterly gorgeous afternoon. Indian summer had stretched into the last week of September and everything was golden and glowing. The aroma of honeysuckle and apples floated on the wind. For a moment Mitch let go of his anger to enjoy breathing clean air.

The months he'd spent in China doing research for his newest book project had been difficult. Much tougher than he'd expected. The initial thrill he always felt when immersing himself in a culture he planned to study had faded quickly amid the crowds, congestion and rigid political policies of the country. In retrospect, the months spent researching his first book, a text on the ancient Mayan civilization, now seemed like a cakewalk, though he'd been living in a small jungle village that didn't even have a telephone.

Now that he was home, all Mitch wanted was quiet, solitude and privacy. He was ready to think, ready to absorb what he'd learned, and begin putting his thoughts on paper for the college textbook he was under contract to produce.

Fat chance, he thought. Solitude Solitude and and quiet quiet were two words he had never yet been able to a.s.sociate with Kelsey Logan, the demon-child. He wondered how Baltimore had survived her presence. were two words he had never yet been able to a.s.sociate with Kelsey Logan, the demon-child. He wondered how Baltimore had survived her presence.

Feeling a splash of water on his cheek, Mitch noticed he was standing directly in the path of a sprinkler. He grimaced, squared his shoulders and went to find Kelsey.

Mitch tiptoed along the stone walk and rounded a newly planted evergreen. Smothering a curse when he saw a little ceramic chipmunk, he restrained an impulse to kick it over the fence. Then he looked to the far corner of the yard and found her.

She obviously had been working. The pruning shears lay near some bushes, and a rake lay sprawled, spines up, across the lawn, just waiting for a Three Stooges-like accident to occur. Kelsey lay in a lounge chair with her back to him and he walked softly, being extremely careful to avoid potential mishaps with gardening tools. His shoes sank into the soft soil next to a leaking watering can. Glancing ruefully at the dirty Italian leather, he figured that was just one more thing to thank Kelsey for.

She didn't notice him. He was a step or two behind her, far enough that he cast no shadow over her face to warn her of his presence.

Then he stopped dead in his tracks. This curvaceous, voluptuous even, woman in the lounge chair could not be Kelsey! He'd made a mistake. Kelsey was the skinny, obnoxious, freckle-faced younger sister of his best friend. So he hadn't seen her in several years. She couldn't have changed this much, could she?

She wore a devil-red bikini, which was damp with the sweat of her exertions and clung to her skin. Her legs were slightly bent and raised, a golden honey color, slender and about a mile long. His gaze slid up, taking in the gently flared hips and small waist, then on to the trim midriff and the deep vee of cleavage revealed by the low-cut bathing suit, and up to the top of her sun-streaked hair.

He stared as she reached a slim arm over the side of the chair and felt around until her hand brushed against her cool water gla.s.s. She caressed the side of it, her fingers becoming damp and slick with the condensation, and she smoothed a little of the water over her fingertips. Then she reached into the gla.s.s to fish out a piece of ice, shook it gently and brought it toward her chest.

He swallowed hard. The woman-Kelsey?-moved the ice just above her flesh, and Mitch watched each drop of water as it fell in a trail along her collarbone. When she finally lowered the ice to the hollow of her throat, he released the breath he'd been holding. Then he slowly drew in another as she moved the cube down her skin, allowing it to melt on her chest. He heard her small moan of contentment at the cool relief and very nearly echoed it. The ice disappeared quickly until her fingers were moving over her neck and shoulders with nothing but the tiniest sliver, and then just a few drops of water. Her hand remained motionless for a few moments, lightly resting on her throat, and he thought she'd perhaps fallen asleep. He considered backing up and retreating into the house, but she s.h.i.+fted slightly, and he remained still.

No. No, this couldn't be Kelsey.

The last time he'd seen her had been at her high school graduation, seven years ago, back home in Virginia. She'd looked skinny and gawky and uncomfortable in the flowery dress her mother had made her wear under her graduation gown. They hadn't exchanged more than a dozen words that day, as Mitch had spent most of the time catching up with his buddy Nathan. She'd just been...there...little Kelsey the pest. When had she become little Kelsey the temptress? And where the h.e.l.l had he he been during her amazing transformation? been during her amazing transformation?

When she reached toward the gla.s.s, ostensibly for another piece, Mitch cleared his throat. He was not about to watch a repeat performance of what had undoubtedly been the most unconsciously seductive moment he'd ever witnessed.

"IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP, Fred," Kelsey said, not turning around to greet her upstairs neighbor. She felt too warm and lethargic to even open her eyes. She'd been working all morning, wanting everything perfect before Mitch returned home the next day. She suspected he wouldn't be too happy about the work she'd done, but it was too late to worry about it now.

The warmth of the sun felt relaxing, not vicious as it could be in mid-July, but hazy and soothing, the way only an Indian summer sun in the mid-Atlantic states can feel. A light breeze blew across her body, and where the ice had touched her skin, it brought delicious coolness. She could lounge like this all day. But it appeared Fred had finally come to help out.

"I'd just about finished without you-you said you'd be down by ten. Are you still going to help me get this place cleaned up?"

Kelsey sat up and stretched a little. Arching her back, she moved her head from side to side to work the kinks out of her neck. If she didn't get back to work now she might never be able to. Her shoulders already felt achy.

"I'm going to pay for this tonight," she said, not even turning to face him. "My arms are killing me from lugging the wheelbarrow around."

Fred didn't say anything, which wasn't surprising. The man was incredibly shy. Until his girlfriend, Celia, had become friendly with Kelsey, he hadn't spoken much more than a half-dozen words to her. After that, he'd come out of his sh.e.l.l and the three of them had become the best of friends.

"Let me," he murmured very quietly. She didn't know what he meant until he moved behind her chair and put his hands on her shoulders. Kelsey scooted forward on the lounge chair, dropping her chin to her chest so he could rub the back of her neck. He worked expertly on her tight muscles, and she instantly felt better. Kelsey was a little surprised. His hands felt rougher and stronger than she'd expect from someone who spent ten hours a day in a lab. He also pressed and stroked with complete confidence, not typical for a guy who seemed so shy around women.

"Wow," she said with a lazy drawl, "I think you have a future as a ma.s.seur."

He still didn't say anything. She didn't mind. Fred was st.u.r.dy and dependable, a little too serious, but a great neighbor. He minded his own business and yet always let her know she could call on him if needed. She hoped Mitch's return tomorrow wouldn't upset the peaceful balance they'd created in the brownstone.

Mitch didn't know what crazy impulse made him reach out to ma.s.sage Kelsey's shoulders. He'd been about to confront her when his hands had moved with a mind of their own. And once he'd started, he'd been no more able to stop than a flower could resist turning up to the sun. So he kept touching her, kneading her flesh, rubbing the golden skin, which felt smoother than the silks he'd touched in China. He had an overwhelming urge to kiss the base of her neck, and only her next question stopped him.

"So what time do you think Mitch will be home tomorrow?"

What was he doing? This was Kelsey! He'd known that, consciously, from the moment she started speaking. He recognized the slight Virginia drawl and the deep voice she'd inherited from her mother. When she was little, Kelsey used to get mad when her family teased her that she sounded like a boy. But she had most definitely grown into it. She sounded the way Mitch thought velvet soaked in whiskey would sound, if it could make noise.

"His high holiness isn't going to be pleased about the yard."

Kelsey had started calling him "his high holiness" the very first summer he'd come to stay with her family, since she'd had to share her room with the baby so Mitch could bunk with Nathan. She'd put peanut b.u.t.ter between his toes the very first night! He shook off the seductive spell he'd been under. This was Kelsey. This was no temptress. He stood up and backed a step away from the chair.

"Do you think we should kowtow when he gets back? I bet he loved being in China where everyone bowed to him."

He didn't question the impulse. Grinning evilly, Mitch bent down, picked up the large watering can and dumped the contents all over her head.

When the dirty water hit her, Kelsey shrieked, then leaped up with laughter on her lips. "You rat," she said as she shook off the moisture, spraying him with several drops.

Mitch watched her glance over her shoulder and saw the smile fade from her face as she recognized him. When she turned around, he tried not to stare. He really tried. And failed miserably.

Kelsey, the ten-year-old monster, was long gone. Kelsey, the scrawny freckle-faced teenager, had disappeared, too. Here was Kelsey the beauty. The sharp angles of her face had softened with maturity and the freckles had faded into the creamy skin. Her sun-streaked honey-colored hair brushed the curves of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, which were barely covered by the red bikini top. Her eyes were the same brilliant green as her father's, and her mouth, which he'd longed to slug at least two dozen times in his youth, was generous and eminently kissable.

d.a.m.n.

"h.e.l.lo, Mitch," Kelsey finally managed to whisper.

What was he doing here? He was a day early, and Kelsey was not at all prepared to greet her new landlord in her bathing suit. Mitch had looked at her like a bratty little kid for so many years, she'd planned to be smartly dressed, cultured, urbane and adult when they finally met again. How typical of him to come back early and spoil everything.

"We weren't expecting you until tomorrow." Her voice cracked and she cursed herself for being a coward.

"I can see that," Mitch said. "Been doing a little gardening, hmm?"

He didn't sound pleased. Then again she hadn't really expected him to be. But Kelsey ignored the warning tone in his voice and gestured around the yard. "It just needed a little sprucing up. Isn't it beautiful? Think of the garden parties you could throw here now."

Mitch didn't say anything. He just stared at her, leaving her feeling terribly exposed. She grabbed her T-s.h.i.+rt and yanked it on over her head, plucking at the ends to try to cover her hips. He still stared, and she realized how foolish she must look trying to cover up what he'd obviously already seen.

"How was China?" she asked inanely.

"Crowded."

He didn't say another word, just continued to stare piercingly at her, as if he almost didn't recognize her. Well, two could play at that game, she figured. She lifted her chin and stared right back.