Chapter 3

Melinda Tuning grinned widely, then threw her arms wide, hugging Susan. "Surprise you?" "Surprised! I can't believe it," Susan replied still a bit stunned to find Jace's younger sister standing at their door. "Why didn't you call? Why didn't you let us know you were coming?"

"You know me," Melinda said with a laugh while they moved into the house. "I'm the original free spirit, compulsive. When the urge to fly comes over me, I fly."

Flee was the truth, but Melinda wasn't ready to go into that. Later, when Susan and Jace were together, she would tell them her real reason for the unexpected visit--at least part of it. Even later, Jace would learn the whole truth.

Susan, still grinning, let her gaze run over the young, black-haired woman, her future sister-in-law. Three years younger than her brother, Melinda was every bit as beautiful a woman as Jace was a handsome man. The brother and sister shared so many physical characteristics. However on Melinda they were sheer femininity, while on Jace total man.

"Whatever the reason, Melinda," Susan gave the girl another warm hug, "I'm glad you're here. I'm sure Jace will be too as soon as he gets back from the city."

Melinda returned the hug. "You don't know how good it is to be here. Despite four years on the West Coast, this is still home to me, Susan. And it's so good to be home."

Taking one of Melinda's bags, Susan led the girl upstairs to the spare bedroom. "Come on, let's get you settled in, then come into the studio and talk. I've got a book cover deadline breathing down my neck."

Inwardly, Melinda breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to talk with Susan right now. She needed time to pull her thoughts together and to rest. "If it's all right with you, I think I'll refresh myself, then take a nap. I caught my flight after staying up all night. I could use a little shut-eye."

"Fine," Susan replied, thinking she caught a trace of nervousness in the young woman's voice. "Then I'll let you get settled and get some sleep. I'll be in the studio if you need anything."

The phone rang. Susan cursed, her concentration broken. Tossing the sketch pad atop her drawing table, she stretched, then rose and crossed to the wall phone. "Tuning and Howard Graphics, Susan Howard speaking."

"Susan, it's Jace."

"Jace, where are you? Did the car break down? I was expecting you home by now." She glanced at the wall clock. It was eight already.

"Sorry, Baby, but I'm still in the city." Jace's voice was soft and filled with regret. "A couple of things have popped up here and Janet wants me to stay the night..."

"Damn agents," Susan cursed.

"... I've got to make a presentation to Tegner's tomorrow morning," Jace went on. "It could be an advertising account for us, plus big money."

Susan's heart jumped in excitement. Tegner was top man in one of the best advertising firms around. "Jace, that's terrific. Even if it does mean I spend the night alone. Give it to 'em with both barrels."

"I plan to," Jace replied. "If we get a foot in the door with Tegner, it could mean big things for us."

"Oh, Jace," Susan interrupted him. "Melinda's here. "

She quickly told her business partner and lover of his sister's unexpected arrival. Jace was silent for a moment.

"Melinda?" His voice lacked the excitement she expected. "Did she say why she was there?"

"Jace, is there anything wrong?" Susan was perplexed by his reaction. "You're usually excited when Melinda comes."

"Everything is fine," he assured her in less than convincing tones. "It's this Tegner meeting and Melinda's unexpected visit. It isn't like her to just drop in on us without calling. Did she say anything was wrong?"

"No," Susan answered. "She said she just had the urge to fly home and did it. Are you sure everything is all right with you? You don't sound right, Jace."

"Susan, everything is okay here," he replied and Susan detected a definite edge to his voice. "Look, I've got to go. Janet wants to go over a few things with me before tomorrow's meeting. You take care and give my love to Melinda. With any luck, I'll be home by mid-afternoon."

"Jace, I love..." A rude click over the receiver cut Susan off... Jace had hung up. Puzzled and a bit hurt, she set the phone in its cradle.

What was going on with Jace? Why was he so fidgety? Business meetings usually didn't bother him. And why did Melinda's visit seem to upset him so?

Susan shook her head, looking around the studio. Her gaze fell on her almost completed sketch. Another hour and she would be ready to transfer the drawing to illustration board and begin the painting. She looked at the clock again and her stomach rumbled. The sketch could wait, she decided. Dinner was long overdue.

Downstairs in the kitchen, the young blonde artist pulled a package of cold-cuts from the refrigerator, glancing at the steaks she had taken out earlier for Jace's dinner. Steak sounded good, but she didn't want to bother with them. Throwing together two sandwiches and popping the top to a bottle of beer, she placed it on a tray and moved into the living room.

"The telephone woke me." Melinda said sleepily, entering the room from the opposite side. "I then noticed I hadn't eaten in over twelve hours. Think I could find something in the fridge?"

"Lunch meat, leftover meat loaf, milk, pop, and beer," Susan answered, displaying her own tray. "Grab something and join me. I like company when I eat."

Melinda nodded and went into the kitchen. Susan's gaze followed the girl while she settled into a chair and placed her tray on a coffee table. Melinda wore a negligee, sheer and silky. It clung to her young body, revealing the shapely proportions-- also revealing that her future sister-in-law was completely nude beneath. Susan took a bite from one of her sandwiches, feeling a twinge of jealousy. Melinda was glorious, there were no other words to describe the young, black-haired beauty.

While Susan realized she wasn't exactly what men describe as "a dog," she also realized she wasn't the most beautiful woman in the world. To her, her mouth seemed a bit too big, her facial features a little too rounded, her hips slightly too flaring. But Melinda had that sensual combination of womanly voluptuousness and the sleek appearance of a model. She imagined every man who looked at the raven-haired girl felt a wanton ache within his loins, while most women felt a yearning to possess just an iota of Melinda's goddess-like appearance.

"Just what I needed," Melinda said, returning with a sandwich in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. "Where's Jace?"

"That was Jace on the phone," Susan answered, her gaze caught by the blackness of Melinda's gown. It clung to the ripe forms of her breasts, hiding little from the eyes. "He's got to stay in the city overnight. Our agent has set up a presentation with the head of an advertising firm."

Melinda sat on the couch. A blank expression moved over her beautiful face. Tears welled in her eyes. She tried to stop the wetness, but the tears rolled from her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. The young girl struggled to hold it back, but she couldn't, not any longer. She started to sob, letting the feelings she had locked within her come boiling out.

Susan dropped her sandwich back to the tray and quickly moved to the younger woman's side, taking her in her arms. "Melinda, what's wrong?"

Melinda tried to gather her thoughts, tried to stem the flow of her tears. She wanted to spill it out, tell this woman everything. But she couldn't--and especially not to Susan. Never Susan. Still she had to let some of it out, telling it to someone, even if she had to color it, hide the most important thing.

"It's Robert," Melinda managed to find her voice between sobs. "He threw me out."

Susan's arms tightened around the girl. She shivered, something unknown moved within her, stirred by the nearness of this young woman, the warmth of her near naked body. "It's okay, Melinda. It's all right now. Tell me what happened."

"It's been coming to a head for the past year, I guess." Melinda gained some control over her voice, feeling safe with Susan's arms about her. "We were just too different for it to really work. I think I knew that from the beginning."

Susan had met Robert once, just before Melinda decided to move into the writer's apartment and live with him. That had been about fourteen months ago. To be honest, she had never cared for the man much. The ten years separating his and Melinda's age didn't bother her so much as the philosophical gap. Robert seemed to be still living back in the fifties while Melinda belonged to the eighties.

"He called me a pervert, a slut, a whore and threw me out," Melinda continued. "Susan, it was horrible."

Shaking and crying, Melinda subtly modified the events of her breakup with Robert. She couldn't tell Susan the real reason for Robert's real anger, only Jace would understand that, Jace who shared her secret, a secret Robert couldn't live with. Instead, she told Susan, the problem stemmed from a difference in their sexual appetites, which in fact it was.

"I've also thought that the things a man and woman share in their bedroom were natural as long as it didn't involve physical or mental injury to either one of them." Melinda carefully formed her white lie. "But Robert couldn't accept that. Even something as good as oral sex was repulsive to him. Finally he went wild, telling me I was no better than a slut, doing the things men pay whores to do to them."

Susan had heard of such men, but luckily she had never met one. She pulled Melinda closer, cradling her shaking body. "Shhhhh, it's all right now. Robert's not here and there's no way he can hurt you."

"I know," Melinda said, sucking in a deep breath. "But I feel so cheap... used and degraded."