Chapter 4

Susan studied Jace, puzzled. Something was wrong with her husband-to-be. When she first met the handsome young artist, he and his sister had been so close. Now Jace acted as though Melinda was a complete stranger.

Since he returned from the city, the advertising account clinched, he had been unusually quiet, giving Melinda no more than an obligatory welcoming hug, then acting as though his sister was a dreaded carrier of the black plague. Now and then, Susan noticed him cast dark glances at the dark-haired girl as though he wished she were in another universe.

Susan didn't press the issue or question him about his strange behavior. What had happened between Melinda and herself last night still left her with an uncertain feeling. She felt no shame or guilt for their woman-to-woman lovemaking, but she did feel a bit unsure of these newfound feelings and needed time to sort out this new deluge of emotions churning within her.

Susan glanced at Jace and Melinda, then pushed from the kitchen table where they had shared a late lunch. "Well, I've got to get back to work. That painting won't get done unless I get my tail back to the drawing board."

"Where's the camera?" Jace asked rather briskly. "I need to photograph an old barn before I can get to work on the magazine assignment I've got. Thought I'd drive over to the Lawson place and see what I can find. The farm has been deserted ever since I can remember."

"I'll keep you company," Melinda suggested, receiving a reprimanding glance from her brother and finally an agreeing nod.

"The camera's still in the darkroom," Susan replied, still wondering what was going on between Jace and his sister. "You two gather up your things for the drive and I'll get the camera and a couple of rolls of film."

Melinda watched her brother from the corners of her eyes while they drove through the country. Jace had said no more than three words since they left the house. Something was eating at him, she realized, remembering his long quiet moods when he was younger. When he got like this, it was better to leave him alone. But she needed him now. She had flown home because of him.

"Jace," she said in a tentative voice, "care to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Nothing," he answered without so much as a glance at her.

Melinda fell silent. Jace eased from the road onto the old Lawson place. He parked before a rickety old gate and climbed from the car, camera in hand. Melinda followed, remembering the old barn that stood just beyond sight of the barn over a grassy hill.

"Is it me?" Melinda asked when they climbed the fence and started toward the barn. "Is it my being here?"

"What do you mean?" he said, still without looking at her.

"Jace, please! Tell me what's wrong," she pleaded with him. "I came home because I need you. There was nobody else. "

Jace didn't answer, though she noticed his brow furrow as though in pain. In silence they topped the hill. Jace clicked off a few shots of the barn, then walked closer. The road and car disappeared behind the hill.

"Jace, I told Robert about you and me," Melinda said.

Her brother swirled around, his eyes wide and wild. For a moment he just stood there staring at her in disbelief. Then he seemed to regain his composure. "So that's why Robert kicked you out. What in hell did you expect?"

"Love and understanding, not unreasoning fury."

"Then you're crazy as hell, Melinda. People don't understand the things we did. They call it unnatural. They call it..."

"Incest," Melinda said. "It's dirty and sinful to them. But Jace, I never felt that way. I love you, Jace. I always have. You're my brother and I love you as a brother. But I'm also a woman and you are a man--I feel that love too. The things we had will never..."

"We didn't have anything, Melinda!" Jace shouted. "We were kids... "

"You were twenty and I was eighteen, Jace," Melinda interrupted. "We were a man and woman. That was only four years ago."

"Things just happened after Mom and Dad were killed in the car wreck," he continued as though he didn't hear her. "We were alone and didn't have anyone else but ourselves. Perhaps we could have stopped ourselves then, but we didn't want to. The whole world seemed against us. It just happened. Now it's over, in the past. And it's better to leave it there."

"You're ashamed of the things we feel," Melinda said, tears welling in her eyes. Robert had been bad, but this... this she never expected from Jace.

He moved to her, his face softening. "No, Melinda, I'm not ashamed. In its time and place it was something I needed, had to have to continue living. But things have changed. Four years have gone by."

He reached out and held her in his arms. She pressed against him, secure in his embrace.

"Melinda, Susan and I are going to be married," he said. "Do you understand now?"

It hit her like a ton of bricks dropped from a tenth story window. Now the pieces fell into place. She understood his estranged behavior to her.

"And you haven't told her about us, have you?" Her dark eyes rolled up to him.

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "After what happened with Robert, you can understand, can't you? Susan is the woman I've chosen to be my wife, to live my life with. I can't afford to lose her, Melinda. And she couldn't accept the fact that her husband had been his sister's lover."

"You and Susan..." she mulled the sound of it aloud. Susan had secrets of her own, Melinda thought, remembering last night and their lovemaking. She wondered what Jace would do if he knew that his sister was also his future wife's lover. She bit her lip, keeping Susan's secret.

"Damn it, Melinda, I still love you as a sister, as a woman," Jace said. "But we can't spend our lives together, not as man and woman. What I've found with Susan is something special. I love her, Melinda. And she loves me. What we've got is more complete than anything you and I had."

She looked at him in disbelief. Even with Robert, she had never found the things she had with her own brother. How could he say Susan meant more? He had just forgotten those long nights together, lost in the magic of their bodies. She would have to refresh his mind and rekindle those embers of desire she knew smothered in her brother's loins.

Melinda eased up on her tiptoes, pressing the feminine bulges of her tits into Jace's chest. She gazed at him, long and lovingly. Her lips, red, sensuous, and inviting, parted to reveal the pink, moist flicker of her tongue. Her head tilted toward his.

"No!" Jace pushed her away. "Please, Melinda. You know I could never resist you. Don't make it hard for the both of us."

He turned his back to her. She was undaunted. Quickly, she skinned away her blouse and tossed it to the ground. Her braless tits jiggled and danced, swinging from her chest like elongated pendulums when she bent to peel down her slacks and panties. When she stood, she was naked.

" Jace," she called to her brother. "Jace, look at me. I need you, Jace."

The black-haired artist turned. Indecision wrinkled deep into his forehead. His eyes filled with agony. "No, Melinda. We can't. We have to leave the past behind. We..."

"I want my brother," Melinda said, eyeing him like a hungry feline. Her hands rose to the creamy cones of her young breasts, temptingly letting her fingers caress the smoothness of her own flesh. "I want my brother to fuck me."

Jace's gaze homed in on the alluring mounds of titflesh, the dark, fleshy cherries topping each. Her thumbs rolled the twin nipples, making them stand at attention. In his groin a familiar fiery sensation flamed anew, a fire he thought dead. His palms were wet with sweat and his mouth dry. Still, he shook his head, resisting the carnal magic his siren sister wove.

"Jace, I want you in me. I want to feel that big, fat cock drilled deep into my cunt. I want my brother to fuck me," she said.

Her coal-black eyes gleaming with determination, Melinda slowly started toward him. Like a sleek panther stalking her prey, she came.

Jace's gaze moved over his sister's nakedness. Her breasts, so tempting, looking as though they were meant for a man's hands and mouth, bobbed and jiggled. Her nipples traced invisible circles in the air. Her stomach was sleek, flat and taut. Her legs, long and shapely, held a firmness that caused his testicles to tighten, then retighten.

His eyes moved up, homing in on the dark muff of fleece covering the womanly mound nestled between her creamy thighs. He could see the pinkness of her pussy lips and the moist droplets of arousal already welling from her quim.

"Fuck me, Jace. Your sister wants her brother's cock, wants him to ball her." Melinda's eyes played over her brother, finally resting on his crotch and the tell-tale bulge of hardness that rose there. "You want me, Jace. You can't deny it. You ache for your sister, ache to ream her cunt."

He didn't move when she reached him, her fingers fumbling the buttons open on his shirt and removing it. His legs quivered and he trembled when she unfastened his jeans and opened their fly. Yet, he stepped free of the denim and his jockey shorts at her command.

Smiling, feeling the control she held over her brother, she casually let her gaze take in his nakedness. There were other men more muscular, more handsome, but none as desirable as her own brother. Juices flowed like a hot flood within her core. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

That he did indeed want her was proven by a very needy- looking cock that jutted stiffly from his hairy groin. The thick lance of manmeat jerked and twitched with undeniable arousal. She grinned. Susan was forgotten for the moment. She held Jace's complete attention.