Anything, Any Time, Any Place

by Gordon, Lucy

  Once before, she’d seen him naked, the day she’d found him leaving her bathroom. It had ended badly, but the vision of masculine beauty had stayed with her, burned into her brain. Now he was everything she remembered, with one marvelous difference. He was hers.

  He drew her down onto the bed and pushed her gently back against the pillows. “Let me look at you for a while,” he murmured. “There’s no hurry.”

  He was eager for her, but his finely tuned physical instincts told him that she wasn’t quite ready. He wanted to make everything right. She was special, enchanting.

  She lay there, shy but proud that the sight of her pleased him. Her breath was coming in quick gasps as desire mounted in her, and she felt as though her urgency must be revealed by her whole body. Her breasts were heavy, the nipples proudly peaked, surrounded by soft brown aureoles.

  No other man had ever excited her. Their kisses had left her flesh chill and unresponsive. But with Jack everything in her seemed to riot out of control at once. How could she ever have pushed him away, when she craved him so much?

  He gathered her in his arms, holding her closely against his big body, touching her gently. A delicate perfume arose from between her breasts, making his senses reel, and he laid his mouth over hers, slipping his tongue between her lips and beginning a flickering exploration.

  Kaye closed her eyes and gave herself up to the best and sweetest experience of her life. She’d thought she desired Jack, but that desire was a tiny match flame beside the fire that was being ignited inside her by the devastating movements of his tongue. Returning a kiss like that was one easy lesson, and she gave back passion for passion.

  She felt the light touch of his fingers on her inner thighs. She’d waited so long for her moment, and now it had come. When he slipped between her legs there was a momentary sense of the unfamiliar. But this was her Jack, whom she loved and trusted. His eyes smiled into hers, asking if all was well, and she smiled back, slipping her arms confidently about his neck.

  Then he was inside her, moving slowly until she was used to the feel of him. But she was easy with him almost at once, falling naturally into his rhythm, gasping out her delight.

  It had startled Jack to find her still a virgin, but now he was glad he’d gone carefully. He held back, wanting her first experience to be perfect, but even so his own desire was overwhelming him. He’d spent the past few weeks frustratedly imagining this moment, and now his movements became infused with urgency despite himself.

  Kaye felt as though flames were raging along every nerve, burning her up in the ecstasy of the union she’d longed for. As his thrusts became deeper she arched against him, crying out with longing and fulfillment, until his voice mingled with hers in a long sigh of pleasure.

  Tears stung her eyes as he left her, but his arms still held her strongly, offering tenderness as passion faded. It was a wordless tenderness, for everything had already been said. She’d come home at last, and never more so than when she fell asleep in his arms.

  She awoke to find herself still held against him. In the gray light of dawn she could see his eyes on her, full of their shared knowledge. “Good morning, wife,” he said softly.

  “Good morning, husband.”

  The words had a second meaning. They were greeting each other like people who’d only just met, as, in a sense, they had; asking questions about how things had changed between them.

  “You were everything I hoped you’d be,” he said. With a teasing light in his eye he added, “At last.”

  “Must we—must we talk about that?” she asked, speaking with difficulty because already her desire was rising again.

  “I don’t want to talk about anything right now,” he agreed, laying his lips over hers. “I want something very different. And I always get what I want.”

  Already she knew him as if they’d shared not one but a hundred lovings, and she was ahead of him now, so that he laughed at her eagerness.

  “Not so fast,” he said tenderly. “We’ve got time.”

  “We’ve got lost time to make up,” she insisted. “Now, you come here.”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  It was the same but better, more beautiful, more exciting, but slower, with time to savor each sensation to the full. As Jack thrust deeply into her she drove back against him, welcoming him with every movement.

  He felt that silent welcome and his heart rejoiced, for right until the last minute he’d half expected her to change her mind and lead him on another mystery tour through the workings of her mind. But she was all his now, her arms about his neck, her slight body fitting against his powerful one as though they’d been made for each other. Even in that short time she’d grown in confidence and knowledge, so that she could let him know what pleased her, and he could respond with delight.

  “How could you be so foolish?” he asked when the tumult had died down. “What does it matter how we met again?”

  “I don’t know,” she murmured against him. “It seemed so important at the time.”

  In the clear light of day she could see that Jack had been right. None of the things that had seemed so important before mattered in the slightest. Nothing mattered except the ecstatic fulfillment she’d found in his arms, and the feeling of being his woman, and his alone.

  “I didn’t like all the giving to be on your side,” she tried to explain.

  “You can’t really believe that now you’ve met Elsie. You see how big my problems are.”

  “But you never thought of coming to me until Bertie asked you to help me.”

  He grinned. “Of course. Do you really think I could kidnap a bride from her wedding unless I knew it was what she wanted? I may be shameless, but I’m not that shameless.”

  She joined in his laughter, and the moment passed.

  Jack began tracing a finger along the outline of her waist, her hip, her thigh.

  “I never truly thought you’d still be a virgin,” he mused softly. “But I’m glad. You were always different from other women, and you still are. I like that.”

  “Other women?” she ventured to ask. “You mean Jenny and Sally and Dora and Heather and—”

  “Hey, enough of that,” he said hastily, laying his finger over her lips. “Those days are past. I’m a respectable old married man now.”

  “Respectable?” she echoed hilariously. “You?”

  “A reformed character, I swear it.”

  “Don’t reform too much,” she begged. “You wouldn’t be so much fun.”

  “That’s one thing I remember from Singleton. You understood me perfectly, even in those days. Still do, huh?”

  “It’s my speciality,” she assured him. “But I’m the only one, aren’t I?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You don’t understand me at all. Or you couldn’t have thought what you did. Get your ring on my finger and chuck you out of my bed, indeed!”

  “But that’s what you did.” He defended himself. “How could I work out the truth? I didn’t know what Bertie had told you. And I’m not good at how women’s minds work at the best of times.” An aggrieved note entered his voice. “You all seem to live on another planet, and I’m lost because someone’s swung all the signposts around.”

  “Why, you chauvinist!” she said indignantly. “Straight out of the Ark. Men don’t talk like that anymore.”

  “Oh, yes, they do, my sweet. Most of them are cautious enough not to let women hear them, but me—I never had any caution.”

  She sat up in bed, a shameless naked nymph. He lay back, his arms behind his head, surveying her with pleasure.

  “Let’s stay here all day,” he said, and, laughing, she threw herself into his arms.

  “Don’t you have to go to work?”

  “The hell with work!”

  Chapter Eight

  Keeping up with Georgia took all Kaye’s ingenuity. Like any normal teenager, the girl blew hot and cold as her moods changed. She was as easygoing as her father and would ha
ppily chatter with Kaye, but she also had her mother’s temper, and any hint of restriction roused it.

  “I can see why she doesn’t want to be treated like a child,” Kaye said to Jack one evening when they were eating alone. Georgia was spending the evening at the home of one of her classmates, and the two old men had joined some of Sam’s friends for a night’s carousing. “She’s too self-possessed and sophisticated for her years.”

  “What’s she done now?” Jack asked with a grin.

  “Only bought me another expensive dress.” Kaye sighed.

  “Fine.”

  “But we were supposed to be shopping for her. She simply took control and turned it into a buying spree for me. She kept waving her hand and saying loftily, ‘My mom would like to see something else.’”

  “Mom? That’s good.”

  “Don’t be fooled. She calls me that when she’s sweet-talking me. When I said she had to be home by ten tonight I became the wicked witch again.”

  “I know. She appealed to me to overrule you.”

  “I hope you didn’t.”

  “I’m afraid I did.”

  “Jack, the only way to survive Georgy is for us to present a united front.”

  “Actually I said she could stay overnight with her friend. I thought it would give us a little time together.” He added slyly, “But I think your idea about a ‘united front’ is splendid.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  He grinned. “I thought you would. Are you going to be long eating that?”

  “It’s funny, but I’ve lost my appetite.”

  “Come on.” He held out his hand and she took it, following him eagerly upstairs.

  There they tumbled each other in bed, vigorously, laughing like teenagers. A moment to recover their breath and they were ready for the fray again, this time with a little subtlety now that the first frantic urgency was gone.

  Then Kaye bounced out of bed, threw on a robe and collected their supper from downstairs. After a bite to eat and a bottle of wine they were fully rested, this time making love slowly and with tenderness before sleeping in each other’s arms.

  This was their life now. Any conversation could be turned into a declaration of passion. Their ecstatic physical harmony colored the world, giving a new meaning to every word and gesture, no matter how trivial.

  In that blissful atmosphere it was tempting to forget about Elsie, but Jack’s ex-wife still had some tricks up her sleeve. One afternoon, when Kaye and Georgia were having tea in a restaurant, the woman herself walked in. They were in the middle of an argument, and it was the worst possible time for Georgy’s mother to appear out of the blue.

  “Mom!” Georgy sounded surprised but not overwhelmed with joy.

  “My baby!” Elsie cried, flinging her arms about her daughter. “Did you think your mommy had forgotten you?”

  Georgy didn’t answer this, but her eyes had a slightly hunted look as she disentangled herself from her mother. She had a normal teenager’s horror of emotional displays by adults, and Elsie was going right over the top.

  Elsie plumped herself into a chair and met Kaye’s eyes defiantly across the table. “Didn’t know I was following you, did you? I’ve got friends. They’ve told me every move you’ve made.”

  “There was no need for that,” Kaye said, more calmly than she felt. “Of course you should stay in touch with Georgy. Jack never meant to separate you completely.”

  “That’s what you think! I don’t trust him, and if you had any sense you wouldn’t, either. Don’t suppose you care for anything as long as you get his money.”

  “Mom, lay off Kaye,” Georgy said awkwardly. “It’s not her fault.”

  “I know just whose fault it is, my darling. Never mind. It’s all over now. You’re coming away with me, right this minute.”

  “I can’t allow that,” Kaye said, feeling a rising tide of alarm.

  “You can’t stop me,” Elsie said.

  Kaye had a nightmare vision of how Jack would look at her if she let this happen. But Georgy was looking askance at her mother. “I don’t think so, Mom,” she said awkwardly. “I’m not ready for a trip.”

  “Darling, I’ll buy you all the things you want—”

  “Please, not now,” Georgy said tensely.

  Quietly Kaye summoned the waiter and paid the bill. Elsie went on arguing, while Georgy’s mouth had a mulish look. When Kaye said, “We’re going,” the girl rose at once.

  “You needn’t think this is the end.” Elsie spat the words at Kaye. “You’re not going to turn my baby against me.”

  “You’re doing that very efficiently yourself,” Kaye told her angrily. “Come along, Georgy.”

  The girl followed her without a word, and sat in silence all the way home.

  “I shouldn’t have been so careless,” Kaye said to Jack that evening. “But I had no idea Elsie was following us.”

  “Nor had I.” He brooded. “I’d better set someone to keep an eye on her if she’s going to do this kind of thing. Don’t blame yourself.”

  “But I do. If Georgy had wanted to go with her, I’m not sure I could have stopped her.”

  “Luckily she didn’t. Don’t you see how important it is that she made her own decision to stay?”

  “Elsie blew it by embarrassing Georgy in front of the whole restaurant.”

  “Maybe she’s beginning to see through her. And I think it’s your doing.”

  After that Kaye was on edge waiting for Elsie’s next trick, but it didn’t come. The firm Jack had hired to watch her reported that she’d departed for Monte Carlo very suddenly.

  “François,” Sam said when he heard this. “My guess is, he’s run out of money and decided making up with Elsie is better than working for a living.”

  “As long as it gets her out of my hair,” Jack grunted. “Now perhaps we can have some peace.”

  “There’ll never be peace while that woman’s on the prowl,” Sam declared dramatically.

  “She could mastermind a snatch from abroad,” Bertie agreed.

  “What are you two—?”

  “Georgy will need dedicated protectors,” Sam proclaimed in a noble voice.

  “And we’re ready for the challenge,” Bertie hollered.

  “Oh, God!” Jack dropped his head in his hands. The two old men took a fiendish delight in their self-appointed job. A trip to a safari park that Kaye had planned for herself and Georgy became a merry foursome.

  “Are they supposed to be protecting us?” Georgy demanded when a ranger had reproved Sam for the third time for putting his head out of the car. “We’ll end up having to get them out of jail.”

  “I know,” Kaye said with a chuckle. “But it keeps them happy.”

  To her great pleasure her relationship with Georgy was becoming relaxed and confiding again. The four of them had a great day out and returned home singing loudly and tunelessly.

  “Where did that monstrosity come from?” Sam demanded as they turned the bend in the drive. He pointed at a strange car parked outside the front door. It was a low-slung vehicle in pearl blue, lavishly adorned with chrome. A man and a woman were just getting out.

  “Oh, no!” Kaye groaned. Bertie groaned even more loudly.

  “It’s that dreadful woman!” he exploded. “Sorry, Kaye. I know she’s your mother. Ye gods! Paul’s there, too.”

  Rhoda and Paul were just approaching the front door, but at the sound of the car they turned and waited. Rhoda fitted her face into a smile of unbearable graciousness that didn’t even waver when Bertie demanded, “What are you doing here?”

  “Dear Bertie, so lovely to see you again!” she gushed.

  “Well, it ain’t lovely to see you again,” he growled.

  “Just because I came to visit my daughter as any loving mother would do,” Rhoda said, offended.

  Kaye gave Paul a hug, glad to notice that he was looking well.

  “We thought we’d pay you a little call to show you how well I’m doing now. How do yo
u like the car? Flash, eh?”

  Flash was the right word, Kaye reflected, looking out of the window. The car was sleekly ostentatious, the vehicle of a very young man who wanted to be noticed.

  “Where does it come from?” she asked.

  “It’s mine. At least, it goes with my job. They let me choose the one I wanted.”

  “And you picked that one?” Kaye said, trying not to smile.

  “It says something about me,” Paul declared unnecessarily.

  “It does that, all right!” Bertie snorted.

  “Hallo, Grandpa, I didn’t see you there,” Paul said. He was always slightly uneasy with Bertie, knowing that his charm entirely failed on the old man.

  “I’m surprised you can see anything next to that miracle of engineering,” Bertie said with awful sarcasm. “It blots out the sun.”

  Paul’s smile wavered. He had a suspicion Bertie was making fun of him, but he wasn’t sure. Paul was sharp, but neither intelligent nor subtle.

  “I’m glad things are working out for you,” Kaye said. “The job’s going well?”

  “Like a dream. Here.” He took an envelope from his pocket. “This is for you,” he said.

  She opened it and found a check for the exact amount of the credit card statement that Jack had paid.

  “You see?” Paul said triumphantly. “I pay my debts. Now what do you say?”

  “Paul,” she said helplessly, “this check is drawn on another credit card.”

  “So, I’ll pay it off later. The important thing is that you’ve got the money back.”

  She supposed there was something in that. At least Paul had taken the debt back onto himself, and perhaps he could repay it out of his earnings.

  “Hallo—anybody there?”

  Jack appeared through the front door, glancing around at his unexpected guests with only a faint look of surprise. He was given the full impact of Rhoda at her most gracious.

  “You won’t mind us dropping in without warning,” she gushed. “I was so worried about leaving Bertie here in a state of collapse.”

  Kaye was ready to sink through the floor, but Jack greeted his new relatives with calm good humor and only the slightest hint of irony, which completely passed Rhoda by.