Something in the Water...

by Jule McBride

  And they had been. After Sheriff Durham had taken one of Studs’s prints off the recipe book and returned it, Ariel had gone into action, gathering with her relatives and Angus in the teahouse kitchen, mixing and measuring tea leaves meant to cure everything from back pains to menstrual cramps. She’d tried to forget Rex, swearing to herself that he didn’t matter. She did what she’d always done, pushed aside the pain. She was a doer. Always had been. When the kids had ridiculed her in the past, she’d drawn pictures, ridden horses and planned a future. Besides, she wanted to get to know Angus, and there had been so much to be done before the festival in the morning. It had been long past midnight when Ariel had gone to bed…alone.

  “Usually, we’re all done with the preparations at least a week before the festival,” Gran was explaining now.

  Ariel’s mother shook her head. “But this year our book was stolen! And just so the sheriff could fix a love potion and work things out with his wife! He could have simply asked for the tea!”

  “Tea sounds good to me,” said Angus, who was puttering about the booth, arranging jars. Smiling toward the camera, he lifted one. “Matilda’s love tea,” he announced.

  Ariel’s mother took it from him. “Why, I think I’ll fix some,” she teased.

  Jeb Pass and Michelle sauntered into the view of the camera. “We might take a cup, too,” Jeb said.

  Michelle laughed. “And make it strong.”

  “I’d like a pouch of leaves for arthritis, if you ladies have got it,” said Pappy, who sidled next to them. “Mine’s not bothering me now, but it will, come winter.”

  Marsh appeared, carrying some cotton candy. “I’d like something to help beef up muscles,” he announced.

  He glanced around the booth. “You all look like you’re dressed for summer. No black?”

  Great-gran tittered. “So, you noticed?”

  “I think the whole town noticed how you’re dressed, ladies,” said Pappy.

  “Well,” said Great-gran, “here comes Eli. He’s my husband, and he always hated a dowdy dress. Blue’s his favorite color. He says it matches my eyes.”

  “So, you’re back together?” asked Pappy, surprised.

  “Time will tell,” Great-gran said, clearly not sweating it.

  “Now, about that love tea…” began Michelle.

  Ariel’s mother grinned. “For you, we’ll even use springwater. It’s been one of those special summers, so the tea should have extra potency.” She looked over at Great-gran. “Of course, Great-gran swore last night that she has bottled water left over from the outbreak of seventy-seven, but she can’t remember where she put it.”

  “That would make a potent tea, for sure,” said Angus.

  Ariel turned toward the camera, glad she’d chosen to wear her new pale blue suit to tape the footage, knowing she looked exactly the part she was expected to play. Jack Hayes and Ryan were going to love this.

  Even though her heart was breaking, she smiled.

  “Thanks to Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this has been a particularly wild season for Bliss, West Virginia. Just recently, a CDC researcher, Dr.

  Rex Houston, was lured to Bliss—”

  “I’m the one who called him!” Elsinore Gibbet stepped next to Ariel, nearly edging her out of the frame.

  She was wearing a peach dress and straw hat, the brim of which was decorated with flowers, and she was being squired around on the arm of Carl DeLyle, who looked dapper, himself, wearing a three-piece, gray-and-white striped seersucker suit.

  Carl DeLyle patted her arm. “What would Bliss do without you, sweetie?”

  They looked so happy together that Ariel felt a sudden surge of emotion. Her mother and Angus were just as happy, and Great-gran and Eli. Pappy and his wife were back together, and Jeb and Michelle couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Only days ago, that same happiness had been hers. Tears pushed at her eyelids, but she shoved aside the thoughts. Rex’s leaving didn’t change her professional circumstances, after all.

  She faced the camera again. “So, my family would like to thank Elsinore Gibbet and Dr. Houston.” She plunged into a spiel about the history of blackout periods in Bliss, then said, “After Miss Gibbet called the CDC and Dr. Houston arrived, he tested the water and interviewed all the citizens. And that…” She smiled as Angus stepped beside her. “Is how I came to find out the identity of my own biological father….”

  “BRILLIANT,” JACK HAYES SAID days later, hitting a but ton on the remote in his hand, then Play again. “Truly, it’s a wonderful piece,” he said, standing and preparing to leave the conference room.

  But it wasn’t. “Rex should have been in it,” she apologized. That was the only thing that kept the story from going right over the top, into excellence.

  Loosening the brown-and-silver tie he wore with his three-piece suit, Ryan shook his head. “Are you kid ding? Jack’s right. It’s great.”

  “It’s got humor,” agreed Jack. “Small-town quirkiness. He smiled. “Loads of sex. And I’ve got good news for you.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

  “NBC picked it up. They want to use the long version on a news-magazine show. Also, they may edit it down for a two-minute spot at the end of the NBC nightly news.”

  Her heart lifted, but only for a moment. And…then what? she thought. More stories, more editing, more traveling. More pastel-colored suits that made her look like a bona fide talking head. For the first time, the idea made her feel weighted down and burdened instead of excited. Usually, she imagined herself striding through airport concourses, pulling a roller bag behind her, running to catch a plane to a new location for a shoot. Now, she imagined an endless life on the road….

  And for what?

  Inside her, something had changed. Although things hadn’t unfolded as she’d planned, her confrontation with the past really had set her free. Studs had gotten out of jail on bail, but until his trial for theft, he was no longer able to function as sheriff. If he was convicted, which he would be, he’d never return to office. News of what had transpired had swept through Bliss like a brush fire, and now, especially with the history regarding Angus out in the open, including his separation from his father, the Andersons’ reputation around town would surely improve. The human-interest piece would do exactly as she’d hoped, too. It would put Bliss on the map.

  “Good going, kid,” Jack said again, patting her shoulder as he passed. “And I can’t believe Angus turned out to be your dad. When I called him to tell him about your interest in him, that was the last thing on my mind.”

  “I’ll bet,” she said. That piece of her life still felt anticlimactic. But then, not knowing the identity of her father had led to fantasies about him and an incredible buildup. It was going to take them years to deflate. But they liked each other. Not that he wasn’t larger than life, of course, she thought with a smile. After all, he was quite an adventurer. A worthy object of her fantasies.

  He’d been all over the world, and now, it seemed, he had plans to take Ariel’s mother with him.

  “So, sugar cakes,” said Ryan as soon as Jack left the room. “It looks like you’re moving to another department. Jack gave me carte blanche to offer you the pro motion into production. You’ll be working with a woman I think you’ll like. And you’ll be able to begin pulling together other stories. Whatever you want.

  You’re the idea man now.” His voice lowered. “And you’ll be on another floor….”

  Which meant they could date. Probably why he’d just called her by the unlikely nickname of sugar cakes. She stepped back a pace as he stretched a finger, meaning to catch the edge of her jacket, and she studied him for a long moment. He was good-looking, with sandy-brown hair and soft brown eyes that usually carried hints of amusement, and he had a square jaw that she’d always thought of as “very Kennedy.” Definitely, he was the kind of guy she’d imagined might…lend her respectability.

  And that’s what she’d needed, just a
week ago when she’d driven into Bliss, hoping for this exact moment—a triumphant return and a situation where they might start seeing each other. But now, every inch of her body seemed touched by sizzling hot handprints. Respectability paled, as far as she was concerned, next to hours of heat and heavy breathing. Desperately, she needed to feel that again…the tingling at her core, the wild, disjointed thoughts shattering into sharp shards as Rex plunged into her depths.

  Warmth suffused her cheeks. The office seemed to vanish, and in her mind’s eye, she was bucking, her legs circled tightly around Rex’s waist. Feeling her nipples constrict, she tried to tamp down an unwanted rush of heat. The sudden need for Rex was almost painful. Only he would know what she wanted right now…know exactly what to do. He’d cup her breasts and squeeze with just the right amount of pressure, until she was gasping for breath.

  Yes, she needed him—pulsing, hard, engorged. She could feel him enter, burning as she opened for him….

  “Ariel?”

  She snapped to attention. “Hmm?”

  “I was saying Jack gave me carte blanche with regard to your next career move. After I take you upstairs, to meet your new boss, you can work on whatever you like.

  You’ll have a healthy expense account for travel….”

  As he explained the package, she began to drift again, her core melting, her senses splitting into hair-like filaments.

  “Ariel?” he said again.

  “I think I might want to do a follow-up to the Bliss story,” she said, swallowing hard, realizing what she wanted to do.

  “Where?”

  “Atlanta.”

  “PUBLIC RELATIONS wants to know why you aren’t in this piece.” Clicking a button on the remote, Jessica muted the sound on the videotape and straightened in the chair behind the desk. She glared at Rex, whose gaze shifted to the picture.

  Ariel looked so damn happy. He really couldn’t stand it. She was standing in front of the teahouse booth at the Harvest Festival, grinning and holding up a jar of specialty tea. It was illogical, but he hated that every man in America would be staring at her, dressed in that fancy blue suit. Of course, she looked professional, but he spied lace beneath her silk blouse. Besides, legs to die for were exposed, and even if she was dressed, he knew exactly what lay beneath every stitch.

  A slender, tall, willowy body that called out for his hands, he thought. One touch and he knew she’d be quivering for him, moaning as he unbuttoned that blouse with his teeth. He’d rip down her stockings. Maybe he’d just dig a hand into the hosiery and tear it to shreds. Her panties, too. Then he’d shove up that pretty, delicate silk blouse…just shove the bra over her breasts, not even bothering with the straps, so he could clamp down his mouth onto one of those sweet buds and suckle….

  “Rex?”

  He looked up to see Jessica tossing her auburn hair the way a lion might his mane. It was one of her power gestures. Now she let the hair swirl softly around her shoulders as she glared at him, coming in for the kill.

  “I demand an explanation, Rex.”

  Maybe there was no use in lying. “I…met someone.”

  Her lips tilted as if she might smile. “Her?”

  He hated that Jessica now knew he’d bedded Ariel Anderson. It was his private business, but he said, “That’s why I called and asked to be on the next plane to Timbuktu.” He paused. “You did send me to investigate a love bug.”

  She took a deep breath, then nodded. “Public relations would have been thrilled to see you on this spot. A net work has picked it up, and they’re going to use it on a news magazine and maybe cut it for a human-interest spot on NBC nightly news. They say it humanizes the CDC.”

  “Good for her,” he said. He was glad for Ariel, but that didn’t make him rest easier about the way they’d left things. And yet, it seemed right. After all, they’d been under the influence. Even if their blood had tested clean, what Jeb Pass had said was exactly right. Viruses mutated. Most probably, they’d been infected, but tests hadn’t picked up the virus, something he’d discussed with Jessica.

  “I want to work in the lab with the samples,” he said now. “The equipment’s better than in the mobile unit, and we may be able to find evidence of a mutation.”

  Then he’d have proof that the sensations he’d experienced were only a biological response to something be yond his control. Then he could let go of his memories. No woman could make a man feel that good, not by natural means. Unwanted pleasure pooled in his belly and his groin tightened.

  “First things first,” Jessica said.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

  She slid a ticket across the desk. “A ticket to Tim buktu,” she said. “Or Szuzi, as it were. I want you to get more samples.”

  PARADISE, REX THOUGHT, except for the one annoying fly he batted from his face as he capped a last tube of water and put it into a tray. And the heat, he added silently. Steam rose from the trees and waters. He looked around the cove. It was utterly silent except for a vaulting waterfall rising a good fifty feet from aqua water below and plummeting in a rush of white water over boulders.

  Arches of lush green leaves tumbled all around him, creating a gorge, and grapevines, moss and monkeys hung in trees with fronds larger than a man; wild orchids bloomed, too, nestled in joints of branches. Some looked like the famed ghost orchids, almost transparently white, the petals as thin as air.

  He could barely breathe. The air was heavy with mist, so much so he almost felt he’d stepped into a dream. It was thick with heat, too, heavy with scents of flowers. As he inhaled, he thought of Ariel again and wished he hadn’t.

  He glanced behind him, half expecting his Jeep to be gone. Definitely, there was something surreal about this place. It was almost spooky. And it reminded him of Bliss, too, which was something he could do without.

  Why, he wasn’t quite sure. Maybe it was just the lush ness of the vegetation. Or the silence. Absolutely no one was around, but then people from the nearest village were working.

  “The hell with it,” he suddenly said, unsnapping his cargo shorts, trying not to think of how it had felt to swim with Ariel in Spice Spring in Bliss. It was too hot not to swim before he headed to base camp in the village. His hand settled on the pull to the zipper, and then he imagined for a moment it was her hand, not his. It was she, not he, who was dragging it down….

  The pang to his groin came swiftly. Heat surged.

  Trying to deny the pulsing need, he pushed thoughts of her from his mind and jerked down the zipper, then kicked off his shorts. He’d worn briefs, a real no-no most of the time, and especially in this weather. Glancing down, he felt his heart stutter, missing a beat.

  He really was getting hard. Drawing a breath through clenched teeth, he couldn’t help but cup a hand over the beginning erection. He shut his eyes, sighing at the con tact, the warmth of his hand teasing the stiffening ridge through cotton, but it was her long, slender fingers…

  They circled the head, a thumb teasing the underside, brushing over where a drop of moisture beaded. A trapped sound stirred in his throat as she curled her fingers around his length…then glided them all the way down until she’d cupped his balls. She tested the weight, slowly jiggling them in her palm, then she squeezed in a way that threatened to take him to a point of no return, engendering heat so intense that he knew he’d better stop. Otherwise, he really would be out here, stark naked by a waterfall in the back of the beyond, jerking off to memories.

  “You’re really losing it, Rex,” he muttered, opening his eyes. He wasn’t going to kid himself. The relation ship was over. She’d been grinning like the Cheshire cat on the news. She’d come into Bliss to do her piece. It was her past she’d wanted to put to bed, not just him.

  And his main agenda had been, just as now, to collect samples for the CDC.

  The rest…well, everything else was just the kind of lies people uttered in the heat of the moment. Hearts and flowers. Undying love. Promises for tomorrow. Not that they�
�d said all that, not in words. But every touch had carried a message. Still, if he’d been infected by a mutated version of the bug, he figured it would have worn off by now….

  He shook his head to clear it of confusion. The heat, isolation and silence was getting to him. None of the villagers even spoke English. It had been days since he’d felt connected to anything, except fantasies of her.

  Hooking thumbs under the waistband, he eased the briefs down, then pushed them aside with his foot.

  A soft chuckle sounded. What was that old line from the Tom Waits song? he wondered, willing it back to memory. “Oh right,” he muttered. “Harder than Chinese algebra.” That pretty much described his state. Taking a deep breath, he pushed off, doing a surface dive into the shallow water, his nerve endings singing with relief when he hit the water. Relatively speaking, it was cool.

  Then he gasped as he surfaced, moving his feet.

  Something in the water had stirred….

  Hands circled his calves. Slowly, feeling as feathery as palm fronds, they rose, molding each inch of him.

  Higher and higher…until they reached his thighs and he could see the top of her head beneath the water. “Ariel?” he murmured as she surfaced.

  She’d come straight up from the depths, approaching like some fantastic, beautiful lagoon creature. Her hair fell straight, the water turning the blond strands darker, so they looked the color of sand against her china, rose-tinged cheeks. She’d gotten some sun. But how long had she been here? Why had she come?

  The questions died on his lips. She was as naked as he, and judging by the reddened tips of her nipples, she was at least as aroused. Just looking at her made his mind blank, and his heart started telling him everything he needed to know. He roped his arms around her, pulling her flush against him. She cushioned against his chest, her belly pressuring his, bringing relief to where he ached.

  “Wouldn’t want you to be left playing with yourself alone,” she murmured huskily.

  So she’d been watching him. “Ariel,” he murmured again as her arms wrapped around him. “Ariel…