Just for the Holidays

by Sue Moorcroft

  She watched his lips move onto her fingertips, heartbeat beginning to hurry. ‘I might have some idea.’ Because she’d wanted the same.

  He edged closer. ‘And now that we have time alone – ouch!’ He hurriedly switched his weight from his left arm to his right as his mouth moved in on hers.

  Her skin tightened with the delicious onset of arousal and her arms, as if possessing wills of their own, slid up his lean body. Yet she couldn’t keep all her mind on the job. So many bombshells had exploded recently and so often had she been required to put other’s needs before her own. ‘I’m fighting the urge to check my phone for texts that might herald the next disaster.’

  Ronan glanced back over his shoulder. ‘And there’s always the spectre of the kids returning early.’ He turned a speculative gaze on La Petite Annexe and then, with a slow smile, on her. His voice dropped. ‘Will you invite me in?’

  Whether he meant into the annexe or into her body, heat flared inside her. Her throat went dry. ‘Consider yourself invited.’

  With only one ‘Ouch!’ he got them both to their feet and in moments she was fumbling with the door handle. He placed his hand over hers and the door opened inwards. Once inside, Ronan bolted the door between them and the world with an air of finality.

  ‘At long last,’ Leah murmured, winding her arms around his neck and brushing his jaw with her lips, savouring the taste of him, taking the time to enjoy his heat without fear of interruption by inquisitive teenagers.

  He groaned as he pressed against her. ‘If this is leading where I’m desperately hoping it’s leading I’m going to have to be creative with the shoulder. It doesn’t do much weight-bearing.’

  She smiled into his eyes. ‘“Creative” is appealing. Got any ideas?’

  ‘A whole head full.’ He nudged her in the direction of the sofa. ‘They just involve sitting rather than lying.’

  She laughed breathlessly as he pulled her down astride him. ‘Go for it.’

  He needed no second invitation. Hand and mouth working as a team he began flipping open the tiny buttons down the front of her top, pressing kisses on the skin he revealed at the base of her throat, the upper curves of her breasts, making her jump as he dipped his fingertips tantalisingly into the lace of her bra. ‘You are so beautiful.’

  Leah slid her hands beneath his T-shirt, earning a murmur of approval as her hand skimmed the contours made by the muscles either side of his spine, enjoying the feel of his warm skin. Her fingers halted as they encountered something thick and un-skinlike. ‘What’s this?’

  He drew back sheepishly. ‘Oh, yeah. Shoulder support. Helps with the aching.’

  ‘May I see?’

  ‘As you asked so nicely.’ He arched away from the sofa to carefully pull his T-shirt over his head, Leah gently helping tease free the fabric that was warm from his body.

  ‘Well, that’s interesting,’ she breathed when the shoulder support was revealed, neoprene and black, like one sleeve and a diagonal slice of a T-shirt. It was an unexpectedly good look, tight across his chest, accentuating his leanness. ‘It’s like the shoulder version of a pirate’s eye patch. Are you in pain right now?’

  His eyes half closed as she ran her hand over his shoulder, fingertips exploring where flesh met neoprene. ‘All I feel is you.’ Curling his body around hers he reached for her bra fastening, making her nipples gather in anticipation as he exposed her to the air and to his rapt gaze. Searing palms slowly traced the lines of her ribs before cupping her naked breasts. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think of anything but him and the building knowledge of what was about to happen.

  His lips and tongue on her, his skin and hair beneath her hands, their breathing quickened as, careful of his shoulder, they managed to scramble somehow to their feet and slide free of the rest of their clothes. ‘It’s going to happen,’ he breathed as if he couldn’t quite believe it, caressing her behind and moulding himself to her, nibbling her jaw, brushing his teeth against the sensitive skin of her throat.

  Tipping back her head to allow him greater access she slid her hands ooooh soooo sloooowly down his body, savouring his sinewy strength, until she could take in her hand his heavy, scalding hot flesh.

  He groaned, rolling his hips against her hand.

  ‘You have condoms, right?’ Gripped in the shocking heat of arousal, she could scarcely form the words.

  ‘Enough for that guy in Muntsheim to make balloon animals with.’ He groaned again. ‘I would really love to take things deliciously slow–’

  ‘–but we don’t know how long we’ve got,’ she agreed.

  He grabbed his shorts and dragged out a slim black pack from a zipped pocket. When he fumbled to open it Leah took over, excitement coursing through her, all responsibilities fading from her mind. For these stolen moments she and Ronan were safe, locked away, threatening nothing and no one, woman and man obeying the basic instinct to give and take pleasure.

  His breathing almost stopped as she brushed his hands away and rolled the condom slowly into place. With a strangled sound he sank back down onto the sofa, pulling her down, turning slightly so that it was his right shoulder against the sofa back.

  She paused, trying to keep her weight off him. ‘Are you OK?’

  He laughed, lifting incredulous eyes to her face.

  ‘I mean your shoulder–’

  ‘What shoulder?’ He curled his hands around her hips and guided her down over him, murmuring his pleasure as their bodies joined. And began to move. Slowly. Then faster … More urgently. Finding their rhythm, fighting their breath, clinging, clinging, together, together, together.

  Afterwards. They clung to each other, waiting for their hearts to stop hammering, glued skin-on-skin by a fine sheen of sweat. ‘Wow, chemistry overload,’ gasped Leah.

  ‘Yeah. Combustible.’ His voice was slow, satisfied, his eyes closed.

  Conscious suddenly that she was draped all over him, she tried to shift her weight.

  His arms tightened around her, keeping her exactly where she was.

  ‘Doesn’t your shoulder hurt?’

  ‘Yeah.’ His embrace grew tighter still as if, deep as he was inside her, it wasn’t enough. ‘But I’m still enjoying aftershocks.’

  She laughed, making him groan again. ‘Our time must be running out.’

  Face pressed against her throat, he shook his head. ‘Time halted for us. The universe is on “pause”.’

  ‘I wish.’ She dropped a kiss on his hair. ‘I may be only a deputy parent but I’m sure we’re pushing our luck–’

  ‘Leah!’

  Her head snapped up. ‘That’s Jordan.’

  ‘Leah? Where ARE YOU?’ Urgency was unmistakeable in Jordan’s voice.

  Immediately, Ronan let his hands fall away, giving a stifled, ‘Ouch,’ as she scrambled clear of his lap.

  ‘Sorry!’ She snatched up some of her clothes fumbling to fasten her bra and the way-too-many buttons of her top.

  Without even checking if Ronan was getting himself together, Leah shoved her knickers in her pocket and threaded her legs into her shorts as her phone began to ring. She managed to answer it as she wrenched at the door. ‘Jordan, what? What’s up? I’m in the annexe.’

  In moments Jordan was hurtling down the garden, sweaty and red-faced, relief combining with anxiety in his voice. ‘I couldn’t find you!’

  They met halfway up the lawn, both still clutching their phones. ‘What’s the matter?’

  Jordan’s chest heaved. He hesitated, apparently struck dumb now he’d located his quarry.

  ‘What?’ Leah had to look up to gaze into his face these days. ‘Where are the others? Spit it out!’

  He almost took her literally, spouting his words between gasps. ‘Natasha went off into the woods in a strop, Curtis went after her, neither of them came back, they didn’t answer when I went into the woods and shouted and they’re not answering their phones, and they’re not in the house.’

  Although the day was warm, Leah s
uddenly shivered. ‘How long ago did this happen? What woods?’ Horrible possibilities began to flash through her mind’s eye: everything from sinkholes to carnivorous trees to alien abductors.

  A reassuring voice came from behind her. ‘I expect he means the woods between here and the park. Curtis knows the area pretty well.’ Ronan’s clothes were miraculously back in place, his phone in his hand as he strode across the grass. ‘Leah, you try phoning because they might not be answering Jordan if they’ve had a fall-out. I’ll check my house in case they’re there. If there’s no joy I’ll search the woods while you stay here in case they turn up.’

  Steadying at his calm control, Leah headed for the gîte, trying Natasha’s phone as she went. It didn’t take long for her to locate it on charge and vibrating uselessly on Natasha’s bedroom floor. She ran back downstairs and met Ronan barging into the kitchen, phone clamped to his ear.

  A rapid exchange of enquiring looks and shaken heads established that neither had a lead on the missing pair. ‘Oh, hell,’ Leah whispered, shaken right down to her core. A core that was still trembling in reaction to love-making that now seemed a stark contrast to the much less lovely emotions tumbling through her.

  While Ronan quickly drove off, Leah paced up and down the garden, in and out of the kitchen, Jordan trailing, in turns sheepish and defiant as Leah fired questions at him. ‘Why did Natasha go off in a strop? Why did Curtis go after her and not you?’

  Jordan at first tried to scuff his feet and shrug but Leah persisted until eventually he admitted, ‘I teased her a bit about liking Curtis. S’pose I should have been the one to go after her but I thought Curtis would bring her back.’

  ‘You should definitely have been the one to go after her. Which one of you is her brother? Which one of you teased her?’ Leah was too frightened to worry whether she was handling the situation as Jordan’s parents would. She’d read the phrase ‘sick with fear’ but didn’t think she’d actually experienced it until now. Her skin was clammy with it. Jordan made her a cup of coffee as a peace offering but she couldn’t force even a mouthful down.

  She knew Kirchhoffen was safe and that Curtis was familiar with the village, but still Ronan didn’t ring and say, ‘I’ve found them!’ Still the teenaged pair didn’t return.

  As the minutes ticked past, Leah settled shakily at the kitchen table and covered her eyes. ‘What the hell am I supposed to tell your dad when he comes round from his op? Or your mum when she rings tonight? “Oops. I’ve lost one”?’

  ‘Dunno,’ Jordan mumbled remorsefully. ‘I’ll go back and look–’

  Leah removed her hands from her face to glare at him. ‘You stay where I can see you. I’m not going to lose you, too.’ Then her phone rang and she almost dropped it in her haste to answer. ‘Ronan? Have you got them?’

  He sounded baffled. ‘No. Obviously you haven’t?’

  Her heart sank. ‘Not a sign.’

  ‘Shit,’ he muttered. ‘I’ve walked all round the park, including the main tracks in the woods. If they’ve strayed from the obvious areas it will be trickier to locate them. If ever I needed a helicopter!’ He paused for several moments. ‘I’ve driven all over the village I’m going to come back for now. I’ll come out again if they haven’t turned up in an hour.’

  Leah’s hand trembled as she put her phone down on the table. ‘He can’t find them. He’s coming back.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Jordan offered hoarsely.

  Seeing fear on his face, Leah took his hand remorsefully. ‘And I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’m anxious.’

  When Ronan returned he made more coffee and insisted Leah drink a little. He spoke reassuringly about how frequently kids did this, forgetting the time, wandering along in their own little bubble.

  The next hour passed excruciatingly slowly. The youngsters were an hour and a half late when Ronan, grim-faced, picked up his car keys and opened the back door, turning back to say, ‘I’ll comb the off-track areas of the woods, this time,’ when Leah’s attention was caught by movement behind him, beside La Petite Annexe.

  ‘There they are!’ She felt as if a kangaroo had ricocheted off her chest, her relief was so great at seeing the tall figure of Curtis helping Natasha over the fence and starting up the lawn in step with the girl’s much smaller frame. She flung open the kitchen door. ‘Where have you been? Natasha, I’ve been worried sick. It’s nearly three o’clock!’

  ‘Is it?’ Natasha gave a surprised little ‘oof’ as Leah dragged her into a hard hug. ‘I left my phone on charge so I didn’t know the time.’

  Ronan was hugging Curtis, too. ‘But you should have your phone, Curtis. I’ve been ringing and texting you.’

  Curtis scuffed around in his pockets until he located his flat black handset. ‘Oh, right. Mine’s on “do not disturb”.’ He went red, glancing at Natasha.

  ‘Sorry,’ said Natasha, blushing just as hard. ‘We just stopped to watch the coypu in the stream and didn’t look at the time.’

  Leah stepped back to look at her. ‘How did you get so wet?’

  Natasha’s gaze slid away. ‘We got in the water to paddle and I fell over so we sat on a fence in the sun while my shorts dried.’

  ‘Or you got in a water fight,’ snorted Jordan.

  Natasha giggled and Curtis grinned at her. ‘Little bit,’ he admitted.

  While this reassuringly normal interchange took place, Leah tried to get a grip on her emotions – joy, rage, fear, whatever bubbled to the surface first. But she watched Ronan give Curtis’s shoulders another squeeze, look intently into his eyes and say, ‘But you’re OK?’ and Curtis nod and shrug.

  Ronan nodded back and that seemed to be it.

  Deciding that Ronan was the one who had the parenting thing all figured out, so if he was over his anxiety she could give her adrenalin a chance to stop crashing round her system too, Leah groped for a mantle of calm as she squeezed Natasha’s hand. ‘Don’t go out if your phone’s not charged in future, right? I nearly freaked. What are coypu?’

  ‘You know, like, otters? But they’re rats.’

  ‘Rats?’

  ‘Cuddly rats. They have fat bodies and skinny tails.’

  While Leah had been petrified, Natasha had been watching cute rats. She allowed her panic to drain away. Nothing awful had happened. The kids had had a spat and Natasha had gone off to sulk and got distracted by furry creatures. ‘You’d better wash your hands and we’ll have a late lunch.’

  Jordan looked hunted. ‘I forgot the lettuce and tomatoes.’

  The least of her worries. ‘Then we’ll have egg on toast. You can help me scramble the eggs.’

  ‘Can me and Curtis make more mug cakes?’ Natasha clamoured. ‘Have you rung the hospital yet?’

  ‘Fine by me and no, I can’t ring till after four. We’ll have to be patient a little longer.’

  ‘And calm down. We’ve had a lot of excitement,’ Ronan added, catching Leah’s eye.

  ‘It’s a wonder parents don’t all need pacemakers,’ she retorted. But she didn’t need his barely perceptible wink to know the excitement he referred to wasn’t entirely related to the adventures of Natasha and Curtis. She cast a glance at the annexe, remembering in a rush what had happened there, and turned back to find him smiling.

  Ronan and Curtis taking little persuading to join the party, they prepared lunch together in the kitchen. Ronan sliced bread, Natasha and Curtis handled dessert, Jordan set the table and, mindful that poor Alister’s sojourn beneath the scalpel should be drawing to a close, Leah kept a check on the time as she whipped up fluffy mounds of egg.

  Finally, after consuming both eggs and mug cakes – Natasha’s chosen variation had been chocolate laced with marshmallows and cornflakes – Leah made the call, Ronan taking over to get her through to the correct person.

  Suddenly nervous for her brother-in-law, Leah found she had to swallow before asking for news. Blessedly, the ward nurse not only reported good news but did so in English. Leah was beaming when the call ended. �
��Your dad’s back on the ward, a bit tired but successfully pinned together. He’ll ring later but just wants to rest now.’

  ‘Yay!’ crowed Natasha, eyes shining. ‘That means he’ll be back in a few days.’ Despite her smile, she wiped the corners of her eyes.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Jordan economically, but his shoulders visibly unscrunched.

  To add to the good news day, Jordan’s phone rang while they were clearing up. ‘It’s Mum!’ he said and, after listening for a minute, was able to broadcast better news from her, too. ‘The anti-sick medicine’s working and she hopes to be out of hospital tomorrow. She might soon be able to travel back in two or three stages.’

  ‘Yay!’ cried Natasha again.

  The children abandoned the dirty dishes and moved in a body up the stairs, Jordan and Natasha passing the phone between them as they downloaded news of cake and coypu into their mother’s ear – nothing about missing teenagers, Leah noted – and Curtis followed behind with the certainty kids seemed to have that they were never unwelcome.

  Leah set about clearing the table, her heart lighter than it had been since Michele’s abrupt departure. ‘Light’s beginning to glimmer at the end of the Jordan-and-Natasha tunnel. I don’t think I can cope with too many more scares like today so thank goodness their parents might soon be available to take over their rightful roles so I can return to my own stress-free life.’

  Ronan caught her up against him, his eyes dark. ‘But I hope you’re not in too much of a hurry?’ His breath was soft against her hair. ‘After today …’

  She pressed against him, making him groan and tighten his arms. ‘We have loads of time left. Two whole weeks.’

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘How are things going with the hottie next door? Is he your type – a self-centred fibber?’ Scott was again easing the boredom of battling the one-way traffic system by calling Leah with his usual brand of outrageous teasing.