Jo’s pearly white teeth glistened in the moonlight, and it was her turn to shrug.
“Beats me, sweetheart,” she answered. “If anything, this is where I should feel most at home, but I’ve never really thought about it. I’ve always made my home wherever I was.”
Their eyes locked and Cadie already knew where this conversation was going.
“And now?” she asked quietly, waiting while Jo brought the colt around beside hers.
“And now you’re my home,” Jo said calmly, acknowledging the truth of that for the first time.
“And you’re mine.”
For the next few minutes they rode side by side, hands clasped across the space between the two horses.
By the time the sun had dropped below the horizon they came upon a picturesque oasis in the middle of the dustbowl through which they had been traveling. Two of the three creeks which crisscrossed the Madisons’ land came together here, forming a small waterhole. Jo was pleased to see there was still water flowing through the little billabong despite the ravages of the drought around them.
“You beauty,” she exclaimed as she slid off her horse’s back and walked to the top of the small rise that formed the bank of the waterhole. “This place always was the last thing to dry up.” She looked back over her shoulder and grinned at Cadie who had dismounted and was leading both horses by the reins.
“Oh, sweetheart, it’s gorgeous,” Cadie gasped as she reached the top of the bank. Surprisingly, the water flowing through the waterhole looked crystal clear and deep. Maybe it’s just the moonlight, Cadie thought. The billabong was ringed by gums, their bark silver-grey and fluorescent. Thick, green grass had managed to eke out an existence close to the water.
It was there that Jo began to unload the bags and backpacks. She unsaddled her horse and stripped off the blanket underneath, spreading it on a level patch of grass overlooking the waterhole.
“Do we need to hobble the horses?” Cadie asked as she handed Jo her backpack.
“Nope. They won’t go far away from the water. Just tie their reins up so they don’t get tangled, and they should be right.”
A few minutes later they were sprawled on the blanket, tantalizing packages of food sitting between them. Cadie handed Jo a paper plate and a knife and fork before she started to pull the lids off the various containers. Soon potato salad, cold roast beef, ham, freshly baked crusty bread, and homemade pate were laid out.
“Have I mentioned lately how much I love your mom?” Cadie said, her mouth watering even as her stomach rumbled ominously.
Jo laughed.
“You love anyone who feeds you, sweetheart,” she giggled.
Mock outrage sent Cadie’s eyebrows on a trip north. “I think you have me confused with your cat, Miss Madison,” she said haughtily. Delicately she spooned a few mouthfuls of potato salad on to her plate, not an easy task given her nose was high in the air. Eventually, she too burst into giggles as one spoonful missed the plate altogether.
“Klutz,” Jo teased.
Cadie carefully maneuvered her half-laden spoon around until she had it poised to launch its load in Jo’s direction. Again she raised her eyebrows, this time in challenge.
“You wouldn’t,” Jo growled. Cadie said nothing, but pulled the bowl of the spoon back even further. “In this light your aim’s going to suck anyway,” Jo warned. “So it’s going to be a complete waste of good potato salad.”
Cadie again stayed silent but let a slow, slightly feral smile spread across her lips. She raised the laden spoon higher and then let fly. The glob of creamy potato sailed through the air, seemingly in slow motion, splattering across Jo’s cheek with a very satisfying squelch. She waited for the inevitable reaction from her partner, but for several seconds there was a heavily pregnant pause. Uh-oh, she thought. There’s no way she’s gonna let me get away with that. Better get my running shoes on.
Jo’s eyes had closed automatically as the incoming missile approached and now she slowly opened them, even as she tentatively licked away the mess with the tip of her tongue. She took a deep breath and decided that two could play that game.
“You know, that’s not bad,” she said, tasting the tangy dressing her mother always used on the potato salad. “And, in any other circumstances, I’d let bygones be bygones so we don’t waste any more of this delicious food.” She deliberately kept her voice low and calm, the effect of which was to give Cadie chills. Jo slowly reached out for the container of potato salad. For the first time she met Cadie’s eyes, and she chuckled internally at the look of wide-eyed apprehension she saw there. “However, on this occasion,” she grinned wickedly, a glob of potato salad dripping from her chin, “I just don’t think I can let it go.”
“Jo-Jo,” Cadie said, raising a warning hand. “Don’t do anything I might regret, okay?” She started to backpedal, pushing herself away from Jo, towards the far edge of the blanket.
“Oh, I think it’s a little late for that, don’t you?” Jo drawled, even as she let her long fingers dip into the salad bowl. Quickly she grabbed a handful and lunged across the other dishes towards Cadie.
The blonde squealed and scrabbled backwards, but she wasn’t quick enough to move out of range of her partner’s long limbs. Jo launched herself, leading with the handful of potato salad, laughing wildly as she managed to grab Cadie, mashing the sloppy mess into her lover’s face.
Cadie howled in outrage and twisted under Jo’s oncoming weight, trying to get a purchase on the long body that would give her some kind of advantage. Before long the women were rolling and wrestling in the soft grass on the verge of the waterhole, giggling and squealing and tickling.
Breathless, they finally exhausted themselves and each other and they lay on their backs, side by side, gazing up at the stars. Cadie laughed. “Oh, I needed that, thank you,” she said, panting.
“You started it,” Jo pointed out, turning her head and grinning at the blonde.
“I couldn’t resist,” Cadie replied, rolling on to her side and sliding her leg over Jo’s hips. She snuggled in close, resting her cheek on the dark hair splashed across Jo’s chest. Jo’s arm curled around her shoulders and pulled her in closer. Cadie tilted her face up and extended her tongue to lick the remnants of potato salad off Jo’s chin. “Mmmm, tasty,” she murmured.
“Yes you are,” Jo growled in response as she rolled them both over in the grass until she was holding herself above Cadie.
“Oh my,” the blonde breathed, gazing up into silvered blue eyes that glinted in the moonlight. Jo’s face was silhouetted against the star-laden night sky and she exuded barely restrained energy that gave Cadie chills to be close to. “Good thing we didn’t bring any hot food,” she murmured as Jo leant down and nuzzled her neck.
“Mmmm,” Jo burred against her skin. “I want you, Arcadia,” she whispered.
Cadie groaned, low and throaty. “What is it with you and the outdoors, Jossandra?” she murmured back, sliding her hands around till she could tuck her fingers inside Jo’s jeans back pockets.
“It’s the fresh air,” came the breathy, deep response close to her ear. Cadie felt the goose bumps rise on her arms. Jo’s lips caressed along the line of her jaw and the blonde tipped her chin up in reflex, giving her lover access to her neck. Jo obliged, sliding the silky tip of her tongue down, until she nuzzled sensually in the hollow at the base of the blonde's throat. Cadie felt Jo’s long, sure fingers slide under the cotton of her shirt, brushing teasingly against the skin of her stomach.
“Ohh, Jo,” she gasped.
“Mmmm?”
“I want you too.” She felt Jo smile against the curve of her breast.
“I know.” Fingers brushed against the telltale response of Cadie’s nipple.
The blonde laughed throatily. “Dead giveaway, huh?”
Jo cupped Cadie’s breast gently, the pad of her thumb teasing and encouraging. “Hardly dead, my love,” she said softly. “Very much alive and well.”
Cadie clos
ed her eyes against the sensation, absorbing the jolting tingle that followed every movement of Jo’s fingers.
“God, sometimes I think all I need is the sound of your voice,” she muttered. She felt Jo chuckle above her.
“Oh really?” Jo drawled. “Want me to stop touching?” She stilled her fingers, grinning as she saw Cadie’s eyes fly open.
“God, no!” the blonde exclaimed. Jo laughed out loud, a rumbling that sent vibrations through them both, even as she let her fingers continue their roaming exploration. “I just meant your voice does things to me I can’t even begin to describe,” Cadie explained.
Just to be contrary, Jo didn’t reply, preferring to use her mouth for other things.
“Oh myyy,” Cadie gasped, feeling the warm wetness around her breast as Jo suckled her through the thin fabric of her t-shirt. “Very good thing,” she breathed, “about the hot,” she swallowed, “food thing…”
“Mhmm,” Jo hummed. She lifted herself off Cadie’s breast and reached up, finding the blonde’s willing mouth with her own. The world contracted around them, and the two women lost themselves, happily, in the easy sensuality of their love under the full moon and watching stars.
Mmmm, we need to do this kind of thing more often, Jo thought drowsily as she watched Cadie crouch at the edge of the water. The blonde was rinsing out the plastic containers in which Jo’s mother had stored their food. The moonlight was strong and bright, giving them plenty of light, and Jo enjoyed the view of her lover’s profile through half-lidded eyes. Gorgeous, inside and out. How did I get so lucky?
They had made love under the stars, oblivious to the ants and the mosquitoes and the other distractions to being outdoors. It had been slow and gentle and altogether delicious. Then they had fallen upon the food like a couple of half-starved kids. Jo chuckled. Anyone would think we hadn’t eaten in a week.
Cadie stood and shook the excess water off the containers before she walked back to where Jo lay sprawled on the horse blanket.
“You look very languid, sweetheart,” the American said with a smile. She dropped down onto her knees next to the backpacks and stored the containers inside.
Jo leant on one elbow. “I feel pretty good,” she observed. “Funny that.”
Cadie laughed softly. “Me too. Must be the company, huh?”
“I guess so.”
They smiled at each other for a few seconds, reveling in the warmth between them.
“This light is so eerie,” Cadie said as she broke Jo’s gaze to look around at the silvery scenery. Unconsciously she rubbed her arms, the cool night air raising goose bumps on her skin.
“Cold, darling?” Jo asked.
Cadie turned back to her and nodded. “Mhmm, a little. It’s a pity we can’t light a fire.”
Jo nodded. “I know, but it’s just too risky. Even if there wasn’t a total fire ban, the way the wind is blowing it would carry sparks back into the trees and that would be that. This place is a tinderbox at the moment.”
Cadie looked around at the idyllic scene the waterhole and its surrounds presented. “Hard to believe from this little patch,” she said. “But I guess you’re right.” She looked down at the circle of smoldering mosquito coils Jo had set up around their picnic area. “Are these safe?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Jo smiled at her partner, who was hugging herself against the chill. “Why don’t you come snuggle?” she suggested. “That’ll keep us both warm.”
Cadie chuckled. “Y’know, for an old ex-assassin, you sure are a cuddle hound,” she teased, even as she crawled closer and happily curled up in the crook of Jo’s arm.
Something old and rotten in Jo almost bit back at the reference to the dark past she would much rather forget, but she had learned that with Arcadia Jones she was safe from any judgment. God knows, I’ve hurt people for saying less than that, she conceded to herself. Things have certainly changed. She looked down at the blonde head resting on her shoulder, the soft puff of Cadie’s breath warming her skin. Safe as houses.
“I love you,” she whispered against the silky hair.
Cadie tipped her head back and blinked curiously at her partner. “I love you, too, Jo-Jo. What brought that on?”
Jo shrugged. “Felt it, so I said it.” Her standard response to that inquiry, Cadie had learned.
“Mmmm,” the blonde pondered. “Somehow I don’t think so, Jossandra. Something else triggered that one.” She reached under Jo’s shirt and playfully tickled her ribcage, making the taller woman squirm. “Spill it, skipper.”
“Okay, okay,” Jo laughed. “It was what you said about me being an old assassin.”
Cadie sat up quickly, apology written all over her face. “Oh, honey, I didn’t mea-”
“Sshhh.” Jo placed a gentle finger against Cadie’s lips, silencing her. “I know you didn’t and that’s my point. If anyone else had said that to me, especially a few years ago … well, I don’t know what I would have done exactly, but it wouldn’t have been pretty.” Cadie looked at her with gentle understanding, a look so intense it made Jo lower her eyes. “And I just realized that there isn’t any part of me that I don’t want to share with you. And that’s because you make me feel safe.” She lifted her eyes and met Cadie’s gaze again. “That’s new for me.”
Cadie nodded. “I know. And I’m glad I can give you that. You deserve it.”
She opened her mouth to say more but the sharp retort of a gunshot cracked the air. Cadie ducked down instinctively as the horses, startled from their grass-picking further down the watercourse, whinnied and shied away into the scrub behind them. Jo was on her feet before Cadie had a chance to draw breath.
“Was that what I think it was?” the blonde asked as she scrambled up to stand next to Jo.
“Sshhh,” Jo urged, and then nodded wordlessly. She leaned close to Cadie’s ear and whispered. “Hunting rifle, and close by. Stay here – I’m going to go see what I can find.” She made to move away but was pulled up short by Cadie’s hand on her elbow.
“No way,” Cadie hissed. “I’m staying with you, Jo-Jo.”
“I can move faster and quieter without you,” Jo snapped, her mind already tracking the shooter.
“Hey!” Cadie yanked on the tall woman’s arm again, forcing Jo to look down at her. The blonde summoned her fiercest frown and waited until Jo’s eyes acknowledged her. “I’m going with you. I’m not staying here alone with some gun-toting idiot stumbling around in the dark.”
“All right,” Jo muttered. “But stay close.” Cadie let go of her elbow, her expression still showing signs of hurt and annoyance. Fix this, Madison. She didn’t deserve to be snarled at. Jo reached out and cupped the blonde’s cheek gently. “I’m sorry.”
Cadie smiled at her, her forgiveness instant. “Come on, let’s go find out who’s shooting.”
“And at what,” Jo murmured.
The two women skirted the edge of the waterhole, Jo deliberately leading them through the longer grass in the hopes of keeping their footsteps as silent as possible. She had a fair idea where the sound had come from but her sense of direction was considerably sharpened when another gunshot rang out. Both women dropped to their haunches, Cadie wrapping a hand around Jo’s elbow.
“This way,” the old ex-assassin hissed. Together they picked their way through the scrub, Cadie instinctively making sure her feet followed in Jo’s footsteps almost exactly.
The tall woman was bristling with … something, Cadie thought, but I can’t put my finger on the right word for it. One look at her lover told her that something ingrained was coursing through Jo’s bloodstream right now. Ice-chip blue eyes were narrowed and sweeping left and right for signs of trouble. Jo moved silently and swiftly, trusting that Cadie would keep up. She did, but the blonde was breathing hard by the time they came to a sudden halt at the edge of a small clearing. Jo waved her hand, telling Cadie to get down.
The American crawled forward on her elbows until she was side-by-side with Jo. “Who is it?” she w
hispered.
Jo sighed. “Collingwood, predictably,” she muttered. “Though why is a very good question.”
Cadie wriggled until she could see through the tiny gap in the foliage that Jo was looking through. What she saw sickened her. A lean figure, silhouetted in the moonlight, stood over what could only be the carcass of a sheep. Another lay close by. Cadie swallowed back the nausea.
“We’ve got to do something, Jo.” She turned to look at her lover’s grim profile. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m working on it,” Jo murmured, her eyes still flicking around the clearing, absorbing the lay of the land.
For long seconds they watched as Collingwood nudged the corpses with his foot.
“Hey, Jo?” Cadie whispered, an idea forming in her brain.
“What?”
“Remember the snake?”
Jo looked at her, puzzled. “What snake?”
Cadie crawled closer so she could put her mouth close to Jo’s ear. “The snake up in the islands, remember? The taipan?”
Jo did remember, suddenly. She had been with Cadie and two other members of the group of Americans she had been chaperoning around the islands. They had been on a hike up one of the islands when they had come across the taipan in the middle of the track. Jo had moved around the venomous nasty, coming up behind it while Cadie and the men kept its attention focused on them, and she’d been able to trap it with a stick, while the Americans had got past. She chuckled quietly. “Honey, that’s not gonna work here.”
“Why not?”
Jo shifted slightly, pulling the blonde against her and brushing her lips against her earlobe. “Gun-toting idiot, remember?” she whispered. “Unlike that snake, this guy is stupid, and can’t see what he’s shooting at. That’s a dangerous mixture.” Cadie growled under her breath, and Jo smiled. “Part of it’s a good idea though, love,” she conceded. “We do need to split his focus.” She felt Cadie smile.
“So, what’s the plan?”
Jo chuckled at her partner’s bizarre taste for this kind of adventure. “I created a monster, showing you where that rifle was the other day, didn’t I?” she teased.
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