by Sandra Brown
Worriedly she studied herself in the mirror as she patted her kiss-abraded lips with a powder puff.
He tossed down the soft challis dress he had selected from the closet, came up behind her and reached around to take a breast under each hand. His fingers outlined the tight beads of her nipples. “Uh-huh. You look exactly like we’ve been… you know.”
He buried his face in her neck, just behind her ear, and nuzzled the erotic spot. Groaning, she breathed, “Rink, I’ll never get ready if you don’t stop.”
“I’m ready.” He pressed his swollen masculinity against her bottom. “I’ve been ready for hours. Do you know how beautiful you are when you’re asleep?”
“You know what I mean. Ready for dinner.”
“Oh, dinner. Hell.” Sighing theatrically, he dropped his hands and stepped away from her.
When they were somewhat composed, they went downstairs to join Steve and Laura Jane in the parlor. Without asking, Steve fixed Rink a bourbon and water and brought it to him where he was seating Caroline on the sofa with comical carefulness.
“Thanks,” Rink said, accepting the drink. He looked at his brother-in-law and smiled. If he had had any remaining doubts about Laura Jane’s marriage, he had only to look at her and Steve together. Laura Jane glowed with happiness like a beacon. Steve was relaxed, no longer tense and defensive. He had some terrific plans for making the stables more productive. He now spoke to Rink as an equal. The men were getting to know and like each other.
When the doorbell chimed, Caroline, much to Rink’s consternation, jumped up and ran toward the foyer. “I’ll get it. Enjoy your drink.”
“How does she expect me to enjoy anything with her hopping around like a jackrabbit?” Rink complained. “She’s supposed to be taking it easy these first few months, isn’t she?”
“I can’t believe Caroline’s going to have a baby,” Laura Jane said to her brother.
“What I can’t believe is that I’m the last to know.” Rink looked accusingly at Steve. “Why didn’t you call and drop me a hint?”
Steve shrugged unrepentantly. “It wasn’t my place to.”
Rink frowned. He had more to say but was halted by Caroline’s appearance in the doorway. “Rink, someone’s here to see you.”
The young girl’s eyes darted nervously around the strange room. She gnawed on her lips, which Caroline was relieved to see were free of freaky lipstick. Gone, too, were the paperclip earrings and the makeup. Her clothes were more traditional, a simple dress with a full skirt. The hair was still spiked, but it had been brushed down in a pixie style around her face.
“She said it was all right for me to come,” Alyssa said defensively, jerking her head toward Caroline. “I said you probably wouldn’t even remember me, but she said you did, so…” She ended on a shrug.
Caroline watched Rink’s face go from wonder to shock to delight. He spoke the girl’s name under his breath, then repeated it more loudly, gladly. He stretched out his arms as he came toward her. But he didn’t rush her. He stopped before he reached her, still with his arms widespread.
Caroline looked down at Alyssa, who had arrived at The Retreat in the town’s only taxi. She saw the girl’s lips begin to tremble, saw tears in her eyes. Alyssa tried very hard to put up an uncaring front, but she failed. Throwing off the last vestiges of toughness, she plunged headlong into Rink’s arms, mashing her face into his chest as her arms went around his waist.
“She’s not a half-bad kid.”
They were in Caroline’s bedroom, undressing for bed.
“Not at all. Only misdirected. Correction. I don’t think she’s had any direction at all. You should have seen her the first time I met her. She looked like something out of a horror movie.”
“How long has this friendship between you two been going on?” He sat down on the bed to take off his shoes and socks.
“A few weeks. We’ve met twice in town for milk shakes. I invited her here tonight for dinner on the outside chance that you’d be here.” She turned from the closet where she’d just hung up her dress. “I’m glad you were,” she said with soft significance.
“So am I,” he responded. “You’ve given me another reason to love you. Thank you, Caroline.”
“You’re welcome.” Emotion made her voice as husky as his.
“Did you see the look on her face when we invited her to go to the fair with us tomorrow? That bitch Marilee. I’ll bet she’s never taken that poor kid anywhere.”
“You’ll be a good influence on her.”
“Not near as good as you’ll be. I want us to see her as often as we can.”
“So do I. But are you sure you want to go to the fair tomorrow?”
“Why not?” he asked, stepping out of his trousers.
She faced the mirror and with feigned nonchalance fluffed back her hair. “Everyone in town will be there. After today—”
She never got to finish. He came up behind her, turned her around and sealed her lips with his. Finally, he raised his head. “I’m going to parade you all over those fairgrounds. We’re going to talk to everybody. And I’m going to tell anybody who wants to know and some who don’t just how much I love you and that I can’t wait to get our baby here.”
She dropped her forehead against his chest. “I love you so much. You’re wonderful.”
“You’re wonderful,” he whispered, gently setting her away from him. His eyes wandered over her body with leisurely pleasure. Her Charmeuse slip clung seductively to the curves of her body, detailed her breasts and their pert crowns, formed a shallow cup around her feminine delta, conformed to her thighs. “You’re beautiful, Caroline.”
He touched her through the satiny fabric, sliding over her form with his gentle, talented hands. Her nipples responded to the provocative fanning of his fingertips. The backs of his knuckles rubbed over the faint triangle and made her thighs tingle.
She knew in a moment she would be lost to all else. “Rink, wait.” His hand opened over her and his thumb skated across the satin-covered delta. “I… I have something to give you.”
“I have something to give you, too,” he murmured as he dipped his head. His tongue touched her nipple at the same time his thumb searched and found. “Can yours wait?”
“I… I supp… suppose so.”
“Mine can’t,” he grated softly as he took her hand and guided it to his sex, which was hard and full and straining against his briefs.
He hooked his fingers under the straps of her slip and pulled it down so she could step out of it. She stood before him naked and quaking with arousal. Lifting her against him, he carried her to the bed. As she lay back, he peeled off his underwear and stretched above her in naked splendor.
He knelt between her thighs. “I love you. I’ve always loved you, Caroline. I used to dread every dawn because I’d wake up thinking of you, wondering where you were, what you were doing, wanting you, aching for just the sight of you. Now I look forward to every new day because I’ll wake up loving you and knowing that you love me.”
He touched his lips to her abdomen, knowing his baby slept securely within the body of the woman he loved. She placed her hands on his beloved head in wonder that life had afforded them such happiness. His lips drifted over the cluster of dark curls. Desire and love spiraled through her like a lazy zephyr.
With his hands on her breasts, he lowered his head farther and kissed the velvety petals of her womanhood. His tongue bade them open. He withheld nothing, gave everything.
“I won’t hurt the baby?” He rose above her and settled his manhood snugly against her creamy warmth.
“No.”
He possessed her with a fierce passion tempered by love and caring. His taut hips rose and fell rhythmically as he plunged deeply but gently. Ever attuned to her needs, he withdrew, stroked lightly the portal then sleekly delved again. She closed about him tightly, milking him with the walls of her body. They gave and they responded equally in a tempestuous physical exchange of love. When
the tumult came, they shared it, hurtling off the edge of the universe in each other’s arms.
It was a short while later, as they dried each other after a shower, that she said, “You never did let me give you my present.”
“You mean there’s more?” Playfully he smacked her bottom as she returned to the bedroom. “It couldn’t be any better than what I’ve already had.”
“This is serious.” She went to an antique bureau and pulled open a drawer. Out of it she took a folded piece of paper. Handing it to him, she went to the window, giving him her back.
The harvest moon shone a silvery light down on the wide expanse of grass. The river channel could be seen winding through the trees in the distance like a sparkling ribbon. How she loved this place. But she loved the man more.
She heard the paper rustling, knew that he was reading the deed that transferred The Retreat to him. His footfalls were muffled by the area rug as he came up behind her.
“I can’t accept this, Caroline. The Retreat is yours.”
She turned to him. “Never mine, Rink. Always yours. That was why I loved it so much. Without you in it, having it meant nothing. You’re its heartbeat. Just as you are mine.”
She took a step toward him and rested her hand on his chest. “I love you enough to give up the thing I thought I wanted most in the world. Love me enough to put your pride aside and accept it. Please.”
He looked at her for a long moment, then at the paper in his hand. He folded it carefully and set it on the bureau. “I accept. With one condition. That you promise to share The Retreat with me for the rest of your life. Promise that we’ll love here and have babies here and that we’ll never dwell on the tragedies that happened before.”
Her smile was radiant. “I promise.”
He sealed the covenant with a kiss as binding as the pledge. Then, lifting her into his arms, he carried her back to their bed.
More Sandra Brown!
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SEDUCTION BY DESIGN
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Miss Ashton,” Hailey said, pressing down the lighted button on the intercom panel.
“Miss Ashton, this is Dawson.” Hailey Ashton could tell by the scratchy static and the background noise that the security guard was speaking into his pocket pager. “You’d better get over here to the Sidewinder quick. All hell’s broken loose and no one can seem to determine exactly what’s happened.”
This was an emergency call, Hailey realized at once. The steady, reliable Mr. Dawson was obviously shaken.“What’s going on?”she asked with professional crispness.
“Well, this guy here is raising Cain, yelling at everyone like a banshee. Says something’s happened to his daughter. From what I can tell, the kid dashed into the ladies’ rest room and holed up. This character has attracted quite a crowd. People are beginning to speculate all sorts—”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Do you want me to send a cart for you? It’s hotter than—”
“No, I’ll run through the compound,” Hailey said quickly. “Dawson, try to calm everyone down. Especially the father.”
“Right.”
He clicked off his transmitter and Hailey dashed out the door after calling,“Take over, Charlene,”to her assistant. The glass cubicle of Hailey’s office was near the front gate of the amusement park. The September heat slammed into her chest as she adroitly weaved her way through the throng of guests who, with their cameras and children in tow, were streaming through the turnstiles into the park.
One customer was holding up the line by arguing with the gate attendant over a discount ticket. The frantic employee looked up with relief as Hailey sped by. “Miss Ashton—”
“Are you having trouble, sir?” Hailey went straight to the heart of the matter to save time. Her mind was on the emergency at the Sidewinder.
“Yeah,” the man answered belligerently. “She says I can’t get my little one in on this discount ticket. He’s only three. He won’t be able to go on the big rides anyway. I thought—”
“Please, sir, take your family on in. I’m sure that ticket is acceptable,” Hailey said hurriedly. Her decision wasn’t fair to the park’s management, or to the employee who hadn’t been backed up, or to the other guests who had paid full ticket price for their three-year-olds, but Hailey had an emergency to attend to. She’d make it up to the disgruntled employee later.
Barely nodding in response to the man’s effusive thanks, she let herself into a gate through the tall, gray wooden fence that separated the public areas from the employees’ compound in the center of the park. Serendipity Amusement Park was crowded on this Saturday afternoon, and the greater the number of people, the greater the probability that crises would crop up. As Director of Guest Relations, Hailey was accustomed to handling minor emergencies instigated by either God or man.
Her low-heeled sandals weren’t conducive to jogging, but she moved at a brisk trot across the expanse of asphalt that fairly shimmered in the unseasonable heat. Her white skirt swirled around her slender legs. She could feel perspiration dampening her green cotton shirt, where the park’s emblem was discreetly appliquéd on her breast pocket just under her plastic name tag. Thank goodness she had worn her hair up in a topknot today. Otherwise the copper-colored, shoulder-length skein would be curling riotously in the humid heat.
Hailey reached the opposite side of the compound in record time and went through the gate. The Country Roads Theater where college performers provided a musical revue six times a day had just been emptied and she was absorbed by the milling crowd.
A gracious smile hid the turmoil in her mind. A little girl hiding in a rest room? What could have happened to her? Despite her haste, Hailey bent down to pick up a cigarette butt someone had negligently dropped. An employee who was seen stepping over any form of litter on the park grounds was fired immediately. A veritable army of maintenance workers in bright green uniforms kept the park as clean as a grandmother’s parlor.
Hailey passed one of the many large gift shops that sold posters, T-shirts, and souvenir coffee mugs, as well as other commemorative items of the Great Smoky Mountains, the state of Tennessee, and Gatlinburg itself. It was doing a thriving business.
The crowd in the gift shop couldn’t compare however, to the curious crowd gathered around the ladies’ rest room near the Sidewinder. The roller coaster was of such fearsome proportions that Hailey had never dared ride it. She paid scant attention to it now as she plunged into the throng.
“Excuse me, excuse me, please,” she said courteously but firmly as she elbowed her way through the crowd. “Excuse me.” She edged around a man eating a dripping ice cream bar and virtually stumbled into Dawson.
“Dawson,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention over the racket.
He spun around. “Miss Ashton, thank—”
“Is this who we’ve been waiting an eternity for?”
The voice was hard and scornful, impatient, and obviously furious. It also implied that Hailey hadn’t been worth the wait. She turned around to meet steely gray eyes under scowling dark brows.
“I’m Hailey Ashton, Director of—”
“Guest Relations,” he mocked as his searing eyes swept down and across her breast to locate her identification badge. “Spare me the title. I want some action.” Only then did he raise his eyes back to hers. The anger in his gaze seemed to flicker for a heartbeat as he stared at her. He paused, blinking, then said, “Something has happened to my daughter and I’m surrounded by a bunch of bungling incompetents.” His lips hardly moved as he spoke.
“Please calm down, sir, and tell me what happened,” Hailey said authoritatively. “Your loss of control isn’t helping either yourself or your daughter, is it?”
Had the situation not been so urgent, Hailey would have tempered her rebuke. This man certainly didn’t look the type who would take criticism lightly, if at all. But his insults and anger were o
nly adding to the problem.
He glared down into Hailey’s cool green eyes. Her control battled his rising impatience and won. He conceded grudgingly and continued in a more rational tone.
“We were standing in line for that thing….” He gestured toward the roller coaster. “Suddenly, for no apparent reason, my daughter went as pale as a ghost and started screaming. Then she ran into the rest room. I ran after her, but was met at the door by a militant attendant who wouldn’t let me in. I——”
“She’s still in there?” Hailey asked Dawson, turning her back on the man. Dawson nodded. “What’s her name?” she asked of the father, whose frustration had trebled while Hailey ignored him.
“Her name!” he roared. “For God’s sake, what difference does that make? Something dreadful may have happened to her and you stand here like some robot and ask me—”
“Her name.”
He raked his fingers through his dark hair, which had already been mussed from similar handling. “Her name is Faith, dammit. Faith.”
“Thank you,” Hailey said. She hastened toward the door of the rest room and called over her shoulder. “Dawson, please disperse this crowd. Send for a cart and notify the infirmary that I may be bringing someone in.” She didn’t look back to see if her orders were being carried out. She knew they would be. Nor did she glance back at the tall, broad-shouldered man who she knew was stalking her like a combat soldier bent on revenge.
She went into the cool rest room and took a moment to adjust her eyes to the dim interior after the blinding sunlight outside. The attendant looked at her with unqualified welcome. Before Hailey could ask her anything, she rushed to tell what she knew.
“Miss Ashton, there was a crowd of ladies in here. I was cleaning one of the sinks when this little girl comes running in screaming and crying. She locked herself up in the last stall. I’ve been trying to get her to open the door, but she won’t come out. I even stood on the commode in the stall next to her and looked over. She’s just crouched in the corner sobbing her little heart out. That wild man came running in here, carrying on something terrible. The other ladies started screaming, thinking he was a pervert or something chasing that frightened little thing. I sent everyone out. I’m telling you, I—”