All The King's Horses: A Tale Of Eternal Love (12 page)

“I’m pooped, Christy, knackered, half asleep. There’s no way I’m up to a performance like that.”

She slipped out of bed. “Well maybe this will wake you up,” she said, letting her nightgown drop in a crumpled heap at her feet.

He gulped. Yup, that sure got his attention. As his eyes roved over her naked body he felt his pulse begin to quicken. If it was possible for a woman to have a perfect body then Christy London was that woman.

“Whatya got to say about it now, Cowboy?”

He grinned impishly. “I say you bedda climb back into bed and get what’s comin’ to ya.”

“Yeah…I think you’d better leave the impersonations to me, Charlie, we’ve already established you’re no good at them.”

Rolling his eyes at her he flicked the covers aside. “You’d better get in here before I change my mind you cheeky minx.”

“That is no way to speak to a lady, Mr. London,” she said, putting on a posh English accent. “I am most affronted by your ungentlemanly conduct.”

“Yeah, well once you’re between these sheets I’m going to treat you like anything but a lady, so get your pretty little derrière in here.”

“Oh, I like the sound of that,” she said, as she slipped in beside him giggling like a schoolgirl. “Just remember…I’m fragile.”

“Yeah right,” he said, seconds before he pulled the covers over their heads.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kent padded across the sand to the water’s edge and let the tide sweep the seawater over his feet. He winced. Megan had said it would be warm, but it didn’t feel like it to him. It certainly wasn’t warm like it was back in the good old Bay of Islands.

Christy joined him. “What’s it like?”

“Cold.”

“Sook.”

“Am not,” he said indignantly. “It’s this cold English weather. Even in the summer it’s not enough to warm the water up.”

She kicked the water around with her foot, “feels okay to me.”

“Liar.”

“Does too,” she kicked the water at his bare thighs.

“Hey…cut that out,” he said, dancing out of reach.

“You are a sook,” she teased. “A real man wouldn’t squeal like you just did.”

“I did not squeal,” he protested.

“Did too…you need to toughen up, Buster.”

He poked his tongue out at her and grinned.

“Immature and a sook, I’m beginning to doubt your manhood, London.”

“That wasn’t what you were saying to me this morning.” His grin widened until a full set of teeth showed. “You were doing plenty of oohing and aahing then.”

“Think you’re pretty hot don’t ya?” She glanced at him sideways. “Bit of a pretty boy?”

“Pretty enough for you if this morning was anything to go by.”

“You might have handled yourself okay this morning, Hotshot, but what I really want to see is if you’re man enough to brave that water.”

Kent stared down at his feet. The water was bloomin’ freezing. But he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of calling him a sook for the rest of the day.

Walking back to the sand he peeled off his shirt and dropped it at his feet. Then with the bravado of a young man he charged down the beach and dived into the water.

The shock was instantaneous. The chilly water sliced through his body like a knife through hot butter, and he came up gasping and shivering to hear Christy laughing hysterically.

“You wally,” she hooted, “you actually fell for it. You wouldn’t get me in there that water is absolutely freezing.”

“You cunning little wench,” he said through gritted teeth, as he calculated the distance between where he stood shivering in waist deep water and where she stood warm and dry at the water’s edge.

“I can’t believe you’re so gullible.” She was still laughing hard.

He took a few steps forward. If he made it look casual enough she would never cotton on to what he was about to do.

“Is it cold enough for you, Tough Guy?” Christy was obviously enjoying this. “Now you know what Penguins have to go through. Come to think of it…you look a little like a penguin at the moment.”

As Kent exploded from the water his legs pumping hard Christy gave an ear shattering scream, and spinning round made a desperate dash for the safety of the boardwalk.

It was a short lived contest. Kent was a man in the prime of his life, and he caught up with her before she had covered much more than fifteen yards.

“Right,” he said triumphantly, as he slung his prize over his shoulder, “let’s see who the sook is now.”

“No…no, Kent,” her legs and arms were flailing wildly.

“Believe me, this is going to hurt you much more than it’s going to hurt me,” he said, and then chuckled merrily.

“Don’t you dare, Kent,” she protested. “If you throw me in that water I’ll never speak to you again.”

The water was up to his knees now. “Oh I think you will.” His chuckles were coming thick and fast now.

“No…I won’t. So don’t you dare risk it.” She was desperate now, he meant business and so she had to stall him long enough so she could escape.

“But risk is my middle name, Mrs. London.” He began to slowly spin her around.

“Kent…Kent…don’t you dare.”

Too late, he let his burden go, and she came up wet, cold, and screaming.

Kent was laughing so hard the tears were streaming down his face.

“You ratbag, Kent London,” she screeched. “This water is beyond freezing.”

“Welcome to England, My Lady,” he said, dipping low with a dignified bow.

She waded over to join him. “No more early morning delights for you,” she scolded.

He laughed at her discomfort. “That won’t last long. You’re the one who seduces me…remember?” Scooping her up in his arms he carried her out of the water and back up the beach to their towels.

“I’m numb from my head right down to my toes,” Christy complained, after Kent had wrapped her up in a fluffy towel.

“You’ll soon warm up. The water might be cold but the sun has a bit of kick to it.”

“You two seem to be enjoying yourselves.”

Kent turned to see Megan standing behind him. His jaw must have dropped open because she gave him a smile as if to say, ‘you’re drooling over me, Mr. London.’

The bikini Megan was wearing if ‘wearing’ was the right word left nothing to the imagination. Her well formed body was simply bursting out of the flimsy fabric in all directions.

“I…I thought you said the water would be warm.”

“Why…is it cold?” she asked, feigning innocence.

“A lot colder than we’re used to, Christy said. “Kent’s a bit of a softy really, so it was worse for him than me.”

Megan’s eye’s flicked back to Kent’s. “Oh, I doubt that very much. I’ve yet to met a Kiwi man that wasn’t a little on the macho side.”

Kent didn’t dare look in her direction. He concentrated on toweling himself down instead.

Christy stifled a giggle. “Well come on then, Macho Man,” she said cheekily, “let’s get ourselves dried out in the sun.”

As Christy spread her towel on the sand and lay down Kent braved a glance in Megan’s direction and instantly regretted it. She was sending him that ‘come to bed with me’ look. He spread out his towel beside Christy and lay down. It was going to be a long day if Megan was going to prance around practically naked and give him the come on at the same time.

♥

He must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes the sun had shifted its position in the sky. It must be gone one o’clock he figured. He reached out his hand to touch Christy but she wasn’t there. Flicking his head in the other direction he got a jolt. Megan lay very close to him on her stomach with her bikini strap undone, and she was silently watching him.

“She’s gone to buy us ice creams,” she said casually. “You look so innocent when you’re sleeping.” The corner of her mouth turned up slightly. “But I bet you’re not.”

“How long has Christy been gone?” he asked, hoping that she would be back soon.

“She’s only just left. I doubt she will be back for at least twenty minutes. The line waiting for ice creams is horrendous at this time of the day.”

Great, that was just what he needed, to be stranded here with a nymphomaniac for the next twenty minutes.

“Kent…would you do me a favor?” She held out a bottle of sunscreen. “Would you rub some of this on my back?”

Kent looked desperately along the beach in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Christy. She was nowhere in sight. “Sure,” he said reluctantly, taking the bottle from her hand. Squeezing some of the creamy liquid into his palm he rubbed it between her shoulders.

“Oh, that’s cold.” She flinched briefly before settling down again. “You have a very strong masculine touch, Kent,” she said huskily.

“Do I?” His eyes roved up the beach again. If only Christy would hurray up.

“Can you do my legs as well? I do so hate it when my legs burn.”

“Yeah, okay,” he answered absentmindedly. Was that Christy’s auburn hair making its way through the crowd further up the beach? He felt his heart sink. It wasn’t. This was getting awkward, especially since Megan’s shapely legs were feeling a whole lot nicer than he cared to admit. Christy needed to get back with those ice creams, and soon.

“Could you do my stomach too?” She rolled quickly onto her back, leaving her bikini top behind and giving Kent an unimpeded view of her magnificent breasts.

Kent groaned. This couldn’t be happening.

She smiled up at him, her sky blue eyes twinkling devilishly. “Are you going to help me out?”

“Ah…no,” he said slowly. “I think you can manage this side for yourself.” He gently placed the bottle down on her stomach and lay back down on his towel.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” she said demurely.

“I’m not embarrassed,” he answered quickly.

“You acted like you were.”

“It just wasn’t appropriate.”

“So I’ve offended you then?”

“I’m not offended either,” he said curtly.

“You are being rather abrupt with me.”

“That’s not my intention.”

She sat up, giving him a view of those sensational breasts from another angle. “I’d hoped that you and I could be friends.”

Kent scanned the beach again. Still no sign, what was keeping her?”

“She won’t be back for at least another ten minutes, Kent,” Megan said, as if reading his mind, “so just relax, I don’t bite.” She moved closer to him. “So how long did you and Christy know each other before you got married?”

“Does it matter?”

“It matters to me. I suspect it wasn’t very long. You both have that new couple feel about you.”

“We didn’t know each other for very long,” Kent admitted reluctantly. “But we both knew it was right for us.”

“Marry in haste and repent at leisure is the old adage I believe.”

“Not in our case. We were meant for each other.”

“That sounds rather starry-eyed, Kent. Nobody stays together forever these days.”

“Well then I guess Christy and I will be the exception to the rule,” he said bluntly, annoyed that she was suggesting he and Christy wouldn’t last.

“It sounds to me like you’re not very experienced with women.”

“I’ve had plenty of experience with women,” he said defensively. “But when I’m in a relationship with a woman I commit to her and her alone.”

“We’ll see,” she said, snatching up her bikini top and hurriedly putting it on.

Kent guessed why, Christy must be coming into view, and Megan didn’t want Kent’s wife catching her flashing her husband. She was obviously dishonest as well as devious.”

Christy finally made it to them. “Whew, what a queue that was,” she said, handing each of them a cone before settling down on her towel. “So, how have you two been getting along?”

“I’ll leave Kent to give you his verdict on that,” Megan said quietly, giving him a look he knew meant ‘you’d better not tell.’

“We’ve got along fine,” he lied, not wanting to rock the boat. “This is good.” He pointed to the ice cream, hoping to steer the conversation off in a different direction.

“It ought to be for what they charged,” Christy complained. “It was so much more expensive than back home.”

“And you can’t beat New Zealand ice cream for flavor,” Megan added, her tongue rolling around the top of her cone as she eyed Kent intently.

If she wasn’t brazen then he didn’t know what was, Kent thought as he scowled back at her. The message she was sending him couldn’t be misinterpreted.

Christy must be picking up on this surely? She couldn’t be that blind. But if she was aware of it she wasn’t letting on. The strange thing was she was such an intelligent woman, very quick on the uptake, so he couldn’t see how she was missing this business as it played out in front of her.

Oh well, they only had a few days left with Megan and then they would be travelling up to Scotland to have a look around there. He had to stop himself from breathing an audible sigh of relief. The thought of being free from the clutches of the she-wolf had a lot of appeal.

Kent was subdued on the coach ride back to Datchet, and he left the two women to talk together. He decided he would never tell Christy what had happened back there on the beach. Some things just didn’t need to be shared, and this was one of those times.

He must really have it bad for Christy. He was passing up the experience of a lifetime with Megan. She wasn’t the sort of woman most men gave the brush off to. She was just too alluring, too sexy for any red-blooded man to resist. But here he was, not only resisting but actively trying to avoid her company. And it was all because of Christy. Yes, he loved that woman more than life itself, and he would marvel at it if it didn’t leave him feeling so frightened.

The cancer popped into his head again. It was never very far away, always lurking in a dark corner threatening to jump out at him and spoil whatever wonderful moment he was spending with his wife. He hated it. He hated it for what it did to him, and what it did to her. It was robbing them of their normalcy. For theirs was not a normal relationship. How could it be when the threat of death hung over one of them?

He gave some thought to how he would react if she were to die. How would he go on living without her? Would he go on living in her house? Would he carry on with the charter business? Would he even want to go on living if she were no longer in his life?