Just Kate: His Only Wife (Bestselling Author Collection) (16 page)

“Oh,” she whispered,
“oh...”

Sean intensified his efforts, greedy at her breasts, a merciless conqueror. When she stiffened violently and cried out in relief, she knew he was watching her every reaction, and that made her gratification even keener.

When the water was still at last, he kissed her and maneuvered her gently onto his shaft. Soon the lake was wild again, and the cries that filled the air were Sean’s.

They didn’t dress immediately, but dried each other and crept into the tent to lie entwined in sweet silence and sleep. When Kate awakened, Sean was outside, whistling, and she could hear the cheery crackle of a campfire.

Hastily Kate found the clothes Sean had left for her and put them on. When she crawled out of the tent, he was squatting beside the fire, stirring something in a frying pan, and dusk was deepening the shadows that sprawled across the lake.

“What’s that?” Kate asked, sniffing.

Sean grinned at her. “No worries, love. It’s nothing on the endangered species list.”

“Don’t tease me,” Kate fussed, going to sit near him on the ground. “I just woke up.”

He treated her to a brief, smacking kiss but said nothing.

Looking at him, she wondered how she was going to live without him—for a few days or for a lifetime. “Do you absolutely have to go to Hong Kong?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “You can still come with me, you know.”

She shook her head. “There will be other trips,” she said, hoping against hope that what she was saying was true. “Right now I need some time and space, and so do you.”

Sean only shrugged and went back to his cooking. It looked to Kate like some kind of chops, and it smelled wonderful. Her stomach grumbled.

Sean chuckled. “Hungry, sheila?”

Kate nodded, licking her lips.

“Strange thing about love,” Sean philosophized. “It either takes your appetite away completely or makes you eat like a crazed shark.” He reached out to give the contents of another kettle a knowledgeable shake. “I probably shouldn’t give you any dinner, since you refuse to do your share of the cooking.”

Kate found metal plates and utensils for them both. “Does setting the table count?” she asked.

“That depends,” Sean said, pausing to look at Kate’s chest. Her buttons were open, and she was straining against the undershirt.

“On what?” she breathed.

Sean reached over and lowered the undershirt, revealing both her breasts. He bent and kissed each nipple lightly. “On whether or not you’re willing to provide dessert,” he replied.

Kate held a breast for him with one hand and entangled the other in his hair. “Does this answer your question?” she asked, her voice husky with pleasure.

He suckled for a few moments, then withdrew and righted her undershirt. “Absolutely,” he answered belatedly.

The mosquitoes were thick that night, so they retired to the tent after their meal. Kate couldn’t see a thing in the darkness, but she could hear Sean undressing as she took off her outer clothes. She was kneeling, clad only in her panties and undershirt, when he reached out for her.

“What do you want, Kate?” she heard him ask in a low, raspy voice. He was close; his hands were resting on her bare thighs and she could catch the clean scent of him.

Kate drew her undershirt off over her head and then took his hands in hers. For an answer, she laid his palms against her swollen breasts. Her nipples hardened.

Sean caressed her for a while, then gently turned her so that her back was to him. He moved one of his hands between one breast and then the other, fondling them in turn, while he moved his other lightly over her belly.

Kate’s breathing was quick and shallow, and despite the chill of the night, she was so warm that she was perspiring lightly. She squirmed backward until she found what she wanted and needed, and she took it.

Sean had not expected to be taken prisoner, and he gave a sharp gasp of pleasure.

Bracing herself against the tent floor with her hands, Kate allowed her instincts free rein and became the conqueror. Sean groaned helplessly as she had her relentless way with him, now teasing, now tempting, now taking him in earnest.

He gave up what Kate took from him with a defiant, adoring shout, then turned her and pressed her to the sleeping bag. She still could not see him, but she could feel the caresses of his hands and the touch of his lips, and that was enough.

“You’ll have to give an accounting for that, sheila,” he promised between deep, ragged breaths. He found her with his strong fingers and began a rhythmic, circular massage that soon had Kate writhing, her hands stretched above her head.

Sean found them and imprisoned them in his fist, holding them where they were. Kate’s back arched, and a whimper escaped her as he continued to soothe and torment her at once.

“I love you,” she managed as he worked her skillfully toward frenzy. “Oh, God, I love you so much.”

“Then stay with me,” he answered, showing her no more mercy than she had shown him. “You belong with me, Kate—in my house and my bed.”

She moaned.

He took her to the east and west and north and south of heaven itself before allowing her a slow descent to earth.

In the morning they rose early to fish. It was their last day alone together, and that gave everything they did a note of sad festivity.

After lunching on their catch, they took down the tent, packed up their gear and hauled the lot of it to the airplane, where Sean stowed it neatly away. Looking back, Kate could see only a ring of stones surrounding a dead fire to mark their passing. Except for that, the ancient land was undisturbed; they might never have been there, loving and living, laughing and crying, shouting and whispering.

“We’ll be back someday,” Sean assured her, lifting her chin and planting a soft kiss on her mouth.

Kate nodded and turned her face toward the future, half excited and half afraid.

The small plane left the land with a roar that scattered birds and sent kangaroos hopping wildly toward the horizon. A magical time in Kate’s life was ending, and she knew it, and she wanted to cling to it with both hands.

Of course, there was no way to do that.

They landed once, around noon, at an isolated place that sold hamburgers and gasoline to truckers and pilots, and took off again immediately.

“I didn’t bring you out here to make you sad, Kate,” Sean remarked, having caught the forlorn expression on her face.

She nodded, her hands clenched together in her lap. “I know,” she said. How could she explain the feeling of loss she had, and the sense that it would be permanent?

They landed at the small airport outside of Sydney a few hours later, and neither of them spoke as they carried their gear from the plane to the waiting Jeep. Sean had a word with a mechanic, and then they were off.

“I’m moving back to the hotel,” Kate said, uttering her first sentence in over an hour.

“Tonight?” Sean asked. There was no challenge or recrimination in his voice.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because of Gil. Because of Abby,” Kate whispered. “Because we can’t be in the same house together without ending up in each other’s arms.”

Sean shrugged and took Kate to the hotel where she’d stayed her first night in Sydney. He waited until she’d booked a room, then kissed her lightly on the cheek and left.

An hour later her suitcases arrived by cab. She was on the telephone when the bellhop brought them up, but she managed to tip him and wave her thanks without interrupting the call.

“So,” she said when the door had closed behind the young man. “What would you and Daddy think if I married Sean Harris?”

Her mother’s stunned silence was answer enough.

Chapter 10

“H
ow long will you be in Hong Kong?” Kate asked, holding the telephone receiver to her ear with one hand and towel-drying her freshly shampooed hair with the other.

“Three or four days,” Sean answered. He sounded as glum as Kate felt. “You might as well come here and stay, since I’ll be gone.”

She smiled. “That was a very transparent attempt to get me to feel sorry for you,” she said.

He chuckled ruefully. “Did it work?”

“Yes,” Kate answered, “but I’m still staying here.”

“Have it your way, sheila.”

Kate drew a deep, weary breath. “I would like to spend some time with Gil, if that’s all right with you.”

“It’s fine. Listen, love, I’m not very good at small talk. Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

“No,” Kate answered, remembering the chops he’d cooked by the campfire. “I had dinner with you last night. I’ll see you when you get back from Hong Kong.”

Sean sighed. “Good night, Kate.”

“Good night,” she responded gently before hanging up.

The evening news was flickering on the television screen, so Kate went over and turned up the sound. As events happening overseas were recapped by a brisk Australian voice, a picture of her father’s face filled the screen. He was standing behind the president’s desk, witnessing the signing of an important bill he’d been trying to push through the Senate for months, and he looked justifiably proud of his accomplishment.

Kate felt a certain homesickness, then cinched the belt of her heavy terry cloth robe a little tighter and sat down on the edge of her bed to eat a supper brought to her by room service. As much as she loved Sean and Gil, it was going to be difficult to live so far from friends and family.

When a silly game show came on, she got up to turn off the TV. She thought of Abby, and wondered how many of her sister’s problems could have been solved by an extended visit home.

In a moment, Kate’s sister and mother were both inside her head, yammering that it would be a mistake to marry Sean. She shut them up by turning the game show back on.

Kate slept in the next morning, then spent a few leisurely hours shopping. She and Sean weren’t planning a formal wedding, but she wanted a special dress just the same.

It was midafternoon when she arrived at Sean’s house to see Gil. He and his dog, Snidely, were playing with a Frisbee on the front walk, and his eyes lit up when he saw Kate.

“Is it true?” he demanded, racing toward her but stopping just short of a hug.

“Is what true?” Kate laughed, resisting an urge to ruffle his hair. She knew that some children resented gestures like that, and she wanted very much for Gil to like her.

“Dad said you and he have been talking about getting married,” Gil told her, and he looked genuinely pleased by the prospect. “Are you going to be my mom?”

So Sean had said they’d
talked
about getting married, not that they definitely would. Kate put an arm around Gil’s shoulders, and they proceeded up the walk. The driver of the taxi she had arrived in honked his horn as he drove away, but she barely heard the sound. She was too busy searching her mind for the proper answer to Gil’s question. “I’d be your stepmother,” she said at last. “And your aunt. But my sister was your mom, and nothing is ever going to change that.”

Worried brown eyes scanned her face. “You wouldn’t make me give Snidely away, would you?”

“Of course not,” Kate answered quickly. They had reached the steps of the porch, and they sat down side by side at the top. “I think Snidely is a nice dog.”

Gil was happy again. “Thanks,” he said.

Kate wanted to kiss his forehead or his cheek, but checked herself. He’d probably hate that, think it was corny. “Say, handsome,” she said as though struck by sudden inspiration, “how about having dinner with me tonight, since your dad’s away? We’ll go wherever you like.”

The child nodded eagerly. “McDonald’s!”

Kate laughed and slapped her hands against her blue-jeaned thighs. “McDonald’s it is, then, but we’d better tell Mrs. Manchester before she goes to any trouble making you dinner.”

The two went inside and found the older woman in the kitchen, rolling out dough.

“Aunt Kate’s taking me to McDonald’s,” Gil announced importantly, “so you don’t have to cook.”

Mrs. Manchester smiled. “Well, that’s good news,” she said with enthusiasm to match Gil’s. “I’ll just watch the telly, then, and have something simple for supper.”

“We could bring you a hamburger,” Gil volunteered.

Mrs. Manchester glanced at Kate, her eyes twinkling. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” she said. “You just go and have a good time, young man, and don’t worry about me.”

Kate told the housekeeper when she would bring the boy back and called another taxi while Gil dashed upstairs to change his clothes.

“I wish you’d come back and live at our house,” Gil told her when they were riding toward the nearest McDonald’s in the backseat of a cab.

Kate thought of the plans she and Sean had made to buy another house, one where Abby’s memory wouldn’t haunt them at every turn. “I think we might end up living together at some point,” she said cautiously. “Maybe you wouldn’t like it, having another person around when you’re used to just your dad and Mrs. Manchester.”

Shyly Gil moved a little closer to Kate on the seat. “I’d like it,” he assured her in a quiet voice.

Kate was so moved that her throat thickened and, for a minute, she didn’t dare look at her nephew for fear of bursting into sentimental tears. “Have you ever thought about visiting America?” she asked when she’d recovered herself.

Gil considered for a long time. “Dad says the place is overrated,” he told her finally. “But I’d like to see it for myself—especially Disneyland.”

Kate smiled at that. “Disneyland is one place that’s everything it’s cracked up to be,” she told Gil.

He looked concerned. “Disneyland is cracked up? What happened to it?”

Kate laughed. “We seem to have a language barrier here. When an American says something is everything it’s cracked up to be, that means it’s all that you’d expect of it and more. Disneyland is wonderful.”

“Oh,” Gil replied, and his expression betrayed both puzzlement and relief. “That’s good.”

Once they’d reached McDonald’s and were happily consuming their hamburgers, french fries and milk shakes, they exchanged idioms and tried to guess at their meanings. This made them both laugh so hard that people turned to look at them.