Double Exposure

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “I never let them get that close. Not like I did with big brother Joe.”

  Hugh knew exactly what Harry was talking about. You could be kind and compassionate without ever letting people in where you lived. Kate was the first person he’d ever felt like dropping his guard for. “You still have nightmares?”

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Yeah. Not so much anymore.” Hugh noticed their drinks were sitting on a tray and the bartender was starting their way. “The drinks are ready, and we need to get back. You have duties.”

  Harry pushed away from the bar. “Look, if Kate is wonderful, and she’d have to be the way you’re acting, then I think…I think you’d better give it a shot.”

  “Easy for you to say. What’s that line—physician, heal thyself?”

  “I’m working on it,” Harry said. “When I meet the right woman, somebody who affects me like Kate’s affecting you, I’ll work harder.”

  “But Kate wants a hero.”

  “So be a hero. Sweep her off her feet.” Harry gave him an off-center, cocky smile, as if to signal that the serious stuff was over for now. “You’re just nervous because you’ve never had to try that before.”

  KATE HAD AGREED TO THE plan cooked up by her friends, which meant that in public she had to stay far away from Hugh and act as if she’d lost all interest in him. Kim didn’t think that would completely fool their parents, but it would prevent the rumors from spreading. The plan made sense to Kate, but the execution of it was killing her.

  The rehearsal dinner from hell seemed to go on forever. Her only salvation was to take a bunch of pictures and focus on Kim and Stuart’s happiness. Even watching them had a sharp edge to it, though. Kim had found the man of her dreams, while the best Kate could do was spend a few wild and lust-filled hours in the arms of a man who would leave on Sunday, never to be seen again.

  In the twenty-six years Kate had been Kim’s twin, the two of them had traded places dozens of times, but it had been a temporary game. Kate had never actually wanted to be in Kim’s shoes, but tonight she did. She envied the twin who was about to marry the right guy, a guy whose interest extended beyond a weekend of sex.

  Eventually the evening broke up, with the group dividing into three parts. The parents headed home to bed, the groom and his buddies went bar-hopping, while Kim, Kate and their friends gathered in their suite of rooms for an old-fashioned slumber party. The women planned to tell no one that sometime during the night Kate would sneak down to Hugh’s cottage.

  “I figured out how we’ll know when the guys come home and Hugh will be back in his lair,” Kim said as they all changed into pajamas and pulled out the manicure supplies. “I made Stuart promise to page me before he goes to bed, so we can tell each other good-night.”

  “You realize that could be four in the morning,” Bette said. “Which gives Kate almost zero time with her hunk of burning love. Plus her sugar baby could be stewed to the gills.”

  “It won’t be four in the morning,” Kim said. “Stuart’s tired, and Harry’s been working those long hours at the hospital, so neither of them will be up to staying out late. I can’t promise what Hugh’s condition will be when Kate gets down there, but I predict I’ll hear from Stuart before my second coat of polish is dry. Now, who wants the honor of giving the bride a manicure?”

  For the next two hours Kate tried to throw herself into the festivities as they lounged on the two double beds giving each other manicures and pedicures while reminiscing about the pranks they’d pulled in high school. She partly succeeded, but too many times she’d glance at the clock and her stomach would start to churn.

  Finally she couldn’t stand the suspense. “You know what? I’ve decided not to go down there after all,” she announced. “This is crazy, to get all involved with some guy who’s leaving on Sunday.”

  “Then maybe I’ll go,” Bette said with a wink. “In the dark and with a few drinks in him, he might not know the difference.”

  Kate was instantly consumed with jealousy. “I don’t—”

  “Just kidding!” Bette said. “But you should have seen your face. You were ready to kill me.”

  “Go down there.” Sabrina took the cotton from between her toes and looked over at Kate. “You never know how this will turn out.”

  “Yes, I do. He told me straight out. And that’s why I’m going to stay here.” As she was congratulating herself on making the right, though cowardly, decision, Kim’s pager went off.

  Kim scooped it up from the nightstand and looked at the number. “That’s Stuart’s room phone. They’re back.” She gazed at Kate.

  Kate’s shrug was designed to cover up the fact that she was quivering. “Yeah, well, I’m not going down there.”

  Bette started making clucking noises, and soon Sabrina and Ruth joined in.

  “I’m not chicken, damn it!” Kate was lying through her teeth and she knew it. “I just don’t see the point!”

  Kim gave her a nudge. “The point is that you’ve been bitching and moaning about your boring life. This is your chance to spice it up, and if you don’t go down there, I don’t want to hear another word about how nothing exciting ever happens to you.”

  Kate met her sister’s relentlessly honest stare. Kim had the annoying habit of being right. It was so much easier to complain than take action. If she spent the rest of the night with Hugh she’d probably end up with a broken heart, but so what? At least she’d be grabbing life by the lapels, instead of standing a safe distance away while claiming she craved drama.

  It was put up or shut up time. She swung her legs to the floor and stood. Anticipation and fear battled it out in her stomach, much the way they did when she was about to step into the first car of a giant roller coaster ride. “I’ll go, but if he’s drunk, I’m coming straight back here.”

  “See, we should’ve found a way to tip him off about this,” Ruth said. “Pass him a note like I said, so he’d go easy on the booze.”

  Kim shook her head. “Too risky. Notes get intercepted.”

  “Kim’s right,” Kate said. “This was the only way.” She walked over to her suitcase in the corner of the room, and her hands trembled as she took off her pajamas and pulled on the capris and knit top she’d worn to the rehearsal dinner.

  “Now remember what you’re going to tell someone if you get caught in the halls,” Sabrina said.

  Kate nodded. “I need to get my dress from storage and check the hem length with my new shoes.”

  “Very good,” Ruth said. “Have we thought of everything?”

  “God, no.” Bette snatched up a couple of condoms from the nightstand where they’d tossed them earlier. “Don’t forget some of these. How many do you need?”

  “Take the whole box,” Ruth said, laughing.

  “That would be inconspicuous, all right.” Kim screwed the top on her nail polish. “Wandering the halls of the Townsend House with a box of condoms.”

  “Will you all cut it out?” Even though these were her best friends, she couldn’t help blushing. But she needed the condoms. “I’ll take two.”

  “Take three.” Bette held them out. “The guy strikes me as a real stud.”

  Kate rolled her eyes as she took the condoms. She had no pockets in her capris, so she tucked them inside the waistband. “This is like those Fractured Fairy Tales we used to watch on TV. Cinderella and her fairy godmothers passing out condoms.”

  “Fairy godmothers of the new millennium always remember birth control,” Bette said. “Now get going, already!”

  “I’m going!” Kate left the room before she lost her nerve.

  ONCE KATE WAS GONE, the other women remained silent for several seconds while they stared at the door.

  Finally, when it didn’t open again, Bette spoke. “Okay, Kim, do you think he’s going home on Sunday like he says?”

  Kim blew out a breath. “God, I hope not. He’d be such a fool.”

  “He watched her all night long.” Ruth wrapped her arms around he
r knees. “I think he’s crazy about her.”

  “So do I,” said Sabrina. “And she may think that a stuntman isn’t who she wants, but she wants him. She wants him bad.”

  Kim looked at her bridesmaids. “That’s why I pushed her to go down there, because I have a feeling that this could be it for both of them, but if I’m wrong…”

  “I don’t think you’re wrong,” Bette said.

  “You’d better hope I’m not.” Kim massaged her scalp to loosen the tension collecting there. “Because if I am wrong and he leaves on Sunday, I’ll be on my honeymoon and you guys will have to pick up the pieces.”

  12

  HUGH ROAMED THROUGH the cottage, unable to settle down. After he flipped on the television, he turned it off. Then he fooled around looking for a decent FM station, and once he found one, listened for about ten seconds before shutting that off, too. Finally he brushed his teeth, but instead of going to bed, he wandered around some more.

  Sack time would be a very good idea. He’d had damned little sleep for the past two nights. But he dreaded climbing into the bed he’d shared with Kate, and he was really irritated with himself about that. Exhibiting behavior totally unlike him, he’d become sentimental about her. Everything in the cottage tugged at him, depressing him with memories of the great time they’d had together and reminding him that those great times were over.

  Harry had advised him to sweep Kate off her feet. Harry had also been too schnockered to realize that wouldn’t be possible. Kate might as well be in a convent up in that suite with her girlfriends. As for tomorrow, from the way Stuart had described the wedding day schedule, the men and women would continue to be separated until the ceremony. That left tomorrow night for Hugh to dazzle Kate and show her that he could be a hero.

  Even if he could accomplish that kind of miracle, he wasn’t convinced it was a good idea. Harry was letting this shrink convince him to change, but that didn’t mean such a thing was possible. Hugh didn’t want Kate to become some kind of guinea pig in an experiment to see if he was capable of a real relationship.

  He continued to cruise around the cottage while trying to work up some enthusiasm for going to bed. The maid had been here while he was at the rehearsal dinner. She’d changed the bed, turned down the sheets and placed fresh roses in the vases. The scent of the roses seemed to mock him.

  At last he identified the emotion he was feeling, and he wasn’t any happier once he had. For the first time in years, he was lonely.

  With a sigh he unbuttoned his shirt, took it off and tossed it on a chair in the bedroom. Then he sat on the chair and pulled off his shoes and socks. He had to try and get some sleep, and he’d have no chance of that prowling around the cottage. Maybe once he stretched out on the bed, exhaustion would take over.

  He was so deep in thought that he didn’t register the sound of a light tapping until after it stopped. Pausing in the act of unbuckling his belt, he listened closely. His mind could be playing tricks on him, or a branch might have brushed the window.

  Or Kate was out there. He hurried to the front door and opened it. Fog had rolled in, softening the outline of the rosebushes and creating haloes around the low security lights. He could just make out Kate in the haze, already halfway back to the main house. The special effects wizards in Hollywood couldn’t have done a better job of making Kate look ethereal and out of reach, maybe even a figment of his imagination.

  But he was a realist, so he knew this wasn’t some sort of paranormal event taking place in the rose garden. She was really there, walking quietly back to the main house so her footsteps couldn’t be heard by anyone. She’d snuck out to be with him and had decided he was asleep.

  He should let her go, let this thing die between them. The thought swirled through his brain and was gone, because he couldn’t let her go, not when she’d made the effort to come to him in spite of all the reasons not to. Her appearance gave a huge boost to his sagging ego.

  Heart pounding, he started after her, wincing as his bare feet touched the damp chill of the flagstone walkway. “Kate,” he said in a low voice.

  She spun around, her eyes wide in the soft glow from the fog-shrouded lights. Dampness glistened in her hair and on her skin as she stood there breathing rapidly, her lips parted in surprise. “I…I thought you were asleep.”

  “No.” No matter how much of a realist he was, he still had trouble believing that she was here, considering how worried she’d been that someone would find out about them. Maybe he really had fallen asleep and was dreaming this. But he didn’t think you could smell things in a dream, and he was very aware of the scent of roses mixed with the tangy salt air and the loamy essence of freshly turned dirt.

  Her gaze moved over his bare chest, his unbuckled belt and his bare feet. “But you’re…tired. You were going to bed.”

  “I was going to bed, but I’m not tired.” A hero wouldn’t stand there staring at the woman of his dreams. A hero would act. He closed the distance between them and gathered her into his arms.

  She felt so damn good, so damn perfect there. Once he touched her warmth and his body absorbed the slight trembling of hers, once he caught the aroma of her special perfume, the right words came. “I was waiting for you.” Then he scooped her up and carried her back to the cottage.

  KATE HADN’T BEEN CARRIED since she was a little girl. This was so not like that. Hugh held her close to his bare chest and she could feel the rapid thumping of his heart, the heat of his skin. The musky scent of aroused male mingled with the sweet smell of roses as he gazed into her eyes and shouldered his way through the door.

  He kicked it closed with the side of his foot, like a karate master. He was easily the most virile man she’d ever known. Faux hero or not, he could turn her on in a matter of seconds. With Hugh, being carried to bed was a potent form of foreplay. She was getting hotter with every step he took.

  He didn’t bother to ask her why she’d come to the cottage or even why she’d changed her mind. He must not care how she’d escaped unnoticed or if she planned to keep this rendezvous a secret. Apparently it was enough that she was there, and his immediate reaction went beyond all her expectations.

  He truly lived for the moment, and so would she. This was, after all, what she’d longed for—an intense passion that silenced all questions, eliminated all roadblocks. A need so great that it had to be acted on now, and nothing else in the world mattered.

  After laying her on the bed, he slipped off her mules and tossed them to the floor. He left the light on as he began undressing her, marking his progress with hot kisses. She wiggled happily out of her clothes, eager to expose more skin and collect more kisses.

  Gradually the nervous tremors eased and she grew languid with desire. There was something to be said for experience. Quite a bit to be said for experience. Oh, yes. There. And there. Her body began to sing along with the seductive tune he played with his mouth and tongue. What a fool she’d been to think of denying herself this incredible pleasure.

  When he found the three condoms tucked inside the waistband of her capris, he glanced into her eyes. “Planning to stay a while?” he murmured.

  She hoped the number didn’t look like some demand on her part. “We don’t have to use them all.” Her voice had dropped a register and sounded as if she’d swallowed some of the fog blanketing the harbor. She loved this new, sexy voice.

  “Oh, we can use them all.” He laid them on the nightstand and continued his erotic task of revealing her. “I hope you put a few in your panties, too.” He tugged the elastic down.

  She lifted her hips, more than happy to cooperate. “I didn’t bring any more.”

  “Too bad.” He trailed kisses along the insides of her thighs as he stripped off her panties.

  She could barely breathe, she was so excited.

  “I guess we’ll make do with what we have.” His breath tickled the damp skin of her inner thigh. Then he proceeded to make do very nicely.

  She writhed against the so
ft sheets as he showed her once again that he had a talented tongue and wasn’t afraid to use it. Teasing and coaxing her until she was gasping, he finally gave her a shattering climax that left her delirious. She barely noticed that he’d shed his own clothes and opened one of the condom packets until he moved over her and leaned down to nibble at her lips.

  “All through dinner I thought about loving you like this.” He eased the tip of his penis inside, caressing her gently.

  She wrapped her arms around him, kneading the powerful muscles of his back as she looked up into his eyes. “It was a long dinner.”

  “A very long dinner.” He slid in a little more. “Especially when you’d made it clear that I couldn’t make love to you again tonight.”

  Smoothing her hands down his back, she pressed her fingertips into his firm bottom. “Dumb decision.” Then she lifted her hips and urged him closer.

  With a groan, he buried himself deep. “Maybe not so dumb,” he said, his voice tight with leashed passion, his blue eyes dark with mounting desire. “But I’m very glad you changed your mind.”

  She drank in his intensity. She might be only a temporary diversion, but that wasn’t how he was looking at her. For tonight she’d pretend that all her fantasies were true and he was the man she was meant to find. Tonight they would make love in a fog-shrouded cottage surrounded by roses.

  “I’m right where I need to be,” she said.

  “So am I.” He began stroking her slowly and deliberately. “So am I.”

  Holding his gaze, she caught his rhythm as they moved like dancers responding to an ever faster beat. The perfection and beauty of it was her reward for daring to take a chance tonight. How unthinkable that she’d find such pleasure and then have it taken away. But that was the danger she’d accepted in exchange for ecstasy. With that thought, she abandoned herself to the wonder of how effortlessly his body undulated against hers.

  Together they climbed and together they fell, clutching each other and crying out with joy. As the storm of sensation receded, Kate knew that if this was all she would ever have, it would have to be enough.