by Radclyffe
Mae’s eyes brimmed with tears but she nodded. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
“I won’t say no, because I want this, but…I plan to pay you back. Every dollar.”
Vance smiled. “I thought you would.”
Mae moved closer. “Would you really have told Clarissa Mason about her husband’s philandering?”
“No, but I wouldn’t have made it a secret either while I investigated who really did own it. Mason must have known she’d find out sooner or later if he forced me to search him out.”
“Well.” Mae’s mind was going in a hundred different directions and she couldn’t seem to take it all in. “What about Frank? The place won’t run without Frank.”
“I don’t imagine he’ll mind who pays his wages. In fact, I think he’ll like it a whole lot better knowing that it’s you.” Vance halted the buggy at the entrance to the lane to the Rising Star. She dropped the reins over her knee and took Mae’s hand. “You can turn the place into a respectable establishment. The girls will be protected, because you’ll make the rules. And if not Frank, you can get someone else to enforce them.”
“Are you going to ask me not to take care of customers?”
“That’s not my place.”
“Of course it is.” Mae kissed Vance, a slow, tender kiss. “Unless you’ve been foolin’ about loving me.”
“Oh no,” Vance murmured, her voice husky and low. She lifted Mae’s hand and kissed her fingers, then her mouth. “I love you with all my heart.”
“There’ll never be another in my bed.” Mae held Vance’s hand to her breast. “Or my heart.”
“Nor shall there be in mine. You have my solemn promise,” Vance whispered.
Mae curved an arm around Vance’s waist and settled her head on her shoulder. “Then hurry up now. I can’t wait to tell Kate and Jessie.”
Laughing, Vance guided the buggy down the lane, holding Mae’s promise in her heart, knowing she had come home at last.
About the Author
Radclyffe is a retired surgeon and full-time award-winning author-publisher with over thirty lesbian and anthologies in print. Seven of her works have been Lambda Literary finalists, including the Lambda Literary winners Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman; In Deep Waters 2; Distant Shores, Silent Thunder. She is the editor of Best Lesbian Romance 2009 and 2010 (Cleis Press), Erotic Interludes 2 through 5 and Romantic Interludes 1 and 2 with Stacia Seaman (BSB), and has selections in multiple anthologies including Best Lesbian Erotica 2006-2010; After Midnight; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; First-Timers; Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear; Hide and Seek; A is for Amour; H is for Hardcore; L is for Leather; Rubber Sex, Tasting Him, and Cowboy Erotica. She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ awards for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.
Her latest release is an all-Radclyffe erotica anthology, Radical Encounters (Feb 2009) and the romantic intrigue novel Justice for All (April 2009), and the romance Secrets in the Stone (July 2009). Her forthcoming works include The Midnight Hunt (writing as L.L. Raand, March 2010) and the first in the First Responder Series, Trauma Alert (July 2010).
