Gold Fever

by Lyn Denison

  “No, we don’t,” Kate said evenly, and Ryan shifted a little uncomfortably at Kate’s apparent lack of enthusiasm.

  “Well, I’d better get ready for the Eventide ladies.” He rubbed his hands nervously together. “They’ll be here any minute.”

  “I’ll come out and give you a hand.” Kate went to get up, but Ryan waved her back into her seat.

  “No. Don’t worry, Kate. The old ladies will be over the moon having me to themselves.” He grinned. “Really, I can manage. I’ll buzz you if I need you.”

  “He looks very much like his brother,” Ashley said as the young man closed the door behind him. “He must have been just a kid when I left. Makes you feel old, doesn’t it?”

  Kate smiled faintly. “Just a little.”

  Ashley’s level gaze held Kate’s. “You haven’t said whether you actually liked my book or not?”

  Kate shrugged. “You don’t need me to tell you how great it is. The critics have done that.”

  Ashley grimaced. “But I’d like you to tell me you enjoyed it.”

  “I did enjoy it. But I still think you could have left that part out of it.”

  “Are you ashamed of our relationship, Kate?” Ashley asked, and Kate stood up, paced the floor beside her desk.

  “Shame’s got nothing to do with it. I just didn’t want it written down and bandied about.”

  “No one knows the truth except you and me.”

  And your mother,” Kate put in exasperatedly.

  “She didn’t tell anyone else, Kate. I know she threatened to at the time, but she didn’t.”

  “And that makes it okay.”

  “Kate, for heaven’s sake. I wanted it, Clare’s and Tess’s relationship, I wanted it to be a sort of tribute, if you like, to us.”

  “By making Tess marry Clare’s uncle and Clare end up with the hero. Well, it’s about true to life.”

  “It had to be that way, Kate. When I decided to write Gold Fever, it was with the idea of making a career for myself, a way of becoming independent and being able to support Jen and myself, so I could divorce Dean. I mean, I had no salable qualifications except my writing. I had to give the book mainstream appeal.” Ashley stood up and moved closer to Kate. Kate tensed, a surge of raw emotion clutching at her stomach muscles.

  “I feel betrayed,” Kate got out thickly before she could pull back the deep-seated pain of the words.

  “Oh, Kate. Do you think I don’t know that? But I didn’t mean it to be that way, and I’m sorry. Back then I had the most diabolical familial pressure put on me to marry Dean and—”

  “I meant by what you included in the book,” Kate exclaimed angrily.

  “Because Clare had to give up Tess?”

  “Because of the words you used. What you and I said to each other. It was us, Ash, and it should have stayed just between us.”

  “I guess it was about us, but you and I, well, that was my only experience, Kate.”

  “Oh, Ashley, for heaven’s sake—”

  “It was, Kate. But before I decided to write the book I did try.”

  “Try?” Kate’s mouth went dry.

  Ashley’s lips twisted wryly. “To get more experience. It was sort of twofold, really. It happened a couple of years ago. I was so mixed up. I wanted to prove to myself once and for all that I was straight, that what we had, you and I, was just, well, just something I’d blown up into something more than it actually was.”

  Kate watched as a wave of pain slid across Ashley’s face. She wanted desperately to ask what Ashley had discovered and just as desperately didn’t want to know.

  “Look, Ashley —”

  “I called a gay and lesbian hot line and asked about places I could go,” Ashley continued softly. “Eventually I got up the courage, and I went to a club. And I found my answers, Kate. I met some really nice women there. But when it came to the crunch, I couldn’t do it. I felt like I was cheating on you somehow”

  “Dean was the one you were cheating on,” Kate said harshly, and Ashley shook her head.

  “Dean had nothing to do with it.”

  “Ash, this is ridiculous.”

  “You’re the only woman, the only person, I’ve ever been attracted to, Kate.” Ashley’s voice dropped impossibly lower. “That’s the way it’ll always be for me.”

  “Ash, don’t.”

  “Don’t what—don’t tell the truth? Because it is the truth, Kate.”

  “Ash, I think we should, I mean, we shouldn’t …”

  “But I did write the other version. I had to,” Ashley finished softly.

  “The other version?’’ Kate repeated, every nuance of her body tuned to the nearness of the other woman’s.

  “Ten years after they were married, Tess and Clare meet up again in Brisbane. Clare’s a widow, and Tess’s husband, Caleb, has run out on her and their children. Clare and Tess fall into each other’s arms and live happily ever after.”

  The lowered tone of Ashley’s voice poured over Kate, seeking out each tiny chink in her armor, inveigling itself beneath her guard, and Kate fought to hold on to some semblance of control.

  Ashley reached out, ran her warm fingertip along the length of Kate’s jaw, and paused at the corner of Kate’s mouth before continuing to the softness of her trembling lips. Of its own accord, Kate’s tongue tip came out, tasted, drew back. Ashley’s steady gaze held Kate’s as she slowly put the finger Kate had touched with her tongue into her own mouth.

  Kate sank back against the edge of her desk as her knees almost gave out on her. Ashley followed her, her legs resting against Kate’s, her hands reaching out, drawing Kate into the circle of her arms until they were molded together. And Kate completely lost all control again.

  She clutched Ashley to her, and their lips met in a kiss of feverish abandonment.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Kate knew deep down she had been anticipating this moment since that brief kiss they’d shared in the darkness below the tree house. In all honesty her impassioned body had simply been waiting, her whole being needing this nearness, this familiar affinity with all that Ashley had meant to her. And Kate clung to Ashley as though she were drowning.

  As Ashley’s leg insinuated itself between Kate’s, she murmured deep in her throat. Her straight skirt slid upward as Ashley’s hand moved over her stocking-clad thigh, the whispering rasp of skin on nylon echoing enticingly about the silent confines of Kate’s office.

  “Oh, Kate, Kate,” Ashley murmured thickly as her lips tenderly played over the curve of Kate’s cheek and teased her sensitive earlobe.

  Some vaguely rational part deep inside Kate clamored a warning, but she was far beyond all caution. She threw her head back, and Ashley’s so satiny lips tantalized the arch of her throat and settled on the wild erotic beat of the pulse that throbbed there at its base.

  “Oh, Kate. I’ve dreamed of this moment for so long,” Ashley breathed brokenly. “I’ve wanted to hold you in my arms, wanted to feel the strength of you, your softness.”

  The satiny, sensual sound of Ashley’s voice, the obvious arousal in the way the words caught in the other woman’s throat, sent a spreading fire raging through Kate, and she pulled Ashley impossibly closer. She fancied she said Ashley’s name, but she couldn’t be sure if she’d actually spoken it or if she simply repeated it like a litany in her mind.

  “Oh, Kate, I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

  Kate slid one hand upward over Ashley’s hips, her narrow waist, to mold the full curve of her breast, and another frisson of pure desire shuddered through her as Ashley’s hardened nipple thrust against her palm.

  The entire room seemed to vibrate with the electricity that sparked in the air around them, between them. And then the belligerent sound of the buzzer struck them both like a blow, bringing them so harshly back to earth.

  Ashley lifted her head, her blue eyes still burning bright with arousal, and her gaze met and compellingly held Kate’s.

  For a few s
econds Kate was completely paralyzed, and then awareness dawned. In horror she realized just how they would look to even the most casual observer. Their clothing in disarray. Their lips swollen and so obviously kissed. They looked as though they’d been making love on Kate’s desk. Which, she acknowledged ashamedly, they had been.

  Kate pushed Ashley away, and her trembling hands slipped her skirt back into place and straightened her jacket. Somehow she managed to step around her desk before she fell into her chair.

  “Kate…”

  There was a brief tap on her office door before it opened, and Phillip Walker stepped into the room.

  At the back of her sluggish mind Kate realized Ryan must have buzzed her as a warning that Phillip was heading toward her office, and she made a mental note to thank him profusely. If he hadn’t…

  “Kate, I thought you could use these notes I made on the budget changes.” He stopped, adjusting his heavy glasses as Ashley walked around and sat down in the other chair. “Why, Ashley Maclean, isn’t it?” Phillip held out his hand, and Ashley made a perfunctory move to shake it.

  “Hello, Phillip. You don’t seem to have changed much.” Ashley’s voice was amazingly normal, and only Kate was aware of the paleness of her face.

  “Well, thank you.” Phillip beamed. “I might say the same of you. It must be, what? Ten years or more? So what have you been doing with yourself? Certainly not living in the Towers.”

  “No. I’ve been in Melbourne. And doing the usual. Got married. Getting a divorce.”

  Phillip frowned understandingly. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m divorced myself.”

  “It seems Kate was the only sensible one,” Ashley said lightly. “Remaining unmarried.”

  “Yes, well, there’s nothing wrong with marriage,” Phillip stated earnestly. “You just have to choose the right person. I can’t see myself not getting married again.” He glanced pointedly at Kate, but she made herself fix her attention on the notes he’d given her.

  “Thanks for these, Phillip,” she said quickly. “I’ll go over them as soon as I can. Oh, by the way, Ashley’s our visiting writer for our Meet the Author afternoon next week.”

  “Author?” Phillip blinked at Ashley in amazement.

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t read my book, Phillip?” Ashley said with a smile, and Phillip coughed, obviously disconcerted.

  “Well, no I haven’t as yet. But I intend to. It seems to have taken the literary world by storm.”

  “Perhaps not quite by storm.” Ashley laughed lightly. “Let’s just say it has rippled the surface of the pond.”

  “By what Kate’s told me, you’re being modest.” Phillip put his hands in his pockets and rocked slightly on the heels of his highly polished shoes. “Actually, romances are not my books of choice, but seeing as you wrote it, Ashley, I’ll read it for sure.”

  “Why, thank you, Phillip.” Ashley inclined her head.

  “You know, it always amazes me where writers get their ideas. I believe yours is set in the Towers. Is it biographical?’’

  Kate tensed. If Phillip only knew the truth.

  “Not all of it,” Ashley was saying patiently. “But I guess you subconsciously pick up bits and pieces of people and situations. It’s all grist for the mill. So you never know, Phillip, you might see yourself in one of the characters,” Ashley teased.

  “Have you put me in the book?” he asked, taking her seriously.

  Ashley grinned. “I’ll never tell.”

  He adjusted his glasses again and smiled at her. “You always were something of a tease, Ashley. Well, fancy you writing a book. Maybe we could get together over dinner one evening and you could tell me all about it.”

  Ashley all but blanched, and Kate had to hide an involuntary smile. Ashley’s teasing had often landed her in trouble in the past.

  “Oh, I’ll be as busy as a bee in clover for the next few weeks, Phillip, house-sitting for my parents. And I have a young daughter I couldn’t leave.”

  “You have a daughter? Well, maybe Kate could babysit,” Phillip said easily, and Kate looked at him in amazement. Phillip really was the limit.

  “We’ll see,” Ashley said noncommittally and glanced at her wristwatch. “Well, Kate, I suppose we should talk about what you want me to do at the Meet the Author afternoon.”

  “And I should be getting back to work, too. This is a hectic time at the moment for those of us in local government.” Phillip pursed his lips importantly. “Get back to me tomorrow on the budget, Kate. Nice to see you again, Ashley.” He turned and walked out the door.

  Ashley gave a strangled laugh. “My God! You said he hadn’t changed, and he hasn’t, has he?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Kate agreed. They continued to look at each other, and Kate found herself flushing now that they were alone again. She rubbed at the start of a headache between her eyes. “About next week, I think if you just tell everyone how you got the idea for the book, how you wrote it, and maybe read out a passage or two.”

  “How about page one hundred and twenty?” Ashley said softly, and Kate’s mouth dried.

  “Ashley, I’m pretty busy now and —”

  “We should talk, Kate. Don’t you think? But you’re right. Your office isn’t exactly, well…” She grimaced. “Wrong place, wrong time. The story of my life.” Ashley stood up. “And I have to pick Jenny and Josh up from the movies soon. But I think we do have to talk.”

  Kate shook her head. “Talking won’t change anything. You can’t wipe out ten years with a snap of your fingers,” she said, and Ashley made a negating movement with her hand.

  “I know. I wouldn’t even attempt to try to do that. But I want to know what you feel, Kate. I want to know about you, what you’ve been doing all these years.”

  Kate gave an exclamation of disbelief. “All of a sudden you care about what I’ve been doing since you left.” Kate only just prevented herself from saying left me. “That’s pretty rich.”

  “I’ve always cared.”

  Kate broke in on her, her voice angrily low “Oh, yes. You cared so much that you couldn’t even face me. You just rang me to invite me to your wedding.”

  “It wasn’t like that, Kate, and you know it.” Ashley ran her hand through her hair. “There was so much more going on than you knew about.”

  “And I thought you told me everything,” Kate put in sarcastically.

  Ashley’s looked away, her lashes dark slashes on her pale face. “I was under enormous pressure from everyone back then. My mother. Dean.” She looked at Kate again. “Even you.”

  “Me?” Kate sat back in her chair. “Look, Ashley, I don’t care to talk about this now”

  “Don’t I get the chance to tell you my side of it?” Ashley appealed, and Kate sighed.

  “What good would that do after all this time? It’s passed, Ashley.”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  Kate ran a shaky hand over her eyes. “I’ve missed you, too, Ash,” she said flatly. “But as I said, I got over it. I’ve put all that behind me. And I don’t want to go through it all again.”

  “I guess I’d better go then.” Ashley walked over to the door. She paused, her hand resting on the door knob, and she looked back at Kate. “You say you put it all behind you, but have you, Kate?”

  “Yes,” Kate said with more conviction than she felt.

  Ashley’s full lips quirked. “I don’t think you have, Kate, any more than I have. That kiss was” — she paused — “pretty incredible, didn’t you think?” Her voice dropped impossibly lower. “So much so that I want to do it again. And I know you do, too.”

  “You don’t know anything about me now, Ash. We’re different people.” Kate gave a faint, humorless smile. “We don’t know each other at all anymore. Now, please, I have work to do.”

  For a long moment Ashley continued to gaze at Kate, and then she sighed. “We’d know each other anywhere at any time, Kate. It doesn’t matter how many years we’ve been apart. It’s been th
at way since the moment we met. That will never change.”

  And then she was gone, the door closing behind her with a mocking click.

  Not until she arrived home did Kate remember it was Thursday and she was to have her usual dinner with Rosemary. She glanced at her wristwatch and groaned. It was too late to beg off, so she forced herself to have a quick shower and changed into a pair of lightweight slacks and a cool cotton blouse.

  What was she going to do about Rosemary? she asked herself as she headed across town. In all fairness, she knew she should have told the other woman she had had no right to begin any sort of relationship with anyone.

  She suspected there was something missing in her personality. She couldn’t seem to let herself get close to anyone.

  In the beginning she’d thought it was just that she’d been hurt so badly by Ashley. Time would heal all wounds, she told herself. But the passing of time made no difference. Perhaps Ashley’s perfidy had left her with incurable emotional damage. And now that Ashley was back, she…

  She what? Kate angrily asked herself. Things hadn’t changed. Ashley had broken her young heart, and she’d spent years trying to recover. She had no intention of allowing Ashley to do it again.

  Kate frowned. Her relationship with Rosemary had been casual from the start. It had been an unspoken understanding between them. Rosemary knew that. Didn’t she? Kate shifted gears guiltily. She hadn’t allowed Rosemary to think otherwise. Had she?

  Kate battled with herself as she turned into Rosemary’s driveway and walked up the steps.

  Rosemary carried the conversation through dinner, and Kate tried valiantly to keep her mind focused on the other woman.

  “Honestly, Phillip Walker is the most boring man I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet,” Rosemary was saying exasperatedly. “And I hear he had you jumping through hoops over the budget.”

  Kate nodded. “That about sums it up nicely. I think he was even worse this year than he was last year, if that’s possible.”