by Lyn Denison
“That’s debatable in the circumstances,” Kate said dryly, and Ashley stopped, one step up from Kate.
“She didn’t really blame you, Kate,” she said softly. “After you left she, we, had a long and wearing discussion about, well, crushes and growing up and what was considered normal.” Ashley sighed and continued up the steps. “But that’s history”
“I never meant to cause any dissension between you and your mother,” Kate said unhappily.
“I know. And I suppose it was a wonder no one caught us before that. Looking back, we took a lot of chances.”
Ashley held the flashlight on the door so Kate could insert her key. She stepped past Ashley and swung the door open, moving inside to feel for the light switch, flicking it on. She turned back to the door to see that Ashley had followed her inside.
The tension that wasn’t far below the surface when they were together clutched at Kate again.
“Thanks for seeing me home,” she said quickly, and Ashley shrugged.
“To tell you the truth I jumped at the chance to see you alone for a while.”
Kate’s mouth went dry, and she swallowed. “Well, it’s late.” She looked up at the old-fashioned kitchen clock that ticked loudly into the tense atmosphere. “It’s after one a.m.”
Ashley grimaced. “If we were going to turn into pumpkins, I think we’d already be squat and round and sort of orange colored.”
They both laughed nervously.
And then they looked across at each other, and something shifted painfully in the region of Kate’s heart. Someone made a soft, so low, moaning sound that drove everything from Kate’s rational mind, leaving only Ashley, her beauty, and the wild, undampened attraction Kate still felt for her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
And then they were in each other’s arms. Kate couldn’t have told who made the first move, but by the time Ashley’s lips claimed hers she was way beyond caring. Ashley’s tongue tip teased Kate’s mouth, then slipped incitingly inside, inflaming Kate.
Kate gathered Ashley impossibly closer and felt the searing imprint of Ashley’s entire body. Her full breasts nudging just below Kate’s. Her hipbones hard against Kate’s. They were thigh to thigh. And Kate’s body burned to feel Ashley’s naked warmth on hers.
“Oh, Kate, Kate,” Ashley murmured brokenly, her breath so erotically tantalizing against Kate’s mouth that Kate trembled with inexpressible yearning.
Ashley slid her lips along Kate’s jawline and teased at her sensitive earlobe. Kate’s knees felt as though they’d gone to water. She leaned her hips back against the support of the countertop and closed her eyes, luxuriating in the sensuousness of Ashley’s so soft lips on her supersensitive skin.
Ashley worked her way slowly back along Kate’s jaw, skimmed alluringly over her chin, lingered to kiss Kate’s trembling, craving mouth, slid down over the curve of her throat, paused at the throbbing pulse, its erratic beating the evidence of Kate’s accelerating arousal.
Then Ashley’s hand moved around to Kate’s midriff, shifted upward to cup the small mound of Kate’s breast. Her thumb gently teased Kate’s hard nipple through her blouse, and Kate arched her back, tried to fumble with the buttons on her shirt.
“I want… I need you to touch me,” Kate heard someone say and realized the voice was her own, thickly unrecognizable.
“Shh,” Ashley whispered. “Let me.” She dealt with the buttons and unbuckled Kate’s belt, pulled the shirt from the waistband of Kate’s shorts, and Kate heard Ashley’s breath catch in her throat.
Kate wasn’t wearing a bra, and Ashley pushed the material of Kate’s blouse from her shoulders, her eyes on the bare breasts she’d exposed. And simply knowing that Ashley was looking at her, eyes languidly sensual, set goose bumps prickling all over Kate.
Ashley let out the breath she was holding and slowly bent forward, brushing one straining nipple with her tongue.
An eruption of pure desire exploded inside Kate, shock waves arrowing downward to set up an incessant, pulsating ache between her legs.
“Please, Ash—” She heard herself beg, and Ashley’s lips returned to crush Kate’s mouth, her hands cupping Kate’s breasts, thumb and forefinger teasing Kate’s nipples. Ashley’s leg had insinuated itself between Kate’s, abrading the throb that threatened to have her crying out, repeating Ashley’s name like a litany.
Kate pushed aside the straps of Ashley’s overalls and pulled at Ashley’s T-shirt, freeing it from her pants. She slid her hands beneath the shirt, filled her trembling palms with the fullness of Ashley’s lace-clad breasts.
Ashley moaned deep in her throat, and Kate released her, making Ashley move against her in protest, but Kate was only fumbling with the catch on Ashley’s bra. It gave way, and she returned to caress Ashley’s breasts that still molded the thin cotton of her T-shirt.
With trembling hands Ashley pulled her shirt upward and peeled the lacy bra away, freeing her breasts for Kate’s eager touch.
For a lohg moment Kate let her gaze feast on their warm smoothness, before she reached out, hands reverently taking pleasure in their softness, their fullness. Then she lowered her mouth, sucking on one rosy nipple and then the other.
Kate let her tongue tip rasp over the swollen peaks and Ashley moaned again, leaning forward, and this time it was Ashley who clutched at Kate for support.
“God, Kate!” Ashley groaned. “I can’t stand up much longer. I need to… we have to…”
Kate drew a steadying breath into her tortured lungs and nodded. She took Ashley’s hand and led her along the hallway and into her bedroom. She flicked on the bedside lamp and pulled back the bedspread. A dull glow haloed the bed in a sphere of light, and Kate turned to Ashley, glancing a question at the lamp.
“Please. Leave the light on,” Ashley whispered. “I need to see you. I want to watch you.”
Kate’s shirt was still on the kitchen floor, and she was naked from the waist up. Ashley moved forward and lightly reacquainted her hands with Kate’s breasts until Kate’s breathing quickened again. Then she unzipped Kate’s shorts and knelt down to slide them and Kate’s underpants from her hips. She paused, still kneeling in front of Kate, and she rubbed her soft cheek against the damp dark curls.
Kate’s legs gave way then, and she sank down on the side of the bed. Ashley looked up at Kate, her eyes bright as sapphires in the dull light. She continued to hold Kate’s gaze for a long moment before she stood up, peeled off her disheveled shirt, and discarded her bra.
Her breasts seemed to glow, opalescent in the yellowish tinge of the lamplight, the puckered nipples dark against her pale skin.
Kate drank in the supple sensuality of the other woman, and she felt a renewed dampness between her legs, pulsing her need.
As Kate watched, Ashley stepped out of her overalls and stood naked before Kate. Slowly Kate reached out, drew her forward, and buried her face between Ashley’s breasts, inhaling the scent of her, drinking in the fragrance that was so totally Ashley.
Ashley pushed Kate gently backward and reached across her to slide a pillow beneath Kate’s head, her breasts agonizingly close to Kate’s own tingling breasts.
Then Ashley was straddling Kate, slowly leaning forward and over her, hovering but not quite touching her, and Kate’s breath caught in intense expectation. When Kate thought she could barely endure the heightened anticipation, Ashley lowered herself until her breasts just brushed Kate’s.
That so light touch set Kate’s aroused senses clamoring, craving more, so very much more.
Kate gently took hold of Ashley’s breasts, guided Ashley’s hardened nipples to graze against her own. And then she moved her head, teasing Ashley’s nipples with her tongue tip, and Ashley shivered, her breath stirring Kate’s hair.
“That drives me insane,” Ashley said thickly, and Kate slid one hand around over Ashley’s hips, down over the swell of her stomach, until she could bury her fingers in Ashley’s wetness.
She slid her fingers int
o the dampness, the musky scent of Ashley’s arousal making Kate’s blood rush through her veins. She let Ashley set the pace, move against her fingers, and then Ashley tensed, crying out Kate’s name, her body settling over Kate’s as her straining muscles relaxed.
Ashley took a ragged gulp of air, and then her lips found Kate’s. “God, Kate, that was wonderful.” She kissed Kate again, and then she was sliding down beside her, lips on Kate’s breast, fingers teasing over Kate’s flat stomach, slowly circling her navel, dipping enticingly into its indentation.
Kate arched her body, her nerve endings screaming as every muscle in her body tensed, totally aroused, awaiting the caress of Ashley’s fingers assuaging the hunger that throbbed between her legs.
“Please, Ash. Touch me,” she entreated, and then Ashley’s magic fingers were inside her, her lips caressing Kate’s breast, and Kate exploded in wave after wave of orgasm.
Kate gradually drifted from her dreamless sleep. She seemed to float, euphoric, and she stretched languidly, feeling like a cat reclining in the sun. Her muscles protested slightly, bringing back the events of the evening before, and with that recall came a rush of conflicting emotions.
What have I done? jostled with That was incredible.
Kate’s hands went to press on the sudden flutter in her stomach, and she realized she was completely naked beneath the bedclothes. She could remember Ashley pulling the white cotton sheet gently around her before she left.
After making love, they’d dozed in each other’s arms, legs still entwined, skin slick with dampness from their exertions. Eventually Ashley had moved to kiss Kate’s bare shoulder.
“I have to go,” she’d said softly, and Kate turned her face toward her so that their lips met.
They kissed deeply, passion flickering to life again, and Ashley moaned, dragging her lips from Kate’s.
“God, Kate! If we, if I stay any longer I won’t have the strength to go.”
“Then stay,” Kate appealed, holding Ashley close.
“I wish I could, Kate. But if Jen wakes up and wonders where I am I, well… It’s best if I go back.”
Of course Ashley couldn’t stay. Even as she’d suggested it, Kate knew she couldn’t.
“I’ll—Will I see you tomorrow?” Ashley asked, and Kate nodded her head.
Ashley looked into Kate’s eyes. “This has been—” she shook her head slightly— “what can I say? I love you, Kate. It cuts me up that I have to go when I so much want to stay with you now”
“I know”
Ashley gave her a quick kiss and slipped out of bed. She pulled on her discarded clothes and turned to kiss Kate’s breasts before slowly pulling the sheet over Kate. She placed a lingering kiss on Kate’s lips, and then she was gone.
Tingling with remembered awareness, Kate glanced lazily at the clock, only to sit bolt upright when she realized it was after ten-thirty. She’d had the longest night’s sleep she’d had in months. She crossed to the en suite and slipped beneath a tepid shower, her hands straying to the places Ashley’s hands had strayed the evening before.
She and Ashley had made love just like they’d used to do. Kate hesitated. No, it hadn’t been like before. It was so much, much more than it had been before. Kate switched off the shower and began to towel herself dry.
She looked up and caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She looked different, fancied her features were softer somehow. Hastily she looked away, not wanting to admit how much last night had meant to her. Admitting such a thing meant she had to face the truth and make some decisions about it.
In something of a dazed state, Kate made herself some toast and tried to concentrate on reading the Sunday papers. An hour later she didn’t recall eating the toast and had no idea about the contents of the newspapers.
Exasperatedly she cleared away her breakfast dishes and chose the chore she liked the least. Although her mind was far from on it, she spent the next few hours ironing and preparing her clothes for work next week.
Kate was standing in the middle of the kitchen in a fever of indecision. She desperately wanted to see Ashley, but she felt apprehensive. Yet she knew they had to talk.
She glanced at the kitchen clock. Surely Ashley would be on her own now. Kate was about to move toward the door when the sound of running feet pounded on the back steps. She was halfway across to the door when someone began knocking. Ashley stumbled into the kitchen as Kate swung the door open.
“Ashley—” Kate began, memories of the night before making her skin prickle and warm color heat her face. Then she realized Ashley’s own face was pale with anxiety.
She grabbed Kate’s arm urgently. “Kate, have you seen the kids?” she asked breathlessly, and Kate shook her head.
“No. Not since”—Kate swallowed—“not today. Why? What’s wrong?”
“They’re gone, and I can’t find them anywhere. God, where could they be?” Her words began to run together, and Kate took her hand.
“Calm down, Ash. Calm down,” Kate said soothingly. “How long has it been since you’ve seen them?”
“I don’t know.” Ashley threaded her fingers distractedly through her hair. “A couple of hours, I think.”
“Did you check the tree house?”
“Yes. On my way over. I even went right up the ladder just in case, well, in case they just weren’t answering.” Ashley clutched at Kate, and Kate slipped her arms easily around her, gently rubbing her tense back.
“I was tired, after last night, and getting Mum and Dad to the railway station and seeing everyone off home. It was so hectic. After they’d all left I thought I’d have an hour’s rest before coming over to see you. But I fell asleep.
“The kids were watching television. I lay down and picked up a magazine, and I must have dozed off. When I woke up two hours later they were gone. Oh, Kate, where can they be? It’s not like Jen to go off without telling me like this, and I wouldn’t have thought Josh would either.”
“They didn’t leave a note?”
Ashley shook her head. “No.” She glanced at her watch. “God, Kate, they could have been gone for two hours or more. What will I do? Jenny’s never done anything like this before.”
“I’m sure they’ve just forgotten the time,” Kate reassured her, and Ashley ran her hand over her eyes.
“It’s already five o’clock, and Jen knows to be home by then, regardless. Something’s happened to her, Kate. I just know it.”
Kate pulled Ashley into her arms again. “Come on now. You don’t know that. What about any of her friends you could ring?”
“She hasn’t really made any friends here yet. There’s just Josh. Oh, Kate…” Ashley buried her face in Kate’s shoulder.
“Did you notice if their bicycles were missing?” Kate asked, and Ashley looked up quickly.
“No. Come on. Why didn’t I think of that. I looked in the garage too.” She headed back down the steps, and Kate followed her, Ashley running to the back fence, slipping through the gap.
“They’ve gone. Their bikes are gone,” Ashley said shrilly. “I’ll get in the car and go looking.” She turned to Kate. “Will you come with me?”
“Of course. But let’s just check the house again.” Ashley followed Kate inside, and they both called out to the two children. But there was no reply, the house throwing back that empty, echoing silence. They closed the door and headed for Ashley’s mother’s car.
“Oh, God!” Ashley said in despair. “Where could they be?”
Kate tried to quell her own mounting fear. “Let’s try the corner store. We’ll go in and ask Jo if she’s seen them. Maybe they went there for an ice cream or something. Want me to drive?”
Ashley nodded and handed Kate the keys. She backed the car out onto the road and drove around the corner, pulling up outside the small convenience store. Ashley raced in, only to return with the knowledge that the two children hadn’t visited the shop.
For the next half hour or so they drove around the town, throug
h the main street, by the park, but there was no sign of the children. They returned to check the house to no avail. By now Ashley was pale and silent and Kate felt at a loss as to what to do next.
“I think we should go to the police, Kate,” Ashley said flatly, wrapping her arms around herself.
Kate nodded and headed back toward the car. “If they took their bikes they must have been planning on going some distance,” Kate reasoned. “Would they have set out to ride to the weir or maybe to the river?”
“I don’t know,” Ashley replied brokenly, and tears ran down her cheeks. “I just can’t believe Jen would go anywhere without asking me first. Someone must have taken them, Kate,” she said flatly, her face ashen.
Kate put her arms around her again and held her close, her hand moving soothingly in Ashley’s soft hair. “We don’t know that.”
Kate went over the few conversations she’d had with Jenny. When the young girl had visited the library for the storytelling session, they’d talked about the history of the town and the mines. Would she and Josh have gone exploring?
“Ash, you don’t think they’d have—?”
Ashley’s sobs subsided, and she straightened, drawing herself together.
“Have what?” Ashley asked.
Kate bit her lip. “When Jen was in the library last week we talked about the gold mining days. She asked me about the mines, the ones still open, and then she said you’d told her stories about the old Eureka mine we used to play near when we were kids. I warned her it wasn’t safe then or now. You don’t think they would have gone exploring out there, do you?”
Kate watched Ashley’s face tense as the same unspoken fears cross her mind. “It’s worth a try,” she said, and Kate started the car, spinning the tires as she pulled out onto the road again.
As Kate headed out toward the old mine site, bitumen gave way to gravel, and then the road became a track of two uneven, overgrown wheel ruts. Eventually they had to leave the car, and they both began to run toward the barbed wire fence that they knew posted warnings of private property and dangerous mine shafts.
