Lacy (The Doves of Primrose) (18 page)

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Lacy’s heart was pounding at the same rate her mind was racing. She watched Kyle for a few seconds, trying to gather her composure. She had started across the lawn the moment Emmylou had informed her of the argument. She hadn’t been fast enough. With her hand pressed to her cheek she turned to the table, surveyed the scene and motioned for Scarlett to come and clean up the mess.

She was at a loss for words looking from Carol to Dallas. Both of them were exchanging identical looks of sorrow and conf
usion.

“I’m so sorry
, Mr. and Mrs. McClintock. We will get this cleaned up and get your food in a jiffy.”

It took them several moments to answer but finally Carol took a breath and nodded to Lacy. “It’s not your fault
, dear. And I think we may have lost our appetites.”

Lacy witnessed the pointed look Carol flashed at Dallas. She wondered if another argument was about to begin.
“Oh, no. Please stay. You must be hungry and it’s on the house. We have some apple pie inside, fresh out of the oven. I’ll have Emmylou bring you some.” Her eyes honed in on Emmylou standing on the back stairs and communicated with her through a frantic, silent plea.

Lacy didn’t want them leaving with all these prying eyes wai
ting to devour their shame. If they stayed it was possible they could avoid further embarrassment. None of the witnesses would dare talk about them if they were still within earshot, but if they left now it would be a frenzy of gossip and insinuations. If they had to wait until the McClintocks left it may just blow over enough to reduce the incident to an altercation instead of an out-and-out feud.

“I insist. We haven’t had our usual talk yet and I’ll be sad if we don’t get all caught up.”

That seemed to appease them both enough that they agreed to stay. Lacy picked up Kyle’s chair and sat in it while trying to keep up the uncomfortable conversation. It took a while before they started joining in. Lacy tried to steer clear of anything that would remind them of Kyle. That limited the topics quite a bit but she managed it. She decided to talk about the possibility of a ghost living in The Dove House. That brought them out of their shells.

Soon enough
, Emmylou was bringing the food and Lacy excused herself from the table. Emmylou met her gaze and understood immediately. She smiled at Lacy and nodded. Lacy smiled back, knowing she had two of the most wonderful friends in the world. She took off her apron, handed it to Emmylou and took off in the same direction Kyle headed.

She picked her way through the tall prairie grass and yucca until she reached the well-worn path leading to Sunset Pond. The sun at its peak in the powder blue sky coupled with the still air made Lacy
begin to break a sweat. Finally achieving shade when she met the cove of cottonwoods she sighed with relief and swiped at her wet forehead. Instinct and memory guided her steps around the bank. She looked out over the glassy water, catching sight of a carp jumping for a horsefly. The splashing and ripples were a harmonizing song. Lacy pulled her sandals off, relishing
in
the cool mud squishing between her toes. She hooked the straps on her finger and continued her search.

She tracked the curved edge with her eyes
, settling on the dark, old wood of the dock and the man leaning against the tall corner post with his legs stretched to the opposite post. He was dangling his hand in the water, pulling back and forth. A beam of sunlight caressed his dark hair. His defeated posture and pensive scowl tugged at her heart. She had heard most of what he had said, along with the rest of the diners, but she alone knew what his brother’s death had cost Kyle, of how its weight had been a burdensome yoke.

She stepped onto the dock leading out into the brownish water
, unsure of how she would be received, but everything in her screamed to go to him. He needed her and she needed to be there for him. Birds were shifting through the trees, insects were skipping over the water and her bare feet traveled slowly until she reached the end of the dock.

“Hi
,” Kyle spoke without looking at her.

She wanted to kneel by his side, to run her hand over his handsome face and look deep into his blue eyes but she remained standing. Her hands shook with the possibility that he wouldn’t wel
come her touch or her sympathy.

“Hi.”

His hand swept through the water, breaking up the silence with the sluicing. “Sorry about riling up all your customers.”

She smiled at the top of his head. “You know as much as I do that they live for public humiliations.
Gives them something to talk about during the long winter months.”

Kyle’s lips opened in a sardonic smile. “I think I gave them something to talk about for years.”

The tone he used niggled at her. He didn’t seem particularly sorry for his actions or his words. “Then why did you do it?”

The mirthless, pathetic smile that dawned on his face contr
adicted his earlier words. “I don’t know.”

Lacy crossed her arms. “That just means you don’t want to a
nswer the question.”

He tipped his head up
and with a furrowed brow he met her gaze. “Well, aren’t you just a modern-day Freud?”

“We all have our little secrets.”

He stared at her with that assessing precision she hated. “Some more than others, Lace.”

She blinked once
at his jab. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Kyle turned to look out over the shining water again. “Do you ever think about that summer
,* Lacy?”

She debated about lying to him. It would save her a hard co
nversation she had put off for eight years. It would keep her from reliving old wrongs and from finding out maybe she wasn’t the only one who had suffered them. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”

He closed his eyes as if he had just had his execution stayed. “I thought you would say no.”

Her lips automatically smiled even though she fought against it. “I just about did.”

He nodded
, his head still watching the sun light up the pond. “Thank you.”

“For what?”
She wished he would look at her.

“For that summer.
For not lying about remembering it.”

She didn’t know how to answer that. She chewed on her bo
ttom lip, debating.

“You were the only person I could be honest with about A
dam. Just having you for that short time to understand and not judge him or me was the most comforting thing in the world.”

Lacy’s heart expanded to bursting. That was the kindest thing
she had ever heard. She had mattered to him. It had taken him too many years to say but hearing it turned her insides to syrup. She pressed her hand over her chest to contain her heart from bursting out.

She opened her mouth but had to try twice before anything came out. Lacy had never been good with emotions, especially sharing hers with anyone else. “I felt the same way about you
, Kyle. You accepted all my flaws and secrets. I had never been so comfortable with anyone like I was with you.” She swallowed, wondering if she was brave enough to say the rest of what she was feeling. She looked down at her bare feet covered in flaky mud. Shaking with uncertainty she took one last breath. “I...you were very special to me.”

She pressed her eyelids together
, kicking herself for not having the courage to admit her love for him. Silence dragged on as her lungs collapsed from fear. Once again she had scared him off, just like the last time they were here together and she had told him they were just having a fling. But that time she was lying; she only said it because she knew that was how he felt.

In a split second his hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her down so she was sitting in his lap. He slid his other hand across her cheek and into her hair. She lifted her eyes to his and saw the raw emotion in their sky blue depths.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” The words were torn from his hoarse throat and she was thankful that he had understood her real meaning in what she had said.

Lacy felt like weeping into his chest. She leaned her head until it met his. “I was scared
,” she breathed the words.

The moment they were out she found herself lost in his d
evouring kiss. Her eyes shot open and she fumbled to catch up. Both his hands were clamped to her face, guiding her, holding her, caressing her. He coaxed her mouth to open with his insistent tongue, and as soon as she did he filled her with his velvety warmth. Heat flashed across her body and she shifted to get closer. She had every desire to press out every bit of air between them.

Her hands m
oved over his strong shoulders and down his flanks. All of the muscles flexed and beamed with heat. Her mouth moved with his, taking all he gave and returning it with her own passion. His hands left her face to wander her overheated body. He cupped her breast through the layers of cloth and Lacy felt the overwhelming need to remove all restrictions keeping her from him. Her fingers dug into his neck, keeping his lips bonded to hers as she twisted to straddle him. The bare flesh of her knees ground into the rough wood of the dock. She didn’t care.

Her hips moved instinctively in a slow rhy
thm against him while the kiss became more frantic. She couldn’t taste deep enough or draw him in far enough. She trembled when she felt his engorged sex rub against her womanhood. A whimper escaped her throat and his hands gripped her hips in response.

“Oh, God
, Lacy. I want you so much,” Kyle spoke between kisses. “I’ve missed you every minute of my life since I left.”

Lacy’s head jerked in a nod as she drew him back into the kiss. Her hand slid beneath the hem of his shirt and spread across the rippled flesh beneath
, gliding higher to massage the satin and steel of his chest. His fingers fumbled with the buttons of her shirt. When she lost patience with the barrier of their clothing she pulled back and jerked her shirt over her head and tossed it aside.

She reached for Kyle’s grey cotton shirt and tugged upward. He leaned away from the post long enough for Lacy to strip him of it. She moved in to continue their lovemaking but his hand on her collarbone stopped her. She opened her eyes in a haze of pa
ssion and confusion until his palm slid down between her breasts and down her abdomen. She arched her back with the pleasure of his touch and slid her fingers into his lush black hair to keep her balance.

She realized she had missed him more than she’d thought. His touch made her quiver with delight, eliciting moans and sens
ations she hadn’t experienced since the last time they were together. Her starved body fed on his tender caresses until it tingled everywhere. Even the light breeze seemed to chafe her sensitive skin. His nimble fingers unclasped her bra freeing her engorged breasts, her nipples hardening into tight buds.

Her breathing tripled when his mouth closed over the puc
kered tip. She gripped his head, holding him there as coils of desire burned through her. She lifted up on her knees, pressing closer to his body. Delight danced over her skin when it connected with the fleece of hair scattered over his torso. Her hands gripped him tighter when his slick mouth slid over to lavish her other breast with his biting kisses.

She thrashed against him wanting more, desperately needing him inside of her. She felt his breath against her moist flesh when he smiled against her skin.
“Patience.” His ragged purr only elevated her craving. She took his face in her hands and buried her lips in his, sucking, tugging, licking into the sweet cavern of silk. His hands splayed across her spine, dragging downward. He clamped onto her hips, pulling them against his groin as he thrust upward.

Lacy, grasping for the release his demand offered, frantically fingered the button of his pants, bursting with the overwhelming arousal he elicited from her. So eager was she to be free of all barriers and have him pleasure her she whimpered when his large hand settled over hers
, stopping her.

She nuzzled against his mouth as he spoke to her neck whi
le suckling the delicate skin. “Hang on.”

Lost in her savage lust, quivering with passion tremors she had barely heard him, but as soon as he began to shift from beneath her she impulsively gripped around his neck
, not wanting him to separate from her. His arm coiled around her waist at the same time his legs rolled over hers, lifting her easily.

The ice of the water over her heated skin was a welcome shock. Her hands slid over his
water-slicked skin. He wrapped her legs around him and she gladly complied to his wishes. Her back against the mossy post of the dock, their bodies nearly submerged in the cool water, the memory overtook the present and they were eighteen again. Their first time had been at this very spot. Her jaw trembled with the poignancy. She hugged him as tightly as she could, the flesh of her breasts ached with a fever sensation as their storm of passion slowed to a deeper burning devotion.

His kisses became softer, his hands more revering as they touched and caressed every cavern and peak. Her legs clasped him tighter to the cove of her tender womanhood
, inviting him there. His hands glided down her sides making her giggle. She opened her eyes to find his intent blue gaze, and her heart bloomed with the sheer wonder she found in their depths. Her grip on his hips loosened when his agile fingers tugged at the button of her shorts. He opened the soaked fabric and moved his hand inside to cup her.  Her head fell backwards when an adventurous finger slid into the swollen folds and pressed upward into her throbbing passage.