The Long Hot Summer (12 page)

Kelly felt half a ton of muscle and raw power between her legs, refusing to acknowledge her fear as Ryan adjusted the stirrups to accommodate her legs. She’d never sat on a horse in her life, and the fact that she was at least six feet above the ground made her stomach roil.

“Put your feet in the stirrups, then lean forward in the saddle.” She reacted like automaton once he showed her how to use her knees and reins to control the animal.

The horse Ryan had chosen to ride reared up, his forelegs pawing the air. Mark tightened his hold on the bridle. “He’s a little flighty this morning, Doc.”

“That’s because he wants to run.” Ryan put his left foot in the stirrup, mounting in one continuous motion. Mark handed him his wide-brim hat. Reaching over, he held on to the bridle of Kelly’s horse and he led her away from the stables.

Once she became accustomed to the rocking motion, she found herself relaxing. She followed Ryan as he cantered toward the open portion of the property.

An hour later Kelly sat under a tree watching Ryan as he raced his horse across the verdant landscape. Horse and rider became one as the Thoroughbred established a long, low, raking stride. Sinking down to the grass, she closed her eyes.

Ryan returned to Kelly, finding her reclining on the grass, asleep. He tethered his horse next to where hers grazed on the sweet tender grass. He sank down beside Kelly, resting his head on his folded arm. She had taken off her cap. Without warning she opened her eyes.

“How do you like riding?”

“I like it, but I’m sore.”

“Where?”

“My behind and between my legs.”

Moving from his reclining position, he sat back on his heels. He did not give Kelly time to protest as he removed her boots. Her socks followed, then he unsnapped her jeans.

She slapped at his hand. “What are you doing?”

He pushed her hand away. “I’m going to give you a massage.”

“No-ooo,” she wailed in protest.

“Yes,” he insisted, lifting her hips and easing her jeans down her legs. Any further protest ended once Ryan turned Kelly over to lie on her belly. “Rest your head on your arms.”

She moaned once as gave herself up to the strength in his strong fingers as he kneaded her buttocks and the flesh of her inner thighs. After ten minutes he straddled her, his chest pressing against her back.

“You look as beautiful from behind as you do in front,” he whispered against her ear.

Her breathing halted then started up again. “What are you doing?”

“It’s not want I’m doing but what I want to do.” Curving an arm around her middle, he eased her gently to her knees.

Kelly groaned inwardly when she felt the solid bulge in his groin pressing against her hips. The only shield between them was his jeans and her navy-blue thong panties.

Reaching between her legs, he cupped her feminine heat and desire shot through her like a jolt of electricity, leaving her wet and pulsing against his palm.

“Kelly,” he growled deep in his throat.

“Now, Ryan,” she gasped, praying she wouldn’t climax before he penetrated her.

He unsnapped his jeans, pushing them and his briefs down around his knees and pulled aside the narrow strip of fabric. He entered her in one, swift, sure motion.

She felt his hot breath in her neck, raspy breathing in her ear, and the power in his thighs as he pushed into her pulsing flesh. Resting the back of her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes, trying unsuccessfully not to explode.

Kelly had become a mare in heat as Ryan inhaled the feminine musk rising from between her legs. And like a rutting stallion, he gloried in the pleasure that came from pumping in and out of her lush body. Cupping his hands over her breasts he cradled them, measuring their weight as her nipples hardened under his fingertips.

He loved her, each deliberate thrust, joining their bodies, every gasp, groan, moan bringing them closer to the brink of a spiraling ecstasy and fulfillment. It was no longer flesh-to-flesh, man-to-woman, heart-to-heart, but soul-to-soul.

Pressing his face against the nape of her neck, Ryan caught the tender skin between his teeth, biting gently and leaving his brand. His lips left her neck and seared a path along the silken column of her neck.

Mouth open and gasping for her next breath, Kelly felt herself slipping away from reality. She writhed against Ryan, the curve of her buttocks tucked neatly against his groin. They had become a perfect fit.

Her body flamed and froze at the same time. Her world tilted and careened on its axis. She cried out for release and seconds later she exploded in a floodtide of shimmering fire that shattered the barrier she had erected around her heart to love again.

Kelly’s passion spread to Ryan as her heat swept over him like a raging forest fire. His fingers tightened around her waist, holding her fast as he spewed liquid love into her still-pulsing flesh. He eased her down to the grass, gasping loudly.

Ryan pulled Kelly against his chest and buried his face in her hair. Everything that was Kelly Andrews seeped into his pores. He loved her!

He had fallen in love with her.

Easing back he stared at her staring back at him. In that instant he saw his unborn children in her eyes. The realization he had made to love to her without protection squeezed his heart. Splaying a hand over her hip, he kissed her moist forehead.

“I wanted to make love to you, but not without a condom.”

She offered him a tender smile. “Don’t beat up on yourself, Ryan. I’m safe right now.”

“Are you certain?”

She nodded. “Yes. I woke up this morning with the familiar symptoms telling me I should see my period in a few days.”

He wanted to tell her that it did not matter if she was or wasn’t pregnant, because he loved her enough to ask her to share his love and his future.

They waited until their passions cooled and then dressed. Ryan led Kelly to her horse, helped her mount before he mounted his. Their return to the stables was unhurried as they rode side by side in silence.

Ten

R
yan saw Kelly enter the dining hall, his gaze following her as she walked past his table and over to Mark Charlesworth’s. The young stable hand rose to his feet at her approach. He went completely still when Mark cupped her elbow and led her away.

“Easy,” Sheldon said softly, noting Ryan’s thunderous expression. “It’s not what you think.”

Turning his head, Ryan stared at his father as if he were a stranger. “Just what is it I’m thinking, Pop?” The query, though spoken quietly, was ominous.

“There’s nothing going on between them.”

Ryan wanted to believe Sheldon. It was now the end of June, and he and Kelly continued to see each other, but only on weekends. They had established a practice of sharing dinner, movie or concert, and a bed on Fridays at hotels far enough from Staunton to ensure their privacy.

He dropped off Sean and picked him up from school during the week. Kelly related to him the same way she related to the other parents. Knowing he was in love Kelly had increased Ryan’s frustration because he wanted to spend more time with her. His need to spend more than twelve consecutive hours with her each week went beyond physical desire. One night they’d shared a bed but had been content to hold hands and talk rather than make love.

There was so much he longed to tell her but hesitated because she still withheld a small part of herself—the part that would allow her to love again. And there was nothing about Kelly that he did not love: her wit, intelligence, beauty, patience and her sensuality.

He planned to turn Blackstone Day School into a private school for grades N-6. He wanted to hire a music teacher so the children could learn to sing, read music and play musical instruments. The building would be expanded to include actual classrooms, and as the school’s headmistress Kelly would hire and train the staff.

Ryan knew Kelly loved teaching as much as her students loved her. Every day Sean came home singing her praises. He proudly displayed his art projects and showed Ryan his notebook filled with the letters of the alphabet and corresponding words for the letter of the day. Instead of playing with computer games or watching television, Sean now preferred reading picture books.

Kelly Andrews had become a positive role model for the children at Blackstone Farms, while at the same time she had taught the resident veterinarian that it was possible not to love once, but twice in a lifetime.

Floor lamps burned in the school’s sitting area. Kelly sat with Mark, listening intently as he explained his answer to one of her questions. She had given him several practice PSAT examinations, and out of the possible sixteen hundred points, he averaged seven fifty-five on the math segment, but less than four hundred on the verbal.

Although his combined scores topped one thousand, she wanted him to increase his score on the verbal portion. It had taken two weeks for her to assess Mark’s weak reading comprehension.

“You must train your eye to recognize key words within the paragraph. She circled half a dozen words with a pencil.

Mark studied the circled words. “Is it B?”

Kelly shook her head. “You’re guessing, Mark. Take your time.”

He stared at the paragraph, exhaling audibly. “I can’t, Miss Kelly.”

“Yes, you can. If you can ace the math there’s no reason why you can’t ace the verbal as well.”

He ran his hand over his dreaded hair. “Math has always been easy for me, but I’ve always had a problem with reading.”

Kelly saw the frustration on his face. “Do you like reading?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Not much.”

“Do you read the newspaper?”

“No.”

“Well, you should. There are three newspapers delivered to the farm—
USA Today, The Washington Post
and the
Virginian-Pilot.
I want you to read one every day. Underline the words you don’t understand and look them up in the dictionary I gave you.”

He grimaced. “Do I have to?”

Kelly wanted to laugh. He sounded so much like her younger students when they sought to get out of performing a task. “Yes, you do. I’m volunteering my time to help you, Mark. The least you can do is complete your homework assignments.”

What Mark did not know was that she had sacrificed seeing Ryan during the week because she was committed to tutoring him. She wanted to see Ryan more than just Friday nights. Waking up beside him on Saturday mornings in a strange hotel was not what she had envisioned for their relationship.

If she had been employed at the farm in any position other than a teacher, she would have eagerly dated Ryan openly. But she was his son’s teacher, and for her this presented a personal conflict. She did not want Sean to know she had fallen in love with his father because she and Ryan talked about everything except a future together. He had not confessed to loving her, or she him.

And she was mature enough to know that falling in love with Ryan had nothing to do with sharing his bed. Ryan was intelligent, patient, generous and gentle despite his admission that he was once known as a brawler. He was a devoted father. He praised and encouraged Sean while setting limits for the child. Ryan took her to charming restaurants and even more charming hotels and inns for their overnight liaisons.

“I’ll read the newspapers,” Mark said, breaking into her musings.

She smiled at him. “Good. I’m going to make a list of vocabulary words for you to study. Come by tomorrow afternoon to pick it up.”

Mark smiled, his deep-set dark eyes sparkling like polished onyx. “Thanks, Miss Kelly.” Mark pushed his study manuals into a leather saddlebag, murmured a soft good night then turned and walked out of the schoolhouse.

The door closed and seconds later it opened again. Ryan stood in the doorway, staring at her. “Isn’t he a little young for you?”

Kelly felt her pulse quicken. Could it be Ryan was jealous? And for him to display jealousy, then that meant his feelings went deeper than a mere liking?

“Yes, he is. So is your son. And don’t forget the Smith twins.”

Ryan didn’t know whether to laugh in relief or kiss Kelly until she begged him to stop. It was apparent her relationship with Mark was that of teacher-student. He’d left the dining hall and was heading home when he saw the light coming from the schoolhouse. He’d told Sean to go back to Grandpa while he turned and walked to the school. He was less than twenty feet away when he saw Mark Charlesworth leaving. Maturity and his responsibility for Sean had stopped him when he thought about confronting Mark about Kelly. It was in that instant he knew he was still capable of brawling.

Walking over to wall-mounted bulletin board, he stared at the photographs and drawings depicting Blackstone Farms. “Exploring Our World” had become an enlightening experience for the five children who had lived on the farm since birth.

They’d taken photographs of the numbers tattooed under the upper lip of each horse that was used for identification purposes. They photographed Kevin Manning as he trained a horse, stable hands mucking out stalls, grooms brushing the hides of the horses to keep the coats free of eggs left by flies, men hauling bales of hay from the barn to the stables, more working to repair a fence to keep the horses from running away, and Carl Burton and his kitchen personnel.

His contribution was demonstrating preventive measures for keeping the horses healthy. They’d watched, transfixed, as he held a horse’s mouth open and checked its teeth.

He read the penciled compositions of the children who wrote about the work their parents did at the horse farm. He smiled when he read:
My daddy is very strong, my mommy works hard.

Kelly walked over to Ryan. “You were not supposed to see this until Parents’ Night.”

He stared at her under lowered lids. “And I’m not supposed to be alone with you until Friday.”

She gasped. She had forgotten to tell Ryan. “I can’t see you Friday.”

“Why not?”

“I’m going to visit my sister in D.C. We’re having a small family gathering for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.”