Close Encounter with a Crumpet Read Online Free PDF Page A

consequences.”
    The chill in the night air might have been responsible for the quiver along her spine, but Gill didn’t feel the least bit cold when she and Simon started along the path across the square. He led her into a secluded nook surrounded by rhododendrons and showered by moonlight.
    “I wanted to kiss you the first time I saw you. Something about that sweet, round lower lip just begs for kissing.” Simon’s own lips were warm, gentle against hers, but a hint of fire lingered as he drew back. Gill touched two fingers to the dimple at the corner of his mouth.
    “I’d forgotten…”
    “No, not forgotten, darlin’ Gill, just put aside.” He drew her to him, held her, until her cheek crushed the nap of his sweater. She could barely contain the trembling need flooding her, turning her very bones to paste. Gill steadied herself to look up at him. Moonlight silvered his fair hair, leaving his face in shadow, but she heard his sharp, shallow breath.
    His kiss claimed her again, and she held on to the only steady thing in a world suddenly spinning around her, Simon’s solid presence. His arms wrapped her closer, molded her to him, and she rejoiced in his unyielding embrace. His tongue teased the seam of her lips, and she could no more deny his entry than she could stop the moon’s silver sheen.
    “You taste of strawberries and starlight,” he murmured against her hair, his breath sending a delicious frisson over her skin. Two fingers traced the edge of her sweater. The tight fabric of her jeans did little to fade the heat of his touch. She yielded to the impulse and leaned into the stroke. “And I think you’ve been too long without the attention of a man to bring you pleasure. You’ve a sweetness to spill for the right man. I’m your man, Gill, and well you know it.”
    In her reeling senses, his whispered words were the only reality. He was her man; she knew it with every fiber of her being. “My darlin’ girl, time isn’t on our side right now, though we’ll take what bit of loving the moment gives.” His lips grazed hers again. With a hunger she would have sworn she didn’t remember, she slipped into his arms, holding herself out to him, open to his touch, his taste, his will. Lost in time, Gill knew no reality beyond Simon’s embrace. Two hearts beating in rhythm shut out the world around them. She wanted nothing more than this moment.
    At last Simon brushed her tumbled hair back from her face. “I think we’ve drawn some attention, darlin’, from the constable over there. We should move a bit.”
    Tucked against Simon, hearing only the faint brush of leaves and the whisper of traffic in the distance, Gill let him guide her along the path. She was barely aware of their movement, much less of observers along the way.
    “There’s a bench just there.” He led her to a small side path and drew her down to the seat beside him. With both arms around her, he held her close, her head heavy against his shoulder. A drowsy sense of contentment filled her.
    “I should think about getting back to the hotel sometime,” she murmured, but no conviction filled the words.
    “Come in at this hour? With your hair mussed and lipstick smeared? What would be the point in that? The grannies have swiped a scarlet paint brush over your reputation and declared you a fallen woman by now. The sun will be up in another hour. Plenty of time to face them then.”
    In a haze of complete serenity, Gill gave a dreamy nod and left her head against his jacket. “Mmmm, you’re right. I’ll think about them later.”
    “Later. Right now I claim all your thoughts.” He tilted her face up for another kiss. “It’s happened for us, hasn’t it, Gilly? That silly thing the poets call love. Don’t know why or how, or what we’re going to do about it, but there it is.”
    “Love, that funny little thing.” Her head, like a drooping poppy, returned to his shoulder. “Love. Pops up when there’s no practical way to deal