When the Bough Breaks Read Online Free PDF Page A

thoughts he’d not listened to what she’d been saying.
    â€˜Sorry, Kathie. I wasn’t listening, I was thinking about the sort of honeymoon I would like to have given you. Let’s do what?’
    â€˜This evening, when we’ve finished outside, let’s get the bath in front of the fire. Not big enough for both of us at the same time unless we stand up. Can’t you just imagine, you and me standing in the water, lovely and warm, the curtains closed. Now what could a honeymoon give better than that? Mr and Mrs Hawthorne taking their first dip.’
    Suddenly all his fears melted.
    â€˜Come on –’ she tugged his arm in a most unbridelike fashion – ‘race you home.’ And she was off, pushing her bike – not cheating and riding it – and reaching her goal just ahead of him, propping the bicycle against the fence and leaning, breathless, on the gate.
    â€˜I love you Kathie Hawthorne.’ At the sound of those softly spoken words her mood changed. With her lips parted she raised her mouth to his as he dumped the cases on the ground.
    She had never lived without a bathroom and the novelty of the bathing ritual excited her. He filled two buckets with water and put them on the range, then an hour or so later he carried the bath in while she rolled away the rug in case it got splashed. She soon learnt that a four-foot zinc bath was hardly the setting for the eroticism she had half imagined – for more than half imagining was beyond her. With the buckets emptied into the bath, they undressed each other, the sight of her almost Dennis’s undoing. The moment was a big step for her too, for the sight of him was evidence of what she had only half understood despite their brief encounter with desire on the afternoon he had asked her to marry him. When she had encircled his warm flesh and been secretly thrilled that she had the power to make him lose control, she hadn’t imagined what she held to be as large and erect as what she now saw as he moved towards her.
    This was a mistake, she thought. He wants us to make love, to do it, now. That’s what I want too . . . but not down here on a stone floor. The water looked temptingly steamy so she put one foot in, testing the temperature.
    â€˜Lovely. Come on, Den, hop in.’ She scooped up the tablet of soap which, having no dish, was getting soft in the water. ‘I’ll do you first.’
    They were on unknown territory, more exciting than anything they had dreamed. They rubbed the tablet of soap in their hands, and then lathered each other, not once but over and over until their hands slid over the surface of their skin. Even though they were still standing, the burning coals in the range kept them warm.
    Reaching to where Kathie had put towels on the table, Den wrapped one loosely around her as without a word he stepped out of the bath and pulled the kitchen chair close. Then sitting on it he held out his arms.
    â€˜Face me,’ he whispered, drawing her down to him. Following instinct, she sat astride him. She left dizzy with emotion, there was nothing but
this
, her damp body pressed close to his. Secretly they had both been frightened of failure, but now she knew exactly what she had to do as she guided him then lowered herself so that he penetrated deep into her. She had wondered and imagined, she had explored with a slender finger, expecting that when the moment came that would be what she would feel. But she hadn’t been prepared for
this.
    â€˜You’re deep inside me. It’s as if you fill me. Deeper, Den, harder.’ As she whispered, so she moved on him, lifting his hand so that his fingers caressed her telltale raised nipple. She had never known a feeling like this: joy beyond anything she had dreamed and yet she yearned for an elusive something that stayed just out of reach as with a stifled cry his climax came. In her innocence she didn’t know how near she had come to