***

The following day seemed to drag. To her amusement Jerry's teddy arrived FedEx overnight express. It was a size sixteen, and the right color. But she had caught up with all her paperwork, and the shop was busy all morning and then slow all afternoon. But people kept stopping and looking in the windows, the men thoughtful, the women giggling and poking one another.


"We ought to start thinking about the Halloween windows," Nina said.

"We'll do a variation on the usual," Ashley told her. "I found some really fabulous carnival masks, the kind you might see in New Orleans or Rio or in Cannes. I want you to look through all the new stock and pick out the sexiest black outfits we've got. The naughtier the better. I'll be watching the farm stands for the perfect pumpkins. I'm going into town next week for a few days. The contractor says the new shops are ready. Do you mind holding down the fort while I'm gone?"

"What about staffing for the new places?" Nina wondered.

"I'll be doing that. Any suggestions?"

"I've got a friend in the city who was just retired from the garment biz. She'd been with this company for thirty years, but the boss, an old fart himself, got talked into hiring a younger woman by his son. It's a mistake, but Suzette is really too young to retire. She's only mid-fifties. She would make a great manager for the city store," Nina said. "If you're interested I'll call her, and you can meet next week."

"Yes, please call her," Ashley said. "She sounds ideal, if she would be interested. Tell her I'll pay health insurance and contribute to a retirement savings for her, as well as her salary. She and I can negotiate that."

Nina nodded.

"Ryan's coming home tonight, so I'll leave you to close the shop," Ashley said.

"Sounds like you'll be glad to see him." Nina chuckled.

"Yeah, I will. Say, how did Cesar Romero go?" she asked the older woman.

"Didn't live up to his promise, I'm afraid," Nina said dryly as she waved her boss off with a grin. "It was like I knew him, but I didn't know him. It got uncomfortable."


"Be more daring," Ashley suggested, waving back. She was surprised to find Ryan home when she got there. Entering the house, she smelled roast beef cooking. Running upstairs to their bedroom suite she found him just coming out of his shower. "You came early!" she said happily.

"Mrs. B. says dinner won't be served until seven. Get out of your clothes, baby, and go fetch that measuring tape," he said. "You're home early too, and we have time for a nice leisurely fuck. I almost had an accident getting off the parkway thinking about you," Ryan told her.

Ashley giggled. "And just what were you thinking?" she asked him teasingly.

"Putting you on your back," he said predictably as he began to unbutton her shirt. He pushed it off her shoulders and, reaching out, unhooked her bra. Her breasts spilled out. "Hello, girls," he purred, tweaking each nipple. Then his hands clasped about her waist, and he lifted her up onto a small footstool. Unzipping her slacks, he pulled them down. Leaning forward, he began to lap at her nipples with his tongue as she kicked off her leather loafers and the pants at her feet. His hand reached out to cup her through her briefs, while his other hand held a breast so he might suckle on it.

She pressed herself against his palm, rubbing her pussy against him. "You're making me hot," she said softly.

In response he lifted her out of the pants around her ankles. "Go get the tape," he told her.

Ashley complied, taking the tape from her little wicker sewing basket and returning to stand before him. "It doesn't look like eleven inches right now," she said.

"That's because you haven't done your wifely duty," he told her. "I want you to suck me to a stand, baby. Then we'll measure."

Ashley slipped to her knees, and, taking his cock in her hand, she brought him to her open mouth. Her tongue slowly licked around the tip of him while her other hand slid beneath him to cup his balls in her hand, rolling them about her palm. She smiled at his intake of breath. Then she took him into her mouth and sucked hard. "Ummmm," Ashley murmured. She felt his big hand kneading her head as she sucked him sweetly. He was easily aroused, and shortly his cock was stretching her cheeks. She released him. "Time to face the truth. Are you in truth eleven inches long or have you begun to shrink with age?" she teased him wickedly as she picked up her tape, unrolling it from root to tip.

"Well?" he said, holding back his laughter.

"Wow! Eleven and a quarter inches, Ryan."

"Now measure around," he said.

"Ryan!" Damn! She felt her cheeks growing red, but she drew the tape about his cock, eyes widening as she saw the measurement.

"Well?" he growled.

"Two inches even," she squeaked, dropping the tape as his hands began to fondle her buttocks.

"And you are going to take every single inch of it, woman," he told her, and, pulling her close, he met her mouth with his in a scorching kiss. Their tongues intertwined in a leisurely dance. "Tell me you want it now," he murmured in her ear.

"Oh, yes," Ashley breathed. This was the perfect end to the last several days.

"You want me to put it in you, baby, don't you?" he teased her.

"Yes! Put that big cock of yours into my hot, wet pussy and fuck me senseless," she said, sliding her arms about his neck. "I want it, Ryan! I want it now!" She rubbed herself against him. Their naked bodies were heated. "Do it to me! Please!"

He didn't bother going to their bed. He sat down in the wing chair by the fireplace, pulling her with him. Ashley straddled him, and then slowly, slowly she impaled herself on his long, thick rod, sighing as she took it all inside her eager cunt. His hands reached up to grab her breasts, pinching the nipples, his eyes closed, his face blissful as the walls of her vagina enclosed him.

Oh, God, he felt good inside of her. Ashley sighed with pleasure as his length and width plumbed her heated depths. He actually throbbed within her. She rode him gently, at first moving from a walk to a jogging trot to a graceful canter, and finally into a frenzied gallop. His cock touched her G-spot, rubbing it, and she screamed softly with delight. "Oh, Ryan," she half sobbed, "this is so damned good! I'm going to come! I can't help it!" She felt the soft quivers as her climax began to rise up and roll over her.

He groaned, and his cock stiffened, then shuddered as his juices exploded, filling her, running down her thighs and into his pubic hair. "God, Ash! You are incredible!" He pulled her down and kissed her passionately, his fingers threading through her short dark hair.

She lay atop him for several minutes, breathing raggedly, feeling as limp as a rag doll. She had never had sex like this with anyone. Even the always-horny Chandler Wayne. But sex wasn't love. Wasn't a lifetime commitment. But it was becoming more for her than just that, Ashley realized. She was falling in love with him. It wasn't too soon. People fell in love at first sight, didn't they? But how did he feel? She was pretty good at reading people, but while she knew he liked her, she couldn't tell if it was more.

He held her close, feeling her heart beating in time with his. This was so right. Ashley. Kimbrough Hall. Coming home to her. If it got any more perfect he was going to think that he had died and gone to heaven. Just one thing was missing: He wanted kids. Did she want children too? Could he stay married to her if she didn't? Hell, wasn't that why the old man had put that damned clause in his will? He wanted Mulcahy grandchildren to carry on the name. And suddenly Ryan realized that so did he. So the apple didn't fall far from the tree after all, he thought wryly. He kissed the top of her head. "Maybe we ought to think about getting up?" he said.

"I know," she said, and straightened up. "But we have time. We'll have to shower before we get dressed and go down."

"Yeah," he grinned, waggling his eyebrows at her. "Let's shower."

Ashley laughed. "Oh, no," she said. "You'll go to your bathroom and I'll go to mine, darling. That way we'll get down to dinner on time, and Mrs. B.'s roast won't get overdone. Grandfather always said you don't want to shock the help or be late to the table, even if they are your friends. We'll probably eat out on the porch. It's still warm enough." She slipped off of his lap and headed for her bathroom.

He watched her go, appreciating her prettily rounded buttocks. She had a really nice butt, he thought to himself. Most of the women he had slept with looked great in their clothing, but not as good out of it. They had small breasts and virtually no butts. Ashley looked great both in and out of her clothing. He hauled himself out of the chair and headed for his own bathroom. Wild sex in an antique wing chair, he thought with a grin. Now there was something new for him.

Ashley wore a colorful cotton kaftan down to dinner. Taking his lead from her, Ryan had put on a pair of jeans and a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. They were both barefooted.

"You don't mind if we're casual at dinner, do you?" she asked him. "Grandfather always wanted us to be formal, but after a long day at the shop I'm happy to be clean and comfortable." She dug into her salad.

"We can be formal when we entertain," he replied. "I like this."

"I have to be in town next week. The contractor is finished, or says he's finished, with both the shop there and at the mall. Could I stay at your apartment?"

"The bed is big enough for both of us," he said, smiling. "The place is small, though. I've never needed a big place, and I don't entertain there. Can I come with you when you see your contractor? I may not be the artisan my dad was, but I know good work."

Her first reaction was to be offended. Did he think she was some ditsy little idiot who didn't know if the contractor was stiffing her? But then, she thought, the truth was that she had never dealt with anyone outside of Egret Pointe until now. Oh, the contractor had come highly recommended, but still, it couldn't hurt to have an expert eye checking everything out. "I would appreciate it," she told him. "I know my own merchandise, but a new shop is a whole other thing. And it's got to be right. I want those stores open by the first week in November. Getting established in a new location for the Christmas trade is very important to my bottom line. But can you spare the time?"

"I can always spare the time for you," he said quietly. He had seen her hesitation, and it hadn't been difficult to imagine what she had been thinking when he made his offer. He was impressed that she had been able to swallow her pride and accept his help. It said a lot about Ashley's character, and the more he saw and learned, the more he realized that he honestly did like her. His mother had always said you should like the person you married as well as love them, because when the passion cooled you would have a best friend as well as a lover. He smiled, thinking his mother was a wise lady.


"Why are you smiling?" she asked him.

"I was thinking about something Ma always said. And I've just discovered that she's right." Then he told her.

"And that made you smile because…?"

Byrnes cleared the salad plates from the table.

"Because I realize that what began for us a few months ago as one thing is, at least for me, morphing into something entirely different," Ryan said softly. And his brown eyes engaged her green ones.

Ashley felt a warm wave of pleasure sweep over her. "For me too," she admitted, ignoring the blush spreading over her cheeks. It had become a fact of life: Ryan Finbar Mulcahy could make her blush.

"I don't want to pressure you into something you don't feel," he continued.

"I didn't say anything because I didn't want to push you either," Ashley replied.

"Then if I said I loved you it wouldn't send you screaming into the night?" His handsome, sexy face was suddenly boyish and hopeful.

"No." Her voice was practically a whisper. "And if I said I loved you, would you feel as if I had trapped you into a corner?" Her beautiful face held an anxious look.

"No, I wouldn't. I'd like to be in a corner with you," he told her. "Putting you right up against the wall, and-" He stopped as Byrnes set a plate before him.

The butler's face was totally impassive, and Ryan might have believed he was both deaf and dumb except that his ears were turning quite a bright red. But without a word the dignified Mr. Byrnes turned and made his way from the porch with his usual grace and decorum.