Page 20 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

Penny gave her an incredulous look, then, still smiling but no longer laughing, threaded her hands up into Ashley's hair and pulled her down for a kiss.

CHAPTER 12

Ashley's mouth was warm and so soft, and smiling. A little surprised smile against Penny's mouth that fell away as the sweet kiss lingered. Ashley put her hands on Penny's waist, and Penny had the heady certainty that the tall woman could pick her up easily. The thought made her giggle with anticipation, and Ashley broke away, smiling at her again from up close. "Are you laughing at me?"

"I'm laughing at the idea of having such a nice tall girlfriend," Penny admitted. "I mean, sorry to escalate, but?—"

"I like escalation." Ashley's voice did that thing again where it dipped unexpectedly low, into the 'listen to her read a phone book' range again, and Penny shivered.

"I would escalate you right out of here if we both weren't working."

Ashley blinked, then straightened to stare toward the stage with a sheepish look. "Oh right. I'd almost convinced myself it would be worth my cousins' wrath if I just snuck off with you. I forgot you were playing tonight." She looked back down at Penny, unexpected shyness in her brown eyes. "There's probably some stuff I should tell you before we sneak off, anyway."

Penny waved a hand. "Ill-considered college liaisons with incredibly inappropriate people? We've all been there. A phase where you tried to convince yourself you reallywereinto boys? I?—"

"No," Ashley said firmly. "No, absolutely not. Ew."

Penny laughed. "Oh. Well, I was going to say I'm bi, so I have sympathy for the impulse, but never mind."

"I'm amazed some good-looking rock god hasn't snatched you up, then," Ashley said, sounding like she meant it.

"Eh." Penny glanced around, gestured toward a bench that had just emptied, and pulled Ashley over to curl up against her there. "The last good-looking rock god I dated was more like a rock frog. The truth is the Sixty Pix have been verging on something big for a while and guys could see it and they'd get jealous. They wanted me to be intheirband, or to just quit doing music at all and stay home and have kids. I love kids," Penny admitted wistfully. "I'd love to have them. But I'm never gonna be the one who stays at home even if I had them, and a lot of guys still really don't like that. Oooh." She made a face, hearing herself. "Wow, I'm just laying the dealbreaker topics out right from the start, aren't I?"

Ashley said, "There are no dealbreaker topics," with such soft conviction that Penny's heart flipped.

"You can't know that," Penny said weakly. "I might…I don't know. Do something really awful."

"Do you leave the toilet seat up in the middle of the night so I'll fall in?"

"No!!"

"Then we're good," Ashley said with that same determination, although she was smiling now, obviously trying to be more light-hearted. "No, I mean, of course, you're right, you could do something awful?—"

"Oh, so now you think I'm an awful person."

"Hey!" Ashley laughed. "Hey, that's not fair!"

"I know," Penny said cheerfully. "But being a not-fair dork is probably better than throwing dealbreaker topics into second dates. Sorry, I have no idea why I'm getting so intense." She did, of course. Ashley focused, dedicated, intelligent, gorgeous, funny, kind, and didn't brook fools easily, and Penny had been pretending not to nurse a crush on her for two months now. "But I like spending time with you," she added more quietly. "Even if I'm being kind of an idiot about it."

"I'm the one who was so afraid to talk to you I avoided Gwen and Bill for a week," Ashley said.

Penny sat up, jaw falling open. "What? Is that why you didn't hang out with us that first week we were in Renaissance after the gigs?" At Ashley's embarrassed nod, Penny burst into laughter and opened her arms, offering the tall woman a hug. "That's adorable," she said into Ashley's shoulder. "And makes me feel better. I thought it was me, because I knew you'd been hanging out with Gwen before I got there. Okay, subject change: I know it was my idea to sit down, but it turns out if I stop moving I'll freeze to death, so, do you dance?"

Ashley winced like it came from the bottom of her soul. "Badly."

"Excellent. Me too. Let's go join the nine dancing ladies and ten leaping lords." Somehow, the strapping young men in Renaissance-lord sorts of costumes were still managing to leap, even though quite a lot of people had joined the nine dancing ladies on the dance floor. Mostly the young men were leaping up and down, not out or across, which helped, but if Penny had tried that, she would have landed on peoples' feet.

It turned out neither of them were lying: she and Ashley werenotgood dancers, but Ashley caught Penny's hand and spun her around like a top until they were both giggling again, and then the drummers and pipers played a slower tune that let themsnuggle up together and compliment each other on how bad they were at dancing. "I'm going to have to go back in soon," Ashley said reluctantly. "I have to at least go check up on things in the pub."

"I know. No rest for the wicked. Oh no, now what?"

Someone was getting up on stage to make an announcement, and the party quieted down a bit as a cheerfully round man with fluffy white hair said, "In the spirit of the Twelve Days of Christmas theme, we considered releasing a barnyard full of birds and having an old-fashioned greased-pig style contest, but after careful consideration, we decided to accept five golden rings as prizes from various sponsors. The rings have been hidden around the venue. Put five bucks in the donation pot and join the treasure hunt!"

"I can't," Ashley said woefully. "I really have to go in."

"I'll put ten in and look for you," Penny promised. "Think you'll be able to come back out later?"

"Well, I hear the Sixty Pix are playing later tonight, and I think the drummer is hot, so yeah, I guess I'd better." Ashley smiled down at Penny, then with a regretful sigh, hurried out of the event tents and back to the main pub.

---