Page 58 of London
“That, my love, is a cock.”
She raised an eyebrow and glanced at his lap.
“Uh-uh. I’ve seen one of those, and it doesn’t make any sound.”
Gerard collapsed onto his back, pulling her down on him.
“You have a dirty little mind, my love. I wasn’t referring tothatkind of cock. I was talking about those you roast, broil, or fry—the kind you find in the supermarket.”
“That horrible noise comes from a future Sunday dinner? I have to see the monster.”
Pushing herself off him, she went to the window, opened it, and stuck her head outside.
In the neighbors’ yard, she gaped at the army of domesticated fowl. Chickens shoved one another away and pecked at each other’s feet, fighting over the grain spread around for them. Proudly standing on the coop’s roof, the leader of the poultry harem supervised them. While she’d rarely seen a rooster, this one was truly impressive. His comb and wattles were a vivid red, his head and hackles were a golden color while his fat breast and thighs as well as his tail feathers were a dark electric green. He flapped his wings, a motley mix of his various colors and landed near the hens. He was certainly a handsome specimen with a remarkable set of lungs. He strutted over to a large, ugly redheaded, flabby-necked turkey who joined him in song. Between the rooster’s singing and clucking and the turkey’s gobble-gobbling, it was hard to decide which one was more vocal.
Linda’s eardrums were under attack.
“Vegetarianism doesn’t sound half bad right now,” she said, stifling a yawn.
“It’s okay. The concert will end soon,” Gerard said. “Come back here.”
She left the window open to let in the fresh air, got back into the bed, and curled up against Gerard. Last night’s nightmare had left her shaky, wanting to soothe whatever pain he’d buried in his subconscious and make it vanish.
She studied his face. He was unshaven, with dark circles under his eyes, something she probably had as well. Yesterday had been a long, tiring day, no doubt the reason his self-defense mechanism hadn’t stopped the nightmare. That was a phenomenon she understood all too well. She leaned over to kiss him.
Gerard smiled, returned her light kiss, before turning her away from him and drawing her body into his in a spoon-like fashion. He slid his hands under her nightshirt.
She luxuriated in his touch, arching her back to get closer to him, while pushing her breasts against his busy hands. He was hard against her buttocks, and she licked her lips in anticipation.
Unfortunately, a loud creak from the bathroom door ruined the moment. The damn rooster must have awakened Jean-Paul and Mariana, too. Gerard growled in frustration, his breath hot against the back of her head. Grumbling, he let out a long, suffering sigh, before kissing her swiftly.
He drew away from her and got to his feet.
“Sadly,ma chérie, duty calls. I promised Jean-Paul I would do morning rounds with him and examine some of his patients. We’ll finish this later, I promise.”
Linda pouted but pulled down her nightshirt to cover herself.
“It’s early. Why don’t you try to get some more sleep?” Gerard suggested. “The barnyard choir seems to have stopped. I’m going to take a shower.”
He grabbed a pair of faded jeans from the armoire and pulled them on over his boxers. He had a hard time buttoning them.
Watching him struggle with the fly, Linda smiled and bit her lower lip cheekily.
“Are you sure you can’t stay five more minutes?”
She stretched her leg to caress his abdomen with the sole of her foot.
His eyes narrowed and his stomach muscles fluttered, but he shook his head, and donned a white shirt.
“What I want to do to you will take a lot more than five minutes.” He bent his head and gave her a quick kiss. “Try to get some sleep.”
“It’s rude of me to sleep when everyone else is awake,” she protested weakly, but pulled the sheet over her once more.
Since the bathroom would be busy for the next while, she might as well get a little more rest. Sleep claimed her as her head sunk into the fluffy lavender-scented pillow.
When Linda woke a second time, she looked around in confusion. Panic gripped her momentarily before she remembered where she was. Although she enjoyed traveling, she wasn’t crazy about sleeping in unfamiliar places. And, while she was used to sleeping alone, she didn’t like waking up alone after spending the night with someone.
When she and Tony had been married, she’d gotten used to waking up alone in their huge bed, sometimes even in the middle of the night. Curious, she would go searching for him and would find him downstairs, working, or talking on the phone with overseas business associates—or so he said. In the last months, he hadn’t even been in the house. She never knew where he went, but it was during those long, lonely nights that she realized she hadn’t really cared.
