Harkett's Haven by Ally Forbes Read Free Book Online

and tired. He stroked her hair gently, his expression sombre watching her intently.
    ‘How did it go?’ she whispered.
    ‘We got the boy comfortable and managed to get him to hospital.....not the easiest to do in this weather. Helicopter couldn’t fly in this so we had to wait for the ambulance. The boy’ll be OK.’
    She stretched her hand out and touched his jaw and he pressed his face into her outstretched hand, closing his eyes.
    ‘Esme’s fast asleep upstairs. She was very tired and ....upset.... about her mum.’
    He grimaced, the pain he felt running visibly across his face.
    ‘Did she tell you what happened?
    ‘She was desperate to tell me that it wasn’t your fault.’
    He closed his eyes as if the pain of his words required him to shut out the rest of the world.
    ‘I left Sarah and... she took her life’
    ‘God Eric .....’
    She gazed at his strong, handsome face and felt something of the pain that Esme and Eric must have experienced these last few years.
    ‘We were very unhappy ....Sarah had been battling alcohol for years.’
    Rachel let him talk without interruption. He seemed to want to talk and unburden himself. 
    ‘Sarah’s drinking started slowly, gradually and then secretly. I should have seen the signs earlier....I’m a bloody doctor.’ He spoke softly, his fingers still stroking her/spstrokin hair.
    ‘I worked long hours then and it was the small things that Esme told me that first got me wondering. Missed meals, days off school for no reason and then her memory lapses and the lies.....’
    Rachel put her hand over his as he touched her, wanting to comfort him.
    ‘It was when she hit Esme that I decided that we had to leave. I rented a place in the country and told Sarah that we wouldn’t be back until she got herself cleaned up.’
    ‘Eric, you don’t have to say any more.’
    She bent over to kiss him, a gently soft touch but he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately, needfully.
    He slipped his hand inside her shirt and cupped her full breast. He moaned softly. Rachel felt on one level that this was wrong but also that giving herself to him was offering him some level of comfort.
    She let him touch her, his fingers pressing her nipple through her lace bra. Pulling her shirt aside, he kissed her though the fabric.
    ‘Eric, Esme’s upstairs. We don’t have the privacy here.’
    ‘Is there anywhere we can go?’ His voice betrayed his urgency of desire.
    ‘The bathroom has a lock.’
    He stood and grabbed a couple of rugs from the back of the sofa, threw them over his shoulder and scooped Rachel off the sofa and into his arms.
    ‘God Eric, we shouldn’t be doing this.’
    ‘Yes we should.’ He was serious almost fevered.
    Pushing open the bathroom door with a light tap of his foot, he threw down the rugs and placed Rachel gently on them. He turned and locked the door. Rachel propped herself up on her elbows watching him questioningly, wondering what he was going to do next. The bathroom was spacious for a cottage this size, converted from the old wash house that used to be in the small single storied extension they were now in. There was a large roll top bath, separate shower, basin and toilet. The lighting was soft – Rachel had deliberately avoided the harsh spot lights and had opted for soft tone wall lights which she found more soothing when taking a long hot bath.
    He l ay out on the floor next to her, his eyes savouring the contours of her body as she lay beside him. His movements were slow and deliberate. He traced a finger down her neck and over the upper slope of her breasts and then to the buttons on her shirt which he deftly undid with one hand.
    Pulling her into him he kissed her passionately, deeply, his fingers searching for the clasp on her bra and releasing her full breasts.
    He kissed her neck and trailed his tongue down her cleavage until he found her nipple. He sucked her almost painfully.
    Rachel arched her back and moaned.
    He licked from one