Whitewater Rendezvous

any nookie tonight.” Linda tried to sound annoyed, but Chaz could see she was pretending.

Nookie in the next tent. Not that it hadn’t happened before on trips; she and Sally sometimes had a hard time stifl ing their laughter over what they overheard a few feet away. Growing up in a commune, Chaz had thought she’d heard it all when it came to sounds made during sex.

But apparently “doing it” in the wilds of Alaska brought out the beast in some people. They’d had clients growl, and snort, and howl, and one guy even yodeled a little. But they’d never overheard two women making love. Thinking about it sent an unexpected ripple of arousal through her.

“I think it’s hysterical that you have no qualms at all about jumping out of an airplane or going into a war zone, but a tiny spider gets you all unnerved. I didn’t think you were afraid of anything.” Pat sat down near Chaz and leaned back against a large boulder. When she reached up and took Linda’s hand, Linda allowed herself to be drawn down into the cradle of Pat’s arms.

“So what else is Sally going to pull on us, hmm?” Linda asked, as she settled comfortably between Pat’s legs and reclined back against her lover’s chest. Pat ran her hands slowly through Linda’s curly brown hair, and Linda closed her eyes and groaned in approval.

“She’d kill me if I told you all her tricks,” Chaz responded with a smile, as she made up a rub of fresh tarragon, thyme, and garlic for the night’s main course.

“Anything we can do to help with dinner?” Linda offered.

“Got it covered, thanks. So how do you like everything so far?”

“Amazing place you’ve got here,” Linda said. “Breathtaking.”

“I’ll second that. We’re already planning to come back. Do you live in Alaska?” Pat asked.

“Yes. Outside Fairbanks,” Chaz answered.

Elise joined them, taking a seat on a rock next to Chaz. “And what do you do in Fairbanks?”

“Teach,” Chaz said.

“A teacher? Ah, beautiful and brainy,” Elise remarked.

“You know, you really are incorrigible.” Chaz couldn’t help but be a bit fl attered by the attention, even if she would never in a million years consider a liaison with Elise. The woman certainly was attractive, though.

• 77 •

KIM BALDWIN

“That’s what they tell me.” Elise reached over to steal a dried cranberry from a small bowl at Chaz’s feet. “So, what’s on the menu for tonight, mademoiselle chef?”

“Grilled pork tenderloin with an herb rub, served with a cranberry rice pilaf and Caesar salad,” Chaz replied. “And for dessert, chocolate cake with bourbon chocolate sauce.”

Pat whistled approvingly.

“This sure isn’t roughing it.” Elise stole another cranberry. “I kind of expected hot dogs or something.”

“The menu is courtesy of my son, Nathan,” Sally told them as she ambled up, the others not far behind. “He’s a sous chef at the moment, but hoping to get his own restaurant soon.”

“I’m so glad not to have to be the one cooking for a change that I’d be happy with absolutely anything,” Yancey said, setting up a small portable camp chair.

“I could eat cardboard with this view,” Justine agreed. “The light is so wonderful here. It seems altogether different than in Chicago.”

Linda smiled. “I noticed that, too. It’s got this soft glow to it. Kind of…ethereal.”

“Very romantic, I think,” Pat said, nuzzling Linda’s neck.

“You two fi nd everything romantic,” Megan groaned. “It’s the angle of the sun, that’s all.”

“Come on, Megan. You don’t fi nd this to be the most romantic setting on earth? Are you blind?” Linda looked disbelieving. “Surely you haven’t been cooped up in that offi ce so long that you’re not appreciating all this?”

“It’s great, it’s great,” Megan hastily agreed. “I’m only saying that when you’re newly in lust, like you two, everywhere is paradise.”

“ Love, Megan,” Pat corrected her with only a gentle hint of reproach. “Newly in love, though I’ll readily admit that my whole world and everything in it got brighter when I met Linda.”

Pat hugged Linda tightly to her as she spoke. At the look of such pure bliss and devotion that passed between them, Chaz felt a momentary pang of envy over the glimpse of what she might be missing.

She glanced at Megan. You sound like such a cynic about love. Why isthat? And why does it seem to matter to me?

She kept trying to tell herself that she was imagining things. But by the time they fi nished cleaning up the supper dishes, Chaz was

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