Chapter 5
Nona returned disappointed to the cabin she shared with Ivy. Nick hadn't been home. She was all dressed up in her best summer ensemble-a short full skirt tucked in tightly at the waist and a form-fitting white blouse. She was proud of the way the blouse hugged her bra, emphasizing the separation of her breasts.
"All dressed up and no place to go...." How many times had that happened?
She had summoned up a lot of nerve to call on Nick-to no avail. Could he be down at the beach? Should she don the daring bikini she had worn when Lucy had posed her for those girlie photos? Ivy had gone to the beach.
Curious, Nona decided to walk along the path to the lake. She liked being outdoors on a warm day. Too soon she would be back at Security Finance Company, typing letters and forms. And, although most public schools had already started, Ivy wouldn't go to her job until mid-September. She was going to teach at a special school for the mentally retarded.
She would have enjoyed the day more if she could forget what had happened to Zelda Nesbitt. Being alone, out in the timber, even in broad daylight, gave her a sense of unease.
Still, Nick was the only man in the whole neighborhood during the week, and Nona knew positively he hadn't bothered Zelda. He had been in Lucy's cabin!
It struck her suddenly that Nick wouldn't be able to say just where he had spent most of the previous evening. She hoped he wouldn't end up in a cul-de-sac over the affair with a married woman.
It occurred to Nona, also, that she could furnish an alibi for Nick-if she had to! But that would lead to more embarrassment. She would sink through the ground if she ever had to admit that she had peeked through Lucy's studio window and watched Nick caressing the eager brunette.
Surely, though, Nick was above suspicion. Some village drunk had probably been responsible. Carl Hinton looked capable. He could solve the crime ...
She reached a point in the trail where she could look down at the curve of beach. Immediately she saw a young couple and, on the right, Nick sitting beside Ivy.
Her heart gave a wrench of envy. She heard Ivy's laugh, his answering masculine tones. They were quite close, bare shoulders almost touching. Nona could tell her cousin was on the make. She was always at ease around men!
Beaten again! She thought. I'm sure I'm prettier and have a better figure than Ivy ...
She turned and walked back toward the cabin. She considered going up to the village, but she had never seen any young men there she would care to flirt with. All the local men were married, and the tourists that were left were mostly older couples.
She bit her lip, aware of an almost overpowering curiosity about Nick and Ivy. The quiet of the forest, broken only by occasional bird cries, the thickness of the cover surrounding the lake, gave her an idea.
Ivy had a good pair of binoculars.
Last night I watched, and now I want to again.
She hurried along the trail.
Ten minutes later she was back in the same place, with Ivy's field-glasses in her hands. She slipped off the main path into the brush and soon found a rise of ground that gave her a good view of the beach and the close-pressing trees.
The two young people were out in the water. Ivy and Nick still sat side by side, talking. Nona hated what she was doing, but the urge to watch and listen appeared to satisfy certain wishes in her makeup. She had known vicarious pleasures before ...
Andy was a clod. And Nick was so thoroughly masculine and appealing!
She focused the binoculars on the couple below. The powerful glasses brought them almost in Nona's lap. She believed she could come close to reading their lips.
The width of Nick's tanned shoulders, the play of muscles across his back and in his arms, sent a tremor of excitement along Nona's body. Ivy was pouring it on, all right.
The way she looked at Nick, her eyes absorbing his profile, the way she half-turned so he could watch at close range the lines of her halter-which Nona knew for certain was cleverly padded-indicated Ivy's interest.
Suddenly Nick's left arm slipped around her waist. Male hand on feminine contours ... Nona trembled.
Now their mouths joined. Nona could see the kiss so clearly she felt a momentary fright that she might be discovered. It was no light peck! Nick was putting on pressure, and Ivy's arms trailed about him, her fingers caressing the tanned nape of his neck.
Nona was sure they were tongue-kissing. And while it continued, his right hand lifted to her halter. His strong fingers pressed her mounds, first one and then the other.
Again, as when she had watched Nick and Lucy, she felt her own nipples swell and turn itchy. The binoculars wavered.
Their mouths came apart momentarily, and then they met once more. She caught a glimpse of Nick's tongue entering between Ivy's moist red lips, and they were straining together. Nick lifted her halter!
The vision of his brown hand on the soft white rounded breasts, where the sun hadn't touched, the rise of Ivy's dark-red nipples, like overripe strawberries, shook Nona deeply.
The passionate kiss eventually ended, and Ivy's lips formed words Nona couldn't hear or read. His hand remained on her breasts, possessing them. Ivy flexed her legs. She glanced toward the lake, where the young couple were still swimming, and she said something else to Nick.
He nodded.
They moved apart as Ivy adjusted her halter. They stood. They gathered up their things and walked across the white sand, toward a row of trees that hemmed the lake.
Both of them were laughing, staying close together.
Obviously they were going up into the bushes.
Nona experienced a moment of dizziness. The sway of Ivy's ample hips, more pronounced when walking in the sand, seemed to telegraph a sensual message to Nona's mind.
A breeze stirred the leaves nearby. Far away a magpie called. Nick and Ivy disappeared in the thick brush above the slope of beach.
Nona lowered the binoculars, gripped by a fierce wave of jealousy.
Oh, damn them, she thought. They're going to have all kinds of delicious sport!
She knew she should return to the cabin. She shouldn't pry any more. But she was caught up in a trend-she wanted to see the rest, if she could. She had never seen a man and woman make love. She burned with wicked inquisitiveness.
Quickly she returned to the trail and walked in the direction Nick and Ivy had taken. She kept to higher ground, where the trees were thinner and the undergrowth not quite so thick.
She found a little-used trail that ran in the course she wanted to follow. She walked quietly, stealthily. Now and then she stopped to listen, hoping she would hear them talking.
Presently her efforts were rewarded. Straight below, at the bottom of a steep wooded slope, she caught a glimpse of movement, and then her ears detected a familiar sound-Ivy's intimate laugh.
Nona glided behind a tree. When she peered out she found she could look right down into a small clearing, where Ivy was in the act of spreading her beach towel. A move to the right gave Nona an even better view.
Nona placed the field-glasses to her eyes, bracing her arm and shoulder on the rough bark of the tree. Nick dropped down beside Ivy, and almost immediately he kissed her again. His hand went to her thighs, where they wandered over the lightly-tanned flesh.
Nona shivered. She herself, had received so few, so very few touches there! Seeing Nick's hand roam, the slow widening of Ivy's legs, sent flurries of sensation through her body. He didn't rush it. He squeezed gently, working with deft sureness.
Finally he reached more intimate areas, and Ivy's hand moved toward him. Nona felt her cheeks turn hot. Her ringers grew moist on the binoculars.
This was awful-spying on two lovers! But she was held by an avid fascination. This she had missed herself, and she was glued to the spot, entranced.
Ivy sank backward on the beach towel, her hands coursing over Nick's muscular chest.
Nick lowered his head. His mouth closed around one of Ivy's erect nipples. Her hands locked in his blonde hair.
Nona's legs turned watery. She had often dreamed of a lover kissing her there, and aching tremors possessed her own breasts.
This was too much! She didn't think she could bear any more torture.
She was on the point of sinking into the grass at the base of the tree, all too keenly aware of her own arousal, when a movement in the bushes on the far slope caught her attention.
Startled, she aimed the field-glasses in a new direction. As on the higher ground where she stood, the trees were also thinner on the opposite minor ridge.
A man stood there, peering down at the lovers! His gaunt face was covered with dark stubble.
He wore a faded denim shirt and dirt-stained trousers. He certainly wasn't a part of the vacation crowd, so recently thinned.
Was this the talked-about Ridge-runner?
Nona's throat went dry. He might have killed Zelda Nesbitt, he might not have-but she could see that he was armed. A revolver was pushed into the band of his trousers.
A lewd smile touched his thick-lipped mouth. His attention held on the actions in the clearing below.
Nona didn't know what to do.
If he were simply curious, like herself, he was probably harmless. Aside from being thin and needing a shave and fresh clothes, he didn't appear actually menacing. She couldn't call him names without calling herself the same kind of person.
Still, his presence frightened her.
Should she warn Ivy and Nick?
The decision was taken out of her hands. The man drew the revolver from his trousers. Nona's mouth opened in the beginning of a scream.
But the man aimed the revolver straight up in the air.
' He fired. The report seemed much too loud, echoing through the forest, stilling the bird-cries.
Nona saw a scramble in the clearing below. Ivy snatched at her suit-top, and Nick left her, rising to his feet.
The intruder lowered his weapon and melted into the trees. In a moment he had disappeared.
Nona lowered the binoculars. She turned and headed back toward the cabin.
The strange man must be some kind of practical joker. He had shattered the mood of the lovers-and Nona was selfish enough to be glad of it!