Piers Anthony & Jo Anne Taeusc - The Secret of Spring

VIP免费

2024-12-20 0 0 2.78MB 232 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

A Tom Doherty Associates Book New York This is a work of fiction. All the characters and

events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

THE SECRET OF SPRING

including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010 www.tor.com Tor is a registered trademark of Tom

Doherty Associates, LLC.

Design by Lisa Pifher ISBN 0-312-86464-7

First Edition: March 2000

Printed in the United States of America 0987654821

This book is dedicated to the memory of my Mother, who loved life,

laughter, and me.

-J. T.

Contents

1 Playmate

2 Secret

3 Sharing

4 Gabriel's Trump

5 Palli Parlour

6 New Moon

7 A Tangled Vine

8 Kamalot

9 Discovery

10 Unsuitable Suitor

11 Down the Hatch

12 The Visitor

13 Lies

14 And More Lies

15 Double Trouble

16 Lady Be Cool

17 Fast Friends

18 Ant We Got Fun

19 Time and Again

20 Snow Job

21 Inner Struggle/Outer Bruises

22 Jasmine's Castle

23 Child's Play

24 Zygote

25 Truths

26 Secrets

AUTHORS' NOTES

The Secret of

Spring

Wiping the perspiration from his brow, Herb Moss looked with admiration

at Holly, the beautiful, fresh green Veganette resting next to him. She was

a busty blossom, with luscious strawberry lips and long, thick emerald hair

that fell enticingly to her hips. It had been tied up out of the way for

greater freedom of movement, but the ribbons had worked loose with

exertion. Now she was busy knotting a tighter bow. Finishing up the small

task, she whirled around to grace Herb with a winning smile. His heart

pounded faster at the flash of even white teeth.

Infertile pollination? Was that all life meant to him? And yet, why else

had he travelled to this remote and expensive resort? It had seemed like a

good idea at the time, but like so many of his spontaneous decisions, it had

resulted in much less than he had anticipated. Herb knew he wasn't above

a little discreet Ip, given the improper circumstances. And Holly was more

than another attractive girl, she was quite a woman.

Her soft voice brought him back to reality. "Let's do it again!" she said

breathlessly.

"Again?!" he protested. "Wasn't five times enough?"

"Oh, I know! But, you are so good, Herbie! The best! Why, I've never

known anyone like you before!"

Herb flushed at the generous praise; he couldn't deny he was flattered,

but a man could only go on for so long.

He hedged. "Thank you, Holly. But aren't you feeling a little bushed?" He

hoped!

"Me? Oh, no! I could go on like this all day! Just try me!"

Herb's hopes of an honorable out wilted in the hot afternoon sun. He

sighed audibly.

This was Holly's signal to wheedle. She put her arms around his neck,

heedless of the fine view of her bust this afforded Herb. Herb was not

heedless. He heeded for all he was worth.

"Please Herbie," she said with the sweet pout her lips formed with such

expertise. Her fresh breath tickled his ear, and his firm resolve melted

down to a watery puddle that seemed to form in his knees. It was all over.

"You win," he said weakly. "But this is the last time today-or at least until

after lunch." He braced himself. "Take your position!"

Holly squealed with girlish glee and scampered to the other side of the

nets to retrieve her stringed bat. "My serve!" she called gaily, giving the

small yellow ball a swat. It bounced neatly up and across to meet Herb's

bat for a quick return. Their sixth match of the day was on.

Holly was one of several playmates Herb had met since coming to the

city of Avocado for an extended vacation. Elite Club Algae was a small

resort spa by Sea Weed for the idle, rich, and bored of this part of P#23.

Herb added "the confused" for his category, for now that he was here, he

hardly knew why.

The club had been touted in the colorful brochure as a hot bed for

singles, but the actual selection, in his opinion, left much to be desired.

First there was Rosy, who had attached herself to him the first day he

arrived. While she was a sweet, friendly girl with a pretty face, she also

happened to be there for the serious purpose of dropping over a hundred

and fifty pounds at the exclusive spa. Clearly, too much woman for him.

Then, there was the dark exotic Flora, a winsome widow, who kept

dropping hints of Ip. Tempting, yet he had the uncomfortable feeling that

she regarded the resort as a shopping center for husband number four. Or

was it five? And what had happened to the other three anyway? There was

covert talk of poison ivy. Probably just pool gossip, but why take chances?

True, she was mysteriously attractive, yet there was something in her eyes

when she looked at him. Something unsavory that reminded him of the

hungry glance of a big garden spider patiently awaiting the right moment to

pounce.

Most of the others he had met had been the usual garden-variety types

one would expect to meet at a singles resort. Just pretty, pleasant girls,

hoping to meet a cute boy they could take back home to meet their

parents. They claimed to be there for the moment, for a good time, but

Herb was not deceived. He had seen that look before, on girls at home. On

the face of one girl in particular. Those girls were just like her. Herb was

getting thoroughly disgusted with his big adventure. If he had wanted a

"nice" girl, he would have stayed at home and dated Lily.

He had left to find more. Whatever that was. Since his arrival a couple of

weeks ago the wildest thing he had swung with had been a gourd club on

the neatly mown greens. Holly had been the most promising of the group.

Had been. Just his luck, that she had turned out to be a ten nets nut.

These daily marathon matches had to stop! By the time he satisfied her

insatiable lust for the silly game he was too tired for more pleasurable

recreation. A thing like that could stunt a man's growth.

He had Ip with Holly only once after a long, romantic boat cruise

beneath the misty tri-moons, and that had been almost a week before.

They had stopped into the Algae Bar afterward where she had quaffed

down more than a few drinks of distilled water before Herb had noticed the

effect they were having on her. Oh, they looked harmless enough with their

carrot sticks and little umbrella trees, but cumulatively they packed quite a

punch.

By the time he realized what was happening, Holly was wilted. Like the

gentleman he was, he had guided her back to her own bungalow and put

her to bed with every intention of fading quietly away until morning.

Holly, however, had different ideas. Unused to strong drink, she

implored Herb to remain until she fell asleep, but somehow she never did,

and eventually nature took a fascinating course. Herb felt only mild guilt,

which had soon faded to a fond memory, and progressed to outright lust as

he looked forward to more of her company. Not letting any grass grow

under his feet, he called the next morning. They met for a game of ten

nets, and his beauty turned into a back-hand beast. There had been,

regrettably, no rematch of their night game.

Herb had come to the end of his rope, deciding to give it just one more

day. If there were no improvements, he planned to push on down the coast

and catch the Party Grass Festival at New Oleanders. There should be

profusions of wild flowers there.

A ball whizzed by his ear, as his bat swished impotently in the air. "I

win!" Holly exclaimed triumphantly, crisscrossing through the nets toward

him. "Got that one right past you!" Then she frowned slightly. "Oh, you

didn't let me win, just to be a gentleman, did you? I want a rematch!"

"Blight, no," Herb muttered, thinking how tired of the stupid game he

was, in more than one way. "I mean, of course I wouldn't do that, Holly.

You won because you're a good player, that's all."

And because his mind had wandered. She was enthusiastic, but he had

all the moves; a pity, considering that she cared more about it than he did.

Looking at her bosom heaving from the combination of happiness and

exertion, he was glad she was the winner. Herb watched that lovely

structure quiver beneath the thin material of her ten nets suit as she

continued to bask in the glory of her victory.

"That's what I love about playing with you, Herb. You are a real natural

at this game, and I knew if I could beat you, I would really have

accomplished something. So I said to myself, 'Holly, you are going to play

until you win, or drop.' "

Herb cursed silently. That was all it would have taken? He would gladly

have thrown the match long before if only he'd known.

But no, his male ego sprang up like an ugly weed, and what had

happened? Nothing, that's what. How was he to know she hadn't expected

him to win all the time to impress her? She was always going on about how

great he was. Women. Did they never mean what they said?

Herb looked into her beaming eyes and felt a tinge of guilt. After all,

men didn't always mean what they said either. Hadn't he been the one to

say how he loved ten nets, while in reality he wanted to play a more

intimate game?

"Congratulations," he said wearily. "How about that lunch now? Nice cool

melon?"

Holly ventured a coy smile, lowering her long green lashes. "Are you

really hungry, Herb? I'm still so excited over winning the game, and hot,

too!" She stroked a manicured hand across her bust line. "Before lunch,

wouldn't you like to relax? Come back to my bungalow for a nice shower?"

A cold shower would be in order at the moment, Herb thought. What

was going on now? He was beginning to warm up from more than the

game.

"On second thought, no shower. Why don't we make use of that hot

tub? I'm paying enough extra for it. It's cozy, but roomy enough for two,"

she said huskily.

Herb decided that the Party Grass Festival could wait another day.

Maybe two.

Indeed, things finally were going right. This time Holly wasn't intoxicated

on distilled water, but she was actually more ardent. The excitement of the

ball game translated nicely into enthusiasm for the bedroom game as

played in hot water, and Holly was a real delight.

"Too bad we didn't think to do this sooner," she murmured. "It's even

more fun than balling!"

Herb didn't answer. His sentiments about timing were mixed. If only he

had caught on to the key days ago...

Later that evening, Herb Moss was a mildly contented being. He'd

reluctantly put Holly aboard the last transporter home. Her vacation was

over, but she had left him with at least two nice memories.

There was nothing more for him at the resort, however. The time had

come for him to move on. But not to the Party Grass Festival. Whatever he

had been searching for was definitely not to be found in yet more places

like Club Algae. The interlude with Holly had been fun, but he still wanted

the elusive "more." It was time to go home.

Snuggling down within the cool cotton sheeting, he drifted off to sleep

with dreams of ten nets that were more like hot tubs, and a most

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

12ATomDohertyAssociatesBookNewYorkThisisaworkoffiction.Allthecharactersandeventsportrayedinthisnovelareeitherfictitiousorareusedfictitiously.THESECRETOFSPRINGCopyright©2000byPiersAnthonyJacobandJoAnneTaeuschAllrightsreserved,includingtherighttoreproducethisbook,orportionsthereof,inanyform.Thisbookis...

展开>> 收起<<

Piers Anthony & Jo Anne Taeusc - The Secret of Spring.pdf

共232页,预览47页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

Piers Anthony & Jo Anne Taeusc - The Secret of Spring

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: