“Jesus,” Nancy muttered, draining her glass, “that sounds good to me.”

“Fuck you!” Kyle said angrily, trying to extricate herself from the chair. Her long legs got tangled in the webbing as she tried unsteadily to rise. Suddenly, they were both toppled to the floor, the chair overturned on top of them. Nancy ended up between Kyle’s legs, her wineglass still held high in one hand, unspilled. She laughed delightedly and wrapped her free arm around Kyle’s thigh. “You’re drunk, Kyle.”

“Am not,” Kyle replied as she attempted in vain to sit up. “But you’re an unsympathetic son of a bitch!”

Nancy laughed again, righting the chair. “I am not. You just have everything all backwards, that’s all.”

Kyle pushed herself up on her elbows and shook her head. “What does that mean?” She recovered her glass and filled it, nudging her toe into Nancy’s leg. “Huh?” she said belligerently.

Nancy looked at her seriously for a moment. “You really want to know?”

Kyle nodded.

“What you told me about you and Dane tonight—it’s what you’ve been looking for. You asked for someone to make love to you that way.”

“What do you mean?” Kyle said in confusion.

Nancy continued. “You went to that bar because you were interested in power, or S and M, or whatever it is you all call it. You wanted to relate to someone differently— more basically, more physically, more real-ly. Is real-ly a word?”

“I guess so,” Kyle said dumbly. “So?”

“So, that’s what you got. That’s what Dane did. She dominated you. She defined you. She said you are this and I am something else. I am the controller, the giver, the doer, the—what do you guys call it?”

“The top.”

“Yeah—that sounds right. The top. You told her to be that, and she was.” Nancy reached for another cigarette and lit it with a flourish. “See?”

Kyle looked at her. “How did you know all that?”

“I read a lot.”

Kyle laughed. “I can’t stand you.”

“I know.” Nancy twisted around on the deck and leaned against the wall next to Kyle. Kyle slipped an arm around her as Nancy emptied the last of the wine into their glasses. They sipped it slowly as they watched the stars revolve overhead. Sometime, much later, they staggered into Nancy’s bedroom, both of them falling asleep almost instantly.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DANE AWOKE TO a cold nose in her ear.

“Go away,” she muttered, pushing the huge head away with one arm. She tried to regain her dream, a dream filled with soft, tanned skin, warm tender lips. Just as she began to drift again into Kyle’s deep recesses, the covers were tugged off her, leaving her shivering.

She sat up suddenly. “Damn you, Baron!”

Baron sat happily at the foot of her bed, the blankets in a tangle around him. He almost seemed to smile at her as he panted excitedly.

Dane swung her legs over the side of the bed as she pulled the covers back up over her bare legs. Just as she reached for a cigarette, the phone rang.

She snatched the receiver up angrily and snapped, “Hello.”

“Well, a nice hello to you, too,” Caroline replied. “Are you awake?”

“No!” Dane shouted as she drew on the cigarette. Immediately she began to cough. “The only one up around here is Baron.”

Caroline laughed. “It’s seven o’clock. We’ll be ready for you in an hour. Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

“Then you shouldn’t have any trouble getting ready on time. See you.” Before she could lower the phone, she heard the click on the other end.

“Is she up?” Anne asked as she walked in from the bathroom, toweling her hair.

Caroline looked over at her fondly. “Sort of. Sounds like she’s in a bitchy mood, though.”

Anne sighed. “So what else is new?”

“Does she seem that way to you, too?” Caroline asked.

As Anne pulled her tee shirt on, the blue one with ‘Daneland’ printed above a large dog’s head, she scowled over at her lover. “These last few weeks she’s been unbearable. I don’t think I’ve done one thing right around the kennel. I can’t even answer the phone properly!”

Caroline went to her, wrapping her arms around Anne’s waist. “You know it’s not you, don’t you?”

Anne stared at her for a moment, the hurt in her eyes giving way to softness. She kissed Caroline very lightly on the lips and rested her head against her shoulder.

“I know, but it still bothers me.” She often felt left out of what was happening around the kennel, and the personal closeness between Caroline and Dane didn’t help. “Do you know what’s wrong with her?”

Caroline stiffened slightly, not wanting to discuss Dane’s personal life. Anne felt her response and pulled away angrily.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to infringe on your special relationship with Dane.” She turned away, afraid Caroline would see the tears quickly brimming in her eyes.

Caroline stepped closer to her, her hands gently resting on the younger woman’s stiffened shoulders.

“Babe,” she said softly. “Hey, babe—” she repeated as she turned Anne to face her again. “It’s not that our relationship is so special, it’s just that Dane hates to have anyone know what’s going on with her. It takes a long time for me to get anything out of her.”

Anne nodded and wiped her eyes. “I know that. It’s just that sometimes I feel like I don’t even belong there with you two.”

Caroline hugged her tightly. “Anne, oh, Anne. You are the most important thing in the world to me—don’t you know that yet?”

Anne smiled up at her. “I’m being stupid, right?”

“Yes, but you have a point. My relationship with Dane is special, but I don’t want it to take anything away from you and me. And if I knew what was bothering her, I’d tell you. But I don’t. She’s stopped talking to me, too—ever since that night a few weeks ago when she left here to go out to the bar.”

“Is she seeing someone?” Anne asked as they locked their door and headed toward the van marked Daneland Kennels.

“Not that I know of,” Caroline sighed. “I certainly wish she would. She needs someone.”

Anne laughed shortly. “Dane?”

Caroline looked at Anne, remembering how young she really was. “Probably more than most of us.”

Dane climbed into the back of the van and leaned up against one of the dogs’ crates.

“When are we showing?” she asked abruptly.

Caroline glanced at her in the rear view mirror.

“I’m fine, thanks. And we show at one o’clock. The Schutzhund exhibition is at three. You are going, aren’t you?”

Dane stared moodily out the window. “I have to. Troy is counting on it.”

It was the biggest specialty show of the season, and it was important that their kennel be well represented. Caroline was showing three of their own and another of Baron’s sons from another kennel. In addition, Dane was to show Troy in an exhibition of advanced obedience later that day. All of them were edgy, especially Caroline. She was planning to have Anne show one of Daneland’s new bitches in a point show for the first time. Anne seemed to have a talent for showing, and now that their kennel was expanding, Caroline needed help. Still, she was nervous, and she wanted Dane’s support.

“We’re all counting on it, Anne murmured, her own anxiety showing.

Dane looked over at Anne, as if seeing her for the first time. A tender look crossed her features, and she smiled.

“All set for the big day, chicken?”

Caroline drew a sharp breath as Anne turned quickly in her seat toward Dane. Dane had not called Anne that for years. Anne stared at Dane for a moment, trying to find the strong, tender woman who had led her so gently into awareness just a few years before. She saw only the sharp edges of Dane’s pain etched across her face and the scars of many wounds hardened in her eyes. Her heart ached for the woman who had held her so long ago, and whom she had loved fiercely in return.

“Yes, I’m ready.” Her smile was sad.

Caroline watched the exchange, seeing for the first time not the young woman she had fallen in love with, but the mature woman she had become. She reached over and grasped Anne’s hand.

“Do you know that I love you?” Caroline asked softly.

Anne squeezed her hand. “Yes.”

The show was crowded and hectic. People milled about with their dogs, half of which barked at every passing animal. Latecomers rushed about trying to find the appropriate rings, and harried judges struggled to keep the events on schedule. Dane watched from a ringside chair as Caroline brought out the first of their young bitches. She was just two years old and in fine condition. Dane was proud of her, for she represented one of the first products of her own breeding program.

“Nice looking bitch,” a cool voice said from behind her chair.

Dane stiffened imperceptibly and turned to look up at Brad.

“Thanks.”

Brad placed her hand lightly on Dane’s thigh as she knelt down beside her chair to watch the event. She smiled to herself as Dane pulled her leg hastily away.

“So, how have you been, Dane?”

“Fine.” Dane kept her eyes on Caroline and the bitch, Maia, determined not to let Brad see her discomfort.

“Seen much of Kyle lately?”

Dane stared straight ahead, her jaws clenched. “No.”

“Too bad. She’s quite a woman.”

“How would you know?”

Brad laughed. “Well, I don’t know quite all of her yet, but I will.”

Dane faced her then, her blue eyes bright with anger.

“Are you so sure of that?”

“I might not be, if it were anyone else but you she wanted. You’re too much of a fool to know what to do with her. But I’m not. She’ll come around.”

Dane stood quickly, catching Brad unaware. She looked down at her, raging inside, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. She wanted nothing more at that moment than to drive Brad’s insolent face into the ground.