At the Chief Constable's insistence. Bob took the rest of that Monday off.
'Take your lovely wife away to the seaside, man. Recharge those batteries for Thursday night.'
So, with Sarah signed off from her practice and her police duties for twenty-four hours, they headed down to Gullane. All three of the golf-courses were jam-packed, and so they decided instead to walk along the beach path to North Berwick, and back via the highway – a good twelve-mile hike. Dressed in T-shirts, shorts and Reeboks, they walked mostly in silence at first, finding and following a narrow path which wound down through a forest of head-high thorn bushes, then ran for a stretch along the perimeter of Muirfield golf course, before opening out on to the broad East Sands, far from the Gullane Bents car park. No day trippers knew of this attractive beach, and so it was always deserted, even on the finest of days. Sheltered, in a natural alcove among the dunes, from the light breeze which signalled the turning of the tide, they lay down to sunbathe for a while, stripping off their T-shirts to use as beach-mats.
Bob marvelled anew at the firmness of his wife's body as she lay on her back, high-breasted, nipples erect, eyes closed against the sun which glinted on her auburn hair.
'Perfection,' he whispered, and suddenly into his mind came a premonition of brown-haired sons and of a second shot at fatherhood. He felt himself harden, and laughed softly.
'Skinner?' She voiced his name as a question. Then, without needing an answer, she rolled sideways and on top of him, full of desire and with the suppleness of her youth, She made love to him quickly, lustily, hungrily, in the hoti August sunshine which bathed the deserted beach, mounted on; him as if he were her stallion, calling out to him in her pleasure.
When their journey was over, she lay upon him for a while longer,; their foreheads touching, covering his face with kisses. ,222 8 And then, as if she had read his earlier thought, she said: 'You and I are ready to be parents, my love. You deserve another shot, and I Couldn't get any broodier if I tried.'
He held her breasts in his hands as she lifted herself up from his chest. 'Well, honey,' he said, huskily. 'If that happens, we'll just have to call him Jimmy. After all, he did give me the afternoon off