Forbidden Desires (18 page)

Oliver heard her, but instead of doing as she asked he slid a finger inside her and then pressed steadily against the upper part of the vagina, while at the same time drawing the throbbing clitoris between his lips and proceeding to suck steadily on it.

‘Oh yes! Yes, stay right there!’ shouted Noella, in a delirium of excitement, and this time Oliver obeyed her. His finger remained in place, pressing heavily against her internal passage, and his other hand bore down against her pubic area until she felt as though everything inside her was so tight that she’d burst if she didn’t come, while all the time he continued to suck on the small sensitive nub trapped between his supple lips.

‘I can’t bear it!’ screamed Noella as the melting heat continued to spread and jagged streaks of white-hot pleasure shot through her entire body. ‘Hurry! Hurry!’

Oliver knew that he didn’t need to hurry, that within seconds now she’d climax again, and he watched as her thighs shook and quivered and then suddenly she went rigid and silent and her eyes rolled back in her head as an almost unbearably intense climax gripped her body.

For a moment she held her breath, and then she released it in a long drawn-out exhalation of total satisfaction and Oliver lapped at the sweetness of her secretions escaping from the entrance to her vagina.

While he licked, Noella felt the pressure of his chin on her highly sensitive labia and to her astonishment this proved to be the trigger for yet another climax, less intense this time but bitter-sweet with a strange deep ache filling her vulva and belly as the muscular spasms shook her for the third time until she finally collapsed in a heap, gasping for breath.

Oliver ran a hand tenderly over her stomach and breasts as he stood up and then covered her with a light blanket. ‘Rest for a moment,’ he said quietly. ‘You can’t go back to your husband looking like that. What will he think?’

‘He probably won’t even notice,’ said Noella. ‘It’s Harriet who occupies his thoughts these days.’

Oliver sat on the floor next to her and handed her a glass of champagne. ‘Here, I saved some for you. Harriet? Isn’t she Lewis’s wife?’

‘Yes, but Edmund wanted her, and what Edmund wants Edmund gets.’

‘I don’t think I’d risk trouble with Lewis James,’ said Oliver. ‘He looks as though he’d be a rather dangerous man to cross.’

‘He is,’ confirmed Noella. ‘I think that’s part of the attraction for Edmund, the danger of it all. There’s so little that’s forbidden these days that
when he finally finds something that is, he has to go after it.’

‘And Harriet?‘

Noella frowned. ‘I don’t honestly understand why Harriet’s become his lover. Personally I wouldn’t risk losing Lewis if I were his wife, but ‘I’m beginning to think that it isn’t a risk as far as she’s concerned.’

‘Meaning what?’ Oliver was puzzled.

‘Meaning,’ said Noella slowly, ‘that both Lewis and Harriet may be playing with the rest of us for the sake of art.’

‘Art?’

She sat up, glanced at her watch and climbed hastily off the bench. ‘Is that the time? I must dash.’

‘What do you mean, art?’ persisted Oliver.

‘Forget it, honey. I may be wrong, and even if I’m right there’s nothing I can do about it now.’

‘What about us?’ asked Oliver. ‘Are you only playing with me?’

Noella shook her head. ‘No way, but right now I’m living in the present. We’re on holiday and I’m having a great time. I’ll think about it more deeply if and when the need arises, okay?’

‘You’re special to me,’ said Oliver. ‘I’ve never met a woman like you before.’

Noella smiled. ‘Maybe not, but I’m a few years older than you are.’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ protested Oliver. ‘We’re meant for each other, I know it.’

‘Can you see me living in Cornwall in the
winter, sweetie?’ asked Noella gently. ‘I’m used to the sunshine and warmth of California, remember?’

‘You’d adapt,’ said Oliver firmly. ‘I can tell you’re adaptable, and if you were happy wouldn’t it be worth having to turn the central heating up a little?’

Noella pulled on her clothes and shrugged. ‘Let’s just enjoy the moment, Oliver. You mean a lot to me too, but right now life’s a little confusing.’

Oliver nodded. ‘It’s all right,’ he said with a smile. ‘I can wait. I’m good at waiting.’

His words were still going through Noella’s head when she slipped into Penruan House and up the stairs to the bathroom she and Edmund used. No sooner was she in the bath than the door opened and her husband walked in. ‘You look very flushed and relaxed,’ he remarked, sitting on the bathroom stool.

‘Must have been the sun at Morwellan Quay today,’ she said, lifting a leg in the air and soaping it slowly and sensuously while he watched.

‘Did you get your camera back?’

‘Sure, it’s on the bed.’

‘Good, I’d hate to think of you having a wasted journey. What did you think of Lewis having his fun with Ella in full view of the good Mrs Webster?’

‘I was surprised,’ confessed Noella. ‘Ella’s nothing special, and it’s clear that Lew still dotes on Harriet.’

‘Still?’

‘Despite her behaviour since we got here,’ said Noella calmly.

‘Your behaviour hasn’t been exactly exemplary,’ pointed out Edmund.

‘You wanted me to sleep with Oliver.’

‘Perhaps. He’s certainly a well-built young man,’ murmured her husband, idly trailing a hand in the bath water and splashing some suds over her breasts.

‘How would you know?’

Edmund smiled, and it was one of the smiles that Noella hated. ‘He helped me out the other night in a little exercise I’d planned. I was most impressed with him, too.’

‘What did he do?’ asked Noella.

‘He helped me make love to Harriet,’ said Edmund, and as Noella’s eyes widened in shock he walked out of the room.

Later that evening, Lewis and Harriet were changing for dinner. Harriet was still chattering on about her day but Lewis was quiet, mainly because he didn’t want to talk about what she’d done, he wanted to make love to her, but Harriet had made it clear that she wasn’t in the mood.

‘What do you think of this?’ she asked, turning to face him as she fastened the buttons on a burgundy-coloured chiffon blouse that hung in handkerchief points tunic-style over matching pleated palazzo pants.

‘You look very elegant,’ he assured her. ‘Personally, though, I prefer you unclothed.’

Harriet sighed. ‘Lewis, please, I’m tired.’

‘You didn’t say that to Edmund.’

Her eyes flashed angrily but she kept her voice controlled as she clipped on long gold ear-rings and held a gold choker up against her neck. ‘Why do you keep talking about Edmund? You wanted me to sleep with him, and you were the one who filmed it. Without that, you wouldn’t have anything for Mark to write about, so why are you trying to make trouble?’

‘I’m not making trouble,’ said Lewis, knowing that he was. ‘Surely it isn’t unreasonable to want to make love to my own wife?’

‘There, I’m ready,’ announced Harriet, turning to face him again.

‘You’ve put your hair up.’

‘I thought it went with the outfit. Don’t you like it?’

‘It makes me want to take out the pins and watch it fall to your shoulders.’

Harriet felt a shiver of desire go through her. She wanted Lewis as much as he wanted her, but for some illogical reason she felt that it would be a betrayal of their love. While she was involved with Edmund, testing her sexuality with a man she didn’t love, she felt she couldn’t let Lewis make love to her as well. The two men were so different, the relationships so totally unalike, that combining them seemed impossible.

‘It’s Edmund, isn’t it?’ asked Lewis angrily.

Harriet nodded. ‘Yes, it is, but not in the way you think. Lewis, this was all your idea, and now
you’ve got to stand back and see the results of your plotting.’

‘Are you in love with him?’ asked Lewis, his voice anguished.

Harriet shook her head. ‘No, I’m not.’

He stepped closer to her and drew a finger along the exposed bones of her neck. ‘Do you still love me?’ he whispered, his other hand cupping her buttocks and pulling her up against his body.

Without thinking Harriet responded. Her hips tilted towards him, and her head started to go back, but then just as he began to manoeuvre her towards the bed she twisted free of him. ‘Yes, I do!’ she shouted, almost in tears. ‘But right now, I wish I didn’t.’

‘Then stop the game,’ he said urgently. ‘Tell me you want to stop and it will all be over. Damn Mark, and damn the script. I want you to do what you choose.’

She smiled sadly. ‘I know. The trouble is I have to go on now.’

‘Why?’

‘To see how far he’ll take me, how far it is I want to go.’

‘It wasn’t meant to be like this,’ said Lewis, opening their bedroom door. ‘It’s far more complicated than I expected.’

Harriet lifted her chin and her eyes were cool. ‘Yes, well, you didn’t have to involve Ella did you?’

‘Ella?’

‘When I talked to her earlier I gained the
distinct impression that you and she had got on very well in my absence.’

‘You’re talking rubbish.’

‘You mean you didn’t have sex with her?’

Lewis didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to – his silence was enough to confirm Harriet’s suspicions. ‘Is this to pay me back for doing what you wanted in the first place?’ she asked.

‘No, it just happened.’

‘I hope you both enjoyed it. Presumably this is the way you intend to audition all the girls for the role of Helena?’

‘I don’t do the auditions normally. Harriet, you invited Ella here.’

She laughed in disbelief. ‘Yes, and you invited Noella but I don’t imagine you’ve been sleeping with her as well. Don’t blame me because you couldn’t resist a beautiful actress. Did she remind you of Rowena?’

‘No,’ he shouted angrily. ‘If you really want to know, she reminded me of you and when I was making love to her, when she cried out with pleasure, I was imagining that it was you.’

‘How very insulting to both of us,’ said Harriet as she walked out of the room.

The others were already in the dining room and as soon as Harriet and Lewis joined them they sat down and rang the bell for Mrs Webster. Noella, resplendent in a black and white striped trouser suit over a white camisole top, smiled at Harriet. ‘Love the outfit, honey.’

‘I wasn’t sure it suited me,’ confessed Harriet.
‘I’m usually happier in dresses but palazzo pants are so comfortable.’

‘And wonderfully easy to remove,’ Noella pointed out just as Mrs Webster brought in the bowls of mushroom soup. Mrs Webster glanced quickly at Noella, averted her gaze from Lewis, and left as fast as possible.

‘Oh dear, another goof,’ laughed Noella.

Ella, who was looking very feminine in a simple A-line silk shift dress in a shade of blue that exactly matched her eyes and had a pattern of red and cream flowers on it, frowned. ‘What do you mean,
another
goof?’

Noella gave her a tight smile. ‘I mean that poor Mrs Webster’s already had one shock today when she saw more than she wanted to out of the kitchen window after lunch. She was all for leaving until I produced a small financial inducement for her to remain.’

Ella’s face didn’t change and Lewis had to admire her acting skill as she looked straight back at Noella. ‘What did she see exactly?’ she enquired.

‘I wasn’t here, sweetie. I thought you might know.’

‘Probably Lewis swimming nude in the pool. He’s rather keen on that, isn’t he, Harriet?’ said Edmund smoothly.

She flushed, remembering the way Lewis had made love to her in the water early on in the holiday. ‘If she’s that easily shocked maybe we should have let her go,’ she said with a smile.

‘And what exactly is it that you do, Ella?’ continued Edmund a little later when their soup bowls had been removed and they were eating one of Mrs Webster’s casseroles.

‘I’m an actress.’

‘Yes, I know, but what kind of an actress. Classical? Modern? Television soaps or films?’

‘In this country films are few and far between. I enjoy classical work but I earn most of my bread and butter money on television.’

He looked carefully at her and then across the table at Lewis. ‘I should think the camera would love her, don’t you agree, Lew?’

Lewis nodded. ‘Certain to with those bones.’

Ella sat up straight in her chair. She pushed her hair back behind one ear in an unconsciously flirtatious manner and smiled her best smile at Edmund. ‘I’m afraid it’s only the camera that does at the moment.’

‘Really?’ asked Edmund. ‘I find that difficult to believe.’

‘I might be sick in a moment,’ said Noella to Harriet in an undertone. ‘What is your friend playing at?’

‘She wants the film role,’ said Harriet calmly.

‘Helena you mean? Isn’t that a little ambitious?’

‘Ella’s never lacked self-confidence,’ murmured Harriet.

‘Have you considered Ella auditioning for a part in
Forbidden Desires
?’ continued Edmund, smiling back at Ella.

‘I’m considering it at the moment,’ said Lewis.
‘However, since you’re only one of the financial backers I don’t really think your opinion is going to weigh very highly when I make my final judgement.’

‘You back Lewis’s films?’ asked Ella.

Harriet turned to Noella. ‘I hope she doesn’t think she wasted herself this afternoon.’ They both laughed and it was only when Edmund switched his cool gaze on to his wife that Noella managed to regain control of herself.

Edmund was intrigued by Ella. At first he’d dismissed her as simply another pretty face, but he was beginning to think there was more to her than that. She was clearly intelligent, and like Harriet she had an understated sexuality about her that intrigued him. However, unlike Harriet, he felt that she was a young woman who was more interested in her career and the world of acting than she was in meaningful relationships. She might not be as bold as Harriet, nor as willing to experiment, but she’d certainly fit into the kind of life he was envisaging for himself if he and Noella parted.

He still wanted Harriet, and would far rather have her at his side than Ella, but he was a realist. If Harriet was going to return to Lewis, if she found that emotionally Edmund held no attraction for her, then he would need someone else, someone so close to Harriet in looks and ways that she might even be able to play the character Lewis had based on her on film. It would be a compromise, but not a hard one to make, and he
thought that it was worth his while developing their relationship a little.