Tidal Wave (19 page)

Arabella swung around and faced him at that very moment. Their eyes met and she understood. She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She felt them tremble with passion as he cupped her breasts in his palms.

She said, “I will say no to nothing, Nicholas.”

The water was pouring into the marble bath and the steam swirled up. They placed the champagne tray and the perfume on a small laquered table beside the bath. She peeled his clothes off and was pleased to see that his erection had not subsided. He held the long, throbbing, thick phallus in his hand and stroked it.

Arabella, her hair wrapped up in a turban, watched him
as he opened the bottle and splashed a generous amount of the heady fragrance under the running faucet. She put her hands lightly on his waist and stroked him down over his hips as she slowly slid against him onto her knees. She gathered him up in her hands, bent her head toward him, and kissed him sweetly. She gently pulled his erect cock toward her lips and took him into her mouth.

Nicholas held his breath, not wanting to give in to the tender sweetness of her sucking. She slowly eased off, kissed the tip, and raised herself off her knees. She put her arms around him and said, “Just a kiss, to let you know how much I long to have you inside me. I adore making love to you too is what I’m trying to say.”

“You’re going to smell like one of the girls.” She laughed.

“I’m not getting in. It’s for you.”

“No.” She smiled. “
We
are getting in. We are going to have a bath together. You can get rid of the scent in the morning with some men’s soap.” The two laughed and, holding hands, stepped up and into their perfumed pool. Arabella bent down and turned off the taps.

He put his hands on her waist, turned her around so her back was to him, and lowered them both into the bath. He spread his legs wide apart and she sat between them, leaning against his chest in the hot, perfumed water. She handed him a sponge and while he washed her back with one hand, he caressed her wet breasts with the other. He kissed the back of her neck and, inhaling the heavy, sexy odor, he said, “There are things I want to tell you.”

Nicholas stroked her lovingly and said, “Because I too am changing my life, ending one career and beginning another. Because by now all the world knows that Nicholas Frayne, the actor, has retired, and that Nicholas Frayne, the man, is venturing into politics by accepting the nomination for the governorship of his home state, Rhode Island. Also, Marvin and I thought it far more advantageous for me if I was not too accessible to the press until they had had a chance to digest this change.

“I made the announcement last night by having a press release telexed to the world’s news services. Marv and Mrs. Nettleworth, my secretary, are answering all the telex inquiries, and I’ll give my first interview at a press conference on the pier when we dock in New York.”

Nicholas was concerned that Arabella might not be happy with the change he was making in his life.

She closed her eyes and said, “And?”

“And what?”

“And what else, Nicholas?” Then she opened her eyes and looked deeply into his.

They both said at the very same time, “And I want to be President of the United States.”

They smiled at each other. They were serious smiles. The silence hung between them like a curtain.

Nicholas pulled it back when he said, “Arabella, please, say something.”

She smiled sweetly, almost compassionately, then touched his cheek with the back of her hand and finally spoke. “Well, Nicholas, and I thought I had a surprise for you! That’s a pretty awesome ambition. It’s rather taken me aback. Stunned me more than surprised me.”

“Does it make a difference to how we feel about each other?”

“No, to the contrary, it makes my falling in love with you more extraordinary.”

He stroked her hair, kissed her cheek, and said, “You know, that’s the first time you’ve admitted being in love with me.”

“Nicholas, it occurs to me that ours is a matter of destiny.”

She leaned back in his arms and went on. “I give up power, leadership, control for something less demanding, something I’ve missed all my life. Being just a normal lady in the real world, living a self-indulgent life and having
fun. And what happens? The first man who walks into my life turns out to be a man who has taken the lighter side of life and worked it out seriously and successfully, not only amusing himself but bringing entertainment to most of the rest of the world in the process.

“We are two people who when we met could go no further in the roles we were playing. We knew we had climbed to the very top; we knew our limitations and what’s more, what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives.

Nicholas buried his face in the crook of Arabella’s neck and kissed her. “It’s all too amazing your being W.R. Crawford’s daughter! You know, I’ve read nearly everything he ever wrote. I’ve studied and supported the idea and ideals of the New Deal men and what they accomplished for the United States. I can hardly believe that the woman I’m falling in love with was born into and has always been a part of that world.

“I can barely believe my luck! One of my campaign slogans is going to be: ‘The Democratic Spokesman for the Republican Party — Nicholas Frayne.’”

Arabella pulled away from him and turned around. She looked at him aghast.

“Oh, my God, you’re a Republican!” she gasped.

Their bodies were wet and shining like silk satin. The odor of their own body scents was mixed with the perfume of the bath water. They had come to know so much about each other — about their lives and their desires — there was only one way to complete the intimacy.

He took her in the water first from behind, putting her on her knees and bending her over. Her breasts dangled in the water that covered her up to her shoulders and back. He raised himself to his knees and spread her apart, then he rammed into her. Both equally dazzled by their lust, he took her roughly and filled every orifice. She gave herself even more completely, it seemed, than she had the night
before and was rewarded again, as huge crashing waves of her orgasm mixed with his seed and were spilled into the bath water.

Chapter Twelve

He helped her from the bathtub, wrapped her in a bath sheet, dried off her hair and then her skin, dabbing it tenderly with the towel. He folded her in his arms and said, “You are all the flowers and fruits of the world, all the spices of life.”

She stepped back and began to dry his moist skin briskly with the towel, drying his back, his chest and arms. She dried his thighs, legs, and feet. He stood motionless, savoring the attention. As she dried his skin, she lightly kissed each limb, each muscle, each crevice and, finally, placed one light kiss on the tip of his penis. He shuddered as the sensitive nerve endings sent a shiver through his body. They quickly embraced, surrounded by the exotic fragrance of the bath water and their own body scents. Arabella reached for the white crêpe de chine caftan, and Nicholas casually draped a dry towel around his waist.

He handed her a glass of the exquisite Dom Perignon from the cooler on the tray and touched his glass to hers. Together they walked hand in hand toward the bedroom. Arabella reclined on the chaise while Nicholas stretched out on the bed. He moved the bucket of champagne onto the bed, bracing it with pillows so that it stood upright. He put his champagne glass on the tray and tucked pillows behind him. They were facing each other. Arabella lowered her eyes and broke into a broad smile. She moved from the chaise and joined Nicholas on the bed, propping herself on the pillows beside him.

After some time Arabella asked, “Nicholas, what will happen to us if you find I’m a very different Arabella from the woman you know?”

“I would stroke your hair like this” — he bent down and kissed her on the forehead — “and I would kiss you like that, and then I would tell you that we are what we are in subtle variations and we have become what we were meant to be with some significant changes, if we were wise enough to make them. I’d hope that you’d agree with that and remember it, because I too am here on this maiden voyage for a similar reason.

“I’m retiring from one life and entering another. It sounds somewhat like your story and makes our meeting even more extraordinary.”

“Nicholas?”

“Mmmm?”

“If we were in New York now, not in this wonderful floating island, and we were walking up an avenue and passed a newsstand, it’s just very possible that you might see on the front page of the
Wall Street Journal
a leading article about me. Or you might see me on the front page of
The New York Times
. Some smart journalist might have written a caption under the photograph: ‘Who is this woman?’ or, ‘The Garbo of the business world.’”

Nicholas bent down and kissed the top of her head, then her cheek. He stroked her breasts under her crêpe de chine dressing gown and said, “And what might the article say?”

“Oh, it might say something like, ‘Arabella Eleanor Crawford, American, business address 19 place Vendôme, Paris. Until a few days ago, Crawford was the major stockholder and managing director of thirty-seven companies including Abcore, Execair and Telecone.’

“I sold all my holdings in a secretly planned, unannounced sale three days ago in my Paris office to thirteen corporations, for one hundred million dollars. The companies sold are all sound and heavy profit makers, mini-blue chip.”

Arabella thought she felt Nicholas’s body tense up, but she gamely continued with her imaginary article.

“ ‘The terms for the sale were tough and tight. No chance of asset-strippers getting hold of her companies. She set the sale up with such rigid terms there is no way those companies
can go but up. The sale took thirty days exactly from offer to final signatures. Every one of the buyers was on edge until the last minute for fear she would back down.’”

Nicholas laughed and asked, “How did it all happen? How did you do it?”

“Well, Nicholas darling, it didn’t just happen. It’s been a long, hard struggle — eighteen years. Eighteen years of everything else in my life coming second to my work. No husband, no home, no children, all relationships shared with my work. The occasional vacation, living sparsely. I sacrificed a great deal, but I gained a great deal too. It was exciting and thrilling. It stretched my mind, allowed me to use my power constructively through my companies.

“One does not make that kind of success being a goody two shoes. I was hard, tough when I had to be. I did my sneaky deals when I had to, made some bad enemies of some bad men. A woman in big business must work against some heavy prejudices.

“I’ve made an immense financial success. There have been a few added bonuses. The money and power I generated did, in some cases, add to the quality of life and, in a few instances, did a little something for mankind. It even destroyed a few miserable, cheating Fascists.

“I made my mistakes but was lucky. They were few and far between. It was a wonderful experience. They were thrilling years for someone who never planned to conquer big business. But once I was in it, there was nothing to do but get to the top.”

“Arabella, those are massive amounts of money you were involved with, and you worked at it for eighteen years. Where did you get your training, your background, your ability to succeed on such an enormous scale?”

“I suppose partly from being brought up and influenced by the politicians that were part of my life from early childhood. Another factor is that I have an uncanny ability with figures and mathematics. Another is that I was taught strategy by my father and his associates. I grew up surrounded by men who knew how to go forward quickly and get a job
done. They had courage, were leaders. It was my background. All their qualities were so much a part of me it was natural to use them when the time came.”

“My dearest Arabella, why did you
want
to be one of the richest women in the world? What made you want the power that goes along with that? Why weren’t you satisfied with one company, two? Why weren’t you satisfied with ten million dollars, instead of one hundred?”

“Nicholas, I didn’t want to be one of the richest women in the world. That wasn’t my aim in life. I
am
one of them only as a result of certain circumstances. Why I wanted the power that goes along with such a position is a more interesting question.

“You see, until I was twenty-one, money was something I didn’t deal with. It was a subject that was never discussed in our house. I knew that we were rich, privileged, had always had money. There was nothing ever denied us that money could buy. My grandfather and his father before him were very rich men. My father was wealthy enough to be extremely generous to his country as well as his family. We were very comfortable — not ostentatious — but comfortable, and I seemed, simply, to have an understanding of money the way Father did. It was only in his later years that he spoke to my brother and I about wealth. He taught us to understand that money and power went together, and that if one wanted to do extraordinary things in one’s life for oneself or for the public, money and power made it a great deal easier.

“He taught us that monetary wealth meant freedom. He was quick to point out that my brother and I, just like him, were fortunate to have been born with these things, that they were part of our lives. Probably the one thing he tried to instill in us more than anything else was that accomplishments could be made much easier if one stayed in the background, hidden, reclusive, and had power. I learned to know that meant one had to have money.

“I don’t believe that I could have done what I have all
these years had I not listened to his advice and lived very simply, stayed out of the limelight.

“My father was a clever man who managed a very public life because of his work. But his private life, the family and what he did with his money was always played down. In a way, I copied him. I learned my lessons well and accomplished what I had to in the business world in a great part thanks to him.

“You ask why wasn’t I satisfied with one company, even two. Why did I go on building up and creating the empire that I did? I suppose when you spend eighteen years and work on approximately thirty companies the main reason is that you enjoy it and do it well. It was always exciting, thrilling, to take a failing corporation, turn it around, and make it flourish. It was an act of constructive creation. Then it snowballed, success breeding success.

“I went for the high jump in the money world when I came of age, twenty-one, and came into my trust fund with a cash gift of ten thousand dollars. My brother, Robert, was only eleven then. It was not until then that I realized what having money or not, having power or not, meant. I was shocked when I realized that the trust funds set up for my mother, brother, and I, plus a few hundred thousand well-invested dollars, were all that was left of a vast family fortune. It had been founded by my great-great-grandfather and my great-grandfather. The succeeding men of the family had only managed to run the fortune down. There was enough to see my mother and father out in the style to which they had always been accustomed. The trust fund for my brother and I was sufficient to keep the wolf from the door, but it was hardly the lifestyle of our family.

“That’s why I spent the eighteen years making money. I wanted to live as I always had, as all the Crawfords have for a very long time. I wanted the freedom that money and power brings.

“Well, the Crawfords have their money again. One hundred million dollars is mine. My mother has her share, and my brother has his. That’s just about that.”

“That’s an amazing story. A real American dream come true. But you only told me
why
you did it. Now I’ve got to know
how
!”

“How? I think you’re going to think it was beginner’s luck — and to some extent, it was. I invested my ten-thousand-dollar birthday present in three commodities after checking out the geopolitical situation at the time. Then I did a quick but thorough study of the agricultural successes and failures of the larger producing countries and their purchasing powers.

“Without realizing it, I began practicing what I had learned from my father’s friends and the environment I had been brought up in. Behavior patterns and movements that had lain dormant for so many years came to the fore. I used what I had. There were a few ground rules I made for myself and abided by. I never invested in anything I didn’t understand thoroughly. I investigated meticulously, knew my subjects well. I worked on the adage that ‘it takes money to make money,’ and I had the moral support of my family and a friend.

“As I told you this afternoon, we’re a very close-knit family, closer than most. There is a ten-year difference between my brother and I, but that makes no difference. I watched him grow up and learned to have a special feeling for my little brother. He was the youngest student ever to be enrolled at Harvard Medical School, and by the time he was twenty-one it was evident he would be a remarkable doctor, just like my grandfather, Raine’s father.

“Robert admired me, what I was doing, and wanted to participate in building up the family fortune. He didn’t have my business acumen so he used his profession. Before his graduation he had discovered two antibiotic formulas that I sold for him to a pharmaceutical corporation. He turned that money over to me along with his ten-thousand-dollar coming-of-age gift. All he said was, ‘Use it, Arabella, any way you like.’

“After Robert’s earnings topped the two-million-dollar mark, we agreed that a portion of all future profits from his
investments should go into a nonprofit trust for medical research.

“I always worked toward owning the controlling interest in my companies. I never touched my capital after the initial investment of ten thousand dollars and plowed every penny back into investments. Most important of all, I worked very, very hard.

“One of the reasons I went on until I had this fortune was because I knew once I retired I would never want to pick up the gauntlet again.

“There was one more vital factor — I became deeply involved with a man who became my mentor, advisor, and friend. It was a love affair that could never be resolved.”

She didn’t want to talk further about Anthony since she suddenly realized that their relationship could be resolved now that his situation had changed drastically. Hearing his voice again had stirred up feelings she though were long past.

“Are you going to tell me about him, Arabella? I want to know everything about you.”

Arabella slipped out of Nicholas’s arms and said, “I can’t — not yet. I’ll tell you all of it someday soon but that’s all I can say for now.”

Nicholas pulled her back and embraced her in his strong arms; she knew he understood.