Dark Secret (10 page)

She felt it throbbing between her thighs like a pulse beating beneath the paper-thin skin of her perineum, and knew that she was about to come. Lewis was aware of it too and he let the fingers of his hands dig firmly into her hips.

‘Yes, yes!’ she shouted and her body began to arch away from him so that he had to tighten his grip on her hips in order to keep her in position.

At that moment there was a light tap on the study door and Harriet walked in. ‘Lewis, have you seen Rowena? I can’t find her anywhere and she’s wanted on the telephone.’

Chapter Five

LEWIS STARED AT
Harriet, hiding his anger behind a mask of indifference. Inwardly he was raging, not only at the fact that she had come into the room uninvited but also at his own stupidity in allowing Rowena to persuade him to make love to her at a time when he should have been concentrating solely on Harriet.

‘Rowena will be with you in a moment,’ he said smoothly, his arousal dissipating at great speed.

Harriet’s eyes were wide and she stared at her employer as Rowena, ignoring the younger woman’s presence, continued to move herself up and down on Lewis until with a cry of pleasure her body gave itself over to the warm flooding joy of orgasm.

Harriet knew that she should leave the room but her legs seemed unable to move. She stayed rooted to the spot watching Rowena’s total abandonment to her sexuality. She felt almost consumed by envy, having spent most of her waking hours imagining what her next sexual encounter with Lewis would be like. Now she
was forced to face the fact that he was pleasuring his wife at the same time, despite what he had seen her doing the previous night.

For a moment she wavered, thought of leaving the house and turning her back on all of them. Their way of life and lack of what she considered morality were so alien to her she didn’t now how she could stay. But then she looked at Lewis, still watching her over his wife’s head and she knew that she couldn’t go. She wanted this man more than she’d ever wanted anyone and if possible she intended to take him away from Rowena.

This revelation was a shock to Harriet. She knew that it was illogical, that so far he’d only made love to her once and that he probably anticipated losing interest in her once the novelty had worn off, but watching him with Rowena, seeing those golden hands caressing her body, she decided that regardless of how impossible it seemed she would have her way. She would be very careful how she went about it though, since Lewis must think he was the hunter.

Lewis saw Harriet’s eyes changing, and wondered what was going through her head. He hoped she wasn’t planning to leave them, not just when everything was going so well. Cursing the fact that Rowena had wound her arms round his neck and was nestling against his chest like a small child, probably in order to remind Harriet that this was her husband, he raised his eyebrows apologetically at the silent girl.

‘I’ll ask the caller to ring back,’ said Harriet, delighted to find that her voice sounded rock steady.

‘That would be helpful,’ said Lewis politely. He
wondered if Harriet felt as ridiculous as he did carrying out such a banal conversation considering the scene she’d just witnessed.

‘I’m sorry I interrupted,’ Harriet added. ‘I thought you called for me to come in. Obviously I was wrong.’

‘Has she gone?’ demanded Rowena when she heard the door close.

Lewis sighed. ‘Yes, I only hope she doesn’t decide to go for good.’

Rowena laughed and sat back on his lap, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed. ‘Surely you didn’t tell her we never slept together? Even Harriet wouldn’t fall for an old cliche like that!’

‘Of course I didn’t, but this shouldn’t have happened.’

Rowena stretched voluptuously and kissed him on the side of his neck. ‘I’m very glad it did; it was delicious. I wonder who this call was from?’

Lewis, frustrated both sexually and by the turn of events, couldn’t have cared less. ‘You’d better go and find out,’ he said shortly. ‘And for God’s sake don’t go talking about this to Harriet. Keep a dignified silence. The pair of you aren’t meant to talk about anything intimate at this stage in the plot.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ve got the outline safely in my head.’

‘If you let me down over this, Rowena, I’ll never forgive you,’ said Lewis seriously. ‘It has to be done properly, otherwise it will be just another film. I want it to be a true story.’

‘I was just having a little rehearsal for one of the scenes,’ laughed his wife, sliding from his lap. ‘Will you be at lunch or are you planning another
afternoon session with my PA?’

‘After this I’ll be lucky to get into her room tonight,’ he said gloomily.

When Rowena returned to Harriet’s office she found her typing efficiently, but when she lifted her head to speak to Rowena the grey eyes held a look that troubled the film star. It wasn’t anger, which she’d half-expected, and nor was it envy; it was almost a sympathetic look.

‘Who rang?’ demanded Rowena abruptly.

‘They didn’t say, but it was an American man.’

‘An American? Perhaps it was my agent. Why didn’t you …?’

‘I tried to tell you it was important, but you were very busy,’ said Harriet calmly.

It was Rowena’s turn to change colour and she had to go to her room and sit quietly trying to visualise a peaceful summer scene, as her personal physician had suggested, before she could calm herself. If it had been her agent he might have work for her, work that would be less emotionally demanding than this venture of Lewis’s. But then again, it wasn’t likely to carry the chance of an Oscar, and an Oscar was something Rowena yearned for.

Lewis stayed in his study for the rest of the day, only leaving it once to go for a walk in the grounds. Harriet saw him from her office window, strolling across the grass with his hands in his pockets and his head bent in thought.

Even the way he moved aroused her. His long, smooth stride and the tightness of his buttocks beneath his trousers reminded her of the way he looked naked. His bronze-coloured body, his dark hair and eyes made her stomach flutter with
excitement. She wondered why it was that he had this effect on her.

Dinner that night consisted of roast chicken cooked with lemon and tarragon followed by a passion fruit sorbet. This time Rowena ate hungrily and it was Harriet who picked at her food, her appetite dulled by her sexual hunger for Lewis.

Chris watched Harriet with interest. He knew as well as Rowena did the way the plot was meant to unravel and could hardly wait for the moment when he was able to take her himself. She would be so different from Rowena, hopefully reluctant to accept the ways he used to pleasure his women. The prospect of her reluctance and the knowledge that in the end she would almost certainly submit caused him to harden, and he decided that if Lewis was going to have her again that night then he would watch. This time he wouldn’t take Rowena with him either.

‘You’re quiet, Chris,’ said Rowena suddenly.

‘I went down to the gym this afternoon and worked out for a couple of hours; I’m exhausted,’ he said with a grin.

Lewis glanced at him. ‘Which gym?’

‘Luigi’s.’

‘That’s funny; when I spoke to him on the phone earlier he didn’t mention seeing you, and it would have been something of an event, don’t you agree?’

‘Well I was there,’ lied Chris, who’d really been round all the sex shops he could find, buying additional equipment for his collection.

‘More wine, Harriet?’ asked Lewis.

She nodded. It dulled the fear that he wasn’t
going to make love to her again unless she made a move, and at the moment she didn’t know what kind of a move to make. As he filled her glass his head moved close to hers. I’ll come to your room at eleven,’ he whispered.

Harriet didn’t take in much of the conversation that followed his promise. Her hand trembled when she raised the wine glass to her lips and she found it hard to stop herself watching Lewis all the time. Across the table from her, Chris continued to study Harriet. He’d seen Lewis murmur something and noted the effect of his words. Despite her cool, controlled exterior he already knew that she was a deeply sexual person; now it seemed that her emotions were involved as well. He was starting to enjoy Lewis’s plot more with every moment that passed.

Dinner ended at nine-thirty. While the other three took coffee in the drawing-room, Harriet excused herself and went up to her bedroom. There she had a long bath, using the expensive bath oil and body lotion that had been left for her. Then she washed her hair with a jasmine-scented shampoo and conditioner before blow-drying it, using her fingers as a comb so that instead of falling in a sleek curtain to her shoulders it looked tousled and casual.

Finally she dabbed some Worth perfume, a present from James the previous Christmas, behind her ears, beneath her breasts and at the back of her knees before pulling on an ankle-length jade silk peignoir over a matching nightdress.

By the time she’d finished another hour had passed but she still had thirty minutes to kill. She
spent them working out ways in which she could give Lewis pleasure as well as letting him give it to her.

When he finally tapped on the door she was in a state of intense anticipation. The bath, the massaging of her own body with the lotion and the feel of the silk against her warm flesh had all heightened her senses. She longed for him with a hunger so intense it actually hurt her physically.

Lewis eyed her appreciatively and then kissed her on the temples. ‘You smell delicious,’ he murmured. ‘Good enough to eat, I think.’

As he slipped the peignoir off her shoulders, Harriet started to unfasten the buttons of his shirt and he stood compliantly, letting her undress him while his hands continually touched and stroked her body.

When he was finally naked she put her hands on his chest and pushed him towards the bed. He looked slightly surprised but obeyed, then stretched out on his back. ‘I take it you’ve got something special in mind?’ he said with a smile.

‘I want to make you as happy as you make me,’ she whispered.

Lewis was intrigued by this turn of events. It hadn’t entered his mind that she would start to take the initiative so early, but the very fact that she had excited him, and he felt his penis swelling rapidly until it was fully erect.

Harriet slid the shoulder straps of her nightdress off and let them fall teasingly down her arms. From the bed Lewis watched, his eyes growing dark with desire. Then she wriggled her hips and the garment fell to the floor leaving her as naked as he was.

Now she joined him on the bed and lay on top of him with her head on his stomach. Since his penis was straining upwards this put her in the perfect position to take it in her mouth and she heard his swift intake of breath as her tongue swept round the circumference of his glans while her lips applied gentle suction.

The surprise of what she was doing, coupled with the sensations her mouth was causing him, made self-control difficult for Lewis. He knew that if their love-making was to last he must distract himself slightly, without stopping Harriet doing what she wanted to do.

His hands caressed the rounded cheeks of her bottom, so tantalisingly displayed for him, and moved up over her hips then round to her belly. Her skin rippled beneath his touch and when he let his fingers brush fleetingly against her vulva he could feel that her outer lips had opened up and she was damp with desire.

He moistened a finger in her liquid excitement and as she began to move her head up and down along the shaft of his penis he very slowly inserted the tip of the finger into the tiny puckered opening between the pale globes in front of him.

For a moment Harriet froze. No one had ever touched her there, and she wasn’t certain that she wanted Lewis to, but then the gentle pressure sent a new and different kind of pleasure through her and as her body tightened all the nerve endings around her clitoris were indirectly stimulated so that the excitement was doubled.

After her slight hesitation Lewis felt Harriet relax again, and he continued this form of
stimulation for her while his penis began to strain under the continuous pleasuring, until he knew that if he left it a moment longer he would lose control. Putting his hands on her waist he pulled softly. ‘That’s enough, Harriet. I don’t want the evening to end yet, you know.’

She felt a thrill of excitement at this proof of her power over him and reluctantly slid her mouth along the saliva-dampened shaft one final time as she released him. He felt her tongue dip into the tiny slit at the tip as she lapped at the droplet of pre-ejaculatory fluid gathered there, and that small touch nearly finished him.

The well trained muscles of his abdomen fought to subdue his increasing need to climax and he pulled Harriet off him before she could torment him further with her mouth.

‘Now it’s my turn,’ he whispered in her ear, and her body seemed to swell at the words. Turning her on to her belly he pushed two pillows beneath it. This meant that her buttocks were thrust high into the air and he then pulled her legs wider apart until she was totally open to him. Harriet wriggled with delicious excitement.

‘Keep still,’ he said, his voice thick with sexual hunger. ‘Only move when I say you can.’

The very command added to her need to move. Lying still seemed an impossibility and yet she did as he said because she knew that it would add an extra dimension to her final satisfaction.

Taking a slim vibrator from the bedside drawer, Lewis put it on the lowest setting and then very softly let it massage Harriet’s perineum. As she felt the soft tingling sensation in the skin between her front and back passages Harriet thrust her
buttocks still higher, only to feel a slight burning sensation as Lewis flicked her with his fingers. ‘I said keep still,’ he reminded her.

Startled by the stinging flick she immediately lay motionless, and it was then that Lewis increased the vibrator’s speed and let it roam around her clitoris, avoiding the hard little knot of nerve endings itself but concentrating on the sensitive tissue surrounding it.