Forbidden Desires (3 page)

Noella had finished talking now and, as Edmund began to tell a story to Harriet, she looked over to where Lewis was standing. Noella had always found his tall, dark good looks incredibly sexy, and could never look at his golden brown hands without wondering what they’d feel like on her body. She knew that she
was of little interest to him. It was a pity because she felt sure they’d go well together, but desire was something you couldn’t force, it was either there or it wasn’t, and she would have bet all the money she had on the fact that as far as she was concerned, Lewis felt no desire at all.

But with regard to Harriet it was clearly a very different story. Noella remembered the way Lewis had behaved when he’d been married to Rowena, and it wasn’t at all the way he was behaving around Harriet. Then, despite the fact that he was married to an international sex symbol, he’d seemed distant and detached. He’d been a challenge to almost every woman he met, but always remote. With Harriet he made his feelings plain. He was forever touching her or making eye contact. She thought that for the first time ever he felt a sense of antagonism towards Edmund, although she couldn’t imagine why, since it was highly unlikely that even Edmund would initiate an affair with the new wife of America’s hottest film director, especially when he was putting up the money for Lewis’s next project and hoping to make a fortune from it.

In any case, it was Lewis who’d suggested they all spend the holiday together which, now that she’d seen him with Harriet, was very strange indeed. Honeymoons were meant for two people, not four, even when the bride and groom had been living together for over two years prior to the wedding. She wondered exactly what was going on.

‘Aren’t you having any tea?’ Harriet asked Lewis, suddenly aware that he wasn’t taking part in the general chatter.

‘Sure, pour me a cup, will you? I’m just looking at the view,’ he said distantly.

Harriet placed a cup for him on the table by her chair and a few minutes later he came and sat at her feet. Without thinking, she let one hand drop onto his head and, very slowly, lightly massaged his scalp with her fingers. With a sigh of contentment, Lewis let his head fall back against her knees and his left hand caress her ankle, the fingers encircling the bones in a soft rhythmic movement.

Noella smiled to herself and glanced at Edmund. To her surprise, he was staring at the newlyweds with a look of sexual hunger on his face. When he realised that she was looking at him, he turned to her and his face became expressionless again, but for that one brief moment she’d seen naked desire in his eyes and fear touched her.

‘How about taking that bath we talked about earlier?’ she suggested brightly.

‘You go first,’ said Edmund with a polite smile. ‘I can wait a while. I’d rather like to eat another scone before I move off this sofa.’

‘I can wait,’ replied Noella.

‘No, you go ahead,’ insisted Edmund. ‘I know how badly you feel the cold.’

‘Hey, we were going to bath together, remember?’ said Noella angrily.

Harriet’s hand stopped moving over Lewis’s scalp and she looked at Noella and Edmund in surprise. Lewis simply laughed and continued stroking his wife’s ankle.

Edmund shrugged at Harriet’s expression. ‘What can I say? Noella’s a very impatient woman!’

‘And a lucky one!’ laughed Harriet, anxious to dispel any momentary awkwardness.

As soon as she’d spoken, Lewis’s hand stilled and he too looked across at Edmund, waiting to hear his friend’s reply.

‘I don’t think I can really answer that,’ said Edmund in an amused tone of voice. ‘If I say yes it sounds like boasting and if I say no then—’

‘Harriet will lose interest!’ interrupted Lewis.

Harriet laughed, but Noella didn’t. ‘Come on, Eddie,’ she said, trying to disguise her irritation.

Edmund’s breath caught in his throat. ‘Don’t call me that, Noella, you know I hate it,’ he said sharply.

‘Yeah, well, I hate being kept waiting, you know that, too.’ With a sigh Edmund got up from the sofa and followed his wife from the room.

Alone together, Harriet continued to caress her husband’s head and neck, but although Lewis stroked her leg and even let his hand wander up inside her skirt to the soft flesh of her inner thigh, there was a warning bell sounding inside his head. He’d imagined that Edmund and Noella had a sound marriage. If he’d been wrong then he might very well have set up a far more dangerous scenario than he’d intended.

Chapter Two

LEWIS SAT AT
the head of the table in the dining room that evening and wished that he wasn’t always viewing life through the lens of a camera. No matter how many times he told himself that he’d take part in a social gathering rather than view it as an outsider, he ended up simply watching it, and tonight was no exception.

He decided that Harriet’s 40s-style dress with its fitted waist, capped sleeves and padded shoulders, would have to go for the film. The colour was fine, primrose-yellow with grey dots, and the detailed lacing down the front was extremely sexy, but the long flared panels of the skirt would need to be shortened and thin shoulder straps would replace the padded coat-hanger look.

As for Noella, her brilliant scarlet silk jacket worn over a floral printed skirt and tunic top, both patterned with huge red roses, was too
overwhelming for close-ups. It was fine seen from a distance, and it suited her, but the outfit would have to be more restrained if it was to work effectively on the large screen. He was trying to work out what colour he’d use instead when Harriet spoke.

‘Is there something wrong, Lewis?’ she asked mildly.

He blinked and tried to clear his thoughts. ‘Wrong?’

‘You keep staring at us, first Noella and then me.’

‘I’m sorry, I was miles away,’ he said with one of his quick stomach-turning smiles. Noella immediately forgave him; in any case, she was used to Edmund drifting off into his own world at meal times, but Harriet was less easily appeased. She guessed what Lewis was doing, and the fact that he was doing it on the first night of their honeymoon was infuriating.

Deciding to pay him back she turned and smiled at Edmund. ‘Isn’t the room lovely?’ she said softly. ‘It’s so relaxing.’

Edmund, who had been pricing the cost of the dark carved-oak chairs and table along with the bright yellow and blue curtains suspended from a sturdy wooden pole by heavy oak rings, nodded thoughtfully. ‘I suppose it is. It’s certainly a peaceful place here. We could be the survivors of some nuclear war for all the signs of other human habitation. Actually I was admiring the collection of china over there. They must have set Oliver
back a few pence.’

‘Who’s Oliver?’ enquired Harriet.

Edmund glanced across the table at his wife. ‘Perhaps you should really ask Noella. She paid him more attention than I did.’

‘Oliver Kesby is our landlord,’ said Noella shortly. ‘Edmund mentioned him earlier, don’t you remember?’

‘Sorry, I must have been thinking about something else at the time,’ admitted Harriet.

‘That’s because you haven’t seen him,’ said Edmund with a half-smile. ‘He’s what Noella always calls “a hunk”.’

‘He’s just a nice looking young man,’ retorted Noella, who had been in a less than cheerful mood ever since coming down to dinner. Harriet assumed that her bath-time had turned out to be less enjoyable than she’d anticipated.

‘I must keep my eye out for him then,’ Harriet said brightly.

‘I’m sure you won’t have any need of Oliver Kesby,’ said Edmund, turning to look directly into Harriet’s eyes. ‘As I remember, Lewis has the reputation of keeping his women more than satisfied – until he tires of them, that is!’

‘I can’t imagine who told you that,’ said Lewis, suddenly very alert with all thought of film direction banished from his mind.

‘I have my spies.’ Edmund sounded amused, as though he knew that he’d annoyed Lewis.

‘I’m sure I won’t
need
him,’ agreed Harriet, ‘but there’s no harm in keeping something in reserve.
After all, Lewis intends to work for some of the time. When he’s working I might want to play!’

‘If you need someone to play with, promise you’ll tell me before you start involving Oliver?’ queried Edmund, putting a hand on Harriet’s bare arm.

She smiled at him. ‘I don’t honestly think it’s very likely, but yes, I promise.’

Lewis, who had leant forward to hear the words, was distracted at the last moment by Mrs Webster placing a huge bowl of lasagne in front of him, so he missed what was said and instead simply saw the picture of fleeting intimacy as Edmund’s hand touched his wife’s arm and her smiling directly at him, her eyes shining with either amusement or admiration.

‘That looks great,’ enthused Noella.

Mrs Webster smiled. ‘One of my specials. I’m famous for my lasagnes, and my shepherds’ pies, as Mr Kesby can vouch for only too well. Now, I’ll fetch the green salad and then leave you all to help yourselves. There are desserts in the kitchen on the worktop. I usually leave about now, if that’s all right with you, sir?’ she added, looking at Lewis.

He nodded, his mind miles away. ‘Of course, anything you like,’ he murmured.

‘You shouldn’t say that,’ Noella told him, once Mrs Webster had left the room. ‘Next thing you know she’ll be going off home in the middle of the afternoon.’

Lewis frowned. ‘I shouldn’t say what?’

‘That she can do anything she likes.’

Lewis sighed. ‘Don’t you see, Noella, I have to say that, otherwise I might lose her.’

Noella frowned. ‘Lose Mrs Webster?’

Lewis’s dark eyes turned even darker and his mouth tightened. ‘I wasn’t talking about Mrs Webster.’

‘No,’ said Noella softly. ‘I’ve just realised that.’

After they’d begun to eat, an awkward silence descended. For once Noella’s bubbly chatter seemed to have deserted her, and Lewis seemed to be brooding on something, while Edmund, never particularly talkative, was always quite happy to remain silent.

Feeling slightly desperate, Harriet decided to try to draw Noella out a little. ‘I’ve never heard the name Noella before,’ she remarked. ‘Is it common in your part of America?’

‘Do you mean in strip clubs?’ enquired Edmund smoothly.

Noella flashed him a look of puzzled annoyance. ‘It’s not my real name, honey,’ she replied. ‘I was christened Ella. It seems I was a real handful because my parents were forever having to say “no” to me, so much so that the first time I was asked what my name was I said it was “No Ella” and it seemed to stick.’

Harriet laughed. ‘That’s a wonderful story.’

‘The whole of Noella’s life’s a wonderful story,’ said Edmund.

Lewis felt another twinge of unease. He’d never known Edmund and Noella bicker publicly with each other, and it seemed to him that it was
Edmund causing most of the trouble. He wished that he’d taken the trouble to check out the state of the Mitchells’ marriage before he’d set up this scenario, but it was too late to change the cast now.

‘Did you see the pitch-and-putt course, Edmund?’ asked Lewis, deciding it was time he tried to smooth things over a little.

Edmund nodded. ‘Going to try and take some money off me, are you?’

‘As long as you haven’t been having golf lessons behind my back, yes.’

‘I don’t do anything behind your back,’ said Edmund.

Lewis tried to smile, knowing that he must encourage rather than discourage the situation that was already developing. ‘I’m glad to hear it. I must say, I thought the grounds looked wonderful. Hopefully the sun will shine enough for you girls to use the pool.’

‘I suppose Oliver services it,’ said Harriet.

‘He’ll probably service anything we ask him to,’ retorted Edmund. ‘What do you think, Noella?’

His wife smiled over-brightly at him. ‘I reckon you’re right, honey. I certainly intend to make sure we get full value for money while we’re here.’

‘She’s more careful with your money than she is with mine,’ complained Edmund, but he smiled as he spoke. Harriet wasn’t sure if the remark was meant to be taken seriously or not.

Listening to the other couple, Lewis suddenly
didn’t care. He’d finished his lasagne, had no desire for a dessert and no desire for coffee. All that he wanted now was to take Harriet upstairs and consummate their marriage.

To everyone’s surprise including his own, he stood up, nearly tipping his chair over in his haste. ‘I’m sure you two won’t mind if Harriet and I go up now,’ he said, his eyes smoky with desire. Noella felt her stomach turn over as she thought of the kind of night that lay ahead for Harriet.

‘No coffee?’ asked Edmund in mock-surprise.

‘Not here; if I drink anything it’s going to be champagne in the bedroom.’

‘But what will you drink it from?’ continued Edmund, his gaze challenging. ‘A glass, or something more exciting?’

‘Definitely not a glass. Harriet, what do you say?’

Harriet hadn’t yet finished her lasagne, but she wasn’t hungry for food, and hadn’t been when the meal began. Like Lewis she was suddenly consumed with need and, blushing very slightly, she too pushed her chair back from the table. ‘It has been a long day,’ she admitted.

‘No doubt it will be matched with a long night,’ murmured Edmund beneath his breath. Harriet heard him, but she didn’t acknowledge the words. At that moment all that interested her was Lewis.

‘Well,’ exclaimed Noella as the couple left the room, ‘I guess that’s what being newly married
does for you. It sure beats being told to take a bath on my own.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Edmund, ‘I’ll make it up to you later.’

‘She’s cute, isn’t she – Harriet, I mean,’ said Noella.

Edmund nodded. ‘She’s very cute, she’s also very intelligent and extremely good company. All in all I’d say she’s more than Lewis deserves.’

‘Really? Why do you say that?’ enquired Noella, moving towards the door as she went to fetch their desserts.

‘You know Lewis, he’s too selfish. For him fiction is always more interesting than fact. Who else would have let Rowena Farmer slip through their fingers?’

‘I was never sure she did slip, honey,’ replied Noella, placing a bowl of strawberries and a pot of clotted cream in front of him. ‘I had the feeling she was dropped by those capable-looking hands.’