Forbidden Desires (14 page)

‘Excellent,’ said Edmund. ‘Perhaps it’s time for me to take my turn.’

He waited a few moments for Harriet’s body to recover and then lay down on top of her. She found herself trapped between the two men, and the sensation was so new and thrilling that she felt her body begin to swell at the mere thought of what was happening to her.

Edmund moved his body up and down over hers. He rubbed his nipples against her breasts, swirled his tongue in her ear and rotated his lower body hard against hers, slipping one leg between her thighs and then ordering the other man to bring his legs together so that Harriet’s clitoris was stimulated by it.

She was utterly lost. Her body was nothing but a mass of incredible sensations and her excitement had driven away all sense of fear or shame. This was what she wanted from Edmund, this was what she’d sensed he could show her, and she was revelling in every minute of it.

Gently Edmund slid his rigid erection up her inner channel and then positioned his legs outside those of the other man which meant that Harriet’s legs were closed tightly around his shaft
and her clitoral stimulation was greater.

He knew that he wouldn’t last very long, that the preliminaries had taken all his self-control, but he didn’t care because he also knew that after this Harriet would return for more. He moved quickly but rhythmically inside her, and she clenched the walls of her vagina tightly about him, determined to force him into a speedy orgasm because that was what she wanted.

Edmund didn’t resist. He allowed her to milk him, to draw his seed upwards and just as he came he shouted for the other man to lift his hips and this slight alteration of angle meant that Harriet came at the same time, almost sobbing with the intensity of the moment.

At last Edmund collapsed on top of her, ignoring the man trapped beneath them both. ‘You were magnificent,’ he murmured, and behind her blindfold Harriet basked in his admiration.

When he’d recovered, Edmund got up and carefully untied Harriet’s wrists and ankles before pulling her to her feet, allowing the man to slip out of the room before he finally removed her blindfold. She looked around, seeking some clue as to his identity.

‘You know who it was, really,’ said Edmund.

She recalled the firmly muscled body of the man, his height and the easy way in which he’d restrained her. ‘Yes, I suppose I do, but I’d rather it was kept a secret.’

‘Of course,’ agreed Edmund. ‘There are many
things that are better left to the imagination. What will you tell Lewis you were doing while he was at the pub?’ he added casually.

Harriet smiled. ‘I’m not sure, and right at this moment I’m not too bothered. He’s the one who keeps leaving us alone together.’

‘I don’t want him told,’ said Edmund sharply.

Harriet, who knew that Lewis would learn every detail either from herself or from some camera that she was certain he had concealed in the room, looked at him questioningly. ‘Why not?’

‘Because he isn’t the kind of man you should make a fool of.’

‘I don’t suppose many men are,’ murmured Harriet.

‘Just the same, be careful,’ said Edmund. ‘I’ve got a lot of money riding on your husband. The last thing I want to do is upset the status quo at this point in time.’

Harriet wanted to laugh when she thought about what Edmund would think if he knew that he was the one being used, and that Lewis had counted on him to seduce her in order to be able to script the very film that Edmund wanted to make him money, but she didn’t think that Edmund would appreciate the joke.

Pulling her dress over her still tingling flesh, she turned to leave the room and was surprised when Edmund caught hold of her arm. ‘Aren’t you going to kiss me before you go?’ he asked softly.

‘No,’ replied Harriet.

‘Why not?’

‘A kiss is a gesture of affection, or even love. That isn’t what this is all about.’

He nodded. ‘How wise you are, Harriet. It’s strange, but I thought women had to be emotionally involved before they could lose all their inhibitions in the way you did just now.’

‘Did you?’ asked Harriet. ‘Then it seems that you don’t know everything.’ But as she made her way to her own room in order to bath and change she wondered if he was right. She hoped not, because if she became emotionally involved with Edmund it would lead to nothing but disaster for them all.

In the crowded Cornish pub Lewis sat drinking a pint of real ale and jotted down notes on a small pad while Noella watched him thoughtfully. ‘It’s all grist to your mill, Lewis, isn’t it?’ she laughed at last. ‘Even a quiet drink in a pub is an opportunity to study people.’

‘I won’t be coming back to Cornwall. I have to get the people right,’ he retorted.

‘Has marrying Harriet stopped you fancying other women?’ she murmured as a tall leggy blonde walked by their table and smiled warmly at him.

‘Hardly. It just stops me doing anything about it.’

‘You mean you’re intending to be faithful?’

With a sigh Lewis put down his pad. ‘All right, you’ve got my attention. What are you trying to say?’

‘Only this, honey: your lovely young bride isn’t the kind of lady who should be neglected. She may not have such good self-control as you, since she doesn’t have any job to consume her passion when sex is lacking.’

‘Sex isn’t lacking from our marriage!’ laughed Lewis.

‘But you leave her alone a lot,’ Noella pointed out.

‘She isn’t alone. Edmund is there with her.’

‘And you trust Edmund?’ asked Noella in astonishment.

Lewis leant back in his chair and looked at her through narrowed eyes. ‘Don’t you?’

‘Not one bit, and certainly not with a beautiful sexy girl like Harriet.’

‘Then why are you here with me? You could have stayed at Penruan and acted as chaperone.’

‘I’d made other plans but they were cancelled at the last moment and I didn’t fancy an evening in.’

‘Did these other plans include Oliver Kesby by any chance?’

Noella nodded. ‘They did. We had a great time last night, and were all booked up for tonight when he stood me up. He said he’d forgotten he’d promised to see some friends, but I don’t believe him.’

‘Why not? He seems very smitten. I don’t think he’d pass up the chance of some time alone with you if he could help it,’ said Lewis.

‘Are you taken with me, Lew?’ murmured
Noella, reaching out across the table and running her fingers round the inside of his hand which was resting palm uppermost on the table.

‘You’re a very exciting and sexy woman,’ said Lewis carefully.

Noella gave a short laugh. ‘In other words, you don’t fancy me.’

‘Perhaps I’ve known you too long. We’re friends, you know that, but there’s no sexual chemistry there, at least not for me.’

Noella had known what the answer would be but she was still disappointed. ‘How about Harriet’s friend? Do you fancy her?’

‘I’m busy with a film script and I’m also on my honeymoon! I haven’t given Ella more than a fleeting glance.’

Noella leant forward, her elbows on the table. ‘This film, Lewis. What’s it about?’

‘Forbidden desires.’

She shivered with mock excitement. ‘How intriguing. What kind of forbidden desires?’

‘The kind that cause disasters,’ said Lewis slowly. ‘The kind that lead people to do thoroughly reckless things, things they may regret for the rest of their lives, simply because the lure of the forbidden is more than they can resist.’

‘You’re talking about sex I take it?’ queried Noella.

Lewis let out a soft sigh. ‘I was when I first began the film, but now I’m realising that it can be other things too. Take me for instance. You
rightly point out that I could be risking my marriage to the one woman who I know can make me happy in order to get on with a film that’s proving more and more alluring with every day that passes. I don’t suppose that’s too different from a forbidden sexual thrill.’

‘Does it all end happily?’ enquired Noella.

‘I’ve no idea.’

‘You should put Oliver and me in it,’ said Noella innocently. ‘He’s just the sort of man I know I should stay away from. He’s too young for me, and too poor, but he offers the kind of sex I like best and don’t get any more. Wouldn’t you say that’s a risky combination?’

‘Yes, I would. So, what makes you let it happen?’

She grinned. ‘Like you say, the fact that I know I shouldn’t!’

‘Surely you and Edmund are happy?’ probed Lewis, and Noella was surprised at how worried he looked.

‘We used to be, but it’s not the same these days. I’m getting tired of being what Edmund wants rather than what I want. I guess I’ve spent too long pretending to be something I’m not. Basically I’m a simple girl from a simple background.’

‘With expensive tastes!’ Lewis pointed out.

‘Yeah, unfortunately with expensive tastes. But it’s not just one-way; Edmund is getting tired of me. He knows my heart isn’t in it these days and that’s kind of irritating for him.’

‘You mean he’s tired of the marriage too?’ asked Lewis in genuine dismay.

‘I sure as hell don’t see us lasting another ten years,’ said Noella, without any apparent distress. ‘We’ve had a good time but we’ve grown apart. He needs someone different. Someone more like Harriet, I’d say.’

The colour drained from Lewis’s face, but he tried to make light of her remark. ‘There aren’t many girls like Harriet around.’

‘Then maybe you should concentrate on hanging on to the one you’ve got.’

Lewis shook his head. ‘You don’t understand, Noella. I have to be able to trust her.’

‘She’s very much in love with you,’ said Noella. ‘What’s the point in deliberately putting temptation in her path? It isn’t fair to either of you.’

‘I can’t turn back now,’ muttered Lewis. ‘There’s too much riding on it.’

‘Well, have it your own way, but I think you’re a fool. Say, isn’t that your friend Mark coming in the door?’

Lewis glanced up. ‘Great. I hoped he might turn up. Look, Noella, as he is here I really should talk business with him. Will you be all right if I get you another drink and join him at the bar, or would you rather go back to Penruan?’

‘I’ll go back to Penruan,’ said Noella, making no attempt to hide her feelings of surprise. ‘But I must say, Lewis, that you’ve got a great deal more selfish in the past few months.’

‘Well, that’s what happens when people are
depending on you to make them a lot of money, like your husband,’ said Lewis.

‘She looked ticked off,’ commented Mark as the two of them sat down by the bar. ‘Edmund not keeping her happy?’

‘It seems not,’ said Lewis. ‘I just hope he isn’t keeping anyone else too happy either. Get your pen out, we’ve a lot to discuss.’

Chapter Seven

WHEN NOELLA ARRIVED
back at Penruan after her evening at the pub with Lewis, she was surprised to encounter Oliver leaving the house, and he looked both surprised and embarrassed to see her.

‘I hope you and your friends had a good evening,’ she said sarcastically as her mind raced, trying to work out what he could have been doing in the house.

‘It was all right,’ he murmured, trying to slip past her, but Noella refused to let him off so lightly.

‘Is there something wrong in the house?’ she enquired.

‘Wrong?’

‘I thought you must be doing some kind of late night service.’ Noella had a distinct edge to her voice.

Oliver, who thought Noella was the sexiest
woman he’d ever made love to, wished that he could tell her the truth: that Edmund had told him he knew of the younger man’s affair with his wife but would turn a blind eye to it providing he helped him this evening. ‘There was an air-lock in the water system,’ he said quickly.

‘Who called you out?’

‘Your husband. Noella, can we meet up tomorrow evening instead? I’d really like to see you again.’

‘I’ll let you know,’ said Noella shortly, her pride already bruised by Lewis’s behaviour earlier.

Oliver suddenly reached out and pulled her towards him, his mouth covering hers in a fiercely urgent kiss as his hands pinioned the sides of her arms. ‘I really want you,’ he whispered.

Noella pulled herself free and then let one of her hands travel down the front of his jeans. Despite his experience earlier that night, Oliver was relieved to find that he was hard again and he watched Noella’s expression with pride. ‘I can tell that you do,’ she conceded, smiling at last. ‘I’ll try and arrange something. How would you feel about a threesome?’ she added thoughtfully.

Oliver swallowed. He didn’t think he could tell her that he’d just taken part in one – albeit in a minor role – and found it incredibly arousing. ‘It depends on the sex of the third person,’ he said slowly. ‘I’d enjoy two women, but not another man.’

‘It was a woman I had in mind,’ Noella assured
him, thinking of Ella. ‘It’s something that always turns me on. I’ll work on it.’

‘Fine,’ agreed Oliver, his head spinning. On the way back to his cottage he thanked his good fortune in having Lewis and his entourage choose Penruan for their six week stay in England.

Later that night Noella climbed into bed and joined Edmund, who was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. ‘I take it you had an enjoyable evening?’ she asked.

‘Excellent thank you. Was Lewis good company?’

‘No, he was not! I don’t understand that man. I tried to warn him about the dangers of neglecting Harriet but I don’t think he listened. He was more interested in his next film.’

‘You did what?’ asked Edmund, sitting upright and glaring at her.

‘Warned him about leaving Harriet alone so much.’

‘I’ve never interfered in your extra-marital activities and I don’t expect you to start interfering in mine now,’ said Edmund coldly.

‘Why not? My affairs have never threatened our marriage – Harriet does.’

‘And that worries you?’ he asked sardonically.

‘Of course it does,’ said Noella fiercely. ‘I told Lewis it didn’t, that our marriage was virtually over, but that was only to try and prod him into some kind of action. I need you, Edmund, you know that.’

‘I don’t know any such thing. You need my
money, but in the event of a divorce I’d be more than generous, I promise you.’