Legacy of Desire (10 page)

‘God, that feels good,’ he moaned.

Pattie felt a surge of power. When she was with Jay he was always the one in control, calling the shots, and normally she liked that but this was deliciously different. Slowly the wonderful sensations drew together, pulling her muscles tightly in on themselves, then she felt her body explode in an ecstasy of sexual release and writhed helplessly as the waves of pleasure swamped her.

Just as her orgasm was finishing Phil’s began. Suddenly he started thrusting himself deep inside her
mouth, and she felt the delicious hot fluid pumping out of him.

‘Enjoying yourselves?’ asked an all-too-familiar voice.

Pattie hastily swallowed the last drops that had spilt from Phil and then sat up, her face flushed, her body still shaking with the aftermath of pleasure. Although shocked, she was glad that Jay had seen them because now he must surely realise that he couldn’t simply ignore her or treat her casually. He’d understand that other men found her attractive too, and she waited for his anger to explode.

‘I said, are you enjoying yourselves?’

Pattie saw that Phil had hurried into the summer-house, slamming the door behind him, unable to face the American while nude and vulnerable. ‘Yes thank you,’ she said pertly.

Jay nodded. ‘I thought you were.’

‘It just happened,’ she explained.

‘You don’t have to apologise. You’re a free agent.’

‘But … ‘

‘You’d better put your clothes on now though,’ continued Jay smoothly. ‘The sun’s going down and you
don’t want to catch a cold.’ With that he walked calmly away as though nothing unusual had happened, leaving Pattie stunned by his indifference.

‘Has he gone?’ hissed Phil, sticking his head round the summerhouse door.

‘Yes.’

‘Did he see it was me?’

‘I don’t suppose he thought it was Father Christmas.’

‘Oh God, what am I going to do?’ exclaimed Phil. ‘He might throw Davina out and she’ll never forgive me.’

‘For what, having her thrown out of the cottage or for having sex with me?’

‘Both.’

‘I don’t think you need worry,’ said Pattie shortly. ‘Jay wasn’t bothered.’

‘What do you mean?’ Phil looked astonished.

‘Just what I said, he wasn’t bothered.’

Phil frowned. Clearly the situation was beyond him. ‘I must get back,’ he muttered. ‘Davina will be wondering where I am.’

‘Did you enjoy it?’ asked Pattie, stretching sensuously, and watching Phil’s eyes flicker towards her perfect breasts.

‘Of course I did. It was the most fantastic sex I’ve ever had.’

Pattie felt a glow of satisfaction. Even if Jay’s reaction had been disappointing, Phil’s wasn’t. He looked like an adolescent who’d just discovered the joys of sex and that made her feel extra good. ‘Then we must do it again,’ she said, getting to her feet and slowly dressing herself, making sure that Phil saw every inch of her in the process.

‘That would be fantastic! The only problem is Davina. I wouldn’t want to hurt her.’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you don’t,’ Pattie assured him.

‘Of course I won’t.’ He went to kiss her but Pattie turned her head away.

‘Time to go back to the girlfriend,’ she reminded him with a laugh, and set off for the main house leaving him staring besottedly after her.

Todd, Tanya and Jay were all waiting for her in the drawing room when she got back. ‘I have to say I had no idea you were that bored,’ remarked Jay. ‘I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t ask Clive to accompany you to the summerhouse.’

‘It wasn’t an assignation,’ said Pattie. ‘We just happened to meet. You know how these things happen.’

Jay nodded. ‘I certainly do. Not very chivalrous is he, your Englishman? He shot off into the summerhouse like a startled rabbit.’

‘He was afraid you were going to hit him, or even worse turn Davina out of her cottage.’

Jay frowned. ‘Why should I turn Davina out of her cottage because her boyfriend’s having sex with you?’

‘Because you were annoyed and jealous, I suppose.’

‘Jealous?’ He looked genuinely astounded. ‘Why the hell should I be jealous?’

‘Most men would be.’

‘I’m not most men. Anyway, I assume you both had a good time and since the pair of you are over the age of consent it really doesn’t concern anyone else, does it?’

Pattie looked at Tanya. ‘Can you believe this guy? He finds me making passionate love to someone else and isn’t even bothered.’

‘You make love to Todd in front of him and that doesn’t bother him. He was hardly likely to be shocked,’ said Tanya gently.

‘That’s different,’ said Pattie, her voice rising. ‘We all share each other. Phil’s an outsider.’

‘You sound as though you only did it to make me jealous,’ remarked Jay.

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I did it because I wanted to.’

‘Good, because I never play the jealousy game.’

‘Talking of playing games,’ Todd interrupted, ‘when are we all gonna play?’

‘Good question,’ murmured Jay. ‘As you know I’ve got to go to London on Monday afternoon. A friend of my father’s has managed to get me into the Old Bailey for the week so that I can see the way the British judicial system works at the very highest level. I won’t be back until Friday night but I thought we’d have one of our games on Sunday.’

Tanya smiled. ‘How lovely. It’s been ages since we all got together like that. Have we got a theme?’

‘I thought voyeurism,’ said Jay.

‘Voyeurism?’ queried Pattie. ‘I’m not going to simply watch everyone. I like taking part.’

‘Hell, we all like taking part,’ said Todd. ‘Which one of us do you think is going to be willing to sit it out, Jay?’

‘None of us,’ said Jay slowly.

‘Then how can it be the theme?’ asked Tanya.

‘I’m going to get Davina to watch.’

There was a sudden silence in the room and Pattie glanced over at Tanya, opened her mouth to protest but then closed it again as Tanya shook her head in a silent warning. Pattie wanted to shout at Jay, to tell him that this wasn’t right, that Davina didn’t belong in their games, but she couldn’t because she was only one of the players. It was Jay who made up the rules.

‘Is that wise?’ asked Todd.

‘You don’t think I’m old enough to know what I’m doing?’ queried Jay, an edge to his voice.

‘Sure, you always know what you’re doing,’ Todd said amiably. ‘I’m just not certain Davina will enjoy it.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to lock her up and keep her prisoner. She’ll be free to leave if she wants to, but my guess is she’ll stay.’

‘What are you going to do, send her an invitation?’ asked Pattie sarcastically.

‘Don’t concern yourself about it,’ said Jay. ‘You weren’t worried about Davina when you were sucking her boyfriend off, so why the concern now? I shall set
it all up in my own way but I don’t expect any of you to give away any secrets. It’s to come as a surprise to her. I want to see her reaction when she realises the kind of things we do.’

‘Could be interesting,’ agreed Todd.

Pattie was livid. This was what she’d dreaded, the gradual encroachment of Davina into their lives, but now, after being caught in the grounds with Phil, she was in no position to argue. All she could do was wait and hope; wait to see how Jay lured Davina into the house, and hope that once she saw what was going on, she left.

‘I still don’t understand how you lost Major,’ persisted Davina as she and Phil got into bed that night.

‘I told you, he ran off after a rabbit or something and I thought he’d doubled back towards the lake. It never occurred to me that he might have come back to the cottage. After all, he hasn’t lived here long. It seemed more likely to me that he’d have tried to go into the main house.’

‘Did you go there and ask if they’d seen him?’ asked Davina.

Phil shook his head. ‘No.’

Davina was baffled. She’d been surprised when Major had arrived home off the lead and without any sign of Phil, but her surprise had turned to anxiety when an hour passed and Phil still hadn’t returned.

Then, when he finally did, he’d seemed strange and acted as though he had some kind of guilty secret. She couldn’t believe that he’d tried to lose the dog. Even though he wasn’t particularly fond of it, he wouldn’t have done something like that, so she couldn’t make out what he was hiding.

‘You haven’t had a row with Jay, have you?’ she asked suddenly.

Phil flushed. ‘About what?’

‘I don’t know, anything. You’re always saying how you dislike him. Please, tell me that you didn’t row with him. I’d never forgive you if I lost this cottage because of you.’

She was certain that she again saw guilt in Phil’s eyes for a moment but then he turned his back on her and settled down to sleep. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I didn’t have a row with Jay. I’d never do anything to jeopardise you keeping this cottage, surely you know me better than that.’

‘But you’re hiding something from me,’ persisted Davina. ‘You’re a hopeless liar, Phil, you always have been. Come on, tell me what it is.’

‘If you must know I was watching those two women. They were both sitting on the summerhouse steps with next-to-nothing on and I watched them from the copse opposite. Pathetic, isn’t it? I wasn’t going to tell you because I was thoroughly ashamed of myself, but since you’ve kept on and on about it you might as well know the truth.’

Davina felt nothing but relief. ‘Is that all? I wish you’d told me earlier.’

‘I thought you’d go mad.’

Davina nearly laughed. Compared with what Jay made her do, Phil watching Pattie and Tanya was nothing but she couldn’t tell him that. ‘I know you like Pattie,’ she murmured, as she too settled down to sleep. ‘I don’t blame you, she’s a very pretty girl.’

‘What do you mean, like her?’ demanded Phil, propping himself up on one elbow. ‘I hope you’re not suggesting that I fancy her.’

Davina was surprised at his reaction. ‘Yes, I think you do fancy her a little, but it doesn’t bother me.
Hardly likely to come to anything, is it? I don’t blame you for looking, most men would.’

‘Why do you say it won’t come to anything?’

‘What are you on about?’ asked Davina in surprise. ‘I assume it won’t come to anything because you’re with me. I mean, you are faithful to me, aren’t you? Or isn’t Pattie the first blonde girl who’s caught your eye since we’ve been together?’

‘Of course I’m faithful to you,’ said Phil, putting his head back on the pillow. ‘I thought you were trying to say that a girl like that wouldn’t be interested in me.’

‘No that wasn’t what I meant,’ said Davina sleepily. ‘Mind you, I don’t imagine that she would be.’

Within a few minutes she could hear Phil snoring slightly and knew that he was asleep. Unfortunately sleep didn’t come so easily to her. She realised that she was already anticipating Monday morning, when Jay would call to collect his rent. She wondered what would happen this time, how far he would go. Would he allow her frantic body any kind of satisfaction, or did he intend to keep her in a state of sexual frustration and desire? In the end she supposed it didn’t really matter, the only thing that mattered was that he came.

On the Monday morning Davina waited excitedly for Jay. She was certain that this time he
would
touch her because it seemed a natural progression. She sensed that for him part of the pleasure of the game was the slow pace at which he was taking his strange seduction, but when he finally arrived her spirits sank. It was clear from his dark formal suit and the fact that his car was parked in the drive that he wasn’t intending to stay.

‘Did you want to come in?’ she asked.

‘Your eagerness is flattering. Unfortunately I gotta go to London for the week.’

Davina felt very angry, both with herself and with
him. ‘I wasn’t being eager, I was being polite,’ she said icily.

‘I will come in for a few minutes, there’s something I need to talk to you about.’

Thoroughly annoyed, Davina decided that he could sit in the kitchen. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to faze him at all and he sat without hesitation on one of the small wooden chairs, despite the fact that he was really too large for it. ‘I’ll be at the Old Bailey all this week,’ he began.

‘They’ve found you out, have they?’

He gave a thin smile. ‘I’m going to be studying your judicial system. It should be interesting. I can always discuss it with your boyfriend the next time we meet.’

‘What did you need to talk to me about?’ asked Davina, determined not to be side-tracked by his small-talk.

‘When I come back I wanna hold a dinner party for four at the main house. Sunday night would be best.’

‘That’s for you, Pattie, Todd and Tanya, is it?’ enquired Davina.

‘Did I say that?’

‘No, but I assumed …’

‘Never assume anything. I want you to choose all your favourite dishes for the menu. I guess Phil will be here that weekend?’

Davina nodded. She wondered what an evening spent in the company of Jay, Pattie and Phil would be like. Exhilarating probably, and far more intimate than when the other two Americans had been present. All at once her excitement, previously subdued when she learnt he was going away, began to rise again. ‘It’ll be a pleasure.’

Jay nodded. ‘I thought it would. We’ll dine at eight-thirty. I’m sure you and the cook can get everything organised before I get back Friday night.’

‘I’ll leave a copy of the menu at the main house for you,’ said Davina.

‘Great! See you next weekend then.’

‘I hope you manage to learn something while you’re away,’ said Davina, walking to the front door with him.

‘I make a point of learning something every day.’

‘How noble,’ remarked Davina. ‘That sounds like something you’d find in a fortune cookie.’

‘I did see it in a fortune cookie.’ He laughed, and with that he was gone.

The week flew by. She was coming to the end of the sci-fi drawings and knew that soon she’d have to send them off to the publisher. As the deadline drew nearer so the pressure on her increased. At the same time she worked hard to make sure that the Sunday dinner party was perfect down to the last detail, even arranging the decor for the table settings.