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SILK WICKEDNESS 11
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2023-03-19 07:59:51Related chapters
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 12
And to rip that lot up, no doubt. Claudia’s impression of two brick walls had perhaps been understating the situation. Reinforced concrete might be nearer the mark.He, at any rate, would make a very passable concrete wall. No physical defects had been revealed with the shedding of his clothes - no incipient gut or skinny, hairless legs, both of which would have made her go off him instantly.With Anoushka’s words barely cold in her ears, she almost wished she could go off him instantly. ‘Whenever he’s got a rampant thing about somebody . . .*Still, a good erotic fantasy passed the time nicely, especially when you were sitting in the sun with the object of your fantasies within crackling distance.He was wearing a pair of navy shorts-type trunks, not the skimpy, male-knicker type she particularly hated. Firm, interlocking muscles moved under his skin like a mobile jigsaw. There was enough dark brown hair on his chest and legs to indicate abundant male hormones without making him a go
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 13
Slinging everything in her bag, she went inside, wondering whether to call on Superbrat on her way up. Superbrat wouldn’t want to see her, but that was beside the point.Anoushka answered the door with a mutinous expression. ‘Now what?’‘May I come in?’‘If you must.’She flopped back on the bed and picked up one of the magazines that littered it.Claudia sat on the other bed. ‘Was your father spitting nails?’‘I don’t know why you’re asking. You’ve obviously seen him and had an earnest discussion about the enfant terrible .’‘We hardly spoke about you at all.* She wondered instantly whether she’d said the wrong thing. Superbrats generally liked to think they were the centre of everyone’s universe. ‘Look, I know you don’t want me here, but - ’‘I couldn’t care less whether you’re here or not. If Dad wants to shell out on a babysitter I don’t need, that’s his problem.’‘He thought you’d be fed up on your own all day.’Still Anoushka did not look up. ‘If you believe that, you’re even du
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 14
‘It’s not so horrible.’ He picked the scuttling thing up. ‘And it’s not a cockroach either. Look.’Holding back her fluttering fringe, she took a wary step forwards. ‘It’s just a shell!’‘Wait.’ She could hear the amusement in his voice. He came closer, stood right beside her, The Thing on his outstretched palm.For about twenty seconds the shell stayed still. And then it tilted a little and some little legs poked hesitantly out. ‘It’s just a hermit crab,* he said. ‘Just going about its crabby little business.’Her frown vanished. She watched as it crept hesitantly across his palm and stopped again. ‘I do apologize for insulting you,’ she told it, ‘but you really did feel like a cockroach.*He put it back on the sand. When he straightened up there was more than a half-smile on his face. It was more like three-quarters.‘Go on, then,’ she said half defensively. ‘Have a good laugh.’Paradoxically, his smile faded. ‘I wasn’t laughing at you.’As he gazed down at her, her heart and stomac
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 15
Yes, he knew all right. But what had he thought? Mmm, not bad , probably. Coupled with, But Pm not taken enough to start anything that might get complicated .’She’d been standing there like something dished up on a plate with parsley on top and he’d thought, Oh y what the hell. Might as well make her day with a minor thrill.So he’d kissed her and she’d loved it, so he’d kissed her some more. And, being only human, he’d thought he’d test the water with some subtle will-she, won’t-she tactics.They’d been subtle, all right. Just a shivering almost- touch that had whispered, ‘ There's more , if you want it. . .’Just the memory of it made that something in her stomach stir and shift itself again. What was that wretched thing? Why didn’t they tell you such things in O level Biology? Even old Immac would have dealt with it in her own inimitable way.‘ This , girls , is the Lurch organ , which nice girls need know nothing about till they 3 re married. Turn to page sixty-four , please , an
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 16
Anoushka put her pencil down. ‘You’re dying to know why I’m working after I tore everything up yesterday.’Oh, that . ‘I was wondering. Has he threatened you with death?’‘Worse.’Claudia wondered briefly what could be worse. ‘Packing you off to some boarding school in the wilds of Scotland? The kind that believes in porridge for breakfast and lots of good healthy exercise?’‘I’d run away.’Yes, of course you would. ‘What, then?’‘No ski-ing at Christmas.’You poor child. Claudia thought of the pale little faces at Bruin Wood, who thought a few days in the New Forest akin to heaven. Still, it wasn’t Anoushka’s fault she was spoilt rotten.‘And you think he means it?’‘Yep.’ Her face was bent over an A4 pad, hidden by her hair.‘Has he made threats before?’‘Hardly ever, but I could tell he meant this one. Going to Switzerland at Christmas is the thing I love best in the world, and he knows it.’‘You mean you go every Christmas?’She nodded. ‘And every Easter. Ever since I came to live
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 17
Just the thought sent her Lurch organ wild. Oh, God. Just imagine it.The sand would get absolutely everywhere.Who cares?And imagine it afterwards. You’d have felt awful, won - dering if he was thinking you enjoyed quick, no-strings bonks on a regular basis.But when she finally got to bed, Claudia couldn’t help wishing she was the sort of person who could enjoy a quick, no-strings bonk. She had a feeling that memories of even a quick bonk with Guy Hamilton would keep her wonderfully warm during those long winter nights.In theory. In practise, the side-effects would make her wretched. There would be the leaping-to-the-phone-every- time-it-rings side effect, plus the I-wonder-what-disgust- ingly-slim/sexy/hateful-bitch-he’s-with now? side effect.The trouble with you, she told herself, just before drifting off to sleep, is that you can’t fancy someone like mad without falling for them. And the male animal, as we know full well, operates on a different basis. The male animal is led n
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 18
Guy was already out, steadying the boat, and did not miss the fleeting display before she hitched her top back into place. ‘Claudia, do behave yourself,’ he said mildly. ‘You can get ten years for flashing your assets here.'If he’d pretended he hadn’t noticed, she might have behaved with her usual ‘so what?* aplomb. As it was . . .Just to be really perverse, he took her arm as she jumped down. ‘And you call me prehistoric,’ he murmured. ‘I thought blushing went out with hula-hoops.*OK, fifty points to you. And time to even up the score. ‘I really don’t know what you were gawping at. If you haven’t seen a pair of 36Bs before, your education must be sadly lacking.’She walked up the beach very fast. She would have bet her last baiza that there was an infuriating little twitch on his lips. And if there was, she didn’t want to see it.- - - Strenuous exercise before breakfast was all very virtuous, but it would seem to defeat the object if it gave you the appetite of a carthorse. As s
Last Updated : 2023-03-19YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) SILK WICKEDNESS 19
‘I might.’‘See you later, then.’Claudia went back to her room, sorted out a few things for the laundry and wrote a long letter to a friend nowliving in Canada. After that she went to the pool, did twenty lengths and then sat in the shade with the whodunnit, feeling vaguely bored and restless.Over a toasted sandwich lunch with Anoushka at the pool, she turned the conversation after all. ‘I never had all that trouble with snow ski-ing. With snow ski-ing at least you start upright.’Anoushka was sitting beside her in a black swimsuit that screamed ‘expensive ’. The cut was very simple: just one shoulder-strap, high-cut legs and a very low back. She looked much older than sixteen, but that was also due to a figure that owed absolutely nothing to stick-insect supermodels.‘I never had trouble with either of them.’ Anoushka shrugged. ‘I can’t even remember when I started snow skiing. I suppose I was about three.’‘Lucky old you. It must be lovely to learn these things when you’re too yo
Last Updated : 2023-03-19
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YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 23
‘G’day Kerrien, my darling girl, had a nice time?’ She was nodding and smiling encouragingly but Kerrien could say nothing. ‘Lovely day, thank you. It’s good of you to feed me again,’ she added. “Come on in. Make yourself at home,” she urged. ‘Must use the bathroom, if I may,’ Kerrien asked. Brett shoved his mother out of the room and Kerrien could hear the whispered voices rising and falling. ‘For heaven’s sake boy, do I get the champagne out or not?'*I don’t know Mum, she hasn’t given me an answer yet.” Kerrien listened in growing discomfort. She was beginning to feel coerced, trapped. If she said yes, it was going to be for all the wrong reasons. If she said no, she might just be acting foolishly out of some misplaced sense of romanticism. She went slowly back to the family room, where Brett was waiting for her. ‘Do I get my answer yet?’ he asked. The blue eyes were shuttered and she could read nothing from them. “Yes Brett, yes I will marry you.’ She wondered why she didn
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 22
Sleep was impossible and Kerrien paced her room for much of the night. Ashton was evidently going through some personal crisis which seemed to exclude both herself and the children. What was he talking about with her and Brett? News? Excited? He could only think that they were getting engaged. She wondered where he had got that idea. It was the very last thing she would have wanted him to think, when all the time she desperately wanted jum. She also wished that his future with Martine was less certain. Double wedding indeed! Ashton said little the next morning before rushing off to work. She caught him staring at her a couple of times, as if looking for some clue in her face. If he believed something special had recently happened to her, he did not voice his thoughts. ‘I won’t be home for lunch and don’t wait dinner for me tonight. I may be out. Have you decided when you’re going out at the weekend?’ he asked. ‘Saturday, if that’s OK,’ she replied. ‘I'll organize things before I go
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 21
‘I haven’t felt this way about anyone before,’ Brett said. She drew a quick gulp of air and her reeling senses came back to earth. ‘And you’ve had plenty to choose from, I suppose.’ The harsh words hit him like a slap across the face. “I’ve never tried to pretend anything different,” he defended, a hurt expression in his eyes. “Look, you may be innocent or try to give the impression of being innocent but I know a true response when I feel it. Yes, OK, call it experience. Tell me, do you intend going through your entire life celibate and end up a sour spinster?’ ‘I think I'd better go,’ she said, bristling at his accusation. ‘Kerrien, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it. I want you Kerrien, on whatever terms you insist on making. Think about it. I can offer you everything you’ve always wanted.’ His face looked almost child-like in its pleading, like Ben or Jodie begging for just a few minutes longer, before going to bed. She almost smiled at the thought. They may want to stay up longer, Br
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 20
‘I thought you had something vital to tell me,’ Ashton said at lunch. ‘Something that couldn’t wait a moment longer.’ ‘Perhaps I’ve got things in perspective a little better,’ Kerrien replied, twisting her fingers together in her anxiety. ‘What I have to talk about is important but something has come up that I must deal with and quickly. I have to see Brett and the sooner the better.’ He stared at her, peering into her eyes as if he could read something in them, as if he could somehow see into her mind to know what she was thinking. She was an enigma to him. One minute bursting with some news she needed to discuss urgently with him and the next, planning an evening out with her boy-friend. He had no doubt as to the reason for her sudden need to meet Brett. She had to give him an answer to the vital question and having made her decision, she obviously couldn’t wait to tell him. ‘Look, I know it isn’t really my evening off but things have been hectic lately and I am still owed some t
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 19
Kerrien sipped a cup of hot chocolate in the cafeteria, her hands wrapped round the comforting mug. She hoped that Kate and her friend didn’t have the same idea. Kerrien had no prejudices about people’s right to choose their sexual partners but somehow, Kate’s whole attitude to life suddenly seemed to have become clearer. All these nasty, sometimes spiteful . remarks were probably made because Kate didn’t know how to cope with the cards that life had dealt her. She did genuinely seem fond of the children but perhaps felt that Ashton would be less than understanding if he knew that his sister loved another woman. It took some getting used to but Kerrien was convinced that she was not mistaken. The way the two women had looked at and spoken to each other showed quite clearly that they shared a deep relationship. It may also explain why Kate was so resentful of Kerrien. Her easy going manner with people was something of a contrast with Kate’s own more restrained nature. She wondered if
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 18
“So what do you say Kerrien? Will you stay with us, for as long as you can?’ His deep, soft eyes were pleading with her. She felt again that urge to wrap her arms round him and hug him better but she knew that any physical contact with him would spell disaster to her own strength of purpose. ‘Think of the children,’ he added, knowing this was his trurmp card. She genuinely loved them and would never let them suffer. Besides, it would mean that she would still be around in his life and that meant a great deal more than he cared to admit. ‘I need to think about it. I’ll stay for a while, certainly. At least until you have made whatever arrangements you plan to make. Don’t worry.’ Her heart was near breaking as she spoke. She desperately wanted to be gone once Martine was living here. She couldn’t bear to see the other woman doing all the things she wanted to be doing, having the exclusive love of the wonderful man she herself loved so much. If he should ever find out how she felt, she
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 17
Once Ashton had left for work, Kerrien decided that she simply couldn’t face another evening staying at home. She dialled Brett’s number and swallowing her stubborn pride, asked if he was free that evening. She was taking a slight risk that she wouldn’t have to babysit but as she hadn’t taken any time off for ages, it was not unreasonable to expect a free evening. His response was very positive. If he had made other plans, it was not obvious. He suggested a movie and then a meal out. It sounded exactly what she needed to take her mind off things here. When Kate eventually turned up, sometime after eleven, Kerrien had started the lunch preparations. She made some coffee for them both. Kate seemed edgy and moody. Things were evidently not going as well as she would have liked. But, she obviously controlled her wandering thoughts and agreed to mind the children for the evening, if Ashton was out. The woman seemed subdued and uncommunicative, so Kerrien left her alone and went to play wi
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 16
The next few days were difficult. Kate bad only one topic of conversation — the wedding — and seemed totally unaware of the discomfort of those around her. The children were silent and withdrawn, reminiscent of the time when Kerrien had first arrived in Australia. Kerrien herself was thoroughly sick of hearing about the fabulous designer wedding dress Martine was planning, and whether Ben should be dressed in green or cream velvet. Either was equally revolting, or so Kerrien thought and she instinctively knew that Ben would agree! 'I think you should start looking around for another job,” Kate suggested brightly one morning. 'I see. Your idea or Ashton’s?’ Kerrien asked. ‘It must be obvious even to you that this situation can’t go on. Once they’re married, I expect they will be starting a new family and Martine is sure to want someone of her own choice, to look after the new baby as well as Ashton’s two. Besides, Ben will be at school and you surely wouldn’t want to be hanging arou
YOUR LOVE (ROMANTIC SERIES) INTIMATE STRANGERS 15
It was nearly lunch-time when Kerrien returned from her trip to drop Brett home. A quick hallo to Margaret and a coffee before she had left, made her later than she intended. She’d then taken a couple of wrong turnings, her mind pre-occupied. The journey took longer and longer, it seemed. There was strange feeling of unreality about everything, as if she was in the middle some sort of dream that would end when she awoke. The house was quiet and Ashton’s car was missing from its usual place. He must have gone to work, even though she’d thought he wasn’t on duty this weekend. Perhaps he had gone out — to be with his fiancée she thought miserably. She had to keep experimenting with the words, so that she would get used to it. How could he want to marry someone who was so negative towards those two lovely children? It was obvious to anyone with half a mind, that Martine couldn’t care less about them. It was equally clear that the children also felt the same way about their father’s fiancé
