He held her quietly for a moment, but before long they could hear someone else beginning to descend the stairs. When she slid from his lap, her hungry sex filling with air as his massive cock evacuated her, she thought she would fall to the floor, but he grabbed her with one hand as he used the other to fumble with his flies. She wanted to turn around, to get on her knees and taste that sticky cock, covered with her own juices and his semen, to lick it clean.
Instead, they stumbled through the open doorway, giggling like teenagers as they did so. For a few seconds it was completely dark and they couldn’t see anything, and Daniel let out a cry as he bashed his head on a low-hanging rock, something that made both of them laugh out loud. Then a string of fairy lights appeared around a corner, lighting their way as they slowly groped along the cold, dank walls. At last, ahead of them the passageway opened up to the light and they re-emerged at last into the light.
Kris was still damp between her legs, and she could feel a lukewarm stickiness that was both intoxicating and faintly repulsive. “Oh God,” she murmured, hugging Daniel’s arm and jumping up for a moment to land a peck on his cheek. “I feel a complete mess.”
He grinned at her, then looked down at himself. The front of his trousers were marked and messy and, for the first time since she had known him, he looked genuinely embarrassed. “Great,” he laughed apologetically. “You’re not the only one. Come on, let’s go and clean up.”
As they walked down the hill towards nearby toilets, several people stared at them either in curiosity or, in a couple of cases, with something approaching disgust as they recognised the cause of Daniel’s predicament. Kris still had no knickers on—her lover had not thought to return them to her—and a cool breeze blew between her thighs. “Can I have those back?” she asked, gesturing to his pocket.
He shook his head. “No. A trophy, I think. Anyway, if I have to go around in a state for the rest of the afternoon, I want you to share my predicament.”
This made her laugh and she entered the lavatory, cleaning herself in a cubicle as much as she could and, when she was sure no-one else was around, splashing water from a basin between her legs.
When she came outside, Daniel was already waiting for her. His own attempts at self-cleansing had resulted in a large, damp patch across his crotch which, if anything, drew more attention to him than before.
“Come on,” she said, gesturing to a nearby garden where waiters were serving drinks. “Let’s get a coffee while you dry off.”
“Well, that was fun,” he said as they sat down beside a metal table. A waiter came over to them almost immediately. He was handsome in a conventional way, with dark hair and eyes and a swagger to his step that made it clear that he knew what women thought of him. He was also evidently keen to serve Kris, attracted no doubt by the flush of her cheeks and sparkle in her eye.
“Senhor, Senhora,” he said, directing his attention only briefly to Daniel.
“Two coffees, please,” she answered in Portuguese. “And two pasteis as well.”
The waiter dipped his head and glanced towards Daniel again, his smile fixed as in this position he could clearly see the dark stain across Daniel’s trousers.
“Don’t worry about him,” Kris continued, her eyes glinting. “He’s an old man and suffers from incontinence.”
“What did you say?” asked Daniel as the waiter left them in some confusion.
“I asked for coffee and cakes for my handsome lover,” Kris replied with a wicked smile.
Daniel shook his head. “Somehow I don’t believe you,” he told her with mock pain. “Not that it matters. Can’t believe I—we—just did that.”
“It was fun. This whole place is fun. Thank you for bringing me here,” she said, leaning across the table to kiss him fully on the lips.
The waiter was returning with their drinks and stared at the two of them now with something approaching contempt. They ignored him, however, and drank their coffees and ate the small custard pastries in peace.
After the garden, Daniel called Filipe. “Yes,” he said. “I know I said a bit longer, but I thought we’d go to the castle... Don’t worry. Finish your meal.... We’ll see you in half an hour... at the gates to the Quinta da Regaleira.”
By the time they had dawdled through the house, as ostentatious, gaudy and wonderful as the gardens, and come to the main gate Filipe was there to meet them. Holding the door open for her, Daniel let Kris get into the car first and then shuffled alongside her, passing instructions to Filipe to drive them both to the castle.
As they wound along the steep road that led to the Castelo dos Mouros, Kris held onto Daniel’s arm, nuzzling against him. The patch on his trousers was, to his relief, drying now, but he smirked when she pointed this out to him. She was glad. He looked relaxed, completely at peace.
Daniel dropped them off at the entrance to the castle itself and, joining the queue of tourists, they paid and entered, following the tree-lined path that led alongside the huge, stone walls of the ancient fortress. Built by the Moors first of all, its conquest by Afonso had marked a turning in the tide. Since then, it had been added to and expanded over the centuries, and while parts of it lay in ruins its solid walls still ran along the mountain top in dramatic fashion.
They passed beneath the gatehouse and walked through the central ruin, coming to the front walls that had been renovated in recent years. Kris went ahead, almost skipping as she ran up the steps and, behind her, Daniel raised an eyebrow as the wind lifted her skirt, showing a brief glimpse of her buttocks as she moved.
She was oblivious to everything, however. This was a place she had known before and loved. Her father had brought her here, lifting her on his shoulders so that she could look down over the valley in which lay Sintra as well as across the mountains and hills to the blue, shining Atlantic.
The parapet of the castle wall was low, and the wind was much breezier up her. Kris had to hold down her skirt while she gripped onto one of the crenellations in front of her. She was admiring the beautiful view—even more beautiful than her memory—when Daniel finally came and stood beside her.
“I want to go up there,” she said, pointing to one of the towers that dotted the walls, a narrow stair leading up the outside of its stone walls. Daniel said nothing but nodded tersely.
By the time they came to the top, he able to see much more than her modesty as she climbed in front of him, she felt alive and buzzing with vitality. Daniel, however, was silent, and when he stood beside her, his fingers almost digging into the stone, she noticed that his knuckles were white and his face pale.
“Are you okay?” she asked, resting her hand gently on his arm.
“You know that bit in Vertigo, when Jimmie Stewart tries to run up into the bell tower after Kim Novak and can’t move...”
“Yes,” she replied, frowning.
“Well, I feel a bit like that now.”
“Oh, you big pussy!” she said, mock-punching him on the arm. “You’re safe as houses up here.”
“Houses maybe. It’s castles I’m not so sure about.”
She stared at him. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were scanning the horizon, refusing to look down. She raised a hand to her mouth. “God, you’re not joking, are you?” she said softly.
He shook his head, grimly. “I need to go down,” he told her.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No! No. It’s fine, really. You stay here, enjoy the view. You’d think a man my size would have a head for heights. It never works out that way, though.”
She watched him go, smiling thoughtfully. Daniel Stone, so strong, so big, so rich—and so obviously scared at that moment. When he had gone, she turned her attention back to the landscape. On one side she could see the glorious terracotta and lemon walls of Pena, perched atop a neighbouring mountain like a palace from a fairytale. Down below was Sintra itself, and if she turned she could make out the distant suburbs of Lisbon.
It was glorious to be there at that m
oment. She still had a lingering warmth between her legs, and though the wind whipped around her at this height she felt safe and secure, happier than she had in a long time. Everything was perfect, just perfect, she thought to herself. If only they didn’t have to leave here.
As she descended the stairs, taking a little care to ensure that no passers by caught a glimpse of her tenderest secrets, she spotted Daniel in the grounds of the castle. He was watching her walk, and even at this distance she could see that he was smiling. She waved and felt a glorious swelling in her chest when he waved back. She couldn’t believe she had been so foolish the day before: he was hers, dammit! And that was an end to the matter.
As she came to the final section of the wall, he had stood and was slowly coming towards her. She felt her spirits lift and all her cares left her. One, two steps and he was closer, and closer still. With a laugh, she decided to jump down into his arms, as lovers should.
The look of panic and horror on his face as she leaped into the air told her instantly that she had misjudged the distance, that he was too far away. But by then it was too late. He had begun to run immediately, and she almost made it to his arms which swept up to meet her, but the pain in her leg was excruciating. As it shot up through the bones inside her, she felt sick and the world started to spin around her, rotating too quickly for her to see it clearly any more. The sky that only that morning she thought she could touch now crashed down upon her.
Chapter Five
The doctor was probably in her late thirties, Kris thought, though her serious expression made her look a little older. Her hair was not quite as long as Kris’s and tied back, and her face had a little makeup on it which was probably more a concession to femininity than anything else. She was somewhat stern but that actually made Kris feel more secure.
The pain in her ankle was deadening now, and she was thankful for that. Daniel had lifted her carefully after she had screamed, a small crowd gathering around the two of them. He had been polite but resolute, asking them to stand back in a strong, loud voice, and then he had carried her all the way back to where Filipe was waiting by the car. She had been glad of his strength then: the walk must have been half a mile, yet never once did he stumble or falter as she was in his arms, holding onto him around her neck while an invisible knife was stabbed into the socket of her foot.
Filipe had driven at speed to Lisbon. For a few minutes Daniel had wondered whether they should return to Cascais, but Filipe had told him that the private hospital in Lisbon was better. Sitting in the back with her as Filipe pushed the car faster than she had ever known him before, Kris could see that Daniel’s face was almost white at one point, and he gripped her hand with a fear that, she knew, was for more than her.
You poor thing, she thought. You can see it all now, can’t you. That night. You hate this, and yet you do it, for me.
And he was with her now as the doctor lifted X-rays onto a screen, her white coat shifting as she raised her arm. His expression was almost as stern as hers, and Kris thought that she was probably the only relaxed one in the room, for which she had the drugs to thank. As she reclined in the bed, her head slightly lifted but her leg, bandaged and in an air splint raised even higher, she saw the shadowy ghosts of her foot upon the brightly lit screen.
“Fortunately nothing was broken, Miss Avelar,” the doctor was saying, in English for Daniel’s benefit. “But you did severely sprain the ankle.”
A sprain, that was all? The pain she had felt seemed to Kris that she must have shattered her foot when she fell, but now she had to endure the embarrassment of a simple sprain. She blushed and, more to Daniel than the doctor, began to say: “I’m so sorry—it was such a stupid thing to do. Never mind, I’ll be out of here soon and back on my feet...”
The doctor interrupted her. “No,” she said. “You didn’t break anything, which is what we had to check, but you’ve torn the ligaments here,” she gestured to one of the X-rays, “and here. We’d prefer you not to move for three days. If you want to go home, then that will be okay but you can’t walk. The ligament isn’t completely severed—that would be serious—but this will require complete rest for a while to begin to heal.”
“And how long before I’ll be able to walk?”
“Two weeks, maybe three. But nothing too strenuous. It will be a month to six weeks before it is completely healed.”
“A month?” Kris was infuriated, more at herself than anything else. How could she have been so stupid? “That’s not possible...”
It was Daniel who interrupted her now, laying a hand gently on hers as she waved it around, returning it softly to her belly. He looked at her, his eyes warm with concern, and then returned his gaze to the doctor.
“Thank you, Doctor Crasto,” he said. “I’ll make sure that she’s well cared for.”
As the doctor left them, he bent over Kris and kissed her on her brow, his lips lingering for a moment. With that touch, some of the frustration left her and she arched her neck slightly, lifting her mouth and seeking his.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “So damn sorry. How could I have been so stupid?”
“Youthful exuberance,” he said, his face a few inches from hers, one of his fingers stroking a stray lock of her dark hair. She could lose herself in those eyes, she thought, when they looked at her like this. When first she had seen them, one pupil so much larger than the other, they had disturbed her a little, even frightened her. Her own eyes took in the criss-crossing scars of his face, more visible when he was this close, the firm line of his nose and his lips, smiling gently, the shape of his jaw on which, she noticed, a fine shadow of stubble was beginning to form.
She lifted up a hand and traced a finger along his face, feeling the slightest friction. “You forgot to shave this morning.”
He raised his own hand and rubbed his jaw more roughly. “So I did,” he said. “I had better see to that promptly.”
“It’s a shame you don’t grow it back,” she told him.
“I thought you didn’t like beards.”
“Well, I don’t really like them in the abstract, but I liked your beard. It reminds me of another Daniel.”
He smiled again, but this time she thought there was the hint of some sadness in his eyes. “I don’t think the board would approve. Felix in particular has a prejudice against any form of facial hair. In his eyes, it makes you either a hippy or gay.”
Kris stiffened slightly at Felix’s name. “And are both of those bad things?”
“Not at all, but Felix without his prejudices wouldn’t be Felix.”
“I don’t know why you keep him. I’m sure you could do a much better job.”
“I’m not sure my peers would agree. They seem to think I’ve lost my touch recently. There’s no position so precarious as being a master of the universe.”
Kris shook her head. “I’ll never get you men and your machismo,” she muttered, a little irritably.
“I thought you liked my machismo?”
This made her smirk. “In some things, but only some things.” She lifted her head and kissed him again.
When they broke, Kris heard a bleep and Daniel reached into pocket, drawing out his phone. As he read what was on the screen, his face darkened.
“A problem?”
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Felix wants to know why I’m not back in London. He says we can’t delay a meeting any more, not if we’re to be in New York by the end of the week.”
“I’m sorry,” Kris said very softly, feeling extremely guilty.
“What are you sorry for?”
“This,” she gestured towards her leg and then swept her arm around the room.
“You did nothing wrong. Fuck him. He can wait.” He bent forward to kiss her again, but she raised a hand to his lips.
“No.” Her voice was firm this time. “I won’t be going anywhere fast. You should head back. It won’t be that long and then you can return when you get back from New York. What’s this meeting
about?”
He shrugged. “Business. Well, it’s important, certainly. But...” His voice trailed away.
“Go. It’s fine. Really. I’ll be okay—honestly.”
He nodded his head, and once again the distracted, slightly vacant stare had returned to his eyes. She was about to speak when his phone made another noise. This time when he read the screen, he smiled.
“Good news?” she asked.
He was still reading as he spoke. “Yes, indeed. Maria’s making progress on the legal side for the acquisition of Chiado. I’m hoping everything will be tied up in the next month.”
Another name to make Kris stiffen as she lay there in the bed, although this time her reaction was more ambiguous. Felix had given her sufficient reason to dislike him, but she could not fully account for her response to the French lawyer.
“I still don’t know why you don’t rely on the locals,” she said somewhat testily, noticing that he was half-listening to her, half-typing in a reply on his phone. She wanted to take the device and throw it out of the window.
“I told you, I trust her.”
“Why?”
Something about his tone made him look up into her face. For a second a glimmer of confusion passed over his face, his mind obviously still lingering over the response he had been sending. Then he raised an eyebrow slightly and his nostrils flared slightly. Switching off the phone he placed it back in his pocket. By that time, he had obviously decided on the answer he wanted to give her.
Fragile Crystal: Rubies and Rivalries (The Crystal Fragments Trilogy) Page 5
