Semi-Detached Marriage

by Sally Wentworth

  'Oh, Simon, do you have to?'

  ' 'Fraid so, love.'

  Resignedly Cassie went to stand up. 'I'll get your panic bag for you, then, while you change. Are you going by train?'

  'No, in the company plane. They're sending a car to pick me up.' He put his hand on her shoulder to stop her rising. 'I told them to get here in half an hour. A lot can happen in half an hour,' he added with a wicked grin as he dropped to his knees beside her.

  'Can it?' Cassie smiled back at him and put her hands on his shoulders.

  'Such as?'

  'Such as this, for a start.' And he again bore her down to the floor.

  Simon was ready when the car arrived, but only just; he had only finished dressing as the chauffeur rang the bell. Cassie handed him his overcoat and held his

  'panic bag'-a fold-over wardrobe case containing another suit and enough clothes for a two or three-day stay and which was always kept in readiness-while he shrugged it on. Then he grabbed his briefcase and was moving towards the door.

  'How long do you think you'll be away?' she asked.

  He shrugged. 'No idea. Depends on how much co-operation I get.'

  'Mother's invited us to dinner on Daddy's birthday.'

  'I should be back easily by then, but I'll phone you anyway.' He put up a hand to push a stray lock of hair from her forehead. Her face was flushed, her long hair dishevelled, and there was a languorous, satiated look about her eyes and mouth. 'You look as if you've been made love to,' he told her softly.

  Cassie smiled and turned her head to kiss his palm.

  'Do I? How do I look?'

  'Like a smug, contented cat who's had a saucer full of cream,' he teased her.

  She wrinkled her nose. 'I don't think I like that.' Simon grinned. 'Didn't you? I liked it very much.' Balling her fist, Cassie gave him a mock thump on the chest. 'That isn't what I meant.' But then she was in his arms and he was holding her close. 'Hurry back.'

  He kissed her hard once, then more lightly. 'Dream about me.' Then he let her go as he opened the door. 'Don't forget to put the chain on again. 'Bye, darling.'

  She heard him greet the chauffeur, and then the door closed and he was gone.

  Slowly Cassie put on the chain and turned back into the flat. Suddenly it seemed very empty and very silent. She had been taken to the heights of passion and then back to reality, and the transition had been too fast; she felt empty now and strangely lonely. But then she determinedly shrugged off the feeling and

  oo went into the sitting-room to pick up their scattered clothes. She had been left alone in the flat while Simon was away too often to feel alone or afraid now. She put the clothes away and looked rather longingly at the bed, but first went into the kitchen to finish putting the dirty glasses in the dishwasher and turn it on. She shivered and pulled the bathrobe she was wearing tighter round her; it was chilly now that the central heating had turned itself off. Tiredly she went round turning off lights, and got ready for bed, pulling the duvet close around her shoulders. Half asleep, she turned on her side and stretched an arm across to the other side of the big bed, then remembered that Simon wasn't there and curled herself up into a tight ball to fall immediately asleep.

  As a fashion buyer, Cassandra only worked from Monday to Friday, hut whenever she got the chance she would wander round other department stores to see what the opposition were displaying, so when Julia phoned her late the next morning to thank her for dinner, Cassie suggested that she might like to join her for a couple of hours of window-shopping that afternoon.

  'Yes, I'd love to,' Julia agreed. 'I'm a golfing widow today again; John's playing in some tournament or other. Only for heaven's sake don't let me buy anything; John's threatened to divorce me if I do!'

  Cassie smiled at Julia's mournful tone. 'Why? Have you been overspending lately?'

  'So I've been informed, in no uncertain terms. The trouble is I just can't resist buying something I really like. I bought the most gorgeous evening dress in a little shop in Regent Street last week and it was a bit pricey, I -must admit. Those little shops never put a price on the things in their windows, then always charge the earth when you've tried something on and they know you've fallen in love with it. And heaven knows when I'll wear it, because John never takes me out anywhere decent anyway.'

  'Well, you'll have to take him out instead,' Cassie replied half flippantly. 'Look, I'll have to go now. I'll meet you at Oxford Circus station at two, okay?'

  'Fine. See you.'

  It was a good time to go window-shopping; the January sales were over and the fashion departments were full of new stock. Cassie browsed round happily for a couple of hours, making notes on anything that interested her, while Julia was unable to resist buying a skirt and blouse, but Cassie firmly stopped her from buying a pair of shoes and a bag to go with the outfit 'You’ve got loads of shoes, Julia, surely you've got a pair you can wear with them?'

  'But none that are exactly this tone of beige.'

  'Well, wear a contrast colour, then. Your snakeskin shoes would look perfect, much better than an exact match.'

  D'you think so?' Julia held the skirt and shoes together musingly.

  'Maybe you're right.' Reluctantly she replaced the shoes on the stand.

  'I know I'm right, I'm not a fashion buyer for nothing. Come on, these crowds are getting too much.

  Let's find somewhere to have a coffee.'

  The two girls took the escalator down to the basement and found themselves a table in the coffee shop, which was all apple green walls, white trelliswork decoration and potted plants.

  'Ooh, that's better!' Julia gave a sigh of relief as she eased her shoes off under the table. 'Why is it that the

  oo pavements around Oxford Street are always harder than anywhere else?'

  'You shouldn't wear such high- heels,' Cassie told her, without sympathy. 'Arc you going to tell John about the things you've bought?'

  'No. He won't find out until the credit card statement comes in, and by then we might be on better terms.'

  Cassie didn't say anything, letting her friend decide whether or not to take that last remark farther. Julia was silent for a moment, broodingly stirring her coffee, then she burst out, 'Honestly, Cass, you'd never think that John was only a few years older than Simon! Simon still makes a fuss of you and takes you out a lot, whereas all John wants to do when he comes home from work is eat a meal and then collapse in front of the television. And he usually falls asleep in the chair!' she added feelingly.

  'But don't forget that Simon and I have only been married three years, whereas you've been married ten. Maybe when we've been married that long all Simon will want to do is watch television. Maybe it happens to all men in time.'

  Julia's eyebrows rose in disbelief and she shook her head.

  'Oh, no. Do you really believe that Simon's the type of man who goes to bed and then tells his wife that he's too tired to make love?'

  Cassie had to laugh at Julia's outraged face. 'Oh, come on, it's not as bad as that, surely?'

  'Near enough. If I didn't know that John was just too lazy, I'd say that he was having an affair.' 'Oh, you don't really think that, Julia? You can't!' There was real shock in Cassie’s voice. 'Why, John dotes on you and the children.'

  Julia sighed. 'Yes, I know he does. And I'm sure he's faithful. It's just that.' She shrugged rather helplessly. 'It's just that I wish he was more alive,younger in spirit. Sometimes he seems about sixty years old, when he's not even forty yet.'

  Cassie thought it wiser to change the subject then, and they talked of other things until Julia mentioned the dinner party the previous night.

  'They were a nice couple, Sue and Christopher. Have you known them long?'

  'No, only a few months. Sue only came to work at Marriott & Brown's after they got married.' 'They haven't been married very long, then?' 'No, just over a year, I think.'

  'He seemed interesting; quite a sporty type by the look of him.'

  There was something
in Julia's voice that made Cassie look at her quickly, but the elder girl's face was quite impassive, her attention given to the cream cake she was cutting.

  'Yes, I believe he's a squash addict.'

  'They usually are nowadays; no one seems to go in for tennis any more. It's either squash or badminton. Oh, by the way,' Julia licked cream off her lips, 'per- haps you could give me Sue's telephone number. I promised to give her my recipe for salmon mousse, but she forgot to give me her number.'

  'I'll write it down for you.' Cassie jotted the number on a page torn out of her notebook and passed it over, looking at her friend searchingly, but Julia was completely casual as she took it and dropped it in her bag. Cassie chided herself for being a fool; as if Julia would be interested in a boy six years younger than herself! They parted soon after and Cassie went home to

  oo spend the rest of the weekend catching up on jobs. Simon phoned every evening, but it seemed that the labour problems were even worse than he had feared, and they were also having trouble from a group of environmentalists who were trying to disrupt the building of the new terminal.

  Monday was a busy day: getting the computer readings of all the stock sold during the last week, re-ordering where necessary, interviewing sales reps, looking at samples, writing to the firms whose garments she had admired in other shops and asking for catalogues and quotes. She was constantly being sought out to make decisions all day. She was busy, but she carried out all her tasks efficiently and in a businesslike manner, not asking for anyone's advice and not afraid of making her own decisions. The job was demanding and required her constant attention and energy. But Cassie loved it, loved the adrenalin it roused, the excitement of choosing from the new collections and the satisfaction when a line sold particularly well, especially when it was a Marriott & Brown's exclusive.

  She had come a long way in the five years she had been working there, first as a humble trainee, then working her way up to be an assistant to a very small department, then a larger one, and eventually to have a department of her own. Her flair for clothes had certainly helped her, but she also had an instinctive idea of what women, the younger generation especially, wanted. She seemed to have a constant finger on the pulse of fashion and could tell what London girls would be wearing six months before they even thought of buying. So now she controlled all the buying for the 'Top Togs' department which filled half the basement of Marriott & Brown's.

  The rest of the week fell into the some busy pattern, except that at the weekly buyers' conference on

  Thursday she was asked to go to Paris on the following

  Monday to select some goods from the new designer collections which would eventually go on sale in the shop in the autumn. Cassie accepted eagerly; this was quite a feather in her cap as she hadn't yet been entrusted with many buying trips abroad and had always before gone in company with another more experienced buyer, but this time she was to go alone because the head buyer for the fashion department was away on a skiing holiday. Cassie was very pleased, because she by no means intended to remain as she was; her ambition was to eventually become the head buyer for the whole of the fashion department, and even that wouldn't be the end; there were far bigger organisations than Marriott & Brown's in the fashion world.

  It was her father's birthday on Sunday and Cassie was beginning to be afraid that Simon wouldn't be able to make it. Although he hadn't gone into details over the phone, she had gathered that the problems at the terminal were tougher than he had anticipated and consequently would take longer to solve. But he assured her that he would do everything he could to make it, and with that she had to be content. Not that

  Cassie was the one who was really worried about him not being there; it was her mother who always liked to have the entire family gathered around her on such occasions, and that included son and daughtersin-law as well as Cassie and her two brothers. Also she knew that her father had a special regard for Simon and would be disappointed if he couldn't make it, even though he wouldn't say anything or show it.

  By Sunday morning she had resigned herself to

  oo having to go alone, but at eleven o'clock when she was having a long soak in the bath, the radio playing the latest hit tunes nearby and a book in her hands, the door was pushed open and Simon walked in. The noise from the .radio had drowned the sounds of his arrival, and she jumped with fright when he suddenly appeared.

  He grinned at the consternation on her face. 'It's all right, it's only me.'

  'God, what a fright you gave me! Oh, lord, you made me drop my book in the water, and it's a library book too!' She fished in the bubbly water and brought out the sopping book. 'Now I suppose I'll have to pay for it.'

  'See what it's like when it dries out.' Firmly Simon took the book from her and put it to one side. 'Now, woman, I've been away for a whole week. How about greeting me properly?'

  He knelt down beside the bath and Cassie tilted her head up to kiss him. His lips held hers for a long time, gradually becoming harder, and his voice was thick when at last he drew away and said, 'Wouldn't you like your back scrubbed?'

  'All right.'

  She found the soap and gave it to him and then slowly stood up. The water ran in rivulets down her slender body, but here and there the bubbles still clung as if reluctant to leave her. Her long chestnut hair she had piled on top of her head, but a few tendrils hung damply on her neck. She turned her back on Simon and he carefully moved aside the clinging strands of hair before he began to soap her. His hands moved in unison over her, starting at her shoulders and moving slowly down to her hips, his fingers firm and caressing

  'Turn around,' he demanded after a while, his voice husky.

  Slowly she did so, her tongue licking lips gone suddenly dry, her body starting to tremble in anticipation.

  It was strange to be in the bathroom together like this, Simon fully dressed and she stark naked. He resoaped his hands and they began to slide over her, the soap leaving long white finger strokes as his hands gently circled each curve, aroused every sexual nerve end. Excitement surged through her and Cassie gasped as he found and fondled a particularly sensitive place. Her breasts hardened and she pushed herself against his hands, eyes half closed with desire, her breath panting through lips drawn back in ecstasy. Suddenly Simon made a sort of groaning sound deep in his throat and he lifted her bodily out of the bath, still wet and soapy as she was, and carried her into the bedroom. He kissed her as he carried her and kept on kissing her as he laid her down on the bed and stripped off his clothes. The first time he made love to her hungrily, urgently, as if he'd been away much longer than just a week, but the second time he did so slowly, pleasurably, taking delight in her body until he was again consumed by thrusting passion.

  Later, in the early evening, they drove out of London to Cassie's parents' home in Buckinghamshire, and she took the opportunity to tell Simon about her trip to Paris the following day.

  'It isn't one of the big fashion house collections, of course, otherwise they would have sent one of the senior buyers instead of me, but it's by a comparatively new group of designers who've got together and produced a whole range of clothes for young girls, teens and twenties age range mostly. They sound really exciting, just the thing we need to lift Top Togs into being the most upto-date department in London,' she told him enthusiastically.

  'When exactly are you leaving?'

  Early tomorrow morning. I have to be at Heathrow by eightthirty.'

  Simon's dark brows drew into a slight frown. 'Then we only have tonight.'

  Cassie smiled and leaned against his shoulder. 'But we had this afternoon,' she reminded him gently.

  'So we did.' His hand came down to cover hers for a moment, but then he had to put it back on the steering wheel as he overtook a slow-moving lorry. 'I'm afraid I won't be able to drive you to the airport, darling; I have to be at the office at nine to attend a meeting to try and find a solution to the oil terminal crisis.'

  'Crisis? That's rather a strong word. Is
it really as bad as that?'

  Simon nodded grimly. 'It's certainly getting that way. The man in overall charge of the project doesn't seem to be able to cope. Or maybe it's because he's resentful because his company was taken over by Mullaine's and he isn't trying. I certainly didn't get much in the way of co-operation from him.'

  'Does that mean you'll have to go up there again?'

  do.' 'Very likely. I can't see it getting sorted out unless I

  Cassie wrinkled her nose in sympathy. 'That's a shame. The terminal's miles from anywhere, isn't it?

  You must be bored out of your mind in the evenings.'

  `Too many worries on my plate to be bored. But it is a lonely place. There was nothing but sheep and seabirds before they decided to build the oil terminal there.'

  `Didn't the local people object?'

  'Yes, but it was an area of massive unemployment, so they really had no choice but to agree. Better to lose one bay on the coast than to have several thousand people on the dole.'

  Shortly afterwards they arrived at the house and were immediately caught up in purely family matters: congratulating her father, greeting the rest of the family and swapping gossip with her two brothers and their wives. After the meal Cassie helped her mother to wash up; the other girls had also offered to help, but her mother had insisted that they stay in the livingroom with the men, saying that she and Cassie could manage. For some time they made small talk about everyday matters, but Cassie knew that her mother was working up to the subject she always brought up whenever she could get her daughter alone. Naughtily Cassie, half teasing, half serious, put her off by quickly opening up a new topic every time there was a pause and her mother opened her mouth to speak. But at last, exasperated, the older woman said bluntly,

  'I suppose you haven't decided to start a family yet?'

  'No, Mother,' Cassie agreed. 'You're right, we haven't.'

  'Well, I don't know why not. You're nearly twenty- five; it's high time you had a baby. I'm sure Simon would love to have children, and he'd make a very good father.'