by Flora Dain
I hear a shout.
‘Ella.’ Someone’s racing towards me across the grass. He pounds with the lithe grace of a panther, or aWolfe …
Darnley reaches me just as I totter onto the hard paving of the driveway and I collapse in his arms.
‘What the fuck happened?’
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Darnley crushes me to him, his breath rasping. I cling to him, briefly close to tears, but our reunion must wait. Already there are shouts in the distance, flashing lights, men running.
He scans my face, his eyes wild. ‘Are you OK? Eldon’s gone crazy. He thinks you drowned. He’s called in the state troopers, air rescue and the park rangers. They’re just about to drag the lake. What the hell happened?’
‘He tried to kill me. He should be locked up. He’s unstable. He –’
‘What? Did he attack you? Are you hurt?’
I shake my head. ‘No, but I’m sure he meant to. He tricked me into getting into the boat and said he was going to hide me in a hut and then help me get away.’ I catch my breath, fighting down a sob. ‘Does it matter? He’s insane.’ Tears squeeze out, partly from delayed shock but also from frustration.
He’s worried about Eldon? What about me?
He pulls me to him again and I feel an unexpected rush of emotion at the pound of his heartbeat. I want to sob on his chest, nestle in his warmth, but there’s no time. The search parties are closing in.
I fight for control as he lowers his voice, his words tumbling out so fast I can barely make out what he’s saying. ‘I’m glad you’re OK. But you must believe me, there’s nothing wrong with him. He was trying to save you, that’s all. He thinks you’re in danger. I can’t explain now. Listen, Ella, please play this down. He’ll be in real trouble if something like this gets out. We need to get all these people out of here, before the press arrive. Tell them – I don’t know, anything. Tell them it was an accident. Poor kid, he’s never had a chance. He’s a bit mixed up, that’s all. He meant well, I promise.’
I glare at him. ‘Meant well? He kidnapped me. He damn near killed me.’ My tears are forgotten. Rising temper burns off my exhaustion as I snatch angrily at clammy tendrils of weed still clinging to my clothes.
But to my dismay his face contorts with pain. ‘Please, Ella. They’ll be here any second. I’ll explain later.’
At that moment the searchers surround us, their faces anxious, their eyes already lit up with relief. I feel tearful all over again, touched at their concern.
Darnley’s arm stays firmly around me, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my upper arm. ‘Panic over. She’s fine. She’s exhausted, she can’t talk much.’
Who says? I bite back my anger and manage a feeble smile. ‘Sorry, everybody. I was just fooling around. I slipped out of the boat and got lost in the woods.’
I wilt under the accusing stores of hardened professionals, their faces sunburnt and weather-beaten from looking for real survivors, as it dawns on them they’ve been called out for nothing.
It’s not even my fault. Eldon, of all people, called them, not me. My heart hardens. Did he do this on purpose? To make me look hysterical in case I accuse him of anything?
Darnley hurries me away and leads me up to the house, muttering into his phone as he gives instructions to ensure the men get a generous tip before they leave. As we go he hugs me close. ‘Thanks. That meant a lot.’
I’m about to give him a piece of my mind when I catch sight of Eldon, his face gaunt. He’s clearly heard the news but he still looks scared. He turns away from a couple of divers carrying aqualungs and races over.
I’m just about to let rip when something about him stops me in my tracks. He looks dreadful, his hair wild, his face white. ‘Ella. Holy shit, I thought you were dead. Jeez, what a relief …’
He turns away and bursts into tears. Instantly Darnley lets me go and throws his arm around him, but his brother shakes him off and takes a step back, wiping his face with an angry smear of his hand. ‘Let go of me. Let fucking go of me, you freak.’
He turns to me again, his face contracted into a frown, and dashes away his tears with the back of his hand. ‘You OK? You look ghastly. You’re covered in weed.’
‘I’m fine. It was just a –’ I glance at Darnley’s stony expression and swallow. ‘I was just kidding. Thanks for the trip. Some other time, maybe?’
I try to keep my tone neutral but now they’re facing each other down like I’m not even here. Eldon is glaring at Darnley like it’s all his fault and Darnley is gazing back, his eyes full of pain.
At last Eldon gives me a long, troubled look and shakes his head. ‘You don’t get it, do you? At least I tried,’ he mutters. He turns away and walks back to the divers.
Now Lydia and Aaron are hurrying out of the house to greet us. The search party stands about in ragged groups, waiting for someone to give them an official dismissal.
Aaron takes one look at me and takes charge of the official part. Lydia reaches out to touch me, genuinely distressed. ‘Ella, I’m so glad. You poor child. Eldon was beside himself. He called us from the lake. I’ll go tell the others. Go indoors, you look awful. Your hair’s full of weed and my – that smell.’
* * *
At last Darnley propels me into our rooms. He slams the door and starts running a hot bath. I glare at him, really angry now as he mutters into the house phone, ordering food and hot drinks.
‘So would you mind telling me why I have to apologise for being nearly killed? And why your brother is allowed to walk around scot-free when he should be locked up in an institution?’
He rounds on me, his eyes blazing. ‘Maybe you can tell me why you decided on an impromptu boat trip without telling me? You’re still under my protection, dammit. And for fuck’s sake stop saying that about him. He was trying to save you.’
‘From what?’
We glare at each other through wisps of steam as the bath fills up and fragrance wafts through the room from the essences he’s tipped at random into the water. All at once he passes a hand over his eyes.
‘From me. He was trying to save you from me.’
I frown and take a step closer. ‘From you?’ And now I see what my rage and exhaustion stopped me seeing during the past thirty-odd minutes – despair. His face is so full of pain I catch my breath. ‘Darnley? Was he bullied too?’
His knuckles clench. ‘It’s not that. He knows nothing about all that. No one does.’
‘Then why’s he so scared of you?’
His face contracts as he turns away. ‘Just get in the damn bath.’
He peels off my clothes, wrenching off the damp fabric. He avoids my eye as he checks me over carefully, looking for damage. In spite of my simmering resentment I find his patient search distinctly arousing, like the anger between us is firing something else. He pauses at every scratch, touches every bruise. His warm fingers linger on every mark, making me almost glad I stumbled so often.
But I can’t let this go. Eldon’s reaction to me might be ridiculous but Darnley’s is baffling.
As that dreadful tape replays in the back of my head a terrible thought starts to form. ‘What did you do to him?’
His fingers pause halfway up my thigh. He snatches his hand away and stands upright, his jaw rigid. ‘Nothing. I’ve never touched him.’
But new awareness dawns in his eyes. The same thought has occurred to him. His eyes flash. ‘What the fuck do you take me for?’
I gaze up at him sadly. ‘I don’t know what to take you for. You won’t tell me the truth. What’s the problem between you two?’
‘He hates me, that’s all. And he’s scared of me, like most people here. Except he’s got good reason. Bath. Now.’
He insists on washing me. I gaze up into his stern, troubled face and let him care for me. His attentions are soothing, arousing and mysterious.
I lower my eyelashes. ‘You’re coming in too? It might be fun.’ I’m only kidding but instantly he strips off, steps in behind
me and pulls me back against him, spreading his legs wide to make me a couch.
Below the water line his erection stirs and he murmurs low, his lips moving sensuously against my ear. ‘I thought I’d lost you. Don’t ever do that to me again.’
He kisses me just below my ear and starts to explore me, one hand kneading my breasts, the other spreading my legs wide to cup my warm, pulsing gap. He drops burning kisses along one side of my neck and then the other. Then he scoops away my hair to reach my nape. I shudder as he finds my hairline and runs a finger down my spine. I arch like a cat as his erection leaps at my lower back, jutting hard against me in the warm, scented water. He finds my breasts with both hands and massages them gently in the floating suds. I lie back in his arms and surrender to his touch, moaning a little as he tightens his grip on my stiffening nubs, making me wince.
‘Do you like that? Would you like more of that?’
I press back against him under mounds of floating foam and raise my arms so he can reach more of me.
‘Put your hands round my neck.’
His command has a new edge. I obey instantly, reaching up to clasp my hands behind his powerful neck, my arms stretched back behind my head. He squeezes my nipples, harder now, and starts to draw them out, pinching a little on the aureoles and sending flurries of heat through my sensitive globes straight down to my groin. I whimper a warning but he pinches harder and his erection leaps again.
‘Keep your hands locked.’
‘What are you doing?’
His fingers grow still and his voice lowers. ‘I’m giving you an instruction and I want you to obey it. If you do –’ he stops to fasten his mouth on the dip where my neck meets my shoulder and nuzzles hungrily ‘– I’ll give you a reward. If you disobey, you’ll get a punishment.’
‘What?’ I’m part amused, part scared. ‘Are you serious?’
I feel his lips stretch into a smile as he breathes against my neck. ‘Only one way to find out.’
I loosen my fingers on his neck, but keep them in place. I’ve had an emotional afternoon – swinging from fear to terror, relief to rage. Now I’m high on adrenalin and starting to see the funny side. ‘What’s the punishment?’
‘Ah, that’s for you to find out. If you dare to take that risk.’
‘I think I’d sooner have the reward. I’ve had enough punishment for one day.’
He laughs softly into my hair and nips my earlobe with his teeth. ‘Damn, I was looking forward to it. OK, you can have your reward as long as you let me punish you another time. Promise?’
I giggle, heady now. ‘Promise. So what’s my reward?’
‘Your hands are still in place? Are you sure about that?’
He jerks at my elbows to test my resolve and my soapy hands fly apart. ‘Aha. I thought as much. So you’ve earned a punishment now. Get up on your hands and knees.’
He hauls me up in the water and pushes me forward. I land on my arms, my chin in the suds, and laugh at him over my shoulder. ‘What’s happening? You can’t do anything in a bath.’
‘No?’ He’s grinning down at me and now he kneels up next to me, his torso a glossy tower of classical perfection as the foamy water runs off in gleaming rivulets, the dark hair snaking down to his loins forming a black, matted pathway to his jutting column of eager, purplish gristle.
‘Spread your thighs. Wider.’
The water feels cool on my massaged breasts as they trail in the water. He slips his right hand under the surface to gather them up, the water taking their weight and his fingers doing the rest, and now his left hand starts to massage my bottom, which is sticking up well over the water level and enticingly wide. His fingers ease deep into my crack and I shudder as they enter me, slick with foam. They slip easily through my tight little hole and tease all around my opening.
‘You like?’
His soft murmur sends tremors through me as I recall the torment of last night, when the unforgiving plug took up residence for a whole evening and I was forced to endure it without complaint or relief. The raging arousal that fired me then flares anew but all at once his intention is painfully clear as a ringing slap lands on my bottom.
I shriek in surprise and his hand lands again and again, the blows harsh and surprisingly painful as the flat of his hand makes contact and the sting lingers extra seconds on my silky wet rear. ‘Why are you doing this?’
The shock is doing strange things to me, making me emotional in ways I hadn’t expected. At one end I feel elated and, as the blows continue, oddly tearful. At the other end the shock of his hand jolts and flares in my groin. My sex, and everywhere between my legs, warm and wet from the bath and his touch, glows and throbs at his blows.
‘You know why. Because I like it.’ He pauses a moment to massage me and now his hand feels cool. He dips his hand in the water and smears creamy soft suds all over me. As he does it the submerged fingers of his other hand, still tormenting my swollen nipples, seizes first one and then the other and gives each of them a long, painful tweak.
He laughs again and slides up out of the suds to slip his fingers deep into me once more, working around the entrances while I writhe.
‘And because you like it. Ten more, and then you can have your reward. I’m feeling generous today. But you have to count.’
It’s partly a game, partly a command. I know this, just as I know I’m partly excited, partly tearful and fully, desperately aroused.
None of this I understand. But somehow I get the feeling that he understands only too well and what’s happening to me is as normal to him as apple pie is to me. And strangely that very feeling makes me feel safe and I obey instantly, calling out the strokes one by one as my excitement builds and my arousal fizzes.
As I reach ten he delivers one last, thunderous blow and pulls me into his arms. ‘Good girl. Now for your reward.’
He kisses me hard, winding his arms around my wet, slippery body, threading his wet hands up into my hair, the damp strands snagging on his fingers, and pulling my head back so he can force his tongue deep into my mouth. The tiny tweaks of pain add fire to my arousal, making me ache.
When he finally releases me I’m out of breath from all the crying and kissing.
‘Get back in position.’ He flips me back and I land between his legs with a mighty splash, sending a wave of foam-flecked water over the side of the granite tub. I cry out as I land on my punished backside. He pulls me to him and reaches deep between my thighs with both hands. His fingers splay deep into my swollen folds and stretch me open, separating and sliding into each tender crevice, making me writhe and moan in his arms as he presses at either side of my throbbing bud, his thumbs grazing my pulsing layers, his fingers teasing and questing further and deeper than before.
In the warm, soapy water I convulse in seconds with a violent orgasm. Everything I’ve gone through today comes flooding back with my release and I lie back in his arms, sobbing and exhausted as he winds his legs around me, draws me close and sighs words of comfort into my wet hair.
* * *
Afterwards we lie in bed, swathed in bathrobes. His look is still troubled. ‘Ella, supposing Eldon’s the good guy? Has it occurred to you that you might be seeing us the wrong way round?’
I’m sleepy and limp now but I lean up to caress his cheek, fondling the hard edge of his lean, tense jaw with fingers still soft and wrinkly from our prolonged water play. I feel his cheek clench under my fingers. ‘How can I answer that? You have to tell me what’s going on, Darnley.’
He sighs. ‘I can’t, not yet.’
I sit up and swivel round to face him. ‘You must. I have to know. What’s his beef with you?’
His expression clouds. ‘I thought I’d lost you once today. I can’t bear the thought of losing you again.’ His face darkens. ‘But you’re right. I’ll tell you soon, I promise. Just let me get my head round it. It’s complicated.’
I lean forward and kiss him on the cheek. ‘So’s life. Especially after facing death wit
hout even knowing why.’
I lie back in his arms and close my eyes, letting his hands finish their work. As an apology it suits me fine, and as foreplay it suits me even better. But now I know that, whatever’s coming, it’s pretty bad. So I must steel myself to face it, if only for his sake. If he’s carried something all these years even worse than the awful stuff he’s already told me, he’s suffered enough.
He flops back and stares at the ceiling for a while as the afternoon light grows golden and the children call out from the grounds below. Laughter floats up from the lawns where the wives are taking afternoon tea and shouts ring out from the golf course.
A normal afternoon, full of normal people doing normal things.
He turns to me, troubled. Something about his stillness freezes my smile. ‘OK, I’ll tell you about Eldon. The night we met you asked me to take you somewhere. Now it’s time to go there. But I warn you, you won’t like it.’
I sit up, seriously alarmed. It’s that bad?
‘But not here, I need some air. Let’s take a walk.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
‘Hey, kid, shaddap and hold tight. An’ stop that kickin’, you’ll scratch the paintwork. I told ya, we’re gonna play a game. It’ll be fun. When’s your eighth birthday, tomorrow? Perfect. Hey, easy, this won’t take long. Seen your brother lately? How old is he now? Fourteen? Fifteen? I sure woulda liked to see him in here again … he wus really sumpn. Wassat? He’s here? Hey, whaddya know, he is too. Missed you there, kid, standin’ in the shadows. Wow, you sure are a big kid now, taller’n me. Pretty damn good-lookin’, too … You wanna trade places with your kid brother here? Whoa, mus’ be my birthday too. Sure thing. Here, let’s just get these cuffs off of the kid – hey, don’ let him go – FUCK, now your kid brother’s got away. We couldda had some fun, all three of us … Whaddya doin’? No … GET THESE CUFFS OFF OF ME … I CAN’T REACH THE IGNITION FROM HERE. THE ENGINE’S STILL RUNNIN’ … COME BACK HERE …
