The Gallery

by Fredrica Alleyn

  Because Rose was facing the bedroom door, she was able to see what was happening to Leonora, and this gave her arousal an added edge as she watched Guy lowering her stepdaughter on to the carpet before crouching over her. Because her wrists were tied behind her, Leonora automatically arched her upper torso and this meant that her breasts were in a perfect position for Guy to suck and lick at them. He began slowly but gradually increased the pressure of his tongue until finally he nipped lightly at the soft tissue around her left nipple. Leonora hissed and tried to wriggle away from him, but she was trapped by his arms resting on either side of her, and without the use of her hands there was nothing she could do.

  Guy smiled down at her. ‘You liked that,’ he said quietly. ‘Your nipples are so tight they must be painful. You’re aroused, aren’t you? You want an orgasm and you want it now. Isn’t that true?’

  Leonora had never been spoken to like that. She and Piers rarely talked when they were having sex and in any case she couldn’t imagine him asking her such a question even if he did speak. To her surprise she found that she couldn’t reply; it was impossible for her to talk in the same way as this sophisticated man, especially with her stepmother on the bed uttering tiny cries and urging Piers on to greater efforts.

  ‘You don’t have to answer,’ whispered Guy. ‘I know what you want, and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.’

  Leonora stared at him and felt herself shaking even harder as his hands moved lightly over her burning skin. All at once Piers cried out, begging Rose to let him come, but again his request was denied and Leonora began to wonder if Guy intended to play the same kind of game with her.

  Guy spread Leonora’s legs apart and rubbed his thumbs along the creases of her inner thighs, occasionally allowing them to stray across the tight material of her panties. Leonora started to squirm as strange prickles and tendrils of arousal fluttered through her lower body. Her hips started to twist and turn, but Guy pushed a hand firmly against her flat stomach until she was lying against the carpet again.

  ‘I want you to keep still,’ he instructed her. ‘Don’t move more than you can help. I want you to savour every sensation tonight, and the more you control your movements the more intense the pleasure will grow.’

  As his mouth moved between her thighs and she felt his warm breath through the material of her panties, Leonora thought she was going to come immediately. The pressure behind her clitoris had never been so great and she wondered what would happen when it was finally released.

  Guy heard Rose utter a single tiny cry that meant she’d had another climax and then heard Piers pleading for his own satisfaction, but again Rose denied him it. He began to utter frantic mewing noises that served as an aphrodisiac for both Guy and Leonora, who found that the thought of Piers in a state of perpetual frustrated arousal was very erotic.

  After a few more minutes Guy carefully eased down the panties that had been pressing tightly against Leonora’s sex. Once they were removed he spread her legs even wider apart, covered the tip of a finger with some lubricating gel that he’d taken from Rose’s dressing-table drawer, and then lightly touched the acorn-shaped protruding edge at the entrance to Leonora’s urethra.

  He knew that this was an exquisitely sensitive place for a woman and kept his touch as light as possible, but despite this the result on Leonora was electric. Her lower body shot up off the carpet and she began to shout out as pressure inside her pelvis and lower belly ballooned until she felt that she was going to explode.

  Strange searing sensations coursed through her lower body and the intensity of feeling between her thighs was almost unbearable. She felt as though she was about to come but the orgasm proved elusive. It was there, creating this terrible hot need but every time Guy touched her the sensations simply increased without her point of release growing any nearer.

  Her bladder felt full and strange, and knowing that this would be happening Guy spread some more of the gel around the soft tissue that surrounded her most sensitive spot. As soon as he began, the tissue swelled beneath his touch and Leonora thrashed around even more violently, crying out incoherently as these strange, darkly exciting feelings spread through her entire body until she felt that if she didn’t come soon she’d lose consciousness.

  ‘Bear down,’ whispered Guy. ‘Push down so that I can lick your clitoris, then you’ll come.’

  Leonora obeyed, and as she bore down she heard her stepmother give another tiny cry of satisfaction while Piers shouted out, gabbling that he couldn’t wait any longer and that Rose had to let him come.

  Leonora felt the same, but she didn’t dare cry out because she sensed that if she did Guy would simply stop everything and leave her stranded. Instead she concentrated hard on doing what he’d said and as the tip of the retracted clitoris re-emerged Guy let his tongue caress the side of the shaft before drifting across the almost unbearably sensitive head so that finally, with a scream that could have been heard all over the house, Leonora’s over-excited and stimulated body exploded into the most intense orgasm of her nineteen years.

  Guy waited until she was nearly still and then slid his erection into her, making sure that he brushed against her G spot as he moved in and out in a slow rhythm. ‘Tighten yourself round me,’ he said suddenly. ‘Quickly, I want to feel your muscles gripping me.’ She was already tight, far tighter than Rose or Marcia, but Guy wanted to feel the soft velvet walls gripping him even harder. When Leonora contracted her muscles it increased her own pleasure too, so that all the hot pressure built up once more and she heard herself give a cry of protest because she wasn’t sure that she could bear such intense pleasure again.

  Guy didn’t care. He knew that she’d climax again – it was what he’d intended – and if anything this time it would be even better than the first and leave her totally sated. His hips moved faster, and at the precise moment that he felt Leonora’s body draw in on itself prior to release, he heard Piers utter a strange gutteral howl of demented relief and excitement as he was finally allowed to come.

  This was the trigger for both Guy and Leonora, and as Guy’s body was shaken by his orgasm Leonora uttered another scream, a scream that was almost one of despair as the sensations pierced every centimetre of her body, shattering every over-stretched nerve until at last she slumped back onto the carpet with her eyes closed.

  Guy looked down at her and then up at the bed where Rose lay with her chin propped on her hands. She smiled at him. ‘That sounded exciting!’

  ‘I think Leonora enjoyed herself,’ responded Guy, realising with a tinge of regret that the excitement of the moment was already over. He’d done what he wanted to do – introduced Leonora to an entirely new kind of eroticism – and that was it. The pleasure he’d gained had been fleeting, very little more than when he made love to any other woman, and he was disappointed. For some reason he’d imagined that this would be different, that it would provide more excitement than a normal seduction, but he’d been wrong.

  ‘Piers was brilliant,’ continued Rose. ‘He’s fallen asleep, poor boy. Do you think he and Leonora will want to repeat the evening?’

  ‘If they do they’ll have to manage without me,’ said Guy shortly.

  Leonora heard his words and opened her eyes, her arms reaching up round his neck. ‘That was wonderful,’ she enthused. ‘Please, don’t say we can’t do it again. I couldn’t bear it if we never made love again.’

  Guy lifted himself carefully off her and turned away. ‘I didn’t make love to you,’ he said shortly. ‘We had good sex; it isn’t the same thing.’

  Leonora’s eyes clouded in bewilderment. ‘But you were so clever at knowing what I wanted. You made it special for me,’ she protested. ‘That’s what lovemaking means.’

  Rose laughed. ‘Not to Guy. Guy’s a sexual expert; he knows how to turn a woman on but not how to love. Isn’t that right, Guy?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Guy, dressing quickly and glancing across at the sleeping Piers. ‘I don’t suppose your boyf
riend’s under the same illusion,’ he told Leonora, trying to soften his voice a little even though the girl was now irritating him. ‘He knows it was just sex.’

  ‘I’d like to do it again with him,’ Rose said softly. ‘Why can’t you and Leonora join us? It doesn’t have to be love, as she’ll come to understand.’

  ‘I know it doesn’t have to be love with you,’ retorted Leonora, propping herself up on one elbow on the carpet. ‘You don’t even love Daddy. You just love his money.’

  ‘It doesn’t have anything to do with love,’ said Guy wearily, wishing he’d never thought of the idea in the first place and desperately anxious to be gone. ‘I’d be bored next time. You were a delicious novelty, Leonora, and I hope it was as pleasurable an experience for you as it was for me but that’s the end of it.’

  ‘What if I tell Daddy?’ demanded Leonora.

  There was a terrible silence in the room. Rose stared at her stepdaughter in disbelief and then looked at Guy, whose face had gone very pale. He fixed his eyes on the young girl lying on the floor and then spoke very slowly, softly and deliberately. ‘If you tell your father, Leonora, you and your whole family will regret it. Do I make myself clear?’

  For a few seconds Leonora tried to maintain her challenge, but despite his quiet tone there was something so menacing about his words that she quickly turned her head away and shrugged.

  ‘I was only joking,’ she mumbled.

  ‘You should be careful. That kind of sense of humour could get you into trouble,’ retorted Guy. He then walked past her and out of the room without giving her a second glance.

  Rose scrambled from the bed and hurried down the stairs after him. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ she asked crossly. ‘I arranged this because it was what you wanted and now you’re behaving as though you’ve been forced to go to a party that didn’t interest you.’

  ‘I made a mistake,’ said Guy.

  ‘There’s no need to take it out on Leonora. You treated her shabbily.’

  Guy laughed. ‘That’s rich coming from you! I suppose you treat your husband well, do you?’

  ‘My relationship with my husband is a private matter,’ said Rose stiffly.

  ‘Hardly private to me or to Marcia!’

  ‘Guy, why can’t you behave like a gentleman for once?’ demanded Rose.

  ‘Look, Rose, you married Sir Peter because he was rich, good looking for his age and adored you. He is a gentleman, and you wanted respectability. Well, I’m not a gentleman, and that’s why you like having sex with me. Don’t start expecting me to behave like Peter. We’re two very different kinds of animal.’

  ‘But you wanted to make love to Leonora. You couldn’t wait to show her what real sex, good sex, was like,’ shouted Rose. ‘Why are you in such a bad mood now when you virtually blackmailed me into setting tonight up for you?’

  He shrugged. ‘I’m disappointed that’s all. I expected it to be better than it was.’

  ‘We all had a great time. I don’t see why you’re complaining.’

  I’m not asking you to understand,’ snapped Guy, and a muscle twitched in the corner of his right eye, a sure sign that he was in a bad mood.

  ‘All right,’ said Rose quickly. ‘You’d better go then. I’m sure Leonora will be able to find someone else just as good as you. I know one or two other men who might like to give her a good time if Piers proves too dull after tonight’s excitement.’

  ‘I’m sure you do. I’ll ring tomorrow when Peter’s back. I need to speak to him about that Holbein we’re cleaning for him. It’s proving a bit more difficult than our man anticipated so it will be another couple of weeks before he gets it back.’

  Rose, who wasn’t in the least bit interested in her husband’s collection of old paintings, looked bored. ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘It might to Peter, that’s why I want to speak to him myself.’

  ‘He’ll probably want it back by the end of the month,’ said Rose. ‘His brother’s coming to stay then and he always goes round the art collection gloating over the pictures as though they’re naked women.’

  ‘Perhaps he prefers them to naked women,’ said Guy. ‘Right at this moment I think I would too! Incidentally, was it really good with Piers?’ he added curiously.

  Rose moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and sighed softly. ‘It was incredible. I had such a feeling of power. You know what it’s like with Peter; I have to be so careful not to break his concentration or he can’t even get started. To have a strong young man who had difficulty in stopping was bliss. Maybe I’ll keep him around for a time. He seemed very enthusiastic!’

  ‘Be careful, Rose,’ cautioned Guy. ‘Just because you and I have got away with an affair it doesn’t mean you can do what you like, and he’d never forgive you for taking a toy boy.’

  Rose pouted. ‘I don’t see why not. Older men always have young girls on their arms and in their beds.’

  Guy smiled thinly. ‘Yes, well, it’s just one of those things I’m afraid. Life isn’t fair and you have to accept it. Be grateful you’re Peter’s toy girl!’

  Before Rose could say another word Guy was out of the front door and hurrying down the steps.

  As Rose watched him leave from the front door, Leonora leant against the upstairs bedroom window and saw him drive away. Her whole body was tingling from the sexual excesses he’d inflicted on her, and she was determined that one way or another she’d get him to make love to her again.

  Both women would have been surprised to know that as Guy drove the car through the London streets he wasn’t thinking about sex at all; he was thinking about Sir Peter Thornton’s Holbein.

  On the Saturday evening Cressida stood by the window of her front room waiting for Rick to arrive. She’d been out shopping that morning and bought herself a navy and ivory spot-print trouser suit with short sleeves, and a pair of bright red strappy sandals. Rick had put great emphasis on the fact that his friends were a casual crowd, and that the evening wouldn’t be at all formal. Because she was anxious to get it right she’d decided to buy something new for the evening.

  Her undercover wardrobe that she’d already purchased had been for rather more high-powered events, and her normal everyday clothes were too conventional for artists. She only hoped that Detective Chief Inspector Williams didn’t start going through her expenses with a fine-tooth comb.

  She felt quite nervous as she waited. She’d become used to the gallery and the people she met and worked with there, but Rick lived an entirely different kind of life and she was anxious to fit in. If she didn’t then she’d lose her chance of getting information from him; at least, that was how she justified her anxiety to herself. In truth, quite a lot of it was because she wanted him to keep seeing her so that they could sleep together again.

  He arrived nearly an hour late but didn’t seem to realise, and Cressida decided not to mention it. She didn’t want him to know how much this evening mattered to her. He drove them to Clapham and as they walked towards a block of flats he turned to look at her and then gripped her hand. ‘Why the trouser suit? Do you want to make things difficult for me later on?’ he asked with a grin. Cressida felt relief surge through her at this promise of later intimacy.

  ‘I want to see how good you are with buttons,’ she replied.

  ‘I just pull them off! Look, this place isn’t much,’ he added as they climbed the stairs because the lifts were out of order. ‘These mates of mine are all struggling for recognition. I’m the only one who’s been lucky enough to get anywhere as yet.’

  ‘I thought most artists had to struggle for years,’ said Cressida truthfully.

  ‘That’s right, they do. It doesn’t mean they’ve got less talent than me. In fact, I’d say two of them are better, but they haven’t found the right outlet. I’ve tried to interest Guy, but with no success.’

  ‘Why are you telling me this?’ asked Cressida.

  Rick looked slightly uncomfortable. ‘I’d rather you didn’t mention
that you were working at Guy’s gallery. Sometimes there’s a bit of resentment. You can’t blame them for that. If they think I’ve got myself a stunning new girlfriend through the gallery as well then I think they’ll be pretty fed up all round.’

  Cressida wondered why he kept in touch with them if they resented his success so much, but before she could ask him the door to the flat had been opened for them and they were inside, swiftly swallowed up by a milling crowd of young men and women.

  Rick went off to get them a drink and Cressida felt very awkward. No one showed much interest in her, and even her new outfit was out of place. Everyone else was in jeans and casual tops, with several of the men bare chested.

  A tall grey-haired man who probably wasn’t much over 30 finally walked over to her. ‘Hi, I’m Kevin, the famous Rick’s best friend. I expect he’s told you about me.’

  ‘Well, he probably has but I get a bit confused with names,’ said Cressida diplomatically.

  Kevin’s eyes changed and some of the warmth went out of them. ‘You mean he hasn’t mentioned me, right?’

  ‘I mean, I can’t remember,’ said Cressida carefully.

  ‘Do you paint?’

  Cressida shook her head. ‘No, I’m useless. I like writing poetry, but it isn’t publishable, it’s just a hobby.’

  ‘Where did you meet Rick?’ demanded Kevin as a small auburn-haired girl approached him and slipped her arm through his.

  ‘He picked me up in a cafe at Covent Garden,’ said Cressida, hoping that Kevin wouldn’t ask Rick the same thing. Luckily Rick was already close behind her with their drinks and heard what she’d said.

  ‘Wasn’t I lucky?’ he said with a grin, putting an arm round Cressida’s waist.