‘Perhaps I’m just a tiny bit jealous,’ she admitted in a soft voice.
Christopher slid his hands up her throat, caressing beneath the base of her chin with his thumbs and at the same time drawing her upright so their faces were close together. ‘I knew it,’ he said triumphantly. ‘Well, don’t worry, Rebecca. At the moment I’m perfectly satisfied with you.’
He leant towards her. Rebecca closed her eyes and felt his mouth start to plunder hers. His tongue probed fiercely between her lips, and one of his hands strayed down inside her nightdress to tweak sharply on her nipple. Rebecca’s breath caught in her throat and her body instinctively drew away from him a fraction but he pulled her back tightly and his fingers closed around her breast. Her desire was mounting rapidly now and her breathing grew quicker. She sometimes wished that she could resist him just a little longer, make him work harder, but his sheer physical magnetism and the knowledge that she was with the great Christopher Wheldon always proved too much for her self-control.
With a soft moan she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down on top of her. Christopher tugged sharply at the hem of her nightdress until it rose up above her thighs. She heard the sound of him unzipping his trousers and then he was lying on top of her. She could feel him hard against her, the tip of his penis rubbing against her outer sex lips. Rebecca began to move her hips, arching them upwards, trying to spread her legs further apart despite the restrictions of the nightdress. Christopher pushed her back down on to the bed.
‘Don’t be in such a hurry. You’re always greedy aren’t you, Rebecca?’ he teased, his tongue flicking in and out of her ear.
‘I can’t help it,’ moaned Rebecca, wriggling frantically as she felt his erection sliding slowly into her. ‘Please, please hurry.’
Sometimes Christopher liked to make her wait, but this was not one of those times because he was in a hurry too. Within a few seconds he was thrusting forcefully into her and, as he moved, the hand that was gripping her breast squeezed and released in matching time with the movements of his hips. Rebecca felt her orgasm starting to build but she needed something else, something extra, if she was to climax as fast as she knew Christopher was going to.
Suddenly, Christopher stopped moving, wrenched the nightdress higher so that it was bunched round Rebecca’s waist, and slipped a hand beneath her bottom. With a grateful sigh Rebecca allowed her feelings to take over as Christopher carefully inserted his forefinger between the cheeks of her bottom. He moved it lightly around the rim of her second opening and then, as he felt all her muscles tense in their pre-orgasmic explosion, he gave two extra powerful thrusts with his hips and at the same time pressed firmly against the wall of her rectum. With a scream of delight Rebecca climaxed and, at the same time, Christopher uttered a shout of pleasure before collapsing on top of her.
For a few minutes he lay there, his head resting in her neck, her long dark hair covering his shoulders. But, as usual, once he’d finished he’d finished, and was ready to move on to other things. Sometimes Rebecca wished that he would lie longer with her, but that only ever happened after the other kind of sex – the kind where she took control. This particular day was no exception, and within ten minutes Christopher was walking out of the bedroom and leaving her, presumably to make arrangements for his meeting with Esther.
Three days later Esther arrived at the small community hall in Clapham where her agent had arranged for her to meet with Christopher Wheldon. She felt very nervous, and realised that part of the apprehension was fear of how Christopher would behave towards her. Marcus had never made any secret of his feelings for Christopher, and had given several interviews in which he had referred to his rival in somewhat scathing terms. While Esther herself had never spoken about Christopher, she realised it was probable he would assume she shared Marcus’s views.
She’d quite expected to find several other people waiting in the hall but there was only Christopher. He was standing at the opposite end of the room and, when he heard the door opening, turned so that he was caught in a ray of sunlight shining through a window high above him. Esther realised at once that Christopher had arranged this deliberately. It certainly showed him to full advantage. She hadn’t appreciated quite how boyishly good-looking he was and, when he smiled at her, she realised that he did indeed have a great deal of charm, even if it wasn’t necessarily genuine.
‘Esther, how lovely to see you!’ he exclaimed.
‘It’s very nice of you to see me,’ responded Esther. ‘As my agent told you, I haven’t done stage work for a long time and I’m afraid I might be a bit rusty.’
‘I shouldn’t worry about that,’ laughed Christopher, walking towards her with his hand outstretched. ‘By the time we’ve all rehearsed and got used to one another I’m sure that any rough edges will have disappeared. Besides, you’ve been doing a lot of television work and I admire that. It’s a very demanding discipline.’
Esther was surprised to hear this. As far as she knew, Christopher regarded television drama in any form as little better than appearing in a commercial. Nevertheless, she appreciated his kindness and the effort he was making to help her feel at ease. ‘My agent didn’t tell me whether I should prepare a piece for you to hear,’ she explained awkwardly.
‘I really only wanted us to have a little chat,’ said Christopher. ‘I tell you what, though, perhaps it would be a good idea if you and I read something through. That way we’ll get an idea of how we work together and, let’s face it, in a company the size of the one I’m hoping to have it’s important that everyone gets along with everyone else. Really and truly this is going to be ensemble acting.’
Esther’s heart sank. She loathed the term ensemble acting and knew perfectly well that Christopher didn’t mean what he was saying. No one with an ego like his would have any intention of merging into the background. He didn’t expect to be part of a team; he expected to be the star, and everyone else in his company was presumably expected to help him shine brightly. She didn’t mind this, though, and indeed she had fully accepted that this was how it would be. What she did object to was Christopher trying to pretend it would be otherwise.
‘Well?’ queried Christopher. ‘What do you say?’
Esther gave him a shy smile. ‘Did you have anything special in mind?’ she asked.
‘As a matter of fact, yes I did,’ said Christopher briskly as his boyish charm dropped away from him, leaving behind the intense actor that she had been expecting to meet in the first place. ‘I thought we’d try a piece from Hamlet, Act III scene 1. You can be Ophelia opposite my Hamlet of course!’
Esther was horrified. Like most actresses she had always thought Ophelia a thankless task. She seemed to go from slight depression to total madness at incredible speed, and it was almost impossible to make her believable.
‘Do you have a problem with that?’ asked Christopher.
‘No, of course not,’ Esther said hastily. ‘Do you have a copy here? I’m afraid it isn’t a part I know very well. I mean, I’ve never played it or anything.’ ‘I don’t suppose you’ve played any of the parts that I have in mind for you if you do join the company,’ said Christopher. ‘All this really is is a test to see how you and I rub along together. You see, I’m actually very anxious to have you on board and, as long as the reading goes reasonably well, then I think you can safely assume that you’ll be part of my company.’
Esther was amazed. This wasn’t the way auditions went in the normal course of affairs, and it certainly wasn’t the way she’d expected this one to go. It seemed that provided she didn’t actually trip over her tongue and make a complete fool of herself then Christopher was going to make her part of his company, despite the fact that in the theatre-going public’s minds she and Marcus were probably still inextricably linked.
Christopher handed a copy of Hamlet to Esther. ‘I’ve marked the place,’ he said encouragingly. ‘We’ll start from where I finish my speech “the fair Ophelia. Nymph in thy orisons be all of my
sins remember’d”.’
Esther glanced at the book, her eyes running swiftly down the page. It was absolutely ghastly. She couldn’t think what she was going to do with it, and was horribly aware that Ophelia was going to sound an utter drip. Remembering all her drama school training she slowed down her breathing, relaxed her muscles, and mentally prepared for the reading.
‘Good my lord, how does your honour for this many a day?’ Once she’d begun she found it easier than she’d expected. For one thing, Christopher was giving a very good reading of Hamlet. He wasn’t simply reading the lines, feeding her cues in order that she could do her speeches. He was acting the part and this made it much easier for her to respond. By the time she came to her last lines, ‘Oh! Woe is me, to have seen what I have seen, see what I see!’, she knew she’d done a far better job than she would have imagined possible half an hour earlier.
Closing the book, she looked at Christopher and he smiled broadly at her. ‘There,’ he said with pleasure. ‘That was pretty good, wasn’t it? I think you’d make a very good Ophelia. Well, is there anything you’d like to ask me?’
Esther wondered if this meant that she was definitely in. She assumed that it did and there were a lot of questions that she wanted to ask him, but some of them she felt it better to save until he had definitely confirmed the fact she would be on board. ‘I was wondering how many people were going to be in your company?’ she asked.
‘Twelve of us in all,’ explained Christopher. ‘Six men and six women. Most of us will be young. I only need a couple of character actors, one male and one female; the other ten will all be young and, to be honest with you, they’ve got to be quite good-looking, especially the girls. There aren’t many parts for unattractive women in any of the plays that I intend to put on. Also I want them to be ambitious; you need that hunger in order to get good performances.’
Esther agreed, but she also realised that Christopher’s desire to be surrounded by six attractive young women was probably based more on personal need than on the needs of the playwrights. It was quite easy with the aid of make-up to make fairly ordinary girls appear highly attractive. However, she wasn’t going to argue with him. It didn’t matter to her what the girls looked like as long as she was given parts that would really show off her capabilities as an actress.
‘Were there any particular plays you had in mind or haven’t you decided that yet?’ she asked.
‘Well, I’ve settled on what’s going to be the mainstay,’ explained Christopher, ‘and that’s going to be Priestley’s Time and the Conways. What do you think of Priestley’s time plays?’ he added.
‘I rather like them,’ admitted Esther. ‘I suppose my favourite is An Inspector Calls but I do like Time and the Conways.’
‘What role do you think you’d be best suited for?’ queried Christopher, smiling at her encouragingly.
‘Perhaps Hazel,’ suggested Esther. ‘It’s quite challenging because she has to change so much. I mean at the beginning she’s young and pretty and has the world at her feet but by the end it’s all gone wrong for her, hasn’t it?’
‘Well yes,’ agreed Christopher. ‘And I suppose you could play it, but actually I’m considering you for Kay.’
Esther was amazed. Kay was a larger part and had some long monologues. She’d always pictured Kay as being tall, elegant and somehow less curvy than she was. Also, by the end of the play Kay has a kind of melancholy about her that wasn’t something Esther associated with herself. She supposed it was rather flattering she was being considered for the part, but then realised that he might well be saying this to all the girls.
‘How would you feel about playing Kay?’ persisted Christopher.
‘Well, of course I’d love it,’ said Esther. ‘Any actress would jump at the chance to play Kay. I’m a little taken aback, that’s all.’
‘Well that’s fine,’ said Christopher. ‘Anyway, there’s a lot to be settled before we start casting plays and, to carry on with answering your question, I’m also hoping to do some Coward, probably Private Lives. The problem with that is there’s only four people of any importance in it, but I thought we’d probably vary the cast from venue to venue. Then there’ll be some potted Shakespeare, you know, like potted operas – they’re all the fashion these days. To be perfectly honest, if we’re touring some of the smaller towns, people won’t want the uncut Hamlet or the entire Henry V. They’ll probably want all of Macbeth, though. I find that no matter where you go the public enjoy plenty of blood and gore. Also, thank God, there isn’t much comedy to deal with in that. That’s a real killer when it comes to modern audiences.’
‘It all sounds very exciting,’ said Esther. ‘Are there any big venues planned or haven’t you decided on them yet?’
For the first time Christopher looked a little vague. ‘That’s rather up in the air at the moment,’ he admitted. ‘The thing is though, once I’ve got my full company together and decided for certain on the plays which – apart from Time and the Conways – are still fairly flexible, then I can’t approach managers of theatres anywhere because I can’t tell them exactly what we’ll be doing. I don’t imagine it’s going to be a problem though. I don’t wish to sound immodest, but I do feel that my name counts for something in this country.’
After all her years with Marcus, Esther knew her cues very well when it came to this kind of conversation. ‘I don’t think you’re being immodest, Christopher,’ she said with a smile. ‘It would be very silly of you to pretend that you weren’t a famous name.’
‘The problem is,’ Christopher said slowly, ‘that I’m not a TV name. These days I regret to say that it’s the stars of TV who put bums on seats. It’s a terrible state of affairs but something we’ve got to face up to.’
‘Does that mean you’re hoping to have some TV stars in the company?’ asked Esther.
‘Absolutely not,’ said Christopher. ‘I’m just explaining that we may not always play to full houses in some of the smaller towns.’
‘That’s not a problem for me,’ said Esther. ‘Unlike you I’m not used to playing to full houses in theatres. After the RSC, though, this is going to be something of a challenge for you, isn’t it?’
‘It’s going to be a challenge in more ways than one,’ said Christopher with a wry smile. At that moment his eyes locked on to Esther’s and what she saw there astonished her. Christopher was most definitely showing that he found her attractive and his words indicated that she, like the whole venture, was part of the challenge he had just mentioned.
‘Well, perhaps you’d let me know when you’ve decided for sure,’ she, said hastily, getting up from her chair and throwing the strap of her canvas bag over her shoulder.
‘I obviously haven’t made myself clear,’ said Christopher in surprise. ‘I’ve already made up my mind about you, Esther. I want you to join my company. The only question is, are you interested in me?’
Esther tried not to look too excited. Inside she was bubbling with delight, but she knew better than to show it. ‘It all sounds very interesting and, as soon as I’ve spoken to my agent, one of us will be in touch with you,’ she said with her most dazzling smile.
‘Fair enough,’ Christopher agreed amicably and then, as she was about to leave, he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her lightly on both cheeks. This in itself was nothing unusual but, when he’d finished, he allowed his hands to slide down the sides of her arms before he released her. This apparently insignificant gesture caused tiny flickers of excitement deep within her.
As Esther walked out of the hall, her cheeks flushed a becoming shade of pink, Christopher Wheldon smiled to himself with satisfaction. He’d been going to take Esther into his company anyway, no matter how bad her reading. In fact, to his surprise, she’d been unexpectedly good. That was a bonus. The real reason for her inclusion was that he was determined to make Marcus realise that in giving up Esther and going out with Claudine he had made the wrong decision. If everything went as Christopher plann
ed then by the end of this tour the Hollywood scouts would be clamouring at his front door, and when he finally flew off to America he would have Esther by his side. It would be the ultimate revenge.
It was seven o’clock that evening before Christopher returned to the house that he and Rebecca shared in London. She was already waiting, fully dressed, ready to go out to dinner that evening. It was only then that Christopher remembered the party they were meant to be attending.
‘God, I’m sorry, Becky, everything’s been complete chaos today,’ he called as he dashed upstairs for a quick shower. He saw with relief that Rebecca had laid out his dinner jacket, shirt and tie on the bed so that all he had to do was literally wash and go. She followed him up the stairs. Her ankle-length embroidered silk dress – sleeveless and with a square neckline – clung to her like a second skin. Round her neck she had a tiny black and crystal necklace, an antique that he had bought her to celebrate two months together. She was wearing very high-heeled strappy shoes and, by the time he had showered and was dressing, Rebecca was pulling on a pair of elbow-length black gloves. Christopher gave a sigh of pleasure. This was exactly how he liked Rebecca to look in preparation for one of their special evenings together.
‘Can’t wait for the party to end,’ he remarked casually.
‘That sounds promising,’ said Rebecca, a half-smile playing around her lips. She had planned this in advance, well aware that Christopher would have spent the entire day interviewing countless beautiful young women for his company. It was important that tonight she reaffirmed her status as his lover.
They returned home at one in the morning. Christopher had been quiet in the taxi and, once they were inside the house, he turned to Rebecca. ‘I hope you’re going to be nice to me tonight,’ he said softly.
Dramatic Affairs Page 2
