Anything, Any Time, Any Place

by Gordon, Lucy

  Bed. She tried not to think of it. It would be a while before she could get Jack into bed and lovingly try out her newly discovered power. Bed. It would be her kingdom. Already she could feel the soft, urgent throbbing in her veins at the thought of how triumphantly she would reign there, and how glad she would make her lover.

  At last she saw the lights of his car between the trees. Eagerly she began to run toward him.

  Jack, traveling as fast as he dared in the drive, saw her in his headlamps at the last moment and braked sharply, cursing.

  “Kaye, what the devil are you doing?” he shouted in fear.

  “Sorry,” she said, sliding in beside him. “I got impatient waiting for you.”

  “And throwing yourself under my wheels was your way of showing me?” he demanded. “You gave me the fright of my life.”

  For answer she hooked an arm around his neck and pulled him forward until she could clasp her mouth to his. Jack’s head spun with a kiss such as he’d never known from her before.

  “Kaye?”

  “What’s the matter? It’s not the first time I’ve kissed you.”

  “It’s the first time you’ve done it like that in a car in the middle of the drive,” he pointed out in a ragged voice.

  “So, there’s a first time for everything.”

  “For Pete’s sake! I’ve got to control this car the rest of the way.”

  She immediately sat back in her seat, her hands clasped demurely before her, the picture of innocence. It didn’t make him feel any safer. He simply grew puzzled, trying to work out this new mood, and nearly steered the car into the grass verge.

  Supper for two was laid out on the scrubbed pine table in the kitchen—his favorite cheese soufflé and a bottle of rough red wine, just as he liked it. Kaye had learned his favorite recipes from Sam, who enjoyed cooking, and executed them superbly. The two of them had a friendly rivalry going.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Jack asked as she was serving him a second helping.

  “I’m just thinking what I’m going to do to you as soon as we get upstairs,” she said, meeting his gaze steadily.

  He felt as if he’d been punched in the stomach, yet softly, as if with a powder puff. But he recovered his poise enough to answer teasingly, “I thought I’d go straight to sleep tonight.”

  “No,” Kaye said simply.

  “No?”

  “I have other ideas.”

  He was enjoying the game. “Suppose I don’t fall in with your ideas.”

  “You will,” she assured him with a little smile. “You won’t have any choice.”

  The powder puff punched him again, straight in the groin, sending waves of heated expectancy flowing through him, depriving him of his breath, his voice. She’d never spoken to him like that before, and he liked it. He loved it.

  “Finish your supper,” she told him.

  “I’m not hungry anymore—not for food.”

  He wanted to strip her there and then, the way she was so clearly enticing him to do. But she shook her head.

  “That’s a pity, when I’ve made you such a nice meal,” she said with a sigh. “I’d better go away while you finish.”

  “Hey!”

  “I’m going up to have a shower. I’ll be a while. I don’t like to hurry.”

  Her sheer effrontery staggered and delighted him. Through the reeling of his senses he was vaguely aware that there was something bothering him about this situation, but his mind wasn’t clear enough to sort it out now. While he was trying to pull himself together, Kaye slipped away.

  She was laughing to herself with secret delight. It was working. She was going to give Jack the night of his life, but on her own terms. And he was going to enjoy every moment.

  As she’d hoped and expected, Jack appeared in her bathroom barely five minutes later. She was already in the shower, standing beneath the jet of hot water. She’d been about to soap herself, but the sight of him standing on the other side of the misty glass made her set the soap down and begin to turn this way and that beneath the water. She could sense his stillness as he watched her, and knew she had his total, undivided attention. Her new, flowering confidence told her that right now the phone could have rung, the doorbell screamed and the house caught fire without distracting his attention from her one little bit.

  When he finally managed to move, it was like a sleepwalker, slowly undoing the buttons of his shirt, his eyes still fixed on her through the glass. His shirt went, then his pants. Then the shower door opened.

  “Thought I’d join you,” he said, slipping in naked beside her and closing the door.

  “I said, finish your supper first,” she teased.

  He grinned. “Your mouth told me to finish supper. The rest of you told me something very different.”

  “Think you can read me, huh?”

  “Ma’am, the message you were giving out, there was no mistaking.”

  Looking down, she could see how well he’d understood her. He was big and powerful, throbbing with urgency, promising everything. She thought he would take her there and then, but if she could play games, so could he, and his control was wonderful. He put some soap on his hands and gently laid them on her, drawing them down from her shoulders until he could encompass her breasts in his palms. They were heavy now, the nipples already peaked with desire, and they filled his big hands.

  He regarded them lovingly, brushing his thumbs lightly back and forth against the nipples. Those tantalizingly slow movements almost sent her out of her mind, and a long sigh broke from her. She let her head fall back, offering herself up to him without defense.

  “Mrs. Masefield, you’re a liar.”

  “What?”

  “You let me think you were all cool and indifferent, and that was the biggest lie you ever told.”

  “Could be,” she murmured. “I’m still considering the matter.”

  “Let me help you,” he said huskily.

  The sudsy water laced down her, making her body slippery, so that his hands glided easily over her contours, in and out, over curves and valleys, until they came to rest on her behind, cupping it in both hands. He bent his head so that he could inflict soft, tormenting kisses on the delicate skin beneath her ears, the way he knew she liked. He knew every inch of her by now, what pleased her a little, a lot, what could drive her into a frenzy. Yet tonight he was discovering that he barely knew her at all. And it thrilled him.

  He rinsed her down, washing away the last of the soap, leaving her as damp and fresh as a water nymph. Kaye had fast become an expert in the caresses he liked, and also the ones that reduced him to helpless delight. So she ran her fingertips friskily up his chest and down again, making every tiny movement tell.

  “What—are you doing?” he asked raggedly.

  “Only trying to please you,” she said. “Doesn’t that please you?”

  “You—know it does.”

  “Yes,” she murmured, her lips against his chest, “I know it does. And I know what else pleases you.”

  “I guess you do,” he said slowly. “What now?” He’d never asked that question of any woman before, but he desperately wanted to know what this woman’s answer would be.

  She considered, her head charmingly on one side. “I—haven’t quite decided. What would you say to simply getting a good night’s sleep?”

  “What I’d say to that isn’t fit for a lady’s ears,” he said raggedly.

  She actually had the nerve to laugh, regarding him with impish delight. “Oh, Jack,” she teased. “Oh, Jack!”

  “Why, you cheeky little urchin!” He grated the words out before his mouth descended forcefully on hers.

  She was still laughing at him. He could feel it right through the kiss, through her own response and his. Her laughter sparkled through him like droplets of springwater, making him a part of her joyous mood.

  He lifted her out of the shower and, without taking his mouth from hers, wrapped a huge white bath towel about her, pu
lling it across at the front so that her arms were imprisoned. Then he imprisoned her again in both his own arms, but somehow he didn’t feel any more in command of the situation than he had before. It was as though he were part of a preordained script, and even his assertion of power had come in the place she’d arranged for it

  He was dealing with a woman who knew him very well indeed, well enough to think three moves ahead of him, and that could be either thrilling or worrying, depending on your point of view. But for the moment, all that mattered was drying her down so that he could carry her to bed and do whatever else she’d planned for him.

  Kaye was reveling in every moment. She knew she had Jack strung out to the edge, and she was going to make the most of it. The moment he tossed away the towel and picked her up she kissed him fiercely, enticing and tormenting him with her tongue, so that he nearly stumbled on the short journey out of the bathroom.

  When they reached the bed it was she who pulled him down. His manhood was hard and powerful against her thighs, and she let it glide between them, squeezing it gently.

  She had never loved his body so much, never been so thrilled by its strong contours. Despite his size he didn’t carry an ounce of fat, and his active life had left his frame lean and honed. She explored him with her fingertips, caressing the long line of his thighs and hips, his broad back.

  “Witch,” he said softly.

  “Mmm, you’d better believe it! I want you, Jack.”

  “That—was the impression I was getting.”

  “I mean, I want you now.”

  Nothing on earth could have stopped him after that. Her thighs fell apart, allowing him to enter her completely. No more teasing now, just the wholehearted acceptance of a woman for the lover of her choice. She was someone he’d never met before, a totally sensual, erotic creature, who lived in the darkness of passion where faces were hidden and only the truth could be seen.

  And the truth lay in the way her back arched in a delirium of delight, and her hips thrust forward to meet his, giving and demanding with equal intensity. And because that was how she was, she made it the same for him. He’d never craved so much, taken so much, or given so much.

  They climaxed at a moment of her deciding. Great as his control was, she overcame it at her pleasure, sending him into a fierce spin of delight that left him gasping, worn-out, yet ready for anything she wanted.

  She wanted everything. With laughing eyes that gleamed at him through the darkness, she let him know that the night had barely begun. He met her challenge, letting her draw him in deeply, to the mysterious heart of her, where she seemed to offer everything, yet always revealed at the last minute that there was something more.

  And gradually he began to understand. There was no end to this woman. There never would be, for she could reinvent herself every day and every night, yet still be the same.

  As the first crack of gray crept in between the curtains he lay dazed with the knowledge that he’d had a great victory, or a triumphant, glorious defeat. Looking at his wife, sleeping like a baby in his arms, he wasn’t sure he knew which.

  Or that he would ever know.

  Jack leaned back in his heavy leather chair, yawned and stretched. He’d made notes until his head ached, and now he was trying to think of something else to do.

  He had an eerie feeling of déjà vu. It was only last night that he’d sat here in his office like this, finding more things that needed to be done so that he wouldn’t have to go home. But in the end, he had gone. And Kaye had given him a welcome that had startled, exhilarated and shocked him.

  There was the wonder of discovering that his demure wife could become a siren, taking the lead, enticing him, showing him how deeply he craved her. The full extent of that craving, never understood before, had alarmed him. It threatened the control that he needed in order to operate.

  Even so, he could have coped, even enjoyed it, if it hadn’t happened so soon after Rhoda had advised her daughter how to use her husband’s desire to manipulate him.

  There are a thousand ways to make a man sit up and beg.

  He’d been so sure that his Kaye was above that. Yet within a few hours she’d turned into a seductress, confident of her power to enslave him, and willing to use it. For once he hadn’t been in charge. Worse, he’d surrendered willingly, letting her lead him anywhere. It was only afterward that reaction had set in, and he became troubled.

  For if Kaye had been trying to prove she could call the shots in bed, she’d succeeded in doing just that.

  It had been years since anyone had called the shots to Jack Masefield, yet his demure little wife had managed it within hours of the overheard conversation that had—or should have—put him on his guard.

  And just where had that guard been when she started her tricks? Nowhere. He’d been so startled, delighted, enthralled, dazzled, that he’d forgotten every word until it was too late.

  She’d made him sit up and beg.

  And now he was scared.

  He’d risen early and hurried from the house, without even breakfast. He’d needed to put some distance between them, and think. Lord knew, he couldn’t think when she was there.

  But he hadn’t done any thinking. He’d plunged into work in order to avoid thinking, and he’d managed it until the day was over and he was sitting alone in the quiet building, unable to shoo his fears away anymore.

  He began making international calls. The time differences across the world were useful in extending his working day, and at one time he’d thought nothing of working almost through the night, sleeping a couple of hours, then rising bright and early to start again. He’d even been known to leave a lady’s bed in the small hours to see if an urgent E-mail had arrived.

  He’d never willingly left Kaye’s bed. She’d always been ready for him, always eager to make love with a passion that contrasted with the quiet, almost diffident woman of the day. That contrast, too, had confused him, and never more than after the events of last night.

  He made calls for a couple of hours. His head was fuzzy, which was unlike him, and he hadn’t yet decided where to spend the night.

  Then a very unwelcome voice came from the outer office. “Hallo? Anybody there?”

  The woman who walked into the room was dressed with elegance and restraint. She was sparingly made-up and her hair was neat. For a moment Jack didn’t recognize her, and when he did, he gasped.

  “Elsie?”

  “Good evening, Jack,” she said coolly, coming right in.

  “I thought you’d gone back to Monte Carlo,” he said. He was on alert. He’d never seen his ex-wife look quite like this, and any surprise from Elsie usually meant that she was up to her tricks.

  “I did go back, for a while. But I can’t stay away from my little girl for long.”

  “Fine,” he said, determined to speak pleasantly. “Georgy will be thrilled to see you. But why did you come here?”

  “Because it’s time you and I had a talk about the future, without that ninny you married sticking her oar in.”

  “If you really thought Kaye was a ninny you wouldn’t be avoiding her,” Jack said. Elsie scowled. “Kaye is my strength. While I’ve got her beside me you can do your worst.”

  “Don’t be so sure of that. You were content to leave Georgy with me for years, because it suited you.”

  “She was a little girl then, and you kept her away from your dubious friends. Besides, you had help. I liked Valerie, and while she was there I didn’t worry too much. Pity she left, and you didn’t have the sense to replace her.”

  “You’re very hard on me, Jack,” Elsie said after a moment. “Do you know what it does to me, to know you’re turning my child against me?”

  “No way am I doing that. You’re still her mother.”

  “Not now you’ve given her another one.”

  “Kaye isn’t trying to push you out, and neither am I,” Jack said, speaking kindly. “But Georgy’s still a kid. She needs stability, and, let’s face it, Els
ie, you’re not the most reliable person in the world.”

  “That’s what you’re going to tell the judge, is it?”

  “Does it have to go in front of a judge? Can’t we work out something reasonable?”

  She gave a wan smile. “I know your idea of ‘something reasonable.’ It means doing what you want. You don’t give an inch, Jack, and I can’t fight you.”

  “Then let’s not fight,” he said gently. “We don’t need to be enemies.”

  Elsie seemed to speak with difficulty. “It’s just that—I tried so hard—I meant to be a good mother. I love her so much and you’re taking her away from me....”

  Suddenly she broke down, weeping bitterly. Jack stared at her, appalled. Years of fighting with his ex-wife had left him unprepared for the moment when she cracked. He knew her to be selfish, treacherous and totally without honor, but her heartbroken sobs upset him.

  “Elsie, please,” he said, slipping a friendly arm about her shoulders, “there’s no need for this.”

  “I’m so lonely,” she wept. “Oh, Jack, you don’t know how lonely I am.”

  “Has François left you again?” he asked without malice.

  “Everyone leaves me. I’m losing Georgy, but I always meant to be a good mother.”

  “I guess you did.”

  “You do believe me? That I did my best.”

  “Yes, I believe you,” he said, not sure whether it was true, but wanting to comfort her.

  “Yes, you do, don’t you? And so will the judge.” She raised her head and looked him in the eye. The tears were gone, and only derision remained on her face. “I’ll go into court, dressed as I am now, and cry my eyes out. Still fancy your chances against me?”

  He stepped sharply away from her. “You...” he said softly, trying to find a word that described her.

  “Forgot I used to be an actress, didn’t you?” She gave a snigger. “You know me better than anyone, Jack. If I can fool you, I can fool anyone.”

  “Just another of your tricks,” he said grimly.

  “And you fell for it.”

  “Because, like an idiot, I want to believe the best of you,” he said contemptuously. “That’s a mistake I won’t make again.”