I nodded.
“Lookin’ f’ work? I can ‘elp y’. I knows a few important people.”
“No!” I shook my head and added, by way of explanation: “I’m not looking for work and I don’t want to stay here. I have to find someone but I don’t know how to get to the west end. Can you tell me in which direction …”
“The west end, hm?” Molly interrupted. “Y’re lost, hm? The west end is not f’ the likes of us. Posh folk, there.”
“I know someone who works in Bond Street and I have to get to him. Can you tell me how I can get to Bond Street or tell me who else could help me?”
“Suga’, if I can’t ‘elp y’ then no one can, believe me. I’ll ‘elp y’. Come on. We need t’ go t’ Freddy.”
Molly turned to go and indicated that I should follow her, which I did. It was difficult to keep up with Molly, who rushed straight through the crowds and changed direction here and there.
Freddy was a young, reckless-looking lad of about twenty five. The left-hand side of his face was disfigured by old, healed burn marks. Where the left eye should have been he had only a scarred eye socket. Molly had already forewarned me about his appearance on the way to see Freddy and she had told me his story. As a child he had cleaned chimneys – a dangerous job and it cost the lives of many children every year. Freddy had an accident when the chimney that he was in suddenly began to burn, as a draught ignited the embers. His left side, and particularly his face, were so badly burnt that he had been laid out on the street to die. But the boy had survived and taken up his job as a chimney sweep again until he grew too big for it.
The room in which we met Freddy was dirty and in it was only a low bed with a few blankets and a chair on which Freddy was sitting, smoking a pipe. Molly told him about my situation and Freddy looked at me the whole time, uninhibited. His appearance was sinister. His remaining eye was pale and without eyelashes. It looked like the cold eye of a fish.
“Hm,” he said, when Molly had finished. I stood around, a bit lost, feeling very uncomfortable. Outside the door two people were arguing very loudly about the agreed price for sex and another woman’s voice was bellowing at both of them to be quiet. This was easily the worst place that I had ever been in.
Freddy stretched out his arm and knocked on the door. Immediately a small, thin man with greasy hair entered the room.
“Yes, boss?”
“Gino,” was all that Freddy said and the man disappeared.
I looked at Molly questioningly and she just shrugged her shoulders, and so we waited to see what would happen. This Freddy was not exactly a talkative chap. It seemed to me an eternity before someone eventually knocked on the door and a boy timidly slipped in.
Freddy explained to the boy, who I would estimate to have been at most five or six, where I wanted to go, and the boy nodded.
“Come on,” was all he said and disappeared through the door.
I looked at Molly, clueless.
“Go with him. He’ll take you where you want to go.”
“Th-thank you,” I murmured to both Molly and Freddy and I followed the boy who was waiting impatiently for me outside.
Chapter 29
Ill-humoured, Ivo rode through the streets of London. How was he supposed to find Liz here? He was certain that she was in London where her family owned businesses but still it was like looking for the needle in the haystack. His grandmother had been certain that his feeling would guide him or that something like an invisible thread would lead him to her, but at the moment Ivo could not sense it at all. He did not have the faintest idea where he should look. A boy, maybe five years old, ran in front of his horse and Ivo pulled hard on the reins. The shocked animal reared and just missed the boy, who had fallen to the ground just a hair’s breadth away.
“Damn it!” Ivo cried, annoyed.
He looked down at the little boy who had wrapped his arms protectively around his head.
“Are you OK?” he asked and dismounted.
“I-I’m OK,” said the boy a little shakily.
“Watch out next time you’re crossing the street,” Ivo urged him and the boy nodded, embarrassed.
“Sorry, Mister.”
“That’s Ok,” said Ivo and patted his dark hair.
“Do you know your way around here?”
The boy suddenly beamed and nodded eagerly.
“Yes, sir. I know every house.”
“I’m looking for someone,” said Ivo. “A young lady. She wanted to visit someone who has a shop here – an elegant shop. Do you know a few streets where there are such shops?”
“Oh, there are lots of streets and shops like that, sir. That won’t be easy. Don’t you know what sort of a shop it is?”
“Unfortunately not,” Ivo answered, disappointed.
“What does the lady look like and how long has she been here?”
“I think she’s only been here two or three days. She has blond hair, she’s very pretty, slim and maybe twenty years old. Her eyes are blue like the sea.”
“I know her,” said the boy in excitement. “The day before yesterday I lead her to Bond Street – her family has a jewellery shop there.”
“That’s her!” shouted Ivo in excitement.
Chapter 30
“I do not know how to thank you,” I said to Edward Porter, who had been the manager of our jewellery shop in Bond Street for many years.
“It goes without saying, Miss Graham. In all the years that I worked for your father he was not only an employer but also a friend to me. How could I deny my help to the daughter that he loved more than anything else? It fills me with anger to hear of the despicable acts that you have had to suffer. Legally there is unfortunately little that can be done, I fear. Coming here was exactly the right thing to do. Once you are of age you will be out of danger.”
The elderly man looked at a photograph hanging on the wall that showed my father together with all of the employees of the Bond Street branch.
“It hit us all hard when we found out about the tragedy. Your father was popular with all of his employees – hard but fair – that’s how he was. He would have wanted me to help you. He only ever wanted the best for his daughter.”
“I am eternally grateful to you. I hope that I can take over the businesses soon, before my uncle ruins them.”
“I hope so, too,” sighed Mr Porter. “He has unfortunately already started doing that. Only last week I heard that he had taken some capital from the bank and he has reduced the personnel. Apparently he wants to buy diamonds in Russia because they would be cheaper there. I doubt, however, that the stones will prove to be of the accustomed quality. I consider the whole business to be extremely risky.”
“Try your best to hold everything together. As soon as I can finally get to my inheritance I will give you full managerial authority. You know the business best. I trust you.”
“Thank you for this trust.”
*
The room was not very big but it was light and clean. Mr Porter had given me a small sum of money that he was able to discreetly put to one side. I did not know whether my uncle would look at the books and therefore I did not want to accept too large a sum. It was sufficient any way to pay for this room for the remaining time up to my twenty first birthday. In addition I had bought myself new clothes and a few bits and pieces, such as a comb and some soap.
Every other day I visited Mr Porter to find out the latest. Otherwise I spent most of my time in my room or in the park. My thoughts kept on returning to Ivo. I longed for his kisses although I well knew that he would not only be the wrong man but also very soon a married man. At night I dreamt of his passionate kisses and woke every time in complete confusion, filled with a desperate yearning and a feeling that I had left a part of myself in the gypsy camp.
There was a knock at the door and I looked up in surprise from the book that I was reading – Mr Porter’s wife had lent it to me.
Who could be visiting me here at this hour? It was aft
er eight. Was it Mr Porter with news? My heart began to beat uneasily. I had not spoken with him since the day before yesterday and he had seemed very concerned about the businesses. I feared the worst.
I got up slowly to open the door.
My heart missed a beat when I saw the person at my door. It was worse than I had feared. I felt my knees go weak and I held myself steady on the door frame.
“You?” I cried, my voice shrill with panic.
He smiled ironically.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you? Just running away like that!”
His eyes flashed derisively.
“You really are a naughty girl. Someone should put you over their knee. Perhaps your father neglected this duty too much.”
I wanted to close the door on him but he put his foot in the doorway and I screamed with shock. He forced his way inside the room and I backed away.
“I will scream,” I threatened him.
He grinned and shook his head.
“I’ve told the innkeeper that you’re my wife and that you’ve run away from me. He will not want to get involved in family matters.”
“You did what?” I gasped, horrified.
“Well, perhaps I was a little hasty with the announcement of our marriage but as I intend to marry you anyway, I didn’t think it was too bad.”
“I will definitely never marry you,” I cried, outraged.
He came up to me threateningly.
“But if I now compromise you then you will have no other choice,” he murmured and a little, wicked grin appeared on his face.
“No!” I screamed, and ran past him to the door, but he had grasped my arm and pulled me so that I fell back against his broad chest.
His arms held me tightly. I could feel his rapid heartbeat on my back.
“Are you wanting to run away from me again?” he murmured in my ear.
“What do you want of me?” I asked, out of breath.
“To make love to you,” he whispered in my ear and took my ear lobe between his teeth.
A shudder ran through my whole body and I instinctively leant my head to the side to give him more room for his caresses. When his hot tongue moved down my neck and onto my shoulder I groaned out loud as if in pain: I cursed him for the effect that he had on me and I cursed myself because I had no wish to stop him.
“Say that you don’t want it. Deny your desire. But your body will always tell me the truth. You want me as much as I want you.”
What could I answer to that? He was right. I wanted him. I was afraid of it but at the same time my whole being was proving it: my nipples were pressing almost painfully against the material of my bodice and my blood seemed to have transformed into liquid lava.
His hands moved to my breasts and massaged them whilst he tended to my neck and shoulders with gentle bites and with his tongue.
“Liz,” he whispered hoarsely. “Sweet little Liz. You don’t know what you’re doing to me. You are so innocent that you have no idea how much you make my blood boil.”
He turned me round in his arms and kissed me with such hunger that I became dizzy. As if of their own accord my arms went round his neck and I pressed myself against him, groaning. His hardness both shocked me and fascinated me simultaneously. I had seen him sleeping with the Sinti woman and sort of knew what would happen and that the woman must have liked it, too. Nevertheless I did have my doubts about the whole thing. My body, on the other hand, did not seem to recognise these doubts. On the contrary it seemed to know exactly what it wanted. My sex was glowing with heat and every inch of my body cried out for Ivo’s touch. So I allowed him to undo my bodice and undress me bit by bit until I was standing before him in just my underclothes. I suddenly felt embarrassed and looked to the side.
“Look at me, Liz,” he pleaded and put his hand under my chin to give his plea emphasis.
Uncertainly I raised my eyes and met his. The fire that was blazing in his dark eyes shocked and excited me in equal measure.
“You are so beautiful, as fresh as a bud in spring. I want to make you bloom,” he whispered, brushing his hand over my cheek, my neck and down my arm to my waist, then, with torturous slowness he pulled my underclothes over my head and looked at my bare breasts. I breathed deeply and my breasts rose and sank. Cooled by the air the points rose and begged for attention.
“So absolutely beautiful,” he murmured and bent his head and enveloped one of the buds in his lips.
A hot flash shot from my nipple to my sex as he began to suck. I was quivering and suddenly my legs no longer seemed to be able to hold me. I dug my fingers into his dark hair and gasped, shocked by the intensity of the sensation. When he suddenly picked me up and carried me to the bed I was overcome by an attack of panic. I suddenly became aware that I was about to lose my innocence.
He laid me gently onto the bed and began to undress. I lay there, my heart pounding, and stared at him, wide-eyed. He pulled his shirt over his head and laid bare a muscular, sun-tanned chest. My eyes rested on the dark, frizzy hair on his chest and then followed the thin band of hair that ran down over his belly and disappeared into his trousers. I swallowed, registering the clear bulge inside his trousers. I should have diverted my eyes – I wanted to divert my eyes – but I could not. I watched, breathless, as he undid his trousers and removed them.
I gasped for air, in shock at the sight before me. It was much too big. It was impossible …
He slowly got onto the bed and slid over me. I lay there as if frozen and waited for the unavoidable to happen.
He lay over me, propped up on his arm and looked at me searchingly.
“Are you afraid?” he asked hoarsely.
I nodded.
“You don’t need to be. I will take my time. – Trust me.”
“I can…”
“Shhh,” he said and kissed me tenderly on my forehead. “I know that up to now I’ve given you no reason to trust me but I beg you to do now. Trust me! I want to make you happy. Don’t be afraid.”
He began to kiss me — at first tenderly, playfully. As I relaxed and responded to his kisses they became more passionate until I started to move restlessly beneath him.
He groaned and move away from me, breathing heavily. He looked at me, his eyes darkened by desire.
“Now I’m going to teach you to fly, little butterfly,” he murmured and smiled at me sensually.
He slid down my body and caressed my breasts and my belly with his lips and his tongue. My whole body seemed to melt under his caresses and I twisted beneath him, gasping.
He slipped off my panties and pushed my legs apart. As I felt his tongue on my most sensitive spot I wanted to push him aside, embarrassed.
“No! You can’t …”
“Trust me, Liz,” he urged me, and, uncertainly, I let him.
A gasping sound came from my lips as his tongue founds its goal again. Soon, however, I forgot everything else around me, including my doubt and my shame. I had never had any idea what desire really meant. I was moving towards something that I could not name. It threatened to swallow me and at first I struggled against it, for fear of completely losing control, but Ivo wanted to disperse these final fears, too and I lost myself in the whirlpool of my desire. I surrendered without reserve to his tenderness, pushing my sex up to him until the sweet pain exploded within me and made me scream out.
I lay there trembling, my fingers dug into his dark locks and I tried to take in what I had just experienced. He gently moved away from me and lay over me.
He looked at me with a mischievous smile.
“How do you feel?” he asked gently.
My heart was still pounding wildly and my legs would not stop trembling. It had not even been close to the way I had imagined it in my boldest of dreams. No wonder all women threw themselves at him when he could do such overwhelming things to them.
“I … I don’t know,” I gasped breathlessly. “It frightens me.”
“Frightens you?” he asked in amazement. “What
frightens you, little Liz?”
“I don’t know exactly. The … the power that you have over me. I think that you can hurt me. I …”
He kissed me incredibly gently, then he looked at me seriously.
“So don’t you know that you have the same power over me?” he murmured hoarsely. “I have fallen for you – I’m unable to leave you alone. I can’t breathe without you. Your body is like a drug that I can’t give up and that’s confused my mind. I’ve struggled against it, denied it, and yet it happened the very first time I saw you. Because of you I fought with my own brother. Because of you I’ve left everything behind me and have followed you because I can’t live without you. I’m nothing without you, Liz. I want to be the first and only man to take you so that you cry out my name when I bring you to the climax. I want to make you beg and plead. I want to be your master just as you are my mistress.”
His admission overwhelmed me. I had never dreamt that I might have power over this gypsy. I had not thought that he would feel as strongly as I did.
“I want you so much,” said Ivo hoarsely, and I could see the truth of his words in his eyes. “I do not want to take anything that you are not ready to give. Do you want to give me this gift, Liz?”
I nodded and raised my hand to pull him down to me.
With a groan he pressed his lips onto my mouth and kissed me with the same desperate hunger that I, too, felt. I felt his hardness pressing against my sex and I opened my legs. I trusted him.
Ivo moved away from my lips and looked at me.
“It may hurt at first when I open you. Do you really want this?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Look at me. I want to look at you when I take you.”
I did as he wished and looked into his eyes. The pressure against my sex became more urgent, then a sharp pain shot through my lower abdomen. I concentrated completely on his eyes. The tenderness and the pride that showed in his eyes as he consumed me moved my heart. I sobbed and he froze.
“Is it bad?” he asked with concern.
The Untamable Rogue Page 13