Semi-Detached Marriage

by Sally Wentworth

  He stood looking down at her, his breathing unsteady. 'Oh God, I'd almost forgotten how beautiful you are.' His hand came down to touch her breast and she shuddered and gasped.

  Simon began to pull off his clothes, throwing them down anyhow, and then he was beside her on the bed, pulling her to him.

  Suddenly there was so much Cassie wanted to say, wanted to tell him before he made love to her, so that everything was straight between them. She got as far as, 'Simon, please let me…' but he mistook what she was going to say and stopped her roughly.

  'No,' he said savagely, 'I'm not going to let you go. Now or ever. You're mine, Cassie. You belong to me. And I should have done this weeks ago!'

  He took her then, with a savage hunger, his need for her so urgent that there was no time for gentleness. Cassie moved under him, taking his body as fiercely as he gave it, wanting him so badly, her insides on fire with passion and desire. She dug her nails into his back, crying out his name, her body arching under him as she felt his body shudder with pleasure, and ecstasy engulfed her. They lay, then, clinging to each other, panting and breathless, their bodies burning hot, but it had been so long since they had been together that soon Simon's hands and mouth were on her, touching, kissing, and Cassie was moaning, `Love me again. Oh, Simon, please, please love me again!'

  He was more gentle this time, lifting her to the heights of desire and holding her there until she cried out for him and pulled him fiercely down on top of her, giving herself to him in complete surrender.

  Afterwards they lay together, their bodies for the moment exhausted but still very close together. Cassie's cheeks were wet with tears of joy and gratitude and Simon tenderly kissed them away. He looked into her face searchingly, his fingers gently exploring every feature all over again. When they reached her mouth he grew still, then said fiercely, 'I meant it, Cassie, I'm not going to let you go! It doesn't matter what happened between you and Tom. Not any more. God, when I thought that you'd been killed…' He broke off, his face twisted in remembered pain.

  Quickly Cassie put her hands on either side of his face. 'Simon, listen to me. There was nothing between Tom and me. I was never unfaithful to you.'

  His eyes flew to meet hers, incredulous, vulnerable. 'You're not just saying that to…'

  'Nol Oh, okay, we kissed a couple of times, but when he asked me to go to bed with him I said no. I couldn't, you see.'

  Simon tensed and his hand tightened. 'I saw you together, Cassie.' He didn't say it accusingly, almost sadly.

  'All you saw,' Cassie said urgently, 'was Tom dropping me off at the flat. I hadn't been with him that weekend I'd gone away alone to try and think things out. You can check with the hotel where I was staying, if you don't believe me. I phoned him and asked him to pick me up at the station when I got back to London because I- well, because I'd made up my mind that I wasn't going to sec him any more.'

  'You mean…'

  Steadily Cassie said, 'I told him that night. He wouldn't accept it at first, but in the end he had to.'

  'Oh, Cassie!' A look of relief and thankfulness came into Simon's eyes. 'If you only knew how hard it's been to try and live with the thought of you together, of you in another man's arms.'

  'Don't! Oh, please don't. I'm sorry, Simon. I've been such a fool. But I was so lonely. I missed you so much!'

  He pulled her to him almost violently and held her tightly in his arms. 'We've both been damn fools, me more than you. I thought that if we loved each other enough we could weather any separation, any problems. But it was wrong of me to expect so much.'

  'No, you weren't wrong. It was my fault. I was so lonely without you that I got angry and wanted to hurt you. But really it was just saying that I needed you. You see, I missed you so much, Simon, so very much.'

  'Darling!' He kissed her gently, but then frowned and said, 'But if you'd decided to end it with Tom, why did you say you wanted a divorce? Because I jumped to the wrong conclusion?'

  'Partly that,' Cassie paused and added with difficulty, 'and partly because you were with a woman when I phoned you.'

  'With a woman?' Simon's eyebrows flew up in incredulous surprise.

  'Yes. I heard her start to speak and then stop.' Simon began to laugh.

  'You adorable idiot that was the television news. I switched it off with the remote control.'

  `You mean I've been tormented by jealousy because of a news announcer? Oh, Simon!' Cassie clung to him as he laughed again.

  `I'm glad you were jealous,' he murmured. `I want you always to be jealous.' He bent to touch her lips with his, exploring her mouth with tantalising little kisses, then moving on to trace the curve of her cheek, her throat, her eyes, coming back to her mouth with ravenous hunger. `Oh, God, Cassie, I love you. No matter what it takes, we're never going to be parted again.'

  He went to kiss her again, but Cassie stopped him, looking up at him searchingly. `Would you really have given me a divorce?'

  He smiled and carried her hand to his lips, kissing her fingertips. 'No, but I was getting pretty desperate by then. That's why I insisted that you come up here. I realised what a stubborn fool I'd been and that the only chance we had of getting. back together was here, in this bed.'

  Cassie laughed a little. `So this is where I would have ended up anyway?'

  `Most definitely.' Simon looked down at her, his face suddenly serious again. His voice raw with emotion, he said, `You see, you're the most precious thing in my life, and there was no way I could let you go.'

  Cassie stared up at him, overwhelmed and feeling strangely humbled, but then, as he began to kiss and caress every curve of her body, awaken each sexual nerve end one by one, she was again lost in passion, her body responding to his touch as he made love to her again and again, until they both fell into a contented sleep.

  It was daylight before she awoke and for a few seconds she thought she was in the flat, alone in bed as she had been for so long, and the familiar desolation filled her heart, but then she moved and felt Simon's naked body beside her. Recollection and joy flooded through her in a wave so great she thought she would burst with happiness. It was all right. They were together again and everything was going to be fine from now on. Carefully she turned so that she could see him, savouring this moment of pure happiness to try and hold it for ever in her mind.

  She wanted to reach out and touch him, to trace the outline of his hard jaw and straight nose, to smooth away the beginnings of a grim line at the corner of his mouth that had never been there before. But she was afraid to wake him, wanting to hold on to this moment for ever. She lay still until quite a while later when he moved and turned on to his back, then she glanced at the clock on the bedside table, sat up and reached for the phone.

  She asked the operator to get her the local cottage hospital and then asked the matron on duty- how Bill Harris and Jeannie Cooper were.

  `Och,' the woman replied in a broad Scots accent, `they're both fine. We're keeping Mr. Harris in for a day or two, but Mrs. Cooper will be away home today.'

  `And her child?'

  `The bairn's fine. Not a thing wrong with him.'

  `I'm so glad. Will you please tell them that Mrs. Ventris called.'

  She put the receiver down slowly, remembering those few hours of danger that had brought a group of strangers so close together, only to part again when they were safe. Turning, she saw that Simon was awake and watching her.

  'Are they all right?'

  'Yes, fine.'

  He held out his hand to her, but she surprised him by saying determinedly, 'Simon, are you very busy at the oil terminal? Can you take a few days off?'

  He smiled rather wryly. 'Of course. I'll be giving it up anyway to come back to London with you.'

  Cassie gazed at him as the import of his words struck home and she became fully aware of the sacrifice he was willing to make to keep her. Then she smiled and slipped down into bed to snuggle up to him. 'That won't be necessary.'

  His eyebrows rose. 'It won't?
'

  'No, because of the heavy schedule you've got over the next few days.' She moved against him voluptuously, arousing him at once.

  'What heavy schedule?' Simon asked thickly as he reached for her.

  'Making quite sure you give me a baby.'

  His fingers bit into her flesh so hard that she gasped.

  'What did you say?' His grey eyes stared into hers. 'Do you mean it? Oh, God, Cassie are you sure?'

  'Yes,' Cassie answered softly, putting up a hand to stroke his face. 'I did quite a lot of thinking when I was stuck on that beach, and I'm very sure.'

  'But what about your career?'

  'It will just have to wait until your job here is finished and the baby's old enough to go to nursery school. If Marriott & Brown's won't take me back, I'll open a shop of my own. In the meantime we'll just be together, here in Scotland. Because all I want is to be with you.'

  'Oh, Cassie! My darling girl!' He held her very close for a long time, until Cassie moved restlessly and he loosened his hold.

  She looked at him impatiently. 'Well, what are you waiting for? You do want the job I'm offering, don't you?'

  Simon laughed, a deep, masculine laugh of pure happiness. 'I most certainly do. And I'll do my very best to give satisfaction, ma'am.' And he did.