The Guest of Honor

by Irving Wallace

  Nakorn’s lips were tight. “What is my sentence?”

  “I could have you executed. I won’t. Too easy. I could send you to prison for life. Again, too easy, and I don’t want you in Lampang. I am sending you into exile in Thailand. You will be behind bars tonight. In the morning you will be flown to Bangkok and left there. You will stay in Thailand for as long as you like, but you will never come here again. I have left instructions at every point of entry into Lampang that if you are seen here, you are to be shot on sight.” She paused. “Do you understand, Nakorn?”

  “I do.”

  Noy stood up. “You may leave now. I have guests for dinner.”

  Nakorn pivoted. As he walked through the doors, a guard grabbed him and snapped handcuffs on his wrists.

  Noy took Underwood by the arm. “Business is done, Matt,” she said. “Now it is time to celebrate with Den and Marsop for dinner.”

  An hour after dinner, Den was sent to bed and Marsop departed. Noy suggested that Underwood had better get some sleep, since he would be awakened early and would be flying all day tomorrow.

  “Let me show you to your bedroom,” Noy said. “Follow me.”

  Dutifully, Underwood trailed after her up the stairs to the floor above.

  Passing one oak door, Noy tapped it. “My master bedroom,” she said. She tapped the door not far from it, and then turned the knob. “The guest bedroom, your very own. Good night, Matt.”

  Without kissing him or touching him again, she turned her back to him and walked to her bedroom.

  Underwood watched her leave, then entered his own bedroom and saw that the silken cover to his canopied bed had been thrown back and a downy pillow waited for his head. His two bags were locked, and only his wardrobe bag was unzippered. It had been left open for him to put away the clothes he was wearing. His travel suit, fresh shirt, underwear, and necktie had been laid out for him with soft travel shoes and silk socks.

  Turning down the lights one by one, he left on only a dim lamp beside the bed. Underwood slowly undressed.

  He found his navy blue robe and was about to toss it on the bed when he heard the creak of a door.

  He whirled around, and to his surprise—no, not to his surprise, because he had dreamt it and fantasized it so long—the door between Noy’s bedroom and his own was opening slowly, and soon Noy was standing in the doorway.

  She was wearing only a sheer pink negligee. Even in the dimness of the room, he could make out the dance of her full breasts and see the dark triangle beneath the filmy robe.

  Noy slowly approached him, her eyes on his face, on his penis, on his face again.

  She went into his outstretched arms as he hugged her tightly.

  His hard penis pressed against her.

  She tried to release herself from him to throw off her robe, but he reached up and pulled it down her body and Hung it aside.

  She stood naked before him.

  He was having trouble with his breath. “Noy, are you doing this because you are grateful to me?”

  Noy reached for his head. “Matt, I’m doing this because I’m deeply in love with you.”

  “God, darling, how I love you.” His heart was thumping as he brought her to him, against him, the touch of her skin inflaming his body. He crushed his mouth against hers, and she went limp in his arms.

  Her breasts were what he felt, larger, softer, yet firmer than he had imagined. He had them in his hands; bent; had the nipples, one, then the other, in his mouth. The sweetness of them made his erection grow larger.

  He was on his knees, kissing her belly, her hips, her thighs, going downward between her legs, and entering her with his tongue.

  He heard her moan, felt her sway, felt she was going to faint, and quickly rose, catching her, his mouth all over her pliant flesh.

  “Matt—Matt—Matt—don’t wait—.”

  With that, he lifted her off her feet—she was as light as a feather—and he carried her to the bed and lowered her onto it.

  She eased to one side on her back, and opened her legs and thighs to him, her arms outstretched, imploring.

  He was on his knees, kissing her full breasts, her pointed nipples, and then kissing her lips above, and her navel and inside her thighs, and kissing her wet lips below.

  He was almost out of control, his penis high and firm.

  Then, as he was about to enter her, she sought him and pulled him down upon her and he felt himself sinking inside her almost endlessly.

  She screamed, and he clutched her and went deeper.

  The excitement of the coupling was almost unbearable.

  But it went on and on.

  He made love to her once, and once again an hour later, and then a third, lingering time.

  After that, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, sated, exhausted, and happy beyond human desire.

  In the early morning Noy brought in her tray of breakfast and shared it with him. Underwood remained under the cover, the tray on his lap, as Noy perched on the side of the bed and ate with him.

  Later, she removed her robe and showered and came in to dry herself before him.

  Watching her, he found his voice and spoke. what had been on his mind this past hour md these recent minutes. “Noy—”

  “Yes, Matt?”

  “Noy, I want to divorce my wife and marry you.”

  She started to look over her shoulder and then fixed her gaze on the boudoir mirror beyond him. “I thank you, Matt, but that’s impossible.”

  “It’s not impossible. We deserve to be together.”

  “No, Matt, that would spoil everything. You’re the president of the United States. Alice is your first lady. You cannot leave. The scandal would hang over you—us—forever.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “You must go back to your wife. And, like me, you must run for office again. You cannot abandon the people who believe in you. You must run for reelection again to preserve what you believe in. And I am determined to preserve what I believe in.”

  “That’s all you have to say?”

  “There is more.” She turned to face him. “Matt, if you didn’t run, I could never see you again. I’d be a president and you’d be a plain citizen. But if you do run and are elected, and I run and I’m elected, we will both be presidents once more, and we will be able to see each other like this from time to time without any problem. Think about it, darling. It’s the only way for us to continue to be together.”

  “In love,” he said quietly.

  “Always in love,” she whispered.

  President Underwood stood outside the Muang Airport, staring across the field as he watched Air Force One receive its final checkup before departure.

  He turned to Hasken, who stood beside him. “Hy,” the president said, “you deserve an exclusive newsbeat for all you’ve done for me. I’m going to give you that beat here and now.”

  “Yes,” said Hasken eagerly.

  “I’m running for a second term. I’m running for reelection. The news is all your own.”

  Hasken kept his eyes fixed on the president. Hasken said, “So Noy wouldn’t let you leave your wife.”

  The president blinked. After a long pause, he shook his head. “No, she wouldn’t.”

  “That’s the big story, Matt.”

  “I know it is. But we’re swearing that’s strictly between us. It’s a story you alone know. The story for the world has nothing to do with my wife or Noy. The story for the world is that I'm going to run again.”

  “And keep your first lady. And maybe—just maybe—see Noy from time to time in the future?”

  The president gave a twinkle of a smile. “To discuss matters of state, like giving the United States a bigger air base in Lampang. She can meet with me and arrange that, once she’s elected.”

  Hasken grinned. “You’re quite a guy, Matt.”

  President Underwood smiled. “Only because I know quite a woman, Hy.”

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