House of Temptations

by Yvonne Strickland

  Suddenly the bedroom door swung open and the form of Cheryl appeared. The main light blazed on to her exclamation of, 'Jesus Christ!'

  But it was too late, for though Jackie and Rodolfo knew she had entered, the tides of lust erupted through their bodies, sweeping away the flimsy chattels of self control. Rodolfo groaned loudly but Jackie threw back her head and cried out as though pierced by glowing needles.

  When their senses returned, Rodolfo lowered her legs to the sides of his own, opened his eyes and sighed, 'Ah, mal-edizioneV

  'Rodolfo!' came the voice from the doorway. Til be back in one minute! If you're still around I'll let Carlene take over, understand?'

  4Si capisco,' he groaned.

  'And you!' continued Cheryl, glaring at Jackie, if your arse isn't in that bidet when I get back, I'm going to thrash a layer of skin off it!'

  As Cheryl disappeared, Rodolfo eased Jackie up from him. She closed her eyes, feeling regret at his need to withdraw from her.

  Tell her, Roddy,' she sighed. Tell her we're in love. Tell her and it will be all right.'

  'Oh, mia bella,' he replied kissing her, 'this is much -much pericoloso, how do you say, unsafe!'

  'You mean dangerous, Roddy. Why?'

  'I cannot say more now. Soon she will return and it will be not so good.' He gathered up the bathrobe and pulled it about him. She wanted to prevent him from leaving but the complete restraint of her hands and arms dashed all hoped of that. He kissed her and left without another word or a backward glance. She jerked in frustration at the mittens and straps, let out an exasperated, 'Oh, shit!' and walked to the bathroom.

  'No wonder Pauline went over the top!' remarked Cheryl as she rinsed the soap from between Jackie's legs. 'She could have been in the Salvation Army before she met up with you and that other one!'

  'What's happened to Rosie?'

  'She's been caught; she got no further than Toulouse. They let me phone her at the police station this morning.'

  'What are they going to do with her?'

  'She's coming back here,' answered Cheryl, patting Jackie dry with the large pink towel. 'Officially she's being delivered to our own Inspector Gautier. You know him rather well don't you my love! Gautier will, of course, allow me to collect her tomorrow. I suppose you know she left because she was as besotted by Mike as you are with Rodolfo. But I think she found the outside world is not what she really wants any more/

  Tm not besotted,' said Jackie as they left the bathroom. 'Roddy and I feel a lot for each other/

  'You stupid girl!' retorted Cheryl. "You ought to know better than that - you've got enough experience of men!'

  Jackie did not reply. Cheryl moved her towards the bed and Jackie saw lying upon it a garment in black leather which she was not at first able to identify as it had been left folded.

  'Lie down/ ordered Cheryl, picking the garment up. Jackie lay down on her front.

  i came in here originally to release you/ continued Cheryl, 'but you can keep the restraints on until supper time now, and you'll wear this as well.'

  Cheryl slipped the leather over her feet and pulled the long sheath up her legs, tugging and easing it up until it reached the belt about her waist. Returning to Jackie's ankles, she began to edge up the heavy duty zip, tightening the sheath about Jackie's legs as she went. In less than a minute the zipper was up to her waist and secured to the belt by another small brass padlock. Jackie rolled aside and looked down at the sleek leather sheath; it fitted her like a glove and allowed for no more than the slight bending of her knees.

  it goes better with the straitjacket really,' remarked Cheryl, regarding the helpless form on the bed, 'but I suppose it will do for now and it's certainly enough to keep out the likes of Rodolfo!'

  Cheryl left her. Jackie listened until she heard the outside door close. Then she squirmed about for a few moments before burying her face into the pillow with a loud, 'Oooh!'

  Unexpected Role

  'Karen, I'm going in ten minutes. Is there anything you want to see me about?"

  Karen turned away from the word processor with her fingers poised over the keyboard. Framed in the doorway stood Sonia, her black hair pushed back into its old-fashioned bun, her dark eyes intense but not hard. She wore a dark brown biker's jacket and loose, black satin trousers tucked into her ankle boots.

  'No, I'll be OK," said Karen, getting up from the desk. 'You're still back by tomorrow evening aren't you?'

  'Yes my dear, I am,' replied Sonia, stepping into the small room, i hope you have a good time in Paris.' i won't have time to see much of it, I'm afraid; it's all business and interviews. You will next week, though, if you're still looking forward to doing the fashion shots.'

  'Oh, yes,' replied Karen cheerfully, i'm quite looking forward to it.'

  'But remember, you are under no obligation to do any of these things; this afternoon, I mean.'

  i know, but when I offered to help out I was doing more than just that. I think I'm still trying to shake off old hangups. Anyway, I'm only there to make up the numbers.'

  'As long as you don't feel you have to be the same as everyone else,' said Sonia, moving closer and putting an arm on Karen's shoulder. 'I wouldn't want that because you are not the same. You are special. Very special.' Karen felt her reassuring warmth. She knew Sonia was

  going to kiss her and closed her eyes, feeling herself stir within even before their lips met. 'Don't worry about me,' she breathed. Tm not about to do Rose's disappearing act.'

  'No, I dare say you're not,' she said. 'By the way, you can expect Cheryl back before lunch. She's returning with Rose. That little problem has all been sorted out, I'm relieved to say.'

  'From what I've heard she might well have come back under her own steam, if she'd had the chance.'

  'Yes, well perhaps she got things into perspective when she was out on her own.' Sonia held Karen by the shoulders and glanced down at her chest. 'By the way, the silver locket - I see you wear it outside now.'

  'I know we agreed I'd be discreet about it, but I feel -well, I don't see why anymore. Everyone must have guessed, and they're far less likely to pass judgement on me than I used to on them.'

  'They won't pass judgement on you at all, my dear. You know that as well as I do.'

  'Right,' said Karen putting her fingers on the locket. 'Then as you gave it to me I think it would be wrong now for me to hide it away.'

  if that's the way you feel, then I'm happy too.'

  She followed Sonia out of her room, through the main office and to the door. Sonia turned and said, 'Look, close up shop after you've finished the typing. Go out and enjoy the sun until lunch time.'

  There was nobody to be seen in the ground floor corridor. They kissed again and Sonia was gone.

  'You're a lucky girl you know,' said Cheryl. 'If it hadn't been for Inspector Gautier, you'd have been appearing in court by now.'

  'It's nice to have the coppers on your side for once,' remarked Rose, gazing out at the rolling, drifting landscape.

  They turned from the main highway and on to the winding road. On each side, the vineyards spread away under the blue sky and harsh light of the midday sun.

  'Not far to go now/ said Cheryl.

  Rose peered through the windows at a small, seemingly deserted hamlet of stone houses with its ancient church standing solid in the heat of the day. As they passed through. Rose turned to her and said, 'Cheryl, thanks for coming all the way to pick me up. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused/

  'Well, if you decide to do it again, it really would make sense to tell Sonia not just for our sake but for yours as well. There's your bank book for a start. I'm amazed you, of all people, never thought of that. And Sonia would have arranged a cab to Beziers railway station for you. You could have gone all the way to Paris on the high-speed train then back through the tunnel to London. Instead, you just cleared off on foot. Rather silly, don't you think?'

  'I know,' replied Rose, watching the fields drift by, 'but at the time I
was mad; not just with Mike but with myself. I suppose it looks stupid now, but I wanted to shove everything out of my mind and pick up where I'd left off you know, pretend it had all never happened. Cheryl, I really feel embarrassed. I don't know what I'm going to say to them all.'

  'I understand Rose, but don't worry; they all want you back.'

  'I bet Mike doesn't!'

  'Rose, you have to understand Mike, The last thing he wanted to do was hurt you. And it isn't as though he doesn't think the world of you. That's the trouble, he thinks the world of all the girls. If he had to choose one and only one of them for a partnership he'd probably have a decision crisis and blow a fuse!'

  Rose looked at Cheryl for a moment, then smiled for the first time since she had left Toulouse. She could not deny her own contentment at the prospect of returning.

  'The best thing you can do,' continued Cheryl, 'is wait for a convenient opportunity to go and say you're sorry to Mike. Believe me, he'll be so embarrassed he'll be convinced it was all his fault.'

  'I'll go straight to see Sonia first; she must have been mad at me/

  'Well she isn't mad at you now Rose, but you won't be able to talk to her, not for a couple of days. She left for Paris this morning whilst I was collecting you.'

  The car slowed. They approached the old stone gateway, standing dark against the blue sky, its forever-open iron gates standing in the embrace of green shoots and creepers. Rose sighed as they turned into the drive, i can't wait to see everyone and get back to the swimming pool and the lovely gardens.'

  'Rose,' said Cheryl, a little ominously, slowing down the car and turning to her. 'You and Jackie are to keep out of the way for a couple of days. Jackie has been particularly badly behaved and needs to be kept under control until Carlene and Rodolfo have gone, if you see what I mean.'

  'Yes,' answered Rose, looking straight ahead and feeling the dark currents flowing through her body.

  'I'm sure,' continued Cheryl, 'you won't mind keeping her company during that time. I know how well you both get on.'

  Rose looked down at her hands. 'Em, I - yes, whatever you say, Cheryl.'

  They passed between the trees on the curving driveway. Rose glanced from the corner of her eye at the chalet to her right. On her left there was the swimming pool, calm, familiar and inviting but quite deserted, and ahead, the house. Rose hoped that Cheryl did not perceive her trembling. 'Out of the way.' 'Under control.' That's what Cheryl had said. Through Rose's mind passed the images of Jackie and of what might be.

  'Well, she didn't drop in to say hello,' remarked Kim, trying to manipulate an olive and a slice of tomato on to the end of her fork.

  'I doubt if we'll see her or Jackie for a bit,' said Valerie, across the little table.

  'Not until the show's over,' added Annette, peering through the conservatory window and hesitating with a sandwich half raised to her mouth.

  They watched Cheryl emerge from the porch and return to the car. In a moment, she was moving away, out of sight along the front of the house; she drove around the small annexe to the parking spaces at the rear.

  Cheryl glanced at the single-storey annexe and saw that the Venetian blinds were closed. She could see in her mind's eye, the gaunt and heavily spectacled James, sitting in his swivel chair, surrounded by his screens and consoles, gathering together, processing and mixing the information from the multitude of hidden cameras in the secret rooms. She had always been intrigued at the way human intimacies, the passions, the lusts and the burning abandonment of the climax, could all be converted into a stream of binary numbers, of souless electronic data, and manipulated with such dispassionate ease.

  They had been fortunate in having the services of James for, as everyone knew, his job needed the skills of an electronics expert. The fact that the images he saw on the screens might raise the temperature of other people was not a problem. James, as they all knew, was totally uninterested in the female sex, being far more concerned with the instrumentation than the subject of its usage.

  Cheryl locked the car and approached the rear of the house. With a rattle of keys she unlocked and swung open the solid oak door, turning only to re-lock it once inside. Then she carried on up the dimly lit and windowless rear stairs to the first floor.

  Rose and Jackie would be waiting.

  I take it you're not too apprehensive this time around,' said Angela.

  'Why? Do I seem calm and unconcerned?' replied Karen, looking out across the valley towards the distant sea.

  i suppose you do, sweetie,' said Angela, relaxing back on the wooden seat where they so often talked and laughed together. The tree shaded them now from the early afternoon sun. The insects buzzed lazily and intermittently; the breeze caressed their faces, warm and pure.

  'Has anyone told you what we're doing?' asked Angela.

  'No, I didn't ask either."

  'Oh well,' continued Angela, it's going to be a sort of weird hospital scene with

  'Angie!' cut in Karen.

  'Oh, sorry,' replied Angela, a gentle smile spreading under her blue-grey eyes.

  'Angie,' continued Karen, "you know what I'm like. If I know all about it in advance, I'll be getting uptight and telling myself I shouldn't take part. All I know is that I'll be standing around as some kind of attendant. I'll imagine I'm in a different world and that all the others are figments of my imagination. I've had a reasonable amount of practice at it since I've been here, you know. It helps me. I'm not by any means the realist you are.'

  Angela placed a hand on Karen's. 'But I have to tell you all the same, sweetie, I'm in it with Hot Roddy, if you know what I mean. I don't want you to to feel awkward with me after.'

  Karen stared into her eyes. 'Angie, I don't give a damn what you do. Nothing would ever make me think badly of you - ever.'

  Karen could not help but recall the act she had seen Angela perform with two men at the party in the grounds of the house the previous summer. She had watched, hidden amongst the trees, and seen Angela impaled at front and rear by those two men; watched her abandon herself entirely to flagrant lust. And though she might not be aware of it, there was little Angela could do that Karen had not equalled, albeit in private. The difference was that Angela sailed calmer seas and carried no guilt. Karen was beginning to doubt if her own guilt would ever be banished, no matter what she indulged in or with whom. 'Want a smoke?' she asked, smiling at Angela and reaching down to her shoulder bag.

  'No, this time have one of mine,' replied Angela, producing the packet and lighter, i shouldn't keep pinching yours the way I do.'

  Karen breathed out a swirl of smoke into the warm air and looked at her watch.

  i suppose we ought to think of going back in ten or fifteen minutes. It's two thirty already.'

  They left the place under the tree which was so special to them and walked slowly back over the rise towards the house. There was nobody to be seen by the swimming pool, though Mike carrying his gardening tools, waved from the direction of the old summer house.

  'God, I couldn't do that in this heat,' said Karen, looking beyond the house to the tennis court. There, two figures pranced back and forth with rackets flashing.

  'You can do anything, anytime, if it gives you enough pleasure,' observed Angela.

  They reached the driveway and strolled towards the main entrance of the house. As they reached the portico, Angela hesitated and passed a hand over her eyes; closing them tightly for a moment she pushed aside her blonde hair.

  'Are you OK, Angie?' asked Karen.

  'Yes, I'm all right.' Angela smiled.

  But Karen saw her squeeze her eyes shut twice more before they reached the stairs up to their rooms.

  Karen remembered her instructions; she knew what to do. Fresh and warm from the shower, she pulled the pink bathrobe about herself and fastened the belt. Beneath the bathrobe all she wore were her small briefs and black holdup stockings. On her feet were black, patent leather stiletto-heeled sandals, held in place by thin criss-crossed ankle str
aps. The uniform awaited her downstairs.

  It was almost three thirty when she reached the arched doorway on the first floor. This was the room where she had acted out the first fantasy with Sophie and Danielle. She did not recall anything in the room to give her cause for concern, though the hanging circle of black curtain was a nagging puzzle. Perhaps she should have asked about that, but the matter was out of her mind for most of the time, and when it did for some reason present itself, the occasion was never appropriate.

  She pushed open the door and entered the ante-room. It was well lit but unoccupied. Various items of clothing were arrayed about the chairs. When she entered the main room there were three people seated in the chrome and leather chairs. The large dining table had gone and where it had stood was a small coffee table upon which rested an opened bottle of amontillado sherry and several glasses. Annette and Valerie looked up, and Cheryl, with her back to Karen, glanced around the side of the chair.

  'Hi!' greeted Annette. 'Hope you've learned your lines properly!'

  Karen stopped before them. 'Er lines? What lines?'

  'Don't tease her,' said Valerie, looking from Annette to Karen. There aren't any lines. The sound is dubbed later.'

  All three wore uniforms suggesting the nursing profession. The uniforms were of soft vinyl with white, cotton-edged short sleeves and open collars. They were, as Karen observed, considerably shorter than regulation length and closer fitting, but had a white trimmed pocket at each breast to dispel any doubt as to what the uniforms were intended to represent. Annette's and Valerie's uniforms were of mid-blue, Cheryl's of a darker tone. On her left side breast pocket was clipped a large silver stopwatch. Their stockings and shoes were identical to Karen's.