The Gallery

by Fredrica Alleyn

  ‘Well it was,’ said Cressida shortly. ‘He’s been such a nuisance that in the end I agreed to go out for a meal with him, but we didn’t hit it off. I ended up walking out on him when he made a suggestion that I found offensive on a first date.’

  Guy laughed. ‘You sound like the original Miss Prim! Considering what you’ve spent this evening doing, and believe me I saw how much you enjoyed it all, what on earth could he have suggested that would offend you?’

  ‘There’s quite a difference between being here tonight with my lover and having a bizarre proposition made to you over an Indian meal on a first date,’ insisted Cressida.

  ‘What was the bizarre suggestion?’ asked Guy lazily.

  Unfortunately Cressida hadn’t thought of one and she cast around in her mind for something that the others would believe. ‘He wanted to dress up in women’s clothes and let me make love to him like that,’ she said wildly.

  ‘He must have felt very confident that he could trust you to keep this secret,’ said Guy thoughtfully. ‘Do you know what he does for a living?’

  Cressida didn’t hesitate for a second. She was certain now that Guy and Marcia knew, and reasoned that it was unlikely that poor Tom, if he’d ever suggested a liking for transvestism, would have done so before she’d first learnt what his job was.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she said with a slight laugh. ‘At least, I think I do. He could have been lying, but I don’t see why he should. He told me he was a detective sergeant in the police force.’

  ‘Don’t you think it odd that a policeman would open himself up to blackmail by telling you he wanted to dress up in women’s clothing?’ asked Guy. ‘After all, it’s scarcely likely to go down well with his colleagues!’

  ‘I’d already told him about one of my fantasies,’ said Cressida slowly.

  Guy raised an eyebrow. ‘It seems that Indian restaurants are the place to go if you want to become intimately acquainted with someone very quickly!’

  ‘I didn’t tell him there,’ said Cressida. ‘It was something that came up during one of our meetings at the gallery and I suppose it gave him the confidence to tell me his private desires. If his hadn’t been so bizarre it wouldn’t have mattered.’

  ‘Lots of men enjoy dressing in women’s clothing,’ murmured Marcia. ‘I’ve never found it impairs their performance in any way – quite the contrary in fact.’ She gave a secretive smile.

  ‘I’m afraid I wouldn’t know,’ retorted Cressida.

  ‘What’s your fantasy then, Cressida?’ asked Guy. ‘No doubt Rick’s already acquainted with it, but out of sheer curiosity I’d love to know.’

  ‘It’s no big deal,’ muttered Cressida awkwardly as she tried frantically to think what she could say.

  ‘It was enough to make our police sergeant pretty bold,’ Guy reminded her, and she knew by the look in his eyes that he hadn’t yet accepted her story.

  ‘I’ve always fantasised about making love out in the open, in a place where there’s a danger of being caught,’ she murmured.

  ‘And has Rick brought this somewhat banal fantasy to life for you?’ asked Marcia.

  ‘That’s my business,’ said Rick, his voice tight with anger.

  Guy sighed. ‘How disappointing; I’m sure you could come up with something better given a little encouragement, Cressida. Never mind, fantasies are very personal things and perhaps it’s only possible for you to fantasise within the limits of your sexual knowledge. Maybe tonight has changed your mind,’ he added. ‘Would you have liked to be Alice?’

  ‘No!’ said Cressida emphatically.

  ‘What a pity,’ said Guy as their eyes locked. ‘I think I’d have enjoyed it if you were, but that of course is my fantasy, not yours! Well, time for the pair of you to get going. I expect you’ve got a lot to talk about.’

  Cressida got to her feet. ‘I hope you’re happy now you’ve heard all the details of my private life,’ she said angrily. ‘You said you had your reasons for asking, but I don’t believe you. I think you’re just turned on by other people’s secrets.’

  Guy nodded. ‘Perhaps you’re right, but if that were true, then don’t you think your secret must have been rather a let-down for us?’

  ‘I hope so!’ snapped Cressida, feeling far bolder now that the imminent danger of exposure seemed to have receded. ‘I’m not here to slake your jaded appetites. Let’s go, Rick.’

  ‘I’ll walk you to your car,’ said Guy.

  Once outside, Rick struggled to unlock the passenger door and Cressida felt her employer move up close behind her. Then, as Rick continued to fumble with the key, he pressed himself close to her and blew very softly on her neck.

  He didn’t speak, but Cressida shivered with a mixture of desire and nervous tension. She knew that this was the man she was expected to sleep with, the man wanted by Interpol and her true quarry, but suddenly she wasn’t certain that she had the courage to go through with it.

  Tonight she’d seen exactly what kind of a man he was. She’d witnessed at first hand his strange, darkly erotic brand of sexuality and been subjected to his sharp, all-seeing intelligence. For the first time she doubted her ability to cope with him if he chose her as a lover.

  ‘Done it!’ exclaimed Rick, opening the door with a flourish. Cressida climbed in and Guy helpfully bent down and tucked her skirt around her legs.

  ‘I like the outfit,’ he said quietly. ‘So subtle and yet at the same time very erotic. It must have been designed with you in mind.’

  ‘What did he say?’ asked Rick as they drove off.

  ‘He said he liked my outfit,’ replied Cressida, still trembling without fully understanding why.

  They drove fast and in silence for some time. Cressida couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t make matters worse, so she waited for Rick to begin talking. Eventually he did.

  ‘Are you sleeping with this policeman?’ he asked angrily.

  ‘No, of course not. Didn’t you listen to a word I said back there? He fancies me, I made a mistake and agreed to meet him once in a public place, and that’s the end of the story. He never meant anything to me. I just wanted to get him out of my hair.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me then? I’d have seen him off.’

  ‘I didn’t think it important,’ said Cressida wearily.

  ‘It wasn’t much fun for me listening to you talking about your fantasies in front of Marcia and Guy.’ Rick now sounded sulky.

  ‘Then why didn’t you step in and tell them to mind their own business?’ asked Cressida. ‘It was even less fun for me, but I didn’t get a word of support from you. What kind of a lover does that make you?’

  ‘It’s difficult,’ said Rick, quietening down. ‘Guy’s been very good to me; he makes me a lot of money and –’

  ‘Fine, he pays you and he pays me which is why we were there tonight and why we had that strange, intrusive conversation at the end of the evening. If that makes sense to you then let’s drop the subject, shall we?’

  ‘Doesn’t it make sense to you?’ demanded Rick.

  ‘Not really. Why should they care what I do in my own time?’

  ‘They don’t want me hurt,’ said Rick lamely.

  Cressida laughed. ‘They don’t care about your feelings, or anyone else’s come to that. They’re only interested in their own pleasures.’

  ‘He was a policeman,’ said Rick. ‘Naturally they were interested.’

  ‘Why? Don’t they like policemen? Is there something illegal going on at the gallery that I don’t know about?’ asked Cressida, trying not to sound too interested.

  ‘No, but the police are always making life difficult over stupid things. Marcia had a lot of trouble with them over the alarm at the gallery, and then two of the wealthiest collectors had their cars clamped right outside the place and the police were very unhelpful about sorting out a parking area for customers to use.’

  ‘You’d think they’d have better things to do, like catching criminals,’ said Cres
sida.

  ‘Exactly! If your car gets stolen or your house broken into they aren’t interested, but just park for five minutes on a yellow line or have the alarm that’s rigged up to the station go off a couple of times by mistake and they’re treating you like a murderer,’ said Rick angrily.

  Cressida was interested to hear his view of her profession. She thought he had a fair point, although not where Guy and Marcia were concerned, because clearly their antagonism was based on more than Rick realised.

  ‘His work did put me off a bit,’ she confessed. ‘I never think you can trust the police, particularly in the Met.’

  ‘No, you can’t,’ agreed Rick. ‘Half of them take bribes anyway.’

  ‘Do they?’ asked Cressida, genuinely interested. ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘I’ve no idea, but Guy tells me it’s common practice.’

  ‘Clearly he didn’t pay enough then if his favourite clients got clamped!’ laughed Cressida.

  Suddenly Rick pulled the car off the road and parked it outside a huge pair of wrought iron gates. He switched off the engine and turned to her. ‘How would you like to realise your fantasy tonight?’ he asked softly.

  ‘Here?’ asked Cressida in amazement.

  ‘No, not right here at the edge of the road! I thought we’d go over the gates and make love in the grounds.’

  ‘Whose house is it?’ she asked anxiously.

  Rick laughed. ‘A high-ranking police officer’s!’

  Cressida couldn’t believe she was hearing right. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure. Guy pointed it out to me once. He was demonstrating how well the top brass live, although to be fair I think his wife’s got the money.’

  ‘Whose wife?’ she asked, terrified that she already knew the answer.

  ‘Detective Chief Inspector David Williams of the fraud squad!’

  Cressida was grateful that the darkness hid her face from Rick. She wondered how she was ever going to make herself do what her lover wanted, knowing that if they were discovered she’d find herself face to face with her superior officer. For a few seconds she simply sat there, but then perversely she found that she was becoming aroused by the idea.

  Williams was the man who’d put her in this position. He’d stressed time and again how important it was that she did whatever was asked of her in order to keep the trust of everyone involved with the gallery, and if he caught her and Rick together then he’d know she was carrying out his orders to the letter.

  ‘Well?’ asked Rick. ‘Doesn’t the idea turn you on? You said you wanted to do it out of doors where you might be discovered.’

  ‘I was thinking of woods or a park, not a private garden,’ protested Cressida, but her tone lacked conviction and she was already pulling on the door handle. ‘He hasn’t got dogs loose in the grounds, has he?’ she queried.

  ‘No, I’m not that stupid. There’s some kind of security guy who sometimes patrols the grounds, but I think that’s in the day and early evening. Like I said, his wife’s got money and they’re terrified of criminals with a grudge getting their hands on her.’

  ‘I suppose he deals with some well-organised criminals,’ said Cressida, starting to climb athletically up the left-hand gate.

  ‘He certainly isn’t involved with any petty crime,’ muttered Rick. ‘You’re pretty fit,’ he added as she landed inside the grounds ahead of him.

  ‘I was always good on the wall bars at school!’ she laughed, feeling her excitement level rising. ‘Where do we go now?’

  ‘Keep your voice down,’ whispered Rick. ‘Anyone would think you wanted to be discovered.’

  A part of her did, but she obeyed and followed him as he moved in a crouched position along the high wall and down two small steps into an enclosed herb garden with an oval-shaped lawn in the middle.

  ‘This will be perfect,’ he murmured. Then his hands were fumbling with the pearl fastenings of her lacy top and as he undressed her, Cressida tugged at his dress shirt buttons and then, after unfastening the trousers of his evening suit, she slid her hand down inside them and encountered his rapidly swelling erection.

  They were both breathing hard now, and when his mouth covered hers with a bruising intensity, she pushed her tongue between his lips and caressed the soft inside of his cheeks before sliding the tip of her tongue along his gums. Rick responded by stabbing his tongue into her mouth in mock sexual penetration and their breathing grew so loud that it was all Cressida could hear in the still night air.

  Finally they were both naked and she felt Rick’s hands pulling her down on to the grass, which was slightly damp with the dew. She lay on her back as he slid himself all over her, moving up and down and then circling his hips so that his penis made soft circles on her lower belly. His mouth was on her breasts now, nuzzling and licking as his hands moved between her thighs and started to massage the whole area until she was desperate to feel him inside her.

  She’d never felt so free or so abandoned. Above her, stars shone in the clear night sky and beneath her back the soft grass seemed to mould itself about her in a gloriously primitive sensation that made her long to shout out with excitement. ‘I want you inside me,’ she told Rick. ‘Quickly, I need to feel you fill me up.’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Rick, and to her surprise he flipped her over on to her front so that now it was her breasts and belly that were caressed by the damp grass, the coolness soothing the areas where Rick’s stubble had grazed her nipples and the surrounding flesh.

  Cressida ground her belly down into the earth, loving the sensation, and then she felt Rick’s chest on her back and his pelvis hit her buttocks as his long erection slid slowly up between her thighs until at last she felt it touching the entrance to her vagina.

  ‘Hurry!’ she cried, totally forgetting to keep her voice low, but Rick slid himself back down her body so that the brief tantalising touch of the tip of his glans was removed and she had to wait several seconds before he carefully eased himself back up her. Then she was again hit by the weight of his chest and pelvis and felt the teasing caress of his penis, this time swirling just inside her, arousing the achingly sensitive nerve endings at the opening there.

  ‘Push right in!’ she screamed, grinding her breasts down against the grass. ‘Don’t wait any longer. I want you inside me now.’

  ‘Did you do it with the policeman?’ demanded Rick, rotating his hips so that tiny sparks of pleasure ran through her vulva.

  ‘No! Do it, Rick. Do it now.’

  ‘Swear to me that I’m your only lover. Swear it,’ hissed Rick, and she felt him starting to withdraw from her again.

  ‘I swear it!’ she yelled, driven frantic by her overwhelming excitement.

  Unseen by either of them, a light went on at the top floor of the house and a security light that covered the driveway clicked on.

  ‘Good,’ said Rick with satisfaction, and he let one of his hands glide beneath her belly, turning the palm upward until it was resting against her pelvis. Then, as he began to thrust vigorously, he was able to feel his erection hitting his hand through her body. It was an incredible sensation, and every time he pushed forward and felt himself inside her he uttered a low growl of animal pleasure.

  For Cressida the combination of these sounds and the sensation that she too had from the pressure of his hand beneath her provided an experience far beyond anything she’d had so far. Then, as the pressure mounted inside her and she felt the preliminary darts of achingly sweet pleasure spreading from between her thighs up through her lower belly, and as her breasts swelled and her tight nipples were tickled by the grass beneath them, she felt tiny drops of rain start to hit the parts of her back that weren’t covered by Rick.

  She was burning up inside with the impending orgasm, every sinew straining towards the moment of climactic release, and suddenly this heat, which she could feel escaping through her pores, was stimulated even more by the unexpectedly cool raindrops.

  Rick continued to thrust fiercely
, ignoring the rain as he concentrated on bringing them both to a climax, but the sensation of the rain sent Cressida into a frenzy of excitement as she writhed and twisted beneath her lover. Without realising it, her hands were clutching at the earth and she lifted her head towards the sky, relishing the incredible freedom of the moment as the hot, insistent throbbing that seemed to have been consuming her for so long exploded and her body felt as though the explosion had sent shards of red-hot larva through her whole body.

  She had no idea how loud her scream of delight was, but Rick, who was about to come himself, quickly pushed her head down into the grass to try and muffle her scream. Her excitement only added to his and within a few seconds he too was bucking and groaning and his orgasm was also incredibly intense, spreading throughout his entire body and leaving him jerking and shuddering far longer than usual.

  When he was finally finished, he collapsed on top of Cressida and then they rolled over on to their sides, arms locked around each other. Cressida laughed with pleasure. ‘That was wonderful!’ she enthused.

  ‘As good as you’d imagined?’ he murmured, pushing her damp hair back off her face.

  ‘Yes, even better than my fantasy,’ she assured him, almost forgetting that in truth she’d never had such a fantasy.

  Rick pulled her closer and began to lick some of the raindrops off her shoulders and exposed breasts. Cressida squirmed with delight and to her surprise realised that she was becoming aroused again. She ran a hand over Rick’s stomach and up across his chest, tweaking his nipples until they were as hard as her own.

  ‘You’re insatiable!’ he said with a grin, but as his hand started to stray between her thighs they both heard the sound of a door slamming in the distance.

  ‘We’d better go,’ said Cressida, her desire vanishing now that the prospect of being discovered by Detective Chief Inspector Williams was becoming dangerously possible.

  Rick hastily grabbed their clothes and whispered for Cressida to follow him. ‘We’ll dress in the car,’ he hissed.