Dark Secret by Marina Anderson

buttocks beneath his trousers reminded her of the way he looked naked. His bronze-coloured body, his dark hair and eyes made her stomach flutter withexcitement. She wondered why it was that he had this effect on her.
    Dinner that night consisted of roast chicken cooked with lemon and tarragon followed by a passion fruit sorbet. This time Rowena ate hungrily and it was Harriet who picked at her food, her appetite dulled by her sexual hunger for Lewis.
    Chris watched Harriet with interest. He knew as well as Rowena did the way the plot was meant to unravel and could hardly wait for the moment when he was able to take her himself. She would be so different from Rowena, hopefully reluctant to accept the ways he used to pleasure his women. The prospect of her reluctance and the knowledge that in the end she would almost certainly submit caused him to harden, and he decided that if Lewis was going to have her again that night then he would watch. This time he wouldn’t take Rowena with him either.
    ‘You’re quiet, Chris,’ said Rowena suddenly.
    ‘I went down to the gym this afternoon and worked out for a couple of hours; I’m exhausted,’ he said with a grin.
    Lewis glanced at him. ‘Which gym?’
    ‘Luigi’s.’
    ‘That’s funny; when I spoke to him on the phone earlier he didn’t mention seeing you, and it would have been something of an event, don’t you agree?’
    ‘Well I was there,’ lied Chris, who’d really been round all the sex shops he could find, buying additional equipment for his collection.
    ‘More wine, Harriet?’ asked Lewis.
    She nodded. It dulled the fear that he wasn’tgoing to make love to her again unless she made a move, and at the moment she didn’t know what kind of a move to make. As he filled her glass his head moved close to hers. I’ll come to your room at eleven,’ he whispered.
    Harriet didn’t take in much of the conversation that followed his promise. Her hand trembled when she raised the wine glass to her lips and she found it hard to stop herself watching Lewis all the time. Across the table from her, Chris continued to study Harriet. He’d seen Lewis murmur something and noted the effect of his words. Despite her cool, controlled exterior he already knew that she was a deeply sexual person; now it seemed that her emotions were involved as well. He was starting to enjoy Lewis’s plot more with every moment that passed.
    Dinner ended at nine-thirty. While the other three took coffee in the drawing-room, Harriet excused herself and went up to her bedroom. There she had a long bath, using the expensive bath oil and body lotion that had been left for her. Then she washed her hair with a jasmine-scented shampoo and conditioner before blow-drying it, using her fingers as a comb so that instead of falling in a sleek curtain to her shoulders it looked tousled and casual.
    Finally she dabbed some Worth perfume, a present from James the previous Christmas, behind her ears, beneath her breasts and at the back of her knees before pulling on an ankle-length jade silk peignoir over a matching nightdress.
    By the time she’d finished another hour had passed but she still had thirty minutes to kill. Shespent them working out ways in which she could give Lewis pleasure as well as letting him give it to her.
    When he finally tapped on the door she was in a state of intense anticipation. The bath, the massaging of her own body with the lotion and the feel of the silk against her warm flesh had all heightened her senses. She longed for him with a hunger so intense it actually hurt her physically.
    Lewis eyed her appreciatively and then kissed her on the temples. ‘You smell delicious,’ he murmured. ‘Good enough to eat, I think.’
    As he slipped the peignoir off her shoulders, Harriet started to unfasten the buttons of his shirt and he stood compliantly, letting her undress him while his hands continually touched and stroked her body.
    When he was finally naked she put her hands on