Dark Obsession (25 page)

He put a warm hand on her bare arm. ‘I’m sure you’re not as excited as I am,’ he murmured. ‘I think that was the gong I heard then; I hope you’ll allow me to take you in to dinner?’

Annabel nodded; even the touch of his fingers had set her skin on fire. When they entered the dining room and he pulled out her chair for her, his chin grazed the top of her hair as he bent over her to move the chair back in again. It felt as though an electric current had passed straight down her spine. When he took his seat next to her he gave her a quick smile and she knew that he was as aroused by her closeness as she was by his.

The food was excellent, although Annabel thought afterwards that it had all been wasted on her because the only thing she was thinking about was the moment when Matthew would finally start to make love to her. Just the same, she knew that the entrée of baked aubergines with goat’s cheese was superb, the rib of beef perfect and the dessert of chestnut purée and whipped cream on a meringue base something she’d never forget.

The wines were some of Lord Corbett-Wynne’s finest, ranging from the crisp Chardonnay served with the aubergines to the incredible Petrus 1990 which accompanied the beef.

At last the spectacular meal was over, coffee and mints were brought to the table and the servants withdrew. With
a
quick glance round the table Lady Corbett-Wynne rose to her feet. ‘For those of you who don’t care for party games, more coffee will be served in the drawing room,’ she announced. She and one or two other ladies then withdrew, but most of the guests remained, including Amanda, who had been seated next to Crispian at dinner.

James Corbett-Wynne looked at the remaining guests and smiled expansively. ‘There, that’s cleared away the dead wood. Now we can really have some fun. I suggest we start with the cherry game. Have you got some, Tania?’

‘Of course!’ laughed his stepdaughter, leaving the room for a moment.

‘What’s the cherry game?’ Annabel asked Matthew, but he only smiled at her.

‘Wait and see,’ he replied.

When Tania returned she was carrying a large plate which she placed in the middle of the table. Annabel saw that the plate was covered in long-stemmed maraschino cherries and the guests quickly began to take one each, placing it on the small side plates that had been left behind when the table was cleared.

At the end of the table Lord Corbett-Wynne smiled at his guests. ‘Anyone not know the rules?’ he asked.

Several people raised their hands, including Annabel and Amanda. ‘Quite simple,’ their host assured them. ‘Each of you has to hold the cherry level with your mouth and then tie a knot in the stem using only your tongue. The ladies have a go first, then the gentlemen. The winners from each of the two groups are allowed to choose their own prize!’

Everyone laughed, and Annabel turned to look at Matthew. He looked quizzically at her. ‘Think you can do it?’

‘I doubt it, but I’ll enjoy trying! What about you?’

His eyes gleamed. ‘Let’s put it this way, I’ll be very disappointed if I can’t do it!’

‘That sounds promising,’ said Annabel.

‘I won’t be the only one,’ retorted Matthew. ‘Crispian’s said to be an expert at this.’

Remembering the way Crispian’s tongue had played over the aroused and taut tissue between her thighs as he traced the letters of the alphabet for her to guess, Annabel knew that Matthew was telling the truth and her pulse beat faster as she started to anticipate the games that would take place later, in the privacy of Crispian’s rooms.

Matthew saw the change of colour in her cheeks. ‘I take it you know something of his skills?’ he said softly.

Annabel nodded, but before she could speak Lord Corbett-Wynne was tapping a spoon on the table for silence. ‘Any questions? No? Excellent, then off you go, ladies!’

To the cheers and encouragement of the men the ladies picked up their cherries and started to work at the stems with their tongues. It was far more difficult than even Annabel had anticipated. She could quite easily fold her tongue around the tip of the stem, bending it down and around, but when it came to drawing it through the loop she’d created her control was nowhere near good enough.

She had no idea how the others were doing because all her concentration was focused on her own efforts. Every time she came near to drawing the tiny stem through the loop and the edges of her tongue curled upwards while the tip contorted into the necessary position, Sir Matthew watched her closely, whispering advice in her ear.

‘You’re nearly there!’ he said suddenly as she manoeuvred the stem towards her goal. ‘Come on, Annabel, I know you can do it.’

She concentrated as hard as she’d ever concentrated on anything, and was just about to draw the end through when Matthew whispered, ‘I can’t wait to feel your tongue on me,’ and she lost it. The stem slipped out of her control and was suddenly upright again, leaving her to start from the beginning once more.

‘Oh no!’ she wailed, but Matthew simply laughed.

‘Don’t worry, I’ve seen enough to know you’re very accomplished,’ he said.

Annabel turned to him. ‘I was just about to tie the knot then!’

‘Tania’s already won,’ he said lightly. ‘You were so lost in what you were doing you didn’t hear the announcement. Clearly you enjoy this kind of thing!’

Flushed and strangely excited, Annabel glanced down the table and saw Tania holding her maraschino cherry triumphantly aloft while Crispian kissed the nape of her neck and all the men round her clapped and shouted approval.

Tania laughed. ‘I shouldn’t take part really, I get so much practice it isn’t fair!’

‘What do you practise on? Or should that be who?’ asked Luke, and there was a burst of laughter from almost everyone except Amanda, who was sitting staring down at her plate on which the cherry sat, apparently untouched.

‘Didn’t Amanda try?’ Annabel asked Matthew.

‘Not that I saw. She sat and watched Crispian watching Tania. Bizarre, don’t you think?’

‘At least she might realise there’s no point in continuing to see him,’ said Annabel.

‘Her parents are very keen and so is James. I’m not sure she’s going to have much say in it.’

‘Crispian will never marry her,’ Annabel said firmly.

‘You may be right. It’s the men’s turn now; I hope you’ll encourage me as much as I encouraged you?’

‘You distracted me!’ exclaimed Annabel. ‘And that’s what I intend to do to you.’

‘You do it just by sitting there,’ he said lightly, and then he was picking up his cherry and Tania started the men off.

Watching them was even more erotic than trying to tie the knot herself, thought Annabel. Crispian’s tongue was certainly skilful, and he was the only man who trapped the stem firmly between the curled sides of his tongue, but
Matthew
seemed to have the edge when it came to suppleness of movement. As she sat next to him, watching the stem being drawn inexorably through the loop, Annabel imagined what it would be like to have the same tongue playing around her already swollen clitoris.

She pictured it swirling around the circumference, then lazily snaking down between her inner lips, before plunging deep inside her, drumming against the sides of her sex in firm but sensitive movements that would drive her insane with pleasure.

So real were her thoughts that her stomach began to tense and between her thighs she could feel her clitoris pressing against the tight silk of her briefs.

She looked again at Crispian and saw that he was now behind Matthew, failing to draw the end of the slender stalk through the loop while next to her Matthew was very close to completing the task.

Annabel leant nearer to him. ‘I want to feel your tongue inside me,’ she murmured against his ear. ‘I want you to use it like that for my pleasure. You will, won’t you?’

As she’d guessed, her words made him lose his concentration just as he’d made her lose hers and suddenly the stem sprang free from his encircling tongue while at the same time Crispian gave a shout of triumph. ‘I win!’ he cried gleefully.

Matthew turned to Annabel and his eyes were bright with anticipation. ‘Don’t worry, Annabel. I shall certainly use all my expertise on you tonight,’ he promised, and she shuddered with desire.

‘What about the prize?’ called Luke, and all around the table people fell silent as Tania and Crispian looked at each other across the damask tablecloth.

Their eyes locked and the sexual tension between them was so great that Annabel wondered how anyone could possibly miss it. Lord Corbett-Wynne started to flush a deep purple, but seemed incapable of breaking the silence. At last Crispian smiled his most winning smile, at the
same
time putting one hand on the downcast Amanda’s bare arm.

‘I want Amanda and Tania to get to know each other better,’ he announced. ‘If Tania’s agreeable, Amanda can join us younger ones at our own party later on tonight. What do you say, Tania?’

Annabel glanced at Matthew. ‘Is he serious?’ she whispered.

He shrugged. ‘It looks like it. I wonder what Tania will have to say?’

Tania seemed thrown for a moment, but then she rallied, and there was a look in her eye which made Annabel feel a brief pang of pity for Amanda. ‘I think that’s a wonderful idea! I’m sure Amanda’s as anxious as I am to get to know all of our family better, not just Crispian. You
can
stay overnight, can’t you, Amanda?’

The rather plump and unflatteringly dressed Amanda was obviously uncertain, but when Crispian put an arm round her shoulders and murmured something in her ear her face lightened and she nodded. ‘Of course. I’d love to get to know Tania better. Crispian’s told me so much about you,’ she added brightly.

Matthew smothered a laugh. ‘Not everything, I imagine!’ he said softly to Annabel. ‘Well, this should be interesting, don’t you think?’

Annabel wasn’t certain. ‘It could spoil the whole evening, quite apart from damaging Amanda for life,’ she protested.

‘Nonsense, she’s a red-blooded country girl; she might surprise us all! Anyway, it’s cheered James up. I thought he was going to have a fit when those two wouldn’t stop devouring each other with their eyes.’

Lord Corbett-Wynne was indeed looking more cheerful and his colour had returned to a safer ruddy hue. ‘Sounds an excellent idea,’ he said gruffly. ‘What about the sheet game to round the evening off before we join the others?’

Tania jumped up and left the room again, returning this
time
with two footmen who were carrying a large piece of thick sheeting with circular rings all along the top edge.

‘What on earth’s that for?’ asked Annabel.

‘No idea,’ confessed Matthew. ‘We’ll have to wait and see.’

‘The ladies all have to leave the room,’ said Tania as the footmen started to hook the rings over a long wooden pole. ‘You wait outside, in the study. I have to stay here and I’ll call you when everything’s ready.’

‘Don’t you take part?’ asked Sheba, gracefully unfolding her long legs as she left the table.

‘No, I’m not allowed to any more because I always win. Anyway, a spare woman’s needed to set the scene properly.’

As they all waited in the study Amanda came up to Annabel, her face paler than at dinner. ‘I’m not very good at games,’ she confessed. ‘I didn’t even try that one with the cherry. I felt too uncomfortable. I mean, everyone looked so …’

‘So what?’ asked Annabel gently.

‘Sexual!’ blurted out Amanda. ‘I don’t suppose you realised if you were taking part but it was terribly disconcerting to watch.’

‘I think that was the idea!’ laughed Annabel. ‘These are adult party games. There isn’t going to be any “pass the parcel”, you know!’

Amanda stared at her. ‘I’m not stupid, but I do think there are some things that should be kept private, don’t you?’

Annabel thought for a moment. ‘I used to think that,’ she said at last. ‘Now I’m not so sure. I certainly don’t think there’s any harm in things like the cherry game.’

‘Perhaps you don’t have as many inhibitions as I do,’ said Amanda, her voice low.

‘I’m sure I don’t. You know, Amanda, Crispian’s a very –’

‘He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?’ interrupted Amanda, her voice
suddenly
full of feeling. ‘I’m just so lucky that he’s interested in me. Are you going to the second party tonight?’

‘Yes, but …’

The dining-room door opened and Tania emerged, looking as incredible as ever in her tailored suit. ‘Right, the scene is set and, as they say in all those old detective stories, I’d like everyone to come into the dining room!’

‘I think it’s usually the drawing room,’ said Annabel with a smile.

‘Well, even if the room’s different, this is still a kind of detective puzzle,’ retorted Tania. ‘Come in quietly, ladies; the men don’t want to be distracted.’

When she entered the room Annabel could hardly believe her eyes. The sheet had been suspended from the pole which was now fastened to one of the beams at the far end of the room. It hung down to the ground but whereas before it had looked like an ordinary sheet it was now clear that it had been specially adapted for this particular purpose.

A series of circular holes had been cut out of the sheet and through these holes there now emerged a long row of penises. They were all fully erect, testimony to Tania’s skill, Annabel assumed, and were fully exposed in their respective glories. Some were circumcised, some not; the tips of some were purple, others merely a dark red and a few had drops of transparent moisture in the slit at the tip.

‘Here’s a piece of paper and a pencil each,’ announced Tania. ‘All you have to do is match what you see with the names on the paper. The first penis on the left is penis A, the second B and so on. The winner is the lady who matches the most penises to the correct owners!’

Behind Annabel a woman laughed. ‘I know one of them very well,’ she whispered to a friend. ‘I only hope I get my husband’s right too!’

Annabel, who knew she didn’t have a chance of winning since most of the men at the dinner were strangers to her, was astonished by the air of excitement among the women.
Even
those who had baulked at the cherry game seemed to want to take part this time.