The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (69 page)

This job, this was something else, this was thrilling and exciting and exhilarating. He was enjoying himself; he had been enjoying himself since he had met her. He had to use all his skills, lying, deceit, cheating, cunning, artfulness and diplomacy. Not to mention his skills in the bedroom. Not that he hadn’t used those in excess over the years, but he had had to be especially skilful tonight, he had had to show her the best time of her life, well, almost the best time, that was the key word, almost. He had other things to show her, tonight had been just a run through, a taste of what was to come, he grinned at his own pun.

If she reacted like she had tonight what would her reaction be next time, when he took
her? And she had wanted him. Oh, she was scared, terrified in fact, but she had wanted him. Tonight she had been like putty in his hands, next time she would be like water that he would cause to flow whichever way he wanted, he would turn her hot and cold, he would take her down into the depths until she thought she would drown in her ecstasy then he would let her come up for air and she would flow into him like a waterfall. That should bring on the waterworks. He laughed at his own silly joke.

But being the honest man he was, at least to himself, he had to admit that it had been very, very difficult to hold back tonight, he had come very close to just taking her there and then.

Yes, hearing her cries of delight and feeling the velvety softness of her skin and the firm plumpness of her breasts, he had almost caved, again, almost. But when he had touched her sex and felt the wetness of her excitement he had been almost shaking with his restraint.

He had had his first woman when he was fifteen and she thirty seven, she had taught him how to hold back, how to distract himself so as not to finish too soon and leave the woman frustrated. She had taught him how to please a woman, what part of her to touch to excite her and what part of her to touch to drive her crazy, to discover and exploit a woman’s secret places.

Since then he had had women cry out, even scream out their ecstasy and one or two had cried fit to burst. But he had not lied when he had told her that he had never met a woman like her, he had not been with a woman who had never known a man sexually, his preference was sophisticated women of the world. He liked women like himself, who felt like he did. Women who would be gone in a few days, maybe even in the morning. Some of those women had told him they’d had a good time, a great time, and they must do it again soon but both knew they never would. He didn’t care, and neither did they, they had both had a good time; sometimes all three of them had had a good time.

He had had well bred, aristocratic women who acted all modest, stuck up and superior, at least out of the bedroom. But as soon as the door had closed they had transformed into noisy, frenzied firebrands and had acted like low class whores taking the reins and running the show, (or at least tried to), nearly scratching him to pieces with their claws and screaming obscenities in his ear.

He had expected her to be the same, to come alive under his tutelage, under his hands, she had, but at the same time had remained docile and compliant, a willing and enthusiastic pupil, letting him guide her and retain control of her. It had been like seducing a nun, an eager and enthusiastic nun.

Yes, he had had women scream their pleasure when he had done what he had to her tonight, but there had been something different about her cry, a mix of amazement and wonder and something primal that had came from deep within her. It had startled him, but he knew she had not even been aware that she had cried out.

Despite himself it had stirred something deep within him; something he had not known existed, or had smothered a long time ago with too many women and too much blood on his hands. And when she had her all consuming orgasms she had nearly pulled his hair out by the roots in her excitement and he thought she would pass out with pleasure. And no woman had ever looked at him with such gratitude. Or ever thanked him so softly and sincerely. Or looked at him with such tenderness and…and that was it, he didn’t know what else had been there, he had never seen that look in a woman’s eyes before.

It was only when he looked around and realised he was in the car park at the back of the hotel that he came out of his reverie, he couldn’t remember even getting into his car let alone driving here.

He shook himself; he must stop this, stop thinking too deeply about the woman. Okay, they had had a good time. Okay, he had been touched by her response to him and he was happy that he had pleased her as he had, what man wouldn’t be happy to have a woman fresh and eager and to be thanked for his performance in the bedroom?

But that was all it was, he had to remember why he was here in the first place, seducing her had been part of the plan so what had he expected? He
was
human after all. Wasn’t he? She was just a means to an end and tomorrow he would end it, tomorrow he would do what he wanted with her, what
she
wanted him to do. Yes, ma’am, it will be my pleasure. And then he would get the information, retrieve Desi, receive his five million and board that plane for Scandinavia.

He smiled; yes indeed, it had been a very satisfying and rewarding evening all round…for both of them.

In the morning after a very sleepless night Adela lay on her bed and despite the wakeful night she felt surprisingly refreshed, aching and stiff but invigorated and very content. She looked at the clock as she had done every few minutes since
Sterling had left, and saw it was 7.55. She gave a huge sigh of someone totally satisfied with life. Hands behind her head she lay looking at the same ceiling she had been looking at since Sterling Hennessey had left.

She had lain awake just thinking about everything that had happened from the moment she had met him to this very moment. She had been greatly disappointed that he had put that key back through the door last night but knew in her heart that it was not over; she knew something would happen between them, or rather something more. She could still feel the wet between her legs; it gave her renewed Goosebumps and sent her stomach fluttering. Smiling contentedly she glanced at the clock again, 7.59.

She threw back the sheet and looked down at her naked body recalling the things he had done to her and for her. The way he had made her feel. He certainly knew what he was doing, what turned a woman on. She wondered how many women he had pleased, how many had screamed out his name in their ecstasy. How many he would please in the future. She shook herself, that was none of her business, in a few days he would be gone from her life forever. Nevertheless she could not help the overwhelming feeling of jealousy these thoughts aroused in her.

As she looked at her naked body she wondered if there was there something different about it, if she looked in the mirror would she see a different face looking back at her, well, she would see soon enough. Then she had a thought, what if someone else noticed? Like Annie Bloom, she was a discerning woman, a woman of the world and she might read something in Adela’s face, see something that had not been there before, something that would give her away. She began to feel a little guilty when she thought of Annie Bloom, and Dean too. Annie she knew would understand Adela spending time with
Sterling, understand and encourage too. She would understand her not having had time to call on her; Dean on the other hand would not.

Then there were the Carters who she had not seen since she had had dinner with them. She must make time to see them before she left, she would buy them something nice, and the kids too of course.

Then she began to think about Olivia, she wondered as she had a thousand time if she was all right, if she was safe. She thought about how Olivia had never known what it was like to be pleasured and satisfied by a man, a man who cared about her feelings, about her happiness, a man she wanted to lay in bed beside, a man of her own choosing.

Adela shuddered at the thought of being made to do sexual things against her will, to be forced to please a man for fear of being hurt. That made her think about the three drunken men; even though they had assaulted and scared her, she didn’t want them to be permanently damaged.

No, she would not think about that now, she would only remember how she had felt last night, safe and warm and protected by Sterling. How he had not coerced or persuaded or forced her to take it further. How he had said that he would wait until she was ready, that he did not want to take advantage of her vulnerability and innocence. He was a man of great principles, a very giving man. But she did not lie to herself and say she was glad he was.

She got up swiftly and made her way bathroom where she looked in the mirror and studied her face in detail. She was sure there was something different about her eyes; did they look greener and brighter? She admonished herself for being silly, of course she didn’t look any different, she would never be that lucky. Smiling to herself she showered and for the first time in a long time sang softly to herself, a Carpenters song, for
Sterling. It was only as she ran her hands down her naked stomach that she recalled the what she had felt last night on Hennessey’s chest and stomach, the rough, gnarled texture of his skin. She knew he had kissed her to prevent her from asking questions about it. He had told her he had seen action in the marines, maybe he had been injured, burned perhaps. The thought of him being hurt caused a tenderness and compassion towards him.

At 9.50 she had dressed, packed her bag and had eaten a hearty breakfast, wondering where
Sterling would be taking her today, somewhere she would need her hat he’d said.

She picked up said hat and smiled. She had to admit she felt a little apprehensive about seeing him again, apprehensive and embarrassed. Before she could dwell on these things a knock came on the door, dropping the hat on the table she rushed to open it then saw the key still on the floor, she bent to pick it up and inserted it in the lock and was about to turn it when she paused her hand on the knob and called, ‘who is it please?’

No one answered, she frowned then looked through the spy hole but she could see no one there. She called again louder this time, ‘who is it please.’ No answer. She suppressed a giggle knowing Hennessey was playing a trick on her and hiding from her view, he expected her to answer the door without knowing who was there. She slipped on the chain and opened the door as wide as it would go.

Hennessey stood there; he said nothing so she asked ‘can I help you?’

He smiled, ‘well done, Miss Faraday, go to the top of the class.’

‘I was always at the top of the class
, thank you.’

‘Oh were you now, well aren’t you the smart one.’

In a parody of him she replied, ‘yep.’

He rolled his eyes in mock aggravation. She said, ‘so what do you want?’

‘To get a better look at the lovely lady I’m meeting for a fun day out.’

She was enjoying this amusing banter but kept her face straight, ‘there is no one of that description staying here, just me.’

‘Well you’ll have to do then.’

She couldn’t hide the giggle, ‘I don’t think I will let you in now.’

‘Oh, why?’

‘For trying to trick me.’

He frowned as if not understanding, ‘trick you?

‘Yes, you didn’t answer when I asked who it was, and you hid. You were testing me, seeing if I would open the door without being sure that it was you.’

He raised his hands, ‘hey, no trickery was intended, just think of it as a lesson in safety. But all right, if you don’t want a picnic made especially by Mrs. Walters in the deli, I’ll go and ask one of those pretty girls in the hotel to join me.’

She stared at him her eyes wide then slammed the door shut, he heard the chain being taken off then the door opened again and she stood there smiling a childlike smile. She said, ‘a picnic? Really?’

‘Yep.’

She grabbed his arm and pulled him over the threshold and into the house with such force he staggered. He said, ‘what was that about?’

‘That was just in case you changed your mind and went to find a pretty girl in the bar to spend the day with.’

He reached out and touched her cheek, ‘I’ve no need to go to the bar for that, I already found one. A
real
lady.’

Her face turned pink with pleasure as well as embarrassment, ‘oh you?’

He laughed, ‘I’m sorry I tricked you, but I was most impressed that you didn’t give in and just open the door.’

‘I’m learning…
from you.’

He took step towards her then bent his head so that his lips were only inches from hers said, ‘with all those safety lessons I forgot to do this.’ He kissed her
slightly swollen lips gently but it still sent a thrill of pleasure through her entire being. He withdrew but kept his hand on her cheek as he asked softly, ‘are you all right?’

She wasn’t sure whether he was asking about her ordeal with the three men or what had happened in her bed with him. She nodded shyly and said very softly, ‘I’m always all right with you,
Sterling.’

His
eyes widened in surprise then a strange look flickered across his face as he continued to regard her curiously. She looked as if she had taken herself by surprise too and looked away.

He had to s
wallow before he could speak, ‘did you sleep all right?’