Redemption - Leon Uris [333]
Better not let him make a mistake now, she thought. It would probably humiliate him into impotence. Lovely thought, but she had to play the game this night to the letter…and she played him like a Stradivarius, quitting at just the proper instant.
“If you’ll excuse me for a moment, my darling,” he said, breaking and calling on himself not to muck it up in front of her.
“Why don’t you slip under the sheets,” she said. “I’ll bring the refreshments in.”
Sir Llewelyn’s relief came just as he closed the bathroom door behind him. He gasped, arrayed himself, now dizzy with expectation and a lot more controlled.
He got into the bed. There was a fire and uh…well…mirrors about and the place was filled with incense and there she came….
He sat up, his eyes nearly flying off his face as she slowly disrobed at the foot of the bed. All that could be heard was the heaviness of his breathing.
“Hello, there,” she said, coming over the bed to him.
The rest of it was like a magnificent cavalry charge in slow motion…her words always reassuring as her hands played Chopin and Mozart over his body, including a theme or two from The Magic Flute. Distrust was gone now.
Caroline mastered him, bringing him alive, over and again until his collapse made him nigh onto immovable.
“Where are you going?” he rasped.
“A lady has to do her thing,” she said. “I won’t be long, darling, and darling, you are beyond wonderful….”
The pistol was in her purse, in a hidden compartment. Over there, by the dresser. Now? Think, Caroline. Don’t take him too lightly. He is a trained beast. Too easy to foul up now. She was queasy and felt ravaged…violated…but to keep her head, that’s what counted.
She got from the bedroom into a tub that had been heating and poured in a few buckets of water to get it right, then immersed herself and let the water’s curative powers take over. From there she went to the rear porch and vomited over the railing, then under an icy shower.
She made just enough noise closing the bedroom door to find out his state. Sure enough, the bastard was not full asleep. She cuddled up alongside him and kissed him and played with him until he groaned himself asleep. Not tonight, Caroline, not tonight. Each time she turned, he seemed alert to awaken, as though he were a wolf sleeping with one eye open. Play it smart, Caroline, play it smart.
The smell of bacon drifted into the bedroom. Llewelyn popped an eye open, remembered, and groaned with a sudden, new happiness.
“There’s my warrior.”
He lifted his head off the pillow…slowly. Caroline, looking fresh as the morning smiled in the doorway and entered with a tray in her hands, set it on the nightstand and sat beside him. He made it to a sitting position and she kissed him.
“Caroline,” he whispered.
“Here,” she said, handing him the tumbler with cognac and bitters. “Take this for the tummy wobbles.”
He emoted an “Ahhh,” then she handed him the second glass, “A little hair that bit the dog,” and she cuddled up next to him.
“Gin and tonic. Oh my. Good thing we don’t have a twenty-mile forced march today.” He held her strongly with one hand and held the glass with the other. “Caroline, was I, you know, all right?”
“You don’t have to worry about a thing, Llewelyn,” she said.
“I’ve never had an experience approaching this,” he said.
“You’re quite a man,” she whispered, and touched him to see if things were alive and well. They were. “I’d like to slip into the sheets with you, but I think I’d better attend to the kitchen.”
“Do I have time to shower and shave?”
“Yes,” she said, “I lit the boiler. There should be plenty of hot water. Take your time, darling.”
As she stood, he took her hand, and his eyes misted up. He kissed her fingers. “Can we become lovers?” he asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” she said. “If you get out of Ireland and back to England, there’s a lot more maneuvering room.”
He watched her leave, a smitten man. Getting his legs under him took a bit of doing. He laughed