Chapter Three

The limousine was waiting, as usual, shining and spotlessly clean. André opened the door as she approached.

“Good morning,” she said, feeling that she had to say something.

“Good morning, Madame,” he said politely, handing her into the car. Not by so much as a flicker in his eyes did he show any memory of holding her bare, trembling body in his arms the night before, or of her hanging upside down, helpless and raging while he teased and tickled her. Not by a flicker – Caroline knew, because she looked carefully. She settled into her seat.

“What will you do today?” she asked. “While I’m at Dara’s?” She was focusing on the back of his neck. He’d taken his cap off and she could see his hair curling dark on his collar. She had an insane desire to touch his hair right there at the nape. She controlled it.

“I might go for a drive to the park,” he said. “Or perhaps I will just wait there and talk to some of her people.” No more visits to the adult shop, Caroline hoped. She didn’t say anything though.

She felt awkward again, and she didn’t like feeling awkward. She smoothed her blue skirt down over her knees, tugged the jacket down a little, fussed with the buttons.

“You look lovely,” André said, watching in the rear view mirror. Her eyes met his reflected gaze. She was startled.

“Thank you,” she said, surprised by just how nice the compliment felt. It was wrong, and it was exactly the sort of familiarity she had been concerned about. But it felt good.

He not only opened the door for her, he walked up the stairs of the house and knocked, waiting with her until it was opened.

“Caro, you look marvellous,” Dara said, embracing her. “Come in and we’ll have a good natter. Wasn’t Isabel just frightful the other day? Let’s go shred her.” The door closed behind them, and with a smile, André walked down the stairs and back to the car.

She enjoyed her time with Dara. Her friend, bubbly and just a little silly, was always fun to be with, and they talked and ate elegant little sandwiches and drank mellow, perfectly brewed tea and dissected Isabel into tiny little pieces. Caroline made no mention of the arrangement with André and was not even tempted to. It wasn’t that sort of friendship. In fact, Caroline had never had that sort of close friendship with another woman. A neurotic mother, a father who was far too aware of the value of his own name, and a sheltered childhood had made it difficult for her to trust or to open up. Dara was the closest she’d had to that most female of things - a “best friend”, and over time, she hoped that they would have the sort of friendship that she’d read about in books.

They walked together down the stairs to the car.
”Going to show me his backside again today?” Dara asked, well within hearing of André.

“No,” Caroline replied promptly. “That was wrong of me.”

“It was certainly naughty,” Dara agreed. “But he does have a very nice backside. And an even nicer front side, let me say.” Caroline met André’s eyes, nodding and giving him silent permission to speak.

“Thank you,” he said. He smiled. “It is nice to be appreciated.” Dara, who had initially looked shocked when he spoke, melted at the grin.

“Come work for me and I’ll appreciate you even more,” she promised.

“Stop trying to poach,” Caroline ordered.

“Yes, Lady Caroline,” Dara teased. She waited as Caroline got into the car, then André, and waved after them as they drove off.

“You are going to raise suspicions if you keep doing things like that,” André commented once they were out of the driveway.

“You think?” she asked. There were those curls on his collar again. All she had to do was lean forward a little to touch them.

“I do,” he responded. “People like you aren’t supposed to know that people like me have feelings and can speak for ourselves.”

“I think that’s a little extreme,” Caroline said. Without thinking about it, she let her fingertips trail through his hair, lifting one curl and rubbing it between her fingers. André straightened in his seat.

“Extreme?” he asked, keeping his voice light. What was she doing?
”Yes,” she said. “The worst sort of class snobbery, in fact. Of course we know you have feelings.” She smoothed the hair down, smiled when the curls formed again. “We just don’t care, that’s all.” André laughed.

“My mistake,” he said. He’d been glancing back at her in the mirror, noting the bemusement in her blue eyes. She looked as if she didn’t know quite what she was doing, or why she was doing it.

“Caroline, what are you doing?” he asked, breaking protocol badly. If she wanted to touch him, she could touch him.

“Did I say you could call me by my first name today?” she asked, curling his hair around her finger. It was so soft, so thick. He made a sound of disgust. She tugged on the hair firmly. “Did I?” she repeated.

“No, Madame,” he said dutifully.

“Bad boy,” she reproved.

She was being very playful. She knew it, and although she also knew it was wrong, she was having fun. And she didn’t want to stop. In fact, she wanted to get worse. She ran her finger under his collar, softly, back and forth.

“Does that tickle?” she asked.
”No, Madame,” he responded. She reached further forward, round his neck, tickling under his chin.

“What about there?”

“What are you doing, Madame?” André asked, maintaining the polite words, but with an amused tone to his voice.

“Trying to divert you,” she said. “Although I’m not sure why.”

”Aren’t you?” he asked. The reflection of his eyes dared her. Caroline realised that her breathing had grown very heavy. She also realised that she was crouched on her seat, fondling what she could reach of the chauffeur. And liking it. She knelt up higher, ran her hands down over his shoulders as far as she could, reaching lower still until one of his leather-gloved hands came off the steering wheel and pressed her hands against him.

“No,” he said firmly. Smiling, Caroline turned her head and nuzzled into his neck.

“But I want to,” she said.

“You will get us both killed,” he said. “Wait, just wait a minute.” He had to put his hand back onto the steering wheel as he signalled and turned the limo into one of the many little side streets that crossed the road between Dara’s house and home. “Stop doing that for a minute, Carol…Madame.” She was stroking his chest through the uniform, stroking his stomach. And laughing.

He pulled the car over with some difficulty, into the shade of some large trees. He turned the engine off and swivelled to face her.

“Have you been drinking?” he demanded. He caught her chin in his hand and leaned in to smell her breath.

“Only tea,” she said. She jerked her face away to break free.

“Tea?” he repeated. She nodded. Now that he’d stopped the car, now that he wasn’t an easy target, the reckless, fun feeling was starting to dissipate.

“Tea,” he said again, shaking his head. He let go of her chin, reached out and opened the door, and then opened her door, climbing in beside her and shutting the door behind him.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked, partly scared, partly thrilled. She recognised the feeling now. It was a childish feeling, something she hadn’t felt in many years. She wanted to play. André was a dangerous playmate in many ways, but he was someone to play with.

“I’m finding out exactly what it is you want,” he said. He put his hands on her upper arms and tugged her towards him, stopping when her face was inches from his, and she was leaning in to him.

“Let me kiss you,” he said. Caroline shook her head. No. That was against the rules. He leaned in closer, his lips almost touching hers.

“Let me kiss you,” he said again.

“No,” she said softly, her breath a warm puff on him. His lips brushed against hers, once, twice, three times. She sighed, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

With a murmur of approval, he bent her back on the seat, going with her until she was bent almost double under him, his lips hot on hers, his body strong and heavy against hers. When she stopped moving, unable to bend any further, he shifted until she could straighten her legs and was lying flat on her back on the seat. He didn’t fit so well, so he knelt beside her on the floor and continued to kiss her, easing her lips open, easing his tongue inside her mouth, kissing heat and passion into her, licking and searching out all of the soft, tender places – the roof of her mouth, the underside of her tongue, the inside of her lips. She was gasping for breath, gasping for control, when he finally lifted his face.

“I said no,” she pointed out. He smiled.

“I know,” he said, and did it again.

Her hands were clutching the shoulders of his jacket, crushing the material. He didn’t seem to care. She wriggled on the seat.

“Oh, don’t do that,” he said, his voice deep and soft.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because it reminds me what it feels like to have you moving like that under me,” he said. “And this place is not private enough to do that.”
”No,” she agreed. It most definitely was not. It was a side street, out in the open, for heaven’s sake, with only the foliage of trees and the dark tint of the windows of the car to shelter them from the view of any onlookers. Not that there were likely to be any onlookers. A track this narrow didn’t lead to a big house. It most likely led to a holiday cottage, probably unoccupied.

Carefully, Caroline reached out with one slim leg and pressed the door locking device with the toe of her shoe. All of the locks clicked into place. André looked over his shoulder at the door, then down at her.

“It is not private enough,” he said again. She locked her fingers in the back of his hair and pulled his mouth to hers again.

“Do it anyway,” she said.

Afterwards, she had no idea what had prompted her to do it. It was so out of character, so brazen and inappropriate and rude. Perhaps she was taking control back again – if only by being out of control in her own way. Whatever it was, it stayed with her, even when he undressed her completely, all the way down to her stockings and shoes, even when he drew her down to him on the floor, opened his pants and sat her on his lap, sliding her down onto him, breathing heavily and holding her tight as she settled all the way down, almost unbearably full. He closed his hands over her breasts, then leaned in and kissed her again.

“Go to it, Madame,” he said, smiling. “It’s your show, now.” She rode him, slowly at first, and then faster, her breath escaping in tiny gasps, faster and rising in intensity as the pressure built. Her breasts danced about and she didn’t care. She liked the fact that she was displaying them so openly, that he was watching and approving. He insinuated a hand between their bodies and tickled at her as she moved, and she wriggled, finding it irritating, but loving it.

Unable to stay upright, she leaned into him, wrapping herself around him, holding on as he put his other hand on her hip, guiding her up and down, faster, harder. He murmured encouragement in her ear, gasping himself now, and in the instant before she came, he cupped her head, turned her face and kissed her hard, his tongue deep inside her mouth echoing the movement of his sex inside hers.

Caroline collapsed against his chest, sweaty, dazed and satisfied. He fell back against the side seat, breathing heavily.

“Oh my God,” she said.

“I would second that if I could talk,” he managed. “I think I’ve been ravished.”

“Who tore whose clothes off?” she asked, suddenly panicking at the fact that she was naked.

“Don’t go logical on me,” he begged. “I can’t be logical yet. Not until I get some blood back to my brain. What are you doing now?”
”Trying to find my clothes. I need to put them on. We’re outside, André!”

“You don’t say,” he grinned. “I seem to remember mentioning the lack of privacy a couple of times.”

“This is no time to say I told you so,” she reproved him. “Where are my panties?”

”Who cares?” he said heartlessly. “It’s not as if you can put them on while I’m still inside you, anyway.”

“Oh!” she realised he was right. She lifted off him, wincing as she felt the rush of fluid. André looked down.

“I am going to have to wash these pants when I get home, aren’t I?” he commented, not sounding as if he was too concerned about it. “I just hope no-one sees me before I can.”
”No-one sees YOU!” Caroline was in fully-fledged panic now. “I’m naked!”

“Not quite,” he said, stroking one stocking. He moved his hand up and patted her bare bottom. “But close,” he conceded. “Here are your panties, by the way.” He drew them out of his back pocket and handed them to her. She took them with a glare, and began contorting herself, trying to get her feet into them. He watched with amusement.

“This is not funny,” she said, although it was. “I don’t know how you managed to get all of these clothes off me, it’s not as if there’s much room in here.”
”It’s a limo,” he said. “There’s lots of room.” He was still sitting almost motionless, looking as if he could happily not move for some time. He looked good, too. Caroline looked down at his the black uniform stretched over his broad chest, down to his slim hips, down…
”André!” she said. “You haven’t…um…tidied yourself up yet.” To be more precise, he hadn’t put himself away, and for the first time, she was seeing clearly exactly what it was she’d been feeling inside her for the last few nights. Although it wasn’t hard now, it was still big enough to make her realise why she had been a bit tender for days. He glanced down and smiled.

“So sorry, Madame,” he said, reaching down to address the problem. He used a handkerchief to clean himself up first, then knelt up, zipped up and tidied himself up as well as he could. Then he helped her, doing her bra up, holding her jacket so she could slide her arms into it, and smoothing her skirt down over her hips and legs.

“You’re a little crushed,” he commented. “Heaven knows why.”

“Heaven knows why I did that!” Caroline responded, absolutely shocked at herself, not believing what she had just done. She started as he caught her face between his hands, bent down and kissed her again, hard and deep.

“I don’t care why you did it,” he said. “But I’m very glad you did.” With that, he unlocked the door, climbed out, and got back behind the wheel.

……….

Caroline was very pleased to make it to her room without being seen by Jon or Robert. Both meticulously neat dressers, they would have noticed her state of deshabille, and she didn’t want to have to explain. She was less lucky that night, though. Any hope she had that Jon might have forgotten about the appointment he’d made the night before was dashed when, right on the dot of 8.20, he flung the door open and came in.

“Is it possible for you to come into a room without making an entrance?” she complained. He laughed.

“Why would I bother to find out?” he asked. “Ready, my pet?” She was wearing a dark green, button-up blouse and a black skirt, not too short and not too slim-line.

“Yes,” she said. “If you’ll give me the…the thing, I’ll go into the bathroom and put it in.” Jon smiled and shook his head.

“Oh come ON!” she said. “You don’t expect me to put it in here, with you watching?”

“You can turn your back on me and leave the skirt down so I can’t actually see the process, but you are most certainly going to do it in front of me, so I can be sure that it’s gone in,” he said.

“Why?” she asked. “This is hardly your concern, Jon.”
”I’m hurt,” he said, hand on heart. “Cut to the core. Of course it’s my concern, Carrie. I want you to have a good time, and André the stud has come up with a good plan. Here you are, pet. Just turn round and slip it in.”

He gave her no choice, and he wasn’t going to budge. She could see it in those green eyes, currently looking so deceptively innocent. She turned her back on him, squatted quickly and did what needed to be done.
”No panties?” he asked from behind her.
”No,” she responded.

“Good,” he said. “Now don’t panic, Carrie.” With that, he caught each of her wrists in his hands and drew her arms behind her. Already struggling, she felt the cool touch of metal and heard a click, then another one. He let her go. She rounded on him in disbelief.

“Handcuffs?” she cried. He nodded, grinning.
”You’ll have trouble pushing it back in if it slips out now,” he said. “So tighten up those pussy muscles, sweetie.” There was a very wicked look in his eyes. “Need me to just push it back up again for you?” Caroline took a step back at that. He’d do it, too. She could tell.

“No?” he asked. “Ah well, then. Off you go. Don’t want to be late now.”
”How do I get these off?” she asked, angrier with him than she ever had been. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever been angry with Jon before. Annoyed at times, but never angry. She was making up for lost time now.

“You don’t, pet,” he said. “But André will be able to. They’re not lockable ones – they have little latches on them. He’ll find them. Or perhaps he won’t. It’ll be a fun night if he doesn’t, won’t it?” He reached out, pretending to grope for her breasts, and laughed as she again jumped back from him.

Caroline decided that he was more dangerous than André at present and left her room with something approaching relief. She walked around the central garden, praying that there was no-one to witness her current humiliation. Opening the door with her hands trapped behind her would have been impossible, but it had been left open – undoubtedly by Jon, who was watching her from beside the garden, grinning broadly.

“Suck it up, sweetie,” he called to her. She gave him a last glare, and set out for the path.

The vibrator didn’t start slipping until she was at the stairs, and she really did have to tighten everything up to hold it in place. She didn’t know what was going to happen if she dropped it, but given André’s inventive use of exercise equipment, she didn’t want to find out. Damning Jon for immobilising her hands, she took the stairs at a run, almost colliding with André’s door. She kicked at it with one foot and it opened almost immediately.

“Good evening,” he said. “Come in…what is this?” He’d seen the cuffs as soon as she passed him.

“Jon’s way of making it impossible for me to cheat with this stupid vibrator,” she said. “Take them off me, please.”
”Jon knows about the vibrator?” André asked, making no move towards her.
”He was waiting in my room when I got back last night,” she said. “He saw it and I had to tell him what it was for, or he wasn’t going to give it back to me. He didn’t give it back to me anyway – not until about ten minutes ago.”
”Can you not lock your bedroom door?” André asked. “The man seems to live in your room.”
”No, it doesn’t have a lock,” she said. He sighed heavily.

“Take these off,” she said, turning her back on him. “He said they don’t need a key.” André glanced down at them, saw the levers.

“No, they don’t,” he said. “First things first, though. Is the vibrator still inside you?”

“Barely,” she said. “Take these…”
”I should get you to do some squats,” he commented, straight-faced. When she rounded on him, ready to attack, he grinned.
”Turn back,” he said. “I’ll take the cuffs off.”

Whether it was from her heightened emotions, or whether the exercise had already helped, her first orgasm that night was a crashing, tendon-stretching exercise that left her shaking afterwards. André held her tight, seeing the shock in her eyes.

“I could take a photograph of your face like that,” he said softly, in wonder. “So beautiful. Lie back, Caroline. Let me have you while you are still looking like this.”

No plug, no upside down treatment tonight, he just slid a towel under her when they’d finished and pulled her into his arms again, lying beside her.

“What was that about in the car today?” he asked softly. She stirred uncomfortably.

“I don’t know,” she said. He smiled, put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up. And kissed her.

“Why don’t you know?” he asked. He kissed her again, his hand moving down to touch her breasts. She shifted again. Everything was so sensitive, and she felt so naked, so exposed and vulnerable. And, scariest of all, it felt great.

“I just had this temptation to touch you,” she said honestly. “The hair at the back of your neck, and then the rest of you. And then, when you came back and joined me, I…wanted to play,” she finished lamely.
”To play?” he repeated, laughing softly. His fingertips touched her nipple, teased it even harder than it was. Caroline thought she wanted him to stop. She decided to let him keep doing it for a while, until she decided.

“I don’t get the chance to play very often,” she said. “To be irresponsible and naughty.”
”Well, you were very irresponsible and naughty today, young lady,” he said. “I should put you on detention or make you stand in the corner or something. Just like you are now. I would sit on a chair and look closely at you and make you squirm.”

”You were naughty too,” she pointed out, feeling silly. And enjoying it. His finger continued to torment the hard little tip of her breast.

“That’s the only reason I’m not punishing you,” he agreed. “Instead, all I’m going to do is have sex with you for the third time today.”
”Anything but that,” she sighed, making him laugh again.

“You just think about your sins while this is happening,” he said, leaning over and replacing his finger with his tongue.

………

He handed her the vibrator again as they reached the house.

“Same deal tomorrow night,” he said. “But this time, turn it on before you put it inside you.” She sighed and shook her head at him.

“Tell your friend that I kept the handcuffs,” he said. “That way he cannot use them on you again. It is dangerous for you to be walking down this path and those stairs with your hands behind you. You might fall. You must have enough trouble seeing your feet already, given how big your breasts are.” Caroline’s jaw dropped. He grinned. Then he reached for her hand, and she waited for him to kiss it as he always did.

Instead, he tugged on it, pulling her closer and into his arms.
”Go up on your toes,” he urged. Her body against his, she obeyed without thinking, her arms sliding around his neck as his face lowered to hers. His kiss was long, deep and hot, and her belly was swirling and churning when he stopped. He rested his forehead on the top of her head.
”With the slightest bit of encouragement, I would carry you back and go for four times in one day,” he said. Caroline giggled, surprising herself.

“I have to go to bed,” she said.

“That’s it!” he announced. “You mentioned the word bed. That’s encouragement.” He hoisted her up, tossed her over his shoulder and began striding down the path.

“Stop it! André, put me down!” she hissed, still laughing, trying to keep her voice down. He set her back on her feet, grinned again, and kissed her once more, softly this time.

”Good night,” he said, and kissed her fingers.

Mindful of his question about the lack of lock on her door, Caroline, pleased to see that Jon wasn’t waiting for her that night, dragged a heavy chair over to the door and shoved it against it. She’d have to shift it before the servant brought her breakfast in the morning, but at least it might slow Jon down in the meantime.

……….

She was woken in the morning by the sound of the chair being shoved across the floor, and was sitting up in bed, waiting, when Jon finally cleared enough space to come in.

“I suppose that was strictly necessary?” he asked, looking at the chair, then at her.

“If I can’t have privacy, I can at least have an early warning system,” she said sweetly.

“Why do you need either?” he asked, climbing onto the bed beside her. “Morning, Carrie. How are you, pet?” She let him kiss her cheeks, as normal, then leaned back on her pillows as he stretched out beside her. He was already dressed, in his usual expensive jeans and button-up shirt, casually elegant and decadently beautiful.

“So how was it?” he asked. “Come on, slide down beside me. We can have some pillow talk.” Obligingly, she did so.

“Did you make it without dropping it?” he asked. She didn’t want to answer him, but her mouth gave her away, curving into a smile she couldn’t suppress. He laughed.

“That was a yes. And did he take the handcuffs off?”

“Yes,” she answered. “Straight away. And he kept them, so you couldn’t put them back on me.”
”Well, that was the reason he gave you, anyway,” Jon commented. “Why didn’t he want me to put them back on you? Wasn’t he at all appreciative?”

“He was concerned that I might trip on the path or stairs and hurt myself,” she explained. Jon considered it, then nodded.

“I suppose I should have thought of that,” he said. “Chalk one up for the illegal.”

“Illegal?” she asked. Jon nodded.

“He hasn’t told you about that?” he asked. Caroline shook her head.

“He’s an illegal immigrant, pet. He outstayed his visa and the big bad immigration people could snap him up at any minute. If he didn’t have our protection, that is.”
”But…why?” she asked.

“Why what? Why has he outstayed his visa? Not much to go back to, I suppose, or perhaps he has a criminal past he’s escaping. How thrilling.”

“And why are we protecting him?” she asked, shaken.

“Because we’re nice people,” Jon said. “But now, onto more important things. We need to go shopping, pet. You need some new casual clothes. I went through your wardrobe after you tottered off last night. So let’s order up the car and hit the shops.”

She was processing the information all the time she was showering and dressing. It was unsettling to say the least. Just when she was finding it easier to deal with him, it turned out that he was a criminal, at least in terms of immigration law.

Still bemused, she walked down the stairs with Jon, looked into André’s eyes, and realised that she’d been wrong. It still wasn’t easy to deal with him, particularly since Jon was grinning like the Cheshire Cat and looking from her to André and back again.
”Stop it,” she said firmly to him, climbing unassisted into the car. Wordlessly, still grinning, Jon followed her.

Being in the limousine instantly brought back memories of what she and André had done in it the day before, and Caroline had to look out of the window to avoid blushing. She couldn’t look at Jon and she certainly couldn’t look at André.

“Nice weather,” Jon said blithely. She angled a look at him. He smiled. And then he looked at André, then back to her again.
”Would you stop it?” she said again.

“I can’t,” he admitted. “It’s just too much fun. Here I am, playing gooseberry for once.” Caroline glanced over at André. From her seat, she could see his profile, which was totally impassive.

“Hardly,” she pointed out. “This is an arranged relationship, if you recall.”
”It’s still sex, Carrie,” Jon responded with a glint in his green eyes. “Which makes it fun. Doesn’t it, André?”

“Whatever you say, sir,” André responded. Jon looked up at the ceiling of the limousine in disgust.

“So tell me,” he said to Caroline. “Have you been at it during the day as well? Any quick naughties behind sheds? Any afternoon delight in the gardens?”

“Does that sound like something I’d do?” Caroline asked him, steel in her voice to hide the fact that there had in fact been some afternoon delight going on exactly where his feet were at present.

“Well no, but then I don’t know André all that well. How about it, André? Any passionate clinches I should know about?”
”No sir,” André answered honestly. No reason he should know at all. Jon sighed.

“Well really. Two beautiful people are given carte blanche to go at it like rabbits and they’re being all staid and responsible. I despair of you.”

“Change the subject, Jon,” Caroline said. “Or better still, be quiet.”

“I’ll sulk for the rest of the drive,” he announced. Since this meant he remained silent, Caroline didn’t mind at all.

He perked up when they arrived at the shops, and engaged in his usual outrageous flirting behaviour with every salesgirl he came across. As Caroline had commented to André, Jon’s voice deepened, all of his effete mannerisms disappeared, and he became an exceedingly attractive man who made a point of giving women a great deal of flattering attention. A minute in his company was enough to make most women forget that he was shorter than they were and prettier than they were. Caroline knew he enjoyed himself immensely on these outings, and they spent a fortune in four separate shops before they went back to the limousine.

Jon handed over the shopping bags to André with a great show of relief.

“Thank heavens you have all of those lovely muscles,” he said, running his hand down André’s sleeve from the shoulder. “I swear I am exhausted from being a packhorse.”

“You shouldn’t overtax yourself, Jon,” Caroline needled. “You know what a fragile little flower you are.” Jon raised his eyebrows at her.
”You are living dangerously these days,” he said, his voice deepening again. André, hearing that, looked up in surprise. Caroline had been right, he noted. The man switched in and out of roles and personae very easily indeed. Even his stance had changed. André found that interesting, for reasons of his own.

They had one more stop to make, at a warehouse in a less salubrious part of town.

“They have the most divine leather jackets and pants here, I’ve been told,” Jon said. “It’s boys only, but you should come in with me, André. I’d love to slip you out of those trousers and into something that really showed off your assets.”
”I find leather too hot for driving in,” the chauffeur said. “But thank you for thinking of me, sir.”
”I think of you a lot,” Jon winked at him. “Now stay here, Carrie. Don’t go wandering off by yourself. This is not a friendly part of town.”
”Yes, Daddy,” Caroline responded. He laughed and climbed out of the car, disappearing inside the warehouse.

“He’ll be there for an hour, at the very least,” Caroline said, opening the door that André had just shut. “The man is a shopping dynamo.”

“Perhaps you should stay in the car?” André said. She shook her head.
”I’ll just lean on it,” she said. “It doesn’t look like a dangerous area. I mean, there are trees.”
”That makes it much safer,” André agreed, half-smiling when she narrowed her baby blues at him.

“Jon told me that you’re an illegal immigrant,” she said. She’d thought about ways to raise the matter tactfully, but then decided that there was no point.
”Did he?” André responded, looking somewhat annoyed. “I wonder why he did that.”

“Are you?” she asked.
”Why would he lie?” he countered.
”Why are you?” she persisted. “Why did you outstay your visa?” He shrugged.

“We all have our reasons,” he said. He saw that she was looking concerned. “It’s all right, Caroline. I’m not going to be caught, and even if I were, I have some money put aside that will help me.” She nodded slowly. Then she reached out and put her hand on his forearm.

“I could get you more money if you need it,” she said impulsively. “Robert puts an allowance into an account for me, and I hardly ever draw on it. There’s probably a fair bit in there by now. If it helps, you can have it.” The offer and the words were out of her mouth before she’d even considered them, but having tasted them, she found that she was comfortable with them. André, on the other hand, looked shocked.

“You would give me money?” he asked. “You would help me?” She nodded again.

“Why?” he asked. She blinked in disbelief.

“Because you need it,” she said simply. “And because we’re…well, we’re…friends.”
”No we’re not,” he said, but he smiled as he said it. “We’re occasionally companionable, but most of the time we’re either lovers or mistress and chauffeur. Or both, if you count yesterday.”
”Let’s not talk about yesterday,” Caroline said. “Not with Jon anywhere near.” She shuddered. André smiled. He glanced over his shoulder. Predictably, there was no sign of Jon. In fact, there was no sign of anyone. He took a chance.

“Thank you for caring and offering to help,” he said sincerely. And he bent down and kissed her quickly.

“The offer stands,” she said. Peeking around him, she went up on her toes, put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him in return. He grinned. Another quick look over his shoulder, and he pulled her into his arms, bent and kissed her properly, her arms around his neck, his around her back, their tongues tangling, their mouths hot and their bodies pressing into each other. It was André who broke away suddenly.

“This is stupid,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“It is,” Caroline agreed, then yelped as he pulled her up against him and kissed her again. His hands cupped her backside and she strained to get closer to him, her breasts flattened against his chest, her hips rubbing against his.

One of his hands moved up her side, found the bottom of her blouse and slid under, groping up blindly as he kept kissing her, both of them lost to the world as his fingers closed over her bra-clad breast, squeezing gently. Now straddling his thigh, Caroline was rapidly closing on the point at which she would forget her own name, let alone where she was.

“Well, that’s one way to occupy yourselves while waiting for me,” Jon said cheerfully. They broke apart guiltily, André’s hand sliding out from under her blouse, Caroline wiping her mouth and turning away. She decided to brazen it out, “brazen” being a good word in the circumstances. What the hell had they been thinking and doing? She resolutely did NOT look at André, even when he opened the door for them.

She sat down and looked across at Jon, who had his tongue in his cheek and a gleam in his eyes that could have lit a small city. Caroline glared as he started to grin. He brought his hand to his mouth and made a closed-zipper movement. But he glanced over at André as he did it.

“I see you bought something,” she said. He followed her gaze down to the black plastic bag at his feet.

“A jacket,” he said. “It’s a bit butch, but it feels nice, so I had to have it.”
”You were very quick,” she commented. “You normally take a lot longer than that.” He’d hardly time to look at all, she mused. Very unlike him.

“I do, don’t I?” he agreed, his eyes still sparkling. But he still didn’t say anything about it.

He alighted from the car first once they were home, and as Caroline climbed out, André gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.

“Don’t let him get to you,” he said softly. Louder, he said to Jon. “I’ll bring the bags in.”
”You do that,” Jon said without turning round. He walked into the house and straight around the central garden and into Caroline’s room.

“Oh, by all means, do make yourself at home,” she commented, following him in. She noticed a letter on the table. The stationery was her mothers. Wonderful. Just what she needed. Another outpouring of worries and complaints about David being so badly treated by members of the business community. As far as her mother was concerned, David could do no wrong, even though he had consistently lost money for more than three years now. Caroline knew she’d have to see Robert about it later in the day. He was the only one with the ability to influence David, and that was only because he held the purse-strings.

Jon flung himself into a chair – the chair she’d jammed against the door, in fact.

“I am at home, pet,” he reminded her in response to her sarcastic comment. “Now sit down and let me tease you mercilessly.”
”No,” she said. “Go away.” He laughed.

“Not a chance,” he said. “Tell me, are his kisses as divine as they look? You were climbing up him like a vine, Carrie.”
”I am not discussing this,” she said, kicking off her shoes and sitting down on the bed.

“I wish I’d been a few minutes later,” Jon continued. “Given how oblivious you two were to your surroundings, I think I might have seen the delicious André’s backside, because I’m sure his trousers would have been around his ankles in no time.”

There was a knock at the door.

“Where would you like these, Madame?” André asked, holding the shopping bags.

“Just on the bed thank you, André,” Caroline responded. Jon, vastly amused, was again looking from one to the other.

“So polite, so proper,” he said. “You two crack me up.”

“So pleased to provide entertainment for you,” Caroline said flatly.

“It gives you a role in life,” Jon agreed. “And you, André? Are you pleased to be providing me with entertainment?”

“I am pleased for you that you are so easily entertained, sir,” André said, in an answer that bordered on disrespect and brought a quick flare to Jon’s eyes. He chose not to be offended, however, and he was laughing as he left the room, brushing André’s sleeve as he went.

“Be careful with him,” Caroline said as soon as he was gone. “He’s second only to Robert in terms of power here.”
”Not equal?” André asked. Caroline considered it.

“Actually, in some ways, he probably is,” she said. “Do you have to be somewhere now?” He shook his head.

“I have to clean the car sometime today or tomorrow, but as far as I know I am not going anywhere this afternoon. Why?”
”I’d like to show you my studio,” she said, almost shy. He smiled.

“And I would like to see it,” he said.

It was up on the top floor of the mansion, with natural light pouring in through skylights and floor to ceiling windows. The almost finished seascape was propped up on its easel, and it was to it that André went as soon as he entered the room.

“But this is magnificent,” he said, awed. “You painted this?”

“Yes,” Caroline said, again feeling just a little shy.

“Where did you learn to paint like this?” he asked. She shrugged.

“College,” she said. “I’ve had no private lessons.” He was shaking his head as he looked at it.

“It is amazing,” he said. He dragged his eyes away from it with difficulty. “May I look at the others?” She nodded, and he crossed to the stacks of canvases stored in vertical tilt stands.

He pulled one out at random. It was a forest scene, with mossy trees and contrasts of light – dark, cool-looking shadows and sparkles of sunbeams filtering through trees. It looked like a secret place, a place where fairies or wood nymphs probably played as soon as you took your eyes off the painting.

“C’est magnifique,” he said again, but this time in his own language. The next painting he pulled out was a portrait of Jon. He carried it over to a window to study it.

“You have captured him perfectly,” he said. “His looks, certainly, but also that spark of something – I don’t know, malicious mischief, is that it?”
”I think that sums him up well,” Caroline said, walking over to look at the portrait too. “Although he can be very nice too, André.“
”When he chooses to be,” André agreed. “There is something about his face…something familiar. What is it?” He looked closely at it. And then he looked up and studied Caroline.

“What?” she asked.
”He has the same shaped face as yours,” André said slowly, as if he were thinking about something else as he spoke. “And the line of his nose and the height of his cheekbones is the same. Are you related?”

“No,” Caroline said, laughing. “But I guess it makes sense. Jon claims that he was the one who selected me for Robert, and if Jon is anything, he’s certainly vain. If he saw similarities to himself in me, it would have influenced his decision to choose me for the role.” André nodded. His brow was furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. His forehead cleared and he smiled at her.

“Nothing,” he said. He walked over and put the painting back. He flipped through the others. “There are so many,” he said. “Why don’t you have a showing?” Caroline made a scoffing noise.

“One, they’re not good enough, and two, Sir Robert Winthrop’s wife is allowed to dabble, but not allowed to have a career.” Even though she would love to have, she secretly admitted to herself.

“I don’t see why not,” André said. “Perhaps you should divorce him?”
”No,” she said, thinking of her family.

“No?” he asked. She shook her head.

“No.”

The decisiveness and finality of her word shook him out of the reverie he’d been in since he’d walked into this bright space and seen the results of her talent. Now, he realised where he was and what he was doing.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I mean, I invited you here, and…you’re right. You’d better go.” Robert certainly wouldn’t approve, she knew, and the last thing either of them wanted was for Jon to walk in and catch them together again.

“I’ll go,” he said, doing so. As he walked past her, he leaned in and kissed her fast – and kept going.

“Tonight,” he said. She nodded.

………………

She couldn’t concentrate on the painting after that, although she tried. All she could think of was the feel of his hard body pressing her against the side of the car, the heat between them, the hunger she’d felt. Jon was right. They’d been so wrapped up in each other, they’d have probably ended up doing it right there if he hadn’t walked out. She shook herself mentally. No, of course they wouldn’t have. She’d have come to her senses. Eventually. She hoped. Or André would have. That was much more likely, actually. He was the one who seemed most in control. Although he’d lost control then, as far as she could tell.

She spent a couple of hours checking through her paints, stock-taking, looking in boxes of pigments to make sure they weren’t running out either, and sorting through her brushes and palette knives. It was the sort of activity that normally soothed her. It didn’t this time.

She lifted the seascape off the easel and put a fresh, prepared canvas in its place. Then she grabbed a handful of paint tubes, a large palette and knife and attacked. All of her passion, all of her feelings, all of the emotions inside her that she could not understand or process or control came pouring out onto the canvas in an explosion of colour and form. Red, lots of red, and orange and yellow and deep, deep green, and blue like his eyes and black, like his hair, and…she was slicing through the abstract with a long curve of the black when she realised what she was thinking. She glanced at the clock and was stunned to see that another two hours had passed.

She cleaned her brushes, tidied away her paints, pulled her protective smock off and walked out of her studio, down the stairs, round the garden and out the back door, heading unquestioningly to the source of her inspiration for that painting.

Not wanting to be seen knocking on his front door at this time of day, Caroline snuck quickly around the back, raising her hand to tap at the glass in the narrow door that led into the tiny laundry off his kitchen. She stopped, almost with her knuckles touching the glass. The curtain was open on the door, and through the gap she could see that André was standing inside, wearing nothing but a towel. He had a cell phone to his ear and was talking, his attention completely on the telephone call. He strode back and forth, his long legs carrying him quickly over the small space. Caroline looked at the line of him, at the broad, bare shoulders, the well-muscled chest, the triangular shape of him tapering down to his slim hips, and she knew that she was going to have to paint him. Nude. Definitely nude. The way his towel clung to his butt told her that it was going to be as impressive as the rest of him, and she decided that she wasn’t going to waste any more time in confirming this. Without knocking, she opened the door and walked in.

André turned sharply, and seeing her, his face smoothed into a smile. He was talking in a foreign language. It didn’t sound like French to her, but then she hadn’t spoken French since her school days. He beckoned her with one hand, and she went to him, sliding her arm around his bare waist even as his own arm went around her shoulders. He kept talking, and whenever he stopped to listen, Caroline could hear a burst of staccato chatter in the same language, whatever it was. Held again his chest, she looked down at where the towel was tucked in, and smiled as she reached for it. André laughed softly.

“I am sorry, Juan,” he said in English. “But a beautiful woman is undressing me, and in a competition between that and listening to you rabbit on, I’m afraid she wins, my friend.” Another rapid burst of words.
”Yes, I understand. I’ll talk to you soon.” He pressed the button to disengage just as she undid the tuck on the towel and opened it, dropping it to the floor.

“Go right ahead,” André said. “Just feel free to strip me.”

“I already have,” Caroline pointed out. “Wow.” He laughed.

“Let go of me for a minute,” she said. “I want to stand back and have a good look at you.” Smiling, he let her go and obligingly stood still as she looked. He grinned appreciatively when she walked behind him to check out the back view, because it was an almost identical move to the one he’d used on her the first time she’d stood naked in front of him.

“Do I pass muster?” he asked.

“More than,” she assured him. “I want to paint you like this.
”I don’t think so,” he said instantly.

“I do,” she said. “And soon.” She was determined about this. It was going to happen.

“I cannot see me posing naked in your studio with the risk of Jon or your husband walking in and seeing me,” he said.

“The studio, unlike my bedroom, has a lock on the door,” Caroline said.

“I do wish I’d known that earlier this afternoon,” he said. Caroline, still looking him up and down, admiring his muscles, the smooth line of his body, met his eyes.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I would have made love to you there,” he said.
”Oh,” she responded. She looked down and noted that at least part of him seemed to be interested in some sort of similar activity in the present as well.

“Well,” she said. “I suppose we could make up for it now.”
”You think?” he asked, stepping forward and reaching for her. He grimaced and raised his hand to his jaw. “I haven’t shaved yet. I was just out of the shower when the phone rang.”
”You shave in the afternoon as well as the morning?” she asked, raising her hand to stroke his face. She could feel the roughness of it.
”When I am going to be rubbing my face all over your soft skin I do,” he said. “Hold on, it won’t take a minute.”
”It’ll wait,” she said. “Come on. Today, let’s do it rough.” He grinned.

“You’re the boss,” he said, allowing her to lead him to the bed.

There was a newness to it, if only because he was naked and she was dressed. He fixed that situation quickly, taking her clothes off her with practised ease and drawing her into his arms for their first experience of skin to skin, body to body. It almost took her breath away.

“This is nice,” he said, in the understatement of the year. “I like feeling you against me like this.”
”Me too,” she said. “The last frontier, as it were.” He smiled.
”Not quite,” he said. “Which reminds me. There’s something I’ve been meaning to do to you.” At this point, she would have agreed to anything, but he didn’t ask her. He sat her down on the bed and eased her back until she was lying down. Then, he dropped to his knees at the side of the bed and pulled her towards him.

Her body open, her breath already laboured, Caroline raised her head and looked down at him.

“Has anyone ever gone down on you?” he asked opening her knees. Her hips jerked, and she shook her head, not knowing what to say. Oh God, she was thinking. He’s going to do that?

“Good,” he smiled, and proceeded to show her how it was done, in slow and delightful detail.

With so much skin to touch, and so much naked man to wrap herself around, Caroline could have spent days and days in bed with him, exploring, opening herself up to him, to all of the new experiences he had in store for her, familiarising herself with every detail of his body. She loved the ripple of his abdominal muscles, the long, clean line of his back, the tight curves of his butt. It was all so reassuringly, enticingly powerful. She liked the vulnerable parts of him, too, and what she could do with them to make him gasp and writhe around on the bed just as he did to her. She liked that a lot.

…………

“You know that technically, we’ve fulfilled our obligations already today,” André said, lying on his back with her curled against him, one of her legs flung over his, her head on his chest. He played with her hair, rubbing it between his fingers. Caroline smiled.

“Yes we have,” she said. Twice in one afternoon. She stretched contentedly and settled back down against him.

“Although I’ve been very irresponsible about maximising the chances for baby-making,” he admitted. “I haven’t used the plug on you.”

“Good,” she responded. She nuzzled her nose against his chest, making him laugh.

“My nose is itchy,” she said by way of explanation.

“You really don’t like that plug, do you?” he asked.

“No,” she responded, as if it were obvious – which it should have been. “But it was better than the upside down thing. I really hated that.” He laughed quietly.

“I know,” he said. “That was mean. I shouldn’t have done that to you.”
”No, you shouldn’t,” she said. She lifted her head off his chest and looked into his face. “Why did you?”
”Now there’s a question,” he said, stalling. He decided to give her half the real answer…sort of. “It showed my commitment to getting you pregnant fast,” he said.

“You show your commitment every time you…” she didn’t finish that. She didn’t have to. Her fingers trailed towards his groin, making the point for her. André smiled.

“I can understand you not liking being upside down and having me tease you and embarrass you like that, but why is the plug so bad?” he asked.

“It’s a little uncomfortable,” she said. He raised one eyebrow, and she put her head back down to avoid eye contact. “All right. I don’t like it because it means you have to look between my legs and touch me there and poke about and all of that.” His arm tightened around her.

“You are not used to people looking between your legs,” he commented.

“Well, no,” she said sarcastically. “Unless you count the crowd I book in every Tuesday for a special matinee showing, of course.” He laughed again.

“I’ll try not to look too much in future,” he said.

“It’s not that much of an issue any more, is it?” Caroline responded. Not after he’d spent fifteen slow, tortuous moments licking her there, sucking on her and kissing her into a rising delirium that had left her with a sore throat from the rasping breaths she’d been dragging in.

“No?” André asked. “Let’s check. Let me have a good look now.” He made as if to get up, chuckling as she protested and pushed on his chest to keep him down.

Caroline decided that the time had come to admit something.

“To be honest, it was never going to make a difference,” she said. André was still for an instant.
”Why so?” he asked. She was thinking fast. Would he tell Robert? No, she didn’t think he would. She hoped.

“I’m on the pill,” she said. “The contraceptive pill,” she added, to clarify.

“I thought that might be the one you meant,” he replied. He shifted this time, wriggling his arm out from under her and resting up on one elbow to look down at her. “That’s going to make it a bit difficult to produce a baby,” he said.

“That’s the general idea,” she said. He nodded. Then he sighed.

“You’re not going to tell Robert, are you?” she asked. “I really don’t want to have a baby in these circumstances. Not just because those two want one to play with.” He looked down at her and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “No, I will enjoy having sex with Sir Robert’s wife for as long as I can. And if you change your mind and decide you do want a baby after all, well, we can get serious about that again.” The sense of relief Caroline felt was overwhelming. Robert wouldn’t divorce her, her family wouldn’t be destitute, and SHE wouldn’t be destitute. And, a niggling, insistent little thought in the back of her mind intruded, she didn’t have to give up spending quality, erotic time with André.

“Why are you okay about it?” she asked. “I mean, you weren’t okay about it just a few days ago when I suggested that we just pretend we were doing it.” André’s smile was slow, loaded and sexy.

“Why do you think?” he asked. From the light in his eyes, there was no doubt, particularly as he directed them all the way down her naked body, to her toes and then back up again. Caroline squirmed, but not unpleasantly. There was still a trace of embarrassment, but she had to admit that most of it had dissipated in the face of his attack on her senses.

“You said it was because you didn’t want to take his money for something you weren’t doing,” she reminded him.

“I lied,” he said, leaning down to kiss her, pressing softly on her bruised lips. She enjoyed that for a few seconds, then shook her head to make him shift away.

“So, you just did it because you wanted to get into my pants?” she asked, surprised to find herself secretly delighted at the idea.

“Not just your pants,” he said, deliberately misunderstanding. “Your bra as well. I’ve been watching you get in and out of that limousine for months now, admiring your face, your shape, the way you move, particularly the way some parts of you move. And then your husband asks me if I’ll agree to something that involves having you naked in my bed – and they offer to pay me for it! I tell you, I think I must have done something good in a previous life, Caroline.” The smile on his face brought an echoing, if reluctant smile to hers.

“So you were attracted to me?” she persisted. He shook his head, surprising her.

“I lusted after you,” he corrected. “Particularly when you were in evening dresses, you know, the low-cut ones? Did you know that when you get out of the car, when you take my hand, I can usually see right down the front of those dresses? Sometimes even your nipples?”

“No!” she said, horrified. His smile broadened.

“I did wonder whether you did it deliberately, you know, to tease the help,” he said. “Now, having seen how modest you are, I know that you didn’t.”

“Modest,” Caroline repeated. She glanced down at their two bodies, bare and touching, all the way down to their feet. André laughed.

“All right, so you WERE modest,” he corrected.

She glanced over at the clock beside his bed.

“I’d better go,” she said. “I have to talk to Robert about a matter with my family, and I should try to see him before dinner.” André pressed another kiss on her before he let her get off the bed.

“Are you coming back tonight?” he asked, admiring the line of her back as she stood up, the curve into her pale bottom. She looked back, surprised.

“Of course,” she said. It had never occurred to her not to. He smiled.

“Good,” he said. “Don’t forget the vibrator, will you?” Caroline sat down on the edge of the bed with a thump, her panties in her hand.
”You know that there is no need for all of that now,” she pointed out. “All of the stronger muscles to get stronger orgasms to open up the cervix for more sperm to get in nonsense,” she said. She jumped as a finger ran down her back, over the bumps of her vertebrae and tickled at the cleft in her bottom.

“Ah but Jon knows about it,” André pointed out. “And if you stop, he’ll want to know why. Also, there is nothing wrong with having strong orgasms just for pleasure.” He leaned over quickly and kissed her bottom twice, one kiss for each side, making her squeal and making him laugh as she sprang up off the bed again.

“Stop that!” she insisted crossly, awkwardly pulling her panties up while standing. Her heavy breasts swayed under her as she bent.

“And as an incentive for my keeping quiet about your perfidy,” André went on, grinning. “If you don’t succeed in keeping that vibrator in place, you will have to pay a forfeit.”
”That’s…that’s just nonsense,” Caroline said, straightening up. She took a cautious step back when she saw how close he was, how he was eyeing her bare breasts. “What sort of forfeit?” He shrugged.

“Tomorrow, you will help me clean the limousine,” he said. “Wearing a bikini.”

“I will not!” she responded. “I have never…give me that!” He’d dived over the edge of the bed and picked up her bra before she could.

“You have never…?” he prompted her, holding the bra back, out of her reach.

“André, give it to me,” she said, kneeling on the bed and going after him as he backed away, teasing. She lunged for it, and he caught her around the waist and used her own momentum to bring her further up, holding her trapped above him while he lifted his head and licked the breast dangling closest to him. She wriggled and pushed at his shoulders and protested, but his other arm came round her too, and held her there, pinned, while he made a leisurely exploration of her sensitive, hardened nipples with his tongue and mouth, his eyes mischievous as she abused him.

“If I had my way, you would never be allowed to cover these,” he commented, laughing again as she tried to push away from him.

He let her go eventually, giving her the bra.

“About time,” she said, sternly. She turned away from him so he wouldn’t see her smile. No-one had ever made her feel desirable and irresistible before. She liked it. But she didn’t want him to know that.

“You said you have never…?” he prompted again.

“I’ve never washed a car,” she finally finished that sentence. “And I’m certainly not going to wash a car in a bikini where people can see me.”
”I wash the car out back,” he said. “In a clearing in the trees. There’s a hose there, and I take all of the other gear. No-one is there to see. Do you have a bikini, Caroline?”
”Yes,” she said, not offering any more information.

“Is it a tiny little bikini?” he dug for more.
”No. It’s a perfectly respectable bikini,” she said. She buttoned her blouse up and reached for her skirt. “And I’m not going to be wearing it or washing a car,” she finished firmly.

“Well, not as long as you can hold a turned-on vibrator inside you all the way from your room to mine,” André agreed. “Give me a kiss before you go.”
”You don’t deserve one,” she said.

“I know,” he said. “But give me one anyway.” And since he was lying naked on the bed, decadent and gorgeous, with sex in his eyes and his smile, she zipped up her skirt and leaned over to comply with his wishes. And didn’t get away from him for almost ten minutes.