Chase. Flora Dain

But as the afternoon wears on Darnley spends more and more time on calls. From his irritated tone I guess it’s about Cola again.

      As we get ready to go out he prowls my room, looking carelessly perfect, occasionally adjusting his cuffs but more often glancing darkly at me. I grow uneasy as I adjust my tiny diamond earrings and put the finishing touches to my hair.

      As he draws close my eyes widen. He’s brought the bracelets.

      From the box the diamonds flash and dazzle. Their brilliance does little to calm my nerves. Now I’m on high alert. He raises my hand to his lips, drops a soft kiss on the inside edge of my palm and snaps on the first bracelet.

      ‘You’ll wear them all evening. Maybe longer.’

      His low murmur and his dark, steady look send excitement pounding through me as heat flares deep down. At the same moment I feel a shimmer of fear.

      I raise my other hand and he fixes the other bracelet in place, his gaze solemn. Our ritual has already begun, the air between us ablaze with bling and crackling with tension.

      I’m still in my underwear, a porno-effect paper doll in heels, stockings and skimpy lingerie. His sweeping clinical look makes me burn.

      ‘Lose these.’ He fingers the lacy trim at the edge of my panties and wrenches it a little way down my leg. Hurriedly I step out of them, kicking away the wisp of designer lace that cost more than my last month’s food bill.

      He slips a finger deep into my little valley. ‘Open your legs.’

      Slowly he runs his fingers along one side of my swollen folds and then the other, holding each lip lightly in his finger and thumb. This is strangely intimate and very controlling, like a tailor feeling cloth. A shudder runs all through my belly and down the backs of my legs.

      His eyes lock on mine, dark with intent, his expression grave. ‘I guess you know what comes first.’ He gives my folds a slight but unmistakeable downward tug.

      I swallow. I’m learning to expect this, to yearn for it, even. We start the ritual with the classic submission he loves. But tonight I sense a new urgency about it.

      The worship part is easy. I could do this for hours, if it pleases him, if it helps. But tonight his need for my mouth seems to go deeper than mere pleasure. As he towers over me, fully dressed now, easy and elegant in a suit that cost way more than my salary, I gasp as he frees himself and his erection looms before me. I love to do this, but the bracelets make it even more exciting. They bind me with more than metal.

      I lick him with loving sweeps of my tongue and tease him with delicate kisses, fighting down panic. Will we be late? Will his sister walk in and find us? But he’s in no hurry.

      As I lean over and take him deep I suck hard, scared I’ll screw up his evening by taking too long.

      To my surprise he touches my hair and smiles. ‘Hey, easy. The party starts when we get there.’

      So I go slow. When he finally groans I feel a deep swell of satisfaction, laced with a purely female hint of relief that my evening gown is still folded primly over a chair, innocent and unspoilt. Only my flushed cheeks and my pulsing, reddened lips will give me away – or maybe my air of primitive female pride.

      I savour the moment. Who knows? It may be the best part of the evening.

      The Great Hall of the Massachusetts State is House is ablaze with glitz. Its splendour has no effect on Darnley. As ever he’s casual and urbane. Cola quickly joins us. She looks bored, like she does this kind of thing often. But I’m overawed by the marble and the glitter and sincerely grateful my costly gown passes muster here with so many diplomats and dignitaries to see it.

      As always with Darnley at my side, I feel like a princess. As always, his dark looks and fleeting smiles, like the firm, telling touch of his hand on my arm, my waist and my neck, make me feel like a queen. And as always the wicked thoughts that consume me when we’re this close make me randy as a cat.

      He leads me over to a group where a slim middle-aged blonde with a regal air is holding court. ‘This is my mother, Señora Savoy Pemberton Castillo. Mother? Meet my girl. This is Ella. She’s a poet.’

      The woman’s smooth, fine-boned face softens in a hint of a smile. ‘With those eyes? Of course she is.’

      Darnley’s stepmother Lydia has the cautious air of a woman who’s come up in the world. Her face is still beautiful, her expression cool.

      I sense a hint of the great outdoors. I recall his mother runs a stud farm. She sweeps me with a quizzical look as her son kisses her cheek but when she touches my hand hers is surprisingly warm. ‘I’m so glad to meet you, Ella. And do call me Savoy. Everyone does. So you’re Petronella Dean? I love your work. When I heard Darnley had read your poem Life in landscapes at the Institute I hoped I’d get to meet you.’

      I’m touched by her courtesy. ‘You know my old professor?’

      She smiles, warmer now. ‘Oh, yes. We go back a way. He’s here, somewhere.’ As she looks vaguely round, I notice Cola slip away into the crowd.

      Savoy watches her go, pressing her lips together as she lowers her voice. ‘I’m so sorry to spring Cola on you both. This business scared the wits out of all of us. And she’s so moody, poor child. Do forgive her. I’m sure she’s been difficult.’

      As she tells me about their trip I lose focus a little. She walked out on her son. How could any woman do that? When I tune back in to what she’s saying we’re still on Cola.

      ‘… So she begged me to bring her. But I mustn’t keep you. Do come over and visit the ranch sometime. We’d love to have you.’

      Now I search out my old professor while Darnley drifts over to a group from MIT. Through gaps in the crowd I catch glimpses of Cola talking to someone in the group from the university. I can’t see who it is but what catches my attention is her expression. She looks quite different, her face lit up.

      It’s a look I know well: it’s how I feel when I’m with Darnley.

      I greet my professor with only part of my attention as a small drama plays out on the fringe of my vision. Now Darnley and his mother have seen her too. He mutters into a phone as his men close in. At the same moment Cola breaks away from the person she was talking to and he slips away into the crowd. She comes back over, her pout firmly back in place and her eyes troubled.

      The whole episode takes barely a few minutes but it’s very revealing.

      I wonder if Darnley knows she’s in love.

      At last I bid a fond farewell to my professor and Darnley comes up close.

      ‘Had enough?’

      His look is so intent my heart skips. ‘Don’t you want to talk to your mother a little longer? You must have a lot to say …’

      ‘Ella, please. We’re hardly close. And she’s around for a while yet. We’ll catch up.’

      After a round of brief farewells we head for the open air. His car is already waiting. In the back seat I lean back and smile at him as his dark look warms me. The bracelets are heavy now, loading my slim wrists like lead weights – just how he wants them. They attracted a lot of attention this evening. Now they’re nagging at mine.

      His fingers slide around them, his touch like electricity on my skin. I feel my nipples stiffen under the thin satin of my gown and his look darkens as he notices. One hand reaches forward to brush the places with the back of his finger, his gaze intent.

      I arch my neck as my breasts react to his soft caress with a slight swell, my nipples now tense and numb, my rapid breathing straining the satin of my neckline. ‘What – what’s Cola enrolled for?’

      His fond smile blanks. ‘Enrolled? Where?’

      I blink, my breasts now burning, my nipples throbbing as numbness tenses them and fades again. ‘At the Academy. We