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  “You know, David,” cut in Sasha. “She’s just about invited the whole bloody neighbourhood to my party, as if it were her party!”

  “Now, Sasha, you know very well that we were welcomed very warmly to this neighbourhood when we arrived here, and that we owe hospitality to everyone we’ve invited,” responded Simone, defensively.

  “Oh, yes, Mother! Your little elite suburb with its cliquey social gatherings. But,” she added, with a giggle, “who cares, as long as Dad’s paying. All the more prezzies for me. I should score some top loot from that lot!”

  “God, Sasha, don’t be so damned mercenary!” responded Simone, giving her daughter a dark look.

  “So, where’s the brainy one?” asked Sasha, then, changing the subject whilst turning to extract a cask of wine from the refrigerator and pour herself a glass. “I suppose she’s with Brodie again.”

  “Who’s Brodie?” enquired David, with a slightly raised eyebrow.

  “He’s the handsome boy next door,” replied Sasha, in a teasing tone, and with a slightly coquettish toss of her head. “He’s a documentary maker, and he’s right into the same sort of human and animal rights stuff that Delia is. They’re both always off protesting about something or other. If it’s not against the government, it’s about saving the whales. And he has even got Dad interested in some humanitarian project. He may turn out to be the son Dad always wanted but never had!”

  “No, I think she’s with Anita,” offered Simone. Then, turning to David, she asked, “Are you going to stay for dinner, David?”

  “No, thanks, Simone,” replied David. “I’ve told Mum and Dad we’d be there for dinner tonight. It’s my first night at home for a while. So, we’d better get going, Sash. I’ll need to clean up before dinner. You know what Dad’s like.”

  As Sasha rose to follow David from the kitchen, she silently wrinkled her nose to her mother, behind David’s back.

  Simone was aware that David’s parents were very conservative. His father was ex-Navy, and very strong on correct protocol. His wife was a rather quiet woman who always gave the impression of being a little prim and proper. Sasha had conceded, rather reluctantly, that they had to be invited to her 21st, but had insisted that they be seated near George and Marj, on the opposite side of the room from her and David, in the hope that George would talk them blind and keep them from noticing too much of whatever she might get up to. Knowing Sasha, Simone was sceptical about how that plan would work out, but she felt that David was a good influence upon her daughter, and that the presence of his parents might encourage her to at least avoid one of her more outrageous outbursts.

  As she picked up Sasha’s used glass and began to rinse it over the kitchen sink, Simone found her thoughts turning to Teale. She was disappointed not to have received a text message from him during the past week, although she doubted that she could have met him, even if she had, because of her work and family commitments, particularly in relation to the arrangements for Sasha’s party. She wondered whether he had been put off contacting her again by unexpectedly meeting her in the company of her daughter, who was so obviously nearer to his age than she. But she hungered for a repetition of their wildly satisfying sexual exploits, the mere thought of which, now, induced in her that tantalizing, tingling sensation that drove her in the direction of her bedroom, intent on some self stimulation and satisfaction. Before she reached it, however, she was distracted by the sound of her mobile phone ringing, from the study, where she had left it, and she detoured in that direction to answer it.

  “Yes, Mr. Downey. –Mr. Downey! – MR. DOWNEY!!”

  The sheer volume and intensity of the final repetition of his surname snapped Teale out of his reverie, and propelled him to his feet as if shot out of a cannon.

  “Ah – yes, Your Honour?” he responded, with less than his usual assurance.

  “Mr. Downey,” said the bewigged Judge, with a scowl as dark as a thunder cloud, and in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “I do not take kindly to Counsel nodding off in the course of proceedings before me, and I am sure your client does not pay you your undoubtedly very substantial fees to see you sleeping through opposing Counsel’s submissions.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Honour. I was distracted, momentarily. I apologise for my discourtesy to you and to my learned friend.”

  “Well, now that we have your attention,” continued the Judge, “do you have any submissions in reply to those of Mr. Huntington-Smyth?”

  “No, thank you, Your Honour. I believe that I have already said all I need to say to elucidate my client’s undeniably just and legally sound claim, and I am more than happy to leave the matter in Your Honour’s capable hands for decision without further input from me,” replied Teale in his most obsequious court manner.

  “Very well, then,” said the Judge, his tone and demeanour now less threatening. “I shall consider the matter, and the parties may expect my judgment within the next couple of weeks. Mr. Court Officer, adjourn the Court.”

  Entering his chambers in a bleak mood, Teale took off his barrister’s wig and threw it, angrily, onto his large desk next to the pile of weighty briefs awaiting his attention. He was still feeling mortified over his lapse into personal introspection during the closing stages of the case, as he removed his black court robes and absently hung them in the full length cupboard in his chambers.

  What has that woman done to me, he wondered. I can’t get her out of my mind. It’s an obsession that’s taking over my life, and starting to affect my work. But, I thought old Judge Browne was going to have apoplexy when I woke up to hear him shouting at me, he mused, with a slight wry smile. I can’t let that happen again, he told himself.

  But, in his heart, he knew that he would continue to have difficulty concentrating on his work until he made contact with his mystery computer lover again. At the same time, he realized that his obsession with her was also affecting his relationship with Megan, and was grossly unfair to her. He had thought that her return from overseas would enable him to get back to normal and straighten out his head, but he had been wrong about that. Their attempts at love making since her return had left them both cold. She had even asked him whether he had found someone else while she was away, but he had lied and told her that there was no one else, and it was only the pressure of his work that was getting to him.

  Despite his rational reservations, he impulsively reached for his phone and dialled his mystery lover’s mobile phone number, which he had already committed to memory.

  “Hello, Simone speaking,” she answered, in her habitual manner.

  He did not immediately respond, his breath having been momentarily taken away by the sound of her voice, and its revelation, to him, for the first time, of her name.

  “At last I know your name,” he whispered, hoarsely, after recovering his breath.

  Simone was immediately stricken by the same temporary loss of voice that had briefly afflicted Teale, and there followed a short period of silence, before he spoke again.

  “I know I’ve broken your rule by speaking to you instead of sending you a text message, but I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. It has been affecting my work and my life. I needed to hear your voice, and I also need to see you, and to talk to you face-to-face – please.”

  “Alright,” she answered, softly, much to his surprise, and pleasure. “I guess we can’t just go on the way we have been,” she added, with an audible catch in her voice.

  By now they were both breathing heavily.

  “Just talking to you, now, is wonderful, but also unbearable,” said Teale. “I want, so badly, to be with you and to hold you. As we talk, I am imagining my hands exploring every inch of your beautiful body, and my tongue tasting the delicious sweetness of your mouth. It’s driving me crazy!”

  “I know. Me too,” Simone responded in a throaty whisper. “I can feel your strong hands on my body, and your mouth on mine. I can also feel another part of your anatomy, which gives me such delicious ecstasy, p
ressing hard into me.”

  Just as Teale was about to respond with a vivid description of his own arousal, there was a knock on the closed door of his chambers, followed by the voice of his secretary announcing that she had some urgent papers to give him before she headed home.

  “Just a moment, Carol,” he called. Then, to Simone he whispered, “I’m sorry, Simone, I have to go now. And I’m sorry to say that I will be so busy over the next couple of weeks that we won’t be able to meet for a while, but, just knowing your name now, and that you will meet me again, will help me concentrate on my work and to get through the time until we can arrange that meeting.”

  “Yes, Teale, I feel better knowing that, too,” replied Simone. “There are some things we need to iron out, and I also have a number of commitments over the next couple of weeks that would preclude my meeting you. But I shall, as soon as we can.”

  “OK, I’ll keep in touch. I’ll have to make do with my fantasies about you until we meet.”

  Hanging up his phone, and sitting behind his desk, he called out, “OK, Carol, come in now.”

  Shutting her mobile phone with a trembling hand, Simone headed for her bedroom, more intent, now, than before, upon the purpose she had previously fixed upon.

  Lee had just finished with his last patient of the day, and emerged from his surgery to give Janet some instructions about the formulation of the account.

  “By the way,” said Janet as Lee turned to return to his surgery, “Dr. John Hunter rang a little while ago to confirm that he will meet you at Charlie’s restaurant at six o’clock today, as you tentatively arranged, to discuss the project you phoned him about.”

  “Thanks, Janet,” replied Lee, before re-joining Nadine in the surgery, where she was tidying up after the day’s operations. He busied himself writing up his clinical notes in relation to the last of the day’s consultations.

  A few minutes later, Janet came to the door of the surgery.

  “I’ll be off then, Dr. Boothby, if there’s nothing else you need me for.”

  “OK, Janet, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  As she heard the sound of the outer door closing behind Janet, Nadine turned to face Lee and, in her usual provocative manner, slowly unzipped her uniform to a point several centimetres below her throat, so as to reveal the generous cleavage that she knew would turn him on. As she did so, however, she noticed, with slight annoyance, that he was not paying any attention to her, but appeared to be making preparations to leave.

  “Don’t tell me you’re going straight off again, today,” she said, in a challenging tone.

  “Yes. I have to go. I told you that I may be busy for a time organizing this expert team to undertake the humanitarian work I outlined to you. I have to meet one of the potential members of that team at six o’clock.”

  “I hope you’re not just trying to give me the brush off,” demanded Nadine. “You haven’t shown me any affection all this week!”

  “No, no, Nadine. I just have to do this. It’s important. Please be patient.”

  “Important! Aren’t I important?”

  “Of course you are,” replied Lee, adopting his most soothing tone.

  “I hope you’re not working up to backing out on the arrangement we made to spend a weekend away together. I’ve already booked us into the Misty Mountain Lodge for the weekend after next.”

  “No, I haven’t forgotten. I’ve already begged off, with a phony excuse, from a previous engagement for that weekend.”

  “Oh, Lee, I can’t wait to have you all to myself, for two whole days,” replied Nadine, closing the gap between them and planting a big juicy kiss on his mouth, at the same time giving his genitals a firm squeeze, through his trousers.

  “Yeah, me too,” he managed to mumble, as he squirmed to extricate himself from her embrace, which he now felt to be stifling.

  As he managed to loosen her grip, he added, “I’m sorry, Nadine. I can’t afford to get worked up just now. I really do have to get going to meet this guy. He’s a really top faciomaxillary surgeon, and an extremely busy man. I can’t afford to keep him waiting, and the traffic on the drive to Charlie’s will be murder at this time of day!”

  Reluctantly, Nadine stepped back and allowed Lee to put on his suit coat, straighten his tie, and check his face, in the mirror, for tell-tale lipstick smudges, before picking up his briefcase from the corner cupboard and making for the door. He gave her a weak smile, and a peck on the cheek, as he passed her.

  She hurried her own departure preparations, then, and managed to arrive at the building’s underground carpark only a few seconds after Lee. She quickly entered and started her car, and was able to leave the carpark only a couple of cars behind Lee’s vehicle, which she then proceeded to follow, at a discreet distance, all the way, through the late afternoon traffic, until she saw him park it close to Charlie’s, located in a trendy outer suburb. Parking her own vehicle nearby, she walked back past the restaurant, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, in time to see Lee greeting, and shaking hands with a distinguished looking, grey-haired man, whom she presumed to be Dr. Hunter. Satisfied, then, that he had not spun her a tale, and that he did not have an assignation with another woman, she hurried back to her car to drive home, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and relief at what she had just done and seen.

  Later, as she arrived home, Nadine was greeted excitedly by her two year old daughter, Samantha, and coolly by her mother, June.

  “You’re a bit later than usual tonight, Nadine,” said June, with a hint of reproach in her voice, as Nadine stooped to hug Samantha. “Sam’s father rang from prison,” she added, giving the word ‘father’ a disapproving emphasis. “He was annoyed you weren’t here to receive his call.”

  “Too bad!” responded Nadine, with a shrug, as she walked hand-in-hand with Samantha towards her bedroom.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Sash, you look stunning!” said Simone, entering her elder daughter’s bedroom just as she was putting the final touches to her makeup, seated in front of her dressing table mirror. “And I really like your hair up, for a change, too.”

  “Yeah, thanks Mum,” answered Sasha, continuing to eye her image in the mirror. “I decided to put it up at the last minute. Brodie’s sister, Gai, came into the salon this afternoon, excited about coming to my party, and said she wanted a new look. And when she gushed over how I had mine done, I told her we could do hers like that. Of course, she said she didn’t want to copy me, but I told her I’d be changing mine anyway. I change my hairstyle and colour more often than I change my underwear!”

  “You can say that again!” said Simone, with a laugh. “Anyway, what’s Gai like? I hardly ever see her.”

  “She seems quite nice. She told me she doesn’t socialize a lot, because she’s a nurse, and works odd hours. But she said she’s really looking forward to my party tonight.”

  Satisfied, at last, with her makeup, Sasha stood to reveal herself fully to her mother, with a slight flounce, and running one hand sensually down over her hip to smooth her tight-fitting skirt. Simone took in the full effect of her daughter’s ensemble, which she had helped her to select during their recent shopping excursion. She wore a figure hugging, strapless, peacock blue mini-dress, which she had teamed with matching patent leather ankle boots. Her still-blonde hair was swept up into a knot, with long tendrils hanging down at the back and sides. The whole outfit was beautifully complemented by a pair of sparkling, sapphire, drop earrings, which had been a birthday present from her parents.

  As she admired the overall effect of Sasha’s appearance, Simone wondered what her other, less conventional daughter would turn out in. As if in answer to her thoughts, Delia suddenly appeared in the doorway to her sister’s bedroom. Both Simone and Sasha registered some surprise at her unexpected appearance.

  “Oh, Delia, you look marvelous!” gushed Simone, her face displaying a pleasantly startled expression.

  “I’d call it ‘hot’, Mum,” offered
Sasha, as both she and Simone looked Delia up and down, approvingly.

  Delia was wearing a soft, black mini-dress, off-the-shoulder on one side, teamed with a pair of black, soft leather ankle boots. On the off-the-shoulder side, where her hair was short, she wore a long, dangling, diamante earring, and, in her other piercings, her usual gold keepers had been replaced with diamante studs. On the other side, where her hair was long, she wore no earrings.

  Both daughters then turned their attention to their mother.

  “Jeez, Mum, talk about hot! You’re sizzling!” exclaimed Delia.

  “Isn’t she, though,” agreed Sasha. “If I hadn’t helped her pick that outfit, she’d probably still be wearing one of her old conservative numbers.”

  Simone was wearing a bright scarlet, silk dress, with a cross-over bodice that displayed a significant but tasteful amount of cleavage, tightly fitted over waist and hips, but with a slightly flared maxi-length skirt. The dress was nicely complemented by a smart pair of strappy, high-heeled shoes, and large, tear-drop diamond earrings.

  Their mutual admiration was interrupted, then, by the sound of the doorbell.

  “That’ll be David,” announced Sasha, with a rising note of excitement in her voice.

  “I’ll get it,” came Lee’s voice, from the downstairs living room.

  A few moments later, as Lee and David made their way from the front door towards the living room, the three women were descending the stairs to meet them. At the sight of them, the two men stopped dead in their tracks.

  “Oh, wow, Sash! You look beautiful!” David almost panted. Then, as a slightly embarrassed afterthought, he added, “You, too, Simone and Delia.”

  Lee said nothing, but stood, as if transfixed, as he took in the sheer beauty of his wife and daughters. His eyes quickly settled on Simone, their smouldering gleam providing a more eloquent testament to her appeal than any words he could have uttered. It was a look not lost on Simone, and one that she had not witnessed in her husband’s eyes for longer than she cared to remember.