BooksBarbecue
Back The Actresses
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. THE ACTRESSES
  3. About The Actresses
  4. Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. 39
  46. 40
  47. 41
  48. About Barbara Ewing
  49. Also by Barbara Ewing
  50. An Invitation from the Publisher
  51. Copyright

Her nipple hardened under his hand, and her heart sank.

*

The long Indian summer had done strange things to English gardens. Down the narrow, dark path to the old cottage just outside Stratford that he had rented (Catch me living in actors’ accommodation with everybody knowing your business, said Anthony) there was the strong scent of honeysuckle still, and tendrils caught at their clothes.

He opened the door, pulled her inside, did not even turn on the light. He pulled her to him, pushed off her jacket so that it dropped on the floor in the dark doorway, kissed her face and her neck and her hair. She could feel his heart beating.

‘...Tony...’ she said helplessly. The scent of honeysuckle still, in the room, as he closed the door with his foot.

He actually picked her up off the ground for a moment, held her tightly in his arms, then lay her on the wide couch beside the fireplace and knelt beside her. And then, as he had always done, as they had discovered together on a single bed in Birmingham in the days when they were young, he took both of her wrists and pinned them above her head with one hand; with his other hand, in a way many other women who had known him including his wife would not have recognised, he very gently and very slowly undid her dress. It was the same green dress she had worn to the reunion.

He took her nipple between his fingers, as it hardened and grew he watched her face, again with that absolute concentration; he watched her face as his hand moved downwards and undid his trousers; he watched her face as he pushed her legs apart, then left his hand there, feeling the moisture. Still her wrists were caught above her head in the almost graceful gesture of submission that had excited him over thirty years ago and, perversely, excited him now. Now he was much keener for the younger women to do the work: he would pull them over him, make them ride him, thrust them upwards. And Pauline, of course, always liked it like that.

But in some memory of his youth, and the passionate days and nights with Molly that had been part of it, he stared still at Molly’s face in the light from the window as he held her wrists with one hand and pushed her legs further apart with the other, keeping his hand down there, moving it slowly.