Читать книгу Sex and the Stranger - Justine Elyot - Страница 5

Fallen leaves crunched beneath Natalie’s feet as she jumped down from the stile. A neglected path led her to a small copse of trees with an informational sign about the Six Maidens. A handful of damp and out-of-focus postcards were on offer for 50p each, along with a badly drawn map of the site. An honesty box stood impaled on a post nearby but Natalie brushed past it, ignoring its request of a pound for entrance. Such places should belong to everyone. Even though the stone circle was on private grounds, she wasn’t visiting the grounds. Just the stones.

She’d only been here once before, but she remembered the way easily enough. The path wound its way up the hill, through tangles of brambles and nettles, until it opened on to a clearing at the top. She felt like a jungle explorer picking her way through the undergrowth. All she needed was a machete to slice away the thorny branches that tore at her clothes. Half an hour later she crested the rise and saw the lichen-encrusted stone circle ahead.

It wasn’t a well-known or popular site and it was certainly nowhere near as awe-inspiring as Stonehenge or Avebury. It was tucked away on a muddy hill that was difficult to find and even more difficult to get to. But its obscurity and isolation were part of the appeal for Natalie. The site rewarded those who made the journey with a spectacular view. The valley spread out before her, showing off the ravishing colour palette of October. The sun was just beginning to set. Natalie shrugged off her rucksack and began to unpack beside the large recumbent stone at the centre of the circle.

As with most megalithic sites, no one knew the purpose of the Six Maidens. The informational sign hinted at ancient sacrificial rites performed on the altar stone, but Natalie supposed that was mainly to sex it up for any tourists who ventured far enough afield to visit the site. The six upright stones faced inward, leaning towards the altar as though drawn to whatever magic had taken place there hundreds of years ago. Natalie unfolded a red blanket and spread it over the altar. Then she carefully laid out her things one by one. Candles, goblets, wine.

By the time she had finished the full moon was on the rise, glowing like burnished copper in the sky. The light transformed the stones, painting them with fantastic colours as though clothing them in gowns of fire. It was a perfect night for the ritual.

Natalie poured some Cabernet into a goblet and arranged the candles along the rim of the altar. They quivered in the slight breeze, throwing eerie shadows against the stones. Leaves had gathered at the feet of the weathered Maidens like scarlet snowdrifts and small animals scurried through them, unable to conceal their presence.

Natalie took a sip of wine and began to unbutton her dress. She wore nothing underneath. The night was chilly against her bare skin but she would be warm soon enough. She kicked off her shoes and stepped forwards, gingerly placing her bare feet on the ground. Mud squished beneath the covering of leaves as she began to dance. There was no music but the sounds of the night – the crunch of dry leaves beneath her feet and the whispering of trees in the breeze. The moon hung low in the sky like a giant eye, watching her.

She made shapes against the standing stones with her body, undulating her arms, arching her back, moving sinuously through the leaves. As a child she’d had a handful of ballet lessons, but any knowledge she’d gained had long since worn off. She simply followed her body, going where it wanted, moving as it dictated. It was like being guided by an external force, as though she were at the mercy of a powerful but benign puppet master.

Natalie had always imagined that the sensation of being naked outdoors would be scary. Instead, she found it liberating. Exhilarating. Even though there was no one to see her she felt watched by a thousand eyes. The crisp air against her naked skin, the cool mud between her toes … all of it made her feel primal and wildly sexual.

She didn’t really believe all that stuff Rhiannon had told her, that dancing naked under the full moon in an ancient site would show her the face of her true love.

‘Oh please,’ she’d scoffed. ‘I’m not after true love. Frankly, I’ll settle for a good shag!’

But in the end it had seemed such a lovely and slightly transgressive idea. How could she resist? Rhiannon had taken her along to coven meetings, read her Tarot cards and given her amulets and totems over the years. And while Natalie never really felt the presence of anything otherworldly, the pagan mindset appealed to her. She liked the idea of a religion that celebrated nature and sexuality instead of focusing on guilt, shame and fear.

Her movements grew more assured and sensual. More erotic. Her hands began to move, seemingly of their own accord, to caress her breasts, her belly, her sex. Without quite realising what she was doing, she sank to her knees on the ground and let her fingers slip down between her legs, where she was very wet. Losing any trace of self-consciousness, she moaned softly as she stroked the soft folds of her labia. Images from her plentiful inventory of fantasies flashed across her mind’s eye before she settled on the one she felt most fitting: the virgin sacrifice.

She pictured herself led naked into the clearing by sombre robed figures, an iron collar heavy around her neck, iron shackles weighing down her wrists and ankles. Two of the men guided her to the stone altar and laid her on her back without a word, securing her chains to rings they had bolted into the stone. The figures formed a circle around her splayed body, the flames from their torches flickering in the dark. Then, one by one, each man took his turn with her. Purifying her, defiling her. No inch of flesh was spared as they stroked her, scratched her, licked her, bit her, fucked her.

Natalie let loose a wild cry as the climax overtook her, surging through her body and then subsiding far too quickly. She blinked. She’d never come like that before. It usually took ages and she could run through any number of elaborate scenarios in her head before her body finally reached its limit. But then, it had been a long time since she’d last had sex. Proper sex, that was – the kind that left you shaken and disorientated. She collapsed in the leaves and stared up at the moon as the pulses began to subside.

‘Is that it?’ she asked, feeling cheated.

‘Only if you want it to be.’

The deep voice made her freeze, her eyes wide and staring up into the night sky. Had she imagined it? She lay perfectly still, her ears attuned to the slightest sound. When the voice came again it was close enough to feel.

‘I won’t hurt you,’ it said with a chuckle, ‘unless you want me to.’

Instantly Natalie scrambled to her feet and covered her nakedness as a man emerged from the shadows behind the tallest Maiden.

‘Who the hell are you? How dare you spy on me? I thought I was alone!’

‘Obviously. But you do realise this is private property, don’t you? Technically you’re trespassing.’

She drew herself up defiantly. ‘Fine. Call the police. Let’s see what they think about a man who spies on women.’

‘Who said anything about calling the police?’ he asked with a good-natured laugh. ‘I’ve as much right to be here as you. Or not, as the case may be.’

As he drew nearer Natalie’s outrage faded. He was gorgeous. All he had on was a dressing gown of deep blue satin but it didn’t seem at all incongruous under the circumstances. Clearly he’d had the same idea she had.

The stranger’s eyes were dark and piercing and his features looked as though they’d been carved out of marble. Shoulder-length dark hair whipped around his aristocratic face and Natalie found herself wondering if the rest of him was as appealing.

As though reading her mind, he unfastened the sash of his robe and slipped it off his shoulders to display a well-toned and muscular physique. Her eyes flicked down below his waist, but his cock was hidden in shadow. Even so, she could see he was excited. He held the robe out to her.

‘It’s only fair,’ he said.

She took the robe and slipped it on. It was warm from his body and she tied it tightly, more to trap the musky heat against her skin than to cover herself. Then she crossed her arms with a grin as she stared brazenly at his nakedness. He raised his arms and obligingly performed a little turn for her and she drank in the sight of him.

‘Mmm, very nice,’ she said, noticing with pleasure that his cock was a little bigger. ‘Now let’s see you dance.’

He quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘Oh, I never dance. Alone.’

She blushed as he took a step towards her, his hands outstretched as if to reassure a frightened animal that might flee at any moment. But she had no intention of running away. She stood still as he reached her and gently untied the sash of the dressing gown. It fell open, exposing her once again to the chilly night. And his hungry eyes. Natalie felt transfixed by his gaze as he slipped the gown off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. He took her hands and led her back into the centre of the stone circle.

Natalie melted into his touch as he pressed himself against her and she felt her sex moisten in response to his hardness. Enfolding her in his arms, he began to gently sway from side to side, the kind of slow dancing that wasn’t really dancing at all. She slipped her arms around his waist, eyeing the altar stone over his shoulder. The wind lifted a corner of the blanket as though beckoning them. Natalie pressed herself against her companion, willing him to move in that direction.

But he was in control. Despite her hints he kept a firm hold on her and refused to be led. He glanced once at the altar and then back at her, shaking his head with a smile.

‘Don’t you want to …?’ she ventured at last in a husky voice.

He looked down into her face, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. ‘Oh yes. But don’t you think we should be as nature intended?’

She blinked in confusion but before she could speak he lifted her off her feet. He held her in his arms as though she weighed nothing at all and carried her to the edge of the clearing, where the overhanging trees had shed their leaves. He deposited her in the middle of the huge pile.

Natalie lay back in the bed of leaves, delighted at the surge of unfamiliar sensations. The leaves crackled and hissed beneath her, some damp and chill, others sharp and crisp. She felt them snagging in her hair and lightly scratching her bare limbs. They smelled like the forest, pungent and piny. She knew she would forever after associate the smell with sex.

She looked up at her mysterious companion and spread her legs wide for him. The moon bathed her flesh in ethereal blue light, making her feel like a creature from another world, someone for whom the normal rules didn’t apply.

‘Take me,’ she panted, reaching up for him.

Leaves crunched beneath him as he knelt above her. She felt the wet tip of his cock against her thigh and then he was angling her legs even further apart. She writhed, grinding her hips hungrily as he drew his fingers up along the insides of her thighs, lightly grazing her labia. His fingertips traced delicate circles over her shaved mound before moving on. He seemed determined to drive her mad with longing. He was teasing her, toying with her and clearly enjoying her lust.

Then he leaned down over her, blocking her view of the moon. His hands covered her breasts and she gasped as he slid his palms over the hard peaks of her nipples. The sensation was electrifying. She threw her arms out to each side and clutched fistfuls of leaves, tossing her head from side to side as he played with her.

At last he kissed her, but it was maddeningly tender. Aching with need, Natalie pushed up against him, urging him to bruise her with his lips. He obliged by forcing his mouth down harder on hers and plunging his tongue inside. She moaned deep in her throat, clutching his face and twining her hands in his long hair.

He pulled away and stroked her face. Natalie kissed his fingers, licking them and displaying her tongue’s agility as she sucked his thumb into her mouth and ran her tongue over and around it. When he finally withdrew it she nipped gently at his palm, salivating at the taste of his hot and salty skin, eager to devour every inch of him. And be devoured in return.

He trailed his fingers down the length of her body, pausing at intervals to caress and stroke her. He returned to her breasts, pinching her nipples and brushing them gently with his lips. His warm tongue flicked over them, moistening them and making them burn when he moved away, abandoning them once more to the cold air.

His hands resumed their exploration, stroking every inch of her exposed flesh, finally slipping down to the wet crease of her vulva. She drew in a long shuddering breath as she bucked her hips beneath him, desperate to feel him inside her. Just seeing him had been foreplay enough: she’d wanted him from the very first moment. And the thought that he’d been watching her when she’d thought she was alone made her shudder with helplessness and desire.

‘Please,’ she moaned.

He favoured her with an indulgent smile and angled himself into position. Her entire body was trembling with anticipation and she gasped as she finally felt the head of his cock demanding entry. She relaxed and he slid inside in one long exquisite thrust. With a primal cry she threw back her head, adjusting her position so he could go further, deeper. She wrapped her legs around him, hooking her feet together in the small of his back as though she could trap him there. Encircling her with his arms, he pressed his body into hers as he thrust himself in and out, filling her completely before withdrawing, only to fill her again.

Leaves rustled around Natalie’s head, distorting her gasps and sighs as he fucked her. She buried her hands in his hair, smoothing it away from his face so she could see his eyes. They burned with unrestrained lust. He had abandoned his languorous pace and was taking what he wanted as much as giving her what she demanded. Natalie had always liked her sex rough and frenzied and it excited her more to see that he was losing himself as much as she already had.

Without warning her companion rolled them over until Natalie was on top. Gazing down into his eyes she felt a kind of primitive freedom she had never experienced before. She sat up, impaled on his cock, and arched her back. The moon hung above them, heavy and red.

From somewhere in the woods an owl gave a high twittering call and some other, wilder, creature shrieked as if in response. The voices of the night. Natalie could imagine they were the voices of their Celtic ancestors calling to them across time. Perhaps their pagan blood was soaked into the very leaves they were lying on now.

She clasped his hands for balance and rode him, delighted to see him losing control along with her. He closed his eyes and moaned as she swivelled her hips against him. Her toes dug into the cool mud beneath the leaves, an unexpectedly erotic sensation. A sudden impulse struck her and she clawed away the leaves on either side of them, plunging her hands into the mud and smearing it over her lover’s chest. Surprise flickered in his face but then he followed suit, painting her breasts and belly with mud too.

Natalie grabbed another handful of mud and decorated his face. They might be Celtic warriors on the eve of battle, celebrating life before facing the threat of death. He followed her lead, drawing muddy fingers across the bridge of her nose and sketching spirals on her cheeks. Then he grinned and flipped her onto her back.

Laughing, Natalie flung a handful of mud at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. He pushed her down into the leaves and began to fuck her again, much harder this time. His chest pressed against hers, smearing her with more of the sweet cool mud. She adjusted herself so that each thrust made contact with her clit. She was already stimulated almost beyond endurance and she knew that would send her over the edge. In a frenzy of excitement, Natalie thrashed beneath him, digging her fingernails into his back and clawing deeply to make him hiss with pain and pleasure.

The fury of their passion forced Natalie deeper into the cushion of leaves until she could feel nothing but mud against her back. It squelched rudely as they fucked and she felt the crescendo of an orgasm. It caught her off guard, just as he had, and racked her body with spasms of ecstasy so intense it made her scream. She pressed her open mouth against his shoulder to stifle her cries as she surrendered herself to the shattering orgasm. Never before had she climaxed from sex alone and the feeling was as exquisite as it was alien.

The jolts of pleasure racked her body and she heard her companion gasp each time her sex contracted around him. Lights were still sparkling behind her eyes from her own climax when he suddenly gave a deep low groan as his body shuddered and she felt the hot jets of his seed inside her. She clung to him tightly, flexing the muscles of her sex to prolong her pleasure and enhance his.

At last they broke apart and collapsed into the leaves, limp and spent. Natalie stared at the silhouettes of the Six Maidens, all chastely averting their faces. She couldn’t believe what she’d just done. And with a complete stranger! The two of them were absolutely filthy. Covered in mud and leaves. The air was ripe with the musky scent of sex and Natalie was surprised to find that she already wanted more. She reached over to caress his dozing cock. To her delight, she felt it twitch in response. She suspected it wouldn’t be long before he could take her again. And again.

Then a sudden thought struck her and she sat up, glancing around nervously. ‘I hope no one heard us. They’d do us for public lewdness as well as trespassing.’

‘Oh, I doubt that,’ her companion said with a sly grin. ‘Besides, only one of us is trespassing.’

She blinked at him for several seconds before the realisation sank in. Then she blushed to the roots of her hair. ‘Oh my God,’ she moaned. ‘Private property. Of course. I had no idea.’

He regarded her with mock seriousness. ‘Well, perhaps I could be persuaded not to involve the authorities.’

Giggling, Natalie clambered to her knees and clasped her hands. ‘Oh please, sir, I’ll do anything to avoid going to jail!’

‘Anything? That does rather put you at my mercy, doesn’t it?’

‘I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.’

He smiled again, sexy and sinister. ‘I warn you – I can be a very demanding master.’

He stood up and Natalie felt her insides flutter with desire again at the sight of him. He gently pulled her to her feet and led her towards the altar stone. The candles had burned down to almost nothing, but the moon was still gloriously bright. It illuminated the blanket, making it look as though the altar was drenched in sacrificial blood.

‘Two goblets,’ he said. ‘How very thoughtful.’

He held them both out expectantly and Natalie obeyed the unspoken command, pouring a measure of wine into each one. They drank deeply and then he set both goblets down on the altar. Natalie trembled in anticipation. He took her by the arms and turned her around to face the stone. Then he gently pushed her down over it.

She closed her eyes as she stretched out along the length of the altar, grasping the edge of the red blanket and parting her legs to make herself an easier target. Soon she felt his cock pressing against her soft wetness and she whimpered as he entered her again. She was sore from their earlier exertions but that only seemed to enhance the pleasure.

This time he wasn’t gentle. Now that he knew what she wanted, he didn’t waste time with foreplay. He plunged himself in to the hilt, gripping her pelvic bones like handles as he pounded her ruthlessly. Natalie clung to the far edge of the altar under the gorgeous onslaught. The blanket did little to protect her mud-spattered breasts from the rough surface of the stone and the friction against her nipples quickly became a sweet torment. Once more her cries pierced the calm of the night as they discarded all propriety and gave themselves over to animalistic passion. She didn’t even know the man’s name or she would have screamed it into the trees.

Just as it hadn’t taken him long to recover, it didn’t take him long to come once more. And as he did he snaked his fingers around to her clit and teased it to madness again. She was hovering on the verge of another climax when she happened to glance up at the path that led into the clearing.

A group of night-time ramblers stood there, staring in open-mouthed horror at the sight of two muddy figures enacting what could only be some bizarre sexual ritual on the altar of the Six Maidens.

The soft laughter in her ear told her he’d seen them too. But he didn’t stop what he was doing. He pinched her clit between his fingers and Natalie arched her body upwards, sending a cry up into the heavens as she came. Some unseen creature answered her call and then the only sound was the crunch of dry leaves beneath the rapidly retreating boots of the hikers.

Her legs were incapable of holding her up and she wilted over the stone, where she lay spent and exhausted until she felt the chill of a goblet at her lips. She lifted her head and drank gratefully, then smiled up at her companion.

‘I’m Natalie, by the way.’

‘Pleased to meet you,’ he said. ‘My name’s Lucian.’

He helped her up and wrapped the blue robe around her shoulders. He blew out the candles one by one and collected her things, putting them in her rucksack while she watched. Then he crouched down and slipped her muddy feet back into her shoes.

She offered him a rueful smile as she recalled her words earlier that night. ‘So – is that it?’

He shook his head and flashed his wicked grin again. ‘Absolutely not. I’m taking you back to the house with me. I’ve got a shower big enough for two. And a very comfortable bed.’

Natalie slipped her arms around his waist and snuggled up close to him. ‘Yes, Master,’ she purred.

He shook his head as though he couldn’t believe his luck. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I never used to believe in magic. But my mate Rhiannon was right. These pagan rituals really do work.’