Sins of Sarah (17 page)

'You're pushing your luck,' he told her. 'Especially when that dressing gown is falling off like that!'

'Wasn't that the general idea? I feel much better now, James.'

'Come on, then, let's go and face them before we lose our courage!'

Cress, back from shopping, greeted them cheerfully, alternately encouraging Sarah and threatening James. 'I'm going to stay out here,' she told them. 'I'll pop in from time to time, and Alex will call me if you need me. Nick won't mind, and I have phone calls to make.' Anything she thought, rather than watch James make love to Sarah, even if they were acting.

'Are you OK?' Nick asked as Sarah sat on the bed to brush out her hair and check her make-up. She resisted the temptation to giggle, and put on a sober face. Aware of the crew, he bent and kissed her cheek lightly. 'It will soon be over, angel,' he comforted. 'Then we can really relax.'

'I still think we should make the crew all strip off as well.' She tried to joke as they took off their dressing gowns and tossed them to Cress, before settling themselves into position on the bed.

James began to laugh. 'Tam did that once. She got the entire crew down to their underpants, including the director, before she gave in. It wasn't a pretty sight, I assure you. Watch it though, guys, she might mean it!' He was turning it into a joke, thought Sarah gratefully, laughing with him as Lenny made last-minute adjustments to the camera, high above them on the tower. She was suddenly aware that the crew were all tactfully busying themselves with their equipment.

'I expect they have a bet on as to whether you're a natural blonde or not!' James whispered in her ear as he twisted a strand of her hair in his fingers. 'You're gorgeous, Sarah. Come on, relax - we'll show them. You could really make Nick squirm if you wanted to. Wind him up, sweetheart - he deserves it!' She began to shiver as he stroked her face gently. Nick was way above them on the tower, seemingly concentrating on his script, his glasses perched on the end of his nose. He didn't seem to care at all, she thought miserably.

'Tip your head back, Sarah,' he instructed, suddenly breaking into her thoughts, 'James, move your shoulder, you're blocking Sarah's key light.' And then they were both aware of the unusual gentleness in his voice.

It was easy while the camera and the operator were far above them. It was agony when they brought it down to floor-level, and it seemed to be only inches from them as James was poised over her. In terror, Sarah shut her eyes when she heard the familiar 'Speed', 'Mark it' and Nick's soft, 'Action' and she wanted to cry with embarrassment as James slid down her body, kissing her breasts, then her stomach, as Nick had instructed in rehearsal.

'Oh, come on, you two,' Nick pleaded. 'You can do better than that. She won't break, James!' 'Yes, I will!' murmured Sarah into James's ear and he quietly waved Nick away. 'Oh, God! Help me, James.' So concerned with Sarah was he, that James forgot to be nervous himself. Gently, he concentrated his energies on coaxing her to relax, and Nick made the crew wait until she seemed almost to unfold, stretching out against James.

Watching them. Nick thought bitterly how well their beautiful young bodies matched. He knew he was pushing them to the limits all the time, despite shortening the scene, and hated what he was putting them through. Never in his long career had Nick ever found himself in the position he was in now, helplessly watching Sarah naked in James's arms, physically feeling desperate enough to want to wrench her away from him, and knowing that he couldn't.

As the afternoon wore on, however, he began to be both amused at the sweat on Lcnny's brow and then unaccountably irritable as Sarah began to respond to James's expertly caressing hands. It became a kind of game between them - how far they could go before Nick blew up - and Sarah began to almost enjoy what James was doing, being drawn into the game despite herself.

Only when it got to the last close-up shot did they complain. They were hot and tired, their backs and legs ached, and they had both run the full gamut of cramp and pins and needles in their arms and legs. It was almost seven o'clock, and they'd both had it.

'I've never felt less like an orgasm in my life!' James groaned when Nick told them what he wanted. 'No disrespect, sweetheart.'

'Just do your best,' Nick cajoled. 'You'll feel a lot more like it here than trying to dub it on over the long shot in a sound studio!' Sarah reached for the glass of water that Alex held out for her and swallowed some gratefully. Laughingly, she dipped her fingers into it and smoothed them over James's forehead in an intimate gesture that made Nick furious, but it seemed to wake James up.

'He should've done this earlier,' he complained as they settled down again, waiting for Alex to rearrange the covers around them.

'Golly, I'd forgotten how heavy you are!' she exclaimed. The last couple of shots had been side by side.

James hugged her tighter. 'So soon,' he whispered back, 'I'll show you!'

'In your own time.' Nick sighed, watching them giggling together, ignoring him. The camera was almost on James's shoulder, tight on their faces, and Nick turned away to concentrate on the monitor behind it, signalling to Lenny to start the camera to hide his discomfort.

James pulled himself together, and Sarah struggled to bring Nick's lovemaking to the front of her mind for inspiration. As she twisted against James she could almost feel him, and James's body, astonishingly after such an exhausting afternoon, hardened against hers. She was so strung out, it seemed only a few seconds before she frightened them all - and herself- by giving a shuddering scream of pleasure, clutching James's head down to her, her fingers grasping into his hair. To his credit, though she had yanked incredibly hard on his hair, James just about managed to keep control and produce a creditable conclusion.

'OK, we got it,' Nick announced with a sigh of relief. 'Check the gate!' He watched with an aching jealousy as, locked together, James and Sarah fell back, their eyes closed as the crew tactfully melted away round them. Then he too turned away, and walked out of the room without a word.

They lay exhausted in each other's arms for long minutes, until James eased himself from her and slowly lifted her up as he realized they were alone. Almost loath to let go of him, Sarah let him wrap her in her dressing gown before he put his own on.

'It's all right,' he said. 'It's all over, sweetheart, and it's going to look great, I'm sure.' He sat down again on the bed and curved a hand around her neck, pulling her towards him. 'I really wanted you just now. If you knew how much control I had to exercise to keep from actually screwing you, I'd get a special Oscar for it! Apart from the fact that you pulled half my hair out, of course!'

Sarah leant her hot face against him. 'I really didn't mean that to happen. I just. . . well. . . sort of got carried away.'

'Really? Well, never mind, I enjoyed most of it! Thank goodness we had the blanket! It's the first time I've had a hard-on during a take!'

'I am sorry, James,' she said shamefacedly, suddenly thinking of Cress. 'I think we'd better forget it happened, don't you? Let's go and finish the champagne.' They walked slowly across to the Winnebago, breathing in the luxury of the fresh air after the hot smoky room.

Cress had made tea for them and they sat on the steps drinking it while she went to retrieve their costumes from the set.

'You shower first,' Sarah suggested. 'I just want to sit here and recover for a while.'

'There won't be a scrap of hot water left,' Cress warned as she came back. 'I've never known anyone who can stay in the shower as long as he can!' She sat on the grass in front of Sarah, smiling warmly at her. 'Are you feeling better now?'

'I'm fine, Cress, just glad it's over.' Sarah sighed. 'You and Nick were right. James was a great help.'

'I just wish I knew where I stood with him.' Cress looked unhappily across to the shower room door. 'I love him so much, Sarah.'

'I'm sure he feels the same about you,' Sarah comforted her.

'I wish I was as convinced! Oh, Nick said he would be back in a minute. He went to get the dogs, so you'd better try and get James out of the shower.'

'I'm out,' James announced. 'Stop maligning me, woman! We should have shared it, Sarah!' 'Don't push your luck, Willoughby.' Sarah winked at Cress and disappeared into the shower.

'Come and help me get dressed?' James suggested to Cress, when the door was safely shut.

'Dressed or undressed? In your dreams, buddy boy! I'm hungry. Get a move on.'

* * *

Despite the fact that they had been naked on a bed all afternoon, Sarah felt quite shy with James, and went into the dressing room to dress and make up, reappearing only as Nick came back with the two dogs at his heels.

Even though Cress and James were watching, and teasing, he swept Sarah into his arms without any hesitation.

'You were just sensational!' he told her. 'Poor old Lenny had a hard-on all afternoon - and he's a veteran!'

'He wasn't the only one!' James rejoined with a grin. 'Sorry, Cress, but it was the most frustrating afternoon I've ever had.'

'I'm delighted to hear it.' Nick looked down at Sarah. 'If you tell me you're starving, I'll strangle you!'

'What?' Cress queried, staring at Nick's obvious pleasure in the girl he was holding.

'Private joke!' he assured her. 'How about a steak at the pub? Mary tells me she has some half-decent claret in the cellar, and no one does a steak au poivre like she does.'

'Great!' James hunted around for his shoes. 'I definitely will admit to being hungry, and Cress certainly is. We'll drive down - if she brought my car back in one piece!'

'Oh, it's fine,' she assured him. 'I only got one parking ticket!'

'We are going.' Nick laughed cheerfully at James's howl of protest. 'The walk will do us good.' They cut through the woods and Nick threw sticks for the dogs as they walked. 'How the hell did you achieve that last shot?' he asked curiously, as he lifted her over a fallen branch, reluctant to let her go.

Sarah paused, then reached up to touch his mouth with her fingertip. 'I thought of you, making love to me the other night. It just happened then.'

'Oh, Sarah!' Nick ached for her as he held her. 'I think this is going to be the fastest meal on record. It's indecent the way I want you all the time.' Her dress, a short, slim denim, chosen for him, had buttons down the front, and he unfastened the top ones, sliding a palm under her left breast, lifting it free of the lacy bra to touch it with his lips. 'I wanted to kill James at times this afternoon,' he admitted, his voice heavy with desire.

'As you keep telling me. Nick, it was just a job,' Sarah reminded him sweetly. 'And thank God at last it's over!'

Reluctantly Nick refastened the buttons. 'If I hadn't had that damn dog with me, I would've stopped off at the hotel last night,' he said reflectively.

'After all you said about keeping this quiet?' she chided, then laughed as she saw Boots lift his leg against a tree. 'I see what Cress and James meant about your dog, he just can't pass a tree!'

'Boots sees every tree as a personal challenge.' Nick grinned. 'Wait till we walk back, after he's had a pint of beer.'

'Beer? You're joking!'

'Not about that! He's renowned for it in our local at home. Don't look at me - he's Diana's dog and she's spoilt him since the day she got him. He's supposed to be a hunting dog, but all he hunts are my shoes and the contents of the larder!'

'Surely he'll grow out of it?'

'He's five now, and he just gets worse. He and Hoover make a good pair - as daft as each other.' He caught Sarah's arm as he pointed out a rabbit the dogs had completely missed, crouched terrified and motionless in the bushes a few feet away from them. 'That shows how stupid they are!'

* * *

With the thought of Nick making love to her again Sarah had hoped that the meal would be a swift one. Somehow, though, it didn't turn out like that. James was in good form, as happy as Sarah that the afternoon was over, and Nick relaxed in his company, though he rarely took his eyes from Sarah during the entire meal.

He is in love with her. Cress realized, watching, and seeing Sarah's rapt expression as Nick and James discussed a film they had worked on together. Her heart went out to Sarah, knowing just what havoc Nick could wreak if he really got to her.

They both refused brandy when James offered it, Nick was clearly ready to go. 'I must go and see Alex and Dave for a minute,' Sarah cried gaily as Nick insisted on paying for the meal, and left them to run over to the bar where the two men were drinking.

'She's a real cracker!' exclaimed James with a wicked smile at Nick. 'Are you going to walk her back to her car, or shall we take her?'

'I'll do it.' Nick said firmly. 'And stop looking so po-faced, Cressida, it's far too late for that! You worry about James behaving instead.' He went to retrieve the dogs from the pub yard, and was frowning slightly when he met them at the door. 'Did you see the guy talking to Dave and Alex as you came through the bar by any chance?' he asked James, puzzled.

James looked back to check. 'Didn't particularly, but now you mention it he does look familiar.'

'My thoughts exactly, but I can't place him.'

'It'll come to you - at the wrong moment,' James laughed, and opened the car door for Cress. 'Bye, now. Sweet dreams!'