Quintin Jardine - Fallen Gods

Afterwards, they lay there, side by side once more while their breathing softened, and their hearts slowed. "Wow," she whispered.

"Did you rob a sperm bank? I thought you were never going to stop."

"Nah," he chuckled. "I've just been saving it for a special occasion."

"That sure of yourself, uh?"

"I wouldn't say that, but ever since I saw you at the Walkers' last weekend, and after I heard how things were with you and your husband, I've just had a feeling that this was going to happen. Don't tell me that you haven't."

She touched his face. "No, I won't. It was no more than a twitch in my pants at first, but after our date alone on Monday, I knew it too.

And today, after we got back from the cabin, I didn't want to, I couldn't, wait any longer."

"For which I am eternally thankful."

They lay in silence, for a while, until eventually a great hand slid up and cupped a heavy breast.

"I won't ask you whether you'll go back," he said softly. But what if he comes for you? Am I going to have to fight him for you, d' you reckon?"

"No way," she answered. "Even if I decided that I wanted to be with you for good, I wouldn't let you anywhere near him."

He grinned. "Of course you wouldn't. I forgot; that was a damn silly thing to ask, him with heart trouble and all, not to mention me having ten years and more on him, and a great chunk of weight. I promise, even if he comes at me, I won't hurt him."

Sarah propped herself up on an elbow, and looked down at him, unsmiling. "You don't get it, do you? For a start, Bob doesn't have heart trouble, not as you mean it. He has an inherited condition which would probably have passed over in time, but which has been treated, as a precaution, by the fitting of a pacemaker. Physically, there's nothing else wrong with him; as a matter of fact, for his age, he's fitter than anyone I've ever seen. All else aside, he's at least as fit as you.

"No, my darling, I won't tell Bob about you, even if I decide that he and I are split for good, not for his safety, but for yours."

"Uhh?" Incredulous, he looked at her, and then he laughed. She put a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Ron," she said, 'you may be a professional athlete, and you may be as big as you are, but my husband could take you apart, piece by piece."

Hurt pride showed on his face. "You what? You think I can't look after myself?"

"I know you can, on the football field, but this is not a game, and Bob does not play. He is trained, and he's trained himself, to fight for his life, if necessary. There was a time, a few years ago, when he had to, against a real killer, a monster, a man who was far bigger even than you. When the cavalry got there, the guy was unconscious; he didn't come round until he was in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Believe me, taking Bob on would be a career-ending move. Your only chance would be to hit him on the pacemaker, but I don't think you'd get near it."

He raised an eyebrow. "So by getting into the sack with me, you're putting my life at risk?"

She smiled, and shook her head. "No, because he's not going to find out. The only person who would tell him would be you, and I hope I've persuaded you not to be that stupid."

"What about Babs Walker?"

"She's certainly not going to find out."

"She put us back together, remember."

"Then I'll make sure that she and Bob never meet again."

"What if he asks you straight out if you've been a good girl?"

"That presupposes I'm going back to him, which is far from certain. But even if I do, he won't. Bob and I have been married for a while, but he doesn't really know anything about my sexual feelings. Even when we had our first split, he accepted that I had my fling to get even for his… because that's what I told him. It wasn't entirely true; maybe about ten per cent, but that's all. It happened because I met someone who turned me on, just as you do, lover."

"And have there been others?" he asked, huskily.

She slapped him lightly on the chest. "No, there have not!" She smiled. "Do you think I'm that easy?

"Sure, between you and me ending, and my meeting Bob, I had relationships. I was even engaged, briefly, in New York. Ron, I enjoy sex. It's always been a part of my adult life and it always will be. I try to be good at it too."

"You succeed."

"I wasn't fishing for that, but thank you anyway, kind sir. No, I've always taken the view that if you ain't both getting the most from it, you might as well both be doing it alone." She grinned again. "I have to say that this is not a unanimous view among men… present company and my husband excepted, of course. My first fiance, gorgeous boy though he was, was a sad example of horizontal single-mindedness.

"Anyway, to answer the question I think you asked, since I've been married, my infidelities have been limited to you and the other guy I mentioned. But even if there had been others… and I'll admit that there's one guy in Bob's force with whom I came close. He still starts my juices flowing whenever I look at him…" She paused. "Why is it only married men," she asked, 'that society allows to put themselves about? Why should their infidelities be taken as excusable, while a woman is seen as a whore for following the same urges? I wanted to have great sex with you, Ron; that's why I called Trish tonight and spun her a story. And great sex we have had."

His face seemed to darken. "So love doesn't come into it," he murmured.

"Oh, don't take it that way; it does in your case. I loved you in our college days, and even now there are things about you that I love. I couldn't sleep with you if there weren't. I really am not like that."

"And Bob?"

"Oh yes, I love him; don't think otherwise, not for a second, even though I'm here with you now. He has his imperfections. He's been unfaithful too, a couple of times; he's a driven man, and he's got a hell of a temper. He has something else though, something I can't put into words, that transcends all that, and it's what's tied me to him through everything. From the moment I met him he pushed all my buttons at once, without even knowing it.

"But now, he's putting his career before me and before his family.

That's something I could never do, and that's what I'm having big trouble dealing with. I'm angry, I feel alienated, and that in part.. although I doubt it would have happened with anyone else but you… is what's brought me into your bed, in your house.

"Bob could retire now, justifiably and honourably, given all the things he's done. Financially, he and I, and our children, are well fixed for life after my inheritance, and even in his own right he's comfortably off. I wanted him to quit; maybe, just maybe, without this trouble he's had I might have persuaded him. But the fact that he's been told that he may have to retire… that's what's made him explode. That's why he's gone back to Scotland. He's gone to confront the people who think they can tell Bob Skinner what he can and can't do. I feel sorry for them; they don't know what they've turned loose."

"What do you mean?"

Sarah frowned. "There's a dark side to him. I've told you how tough he is, but it's more than that. If he's under threat, or if those close to him are, then God help the people who are doing the threatening."

"Are you afraid of him?"

"No."

"Not even if he found out about you and me?"

"No."

"But you're afraid for me?"

"I'm afraid he'd beat the crap out of you. Look, if the roles were reversed, if you and I were married and I was sleeping with Bob and you found out, wouldn't you react like that?"

"I suppose," Ron conceded. "Standard caveman behaviour."

"Well, he's better at it than you, that's all."

He grinned, then moved a hand towards her. "And are there things I'm better at than him?" he asked.