Naomi McElroy - Blackmailed Sister-in-law

Mike McBride was driven to adultery by his inability to satisfy his lustful appetite with his wife. Even though he loved her, he craved certain acts which she absolutely refused to participate in. But then, activating his desires on others only made him crave his wife more. It was she he wanted to do these things to. What Mike didn't know was that his wife had been involved in lascivious behavior before they met. Would he find out? Only if she didn't pay the blackmailer.

When Sarah McBride saw the postman come up the walkway, she had no premonition that her safe, contented little world was about to collapse at her feet. Despite the bleak February skies, the dark-haired young woman's spirits were sunny that fateful morning. Humming a carefree tune, Sarah dried her hands on the kitchen towel and went to get the day's mail. The voluptuous brunette felt only mild curiosity when she saw the envelope addressed to Mrs. Sarah McBride. Probably just some ad, she thought, placing the rest of the mail on top of the television set.

It wasn't until she tore open the envelope, and its contents spilled out, that a horrified gasp escaped her throat. Sarah's hand flew to her mouth and her face flushed crimson. Her heart hammered like that of a captive bird as she clutched the letter with trembling hands.

DO YOU WANT YOUR HUSBAND TO SEE THESE? the scrawled message read. THINK ABOUT IT, SWEET SARAH. BECAUSE YOU'LL SOON BE HEARING FROM ME AGAIN!

A strangled sob tore from her throat as she bent to retrieve the photographs that had fallen to the floor. Pictures Sarah had hoped, desperately, that she would never see again, that she had tried to shove into some dark and distant corner of her mind. Still, there had always been that nagging fear that someday, they would turn up again to threaten her happiness. As Sarah lifted the lurid photos, her hands trembled, for she knew that that dreaded someday had arrived! The sordid past she had tried to escape had finally caught up with her, threatening to rob her of all that she held so dear. Her beloved husband Mike and their precious daughter Jill.

Mike loved Sarah, trusted her, held her on a pedestal. «My sweet Sarah,» he often whispered as he held her close. «I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have a wonderful wife like you!»

Every time Mike uttered those words, Sarah felt a wave of guilt ripple through her, for she was not as sweet and innocent as her husband imagined. And the tall, shapely brunette whispered a silent prayer that her past would remain buried. She feared that Mike would be hopelessly disillusioned if he ever learned the ugly truth, that the wife he held in such high esteem had posed for pornographic photos before they were married! Sarah had agonized countless times over the possibility of Mike's discovery of her sordid past, wondering what would happen if that fearful day should ever arrive. And she always came up with the same frightening answer.

«He'll divorce me,» she whispered to the empty room, her hand clutching her constricted throat. «And take my darling Jill away from me, declare me an unfit mother!» The mere thought of that occurring made Sarah's lips tremble and her green eyes fill with tears. She loved her husband and daughter with all her heart. They were Sarah's whole world now. They had completely filled the emptiness that had settled after her mother's death five years before. Sarah had not really begun to live until she met Mike. The four years of their marriage, despite its problems, had been the happiest Sarah had ever known. And little Jill was the precious living product of their love. The twenty-three-year- old felt her heart wrench with pain as she clutched the anonymous letter in her shaking hand, for she could not bear to lose either one of them.

Who could have sent the letter? she wondered, her mouth dry as she stared at the lewd poses she had participated in before she met Mike. Who had finally unveiled the ugly truth about her, unearthed the dark secret that Sarah had tried, all these years, to keep hidden? That she had needed money so desperately during the final months of her mother's lengthy illness, that she had reluctantly agreed to perform lewd sex acts in front of a camera.

Sarah had not wanted to resort to pornographic modeling, but she had no other choice. Her modest secretarial salary just would not stretch to cover the skyrocketing bills resulting from her mother's illness. When she had tried out for fashion modeling, tall and curvaceous Sarah was told that she was not at all suitable for modeling clothes, for her eye-catching figure was far too voluptuous.

Not long afterward, Sarah saw the newspaper advertisement for a photographer's model. MUST BE ATTRACTIVE AND HAVE GOOD FIGURE, the ad stated. Sarah answered the ad eagerfy. When she heard how well the job paid, her spirits soared. Especially when the photographer assured her that she was perfect for the type of modeling he needed. The new medicine that the doctor had prescribed for her mother's pain was so expensive that Sarah worried about how she was going to manage to have it refilled. There were no other relatives to turn to for financial assistance, and her mother was solely dependent on Sarah. Landing this lucrative modeling job was the perfect answer to her financial problems.

It was not until she actually showed up for her first session before the camera, that Sarah discovered just what type of modeling the job entailed. At first, she was tempted to walk out and never return. The things she was expected to do made her cheeks flush crimson. Then she remembered, with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, that she had just received another lofty medical bill the day before for laboratory tests her mother had required. To add to her problems, she was almost out of the expensive pain-killing drug that her mother needed to lessen the agony of the dreaded killer disease ravishing her wasted body. And Sarah knew, with a heavy feeling of resignation, that she had no choice in the matter. She needed money desperately and this was the only way she could get it. I'll do it for mother, she told herself as she started to remove her clothing. And no one need ever know!

That had been five years ago. Death had claimed her mother just a few months after Sarah had begun her secret, part-time modeling. When her mother died, Sarah quit her extra job immediately. With her mother's insurance money, she was able to clear up the remainder of the staggering medical bills. Trying to put what she had done out of necessity out of her mind, Sarah never stepped in front of the camera again. She was not proud of what she had done, but Sarah knew that it had been unavoidable. She would do it again, if she had the opportunity to go backward in time, because she received some small comfort from the knowledge that her beloved mother had suffered far less because of the money Sarah had earned from her secret and sordid job. It's all in the past now, Sarah tried to tell herself, as she concentrated solely on her secretarial position. And no one need ever know!

Six months later, she had met Mike McBride and he more than compensated for the unhappiness she'd known during the trying time of her mother's terminal illness. After a whirlwind courtship, they became husband and wife. Now, after caring for her mother for so long, Sarah finally had someone to look after her. Six years her senior, Mike treated her as though she were made of spun glass. He proved to be everything a woman could ask for in a husband. Well, almost everything.

The only quality really missing from their relationship was sexual fulfillment. Although Sarah found her two-hundred-pound, six-foot husband extremely attractive, something was definitely lacking in their marriage bed. Mike was a gentle, considerate lover, but not very demanding or adventuresome. He treated Sarah like some fragile china doll, and somehow Sarah longed for more. Although she hated herself for her lustful thoughts, the pretty brunette found herself thinking, longingly, about some of the lewd sexual activities she'd engaged in during her brief, secret modeling career. The men who were her partners had been strangers to her, but still, Sarah recalled with ripples of both excitement and shame, she had responded to their touch. She had been instructed to portray pleasure in front of the camera and Sarah did as she was told. Only she knew that the response she displayed was often genuine, that she secretly enjoyed the lustful acts she was performing for money.