Chapter 7

His attempts to find the mansion were frustrated at every turn. The neighborhood's streets formed a maze of circles and cul-de- sacs hidden from one another by dense but impeccably groomed landscaping. Each time he made a wrong turn and she showed him the way, he wondered how often she had found it on her own. In the dark, each private entrance looked alike, until they came face to face with the twisted bars of his imposing iron gate and the familiar glass eye of the camera, peering down at them like a mechanical cyclops atop the towering stone pilaster.

As they waited, he turned to her, only to find her staring once again through the ominous gate into the night on the other side. She wore her hair up in a more formal style, revealing tantalizing glimpses of supple neck and glittering diamonds decorating each ear. She was a vision, but not one of his own making.

He remembered her gasp when she opened package, and how its contents overflowed its edges, as though it had suddenly taken its own deep breath, increasing its volume to double the box's capacity. The material was black as night, and reflected the light as though it was partly metallic. When she lifted it from the box and held it up in front of her, it unfolded slowly, its weight surprisingly light in her small hands. She dressed herself in private, and he was more than satisfied to let her do it. It was his turn to gasp when she appeared from their bedroom, wrapped in the elegant gift from her enigmatic lover.

The material fit her midsection as tightly as a corset, softening to cup her breasts in two delicate pouches that barely covered the tops her nipples. Four gold catches secured the middle about her like a second skin. From hips to floor, the dress expanded in a series of large horizontal scalloped pleats that trailed slightly behind her as she walked. It opened down the front in a inverted V, gathered just below her belly, widening two feet or more by the time it reached the floor. When she walked, the cascades of pleats opened wider to reveal her legs, from black heels to the very tops of her bare thighs. The contrast of one slender ivory leg after another, slim thighs flexing, thrust through the opening as she took step after step framed by the dark flowing fabric, was startling, even to her husband of so many years.

'My God - she could have any man.'

And then, just at that moment, she had smiled at him, as though she could read his every thought.

Now they sat in silence as the gate opened once again and the car slipped through it, winding forward into the night. She sat taller in her seat as they approached the house, her shoulders squared, breasts thrust forward, heaving against the dress with each slow, deep breath. She leaned forward slightly as though she was drawn to their destination by the same powerful force that equally repelled her husband.

When the engine died she looked at him with love and pity.

"The things you must be thinking about me... and yet you bring me here, again. You must love me more than I ever imagined."

She leaned toward him, circling him with her bare, slender arms, and kissed him deeply. Pressing closer, she dropped a hand to his lap, exploring between his legs as the kiss became more frenzied. And then, just as she felt his erection begin to grow, she stopped and pulled away, looking lovingly into his eyes once again as she straightened a few strands of hair that had come undone.