Deborah's Discovery Read online

  Pavin caught her glance. ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart,’ he boomed. ‘We don’t use this room every night. There’s a cosy little dining room in the new wing, and we sometimes even have barbecues in the cove.’

  ‘Only then we don’t bother dressing for dinner,’ said Brian softly. He was sitting on Deborah’s right and she turned to him, seeing once more the glint of sharp intelligence in his narrow pale face.

  ‘I’m Martin,’ said the man on her left, and she was quite relieved to hear another English accent. ‘Sorry we missed your arrival. Celia and I were using the games room.’

  ‘What were you playing?’ asked Deborah.

  Brian gave a laugh. ‘Yes, do tell us Martin, what were you and Celia playing? She certainly looks well after it whatever it was!’

  The blond-haired Englishman ignored Brian and glanced down the table to where his wife, a small, rather sullen-looking girl wearing a low-cut dress of sapphire blue, was sitting next to Paul Woolcott. ‘Don’t take any notice of Brian, he just likes to cause trouble. I’m afraid Celia’s not in a very good mood today. Too much wine last night.’

  ‘Wine was it?’ put in Brian.

  ‘So tell me,’ continued Martin smoothly. ‘How did you and Pavin come to meet? He certainly seems to have learnt the secret of discovering leggy blonde beauties wherever he goes.’

  As Deborah began to explain about the party where they’d first met and the misunderstanding about Pavin’s work, Pavin watched her like a hawk from his end of the table. Although she was talking mostly to Martin he could tell that she was very aware of Brian, and that pleased him. Brian was his right-hand man, and Angela’s inability to get on with him during their holiday had contributed to their divorce.

  After a while, certain that Deborah was quite content, Pavin turned his attention to Brian’s wife Elizabeth, or Lizzie as her husband always called her. She was the perfect wife for a man like Brian, but not really to Pavin’s taste although he’d had a great deal of pleasure from her during their last group holiday.

  The food was excellent, the wines superb and when the maids arrived to clear the plates, Pavin stood up and moved towards the door. ‘Coffee in the library I think. We can play a game of cards or something in there. It’s much more comfortable than here.’

  Tansy Woolcott glanced at Celia Craig and their eyes both held the same unspoken question. What would Deborah do once the games began?

  The library turned out to be in the east wing, having been added on to the original ruined building. Although the same style had been maintained, Deborah found the room far more relaxing with its high, book-lined walls, comfortable tapestry-covered sofas and chairs, and watercolour paintings. It was also warm, with wall-to-wall carpeting and in the huge fireplace a log fire burnt.

  ‘Even in summer there’s a chill at night,’ explained Pavin gesturing towards the fireplace. ‘I don’t have the central heating on in June, but anyway this is more homely don’t you think?’

  Deborah laughed. ‘I think your definition of homely and mine are rather different!’

  Silver coffee pots and thin, bone china cups were already in the room and Flora Stewart quickly bustled round pouring it for everyone. Her dress was black, shot through with red and silver threads, resting just above her knee in length and with puffed cap sleeves, while a sparkling diamond necklace hung in the deep V of her exposed tanned flesh.

  ‘What’s it to be then?’ asked Paul Woolcott, prompted by Tansy. ‘Strip poker?’

  They all looked at Deborah, who was perched on the arm of Pavin’s chair as he absent-mindedly stroked the flesh through one of the keyholes over her left hip. She laughed. ‘Sorry, I’ll have to pass. I can’t play poker.’

  ‘Pity,’ said Brian shortly. ‘Well, we can’t leave you out on the first night. How about that new board game that Paul designed last year?’

  Pavin nodded approvingly. ‘Sounds good to me. Don’t worry, Debbie, it’s easy. I’ll help you as we go along.’

  ‘What’s it called?’ asked Deborah, who hadn’t expected to find herself playing some kind of advanced Trivial Pursuits on her first evening.

  ‘Fines and Favours,’ laughed Flora. ‘It’s an adult board game.’

  ‘I hope I’m up to it,’ said Deborah.

  ‘We’re the ones who have to worry about that!’ laughed Pavin, but Deborah wasn’t sure why the others found the remark so funny.

  As two of the tables were pushed together and the board game set up, Pavin explained the rules to Deborah who nestled up close to him on the carpet. ‘It’s really a friendship game,’ he told her. ‘We all start out on our own, and when we meet someone new on a party, dinner or blind date square we have to draw a card from the pack. The cards are either forfeits or favours. You choose your friend before drawing the card, and they either do you a favour or choose a forfeit for you. Once that’s been accomplished to the satisfaction of everyone playing then the pair of you are “friends”. The idea is that the game finishes when everyone is part of one big group, rather like us here on the island.’

  ‘What do you mean by “do you a favour”?’ asked Deborah.

  ‘Why don’t we start, and then you’ll see,’ said Martin briskly.

  ‘Great!’ enthused Pavin. ‘Let play commence.’

  At first the game seemed quite boring to Deborah. She moved her counter when it was her turn, gained a sports car and a penthouse suite, lost her job – rather to Pavin’s amusement – but didn’t go to any parties or dinners or have a blind date.

  Then, on his fourth throw, Brian landed on a party square. A strange tension gripped the group, and when Deborah looked around she realised that everyone was watching her. ‘I choose Flora as the girl I meet,’ said Brian slowly. Flora didn’t look particularly thrilled, but she held out the pack of cards and watched as Paul drew one out. ‘A favour! Right, let me think. Flora, I want you to take off Lizzie’s blouse as a favour to me.’

  Deborah couldn’t believe she’d heard him correctly, and then decided it must be his idea of a joke. She looked up at Pavin, but he was watching Flora, his eyes sharp. ‘Is Brian serious?’ she whispered.

  He looked down at her. ‘Sure, honey. I told you it was an adult game.’

  ‘But …’

  ‘But what?’ he asked softly.

  ‘I couldn’t do anything like that. I mean, they’re all strangers!’

  ‘I told you it was a friendship game. The idea is that after this they’re not strangers anymore. Sssh now, let’s see how Flora does.’

  Flora walked round the outside of the sitting group until she was standing behind Elizabeth, who slowly turned to face the other woman and then held out her hands so that Flora could pull her to her feet.

  Brian’s eyes were alight with excitement as Flora, her fingers shaking a little, began to unfasten the tiny pearl buttons that ran down the frilled front of his wife’s cream satin blouse. She did it very slowly, and as the blouse opened she folded it back so that Elizabeth’s breasts, unfettered by any bra, were gradually exposed to the silent watchers.

  When all the buttons were undone, Flora ran her hands up the outsides of the sleeves and then slipped the garment off Elizabeth’s shoulders leaving her upper body entirely bare. Deborah couldn’t hold back her gasp of astonishment, for hanging from Elizabeth’s small but rigid nipples were two tiny rings. Flora’s hand reached towards one of them.

  ‘No!’ said Pavin sharply. ‘You were only asked to remove the blouse.’

  Flora flushed and lowered her eyes, obviously distressed by Pavin’s displeasure.

  ‘I don’t think that can count,’ drawled Brian. ‘Pity, but you screwed up there in your enthusiasm, Flora. Looks as though I’m still on my own.’

  There were murmurs of agreement from the group and as Elizabeth sat down topless, Tansy threw a five that meant she landed on a candlelit dinner for two square. She turned to her husband. ‘I choose you as my dinner companion.’ Her card was a forfeit and this amused her husband.


  ‘Right Tansy, your forfeit is, you’ve got to get Pavin erect without touching him with your mouth or your hands.’

  Deborah started to get to her feet but Pavin’s hands pushed against her shoulders. ‘Stay where you are. Just relax and enjoy yourself. It’s only a game.’

  ‘I don’t want to watch her with you,’ retorted Deborah, but deep down there was a part of her that did. She wanted to see how another woman would arouse this man without using either hands or mouth, but she didn’t want to think of him wanting anyone in the room but her. In the end she remained seated, her face warm with conflicting sexual emotions.

  Pavin smiled at Tansy and stood up. ‘Where do you want me, sweetheart?’

  Tansy considered for a moment. ‘Sitting on the big chair there. I take it he’s allowed to unzip himself?’ she added to her husband. Paul nodded. ‘Sure, it’s just your hands that can’t move!’

  After Pavin had unzipped himself and settled in the chair, Tansy slowly began a sensuous striptease. In the flickering light from the fire her full figure gleamed and her surprisingly large, firm breasts remained upright as she bent to peel off her stockings.

  ‘Your plastic surgeon did a good job!’ laughed Brian, and Tansy shot him a look of annoyance before returning her attention to Pavin. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, and when Tansy lay full length on the carpet at his feet, her rounded body totally naked, and extended one shapely leg until her foot was between his thighs he let his head fall back slightly to savour the sensation.

  As Tansy worked her foot along the seam of his trousers, Deborah remembered the scene in the restaurant when Pavin had pleasured her with his toe and she knew just the kind of sensations he was experiencing. Then, as his erection slowly emerged from the opening in his trousers, Tansy got onto her knees and bent her head so that her long curly hair could brush against the sensitive tip of his penis and all the time she wriggled her body between his large, muscular thighs so that whenever she looked up he could see her ripe, aroused breasts.

  Within a very short space of time, Pavin was undoubtedly fully erect, and when a tiny tell-tale drop of clear fluid appeared at the end, Tansy stopped and turned to face the rest of the group. ‘Is that enough?’ she asked sweetly. Everyone except Deborah clapped her and it was agreed that she and Paul were now ‘friends’.

  After that the game quickly gathered pace, but for quite a time Deborah escaped attention until Richard, Pavin’s tall personal assistant, landed on a party square and chose her. His card was a favour and she waited nervously to see what he’d ask.

  ‘As it’s your first time here I’ll make this simple,’ he said reassuringly, and she relaxed slightly. ‘Just take off your dress, that will do fine.’ He glanced at Pavin as he spoke and both men smiled.

  Deborah’s whole body went stiff with shock. Now she knew why Pavin had insisted that she left off her underwear. He’d guessed that something like this would happen and wanted her to have as little on as possible. She turned to him helplessly. ‘I can’t!’ she muttered.

  ‘Come on, Debbie,’ urged Celia, her previously sullen expression lifting. ‘It isn’t much to ask and then you’re in.’

  ‘Mind you, you can still get used in forfeits,’ Brian reminded her, but Deborah wasn’t bothered about the future, only this moment in time.

  ‘Don’t spoil the game, honey,’ said Pavin, running a hand through her hair and letting his fingers lightly massage her scalp. ‘Be good and we’ll have a nice time later on.’

  Deborah knew very well it was the moment of no return. If she didn’t join in then she wasn’t going to fit in. She might remain on the island, although somehow she doubted it, but she certainly wasn’t going to be a part of what Pavin called his family group. The old Debbie, the one who’d held down a good job in publishing and looked after Mick for so long, would never have played the game, but she reminded herself that she was a new Debbie now and the whole point of the holiday was to have a change.

  After all, no one outside the group would ever know and once she returned to London she’d probably never see any of them again, so what did it matter? Besides, a part of her that she’d never known existed before wanted to show off her figure, which she knew was good and would be admired by most of the men present.

  ‘All right,’ she said decisively, and she heard Pavin let out a slow breath of relief. Before she could change her mind she was on her feet, and deftly unfastening the hook and eye at the back of her collar she shrugged off the dress, which fell in a pool of silk at her feet. She then stepped out of it wearing just her cream high-heeled sandals and the white, lace-topped hold-up silk stockings.

  She heard one or two swift intakes of breath and then Richard clapped softly. ‘Well done, Deborah! Welcome to the group.’

  ‘He means the games group,’ said Flora coolly.

  ‘How do you know what he means, Flora?’ enquired Brian. ‘Are you as close to Richard as you are to Pavin?’

  ‘Pavin’s my boss when we’re at work, Richard works with me,’ Flora retorted. ‘I think I know both of them pretty well.’

  ‘We all know you do!’ gurgled Tansy.

  Pavin, who could hardly take his eyes from Deborah, frowned. ‘Can we get on with the game, please. You can sit down now, darling. If you don’t you’ll distract me so much I won’t be able to play!’

  At first Deborah felt extremely uncomfortable, sitting virtually naked on the floor between Pavin and Elizabeth, but since no one else was fully clothed now except Pavin she supposed it didn’t matter too much and she even made sure to sit straight-backed to show off her breasts to their full advantage.

  The very last person to gain entry to the whole group turned out to be Elizabeth. When she finally landed on a blind date square she chose Pavin and then drew a forfeit card.

  She stood before the American, dressed only in French knickers and high heels and her body trembled from head to toe as she waited to hear what forfeit he’d decide upon. Deborah glanced up at her lover, wondering why Elizabeth seemed nervous, but the look on his face startled her. It was so calculating, as though he was trying to work out something far more complicated than just a piece of sexual frivolity for the doe-eyed girl waiting almost submissively in front of him.

  ‘I hoped you’d choose me, Elizabeth,’ he said at last. ‘After our last holiday I think you should forfeit the privilege of hiding the one piece of jewellery you’ve kept from us this evening.’

  Deborah saw Elizabeth swallow. Her slim neck went taut and she threw a glance at her husband. Brian seemed composed enough but his eyes were narrowed and he was watching Pavin closely.

  ‘Come on,’ Pavin urged her. ‘We’re all waiting. Do you want me to remove the panties myself?’

  It looked as though he’d have to because Elizabeth was standing frozen in front of him while everyone else in the room watched with bright eyes and flushed faces so that Deborah realised there must be more to this request than she’d thought.

  When Pavin stood up as well he towered over the waiting girl and she seemed almost like a child compared to him, although Deborah guessed that she was about twenty-two or three. For a long moment he paused, and then he thrust his thumbs into the sides of her French knickers and jerked them sharply down her legs, lifting one foot out after the other with unusual roughness.

  Elizabeth didn’t seem to mind, in fact Deborah could see that her nipples were swiftly becoming erect and her breathing quickening as Pavin roughly spread her feet wider apart on the carpet and then turned her back to face the rest of them.

  Hanging down between her legs was another gold ring, like the ones through each of her nipples, but this one was clearly attached to her clitoris. Deborah shivered at the thought of what it must have felt like to have it inserted.

  ‘Pretty isn’t it?’ Pavin remarked to them all, and then he was on his knees in front of the girl and very carefully he hooked the little finger of his left hand through the ring, resting it against the bottom of the circle. />
  Elizabeth’s legs began to shake, her nipple rings moved gently as her breasts swelled and her eyes were enormous in her face. There wasn’t a sound in the room as they all waited.

  Deborah realised that the clitoral ring was moving, slowly descending as Elizabeth’s clitoris expanded with sexual arousal simply because Pavin had his finger resting inside the ring and could pull on it at any time. Her breathing began to rasp in her throat and still he waited, his eyes fixed upon her face, and then he curled his little finger tightly round the slim gold hoop and tugged.

  Elizabeth’s whole body jolted. Her mouth opened and her abdomen went rigid as the pain that Deborah knew she must be feeling seared through her. But she didn’t look like a woman in pain, she looked like a woman in the grip of ecstasy. Pavin released the ring. ‘That’s all, Elizabeth. I just wanted them to see the ring.’

  Elizabeth’s eyes snapped open and she stared down at him in shocked bewilderment, obviously devastated that he was stopping at this point. ‘You stay standing there,’ added Pavin, ‘I’ll just sit down with the others and have a good look at your unusual wedding ring.’

  They all continued to stare at Elizabeth’s fine-boned tense body, especially Brian who looked as though he too was enjoying himself more than at any other time that evening. When she finally realised that Pavin was serious, and that he had no intention of touching her again, Elizabeth’s legs went stiff and then her whole body was suffused with shudders as her muscles twitched and jumped in a tiny climax that totally baffled Deborah.

  ‘Why did she come?’ she whispered to Pavin.

  ‘She gets off on pain and cruelty, Debbie; both mental and physical. I guess I judged the mental cruelty about right by leaving her alone when I did. She certainly seems to have enjoyed it. More of a favour than a forfeit in the end!’

  Deborah turned her face into his shoulder. The game was over and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to take part in any more. These people were clearly going to lead her into a new world where she might discover more about herself than she cared to know.