Read Online Nantucket by Harrison Young - Free Book Online Page A

No make-up. Fancy restaurant. The paparazzi spotted me. Next morning one of the tabloids had a spread, claiming this was the newest fashion trend. And, here’s what’s awful: I looked really good.”
    â€œI’m not sure you have a complaint, my lady.”
    â€œLet me continue. Along with my looks, I have an enormous sex drive. I want it twice a day, really.”
    â€œLucky Shiva.”
    â€œLucky you, if you’d just cooperate. I like sleeping with Shiva’s professional advisers – which I take it is what you’re trying to be. I go after you lawyer and banker chappies because you have a strong interest in keeping the liaison a secret. In case you’re interested.” They walked on in silence for a bit. “Also, it’s a way of disrespecting him, fucking his servants. And meaning no disrespect to you, sweet Andrew.” It occurred to Andrew that he was safe, at least for now. The intoxication had waned. She was crazy.
    â€œShiva is perverse,” she continued. “He thinks I desire him. He likes thinking that. He maintains it intensifies his pleasure to have me less often than I’d like. He’s told me all this. ‘A beautiful wife is a treasure,’ he says. ‘A wife overflowing with desire is a magical possession.’ He thinks that my being horny makes him smarter. He wants me to be Miranda at the start of the play. That’s why he goes on about The Tempest . ‘O brave new world that has such creatures in it.’ You know that scene, I assume, where Prospero’s daughter, having been raised on an island with no men except her father, sees the shipwrecked Ferdinand. Shiva likes that moment, where Miranda’s desire is awakened but not yet fulfilled. He believes – and I promise you there is nothing to support this in the text – he believes that keeping Miranda pure is what makes Prospero strong. Shiva thinks he’s Prospero, of course.”
    â€œSo why does he call me that?”
    â€œHe’s being polite. It’s your island. And he’s giving you a hint. Find a way to tell him he’s the magician. He will like that.”
    â€œThat’s very helpful.”
    â€œBut to go on, the other bit of irony the fates hung aroundmy neck like a golden chain is that my beauty frightens most men. I go out to dinner and the boy beside me becomes tongue-tied. I let my dressing gown fall to the floor and so does his erection.”
    Andrew laughed. “Surely not.”
    â€œMore often than you’d think. Even at university.”
    â€œBut you don’t need lots of lovers. You just need a husband who likes sex as much as you do. I hesitate to say this. I am supposed to be winning Shiva’s trust. But have you considered looking for such a person?”
    â€œEvery day. But you know, being rich is addictive. I would get very little in a divorce. I have no grounds. Or none I care to talk about in public. You will understand this, Andrew, being a poet. I’m Prometheus’s unmentioned sister. The eagle of sexual hunger tears at me every night.” They walked in silence for a bit, and she played with his hand. “But when I do find a man who appreciates the gift of my fire, the pleasure for both of us is intense.”
    â€œThat was beautiful,” said Andrew. And then: “We should probably go back.”
    â€œAll right,” said Rosemary, letting go of Andrew’s hand and turning towards him. “But for my pains, one kiss?”
    It was a very good kiss.
    Andrew had one more question for her, though. “Why did you marry Shiva?”
    â€œI thought I was being clever. One wants to keep on being clever when one has gotten a first. The fact that my parents objected was a further inducement of course.”
    Neither of them spoke for a while, but when they entered the tunnel through the shrubbery, she grabbed his nightshirt again and pulled him to her. “I want to use