Read Online Return to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious - Free Book Online Page B

same girl. This was Jennifer Burbank. The other was a brazen, shameless, coarse creature. The young men could see no connection between these two people, so utterly different one from the other.
    It was Jennifer's father who introduced her to Ted Carter. He had singled Ted out at the law school, he spotted him as one of the promising young men. Ted came to tea and Jennifer watched him, clinically observant. She saw how respectful he was to her parents, but she saw even more than that. Watching him, she became aware that Ted was the kind of man who would grovel and toady to gain the success he wanted. Jennifer smiled behind her teacup and said to herself, Well, Ted-boy, if that's what you want, that's what you are going to get. The thought of how much Ted would have to pay for his success gave her infinitely more satisfaction than any man ever had or ever would.
    Their wedding was announced a few weeks later. And on the first night of their honeymoon she tried out on Ted all the sadistic tricks she had used on Anne. She teased, she withheld herself from him, and only after she had exhausted him and reduced him to begging did she yield; and then it was as if she were conferring on him a priceless gift. Ted never doubted that she was a virgin. Nor did he suspect that within a few days after the return from a honeymoon in the West Indies she began to be unfaithful to him. It was impossible for Ted to be suspicious of the daughter of Mr. Burbank. Jennifer had correctly judged him; he had married a law firm, she was only a means. He would take anything, would permit nothing to stop him short of his goal.
    â€œLet me get into bed before you open the windows, darling,” said Jennifer. “These Peyton Place winters are colder than anyone would ever believe.”
    â€œI'm not going to open them yet,” said Ted Carter. “I don't want you to catch cold.”
    â€œBut it's late, darling. And you said you wanted to go skiing tomorrow.”
    Ted got into bed next to her. “Tomorrow I want to go skiing. Not tonight,” he said.
    â€œSometimes I think that you're insatiable,” said Jennifer, laughing at him.
    â€œOpen your mouth a little,” he said.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI'll make you.”
    â€œI don't like to be kissed wet.”
    â€œYou'll learn.”
    â€œYou'll have to teach me.”
    Every time Ted made love to his wife, he had to seduce her first, and while this excited him at times beyond endurance so that he climaxed before he could enter her, he often wondered, the next day, if Jennifer would ever welcome him freely so that he could feel as if she wanted his body as badly as he wanted hers. Sometimes, when he was not with Jennifer, he remembered the way Selena Cross had opened her arms to him and the way her mouth had been as eager as his.
    But when he was with Jennifer, he could think of no one but her. A few times, he had taken her by force, tearing her clothes off, slapping her until she lay still on the bed, naked and helpless under his eyes and hands. Afterward, he was overcome with shame and wept as he begged her forgiveness. But in some dark corner of his mind, he realized that the times when Jennifer goaded him into violence were the times she enjoyed the most. It was a silent, unspoken contest between them, with Ted determined to win her with gentleness and Jennifer equally as determined to turn him into a savage animal. She never hated him so much as when he begged forgiveness.
    She came to his bed in nightgowns that covered her completely, and it took his most gentle efforts before she let him undress her. She seemed to be terrified of showing herself and sometimes her body quivered like a frightened bird when he uncovered her breasts to caress her.
    â€œNo!” she cried, as he opened the buttons on her gown. “Oh, no, don't. Turn off the light, darling. Don't.”
    â€œYes, I will,” he said against her throat.
    â€œTeach me,” said Jennifer.