The Lady Eve Pt. 01

He saw that there were tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry. What a prig."

She reached over and squeezed his hand. "Thanks for that. I know that I'm better off without him, but it hurts to be rejected. I just need to get my game face on for when I meet my friends again."

He squeezed back. "I can see that, Eve. By the way, Jill's just told me that she is isn't coming up. She claims that she is ill."

She said, "Perhaps we can cheer each other up for a bit. I don't want to be by myself at the moment."

"Of course."

"It's my round."

She went up to the bar and a moment later the barman came over with a bottle of Cava in an ice bucket and two glasses. She said, "Thank you, Mike."

The barman said, "I've made a note that you ordered while we were still in happy hour and drinks are two for one. The second bottle is on ice for you if you tip me the wink."

"You are a dear."

After the barman had gone she turned to him, "Will you drink to my freedom, Alan?"

He laughed and said, "It'll be my pleasure." Spending time with Grimsdyke must be infectious.

After the first glass, Eve said "I'll have to check if there is a room available. Arnold said that he would make the arrangements, but if he never meant to come here."

"Why don't you use the room I booked for Jill. It's paid for."

Eve smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. "That's sweet of you. I can pay you back."

"No problem. I've already paid for it, and you are a damsel in distress. Why not have dinner with me? We can celebrate your escape and me not making a total fool of myself this afternoon."

Rebecca patted her eyes with a handkerchief and gave him a brave little smile, "Thank you Alan, I accept your offer provided that we go Dutch for dinner."

He could not avoid recalling that Jill expected him to pay for everything on her dates despite earning the same money he did. "If you're certain?"

"I would like some company this evening."

He gave her the key to the room. They finished the bottle and she said, "I'd like to get changed. See you in ten minutes?"

As she walked towards the stairs he watched her bum wiggle as she walked and as she reached the door she turned round and winked at him. He realised that he was being flirted with and was rather enjoying it. He left a message with reception that if there was a call for him they could find him in the bar or the restaurant.

When Eve returned she had freshened up, reapplied the perfume and changed her clothes. The black dress came above her knee and displayed her cleavage. He could tell that she was wearing stockings. She looked like a sexy version of Jill and his body reacted to the sight. He registered that every male and most of the women were staring at her. He stood up and kissed her on the cheek.

She winked at him and said in a loud voice, "Darling, I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."

She sat down beside him, and Alan decided to respond in kind, "You were worth the wait. Seriously, you look marvellous."

"Well, I'd bought the outfit to encourage Arnold to ravish me. It seemed a pity not to wear it at least once."

He looked around and noticed a number of men staring at her. "I bet that every man in the bar wants to ravish you tonight."

She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. "Is that a challenge?" She clicked her tongue again and winked to let him know that she was only joking.

After they had finished the bottle she said, "Let's dance."

The hotel had a small band playing music from the thirties and forties. Eve danced about as well as Jill and was more relaxed. He felt her breasts pressing against his chest and liked the sensation.

At the end of two dances, they went back to the table. Eve looked up and caught the barman's attention and nodded at him.

The barman bought the second bottle over and opened it. He was clearly distracted by the dress and Eve followed his gaze and said, "You can look but don't touch."

The man blushed and she said, "I don't mind, Mike, but my man might get jealous." She hugged Alan's arm, winked at the barman, and he smiled back.

Alan looked at her after the barman left, "I still can't believe that Arnold left you in the lurch."

"He's a sanctimonious shit. I thought that he might be."

"I've been thinking about what you said. It makes sense to find out if you are compatible before settling down with someone."

Eve patted his leg and left her hand on his thigh. "It's sweet of you to say so. I sometimes worry that I was born twenty years too early. A woman who likes sex is a whore in too many men's eyes."

He replied, "That's unfair. I think that is a problem for Jill. She thinks that women are either sluts or good girls. I wish she had not been asked to give the sex education classes to the sixth form girls at school."

"Why?"

"They enjoy winding her up. There are three in particular who are obviously trying to shock her."

"How?"

"One asks her questions about how far nice girls should go in particular situations. Problem is that Jill thinks she knows that she is not a nice girl and merely wants to know how to pretend to be one."

"Sounds a bit like me six years ago."

"There is a second girl who is a friend of the first who is her comrade in arms for teasing Jill. One time she said her boyfriend wanted her to do a threesome with him and his cousin and asked Jill how she should deal with the request. The first one then asked about the practicalities of a threesome and if Jill had ever had one."

"They must spend hours thinking about how much they can get away with. She must know they are winding her up."

"There is a third girl who asked her about anal sex and whether that is a sensible way of giving a boy what he wants without risking being pregnant."

"A good question. Personally, I would have told her to go on the pill or tell the boy to use a durex and have sex the normal way. Anal sex is a pain in the arse."

He laughed although he noted the implication that she knew it from personal experience.

Eve snuggled closer to him, and he responded by putting an arm around her shoulder. She looked into his eyes and licked her lips. He kissed her, and their tongues met. After thirty seconds they released each other, and he said, "Be back in a moment."

He headed towards the toilet which was through reception. He wanted some time to think. He had been glad to see Eve and talking to her had calmed him down before the hustings. The offer of the room had been an instinctive reaction and not an attempt to seduce her. She was an attractive woman who enjoyed flirting, but he felt it bad form to have sex with a woman on the rebound let alone betraying Jill. Still no reason not to have a pleasant evening and make her feel better about herself. He would of course be a gentleman at the end of the evening. He almost convinced himself that meant he would not try and have sex with her. He was tempted to think that the act of a real gentleman would be to reassure her that she was attractive.

He came out of the toilet five minutes later and as he walked past reception, the receptionist said, "Your friends are waiting for you in the bar." The man pointed and to his shock saw Grimsdyke and Allardyce sitting with Eve. He had been expecting a telephone message rather than a visitation. They must have come to check up on his story that Jill had been expected.

Eve saw him coming and waved at him, "Alan, darling, look who's here. I've asked Douglas and Rupert to join us for a drink." Douglas was sitting opposite Eve and Rupert was sitting next to her. She patted the place on the other side of her and he joined them, hoping that this would not end badly. She grabbed his hand and moved her body close to him. He saw the two men looking at her hand and he saw that she was wearing an engagement ring.

"I was just apologising for not making it to the hustings today, but my best friend from college needed my support last night and the car broke down on the way to the station. I hope that my friend's inadequacy at car maintenance will not be held against Alan."

Rupert purred, "I must say that it would have helped his cause if you had been there this afternoon." He patted her knee.

The barman approached the table and Eve said, "Mike, be a dear and bring two more glasses for our guests."

The man nodded and said, "It will be my pleasure."

After the glasses had been delivered and filled, Rupert proposed a toast to Jill (in truth Eve posing as Jill.)

Eve said, "I do think that an MP's wife should be supportive of her husband." She then giggled "Of course an MP's husband should support his wife like Dennis does Margaret."

The two older men laughed at this and said, "Quite right."

Rupert said, "You should be proud of Alan, my dear. He was very impressive today."

Christ, the two men were buying it. Well Eve did look enough like the photograph of Jill. After a few minutes of chit chat, Douglas said, "Jill, Rupert, I need a word with Alan here in private for about thirty minutes?"

Rupert turned to Eve and said, "Perhaps you will join me on the dance floor and trip the light fantastic with me?"

Eve got up and kissed Douglas on the cheek before being led by Rupert towards the dance floor.

Douglas said, "Sorry Alan. We heard the current MP has gone into hospital this afternoon and is not expected to last the week. The committee thought it best to go with a local candidate. You were the constituency party's second choice, but you would need more time to work the constituency then you will have before the bye-election, especially as you have a full-time job in Birmingham. It's no reflection on you. I agree with Rupert who said that you are too good a candidate to be remembered only for being beaten into third place behind the Social Democrats and Labour. If the result is really bad it will be blamed on the candidate."

Douglas spent some time going over the feedback he had from the committee, most of which was flattering. He did feel that Douglas was stretching things out. He was also alarmed by what he could see of the Squadron-Leader's attentions to Eve. The two were dancing closely and the man was whispering into her ear. At the end of the third dance the Squadron-leader had kissed Eve on the cheek and led her to a private booth. He hoped that Eve remembered that she was pretending to be Jill and not encouraging the older man too much. He had no doubt that Rupert could be charmingly flirtatious, and that Eve might enjoy it. He also might be a prospective replacement for Arnold as he was a bachelor and rumoured to be wealthy. Douglas then moved on to talking about other constituencies which were looking for candidates and suggesting which ones he should apply to.

Finally, Douglas finished talking to him, said goodbye, and walked over to where Rupert and Eve were sitting.

After Eve returned to his side, she said, "Rupert is convinced that I am your fiancée. By the way he is a wonderful dancer and a randy old man. When we sat down his hand went straight to my knee. He suggested that it would help your career if we adjourned to my room and continued the conversation in private. Is there training for prospective MPs other halves about dealing with senior members asking them to lift their dress and drop their knickers to allow them to have a quickie?" She winked at him, and he laughed. He could not help imagining taking Eve from behind and his prick responded to the thought.

Eve said, "They're watching. Let's act as though we are lovers."

She grabbed his jaw and turned his face to hers and kissed him passionately. He momentarily tensed and then decided to go with it. After a minute she removed her lips and smiled at him. "After a year with Arnold pecking me on the cheek, I appreciate the attentions of a real man."

She then whispered, "Put your arm around my shoulder."

He did as she suggested. Eve snuggled into him and held his other hand. "Let's look affectionate but not like we are going to offend decorum."

Momentarily he had a twinge of guilt, but then decided to say to himself what Jill didn't know would not hurt her. Actually, thinking about it, Jill had betrayed him by deliberately not turning up. Perhaps it was for the best that she had not as he doubted that Jill would have known how to deal with Rupert's gallantry. Of course, she would have been justified to take offence. For the moment he was glad that Eve had been prepared to laugh it off.

"Thanks for not making a scene. I am sorry though."

"Not your fault."

"Eve. I do think that I should pay for dinner now that you have pretended to be Jill and been propositioned by a randy old airman."

She laughed, "Fine, but you are going to have to call me Jill tonight at least while they are still in the bar. Can't have you getting your betrothed's name wrong in public. They went to reception first rather than looking for you and Rupert at least was checking up that you really had a fiancée and a second room booked."

He froze. Clearly he had done the right thing by not cancelling the booking and he was grateful to Eve for choosing to pretend to be Jill.

Alan laughed, "Of course, E --Jill."

"You could just call me darling, darling."

He laughed and realised that the last hour had been both fun and nerve wracking. His heart had been racing and lying to the older men had made him hard.

Douglas and Rupert were just leaving the bar as they went into dinner. They both shook his hand, and Rupert kissed Eve on the cheek and whispered something in her ear.

Dinner did not take long. They just had a starter and a main course plus a bottle of wine. She encouraged him to talk about himself and his ambitions in the light of today's disappointment. Being with someone who looked like Jill but was not her somehow resulted in him being unusually open. He felt it bad form to talk about women in a sexual way with men and had insufficient close female friends who were not going out with his male friends to talk to them about what women liked.

He was surprised to find that she was so sympathetic to him and forced him to think more clearly about his relationship with Jill. Jill almost seemed to take delight in knowing that he wanted to have sex with her, lead him up the garden path, every so often be all over him in public and then push him away when he thought they were about to have sex or even just get her knickers off or his trousers down. Her saying that she would come with him this weekend and then leaving him in the lurch was not that different from Arnold telling Eve that he would come away with her this weekend and then using the fact that she had agreed to do so as a reason to dump her.

It was then he decided that he would cheat on Jill. She had scuppered his chances today and things would have been more humiliating for him but for Eve's improvisation.

He ordered coffee but agreed with Eve that they should go back in the bar to drink it. He also ordered another bottle of wine and returned to find that she was sat behind a table in a booth. She patted the seat next to her and he took it.

When she asked about the physical side of his relationship with Jill he felt unable to lie about it. She grasped his hand under the table and said, "she is being unfair to you. She should either fix a date for the wedding or if she is not ready to actually marry you she should have sex with you."

He said, "That's what I think. Nowadays contraception means that it makes sense to make certain that you are sexually compatible before marriage and we've being going out three years."

"You mean that you have not had sex for three years?"

"I'm afraid so." The truth was that he was a virgin. He'd had hand jobs and been allowed to rub his cock and come on a girlfriends slip before, but he had never had sex. It was a problem of having gone to an all-boys school and then an all-male college and being a man who believed in doing the right thing.

"What a waste. If it helps, I have not had sex for a year while I've been with Arnold."

He realised that Eve was looking pensive. "What's the matter?"

"Did Jill visit here with you in November last year?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Fuck. I have no idea whether it is true or not, but Grimsdyke claimed that he met me -- rather Jill - in November last year. I thought he was just testing me in case I was a ringer and I said I had no memory of meeting him. He said that our meeting was not one which would have slipped my memory and if it had been just a normal Saturday for me then I might as well go back to my room with him for a shag while Douglas droned on to you. He did ask whether you knew how much of a goer I was."

Alan suddenly felt sick. If something had happened that weekend it would explain why Jill had been so reluctant to revisit the town. She had also changed her mind about joining him after being told Rupert's name which made him worry that something had happened.

Alan tried to think back to the weekend. He recalled that Jill had not been happy when she realised that the main reason for the trip had been to scout out the constituency. When he had proposed an afternoon of libraries and football followed by an evening listening to a concert at the town hall, she had said that she had some marking to do and would see him that evening for dinner. When he had returned that evening he had found a note under his door saying that she was feeling unwell and had decided to have an early night.

Eve continued, "I eventually convinced him that he had mistaken me for someone else when I told him that I was happy for him to tell you the whole story as there was nothing behind it. He said that the woman had called herself Rebecca while he made love to her."

He was almost physically sick. Jill had betrayed him emotionally by not joining him today and he now had reason to believe that she had betrayed him physically last November with a sixty-year-old man. The fact that she had chosen the name Rebecca suggested that she had decided early on in the meeting that she would betray him.

He whispered to her "I think Rupert might have been telling the truth about meeting Jill last November."

She held his hand and said, "I thought that might be the case. I'm sorry. Still, you can discuss it with her next week. Say that the man recognised the photograph and suggested that she was an unsuitable wife for an MP."

He nodded, "Yes, nothing I can do about it now."

Instinctively he felt no reason to be faithful to Jill tonight. He patted Eve on her knee, and she put her hand on top of his and kept it there. She turned her head to look at him and opened her lips. He smelt the perfume, shut his eyes, and kissed her. She responded enthusiastically. He moved his hand up her thigh and her legs parted to welcome him.

After a couple of minutes, he broke the kiss and she whispered, "Perhaps we can finish the bottle upstairs."

Her hand was stroking the front of his trousers and he reacted enthusiastically.

"Yes. That sounds good to me."

"If you want to have sex with me tonight you can. No strings, no need to see each other again. I think we just both need some comfort. Well actually I just need a good man to give me a good seeing to and I hope you will oblige a damsel in distress."

"Yes, that will be good. I'll just go to the gents."

He went to the gents, washed himself thoroughly and bought a packet of three for 50p. When he returned he saw that Grimsdyke had returned and was sitting next to Eve. He was whispering in her ear and his hands were under the table. Eve looked up and said, "Ahh, Alan's back."

Grimsdyke left after saying, "Good night, Alan. All the best in your hunt for a seat." He seemed to wink at Eve.

Eve said, "We need to talk. While I would prefer to make love to you, you may prefer it if I spend some time with Rupert finding out what Jill really got up to last November. Let's go to your room."