"I have a confession to make, James." Helmut began smoothly, once the Cognac had been served and the servant had discreetly backed his way out of the room; the carved double doors closing with a muted but definite, click.
"I had my reasons for asking you to dinner." He paused, looking at me with an amused twinkle in his eye. "You see, I most especially wanted you to meet my Liese."
Meet her indeed! It was all I could do to tear my eyes away from the slender, dark-haired woman, who sat, elegantly dressed in a little black dress, directly across the table from me.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" he asked, in a hushed voice, talking about our dinner companion as though she wasn't there.
It was obviously a rhetorical question: no red-blooded man could resist the allure of that mouth-watering, sleek-bodied creature who sat so exquisitely poised in that revealing, sleeveless dress: her slender arms, delicate shoulders, and finely sculpted neck and chest, all left deliciously bare in the soft glow of the candlelight. She held herself with the perfectly composed, slightly detached air of a high fashion model. No man could help but being captivated by that pale, cool beauty, the chiseled features with those lovely eloquent eyes, and classic high cheekbones, that lithe, small-breasted body, and of course, those long gorgeous legs of hers, sheathed in smooth black nylon, their splendid lengths exposed from the high-riding hem to the gleaming points of high-heeled strapped sandals.
Not knowing what else to do, I smiled politely and nodded my agreement. Helmut never noticed, for his eyes never left that striking face that he so obviously adored.
"Liese! Come here, Kitten."
Those dark eyes flickered, met the man's for just a moment; something passed between them. Lowering her eyes prettily, the young woman quite deliberately sat down her glass, removed the napkin from her lap, folded it carefully, and placed it on the table before her. We watched the beautiful girl rise to her feet and come around the table, to take her accustomed place at her lover's side. For a split second she glanced down at me. Those eyes were large, perfectly shadowed, with seductive long lashes. They were lovely eyes; but for me, they held only bland indifference. She raised her gaze to stand with chin held high, remote, looking over my head, far off into the distance.
Like a well-trained model, the girl slid easily into a rakish pose, one hip thrust forward, as she shifted her lanky weight, instinctively presenting herself to be admired. But her paramour never turned to regard his elegant mistress waiting patiently at his side. Instead his attention remained focused on me as he sat back from the table, and studied my face, seemingly fascinated by my reactions.
"You know, James, in my life I have found only two true passions: horses and women."
As he talked, his hand reached up behind him to come to rest on the jutting curve of the girl's hip; he let it idly caress the sleek feminine contour of those long strong flanks, stroking the stunning brunette, moving the thin dress she wore under his fingertips, sliding it slowly, up and down that nyloned thigh.
"Things that I collect because I am helpless before them: hopelessly smitten. I can do no more than surrender to such unspeakable beauty." His handsome blond head nodded in contemplation; the hand continued moving absently on the skirted haunch.
"Take my Kitten, here. Exquisite, isn't she?"
He spoke as though lost in his own thoughts, thoughts that had nothing to do with me, yet I
felt compelled to somehow respond. I mumbled something inane, how she was very pretty indeed, just to be polite, and immediately felt rather silly. But my host seemed not to have heard me, and the dark-haired woman stood still as a statue, as the slowly caressing hand adored her black-sheathed body.
"Yes, most exquisite...that face, perfection itself, don't you think, with a kind of haunting quality; although the silly girl thinks that her lips are a bit too thin. And such a well-formed body: economical, no line wasted, a streamlined, the feminine curves in some ways blatantly obvious, while in some ways slight and subtle." I watched his hand move, hypnotized by the lazy circuit it was making and the way it slid the slippery dress over the nyloned column.
"Liese thinks her hair is her best feature. Women! Still, it is glorious, to be sure, especially when she lets it down and one is allowed to appreciate the heavy fullness, the warm softness of that silky perfumed mane." His eyes closed to savor some happy memory, while I looked up at the neatly pinned chignon, upswept for the elegant formality of the dining room.