Chapter 4
Jill's second day at the office entailed more work and less sociability than the first one. She didn't care for this. She didn't care for work at all. But it was a necessary evil.
One advantage a girl had when she got married young, Jill thought, was that she avoided a lot of work other girls had to do in stores and offices. Jill didn't take housework into account, for she assumed she either would marry a man who didn't require his wife to be a combination maid and cook as well, or else she would be able Lo get away with doing no more work than she felt like doing. The husband she chose would be considerate and understanding ... at least about that part of their marriage.
The other part of marriage was what frightened her and would keep her single ... at least for as far into the future as she could see.
While she worked, she paid quite a lot of attention to good-looking Jack Able. He was far and away the most attractive man in the place. Jill naturally preferred young men, and the more handsome they were, the better. But the older and homelier ones provided a greater kick in a certain way, since they were so appreciative of a young girl's favors. That was why Jill didn't discriminate.
For instance, though she paid particular attention to Jack Able, she didn't entirely neglect Big Lou either. The fact that Big Lou was her uncle didn't trouble her, for nothing would happen between them which necessarily was forbidden to uncles and nieces. She would see to that, as she always did.
She didn't know if Big Lou was the sort who was apt to do anything about the little invitations she was directing his way. For instance, she took advantage of every opportunity to rub against him. She would swipe a turgid breast across his arm as she turned quickly to move past him, or she would sit for dictation with her legs crossed in such a way that he could were he so inclined see a wide strip of skin about the top of one stocking and even perhaps, if he looked closely, tell what color scanties she had on that day.
He didn't seem to look that closely, but he did look. She felt she was beginning to get to him.
This game added some spice to what otherwise would have been a dull workday. And Jack Able also helped. He was very eager.
Toward the end of her second day on the job, Jack moved up beside her as she was filing a stack of shipping orders. "How're you doing?" he asked in a friendly way.
She smiled at him. "As long as you know the alphabet, you can't go wrong on this job."
"I'll bet you know your A.B.C.'s, all right," he countered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jill asked. "Just that I think you're hip."
"You mean easy?"
"That isn't what I said. I just figure you know what you want."
"Maybe I do," she admitted.
"So, how about a date tonight? Dinner and a show in Boise?"
"You don't give up, do you?"
"Yesterday you told me to ask you again. I'm asking."
"Not tonight, Jack."
"You're trying to cool me, huh?"
"Not that."
"What're you going to do this evening? You know anyone else in town?"
"I'm going to my uncle's for dinner." (Lou Rombaugh had asked her to come out the evening before, but she had said she wanted to get to bed early. This day she'd been unable to avoid the invitation.)
"Oh." Jack's tone dropped. "Well, I suppose I should have enough sense not to try to date the boss' niece, anyway."
"Don't be like that. I didn't say I wouldn't go out with you ever."
"You just like to keep me dangling, is that the deal?"
"I told you I have to go to dinner at my uncle's."
"Could we meet for drinks later? You do drink, don't you?"
"When I want to. But not tonight."
"Okay." He grinned wanly. "I'll keep trying."
She watched him walk back to his desk and thought that she probably would give in the next day if he asked her. He would be fun, but he might be a little hard to handle, too. He had said she knew what she wanted. Well, he was the sort who usually got what he wanted, she imagined.
But he would find out she was different. Though he would be a challenge, Jill didn't doubt her ability to handle him.
That evening, as she sat with the Rombaughs in the living room of their large old house, Jill sized up her uncle from behind the facade of sweet innocence which she usually wore, and she began to wonder if perhaps Uncle Lou didn't offer the greatest challenge of all the men she'd met so far.
His wife, Jill's Aunt Fanny, was a placid woman in her mid-forties to whom Big Lou obviously was very close. They had been married for something like twenty-five years.
Jill's mother had emphasized to the girl, before the arrangements were made for her to spend the summer in Fruitvale, that Uncle Lou was not like most men. He was, according to Sister Sarah, completely devoted to his wife and guided by fine ideals. Jill had wondered about his ideals and decided she would have some fun putting them to the test.
So far. the results of her flirtatious gestures had encouraged her. Lou Rombaugh had taken note of her as a female; there was no question about that. But now that he had taken note, what was he going to do? What could Jill get him to do? The challenge was an interesting one, and Jill could not but rise to this.
As they chatted, her uncle and aunt sat side by side on the sofa and Jill occupied a chair across from them. She looked at Uncle Lou most of the time, directing her conversation to him. Aunt Fanny seemed not to notice this. She sipped her coffee and cast benevolent glances alternately at her husband and her niece. Whenever she spoke, the remark was mild and colorless. Never once did she imply criticism of anything or anyone.
Big Lou dominated the conversation, but in a graceful way. Almost everything he said was sandwiched between laughs. These expressed nothing in particular except his general good humor.
He looked at Jill's legs, also. She caught him looking more and more. And once, when she strolled across the room to examine a large landscape print, she turned quickly and caught Uncle Lou's eyes trained directly at her buttocks.
Oh, yes, he was thinking about her!
He was thinking, Jill assured herself, of how much fun he could have with her if she weren't his niece, if he weren't married, if he were younger, and if he weren't too fat for a sweet young girl to find attractive. She wondered how much longer these considerations would hold him back if she continued to flirt with him as she had been doing.
She didn't propose to stop. On the contrary, she thought tonight would be a good time to press the campaign a little. She would do this when he drove her back to the hotel, she decided. She would get him to come up to the room with her.
The evening didn't last long, for the Rombaughs were in the habit of retiring early. At a little after ten, Big Lou stood and announced that he didn't want to keep Jill up too late, since she was young and required more sleep than they did.
Jill agreed she had better be getting back to the hotel. Of course Big Lou offered to drive her, and of course Aunt Fanny insisted he do so.
He owned a white Lincoln Continental which was four or five years old, and he treated the car with the greatest respect. During the short drive he talked, as he had done during much of the evening, about earlier days in the valley how the area had grown and developed-as if Jill gave a hang about such things.
When they reached the hotel, Lou parked the Continental at the curb in front and turned to beam at
Jill in the jovial, outgoing way he had. "Well, your aunt and I sure enjoyed this little visit, Jill. We'll have to do this often."
"I enjoyed myself, too," she said. "And tell Aunt Fanny again what a wonderful dinner she fixed, will you?"
"I'll sure do that. You know, there's just nothing your aunt takes more pride in than having folks over for a good old-fashioned feed."
"Well, it was certainly nice of her ... of both of you." Jill's hand depressed the door handle and the door swung noiselessly open. She smiled. "Care to see me up to my room?"
"Well ... sure. I guess that's only fitting and proper." He laughed and got out of the car.
Jill waited for him on the sidewalk and they walked into the hotel together.
There was no one at the front desk at this hour. For service, one had to press a button which rang a bell in the manager's quarters. There was no one seated in the small lobby this time, either.
As Jill preceded her uncle up the stairs to the second floor, she knew he was watching the shimmy-in a; wiggle of her buttocks beneath her snug skirt. This would prime him for what was going to happen when they reached the room. She wasn't at all sure, though, that she would be able to get anywhere with him that night. Uncles and particularly a devoted husband and pillar of the community like Big Lou weren't apt to snap at the bait as quickly as other men would. She didn't expect him to be at all as aggressive as
Pete Larrabee ... and, anyway, he was a few years older.
At her door, she handed him the key, as if he were a young man bringing her home from a date. At first he was surprised then he was pleased. He took the key, stooped, and unlocked the door. When the door swung open, Jill reached inside and snapped on the lights.
"Come in for a minute?" she invited. "Well, I ... "
"Come on. It's not that late." She clutched his arm in such a way that he could feel the full thrust of her breasts.
He went into the room. Jill closed the door and stood coquettishly with her back against the panel. "Has it been quite a while since you were in a young woman's hotel room, Uncle Lou?"
He took the matter lightly, a laugh rumbling from the depths of him. "More years than I can remember, little lady."
Jill crossed the room to where he was standing and moved very close so close that her breasts nuzzled the front of his suit. "You're very nice, y'know that--? I'm so happy I have an uncle like you."
He was a little flustered. "Well, now, that's sweet of you to say, Jill."
She twisted away, letting her breasts drag lightly across him. As soon as she had proceeded a couple of steps, she turned quickly his way again. "Oh! I knew there was something T wanted you to do for me, if you would. I just remembered."
"Well, sure. Anything at all."
"Sit down, then. I want you to see an outfit T bought this noon in the ladies' shop down the street. I didn't really have much of anything to wear to the office, so I bought this skirt and blouse. But now I'm afraid maybe they're a little snug. Let me model them for you, will you?"
Big Lou cleared his throat. He was perspiring lightly, and his normal attitude of joviality had slipped. "I don't know if I ... that is, if I could help you very much. I don't know much about women's clothes."
"What man does?" she chided. "But you can tell me if the outfit would look okay for the office. That's all I want you to do."
Lou looked around nervously. "Have you got ... some place where you can change?"
Jill laughed. "What do I need with that? You just sit on the side of the bed there and shut your eyes. It'll only take me a minute to whisk these things off and put the new ones on."
"Hey, now, Jill-baby ... I don't think..."
"Shh!" She walked up to him and placed a cool slim finger across his lips. "Don't argue. You just sit down and be nice, will you?"
The big man was trapped. While he didn't like the situation, he didn't want to hurt Jill's feelings. After all, she was his niece, and for him to suggest there was anything wrong about her changing clothes in the same room with him would he indecent in itself. Evil to him who evil thinks, as somebody once said.
He sat down.
Radiating an attitude of girlish innocence, Jill busied herself getting out the packages she had brought to her room on her lunch hour. She opened them on a chair, removing a blue skirt and figured blouse.
"All right, Uncle Lou," she announced. "Shut your eyes. I'll look the other way and ... no fair peeking until I tell you."
"Okay, darling," he said with a paternally indulgent smile.
There was, however, in the back of his consciousness, a stirring. He recognized this as something evil and he resisted.
He shut his eyes and kept them shut for several seconds as he heard his beautiful, young niece beginning to remove her outer clothes.
Then suddenly his imagination went to work.
He realized that he couldn't hold out. Heaven help him, but he would have to look.
As he opened his eyes to tiny slits, the sight before him struck the visual center of his brain with almost tangible force. His heartbeat quickened, his blood began to race, and Big Lou Rombaugh began to react as a male instead of as an uncle.
Jill, facing the wall, had her blouse off and was half turned his way, fussing with the fasteners at the side of her skirt. Her blouse wasn't all she had removed, however. Her right breast was displayed in stunning naked profile, for her bra lay with her discarded blouse over an arm of the chair at her side.
Big Lou Rombaugh had seen no breasts other than his wife's for nearly fifteen years. When he was a younger man, he had cheated on Fanny a few times. As he grew older, and the fire within him lost some of its youthful intensity, he no longer had felt the need to do this.
But now he was feeling a need.
He was feeling a tremendous, throbbing need for his young and luscious niece.
He stared as she lowered her skirt and revealed to him the fact that she wore no slip. All she had on was a pair of the thinnest pale-pink underpants a man could imagine and, beneath these, a skimpy garter belt to hold up her extra-sheer hose.
Lou gazed at her all-but-naked buttocks, the sheen of pink nylon dramatizing and not concealing the loveliness of her taut, plump curves. They were even nicer than he had imagined when he had watched her wiggling up the hotel stairs in front of him. They were superb! He had never seen such a pair of buttocks in his life.
She lay her skirt aside, and now she reached for her new clothes.
Lou wanted very much for her to turn his way so that he could see all of her her naked nipples and, through the pale-pink pants, her tummy. But if she were to face him, he would have to close his eyes, and he certainly didn't want to do that. The situation was an immensely frustrating one.
The situation was fraught with guilt, too.
What was he doing, spying on his own niece in her scanties? What had happened to him? What sort of man had he become?
Breathing hard, he jammed his eyes closed. There! That was better. He had no right. . .
But she was so very lovely so fresh and young.
His eyelids moved again, opening to slits.
Jill was in the process of drawing the snug, new blouse down over her chest. She was wriggling, sending a ripple through the naked side of breast that he could see. Her bosom protruded so much that she was having difficulty getting the blouse on. She devoted both hands to working the blouse over her left breast, which Lou couldn't see, while her up-thrust right nipple stopped the progress of the fabric at this side. Now she grasped her right breast in her right hand and pushed the pliant globe under the rim of the cloth while she used her left hand to haul the blouse down.
She reached for her skirt.
By this time, Big Lou Rombaugh was fit to be tied. The spectacle had unnerved him completely. The mere sight of a half-naked female wouldn't have affected him so except for the fact that this female was so young and fresh and sported a set of curves more outstanding than any he had ever seen in his life; that she was also his niece; and that he was alone with her at night in her bedroom.
Sweating, his heart thumping in his huge chest, his manly desire demanding expression, Big Lou sat there and suffered as he had not suffered for a long time, if ever.
He watched Jill step into the new skirt and draw it up, having much the same trouble getting the skirt over her buttocks as she'd had in getting the blouse down over her breasts. She twisted, causing the buttock flesh to tremble in her sheer panties, and she had to run the flat of her hand across those plump resilient hemispheres and shoehorn them into her skirt.
Lou watched all this, growing more excited and distraught by the moment, then jammed his eyes closed just in time to avoid being found out when Jill turned to face him.
"Okay, Uncle Lou," she sang. "Open your eyes and tell me how I look."
The sight of her with clothes on, though the clothes were snug and she wore no brassiere, was so anti-climactic that not much of an impression was made on Lou Rombaugh's fevered brain. He said something having to fight at first to make his voice come out smoothly.
Jill appeared not to notice his lack of poise, but secretly she was enjoying this. She had him coming around, the same as all the others. After what he's seen, he was wild for her, she felt sure. A couple more stunts like that and the fat old man would be ready to commit rape and incest both, in one blind and reckless act.
She let him go very shortly after this, and Big Lou Rombaugh tottered down the stairs and across the deserted hotel lobby, his brain still swimming with the voluptuous visions he had seen and tormented with the guilt associated with them.
He didn't head for home right away but walked down the street to Bailey's Tavern for a drink. That would help steady him, he thought.
This worked to some extent. But he couldn't banish the sight of his young niece's half-naked body from his mind.
Though specifically composed when he finally arrived at his house, he was still thinking about Jill. His wife was in bed but had not as yet gone to sleep.
He would take her, Lou thought. That would get him over the sight of that young filly, and by morning he would be all right He undressed in the dark and slipped under the sheet beside his wife.
When he was about to turn to her and begin the initial caressing which would lead the way to eventual release, he suddenly realized that he didn't want his wife. The mere thought of taking her repelled him. He couldn't take her now.
He lay on his back in the dark, staring at a broken shaft of moonlight which was projected on the ceiling, and wondered what he was going to do to free himself of this torment.
"Lou?" his wife murmured softly.
"Yes."
She slowly turned toward him. "You want to?"
He paused and cleared his throat. "I'm a little tired but if you..."
She patted his hand and laughed gently. "That's all right, dear. I can keep. I can always keep until you want me."
He said, "Fanny..."
She gave him a quick kiss. "Now, go to sleep. It's late and you need your rest."
His wife turned to face the other edge of the bed once more, but Lou didn't fall asleep for a long time.
He wanted Jill. He had to admit that to himself. He wanted Jill very badly.
This was sinful and he didn't dare give in to the desire, even if she might be willing to let him.
Of course, he was sure she wouldn't, just as he was sure she hadn't intended to tease him in her hotel room a little while before. That had been entirely his fault, and now he had to work out his own solution to the problem which had suddenly arisen to monopolize his thoughts.
He certainly couldn't find his solution with Fanny.
Another woman? Was that the answer?
Yes.
That was what he would have it do go to Boise and pick up a woman in a bar. Then maybe he could work out with her the shameful desire which was now eating away at his self-respect.
Cheating on his wife was wrong, and he hadn't done it for a very long time, but this would be better than to let his illicit desire for Jill get the better of him.
After rolling and tossing for the better part of two hours, Lou Rombaugh finally fell asleep.
In her room at the hotel, Jill had fallen asleep long ago and her dreaming was serene.
She had enjoyed herself a great deal when her Uncle Lou was there, and she was looking forward to further enjoyment of the same kind in the future enjoyment even more intense as she finally forced her uncle to admit how he felt about her, then drove him to the point where he would attempt to seduce her.
She would treat him as she had treated the others. She would make him think he was succeeding until the crucial moment, and then she would deny him the satisfaction which he would so desperately crave.
That would be a rare kick.
That would be a lot more fun than what had happened with Pete Larrabee the night before.
After she had contemplated this impending pleasure to her heart's content, Jill turned her thoughts to the other male in the office who interested her handsome, self-assured Jack Able.
He was next on her thrill list.
She giggled to herself and cuddled her head more deeply in the pillow.
Jack wouldn't be as reluctant as her uncle, and he was apt to be more demanding than Pete Larrabee. Jack was at the most dangerous age old enough to know what he was doing and young enough, still, to have virtually inexhaustible needs.
Jack would be a lot of fun ... and another sort of challenge.
If Mother could only see me now, Jill thought, and this gave her a sharp sense of pleasure, too.
Jill didn't care much for her mother, really. Her attitude was marked by a submerged resentment which ran very deep and farther back in time than she could remember.
Though she hadn't thought of the matter in exactly this way, her behavior toward men was, in one sense, a seeking of revenge against her mother a striking-back.
But Jill couldn't strike all the way and permit herself to do what her mother had always warned her against. The older woman's admonitions held too much force for that, strengthened by her own obeisance through the years.
Anyway, she didn't want to go the distance with any man. Why should she, when life was so much fun this way?