The Sex War

'Oh, sure. And I bet you worked hard, too.'

Daniel was staring at her as though he didn't know her, and she wasn't surprised; she didn't know herself, her jealousy was blackening everything she saw, her face was hot with rage and her voice had the sting of a scorpion. She had hidden her jealousy for so long, now that it was escaping she couldn't control it.

'You thought I had other women?' Daniel sounded incredulous, if she hadn't known better she would have thought his blank expression held innocence, but she did know better. He was acting and doing it brilliantly, but he couldn't fool her.

'I didn't just think,' she said bitingly. 'I knew! Someone was getting your attention, it certainly wasn't me. When we first got married you made love to me every night,, then everything changed— some weeks you didn't even kiss me, let alone make love to me! I might as well have been a piece of furniture for all the notice you took.'

'You never said a word,' he protested. 'You didn't tell me you suspected I was having an affair.'

Lindsay curled an icy smile at him. 'Where was the point? You'd either have lied or admitted it— either way, I didn't want to get into that sort of discussion. I was humiliated enough already.'

'So you were judge and jury, you found me guilty without even telling me what I was supposed to be guilty of…' He sounded hoarse, little spots of dark red had come up in his face and his mouth was unsteady. Lindsay felt nervous as she looked up at him, she shifted uneasily.

'You stupid brat,' Daniel muttered, and his hand shot out to curl round her throat. She tensed, her nerves jumping with fear, 'I ought to…' He broke off again, swallowing, she saw his throat move convulsively, 'Not even to ask me! My word, your opinion of me must have been rock bottom! You couldn't even be bothered to talk about it, you went around secretly accusing me and didn't utter a syllable.' His hand tightened and she flinched. He saw the fear in her face and his lips drew back from his teeth in a snarl. 'Yes, you're right to look nervous! The way I feel at the moment I might just lose my temper and give you what you deserve!'

'Don't threaten me,' Lindsay said as firmly as she could. 'You're not frightening me.' She was lying, he was frightening her, but she was not going to admit that even if he had already realised it.

'Then you're even more stupid than I thought,' Daniel muttered. 'You ought to be scared, you're very close to being strangled.' The long fingers flexed on her throat, making her even more aware of their power. 'Who did you think I was seeing? Or didn't that interest you?'

'You had plenty of casual girl-friends before you met me,' Lindsay said with a pretence of cold indifference. 'You told me as much yourself, you never hid your past love life—I knew you used to pick girls up all the time, look at the way you picked me up. Old habits die hard, don't they say?'

He said something she didn't hear, the words choked.

'You can't deny it,' she persisted. 'I wasn't your usual type, was I? You went for more sophisticated ladies and your interest in them wasn't limited to giving them dinner or a night at the theatre. Well, go on—deny you slept with them!'

'Why should I?' he said angrily. 'I was free, adult and normal—why shouldn't I go to bed with an attractive woman if she was willing? But that was before I married you, you aren't accusing me over the distant past. If you thought I was carrying on like that after we were married, why didn't you come out with it? Why hug it to yourself without a word?' He bent down towards her and she shrank, a hand up to keep him at bay. 'Unless, of course, you were looking for an excuse to leave me!'

Her flush deepened. 'That's right, make a counter-accusation! I didn't need an excuse, you handed me a reason on a plate.'

'I didn't do anything of the kind! There were no other women,' he said, and she smiled, angrily incredulous.

'No?'

'I'll make you believe me if I have to beat you black and blue,' he muttered, and took hold of her shoulders, twisting her forcibly while she struggled and kicked, until she was lying across his knees face down. She couldn't believe he meant it, she gave a gasping cry of shock as she felt his hand come down.

'I wasn't unfaithful to you,' he snapped, and hit her hard. 'There wasn't anyone else.' He hit her again and she writhed furiously, throwing herself backwards, so that she slid off his lap and tumbled to the floor, her red hair spilling over the carpet. Daniel was on top of her a second later and she hit him, with all the force she could muster, across his face. He took hold of her wrists, anchoring her to the floor by his knees, and she heaved upwards, panting breathlessly, trying to wrench free. One hand broke from his clasp, she flailed at him with it, flinging herself sideways again. Their bodies rolled over and over in confused, violent struggling. Lindsay punched and kicked and felt Daniel's hands trying to hold her, the heavy weight of his body forced down on her.

'Keep still, damn you,' he muttered, finally holding her down.

Through tousled masses of hair her eyes glared up at him, and unbelievably he started to laugh.

'You look like an old English sheepdog,' he said.

'I bite like one, too,' she threatened, showing him her teeth.

'I know, I've the toothmarks to prove it,' he said, and she reddened.

'That's a lie—I didn't bite you.'

He turned his head to one side, a finger touching his neck, and she saw the tiny mark in his skin and was taken aback, she couldn't remember doing it. 'What's that, then? A love bite?' he mocked, looking down at her, then his head swooped down and she caught her breath as she felt his mouth at her throat, his teeth gently nibbling her flesh. 'Tit for tat,' he whispered, then his lips pressed warmly, deeply, along the throbbing vein in her neck. 'You're crazy—there wasn't anyone else. Lindsay, believe me—there wasn't anyone. The last few months before you walked out, I was up to my ears in work. I didn't have time to eat or sleep, let alone go to bed with anyone else.'

'Or me?' Lindsay asked bitterly, and he held her face between his hands, staring into her eyes.

'You froze up on me, I didn't know why, did I? I was working flat out, all I knew was that suddenly I was getting cold looks from you, if I came near you, you went rigid and obviously didn't want to know.' He gave a rough sigh, his expression grim. 'We both leapt to conclusions. You decided I was sleeping around—I decided you'd either fallen out of love with me or were just plain frigid. Is that so surprising? Before we were married you jumped six feet in the air if I so much as tried to touch you,'

'I wanted you to,' she muttered, her face uncertain and flushed. 'I wasn't frigid, I was just nervous.'

'Inhibited,' Daniel said drily.