The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon Read Free Book Online Page A

was a Princess and the world did belong toher. And now she knew how to get it. It was so simple. Men ruled the world because they had the strength, the money and the power; therefore it was necessary to rule men, or at least one man. But in order to do that one had to be prepared. She had a great deal to learn. And this was the beginning.
    She turned her attention to Monsieur Lanchon. She lay under him, feeling, experiencing how the male organ fit and what it could do to a woman.
    In his frenzy at having this beautiful creature under his fat, bucking body, Lanchon did not even notice that Noelle simply lay there, but he would not have cared. Just feasting his eyes on her was enough to rouse him to heights of passion he had not felt in years. He was accustomed to the accordioned, middle-aged body of his wife and the tired merchandise of the whores of Marseille, and to find this fresh, young girl under him was like a miracle come into his life.
    But the miracle was just beginning for Lanchon. After he had spent himself making love to Noelle for the second time, she spoke and said, “Lie still.” She began to experiment on him with her tongue and her mouth and her hands, trying new things, finding the soft, sensitive areas of his body and working on them until Lanchon cried aloud with pleasure. It was like pressing a series of buttons. When Noelle did this , he moaned and when she did this , he writhed in ecstasy. It was so easy. This was her school, this was her education. This was the beginning of power.
    They spent three days there and never once went to Le Pyramide, and during those days and nights, Lanchon taught her the little that he knew about sex, and Noelle discovered a great deal more.
    When they drove back to Marseille, Lanchon was the happiest man in all France. In the past he had had quick affairs with shopgirls in a cabinet particuliers , a restaurant that had a private dining room with a couch; he had haggled with prostitutes, been niggardly with presents for his mistresses, and notoriously penuriouswith his wife and children. Now he found himself saying magnanimously, “I’m going to set you up in an apartment, Noelle. Can you cook?”
    “Yes,” Noelle replied.
    “Good. I will come for lunch every day and we will make love. And two or three nights a week, I will come for dinner.” He put his hand on her knee and patted it. “How does that sound?”
    “It sounds wonderful,” Noelle said.
    “I will even give you an allowance. Not a large one,” he added quickly, “but enough so you can go out and buy pretty things from time to time. All I ask is that you see no one but me. You belong to me now.”
    “As you wish, Auguste,” she said.
    Lanchon sighed contentedly, and when he spoke, his voice was soft. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. And do you know why?”
    “No, Auguste.”
    “Because you make me feel young. You and I are going to have a wonderful life together.”
    They reached Marseille late that evening, driving in silence, Lanchon with his dreams, Noelle with hers.
    “I will see you in the shop tomorrow at nine o’clock,” Lanchon said. He thought it over. “If you are tired in the morning, sleep a little longer. Come in at nine-thirty.”
    “Thank you, Auguste.”
    He pulled out a fistful of francs and held them out.
    “Here. Tomorrow afternoon you will look for an apartment. This will be a deposit to hold it until I can see it.”
    She stared at the francs in his hand.
    “Is something wrong?” Lanchon asked.
    “I want us to have a really beautiful place,” Noelle said, “where we can enjoy being together.”
    “I’m not a rich man,” he protested.
    Noelle smiled understandingly and put her hand on his thigh. Lanchon stared at her a long moment and then nodded.
    “You’re right,” he said. He reached into his wallet and began peeling off francs, watching her face as he did so.
    When she seemed satisfied, he stopped, flushed with his own generosity. After