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Chapter 28
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2021-09-02 07:37:45Elsie had just prepared me for bed when Lance knocked lightly on the door. She gave me a knowing smile as she swung it open and slid past him into the hallway.
“Come in,” I said with a timid voice that surprised me.
“I feel nervous,” he chuckled as he strode across the room and stood before me. “I fear that I have lost your favor for good.”
At first I looked away. The little girl in me wanted to punish him, but the woman in me felt differently. Taking his face in my hands, I said, “I don’t know how to behave or how to feel. I’m angry and hurt and I truly don’t understand your ways.” I pulled his face to him and kissed him hard. “Don’t ask me why, but I’ve loved you almost from the minute I met you. Devil take me, but I can’t help it.”
He grinned that same boyish grin that he’d worn through most of our marriage cer
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I awoke the following morning feeling satiated and happy. With a smile on my face and my eyes still closed, I reached for my husband, but his side of the bed was empty. Sitting up with a start, I looked around the room. There was no sign of him. Memories of Jason’s many sex filled visits in the night while he impersonated Lance - only to have him gone by dawn- came rushing back to me. Although I knew that Lance left for a different reason, it only slightly buffered my disappointment.With my brows knit together, I pulled the cord on the wall to summon Elsie. She’d barely opened the door when I snapped my demand for a bath to be made ready for me. The bed was filled with our sex. I used the time it took for the bath to be readied to burn the scent of it into my memory.I’d just immersed my body into the tub when my mother entered the room. She looked at the torn night gown as it lay where Lance had
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I leaned back in my well-worn executive office chair and stretched the kinks from my body. I’d finally solved the case that had plagued me for weeks. It was a call for celebration!Eleanor Waterford’s husband was a sly player. He’d managed to disguise his activities to the point that I simply couldn’t uncover the name of the female who he was keeping company with. I was just about to give up and confess to my boss that I’d failed when it struck me. What if the woman he was seeing wasn’t a woman at all?Bingo!Why hadn’t that come to me before?Maybe because the photos that my assistant presented to me had Bill Waterford in what looked like a lover’s embrace with a person who wasn’t his wife and was dressed like a woman with a body frame to match?It was a classic lesson for me in stereotyping.I’d come across the name, Frankie Stapleto
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The trip to Lance’s estate house was fairly uneventful. Even with the occasional wrong turn that was prompted by Nora’s outdated and inefficient GPS system, we made good time. This was because Nora had what was referred to as a lead foot. Speed was the name of the game for that woman no matter what she was doing. Be it driving a car or walking down the sidewalk, Nora didn’t know the meaning of the word slow.I, on the other hand, have always been prone to take my time. I believe that personality trait has been a considerable aide in my career. One of the vital aspects of my job is to be able to take in and remember as much about a person, place, or thing as possible. It’s difficult to do that when you’re rushing about.When Nora first got her license, it took a good deal of effort for me to remain calm while a passenger in her car, but, over the years, I eventually settled down an
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The light hand rubbing on my back felt lovely as it slowly roused me from one of the deepest slumbers I’d had in some time. I rolled from my stomach onto my back and stretched my arms over my head while I opened my eyes and slowly brought the room into focus. I’d had a lovely dream about the house in days gone by and wasn’t quite ready to leave it.When I was finally able to identify the very handsome Lance’s smiling face, I sleepily smiled back while I continued to stretch. The feel of the thick velvet bedspread against my flesh was almost sensual to the point that I emitted a small moan of pleasure.“What time is it?” I asked with a voice that was still thick with sleep.“You slept the day away, my sleeping beauty,” he said in a low, lusty voice as he gently pulled a few stray curls from my face. “I came in several times to wake you, but you slept the sleep of the dead.”
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Not only was Lance taken aback when Nora and I entered the dining room, but so were the rest of the guests. I hadn’t counted on the fact that the word of his gift of the dress had spread. Instead of sending a private message to Lance that I wasn’t about to become one of his playthings, I’d announced it to the entire party.I’d unwittingly put myself in the limelight, once again.Lance made no comment about the dress as he held out my chair for me to sit next to him, but his eyes expressed his displeasure to the point that I questioned the wisdom of my actions.I caught Melanie’s intentionally loud whisper to her dinner neighbor; a very attractive woman named Donna Wright. She was a real estate agent who’d taken a liking to Melanie; which was how catty Melanie managed to get the invite for the weekend. “I knew that dress was too small for her. Nora’s a lot
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It was the wee hours of the morning before Lance had his fill of pleasuring me. It was amazing how selfless a lover he was. More than once, I was tempted to go all the way. It wasn’t just because I felt guilty about peaking so many times while his manhood was practically bursting with desire, but because I was beginning to long having him inside of me. To my surprise, when I literally begged him to enter me, he declined. He insisted that enjoying my body in that way was all the satisfaction that he needed and was enough to solidify the bonding between us. He then proceeded to state that we should save his penetration of me for our wedding night. I was so out in left field with desire that his words never registered correctly. I simply responded with a sigh.With Nora’s dress cradled in my arms, my naked body followed his equal nakedness to my room where he deposited me with the instructions that I take a long bath.&n
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We were all aghast when the ambulance staff pronounced that Melanie’s coma was severe enough for her to have brain damage and the possibility of her not coming out of it was great. They suspected that whoever had done this to her had left her for dead.The police insisted upon speaking to each guest privately. Suspicion was pointed in my direction when a few of the jealous and catty guests proceeded to announce that I was nowhere to be found when Melanie disappeared. To my relief , as well as my embarrassment, Lance came to my rescue when he confided that we were in a lover’s tryst. Nora followed up with my alibi by confirming that I’d gone to bed after hearing about Melanie’s disappearance. To my surprise and delight, my interview ended up being short and sweet. Not so for the other guests in the house.It felt like an eternity before the ambulance took her body away, and the police ceased t
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We stood beneath the grand house’s portico and watched the last guest’s car make its way down the long, tree-lined drive. The place felt eerily quiet after the recent drama and commotion. Nora asked to be excused so that she could lay down for a while. Unlike me, she had yet to go to bed since awakening the day before. On top of that, she was feeling the effects of the excessive partying as the alcohol left her system.We hadn’t had breakfast and it was approaching noon. Lance had given his staff the day off. He’d claimed that it was because they were traumatized by the violence on the premises, but I later discovered that it was because he wanted to be completely alone in the house with me and Nora when he explained just what it was that he needed us to do.“I am actually glad that it is just you and me right now,” he said as he pulled out a platter of meats for sandwiches from the oversized
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I awoke the following morning feeling satiated and happy. With a smile on my face and my eyes still closed, I reached for my husband, but his side of the bed was empty. Sitting up with a start, I looked around the room. There was no sign of him. Memories of Jason’s many sex filled visits in the night while he impersonated Lance - only to have him gone by dawn- came rushing back to me. Although I knew that Lance left for a different reason, it only slightly buffered my disappointment.With my brows knit together, I pulled the cord on the wall to summon Elsie. She’d barely opened the door when I snapped my demand for a bath to be made ready for me. The bed was filled with our sex. I used the time it took for the bath to be readied to burn the scent of it into my memory.I’d just immersed my body into the tub when my mother entered the room. She looked at the torn night gown as it lay where Lance had
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Elsie had just prepared me for bed when Lance knocked lightly on the door. She gave me a knowing smile as she swung it open and slid past him into the hallway.“Come in,” I said with a timid voice that surprised me.“I feel nervous,” he chuckled as he strode across the room and stood before me. “I fear that I have lost your favor for good.”At first I looked away. The little girl in me wanted to punish him, but the woman in me felt differently. Taking his face in my hands, I said, “I don’t know how to behave or how to feel. I’m angry and hurt and I truly don’t understand your ways.” I pulled his face to him and kissed him hard. “Don’t ask me why, but I’ve loved you almost from the minute I met you. Devil take me, but I can’t help it.”He grinned that same boyish grin that he’d worn through most of our marriage cer
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I awoke from my nap feeling refreshed and in a more positive state of mind. I’d reenacted my attempt to connect with my distant cousin, Anton, and believed I knew what I’d done wrong. I was eager to try again.Summoning Elsie to help me get into the contraptions that they considered proper attire - but, to me, were more like torture apparatus that I knew I’d never grow accustomed to- I hurriedly dressed for dinner and eagerly raced to the dining room.As soon as I entered the large room with its beeswax polished furniture and woodwork, I was grateful to Elsie for refusing to cut corners on my appearance in order to save time. There, sitting in the seat next to the one that was assigned to me was my newly acquired husband. I could feel the flush in my cheeks as I struggled to stop my heart from fluttering all over the inside of my chest as I did my best to casually approach my appointed spot at the table.Seeing me
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Magic and psychic are two different beasts, or so I’m told. Since I didn’t believe in either until I met Lance and he proved differently, I was like a child walking in a strange land. My father assured me that, although my magic was depleted, the lack of it would not impact my psychic abilities. They would be as strong as ever.“In fact, daughter,” he said with enthusiasm, “the more that you use your special skills, the stronger they will become.”The handicap for me was the fact that I had no idea how to use these so-called special skills that I’d only recently realized existed at all, let alone in me. The only exposure that I’d had to their use was when I’d sit down and get very quiet while trying to solve a case in hopes that the room or an object would speak to me either by way of words, ideas, or visions in my head. I never considered what I was doing to be anything special;
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I was starving. My father was a kind man, but he lacked the sense of proper etiquette when it came to entertaining. Even though I was his daughter, I was a stranger to the household. Therefore, it was up to him to offer me something to take the edge off my hunger. Fortunately, my mother was quick to make up for my father’s shortcomings and a spread that exceeded what I’d experienced at the Northrups each morning was set out. How they came up with such an array of food in such a short period of time was a mystery, but I didn’t bother to question it. I simply reveled in the abundance until my stomach could hold no more.I quickly learned that my mother was not one to mince words or waste time. We’d no sooner been served our food and drink when she demanded that the servants leave the room. She even went so far as to warn them that she would know if anyone was listening at the door and they would be se
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Feeling dejected and disillusioned with the Northrup family, I sat in the drawing room of my parent’s tobacco plantation home. It felt both good to be there as well as a bit odd and uncomfortable.I was admittedly stunned when my new husband opted to send me off in exile without him. He tried to explain that it would only be for a short time while he smoothed things over with his mother, but it didn’t sit well with me. Not one bit. I was of the opinion that he was cowering to her. Having assumed that I’d married a strong man, I found this fact disconcerting. The way that he and his father bent to her demands was outrageous. It was the type of behavior that I’d be hard pressed to encounter in modern times. Not from something as simple as upsetting the woman by pointing out her wrong doings.I was even more surprised to discover that Bart and Jason remained in the house while I was sent away.&n
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I stared into the pitch of night as I lay, naked, beside my sleeping husband. Our sex was a bit more aggressive and experimental than on our honeymoon night, but it was fulfilling and pleasurable. He’d opened my eyes to ways to pleasure ones partner as well as positions to assume during the process that I would have never thought possible. I found it fascinating how the same sexual acts, when performed with Lance, could seem natural and lovely when it felt so distasteful and wrong with Jason; even though I thought that he was Lance. My subconscious must have recognized the difference even if I didn’t.I surprised Lance by initiating some of the acts that Jason and I did. It wasn’t that I was into wide sexual variety so much as they were things that Jason had done to me and I wanted the memory of doing them with Lance to wipe out the memories of doing anything with Jason. I found the things that Jason had disgusted an
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The sun was winking ‘good morning’ to the world as it pushed itself away from the horizon by the time Lance returned to our bed. I had the question of what he’d discovered about the bath salts on the tip of my tongue, but it quickly rolled to the back of my throat as he kissed me long and hard while his hand explored and teased my womanhood in a way that immediately made me forget everything except the pleasure that he was giving me. It was as if he knew my body better than I did. His hands kneaded my well-formed breasts and his lips suckled my hardened nipples in a way that made me wild with ecstasy without him having to do anything else. When he finally did move down between my thighs and his tongue found my sensitive nub, I was sure that I’d go insane before he took pity on me and entered me fully. I had to swallow the screams of ecstasy that were coming at such a rate as to almost sound like a song in the wind. At one point, I covered
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I was eager to be alone with Lance. Not only because it was our wedding night, but because I wanted to speak with him in private about what I suspected was going on between his mother and his uncle. I also wanted to run my theory about Lilith’s gift of poisonous bath salts past him.Since I had no desire to ruin the mood for the evening, I decided to wait until after we’d exhausted ourselves by making love before broaching my theory about his brother being sired by his uncle with him.“If what you are saying is true,” he mused, “it would answer a lot of questions.” He sat up and ran his hand through his thick hair. “I cannot believe that my father and I missed this. Now that you have shed light on the matter, it is obvious. There have been so many signs. The most prominent one is the way my uncle favors Jason over me for no apparent reason.”“Now, you know the r
