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Chapter 9
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2021-09-02 07:26:46Very little was said between Lance and me for the next few hours. We were each deep in thought. Sensing that I needed my space, he made his way to a separate part of the house to allow me alone time to process all that I’d learned and all that he wanted of me.
When Nora finally came out of her room, she found me sitting on a lounge chair near the pool. Unlike the partiers from the day before, my body wasn’t filled with alcohol and I was feeling the cold nip in the air. Even though the pool was still ready and waiting for swimmers, I wasn’t about to use it. Instead, I’d grabbed an afghan from the back of a chair inside of the house and bundled myself into it while I breathed in the cool air and tried to think on what to do.
“Where’s Lance?” she asked as she lowered her body onto the lounge next to me. “I can’t believe I went swimming yesterday. It’s freezing.&rdqu
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I was more than a little nervous as I slipped into the nineteenth century apparel that Lance had produced. It was really happening. I was really going to go back in time. He was taking me back to the early nineteenth century.Since I came from a family of wealth and was marrying into wealth, I was required to dress accordingly. Although the billowing cotton skirt was tolerable, I couldn’t say as much for the tortuous corset or the hoop that swayed to and fro when I walked.Lance explained that most ladies rested their hands on their hips to help keep the swaying to a minimum when they moved about. It was all so taxing to deal with, let alone remember.The underdrawers were a surprise that made me giggle. They were literally made with a huge slit in the crotch. I couldn’t help joking with Nora about the ease in sneaking about with a lover. After which, I had to calm my body down as I considered how it wo
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Nora sat on the ugly yellow couch that I found so offensive. Her body was tense with anticipation. “You may not care for this couch, Esmerelda, but it’s super comfy.”Lance looked at me with mock dismay. “You don’t like the couch?”I shook my head. “I hate the color. It doesn’t go with the room.”“Maybe not, but it acts as a mighty fine anchor for the mirror,” he replied.“The mirror needs an anchor?” I gasped as I realized how little I knew about what we were about to do or the procedure in doing it.He nodded before giving his attention to Nora.Handing her the enchanted necklace, he went over what she was to say and the tone in which she was to say it several times to make sure that she had it right. One mistake could lock me in the past forever.I had no idea why he didn’t just bring me back, himself, when it was time,
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The dinner table had the capacity to sit twenty, but the diners consisted of only five; myself, Lance, his mother, Vivian, his father, Edward, and his evil uncle, Bart – who, to my surprise was Edward’s twin brother; born eight minutes after him. His brother, Jason, was not in attendance. The investigator in me wanted to know why, but, as I’d done so often since I’d met Lance just days earlier, I’d refrained from asking questions. It was quite out of character for me. Then, everything that I was doing lately was out of character.We were halfway through the meal when Lance finally asked the whereabouts of his younger brother, Jason. Since all family members were expected to attend dinner, it came as a surprise to everyone that he was not amongst them, but no fuss was made.Vivian demanded propriety at all times. She would wait for the appropriate time to find out why her son had not attended
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The first thing on my agenda was to correct the oversight that I’d made about how I was to return. I’d paid minimal attention to his instructions to Nora, but I did hear something about the necklace vibrating when it was time to bring me back to the future. I needed to find out what would make that necklace vibrate.I was the first to make my way to the dining room where a breakfast buffet had been set up on the oversized mahogany sideboard. My stomach shouted its need for sustenance as I lifted the covers off the dishes to investigate their contents. It reminded me of an elaborate brunch buffet at a five star restaurant.“Good morning, my love,” Lance said as he strode with regal confidence into the room and stood beside me. He looked surprisingly fresh after such a long night of love making. Kissing me on the temple, he asked, “Did you have a good night?” I was speechless.&nbs
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The house was in an uproar. Several weeks had passed with no sign of Lance’s younger brother, Jason. Vivian’s temper was at an all-time high over the fact that the rumors that he was somewhere on the plantation kept spreading, yet she was unable to present him to me. A woman who was devoted to family and tradition, the mere thought that he would miss Lance’s and my wedding was sending her into a frenzy.My fiancé, on the other hand, was more than a little relieved.“I was concerned that he would do something devious to try to stop us from getting married,” he said as he guided me to a nearby bench in the garden. “My parents are sticklers for tradition. If my birthday comes and goes without seeing me married and Jason manages to produce a wife, the inheritance goes to him.”“Have you found any mischief started by him?” I asked with both curiosity and conce
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I’d just settled into a soothing hot, lavender scented bath when, instead of relaxing, my stomach suddenly churned like it was making butter and my brain tried to beat its way out of my skull. I thought back over my day and realized that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Even breakfast wasn’t the usual for me. I’d had such a rigorous night of love making with Lance that I was almost too exhausted to lift my fork to my mouth.Because he enters my room after I’ve fallen asleep and wakes me with his lovemaking, my body and my mind don’t connect enough for me to have the presence of mind to speak to him about overdoing things. Especially because my fickle body tended to encourage him to do more and more. I needed to broach the subject when his hot, tantalizing nakedness wasn’t coupled with mine and I could think more clearly. I needed to speak with him in the light of day.It was my intention
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I was bedridden well into the afternoon before my limbs were steady enough to support me. Lance was good enough to carry me to the tub so that, with Jasmine’s help, I could bathe away the sweat and vomit in a most welcomed rose scented bath. He surprised me by depositing me into the tub and then leaving to wait outside of my bedroom door until Jasmine called him back in to carry me back to bed. After so many nights of passionate love making, I was sure that he knew every inch of my body. His display of polite chivalry where my modesty was concerned felt out of place.He sat with me for a while during the day and even played a few games of checkers with me.To both my surprise and annoyance, Jasmine never left the room. I longed for the privacy needed to speak on certain topics with him. At one point, I suggested that she go rest while Lance was with me, but he claimed the necessity to exercise propriety for his mother&rsq
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I stood on the opposite side of the drawing room door and debated on what to do. In the short time that I’d allowed her, Jasmine had done her best to get me dressed in something easy to put on, but presentable as well as fashioned a hairstyle that was passable for daytime entertaining. After peeking through the crack of the not fully closed door and seeing how glamorous Lilith looked from behind, I questioned my wisdom in hurrying downstairs.I put my ear close to the small opening to listen to their conversation.“My dear Lance, we would have made such a wonderful couple,” Lilith said in a pouty voice that made my skin crawl.I could have sworn that I saw Lance shudder. “I am sure that we would have, Lilith, my dear, but you know that my heart has always been with Esmerelda.”“Is it your heart?” she asked, “Or, is it the fact that the Sleuth family carries powerful magic?
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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 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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