Authors: Miranda Powers
“And were you?”
“What?”
“Going to come over and tell me?”
“I told you; I was thinking about it.”
She climbed down from Persephone and hitched the reins to the gate.
“I still don’t know your name.”
“That’s because I haven’t told you.”
She sat on a straw bale making sure she kept a proper distance between herself and the stranger.
“The way you looked after that boy… I have to say I was impressed. I think you must have had some medical training.”
“No… it’s something I picked up out of necessity.”
“Are you always so enigmatic?”
“Are you always so nosey?”
She laughed. “I suppose I am.”
Diana looked out across the fields and inhaled the sweet smell of straw. She turned her head to see the stranger looking at her.
“What?” she said.
“You shouldn’t be out here on your own. There are footpads and mountebanks about; it’s not safe for a young woman.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She reached into her riding jacket pocket and pulled out a small pistol. “And I have this.”
The stranger looked at it and smiled. “It may be enough to scare off some but not all.”
“How would you know… do you know any villains? Or are you one yourself? You’re a smuggler so of course you will know some villains. Would this pistol frighten you?”
The stranger stood up and put one foot on the straw bale beside Diana. “Would you use it?”
“I think so, if necessary.”
“Yes, I think you would.” He put his foot back down on the ground, leaned down and kissed her on her lips.
She didn’t resist. She felt her heart quicken. He wasn’t the dashing captain in her fantasy who would take her virtue in the hay field. He was an enigmatic stranger, a smuggler and goodness knows what else and this field was straw, not hay. But he was handsome and strong and after four long years married to Sir Reginald she craved some excitement.
He stood up and looked at her. She put the pistol on the straw bale. Stood up and slapped his face.
“How dare you?”
“You didn’t shoot me,” he said with a laugh rubbing his cheek.
“You took a risk… I may have done.”
He ran his finger down the side of her head under her top hat, over her ear, down her neck to her shoulder and stopped just above her left breast.
She looked into his dark brown eyes and saw something there that was honest and gentle.
His finger continued down until it ran slowly over her breast and stopped at the nipple.
She took a deep breath as her lips parted.
He leaned forward and kissed her again on the lips.
This time when he broke off she didn’t slap him, she just looked into his eyes wondering if he would go further and if he did, would she stop him?
The clock in the orphanage tower struck eleven.
She soon answered her question.
Deftly with one hand, he unbuttoned the top of her riding jacket, then the next button and then the next until it opened to reveal her white silk shirt.
He gently took the cameo brooch from her cravat and slipped it into her jacket pocket.
Diana stood still, looking into his eyes. She must make a decision, stop now or, what? Would he dare make love to her here in this field? The captain in her fantasy did, but this was real.
The stranger dropped the cravat on a straw bale and turned his attention to her silk shirt. Starting at the top button he eased each one from its eye until her shirt lay open to reveal her camisole.
His hand slipped down the top of the camisole and took her nipple in his fingers.
She felt herself getting damp below.
Where the bales were stacked on three sides of a square, the centre had loose straw scattered. The open end of the square faced the hedgerow. The stranger took Diana by the hand and led her into the centre. She didn’t resist or try to cover herself.
He held her arms tenderly and lowered her to the ground. She submitted willingly.
He lay beside her and kissed her lips. She kissed him back with a passion that she’d subdued inside her and had never escaped during her ordeals under Sir Reginald.
His hands roamed her breasts and then slipped down her leg. She felt it on the outside of her riding boot as it crawled up her leg, over the top of her boot and continued up her silk stocking until it reached her silk pantaloons with their laced bottoms.
His tongue slipped into her mouth and sought hers. She felt him against her side, hard and ready. She’d had sex once a week for four years but had never felt the passion she had now. She longed for him to throw up her skirt, pull down her pantaloons and enter her.
She felt his hand on the outside of her pantaloons between her legs. She knew he would feel the wetness there. Her heart beat like an African drum. She couldn’t stand it any longer. Her hands went to his belt buckle and unclipped it. She couldn’t unfasten the top button of his trousers, so she gave it a yank and the buttons popped off. He wore no underwear.
She took him in her hand pulling up and down.
He grabbed her skirt and lifted it up, took her pantaloons in both hands and whipped them down to her ankles. And then he straddled her.
She looked down at his erection. She had little experience of them, but this one looked so big and she desperately wanted it inside her, now
Diana raised her head to see it go in. It felt so different than Sir Reginald’s. For a start, it was bigger. The stranger was in control of his and after the initial thrust she felt it go all the way up inside her. He almost withdrew but with gentle thrusting kept its head around her clitoris, sending her into spasms of delight.
He kissed her lips and then her neck, all the time pumping gently.
Diana hadn’t been counting, but she knew he’d been going for longer than Sir Reginald’s two and a half minutes. She felt with the stranger what she had only felt when she resorted to self-help in the bath, but this was much better than self-help.
His gentle thrusting became harder, his breathing heavier. She knew she wasn’t far off orgasm, her first with a man. The force of his thrusting shook her whole body. She didn’t want it to stop. Harder and harder he thrusted. Her pantaloons were preventing her from opening her legs wider. She forced her legs apart, felt and heard the garment rip and free her legs. She wrapped them round his back as his thrusting was now so intense she thought he must surely climax soon.
He slowed and for what seemed like ages due to the intensity, he slowly pushed up and down bring her to the very limit but easing each time he sensed her on the brink of orgasm.
Diana heard the orphanage clock strike a quarter past.
The stranger continued to bring her so close and then eased. She felt delirious with passion.
Diana could not hold out any longer and like an electric shock convulsing through her body followed by a sense of being in a warm bath, she achieved her first orgasm with a man.
And then he reached his climax within seconds of her. She felt it gush inside her triggering sensations that she didn’t even know existed.
He lay on top of her. She felt him shrinking inside her. Sir Reginald had never stayed long enough inside for her to feel that.
They said not a word to each other as he lay on top of her and after a few minutes he rolled to his side, keeping his arms around her, holding her tight.
She looked into those dark brown eyes. She had no shame or guilt. For the first time in her life, she had made love, and now she realized the difference between having sex and making love. How had this stranger managed to reach into her soul like he had? She had no idea, but she knew she wanted him again and again.
The orphanage clock struck half past.
The stranger stood up. He laughed when he couldn’t fasten his trouser buttons because they were missing. He managed to close the gap with his tightened belt.
He offered Diana a hand and pulled her to her feet.
She rearranged her clothing including her ripped pantaloons.
They looked at each other. He kissed her on the forehead, then the cheek and then on the lips.
“Til we meet again,” he said.
“When… where?”
“When destiny brings us together again.”
“Buggar destiny. I want to see you again.”
He laughed, and with that he vaulted the gate and disappeared into the woods leaving Diana flushed and wondering how the hell had she allowed him to take advantage of her.
Chapter 3
“And how is young Charlie today,” said Diana to the fat women at the orphanage side entrance.
“He’s doing well.”
“Has the doctor seen him?”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Diana noticed how the woman’s attitude towards her had changed considerably with the knowledge that her job depended on it.
Diana found Charlie lying on his bed in the dormitory. His leg had a proper splint professionally fitted, and a little colour had come back to cheeks that yesterday were deathly pale.
“How are you Charlie?” she said.
“Hello Miss. I’m good thanks. Did he tell you?”
“Oh, you mean the man who put the splint on you?”
“That’s right Miss.”
“Yes, he did. I don’t seem to recall his name though, remind me.”
“He hasn’t got a name Miss.”
“That’s silly. Everyone has a name.”
“Well, I didn’t mean he actually had no name, it’s just that nobody other than his old comrades use it. I don’t know why.”
“Old comrades?”
“Yes Miss. He was in Wellington’s army.”
“Why such a mystery?”
“Dunno Miss… but yer don’t ask questions when someone don’t want to be known.”
“Interesting! Do you know where he lives?”
“He don’t live nowhere, Miss. I mean, like, he stays in different places most of the time in case the Revenue are after ‘im. He does spend a lot of time at the theatre though.”
“The theatre? Is he friendly with an actress there?” Diana felt her cheeks flush with jealousy.
“No Miss. He likes the theatre. Don’t say I told you Miss, but he has customers there.”
“Customers? What sort of customers?”
“Can’t say Miss. Won’t say Miss if you’ll beg my pardon.”
“Interesting. It seems this man is something of a scoundrel.”
“No Miss. He’s a good ‘un. Everyone says so.”
“Maybe so Charlie… maybe so.”
“Look Miss, I haven’t got anything to give you but this.” He reached under his pillow and pulled out a piece of wood carved beautifully into a small bird.
“Where did you get this Charlie, it’s beautiful.”
“I made it Miss.”
“Really? It’s so good you could get money for it rather than give it to me.”
“I would like you to have it Miss, as a thank you.”
Diana choked back a tear. This young boy had nothing but his talent, and he wanted to give her something in return for her kindness. She knew she should accept it and kissed him on the forehead.
She smiled to herself as she rode home. The stranger without a name. She must discover his secret. It made her smile even more to realize that her fantasy, where she was taken advantage of by a Captain in Wellington's army in a hay field, had come true. The tiny detail of it being straw instead of hay did not matter one jot. And he probably wasn’t a Captain but those were just details.
***
Diana sat at her dressing table brushing her long blond hair thinking about the day’s events and the stranger. The carved bird had pride of place next to her jewel box.
“Excuse me Ma’am,” said Jane, Diana’s lady’s maid, bobbing a curtsey in her long black skirt, white apron and white h
at
. “I took the washing down to the laundry room and couldn’t help noticing your pantaloons are ripped at the… at the crotch. Would you like me have them repaired or discarded?”
Diana thought for a moment. “Jane, I think they are too tight and restrictive. Have them sewn but leave a gap, so they don’t restrict me if I ride my horse other than side saddle. I understand that in the old days that is how women wore their underwear to assist when they had to go to… well you know.”
She caught Jane’s look of surprise and then her knowing smile.
“Yes, Ma’am. Would you like your other pantaloons the same?”
“I think not Jane. The one pair should suffice.”
***
Diana rode into the gypsy encampment, side saddle scattering three mangy dogs and a flock of chickens. She found the ancient Carlotta sitting on the steps of her green caravan with its garish paintings of roses all around the lower part. The old woman picked the leaves off a herb or plant of some description that Diana didn’t recognize.
“May I have a word,” said Diana.
Carlotta stood up and beckoned Diana to enter the caravan.
Inside the smell was of lavender. As always it was spotlessly clean with highly polished brass and copper all around.
“Have you come for more of the potion?”
“No, I still have enough for several weeks.”
“He’s not that active then is he?”
“Not with me.”
“Then how can I help you?”
“It’s about the potion. When I take it, if I had already conceived, would it harm the child?”
“You won’t conceive if you take the potion.”
“Yes, I know that. But please, would it harm the baby if I were already pregnant when I took it.
“No. It stops you getting pregnant, but it won’t stop you from being pregnant if you already are. Does that help?”
“Yes. And when I first came here, you said it was active for up to twelve hours. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s what I said. That’s what it does.”
“So if I had… if I…”
“If you did it after twelve hours you may or may not get pregnant. It depends on the usual cycle for a woman. Does that help?”
“It does. Thank you.”
Chapter 4
“How was Mariah?” said Sir Reginald at dinner on Monday evening. Diana found him in a jovial mood.
“I didn’t get the opportunity to visit her. We came across an orphan boy with a broken leg and had to take him to the orphanage.”
“You shouldn’t go bothering with people like that. Let them look after their own.”