The afternoon passed into evening and still the guest was with them. Throughout the day, her lord would not let her leave their company. Every excuse she made, he met with a counter she could not refute or he bid her perform some menial task that would keep her close at hand, even though the milling servants could have done it just as well. She would not defy protocol to change or even delegate his orders.

She knew he liked to flaunt her as his lady. She was indeed a beauty, poised and well-spoken. Her confidence was evident in her easy grace, whether in motion or at rest. She could speak on nearly any topic and entertain with flawless courtesy. She also knew how to display her lord's most precious possession. She knew how to stand to allow soft candlelight to caress her bosom, pressed full by her bodice. She knew how to dress and where to position herself such that strong light would silhouette her form, even beneath layers of fabric.

All afternoon and evening, she let her mind wander, as was often the necessity. She grew weary of her lord and his guest while they discussed business, current events, sport and the rest she'd barely heard. Yet never did she miss an opportunity to add to their little afternoon or to respond when addressed. It was so easy, but so very tedious, to indulge her lord's quirk of insisting on her company, mostly just for show.

She'd had much time to observe most candidly over the rim of her teacup. This guest was not without his charm. He was younger than her lord and built more sturdy, it seemed to her. She had hours, by minutes at a time, to get to know every visible portion of the man and she liked what she saw. She liked his look so much, in fact, that to entertain her numbing mind, she began to undress their guest, in her mind's eye alone, of course.

As she exercised her courtly duties on the still surface, the waters beneath began to churn. Her merely pleasant, outward smile was inwardly a flash of her blue eyes and a moistening of her lips with a stealthy tongue. As she bent discreetly to fill the quest's goblet, her fantasy-self knelt beside him and leaned in to let him leer onto the contents of her cramped bodice, while she brushed his taut muscular thigh.

None of this was shared with her lord or the guest. She was certain to hide her little play from them. She was certain that all her actions were cordial and pristine.

Finally the last of the sun slipped behind the trees. The staff had lit candles all about the study to which her lord and his guest had retired, bidding her along, of course. As they entered, she made another attempt to leave their company. At last she was permitted to escape, for only a moment, he said. She took her time ambling out to her task and slowly wandering back toward the study.

When she put on her hostess smile and stepped back into the room, she was surprised to see only her lord leaning casually against the mantle. "Have we lost our companion?" she asked.

A soft voice came from immediately behind her. "No, I'm still with you." The guest must have needed to be excused as well, she thought. Now he rejoined them, but my, wasn't he standing awfully close to her, more than social graces would permit? She stood stock still. Her brow arched toward her lord and husband. Had he no reaction to this man's familiarity? It was readily apparent that he did not, for the man behind her slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her back against him. He did so with such force that to save her balance, her hands came up to grasp over his as they continued to encircle her. Her eyes flashed at her lord. He merely grinned and took another sip from a short glass of brandy.

"I beg your pardon," she scowled at her lord then turned the frown over her shoulder at the quest, "But I think this is unfitting and I ask that you release me... sir."

His answer was first a nuzzle beneath the tendrils of her hair and a kiss along her neck, then, a whisper there. "I think not. I think your eye has been on me all afternoon and I think perhaps you'd like to try me." Her mind skimmed the day. Had there, at any time, been anything that she had done to precipitate this remark? She was sure there wasn't. She was sure it was a pre-plan on their part or conjecture or... "Yes, dear lady." His voice was now warm against her ear. "I have talents you have not yet seen and one you could never see." He tilted his head and kissed along the nape of her neck. It would have been difficult to say whether her woeful gaze to her lord was a plea for help or the twist of pleasure at their companion's touch. The fellow's hands rose up her ribs and crested the fullness of her bodice until his warm fingertips caressed her smooth swells. His voice grew even more quiet or was it only a whisper in her mind? "You have already bent to tease me with this treasure." Immediately she recalled her little fantasy of pressing her chest against his thigh, while affording him a view.

He now chuckled against her shoulder. "Yes, that was it."

He could read her mind?! For pity sake, she'd been having such thoughts of him for hours! And he'd been privy to them? All her careful concealment went for naught if this one could read her fanciful--- and he was likely still reading. Never had she felt so naked than with her mind laid bare.

She looked down to see their guest's fingers undoing the laces of her bodice. Her lord left his glass on the mantle and strode to join them, very closely, veritably pinning her between them.

"Please," she began to shiver as the two men worked her bodice loose and then open. "I shall have purged my mind of such thoughts and ne'er again would I dare--"

"Sssshhh, my love." Her lord bent to kiss her forehead lightly. "There is no punishment in this. Our guest assures me that this is your deepest wish and so, my dearest lady, we intend to grant it."

Now her face was flushed with heat. She stood between them with her breasts revealed but feeling much more exposed because they knew her thoughts. That was the worst, they were right. She'd had these very thoughts, fleetingly perhaps, but still a curiosity over how it might be for this handsome guest to pleasure her while her lord looked on.

With a gulping swallow, she could speak again. "My lord," she searched his eyes and found not a trace of animosity in them, "Here in the study? Should we not at least take this to some more private room?" In truth, she was stalling for time. Yes, she wanted this, in a way, but still was so frightened by the prospect and surprised... or was it overwhelmed and thrilled? Her pulse beat wildly as the guest stepped back from her, even while her lord leaned forward to explore her mouth with a deep kiss. She broke from the kiss when she heard the doors close with a thud behind her. Her eyes searched again for her lord's sincerity. He seemed at peace with this arrangement.

"No, this room will suffice." He turned from her then and loosened his cuffs and collar on his way to the large desk at one side of the hearth. He reached across it and swept everything from it. Papers and writing instruments, ink well and wax, all went flying into the air before settling on the floor in disarray. He then leaned back against the desk after he removed his coat and lay it aside. He was handsome but further dashing with his open shirt. What a devious grin now graced his features.

Meanwhile, their guest had removed his coat too and pulled his shirt from the waist of his breeches. The lady stood frozen, having watched her lord's actions with some alarm. The guest brought her back around though. She felt the warmth of him once more and his arousal, though still bound, pressed against the small of her back. She gasped and stepped away, unwittingly toward the desk, only to be caught up in her lord's arms.

"Careful, my love. You don't want to appear too anxious."

"Anxious?" Anxious?! she echoed in her own whirling thoughts. Perhaps frightened half out of her wits but... but beneath that was an exhilaration she could not ignore. How was this different from him putting her on display for their visitor, for insisting that she remain with them every moment? Hadn't she earned a few pleasures for going along and being such a good sport? Indeed, anxious, but the fear began to fade.

Her discomfiture relaxed and she took her own taste of her lord's lips while her hands slipped beneath his open shirt to feel that his heartbeat was quickened as well.

"Ah!" said the guest as he joined them. "I think she begins to see her advantage."

The lady was pressed more firmly against her lord's body as their companion knelt behind her. His hands pushed up beneath her skirts. His fingers traced up her undergarments and firmly grasped her buttocks through them. Her eyes flashed at her lord as the guest's hands began to slide her undergarments to her ankles. He prompted her to step out of them and so she did, leaning into her lord who still rested back against the cleared desk.

When the guest rose to stand, he was molded to her body, even more she could feel the pressure of his stiffened member at the small of her back. She was sure that he stood in only his loose shirt now. She need only look aside to the pile of clothing on the floor to verify this. With her head turned, the guest buried a bite in her neck, causing her to gasp and falter into her lord's support.

"So," the guest's voice was against her shoulder, even though he addressed her lord, "What shall we do with her first?"

Some signal the lady did not see, stepped the guest back a pace. Then her lord slid his hands over her shoulders to push her sleeves downward, revealing her further and at the same time, trapping her arms at her sides. He turned her around to face the guest. She could not help but take in the man before her, standing bare-legged and with his arousal not at all concealed by the tail of his loose shirt.

With a surprised gasp, she was lifted to the surface of the desk. Her lord settled her there on her back. He bent over to kiss her and she gave him a passionate response with her mouth. He drifted to kiss her jawline and then her throat. His hands began to gently knead her breasts, eventually cupping a nipple up to be caressed by his hot tongue. This would have been enough to make her gasp but it was magnified as she felt another pair of hands pushing up her skirts again.

The guest parted her legs and crawled upon the desk. He looked at the lady, over the bent form of her lord who was lost in the pleasure of her soft mounds. The man above her said no words but mouthed a message to her, 'I know.' Surely he did. Surely he knew she was afraid but burning with excitement.

Her lord left his attention to her breasts and kissed her cheek, following it with the brush of his fingers. She watched him step back. She watched him take a stance, cross his arms, and set himself to observe. With her head turned this way, she was only vaguely aware as their guest crawled more completely over her. She closed her eyes as his hair fell across his shoulders and brushed her skin while he dipped to nuzzle into her breasts himself.

The lady could not see the guest's position between her thighs, for all the fabric in between, but she felt him when he pushed against her. One hand disappeared behind the bundle of clothing and she felt fingers gently teasing her, testing her. A soft gasp slid from her lips, then a swift intake of breath as his fingers pushed more firmly to guide him in. Once more she turned to look at her lord, who seemed to be taking in the entire scene with some pleasure, judging from his grin.

Her concentration was pulled back to the man now within her, for his hands pulled her legs up around him as he began his strokes. Thereafter, the lady thought of little else but the force between her thighs, giving and taking, quenching and rekindling her own heat. The guest's mouth was also devouring her neck. She heard his hissed words or was it merely a thought he'd implanted, "I know."

Know, he did. Whenever he felt her nearly crest, he changed his pace. He teased her until she thought she would go mad. At last a "Please" escaped her in a voice as dry as parchment. Her fingers were splayed upon the desk but white with the force she applied. She needed to beg for release but also enjoyed being lost in this interim. Her thighs began to shiver, holding so tightly against him. Very soon, it would not matter what her partner did or did not do, she would burst from her own body's tension.

In a thought, one of the few she managed from this chaos in her body, she tried to reach the mind of this man. She begged him for release. She wasn't sure if her message was received or not, until he paused completely embedded within her. She looked up to find him gazing at her. He locked her there and she could not close her eyes, even as he began his thrusts again. It was with purpose and intense power that he now commanded her body. It was as if he could feel every sense from her and met it with precision.

She saw him nod, ever so slightly and his eyes darkened before closing. Hers closed too, as his next swelling thrust caught her up in a wrenching wave, simultaneously grasping him to force their mutual release. The man's groan rolled through her but not nearly so much as his pulsing within. He granted her pleading wish.

As they both collapsed upon the desk, the doors to the study closed audibly again. Lady and guest looked up to see that they'd been left alone now in the room. The lady had a moment of worry from the fog but the guest brushed his fingers across her brow. "He enjoyed the performance, but now it's done. And to you I owe a copper."

"Beg pardon? A copper for what?" She was about to feel insulted.

"Dear lady," The guest leaned to kiss her cheek and whispered with a grin "...for your thoughts."

(Click on candle to return to the Great Hall)

Hall of Innocence

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Part 1   Part 2
Strawberry Blush
Hidden Talent