Fourteen

“DO YOU KNOW how to dance?” he asked unexpectedly when they finished coffee, which wasn’t anything like she had had at home, more bitter than she was used to. She also ate a few of these little sweets that were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, made of egg whites, sugar, and almonds, was how he explained it. The taste and texture just delighted her so much it surprised her out of her daze. He said it was called priests’ bellybuttons because of the shape when she quizzed him more about it. She got into a kind of daze as he answered her questions like he really wanted to and enjoyed doing so. She was finding out how much she loved receiving his attention. It was still a wonder how she could have been in this place right now with him. She still couldn’t believe it, but he was there. And for the moment, that was what was important.
From there, their conversation turned to gatherings she used to go to.
“I sometimes dance in the village dances,” she told him. “But I am only allowed to dance with my brothers, and I can only dance as much. I’m sure it isn’t like the dances in the ballrooms of the nobility.”
“It is not exactly the same, but I’m sure the village dances are also enjoyable. Will you dance with me? I will teach you some.”
“But we don’t have music!”
The Baron grinned. “I have a talent for humming.”
She laughed. “Alright, if you really want to suffer, my... Fabian.” She laughed again because he made a face before she could make another mistake. “I would like to learn a little of your ballroom dance.”
They did not have to leave the hall. As the servants started to put an order on the dining table, Fabian instructed her about the steps of the minuet near the bay windows where the breeze entered from the gardens. Adalene learned fast and soon, as he hummed music she only heard for the first time, they danced. She basked in the exhilaration of being in his arms. He stopped humming for a moment and listened to her, when she hummed with him, looking like he enjoyed the moment as she was.
Adalene couldn’t remember a time when she had felt so close to a human being she had only met, and someone who was so far from her lowly station in life. Was she only dreaming?
Soon, Fabian led her to another room that looked like a miniature of the parlor on the first floor. He made her sit on a huge, snow-white couch. He asked for a cool drink from a servant for both of them and they must have expected this because the maid came back in just a moment with a pitcher and tall glasses in an elegant wooden tray that would have been a decoration on their tiny cottage instead of an everyday kitchen commodity.
They were again left alone.
She sighed. And Fabian noticed. “Why?” he asked.
She smiled at him, shyly, but she also replied. “This life... is like a dream to me. It isn’t real.”
He took a seat on the other side of the couch as he held his glass of juice and watched quietly as she sipped from hers. It made her very self-conscious. He had such male eyes. They made her heart falter and her face warm. No other man could make her feel this sensitive and aware.
“You are so beautiful that it doesn’t seem real...” he said softly.
She blinked. “What?”
“The first time I saw you was when you turned to me this morning from your mother’s arms, and your eyes and cheeks were wet with tears. You looked like a freckled-faced angel.” He smiled. “And I felt horrified when I realized who you were going to marry. Louis Didier has a very questionable reputation. I must save you.”
“You did... you saved me.” For now. And I am so very grateful.
He nodded as if he heard what she thought. “Now, I only want to seduce you and claim you... and not ever return you to your husband.”
She took a deep, calming breath. “Are you asking me to become your mistress?”
He stared at her but did not speak.
She was relieved when he had to drink from his own glass and had to take his eyes down. She knew well enough that silence meant yes. A mistress. His mistress. No honor to her name. No honor to her family.
She began to imagine what it would be like to be the Baron’s mistress. And compared to being Louis Didier’s wife, anything miserable that could come off being with this man must be heaven. She recoiled from even thinking about Louis, though she must not because she was married to him.
It was so terrifying. She did not know what to think.
Soon, both glasses sat empty on the tray. She knew they were both waiting for the next thing to happen.
“Adalene-”
“I learned a little something from the maid,” she suddenly said. She looked towards the door and asked. “They will not come in until you summon them. Is that right?”
“Right,” he replied with his eyes brooding. As if he already knew what she was thinking.
She looked back at him pleadingly. “Let me do this. I want to know if I can do it.”
His eyes silently watched her as she stood up, and she kneeled in front of his knees as he sat on the couch. She opened his thighs and placed herself between them, and then started to loosen the strings to his breeches.
He was breathing steadily but deeply as he moved his hips when she slid them down his muscled torso, down his thighs to his feet, where he lost them to the floor so he could open his thighs to her again.
His hard cock sprang out, aroused and hard already.
Her eyes went wide at the thickness and length of him again. He looked beautiful and virile in the soft light of the candles.
She gulped.
“So what did the maid teach you?” he whispered, his voice already rough. “I am very curious.”