A Bride For The Whole Family(29)

"Snakes?" Diana glanced up at him.

"This is bayou country. There's plenty of cotton mouths around," he answered. "But don't worry. Like I said the water is plenty cold, too cold for them. But on a hot summer's day, this pond beats the hell out of a swimming pool. Lorraine and I often sneak away from the house during the summer for a little skinny dippin'."

Diana laughed. It was quite easy for her to picture her father-in-law and his sexy wife swimming nude in the pond. He might be in his fifties, but he still presented a virile image. The humor, however, was Diana's mental images of Bryan, Paula and Kate doing exactly the same thing without the knowledge of their parents. This quiet, little pond had probably been the scene for more than one of the sexual romps the threesome had shared.

"Your home really is something special," she commented, as they paused, leaning against the trunk of one of the towering trees.

"We think so," Michael One smiled at her. "There's a lot here to work with and we're always finding something new, some remnant of this estate's history."

"Like those cellars they used to keep runaway slaves in until passage north could be arranged?" Diana asked.

"Mmmm hmmmm," he nodded, gazing out over the pond. "Or some buried wagon wheel. Or like those andirons for the den's fireplace. I found them while the workmen were digging this pond. There must have been another house out here at one time. Perhaps a guest house. If not, then I discovered the Duvalle's old trash dump."

She chuckled with him at the thought of the antique andirons once being someone else's garbage.

"This whole place is like the house," he continued.

"Full of those quirks you mentioned last night?" she asked.

"Right," he smiled at her, his eyes locking to hers. "Did you know that the house has secret passages?"

"Yes…" she suddenly stopped.

It hit her all at once, like a ton of bricks!

Her father-in-law's eyes flashed with a devilish glint.

He knew!

And she knew!

The man in the alcove had answered to the name Michael last night! He had sounded like her husband! Michael One sounded like her Michael!

They were both the same size. The similarities were unbelievable!

"You!" she gasped. "It was you!"

Her hand lashed out, fully intent on slapping her father-in-law's face.

It was silly, a childish reaction. But at the moment, it was all that she could think of; all she could do to relieve the anger and the embarrassment that flushed through her body.

But even that was ineffectual!

His own arm jumped up and grasped her wrist. Her anger growing, she slapped out with her other arm. Which again, he blocked, raising both her arms above her head and pinning them firmly against the rough trunk of the magnolia. She struggled, twisting to free herself, but he held her solidly.

"You bastard! It was you!" she spat. "You were the man last night! You …you…rapist!"

He chuckled and grinned at her, "Rapist?"

"Yes, you son of a bitch!" she grunted, still trying to wrench her wrist free of his one vise-like hand.

"Come now," he chided, his eyes laughing with amused delight. "Surely you don't expect me to believe that. I doubt whether you've been able to convince yourself that it was rape!"

Her knee lashed out, directed toward his groin. A measure he had apparently been anticipating, since he easily sidestepped the would-be painful thrust and laughed, obviously enjoying the position he held his daughter-in-law in.

"My dear Diana, you wanted it as every bit as much as I did," he grinned lewdly down at her, knowing. "You never so much as tried to get away from me. And I know you could tell I wasn't my son."

She kicked out again, but it was a vain effort. He was now positioned beside her, out of reach.

"You bastard!" she hissed, renewing her struggle to get away from his hand, but he held her tight "I only did as you asked," he continued smiling at her. "As a matter of fact, I didn't do a damn thing until you asked me to. Unless you want to count my copping a feel of those marvelous tits of yours."

Again she twisted and writhed and again her struggles received the same results. Nothing!

"And you can't tell me you didn't enjoy it as much as I did," he went on. "My God, girl, you had one of the strongest climaxes I've ever seen in a woman!"

"No! That was not rape," he concluded. "One of the farthest things from rape I've ever seen!"

"Yesss!" she hissed. "It was! You raped me!"

"No," he answered simply, as he reached up and tightly grasped her chin with his free hand. "No."

His head dipped forward.