Red Wine For Miss Parker(24)

He lit a candle by the bedside and glanced at a small clock on his bed-side table.

Burglars? Here? He did not believe it. But what had gotten the dogs into such a state?

He heard the soldiers talking amongst each other from somewhere near the shore, but they were too far away for Francesco to make out what they were saying.

A few moments later there was a knock on his door.

"What is it?"

"Signore, signore! C'è una ragazza! There's a girl!" the head-footman's voice sounded through the thick wooden door.

"A what?"

"A girl!"

"Where? What? Open the door so I can hear you properly."

The door opened and the man's head protruded through the opening.

"Signore, there's a girl come in a boat! She says she wants to see you?"

"A girl came in a boat? Who is she?" Francesco, still in bed, sat bolt upright.

"Her name is Flora."

The prince stared at his servant in utter disbelief. "Is this a joke?"

"No! No, Signore, she's in a boat down by the shore! It is true, I swear!" The man nodded emphatically.

"Get out. I'll be right down."

Francesco jumped out of his bed, rushed towards the door, found that he was stark naked and screamed for his valet.





A few minutes later, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt he raced through his garden towards the shore and, like a fairy from a tale, there she sat, in a white nightgown with her dark hair framing her pretty face.

"Via, via! Go away!" he shouted to his soldiers who ran away like scattered geese. It was much darker instantly, but the bright moonlight was enough for him.

"There you are…" she said in a resigned tone but she did not look at him.

"There I am? Flora, are you— ? Of course I am here, I live here, but why are you here?"

She nodded a little to herself.

Then she finally looked up at him with her large eyes, blinked a few times and said "I have to tell you that I don't love you." She nodded some more and pursed her lips.

Her words hurt like a knife, but there was something odd about the way she spoke.

"Flora, are you drunk?"

"Yes, I think I am. I think I am rather drunk."

He sighed. "Flora…"

"You've never called me that before, you know, you've always called me Miss Parker, I think, and Miss Parker I shall remain until the day I die, just so you understand, I don't want to marry you!" She was shivering. The thin material of her nightgown moved against her breasts and he could see the nipples pushing through the cloth.

He was at once so aroused that he forgot all the proprieties. He took hold of her hand and pulled her into a standing position, then he lifted her out of the boat and set her to the ground in front of him.

"I'm being carried a lot recently…" she commented in mid-motion. "By you, by Surrey, everybody seems to want to carry me… It must be because I'm such a lightweight object."

"Yes," the Prince said hoarsly.

She held on to him, obviously not able to stand on her own very well.

Is she that drunk or is she shaking from her little boat trip?

"You know, I really had to come after today's events," she went on. "I did not want you to think that I was having silly girls' dreams about marrying you."

"I never thought that," he managed to say. He felt her hands on his chest. He wanted to feel them everywhere.

"No? You didn't?" she gazed inquiringly up at him. "That's strange."

There was that perfume again! Lillies of the valley and something else. It was mouthwatering and intoxicating. Francesco had not much patience left in his suffering body, his loins were aching with desire for her.

"We have to go inside," he whispered.

"Oh, do we?" Flora turned away as if she wanted to start out towards the house, but Francesco held her by the shoulders.

"No, actually we don't."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hotly on the mouth, bearing down on her, releasing the violent craving that had built up in him ever since that fateful night at the opera.

She was at first completely stiff, but it did not last long, only a second later she was melting against him, answering his kiss. A wave of sheer joy rushed through him. She wanted him too!

And so he lay her down in the grass, a few yards away from the shore. Her arms were reaching up around his neck, her fingers were in his hair.

He released her lips for a moment.

"I don't care if you don't love me."

"But I do, I think, at least, I don't know anymore what I'm feeling… ," she breathed. "I just don't want to marry you… I can't marry you! You're a Karlsburg and I'm just a baronet's daughter."

He was above her. Feeling her tender body beneath him, warm and ready. But he had not forgotten her passionate speech in the morning so he thought he should not push her.