First Down

by Paula Mabbel

  “Are you ready, Son?” his father asked when he finally emerged at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Do you just live next to the stairs now or something?” Gregory snapped.

  “You are such a delight in the morning. It’s a wonder how you are not married already,” his father said sarcastically as he started to walk out of the house.

  “That’s hilarious, Father,” Gregory snapped again as he followed him out into the bitter chill of morning.

  The horses had already been brought to the front of the house by the stable boy, and even they looked cold as they stood waiting for further instructions. Gregory’s horse was tall and solid in color, the deepest shade of black. Gregory often thought it difficult to look at, but he also knew that he was not sober enough to ever fully judge whether it was true.

  He pulled himself up onto the horse and tied his bag to the back of the saddle. His father still hadn’t told him where they were going, but he had promised the journey would take up most of the day. He glanced over at the horizon that was starting to brighten up, as he pulled the reins and the horse started to trot forward. He could hear his father’s horse starting behind him. It wasn’t long before they were riding next to each other down the road.

  “Are you going to tell me who it is that we are going to visit?” Gregory asked as he avoided the terms “marry” or “marriage” like the plague.

  His father chuckled. “I’ll tell you that you know her,” he said with a mischievous look in his eye.

  “Then surely she knows me and my reputation,” Gregory said quickly, a small trace of a smile on his lips. If she knew of his reputation, then even if he proposed marriage, there was no guarantee that she would say yes.

  “She does know you, but from many years ago, as you do her. She knows some of your reputation, but you should believe me when I say she is no angel herself, and her father will be the first to admit that.”

  “And who is her father?” Gregory asked with frustration. He hated being kept in the dark about matters that involved him.

  “You know him, too.”

  “Well, that’s just great,” Gregory said dryly as he realized that his pursuit for answers was getting him nowhere.

  “It wouldn’t kill you to have some patience, Son,” his father said with a look of disappointment in his eyes.

  Gregory didn’t say anything. He was used to seeing that look of disappointment. He was used to knowing that everybody disapproved of what he did, and it wasn’t something that overly bothered him. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about what his father thought. He had a lot of respect for him, although he never really showed it. It was just that his father didn’t seem to understand that Gregory just wanted to have fun. He didn’t want to take life seriously. He didn’t want to have to worry about a wife and children. He just wanted to enjoy the world’s beauty, and in his experience the most beautiful things were usually women.

  They rode on in silence for most of the journey. Although Gregory’s father had made out that he knew whoever it was that they were going to visit, he couldn’t recall the landscape that he was riding past, even though he tried. He wondered for a moment whether he’d taken the journey there before while drunk and that was why he couldn’t remember, but his gut was telling him that this probably wasn’t the case.

  They spent the rest of the day riding. It wasn’t until the sun had fallen well below the horizon that they arrived at the village. Gregory looked down all the small side streets as they rode past, trying to find any memories that he might be able to link to the people they were meeting, but he couldn’t. Even when they had stopped outside a huge manor house with impressive marble supporting beams he still had no clue as to who it would be on the other side of the door.

  ******

  Gregory was surprised by how pretty she was, although he knew that she was far prettier than the girls he usually chased after. There was something about her delicate, honey-glowed skin and soft, blonde hair that really captivated his eyes whenever he found himself around her. None of that mattered, though. It didn’t even matter that her eyes sparkled with the deepest blue and seemed to have stars living within them, because he wasn’t going to marry her.

  When they had first arrived, the door opened and Gregory had found himself standing in front of a pudgy man who seemed to grow excited over the sight of his father. They had spent several minutes standing at the door, catching up, before either of them thought to walk further into the house. Gregory had thought about trying to join in the conversation, but he turned his attention instead to the inside of the house, as he tried to piece together when they had met before.

  “You must be Gregory. You’ve grown since the last time I saw you. I’m Phillip Johnson; I used to work with your father at the bank, before they transferred me over here.”

  “Oh, right,” Gregory said, nodding. “My father mentioned that we had met, but I couldn’t place you. It must have been a long time ago that you moved?”

  “Yes, it was at least ten years, although perhaps more.”

  Gregory found himself standing in the dining room after following Phillip through the house, and he took a seat at the table. “I’m to understand that your daughter is very beautiful,” he said as he looked behind him to see whether she had appeared yet.

  “She is the most beautiful girl in the whole town. It’s just a shame that her spirit is so lively,” Phillip said with a look of worry glistening in his eyes.

  “I’m sure my father says the same about me,” Gregory said with a supportive smile. He couldn’t really remember Phillip, but there was something about him that was just likable. Gregory couldn’t help it, even though he was trying. He didn’t want to like Phillip at all. He wanted to consider him an enemy in the same way that he is currently regarded his father, but he couldn’t.

  “Then you are both already a perfect match,” Phillip said as he rested his hands together in front of him.

  Gregory turned when he heard footsteps, and found himself looking at blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who was exploring him with a suspicious expression on her face. She turned her attention to her father, who was sitting at the end of the table. “Who is this?” she asked without turning back around to look at Gregory.

  Her father frowned at her rude remark, but didn’t tell her off for it. “This is Gregory and his father, Luke Hernshaw. They’ve come to visit us with the hopes of uniting out families,” her father said with weary eyes as he waited for her response.

  “I should hope that you are not referring to me when you say this?”

  “Isabella, please just sit down and talk to the boy before you strike him off the list like all of the others.”

  Gregory watched as Isabella took her seat next to his and then she turned to him, as though she was going to say something, but stayed silent. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Gregory said as he felt the heat from her glare.

  “I suppose I should say ‘and I you,’ but I think we both know that would be a lie,” she said with a smug look on her face.

  “Isabella,” her father said quickly, but stopped when Gregory lifted up his hand as though he was brushing the comment away.

  “Don’t worry, Phillip. I was warned that your daughter was not considered anything less than a handful, and that was what I came here expecting.”

  “You speak about me as though I’m not here,” Isabella said with her face screwed up in anger. “This is my home, and I will not be spoken about as though I’m a stranger.”

  “My apologies,” Gregory said quickly and their eyes met for a split second. He watched as a soft frown played against her forehead as she tried to work out whether he was being sincere in his apology. “What would the lady like to talk about?” he asked her, and then he lifted his eyebrows playfully.

  The frown on her forehead deepened as she realized that he was only pretending to be sorry. Her cheeks turned pink with a blush as she thought about a topic that was worth bringing to the dining table. She smiled
with a wicked glint in her eyes that made Gregory nervous before she’d even had time to clear her throat. “I know what we should talk about. If you’re here to marry me, then what’s wrong with you?”

  Gregory nearly choked on the strong red wine that he’d been drinking. He put the goblet back down on the table and looked at his father with questions in his eyes. His father said nothing, and he realized that he was expected to answer her question. “I guess I have a problem with beautiful girls,” he said with a casual shrug.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Isabella asked curiously.

  “I have a reputation in my home village,” Gregory said with a smile creeping over his lips. He leaned slightly to the side, so that he was closer to Isabella, before finishing what he had to say. “They say that I should be kept away from all the daughters because I’m no good.”

  “I can believe that,” Isabella said without flinching.

  Gregory sat back in his seat and didn’t say anything else. He wouldn’t admit it, but she impressed him with her defiance. There was something about her cocky attitude that was pulling at his curiosity and making him want to know more about her. She was unlike any girl he had ever spent time with, and he could tell that under her quick wit there was some real intelligence to be found. That didn’t matter though, none of it mattered, because he wasn’t going to marry her and nothing was going to change his mind.

  *******

  Gregory checked behind him before he pushed open the tavern door and walked in. The room was dark and dingy. The whole place smelled damp, and Gregory wondered how the regulars found the air to breath when it was coming up to closing time. He didn’t make eye contact with anybody as he walked over to the bar and ordered a mug of beer.

  He lifted the mug to his lips and took a deep drink before he set it back on the bar and looked out into the dark room. It was quite busy for the middle of the week, and Gregory was pleased to find a whole bunch of different women who seemed to be without partners. He smiled to himself as he scanned over each of one of them, trying to work out which one gave him the best odds.

  He couldn’t help but notice, though, that none of them were as pretty as Isabella. There was something about being in her presence that seemed to light up all of the space around her. Her beauty illuminated the world, and none of the girls in the bar were doing that. In fact, none of the girls could be compared to candle, never mind the devastating shine that poured from Isabella as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

  His eyes stopped on a brown-haired girl who smiled back at him. He gave her body a once over before picking up his mug and walking over to the table where she was sitting alone. She was slim, but she had curves that seemed almost fluid in their dips and turns as Gregory’s eyes traced over them.

  “You are far too beautiful to be sitting alone,” he said softly when he reached her table.

  “You are far too handsome to be talking to lonely women sitting in bars,” the girl said with a sexy smile that invited Gregory to the buffet that was right in front of him.

  “Then it’s a good job that I’m only talking to you,” he cooed at her, and she blushed at the compliment. He could tell from the frayed edges of her clothes that she wasn’t of any noble blood. She had dirt under her fingernails, too, which told him that she’d spent a long day at work before heading to the tavern, but that didn’t bother him. He didn’t want to marry the girl. He wasn’t even bothered with learning her name. He just wanted to have some fun, and there was nothing anybody could do to stop him.

  It took four more mugs of beer before he managed to convince the girl to go home with him. It wasn’t until they were staggering down the street that he realized that he had no home to go to. He considered for the briefest of moments taking her back to Phillip’s, but even in his half-drunk state he knew that had no possible outcomes that were positive.

  He stopped and pulled the girl closer to him on the street. The air was icy, and he could feel it biting at his skin as plumes of white mist rose up from his mouth. He smiled at the girl, who was looking deeply into his eyes. He wondered for a moment whether she supposed she was in love with him. He had seen the look in her eyes before on many girls whom he had led astray, but he had never taken the time to work out what it might mean.

  A rush of ill feeling spread over his body and he realized that it was guilt. He felt guilty for the look in the girl’s eyes because he knew he would never return it, that he would never even try to. He stopped himself from leaning in for a kiss. He could feel the drunken side of his brain trying to take over, as it tried to soothe the pain of the realization with a pretty girl’s kiss, but he fought against it.

  “I need to say something to you.”

  “What is it?” the girl asked with wild curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

  “I need you to know that I don’t love you and that I never will. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not saying this because I have a black heart. I’m telling you this because I want you to know exactly what tonight means to me. You’re a distraction. You’re a very pretty distraction, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is all you are. I promise you that I’ll only be thinking of you, but that doesn’t mean that I ever will again. I want you to know that now. I don’t want you to feel as though I have lied to you. Do you understand?”

  The girl nodded. “I never expected it to be for any other reason,” she said quietly, but the look in her eyes had dulled and Gregory could tell that the truth had hurt her.

  “We don’t have to do anything,” he offered, because he didn’t want to push her into anything she didn’t want to do.

  “I think it’s a bit late for that,” she said as she stepped up so that their bodies were pressed against each other.

  Gregory felt his eyes flicker closed as her hot breath mixed with his when they kissed. She tasted like beer and dirt. Her lips were firm against his and rough as the brushed up against him, but that didn’t matter. He kissed her back deeply as his arms reached out to her waist and grazed a line down to the bottom of her back. He pulled her into him. He could feel his pants growing tight as the girl’s thigh rubbed up against him.

  He stumbled back into a dark alley and lifted his hand to her head. He could feel her breathing start to race as he ran his fingers through her hair. Her breasts pushed up against him and fell quickly as he lowered his lips to her neck and softly kissed up until he had reached just behind her ear. She groaned softly at his final kiss, and then he straightened back up before resting his hands on her shoulders.

  She looked him in the eye and he could tell that she knew what he wanted. She had a hungry look in her eyes that told him she would do anything. He slowly pushed her down so that her eyes were looking at his waistline. His breath caught in his chest as he felt her hands starting to fumble with the drawstring of his pants, followed by a rush of relief as they loosened and cold wind struck against his newly bare legs.

  She looked up and met his eyes again. He could feel her heart racing, although he was keeping his breathing steady. The heat from her breath was driving him wild with anticipation. As her head moved slowly to the throbbing hardness, he was waiting for her. She opened her lips when she was close enough and for a moment there was nothing but a blissful feeling. It seemed to shoot and glide all over his body as her tongue swam around in circles and her head tilted back and forward.

  He groaned as her lips tightened around his hardness. He could feel his knees starting to get weak and his legs shaky as his body started to succumb to the feeling of her tongue as it danced around against him. He could feel himself getting closer to the edge, and he forced her to stop. Pulling her back up to face him, he could see the raw hunger in her eyes as she realized what he was about to do. He lifted her skirt above her hips and kissed her roughly, so that they both stumbled back against the damp wall of the alley.

  He let his fingers dance along her inner thigh as he waited until he was calm enough to give her everything that she deserved. He
lowered his lips to her throat and slowly kissed down it until he had reached her collar bone. His fingers were tracing circles around her hardening nipples and she was already moaning softly into the otherwise silent night around them. He stepped forward when he couldn’t wait any longer, and smiled with cocky happiness. She groaned as he thrust inside of her.

  *******

  Gregory opened his eyes slowly and looked around the unfamiliar room. It took him a moment to realize that he was still in Phillip’s house, and that the whole dinner the night before hadn’t been just a bad dream that his brain had concocted. He sat up and rubbed his head, which felt tired and grumpy after a night of too much drink and poor choices. He thought back over everything he had done, and grimaced when he realized that he had spent the majority of the night with the girl in the back alley.

  A knock on the door pulled him away from his thoughts, but even though his attention had been distracted, a somber feeling remained in his stomach, as though to remind him that all was not well. He opened the door without any hesitation and was surprised to find Isabella standing outside. “Can I help you?” he asked her with a puzzled look.

  “I’ve been told that I’m to take you riding today,” Isabella said with a lack of enthusiasm.

  “You really need to work on being welcoming,” Gregory said dryly.

  “I’m welcoming to those I deem fit. I don’t want to waste my day in the house. If you’re not coming then say so now, or hurry up and get ready.”

  “Who made you queen of the world?” Gregory snapped. He wasn’t used to girls speaking to him with such familiarity. All the girls who he surrounded himself with agreed with his every word. They would never in a million years speak to him with the kind of attitude that Isabella was pulling out.