Artistic Licence

by Vivienne Lafay

  ‘Then I hope your husband may return to your bed, madonna,’ Carla said, humbly. ‘Let me take away the portrait and finish it to the best of my ability. I shall bring it back in a week’s time for your approval.’

  ‘Excellent! But before you go, let me give you what I promised you.’

  She retrieved her silken purse from under her pillow and drew out three silver coins which she placed in Carla’s palm. ‘There you are! But don’t think I am paying you like a fancy boy.’ She gave a grotesque wink. ‘That is a little reward for the extra trouble you have taken over my portrait. It was all part of the spell, you understand.’

  ‘Thank you, madonna.’

  Carla was very anxious to leave before the situation became even more embarrassing. She hurried back to the house with her things and hoped to escape to the bedroom where she could work on the finishing touches, but Piero waylaid her.

  ‘Carlo! How did the sitting go today? Will two sessions be enough, do you think?’

  ‘Oh yes!’ she replied, a shade too readily.

  He gave a slight frown, and then broke into a grin. ‘Bring your things up to my room and tell me all about it.’

  Carla didn’t want to tell him anything, but she had no choice. After he had examined her portrait and complimented her on the likeness, he went on, ‘So you painted that trollop in the nude, did you? Her insistence, I suppose. Did she try to devour you? They say she has an insatiable appetite for young boys. I hope you managed to keep it up – your disguise, I mean!’

  He laughed uproariously and Carla was afraid the others would hear. She was on tenterhooks all the time, wondering how much longer she could preserve her false identity in that place, and Piero had her just where he wanted her. Sometime she hated him for knowing the truth and taunting her with it.

  Piero noticed her blushes and pulled her over to his bed. ‘Come on, spill the beans!’ he insisted. ‘I want to know all the details. Did she seduce you at the first sitting? Who suggested she should model in the nude? Her, I bet!’

  ‘She was posing as Venus.’

  ‘Hm. Not got quite the face or figure for it, has she? But go on. What did she ask you to do?’

  ‘It was to be a kind of magic. To rekindle her husband’s desire.’

  ‘And you believed her? That was just a ploy, to prepare you for the seduction scene. Her old man is just that, an old man. He’s past it, hasn’t been able to get it up for years. Once he did his duty by her and got her two sons his juice ran out.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘She makes no secret of it and neither does he. Her affairs are condoned by him. When Bardarelli asked me for a portrait of his wife I knew he was pimping for her.’

  ‘What?’ Fury raced through Carla’s veins like hot wine. ‘You mean you let me go there knowing she wanted my body? How could you make me go through that charade! What if she had found out my secret, what then?’

  Piero laughed, his mocking brown eyes only making her more angry. ‘I knew you would be discreet. More to the point, so would she. There’s no way she would admit to having been duped. Besides I knew you’d come back with an amusing tale to tell so – out with it!’

  ‘I did not go there for your entertainment!’ Carla snapped. She felt incensed, ready to strike the man. ‘I went because it was a chance to do some real work, to improve my skills.’

  ‘Sure you did,’ he said, soothingly. ‘And you made an excellent job of it. But you can never be openly acclaimed as an artist. Face it, Carla, and learn to live with it. Meanwhile, we can have some sport. Come, I’ve locked the door and we shan’t be disturbed. Tell me everything that went on between you and Monna Livia.’

  Carla felt trapped. She owed Piero everything, yet she felt used by him. And she had become dependent on the dark sensuality of their lovemaking. He had become necessary to her, and she was starting to hate him for it. She knew, as soon as she began to describe her experiences with the noblewoman, where it would lead.

  ‘The first time,’ she began, ‘after I had finished my work, she bade me examine her. She said an artist should be intimately acquainted with all kinds of physical form, including that of a woman.’

  Piero chuckled. ‘Little did she imagine! But go on. She didn’t stop there, did she?’

  ‘No, she wanted me to touch her. It felt very strange at first, like my own body and yet unlike. Her nether parts were softer and more open, I fancy, than my own.’

  ‘That’s because she’s had plenty of traffic in there, not to mention three brats making their way through her sacred portal. But what happened next?’

  ‘She wanted me to put my finger inside her, so I did. It felt very hot and wet in there.’

  ‘Just like you!’ Piero grinned. He fumbled beneath her tunic and found the top of her hose. Thrusting in his hand he was soon poking around in her pussy, making her tingle and melt. ‘Now you know how it feels from both angles, don’t you? Which do you prefer, doing or being done to?’

  Carla hardly knew what to say, but in the end she told him what he wanted to hear and his grin spread wider. ‘You like it when I do it to you, don’t you? Well keep on telling me what you got up to with that woman and I’ll soon have a hard-on like a wolf in heat. Then you’ll get a thorough seeing-to.’

  ‘She wasn’t content with me just feeling her . . .’

  ‘I’ll bet she wasn’t!’

  ‘So she asked me to lick her.’

  ‘Oh, the dirty cat! And you obliged, did you? What did her cunny taste of?’

  ‘I don’t remember.’

  Piero brought his fingers to his nose and sniffed. ‘It’s not a thing I’ve a taste for, although I believe some men are mad for it. They liken it to all sorts but mostly sea creatures. No wonder Venus was supposed to have been born from the foamy waves. Anyway, get on with your story. I want you to finish before I get too randy to listen any more.’

  ‘Well I went on licking and sucking her until she swelled up and then began to moan and thrash around. After that she seemed satisfied.’

  ‘They say some women are easily satisfied, others more difficult to please. But I satisfy you, don’t I puss?’

  Carla avoided his gaze, murmuring her assent, but in her heart she knew he could never bring her to that exquisite peak of ecstasy that she believed she might experience with Marco. Mostly because she would not let him. No matter how eager her body might be for his stimulation, she kept her heart and soul intact.

  ‘Go on then,’ he urged her. ‘What happened this afternoon: same scene as before or something different? Wait a bit, let’s get you undressed properly.’

  He pulled off her hose and tunic until she lay there naked and his hands roved all over her warm body, tweaking at her nipples and stroking her thighs until she found herself hungering for him despite herself. Sometimes she hated her body for acting of its own accord, responding to his caresses even when her heart was set against him.

  Carla resumed her story, determined to get it over with as soon as possible. ‘This time she wanted me to penetrate her but, having no proper equipment, I had to improvise.’

  ‘Ha, ha! Let me guess – a brush handle. No, far too thin! The leg of your easel? No, too square. Hm – well, what did you use, you saucy girl?’

  Carla couldn’t help giggling. ‘A candle!’

  ‘Ah, the time-honoured devotional aid of the virgin! But I’m sure you know all about that, don’t you? So you satisfied her with a tallow tadger! But how could you possibly disguise the fact?’

  ‘I told her I was shy and she was to use a blindfold.’

  ‘Ho, a good one! And she believed you, the credulous fool! You’d have thought the smell would put her off.’

  ‘The room was filled with flowers and incense.’

  ‘Of course. And she didn’t quibble over the size? I’m sure it was hard enough for her, at least.’

  ‘It seemed to be. She was just as pleased with my efforts as before. In fact, she . . .’ Carla was about to mention he
r reward but stopped herself just in time. ‘Well, she told me that I’d satisfied her even better than her husband could.’

  ‘That’s no wonder, considering he’s hardly up to doing it at all! Still, you did well my girl. I’m proud of you. And now you’ve got me in such a state that I can’t wait to come inside you, so we’ll dispense with the preliminaries if you don’t mind.’

  He heaved himself up on top of her and was soon working noisily towards his climax. Carla lay there wondering if Monna Livia felt good when her lovers were inside her, whether she thrashed and moaned as much as when a candle was doing the business. It was all strange to her. Although she could feel herself being stimulated, her pussy growing moist and her labia throbbing wildly, she knew she was not in the state that woman had been in. There had been something violent about it, something more intense. And all she felt as Piero pulled out of her and soiled the sheets with a long, loud groan was a kind of numbness.

  ‘Nome di Dio girl, that was fucking great!’ she heard him say as she lay there, exhausted. ‘Talking about it gives you an appetite for it, don’t you find? You were wet enough for fish to swim in there! Now get up, there’s a good girl, and bring me some wine. I’ve a thirst on me like a summer drought.’

  Carla rose from the bed and gave herself a perfunctory wash between the legs before putting on her man’s attire and going downstairs. The kitchen was cool and empty in the late afternoon, with the apprentices taking a brief siesta in their beds while the master was otherwise occupied. If only they knew how! Carla thought wryly.

  She was pouring wine from the barrel into a pitcher when the door opened and Marco entered. ‘Oh there you are!’ he said, cheerfully. ‘I wanted to ask you how you were getting on with your portrait. May I see it?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she smiled happily. ‘I just have to take this up to Piero.’

  Marco put a solicitous hand on her arm. ‘How is he treating you these days?’

  ‘Not so badly. He means well, even if he is a bit rough at times. Mostly when he’s been drinking.’

  Marco’s mouth set into a pout that was almost ugly. ‘If he ever seriously harms you . . .’

  ‘Don’t worry, Marco, I’m far too quick for him. Now, are you coming upstairs? The portrait is on my easel.’

  After she had given Piero his drink Marco surveyed her handiwork. ‘He’s damn good, isn’t he?’ he said to Piero. ‘Are you going to put Carlo in my place when Giovanni or I leave? He deserves an apprenticeship, surely?’

  ‘What a man deserves and what he gets in this life are two different things.’

  ‘But surely merit should be rewarded. You won’t find a keener or more talented young man than this in all Florence – nay, Tuscany. You’d be a fool to let him go elsewhere, Piero.’

  Carla was embarrassed by their talk, and saddened too. Although Piero pretended to go along with it they both knew it was all empty chatter. But she couldn’t help wondering what would happen when either Giovanni or Marco left to become journeymen in their own right. Would Piero take on a new apprentice, or manage with the ones he had left? Either way, the others might regard her scornfully when it became obvious that she’d been overlooked for promotion.

  Marco continued to examine the portrait, exclaiming over the delicate portrayal of the eyes and the fine fleshiness of the body. ‘You’ve made the woman look almost beddable,’ he declared, to which Piero gave a hearty guffaw.

  ‘She’d have you if she could Marco, and Piero here too. At the same time, probably. The woman’s a voracious bitch, everyone knows that. Some of those noblewomen can’t get enough of it, you know. They read lewd poems and sing rude songs, joking with the men just as if they were their equals in love and lust. I can’t make them out at all.’

  ‘You’d have your women chaste and modest then, eh?’ Marco asked, a twinkle in his eye.

  ‘I’ll take an honest whore any day, but you’d think those high born women would have more decorum. They’ll seduce anything in breeches, or so I’ve heard.’

  Marco gave Carla a wink, making her feel even more uncomfortable. She longed to be alone with him again, but the way she was feeling, that could be far too dangerous. With every day that passed she longed to reveal her secret identity to him, to throw herself on his mercy and declare her love for him, but she feared the consequences: not just for her but for him too.

  After a week of careful attention to detail, the portrait was finished and Carla was summoned to the Palazzo Bardarelli where the nobleman and his wife were expecting to view it. She was ushered into the great hall on the first floor, and gasped when she saw its splendour. There were windows covered with oiled cloth through which the sunlight was filtered like old gold, and the walls and ceilings were covered with ornate paintings and tapestries. A long table with fruit carved on the legs was laden with pitchers of wine and sweetmeats whilst the noble couple sat on high-backed chairs covered with silken cloth embroidered with silver, as if they were king and queen.

  ‘Please, put your portrait on the easel where we may peruse it,’ Messer Bardarelli told her.

  She obeyed then stood back, watching the man’s face anxiously for signs of reaction. For a while his wily eyes moved all over the picture, his expression inscrutable. Then he sat back in his seat with a smile. ‘Excellent! You have favoured my wife, but not excessively. She makes a tolerable Venus, does she not?’

  Carla bowed. ‘Certainly, Signore, if it pleases you.’

  ‘It does please me, certainly.’ She saw the ironic cast to his eye as he bade her rise with a wave of his hand. ‘Has the young man pleased you, wife? With his portrait, I mean.’

  ‘Oh yes, husband. Very much so!’ Monna Livia was smiling broadly, making Carla quail. The pair of them seemed to be playing some game in which she felt like an innocent pawn. Perhaps not quite so innocent, however.

  ‘My wife would like to thank you personally,’ Messer Bardarelli continued. ‘She has a reward for you in her bedchamber. Shall we adjourn?’

  Carla’s heart sank at the thought that she must return to the scene of the crime. She had expected to be given her bag of money right there, and then to leave the house of her shame once and for all. But it seemed her ordeal was to be prolonged.

  Once they arrived in Monna Livia’s bedchamber she made no attempt to hasten the process. Her husband sat down heavily in a chair and began to sip from the goblet of wine poured for him by a servant. He then dismissed the servant and bade him close the door behind him.

  ‘So, wife, you found this young man’s labours entirely satisfactory, did you?’

  Monna Livia smiled. ‘Oh yes! In every way!’

  He turned to Carla, his eyes sharply focused beneath the beetling grey brows. ‘I should like to see you service my wife, as you have done before. Have no fear, sirrah. I know all about it.’

  Carla thought she would faint, she was so horrified and shocked by his proposal. Her mind raced ahead, selecting and rejecting excuses as soon as they came into her head. There was no way she could think of to escape discovery this time. With the husband watching she could make no substitute for the organ she so obviously lacked.

  But the woman unexpectedly came to her rescue. ‘The young man is shy, and last time he would only take me if my eyes were hidden. I fear we shall embarrass him if he is obliged to perform before a witness so awesome as yourself, dear husband. He will never be erect enough to carry it off.’

  ‘Then what do you suggest?’ the man asked, peevishly. ‘You promised me a show, Livia. Something to get my pecker up so I can at least have a wank, and now you’re telling me the show’s off. What are you playing at?’

  She hastened to his side, caressing his brow and making soothing noises. ‘Don’t fret, dear, you shall have your show. Here’s what I propose. The lad shall lick me, as he did before. Then, if you can manage to get hard enough, you may come into me at the crucial moment and we may ride the waves of bliss together. How does that strike you?’

  ‘Very well inde
ed!’ he beamed. ‘Got that, boy? You’re to make my wife ready, and get me going at the same time, then you’re to stand back and let me dive in there. I’m sorry to deprive you of your prize at the last knockings, but you’ll get well paid for your pains.’

  Carla almost laughed out loud. Unwittingly the couple had let her off the hook, and she was very grateful to Monna Livia for her ingenious solution to the problem. She even gave the woman a conspiratorial smile as they walked, hand in hand, over to the bed.

  ‘You see?’ the noblewoman whispered in Carla’s ear. ‘We shall get him back into my bed with or without the help of Venus. Now make sure you get me thoroughly aroused, give it all you’ve got, and I’ll play my part to perfection too.’

  With a voluptuous sigh, the woman lay down on the bed and loosened the girdle securing her gown. Carla knelt beside her, gently stroking the soft golden hair and trying hard to look as if she really lusted after her. She was acutely aware of the hungry eyes of the old man as he watched from his vantage point and hoped that her antics would have the desired effect.

  Taking her time, Carla first bared the large breasts and began to lick at them with her tongue fully extended, so her husband could get a good view. She heard him groan and knew that her first move had been a good one. She pushed the heavy globes together and licked down the cleft between them, moaning herself as if she were in the throes of unrequited passion for the woman.

  ‘Isn’t she a beauty, my Livia?’ the old man said. ‘Don’t you just love her jugs, boy? Bet you’d love to put your little cockie between them and roll those fat titties around it until you shoot your spunk, but you’re not going to. This is my bed and my wife, young whipper-snapper, and I won’t let you use anything but your mouth on her. Get down between her legs as soon as you like, and make sure I can see you licking her lovely pussy.’

  Carla obeyed at once, anxious to get her part in this bizarre show over with as soon as possible. She tasted the familiar flavour of pussy once again and, this time, found it more arousing. Since she had told Piero all about making love to this woman it seemed less strange, and now she was almost enjoying it as she felt the hot flesh pulsate beneath her tongue.