The French Affair Boxed Set

by Natasha Sparks

  Talleyrand rose up from the hand kiss, still holding onto her hand as though it was something of extreme preciousness. "General Murat tells me, Janice, that you are a daughter of the great state of Virginia."

  "I am indeed, sir. And it was there that I first met Frenchmen and learned your beautiful language."

  "Ah yes," said Talleyrand, switching suddenly to English. "The United States. The French owe you a great debt for your liberty. And for the return of our pride! We were sorely beaten by the British until the American Revolutionary war. And there, both our fleets and our soldiers gave them a good walloping!"

  "You speak English!"

  "One of my many languages. I am a diplomat! But I had the fortune of spending over two years in your country as the guest of Aaron Burr. I served in business there and made some money--" He switched back to French. "And those years, I must say, kept me an ocean's distance from the unfortunate aftermath of our own Revolution." His hand released her hand, and he reached up and rubbed his neck, as though from some memory of something that might have been."

  "That must have been one way to keep your head, Talleyrand!" she said.

  He laughed. Then he cocked his head. "Feel free to call me Charles, Janice. But I find it interesting that you call me ‘Talleyrand’ alone. This has only just now become the practice of my colleagues and adversaries."

  He looked at her oddly. A piercing intelligence and craftiness showed in his eyes.

  Oh oh, though Janice. This one could prove to be trouble!

  "But of course General Murat refers to you simply as ‘Talleyrand’. I take my lead from Murat."

  As she said these words, she stepped a bit closer to him, leaning to make sure that the man got a good view of her décolletage as well as a gust of her perfume mixed with her natural scent.

  His eyes widened. He blinked, obviously distracted by the onslaught of young, vital femininity.

  But he only missed half a beat.

  "Never, Janice, take too much of a lead from a military man," said Talleyrand. "All too often they head the wrong way into disaster!"

  The soldiers there laughed and toasted that remark.

  "Oh you rogue," said General Murat. "You love it. You love us men with medals! You get to sit back and sip wine and eat good food with the leaders of Europe while we do the dirty work."

  "True. I obtain little glory, however."

  "Oh there seems to be a great deal of glory going on in France now," said Janice. "Perhaps that is why I have been attracted here. I love glory!"

  "Hmmm." Talleyrand swept back the long tails of his coat and sat on a high-backed chair. Then he accepted a glass of wine poured by a servant. "Glory is in the eye of the beholder. I am seeing much splashed about in monuments and bridges and paintings and decorations, but little in actual fact, I fear."

  "Better not let that get back to Bonaparte," someone said, laughing.

  "Bonaparte knows how I feel. He has use of me. I do not flatter him. I work for him because he is the best thing for France now. And above all, I serve France."

  "But Bonaparte serves France as well."

  "Ah yes. And so he does. The little Corsican general isn't so little or so Corsican anymore! The people of France love him." He smiled. "And in fact, so do I. It is hard not to be fond of Napoleon Bonaparte. He is indeed a whirlwind of will and charisma. He is best for France now, I think. Certainly I have found employment with him good for France... and myself." He cleared his throat. "Now then, I was promised by Murat, that if I came I would not only be treated to the sight and sound--and may I say, delicious scent--of our newcomer from the Americas... but a decent game of whist!"

  "I think I can oblige you there, Talleyrand," said Janice. "But only if you'll be my partner!"

  Talleyrand raised an eyebrow. "But madam, how am I to be sure you have the skill in cards necessary!"

  "Oh, Talleyrand. My way with cards is the least of my... many skills."

  The assembly separated into groups of four as servants quickly assembled card tables.

  General Murat himself bestowed each of the tables with decks of cards.

  "House rules. Drinks are quite free. However, I claim 10 percent of a winner's hoard!"

  "But what if we play only for points and honor!"

  Murat bowed. "I take my payments in both!"

  Much laughter greeted that one.

  Janice laughed to herself at that as well. Murat had no intention of taking any money... especially if someone of influence won games upon which bets were placed. Say Talleyrand won a hundred francs. He would naturally offer Murat ten. Murat would thank him and demur. Talleyrand would happily pocket the extra ten francs as well as a good feeling about victory. Murat would pocket good feeling from Talleyrand, a good thing indeed.

  Cards were fanned out, hands were dealt.

  Janice knew something of card games at this time. She was a history student as well as a French student, after all.

  This was a simple ‘bidding game’--simpler than bridge, but still involving partners.

  Talleyrand sat across from her. A pair of older officers sat to either side of her, obviously happy at the proximity and doubtless thinking that they had won simply by being close to this fragrant ripe Virginia peach.

  "Now then. I cannot speak for the hostess, but I am now a man of means and so I shall cover for her. I would like to earn our host some money," said Talleyrand, before picking up his cards. "I know you both to be men of honor and currently capital. Let us make the game more interesting by investing it with a small wager.

  This seemed fine with the other officers, who both agreed that they would be happy to tender 25 francs each.

  "Is that all? But gentlemen, you have the better of me!" said Talleyrand. "Fifty francs can so much easily be a few francs more."

  Quickly, smiling, both men looked at the cards. They looked at each other and nodded.

  "Thirty franks then, you rogue!" said Colonel Blankmange

  "I only hope they do not bring card tricks from the Americas!"

  "I know that I will bog my poor partner down," said Janice.

  The point limits of the game were then agreed upon and play was entered into.

  Janice and Talleyrand lost the first hand, but won the second.

  It was at this point, Murat had instructed her, that she should make sure that the signal was sent.

  She had already slipped off her shoes. Easily, she lifted her foot and played its toes along the inside of Talleyrand's left thigh.

  When he looked up and looked at her she smiled at him.

  He smiled back then returned to his cards.

  They lost the next hand.

  In the middle of the next hand she again played her toes along his thigh ending at his crotch, and wiggling into the diplomat's genitals most expertly.

  They lost that hand as well.

  Talleyrand reached down, and removed her foot, patting it fondly. He smiled and winked at her and then, with a faint but unmistakable gesture with his head indicated the Colonel to her right. He tugged the toes that way.

  Janice smiled and nodded. She waited for another hand to be dealt out, and one trick of cards be played before she did it.

  "Colonel L'Enfant. I hope you are having a good time here. I fear I have devoted most of my attention to Talleyrand."

  Reaching over, she daintily clasped his knee.

  L'Enfant's eyes grew wide. "Oh, indeed, indeed Madame!"

  "Tush tush," chided Talleyrand. "The proper term for such a young woman is surely Mademoiselle. Do play on L'Enfant! I grow weary of her tardiness in decisions."

  Hastily, L'Enfant shuffled out a card.

  His partner, General L'Fitte grunted, but said nothing. He was very focused on his play. And this was why Janice had focused on him instead of L'Enfant. The man was obviously far more interested in cards than women!"

  For her own part, she reviewed her hand and quickly slapped down a clever card.

  "Oh good, good, my dear," said
Talleyrand.

  L'Fitte grunted and rubbed a weathered hand back through his long graying hair. He squinted at the cards, looked at his hands, and then carefully selected a play.

  "There you go! Our team does have a little juice in it."

  Talleyrand quickly put down his own card. "Juice? Wouldn't that get the cards all sticky?"

  "Well, say what you will," said Janice. Her surreptitious hand once more alighted on the target knee. "I'm sure that General L'Enfant has plenty of juice in him!"

  Again, the reaction of surprise.

  He blinked and gave Janice an eager almost puppy dog look. Her fingertips stopped and played gently on his inner thigh. Janice could almost feel the shivers of electricity heading straight home.

  "L'Enfant! Really," said Talleyrand. "Must you dawdle. I am eager to see the result of your partner's play!"

  "Yes, as am I," L'Fitte said. "But perhaps a slower play might be the more prudent."

  "Nonsense!" cried L'Enfant. "Rubbish. I have the perfect card for the moment."

  Of course, when it was finally squeezed out of him, it wasn't.

  And so the card game went on. The duo of Janice and Talleyrand won the hand, and the next. By the third with this tactic, Janice's hand had almost reached his crotch.

  "Confound it, man," said L'Fitte. "I have already given up hope for the francs invested here. I would like to get a few more points, however."

  "Yes. Yes, I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me."

  "Perhaps it's something that's come under you, Colonel."

  "Not yet, fortunately, mademoiselle," said the Colonel.

  "Well you know what they say. Unlucky at cards..."

  She waited until the proper strategic moment and then went in for the kill.

  It didn't last long, that kill, but it did have its moments.

  As she suspected it would be, the man's trousers were simply bulging. When she grabbed his crotch--or rather the cock inside it--she had the virtue of a good sense of feeling and a keen sense of anatomy. It was fortunate, however, that she'd ordered the tables covered with tablecloths that drooped well down.

  She tickled. She stroked. She held and grabbed exerting an inspiration of pressure. Her expertise paid off very quickly.

  "Urk!" said Colonel L'Enfant, eyes bulging.

  "Colonel. Are you not well?" said Talleyrand.

  "I'm fine, I'm... fine," replied L'Enfant.

  Janice gave the tumescent penis one last squeeze through his trousers, felt it throbbing with it come, felt a bit of moisture, then let go.

  "It looks as though you are having a fit!" said General L'Fitte.

  "Oh, oh..." said L'Enfant. "On, nothing of the sort."

  He shook his head. He did not look at Janice. Doubtless she would hear from him later on, decked with flowers.

  "That's good," said Janice. "We did not have the forethought of inviting a doctor!"

  "Please, then--" urged Talleyrand. "Do play a card!"

  ‘Flustered’ was not the word for L'Enfant. His face was red. He'd spluttered out spittle onto his playing cards. Beside himself, he hastily selected a card willy-nilly and played.

  "Gad! Gad! A wretched play!" cried Lafitte. "We are less than lost! Confound it!'

  He too was red in the face, albeit for different reasons.

  "My good fellow!" cried Talleyrand. "It is only a game. A good sport! We win, we lose... C’est la vie! Let us all take it in stride."

  "Yes, but you take your damned franks in more than stride. To say nothing of victory. I do not mind losing but I hate losing by such a wide, wide margin." His dark eyes glared at L'Enfant. "Remind me never to partner with you in cards, L'Enfant."

  "I will." Recovering, he had taking out a handkerchief and was mopping his face. "Perhaps our excellent hostess will tutor me sometime. Soon, I hope." He managed a quavering smile as he looked at her with a question in his voice.

  "Oh yes, of course. But whist lessons are particularly expensive," she said. "And Murat schedules everything. You must speak to him."

  "I shall."

  "Good. There are a few... tricks... I think that I can teach you."

  "I will be your faithful student."

  "Bah," said L'Fitte. "Enough of this. I must go to wife and dinner."

  "Perhaps, General," said Talleyrand. "There are lessons in sportsmanship to be had from the lady from Virginia."

  "Oh, I assure you," said Janice. "I am a very good sport."

  That cheered the general up quite a bit. With his loss growing further behind him, his temper was dying down. He looked at Janice. "I should be happy to pay call sometime... I presume it would be private, without this villain at cards Talleyrand about to fleece me!"

  "Oh yes. I shall be happy to fleece you myself!" said Janice. "Speak to Murat!"

  That dragged a gruff laugh from the dark-faced L'Fitte. "Well, well, I shall." His dark eyes actually sparkled a bit. "Hmmm. Perhaps I am too taken with cards to notice true worth about me. Ah yes, I fear cards shall be my failing."

  "Then I feel my day is done well," said Talleyrand. Better to lose 30 francs now and then run away from the loss of 15,000 in the future."

  "Ah! Yes, yes. Very good, very good. I will keep that in mind, Talleyrand." He smiled slyly. "Perhaps you will give me another chance soon--with a different partner--for you to remind me of this truism."

  Talleyrand happily accepted the francs that both men gave him.

  "You can count on that, General."

  Another round of wine and a bit more conversation later, and all the card games were done. Murat took each of the men at the party aside and scribbled down times for ‘lessons’.

  When the men had started filing out, Talleyrand was the last, ostensibly because of his game leg and his limp.

  "Ah, Janice," he said. "I fear I have a lonely dinner planned. I wonder if you could help me this very night. Must I speak to Murat?'

  She inserted her arm inside his and pulled him back. "Of course, Talleyrand. I suspect you will want your lessons early, yes? Dinner will be ample payment!"

  "Dinner it shall be then!" said Talleyrand.

  "I am afraid we have no food in our house."

  He nodded. "I hope to eventually take you to some place special. But my man can easily take care of this. Meantime, shall I speak to Murat about..." He smiled. "Arrangements."

  "Well, you can tell him to find somewhere else to spend the evening. I am happy for half of the spoils of our card game," she said. "However, there is no other reason... ah... to speak to Murat."

  "Excellent. I shall give him that message."

  Janice went to a chair and then sat back with wonder as the last of the men straggled out. She waved at them, and a few kisses were blown. But all her mind was on one thing.

  I'm going to be with a man who has true power and influence with my love of ages.

  Talleyrand!

  "Napoleon," she whispered to herself. "You've never before dealt with a 21st century gal.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  She licked at a chicken drumstick.

  It was no difficult task as it had been carefully rubbed with garlic and fresh garlic. The fat oozed from the hot meat, and she lapped it up, slowly and daintily, watching Talleyrand watch her.

  "You have a way with that chicken's limb," said Talleyrand, daintily carving a slice of breast for himself, rubbing a bit of gravy and fresh baby peas on to it, and then popping it into his mouth.

  "Thank you. I must say," she said after finally taking a bite, chewing it carefully and swallowing it. "This is the best food I've had during my stay in France."

  "Surely not!"

  "Surely so. I have enjoyed every meal and most are far better than the fare in America. But still... somehow this the best."

  He bowed with thanks.

  "I do enjoy my food. I have employed my own special cook you know. The best in France. That is my opinion, anyway. I speak to him for an hour every day I am home and we discuss methods. You know, civilizatio
n is good. Peace is good. Why? Why, because there is time to cultivate the good things in life. Good food. Good art. And..." He picked up his own drumstick, and waggled it at Janice. "So many other things."

  "I agree."

  In fact, this was every bit as good as anything she'd eaten before, if only because everything was so fresh and properly prepared.

  Whew! No genetically altered stuff here!

  Talleyrand sucked on his drumstick a moment, blew on it as though it was hot, and then bit into it. All the time the beautiful eyes in his otherwise rather ugly face focused on her.

  "Napoleon, for instance. Pah, it is difficult to have a meal with him. He simply falls upon his meals, inhales them, and then gets up and gets back to work."

  "Work is a virtue."

  "I can it work. In fact, I don't think Napoleon Bonaparte thinks of it as work. It is his spirit, his will... his life's blood. He is already at work at something great, I believe. The Napoleonic Code, he calls it. In my heart of hearts I believe that it will truly put forward much of what the Revolution was about and be good solid law for the land. I do hope that he takes much satisfaction in it--and governs rather than conquers. However, the diplomat in me knows a great conqueror when he sees one."

  "He believes he is the new Alexander, does he not?"

  "He does! Only he is far, far more grandiose than Alexander. He believes it is all in his stars, his destiny." Talleyrand shook his head sadly. "Alas, I fear, although he speaks and thinks in French now and claims to be French, this is truly the Corsican in him. Ha! Imagine. A son of such a tiny island--conqueror."

  "But is this not a good thing, truly? Does there not need to be, somehow, a United Europe?"

  "Perhaps in the far future. Now the best thing is simply a mild roar resembling peace and trade as much as possible. Thus, you see, I am in the good fortune to know that I shall always have employment. Diplomacy is an art that will be in need for a long, long, time to come."

  "But if you say your first concern is for France, how can you say that peace is the best when there are so many jealous of France? Surely there are plenty of enemies only too happy to invade and tear down what is being built."

  At this point, she was merely conversing. She had her own convictions on the matter and as a student of history, she actually knew more in the broad scope than did Talleyrand. But she did not wish to reveal that, of course.