Marisa raised her hands to her torso and the linen top that covered it. Fastened only by one long string, this particular undergarment was not exactly form fitting and would have to be done away with if Marisa was going to invoke in Stanley the same animalistic urges which he had experienced in their previous encounters in the chamber. She gently tugged at the bottom of the string and drew it slowly from the top of the garment to the final hole at her waistline. It was a process that Marisa could have performed much faster had she wanted to, but there was no fun in that. The Duke had to be made wait. He had to fully appreciate the sylphlike body that was ever so steadily being revealed to him, and appreciate it he did. By the time the string had been pulled from the garment and was dangling from Marisa's extended right hand, Stanley could hardly control himself. The linen vest was still hanging on the slender body before him but it was now unfastened, allowing the small part down the middle to reveal the beginnings of a perfectly formed pair of breasts. Marisa's underpants were still to be unfastened and removed, and it would be Stanley who would take care of that. With his body pulsing with excitement, brought on by the present situation and the thought of making Marisa his wife, Stanley reached his long arms out and grabbed the loose string of his fiancée’s underwear. She turned as he pulled it and continued to do so until she was safe in his arms, her back to him and both of her undergarments unfastened.
The sensation of Stanley’s warm breath on the back of her neck made Marisa squirm with pleasure as he sensually removed the open vest from her torso and dropped it to the ground. Now that her bare back was resting against the body of the Duke, Marisa could feel her lover's heartbeat against her. The tremors travelled up her spine, separated into two upon reaching her shoulders and then radiated throughout her whole body, making her feel as if she and Stanley were bound together far beyond any physical world. However, the physical world is of undeniable importance and allows for a great deal of great pleasures, a fact which both Marisa and Stanley were well aware of. The Duke slowly moved his hands to the front of the future-Duchess's body and took her breasts in his palms. They were perky and firm and topped off with nipples which made Marisa sonorously moan when pinched. With Stanley’s hands reaching around to her torso, the young woman stretched her own hands behind her back and began to slowly unbutton her partner's shirt so she would no longer be the only nude person in the room. She began the task at the bottom of the shirt and, as her hands rose higher and higher, the hands of the Duke went lower and lower. He drew ever closer to that marvellous area between the legs of Marisa. That area which, when touched, would turn the woman into nothing more than a quivering mass of delight, just waiting for her lover to enter her with more than his fingers.
Marisa was halfway through unbuttoning Stanley’s shirt when his masterful hands finally arrived at her midsection. She couldn't help but stop what she was doing and allow herself to be pleasured by the powerful man who was standing behind her. She titled her head backwards and rested it on the shoulder of Stanley as his right hand slid down the baggy pair of pants, which separated her thighs from the rest of the world. The Duke grinned proudly to himself when he felt the moistness of Marisa; she was wet and ready for whatever was on his mind. He carefully placed his forefinger inside her and followed it with his index finger before she even had a chance to moan or sigh. Her body convulsed slightly as Stanley steadily moved his fingers in and out, in and out, while running his tongue up and down Marisa's neck. There was nothing the young girl could do to reciprocate the intense degree of pleasure that she was feeling at the time. Stanley’s hands moved so swiftly and with such expertise that what little concentration she could manage had to be devoted to not falling due to some sort of pleasure overload. For several minutes, the newly engaged woman was reasonably successful at staying upright. However, the challenge became too much when the hands of Stanley began to pick up speed and vigorously rub her clitoris until she fell softly to the ground in a fit of delight.
As she fell, Marisa quickly turned to face her lover and tightly clutched the bottom of his shirt to ensure she would not be making the journey to the dining room floor alone. The pair fell together and wasted little time in rekindling the passionate affair in which they had been embroiled before the fair woman lost her balance. The Duke remained on his knees as his companion lay flat on her back, discreetly touching herself while he unfastened his belt. He was by now as hard as she was moist, as was evident by the throbbing bulge in his trousers which Marisa used her free hand to massage. When the Duke finally managed to pull his member from his trousers, it was not only hard as a rock, but dripping with anticipation as well. He could no longer wait to be inside the woman who would soon be his wife. He needed to feel his glans rubbing against her. He needed to feel his bare flesh brushing off the flawless skin that covered her body. He wanted the sensation of this woman digging her nails into his back as he moved his lower body back and forth in an effort to satisfy her. Fortunately for the Duke, Marisa shared these feelings of impatience. She too longed for the feel of his pectinius connecting with the bottom of her rear. She needed the sensation of his hands firmly grasping her ankles while she raised her legs into the air. Neither man nor woman could wait any longer to perform the ultimate celebration of their love, and they wouldn't have to.
Chapter Two
With their engagement now official (at least for them), Stanley and Marisa made the decision to announce their intention to wed at the Duke's thirtieth birthday party. They would invite only their closest friends and inform them all of their impending marriage early on in the evening in order to leave much time for alcohol-fuelled jubilation. Wanting the night to be one full of gaiety and merriment, Marisa somehow managed to convince her eventual husband to spare no expense when planning the party. This was truly an impressive feat as the Duke was notoriously tight-fisted when it came to spending money. He did not like to dispose of his riches wistfully and would always keep strict accounts on his finances. He allowed himself only one regular big spend in the form of three weekly sessions with Madame Cosem.
Madame Cosem was, as far as Stanley was concerned, a great mystic with a strong connection to the otherworld and a baffling ability to foresee the events of the future. Whether there is or ever has been anybody in the world to truly possess such an amazing gift is up for debate, but Madame Cosem certainly was not the soothsayer she claimed to be. She was also born in the modest English city of Hull, which was a far cry from the mysterious French village, which rumours (spread by herself) told her to be from. A great deal of the public was suspicious of Madame Cosem; if they were not already full convinced she was a fraud. The Duke, however, had long been fascinated by the occult and related matters and was more than willing to give the forename-less woman the benefit of the doubt. In fact, he gave her the benefit of the doubt so often and at such a high rate that Madame Cosem rarely had any need for other clients. If she were going through an unpleasant patch financially, she would simply tell the Duke that some significant event lay in his distant future and he would be more than willing to pay for extra sessions to hear more. Yes, even before he had met Marisa and become a fool in love, Stanley had been a fool.
Stanley’s trust in Madame Cosem was such that she was the first person to whom he announced his plans of marrying Marisa. He told the psychic the good news the morning after he proposed.
"I have something to tell you" he smiled as he led Madame Cosem through his manor and into his study, where they usually conducted their business.
"What is it?" replied the "medium" in the shaky French accent that she had been using since deciding to enter the business of robbing the gullible a decade before. There was a part of Stanley that wanted to make Madame Cosem guess his good news; after all, she had the abilities. Of course, the Duke was extremely excited about the news and could not contain himself long enough to challenge her to guess. Perhaps his decision not to challenge her was also driven by the subconscious knowledge that Madame Cosem would not be able
to guess his good news, as she was not a real psychic.
"I'm engaged to be married,” he said with glee, smiling as though he had just heard the news himself.
"Oh my" declared the false mystic, "what wonderful news!"
Stanley continued to smile a big, idiotic smile as he took his seat at the small, round table, which was used to contact the spirit world.
"We must see what the spirits think about this" Madame Cosem stated as she took her seat opposite the Duke.
"What do you mean?" he asked in a semi-panic, "do you think they won't approve?"
"The one thing I cannot predict is the reaction of the spirits. We shall have to wait and see." Upon her reply, Madame Cosem moved her chair back and forth and side to side until it was just right. This was her tradition. She always told the Duke that it was necessary to be seated in exactly the right position and in exactly the right part of the room, but the truth was she was just very pedantic when it came to taking a seat. She proceeded this, as she always did, by announcing that it was time to begin before lighting a candle even though it was not even slightly dark out. Madame Cosem took Stanley’s hands in hers and began to mumble incoherently. The psychic claimed that the only way to contact the spirit world was by repeating a certain phrase in some undisclosed language. Stanley, inexplicably, believed every word of this and never even thought to question why a different assortment of random noises came from her mouth every week.
"We have made contact with the spirits" announced Madame Cosem after several minutes of gibberish, "we shall now ask the spirits to pass onto us their infinite knowledge." As he had been instructed to do upon his first session with Madame Cosem nearly five years earlier, Stanley raised his head into the air and addressed the imaginary spirits, stating his name, age and date of birth.
"Do you hear him spirits?" Madame Cosem added once the Duke had finished speaking. She then paused for a moment and did her best too look as though she was listening to somebody tell her something. She nodded her head slightly and made some noises to show that she was in agreement with whoever or whatever was speaking to her.
"What are they saying?" asked Stanley eagerly.
"They are saying that we may proceed,” answered Madame Cosem. Every session began with Madame Cosem pretending to ask the pretend spirits for clearance before seeking advice from them. On some occasions, when she was feeling particularly cruel or uninterested, the woman would sombrely tell Stanley that the spirits would not give her permission to talk to them and so the session would be unable to go ahead. However, she would always insist on being given her money as she had taken time out of her "busy" schedule to tend to her matters with the Duke. On this day, however, Madame Cosem decided that the spirits would be in a talkative mood.
"Stanley, a Duke and member of the royal family, requests your advice regarding his engagement,” declared Madame Cosem with her eyes raised to the heavens. Stanley did a slight double take upon hearing this. He had never requested Madame Cosem to ask the beings of the otherworld about his engagement, nor did he feel he needed to. She had simply told him at the beginning of the session that the spirit world would have to be consulted before he could go ahead with his marriage and had taken it upon herself to instigate that consultation. Nevertheless, Stanley did nothing to stop Madame Cosem asking this question. He figured that it would be worth his while hearing what the spirits thought about his marriage. Besides, it wasn't as if they could have any objection to the union. The love, which the Duke shared with Marisa, was as true as love could be, surely even the dead could see that.
Madame Cosem again retreated into silence as she pretended to listen to the advice of whatever invisible spectre cared to share its thoughts with the living. This time, she was silent for longer, making not even one noise of agreement or argument. The minutes passed and Madame Cosem still appeared to be in deep conversation with whatever spirit was talking to her. It was really a testament to her acting skills that Stanley fully believed she was listening intently to a speaker from the other side and not simply thinking about what she would do with the remainder of her day. To the Duke, the suspended silence brought with it no good. Sweat began to form on his brow, as he grew ever nervous for the moment Madame Cosem would speak again.
"Is everything alright?" he asked, hoping to lure the mystic out of her self-imposed trance. "Is everything alright?" he asked again upon receiving no answer to his question. For the second time in a row, Madame Cosem did not acknowledge the calls of the Duke, which was surprisingly difficult as human instinct urges us to answer when a question is asked, especially if it is asked more than once. Instead, the pseudo-psychic just kept staring forward, as if she were trying to burn a hole straight through the Duke. Though she continued in this manner for an extended period of time, she did not, in fact, burn a hole through Stanley; at least not beyond a metaphorical sense.
When Madame Cosem finally spoke, she did not speak the words that Stanley had been hoping to hear.
"What did they say? Please tell me what they said,” pleaded her gullible patron as soon as he noticed her beginning to emerge from her trance. "Madame Cosem, what did the spirits say?" He gave the woman no time to answer and so she sat in silence again until the overanxious Duke ceased his incessant babbling. When all was quiet, Madame Cosem shook her head gently in an attempt to give the illusion that she was not quite over the affects of contacting the spirit world. Stanley was just about to prod her for a reply again when she opened her mouth and revealed to him what those in the invisible realm thought about his engagement.
"Stanley, I hate to be the one to deliver this news to you, but the spirits say that you should not go through with this marriage." Any trace of anything resembling a smile immediately fled from the face of the Duke and was replaced by an odd look of confusion mixed with denial.
"What... What..." he stammered, unsure what he would say if he managed to get past that first word. "What do you mean?"
"The spirits say that the marriage is not meant to be" Madame Cosem told him. "They say that it is not in the stars, nor will it ever be."
"But I'm in love" protested the shaken Duke, more than a little displeased by what he was hearing.
Madame Cosem adjusted herself in her seat and asked Stanley "don't you think this is all happening rather fast? As of this moment, you have not even told me who you are engaged to." She was right. The Duke had carefully avoided mentioning the fact that he was about to be married to a member of his cleaning staff. Now it seemed like he had no choice but to fill Madame Cosem in on everything; perhaps if he did that, she would be able to discuss the matter further with the creatures of the other side and hopefully lead them to a compromise which would see him married to Marisa. His mouth began to dry up as he tried to squeeze out the name of his fiancée.
"Pardon me?" Madame Cosem said sternly in an attempt to get the Duke to speak up. It was quite evident by this point that the Duke had his reservations about revealing the full details of his engagement.
"Marisa" he finally choked out in a barely audible voice, which couldn't have been heard by somebody in the next room, let alone the next world.
"Who is Marisa?" demanded the psychic, as if it were important.
"She's... She's..." Stanley began to stammer again and stared down at his feet as talked, as if he were a schoolboy who had just been caught drawing dirty words on the blackboard. "She's one of my maids."
"One of your maids?" gasped the legitimately appalled Madame Cosem. "That is why the spirits say you cannot marry her. The say she has no love for you. All of her love is for your money."
"No, I don't believe it,” said Stanley in denial, blocking his ears as though it would prevent him from hearing what he had just heard.
"The spirits do not lie" Madame Cosem told him, "The spirits do not lie."
After a near-thirty minute breakdown in his study with Madame Cosem attempting to calm him, Stanley finally found the strength to rise from his seat and gather the woman's absurdly lar
ge payment before she left his absurdly large home.
"Remember what the spirits have said" she told him as he unenthusiastically lead her back through the halls of the manor and to the front door, "you absolutely cannot marry that girl."
"Thank you for coming today, Madame Cosem" muttered the Duke, a little sarcastic, a little heartbroken.
"I am sorry today had to go as it did" said the woman as she exited the manor, "but just remember, the spirits have a reason for everything and you will find love when you least expect it." Without uttering a reply to the final comments of the mystic, the dejected Duke shut the door of the manor to allow himself some time to be alone with his thoughts.
Standing in the garden of Stanley’s home, Madame Cosem could not help but feel a slight tinge of guilt for her starring role in destroying the happiness of the Duke and dashing his dreams of an idyllic future spent with the love of his life. The sky and the trees and the birds that inhabited both seemed to be aware of the culpable amounts of sorrow and guilt radiating from the manor and adjusted accordingly in a prime example of pathetic fallacy. The song of the birds ceased playing as a heavy rain began to fall from the skies, raindrops sliding off the downward facing leaves of the trees which bore an eerie resemblance to a man hanging his head in melancholy. Yes, nature was accompanying Stanley on his dark and unpleasant journey. It also joined the phoney medium in her feelings of guilt and responsibility. However, nature did not join Madame Cosem in any feeling of remorse, most likely because she had no such feeling. Of course, the woman was not particularly proud that her lies were the sole cause of Stanley’s unhappiness, but she knew it had to be done if she were ever to be made his wife. In order to become Duchess, it was necessary to eliminate all other contenders for the title. No, she had no remorse.
The Duke's Dilemma: Regency Romance Menage Short Stories Page 85
