A Winter's Dare

by Leigh Ellwood

  "I'm finishing a master's, yes. My thesis is going to focus on the personal relationships of slaves and their masters." Devon looked thoughtful. "I have a special interest in one particular slave."

  "Ah." Kate's stomach roiled at the word. The past was what it had been, but despite her years of study and total immersion in the state's history she still found it difficult to reconcile herself to that term when on the job. "For all I know of Polly Dare's life, and I probably know more than anybody in Virginia," Kate said, "that is one term I wouldn't use to describe Athena Dare."

  "Why not? Athena was the property of Polly Dare's father, if I'm not mistaken. She was given the family surname, and presumably her first name as well."

  "Yes. Horace Dare was an avid student of mythology," Kate agreed. The senior Dare had owned a number of slaves, all renamed for various Greek gods and heroes; it was a fact Kate didn't hide when lecturing, though she tried her best not to volunteer the information unless somebody asked specifically about it. "Athena and Polly were the same age. Athena had basically been Polly's personal, ah, attendant from the start."

  "And she was willed to Polly upon her father's death. Polly owned her." There was no hint of anger in Devon's tone, no challenge to deny any attempts to rewrite history. He merely stated a fact. "Miss...?"

  Kate shook her head. Her manners must have left with Marlene to get drunk with the rest of Dareville. She took Devon's extended hand; her entire body flushed in his warm, strong grip. "Kate Robeson. Call me Kate."

  "White people owned black people once, Kate. I can assure you I didn't come here to cause trouble," he said, and added before Kate could reply, "I'm not here to hold anybody accountable for a past we can't change. I'm just a history student on a quest, hoping to bring some clarity to my present."

  "Of course. I shouldn't assume everybody is overly sensitive on the topic of slavery. Forgive me." Yet when Kate when looked into Devon's nearly topaz gaze she found he was way ahead of her on that. Oh, my. Maybe they'd get snowed in, and Kate could get his mind off history... Athena, what did you do to me? Kate, that's enough. Behave yourself! "So, what about Athena's relationship with Polly would you like to know?" Kate asked as she ushered Devon toward the parlor, the first stop on the guided tour. If only they could relax on Polly's settee for a more comfortable conversation, but Kate wouldn't bend the no-touch rules, even for herself. "We have most of Polly's journals archived here, along with some miscellaneous correspondence. Unfortunately, we're missing a few years here and there. I'd be happy to bring out what I have, seeing as you braved the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel to get here."

  Devon looked down at his sweatshirt and acknowledged what had given him away. "That would be great. Really, I'm interested in two major things. One, I'd like to learn more about why Athena stayed with Polly until her death."

  "I can answer that," Kate said quickly. "Rather, I can strongly speculate, based on what I've read in Polly's journals. Athena had been emancipated after the war; we have the papers to confirm that. Why she remained in the house in servitude, we believe had to do with her loyalty to Polly. We have access to ledgers, too, so we know Polly paid her a steady wage from her first day of freedom until she died. She wasn't a slave after the war, but a paid employee."

  "I didn't know that." Devon scratched his chin. "I suppose that makes sense. I guess Athena had nowhere else to go, being a black woman in the South, in the nineteenth century...as a single mother."

  "Excuse me?" Kate wrinkled at this. "Athena Dare never had children. We have her family's genealogy with our records, and they show no record of a birth since her own."

  Devon shrugged. "Just because you don't have it on paper doesn't mean it never happened," he said. "Besides, if Athena didn't have a child, I wouldn't be standing here right now."

  Kate opened her mouth to speak, but the air left her body. Devon extended his hand again, but she could only stare at it.

  "I'm Devon Dare Williams, great-great-great grandson of Athena Dare."

  Three

  The revelation, naturally, shocked Kate. To think, the state's—no, the nation's foremost expert on the Dare family of Virginia should have known something like this...she knew she should be ebullient to add this piece to the gaps in the puzzle of Polly Dare's missing years. Yet, her body yielded to the opposite reaction.

  Polly had bequeathed Dare House and its belongings to Athena upon her death, and the will stipulated that in the event Athena preceded Polly in death, which she did, the property would instead transfer to Athena's descendants. As no such person or persons came forward after Polly's death, and as Polly left no offspring of her own, the property came under control of the state because Polly never bothered to change the will. Given the family's heritage, it didn't take long for Dare House to be declared a state landmark. It had been a museum since 1925, dedicated to preserving the family's legacy.

  Kate knew she should be happy to know that Athena left behind her own legacy, in the form of this handsome, earnest man standing next to her. Why, though, could she only worry about whether or not Devon would try to claim Dare House as his own? Could Devon take the house? Was there a statute of limitations on such things?

  She took a deep breath. Calm down, girl. Devon only wanted information, closure to fill branches on his family tree. It wasn't fair to assume he intended anything more than to record information for his personal satisfaction. Besides, what proof did he have of a blood relationship to Athena? Kate had no evidence to share. Help him all she might, though, no way could she bring him any closer to his goals.

  And Dare House would remain with the state, and she with Dare House, her second home.

  "Uh, Devon," she said finally, and Devon's hand fell to his side, "exactly how did you come to the conclusion that you're descended from Athena? I mean, not one journal we own of Polly's mentions a suitor, or husband, for her. We had pretty much estimated the two women never married. Polly we can prove, at least."

  "Last I checked, it's possible for a woman to give birth without the benefit of marriage." Devon winked. "Still happens today."

  Kate laughed nervously. "True, and yes, I'm aware that many slave women had relations with other slaves, and sometimes with their white masters. There have been rumors about Horace Dare as well, but it's nothing we can authenticate." Just as Kate said that, however, her blood ran cold. Surely Polly's father hadn't impregnated Athena? To be certain, there would have been plenty of opportunity. As a house servant, it was likely Athena never associated with the other slaves Horace owned— Athena was practically Polly's sister. It wouldn't take much for Horace to seduce the young girl when the house was empty or, God forbid, take her by force...

  A chill seized her spine, rippling up her back and over her scalp. Kate didn't want to think that Athena had borne a child of rape. Were it true, would Devon want to know that?

  Devon's voice brought her attention back to the present. "All I know is what I've heard from my mother, who heard from my grandmother, who heard it from her mother. My family has lived in this area as long as I can remember. Mom even went to Dareville High, before it became the private school. She only moved to Hampton after graduating, but didn't talk much about this until recently."

  "Your great-grandmother had a journal?" Kate didn't specify, but she was curious to know if Devon's ancestors had access to any diaries, particularly of Polly's, or Athena's. The girl was literate, that much she knew. Polly had written extensively of teaching her servant-sister to read and write.

  To her inward relief, he shook his head. "All I have is oral tradition, much like my people. Grandma had said her father came from the most influential family in town, who else could she mean?"

  "Who else?" Kate echoed. Who else but the family for whom the town had been named. She felt sick. What if Horace did rape Athena? What if Polly had known, and helped to secret the baby to another family to avoid shame? It certainly wouldn't be anything Polly would record in a diary, lest somebody find it.

  Unless
...the truth could be found among the missing links. Kate struggled to breathe. This was the legacy she worked to preserve all these years?

  "Can you help me?" Devon brushed her arm, and quickly all feelings of dread and unease dissolved, replaced by a renewed sense of want. A familiar emotion, one Kate seldom got to apply to real life. She rubbed her sleeve on the premise of a chill, but actually wanted to savor and spread the warmth Devon's simple touch brought to her body.

  "I'd be glad to show you Polly's journals. Not the actual ones, they are kept in Richmond, I should have mentioned earlier. We have here transcripts of everything we have found. If you like, too, I can give you a tour of the house first so you can have a few points of reference. No charge." A little joke, since Dare House required no set admission.

  "That would be great." Devon's smile followed her across the parlor as she led the way to the tour's starting point. Her skin tingled, as though sensing his appraisal.

  Kate paused at the foot of the stairs, a bit apprehensive to climb a staircase she'd trekked up and down a million times, simply out of fear Athena might shock her with another erotic display. And what would happen if Athena did reappear in the buff? Were they supposed to walk right through her? Would Devon think her insane for seeing something he couldn't? Assuming Devon wouldn't be able to see the ghost. Assuming the ghost wasn't a result of the power of suggestion.

  She frowned. The ghost had always seemed happy, playful, hardly something one would associate with a rape victim. What of Athena masturbating on the stairs? Maybe she had seduced Horace, and this was her way of telling Kate?

  Kate, stop it. We don't know there was a baby, much less a relationship there.

  Devon came up behind her, his body tense and breathing shallow. No doubt her hesitation puzzled him, but damned if his heat didn't radiate around her and inspire some suggestions more exciting than a tour of Dare House. Kate wondered if she could ascend the stairs with her thighs pressed together to keep her pussy from throbbing.

  Instead, she took a bold step upward. "We'll start with the sewing room," Kate said, her voice low so as not to betray her nervousness. "Polly and Athena spent most of their nights there, quilting. All of the quilts on display were handmade by them. Beautiful work."

  "I can't wait to see it, and the journals," Devon said. Stairs creaked underfoot, but they paid no mind. Kate was just happy not to see anything out of the ordinary on the short trip to the landing.

  "I have lots of questions. I wouldn't know where to start," Devon added. "Grandma had mentioned learning how to quilt from her grandmother. I wonder if she did it in this house."

  Kate couldn't discount that. Polly had been known to host the occasional bee. "It's the last room on the left," she said instead, guiding him down the stout hallway, "and the first stop on the tour. It's the only room that isn't cordoned off at the door, so we can go in and actually see—"

  —empty acrylic cases hanging from the walls, ancient quilts scattered haphazardly on the floorboards.

  And Athena Dare, naked and reclining in the midst of it all, smiling broadly.

  Four

  If only the door were still connected to the jamb, she could slam it shut on the disturbing, yet very arousing image. As it was, Kate had no recourse but to block the entranceway to the quilting room and hope to grow an extra foot high to obscure Devon's view of the mess. Even if he couldn't see Athena's ghost, surely the quilts scattered about the room would be impossible to miss. What would he think?

  How had the spirit managed to free them from the framework? What kind of message was Athena trying to send here? Anxiety gripped Kate's throat, and bubbled in her stomach. Apparently, the past exercises with kicking around bread loaves hadn't garnered the desired attention.

  Well, Kate was aware now that Athena had something to say, or show.

  She squealed as two hands gripped either side of her waist. Athena continued to loll around the blankets, preening like a starlet. Kate straightened and stilled as a gust of warm breath tickled her ear. "You see it, too." Devon wasn't asking a question. "We must have been vandalized." Kate tried to keep a steady voice.

  "I can't imagine who would—" "No, you see her." "Who?" Kate asked, playing dumb. Yet, her heart backflipped to

  think Devon may be watching an ancestor frolic in the nude. "That white woman rolling around the blankets," he said. "Ethereal.

  Is she the ghost I've heard about?" White wo... Kate frowned, but didn't dare turn around to let Devon see her confusion. What exactly was he seeing, a photo negative? Different views for different colors? Ridiculous.

  Could Devon really see the ghost of Polly Dare? If so, why couldn't she? And why couldn't Devon see Athena, when she was so plainly obvious here as well? "Uh," Kate faltered, "is she naked?" Devon seemed not to hear her. Reaction came in an impassioned squeeze that nearly joined his hands together as they still encircled her. Kate fought for breath but didn't struggle from his grasp. It had been too long since a man touched her. Coupled with the erotic display, Kate felt her urges surface and threaten to explode. If only the hands around her middle would find more interesting parts to fondle...

  "Polly," he said suddenly, and to Kate's surprise Athena looked at them with pleasured recognition. She smiled a perfect set of white teeth—a testament to the good care she received in the Dare home, Kate guessed, or a gift in the afterlife—and rose gracefully. With a mock subservient bow, the young woman's body faded away.

  "She's gone," Kate said, and wondered what Devon still saw. She rocked back against him, involuntarily, as she felt faint, buoyed by the brush of something hard across her bottom. Devon responded with a slight gyrating of his hips, allowing Kate the full effect of his hardening cock pressed to her. She thought her pussy might melt with the contact.

  "No," Devon whispered, and urged Kate deeper into the room. "Someone, something, is still here. Can you feel it?"

  That Kate could definitely answer. She felt something very unnatural in this room—heat. Due to her anticipation of the lack of visitors today, she hadn't bothered to set up the space heaters in the upper rooms. This exhibit should be colder than a witch's tit, to coin a favorite phrase of Marlene's. Instead, Kate felt she wouldn't be surprised to sense a line of sweat crossing her brow. Odd, considering Athena's presence in the house was normally marked by a distinct coolness.

  If Devon indeed saw Polly's ghost instead of Athena's, perhaps the combination canceled each other's tendency to drop room temperature. The professionals who visited Dare House to investigate the hauntings mentioned nothing of supernatural heat, but right now it appeared to accompany another unexplained, yet not unwelcome phenomenon.

  To think of it, they hadn't mentioned detecting Polly's ghost, either. Strange.

  Devon's hands had trailed upward from her waist to cup the undersides of her breasts. He kneaded them gently over her blouse, and her nipples stiffened in response.

  "I think you feel something else," Kate finally murmured, her voice quivering with the blast of steam from Devon's nostrils. Short, shallows breaths caressed the exposed flesh of her neck.

  "I think, somehow, you don't mind that so much." Devon continued to fondle one breast, while his other hand drifted lower to negotiate her belt buckle. Kate stepped out of her flats and dugs her toes into the quilts. The patches, over one hundred years old, were feather soft to the touch, and each step seemed to release a sweet fragrance that revealed a passionate history. No faint stench of cat, as Marlene had predicted.

  These quilts had draped two beds, and no doubt had received a share of some kind of action. Athena and Horace, perhaps? Or another of the senior Dare's servants? Maybe Polly Dare had once given herself to a hulking field servant under these very covers, leaving Kate and Devon to be influenced by the residue of a long-past tryst. If so, Kate had yet to learn of Polly's dalliances in the available journals.

  Or , Kate thought as her legs slowly morphed to gelatin, maybe you want this for yourself. She drew in a breath when Devon's h
and slipped the barrier of her panties and his middle finger found her clit. "I think I need to lie down," she said. Devon moved with her as she slowly sank onto the quilts. He hovered over her just long enough to allow Kate to roll onto her back, then he quietly rocked and sat on his heels.

  Kate tucked an arm behind her head and watched Devon undress. The university sweatshirt slipped away to reveal a taut, dark chest sprinkled with tight, rough curls. Sharp muscles defined his arms and abdomen, but more than anything she wanted to see what comprised the impressive bulge tenting his jeans. Her sexual conquests were few and far between, and though she had even experimented with same-sex pleasure, she had never sampled anyone outside her race. But she preferred men, and she never discounted the idea of doing it with a black man. This man was perfect. Watching Devon raise his hips to slide off his jeans and underwear, Kate gaped silently at the thick erection that sprang forth and inwardly chastised herself for not considering it sooner. Oh, my. Her pussy twitched in anticipation. She couldn't wait to feel his skin against hers, to see the contrast of their fleshtones as they melded.

  First, though...she nodded at Devon's teasing smile. Of course. One of them was severely overdressed for the moment. It didn't take long for Kate to remove her clothes, and her confidence boosted with every item discarded. She took care to note Devon's reaction as her blouse opened, as the cups of her bra fell to reveal her silky, white breasts. Very nice, his smile seemed to say. Kate hoped her returning smile was equally complimentary of his body.

  After what seemed a torturous lapse in time, Devon covered her body with his and captured her mouth in a searing kiss. The sting of her hardened nipples against his chest great increased, and the amorous feeling quickly spread to her limbs, encouraging a sexual energy she'd never before experienced. Hands explored his shallow curves, starting with the chiseled muscles of his upper arms, over his shoulders and down his spine. Her body shifted for a bolder sensation when her palms came to rest on his highly-rounded buttocks; her hips slid from left to right as she thrust her mound into Devon's flesh. The pressure was just enough to allow her pussy lips to be pried apart so Kate could enhance the friction of her clit against him. The end result set her on fire.