Unless Ewan didn’t send her on this little chase.
Muriel studied the package, wondering what she should do next. Should she continue on her adventure, or should she try and find Ewan and see what the devil was happening?
She touched the scroll, and decided she needed to see if it contained any further information. She unrolled it and saw the words, “Don’t open anything until you are at home.” It, too, had been manufactured on a typewriting machine.
It took her a few more minutes, but finally Muriel decided to go ahead and collect all the packages, and then meet Ewan at her apartment at six that evening. She would make the green grocer her last stop. She wasn’t much of a cook, so she’d asked her landlady to make a stew for the evening. Muriel knew there was a bakery next to the green grocery. She could pick up a loaf of bread there to go with the stew.
Her lack of abilities when it came to cooking had been the topic of many conversations between herself and Ewan. She knew she had to learn how to make things, but it wasn’t at the top of her list. She preferred having Mrs. Haskell cook for them, and include the cost of the meals with her monthly rent.
Of course, once they were married, and had moved to a different residence, then it would be difficult for her to use Mrs. Haskell as her private chef. Perhaps, before that time came, she should consider asking Mrs. Haskell for lessons. The landlady’s food was so delicious. Was it conceivable that she could teach Muriel how to make such dishes?
Now was probably not the time to think about it. She needed to concentrate on the task at hand. She went from shop to shop, collecting the packages, none of them bigger than a hatbox.
Before she went into the green grocer’s, she stopped at the bakery and purchased a loaf of bread. She was happy they still had some left, since they were popular with local residents. It didn’t escape her attention that the green grocer was close to her rooms.
To Muriel, that fact reinforced the idea that Ewan was behind what she was starting to think of as a scavenger hunt.
The green grocer, whom she only knew as Tyrell, greeted her by name, and before she asked, handed her a brown-wrapped package.
“Tyrell, did Ewan leave this for me?” she asked.
“No,” Tyrell answered. “Or at least I don’t think he did. It was on my doorstep this morning with instructions to give it to you when you arrived.”
He looked worried, like he’d possibly broken a law. Muriel smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Tyrell. You know Ewan, he is always trying new things on me, and I think he’s trying to play a joke on me.”
Tyrell laughed. “The two of you are going to enjoy a long and fruitful life together,” he said. Then he gasped. “In that form, I almost forgot.” He went and gathered a few figs, which he put in a container. “Take these, too.” He looked around. “There was a paper on top of the package that said I should give you a few. In Egypt, they’re considered an aphrodisiac, you know.”
The older man blushed, and Muriel laughed. “Thank you.” She added her new acquisitions to the cart and headed for her apartments. Mrs. Haskell was on the stoop, whisking dust off the steps.
“Good afternoon, Muriel,” her landlady said. “Your young man is upstairs. I hope it was all right to allow him up without you being there. Seeing as how the two of you spend so much time together, I thought it would be fine.”
“It is fine, Mrs. Haskell,” Muriel said. “We will be married, maybe by the end of the year. I don’t know if we’ll live here for a while, or if we will try to find other rooms.”
Mrs. Haskell looked stricken, but then she smiled. “You know, the building next door is for sale. I’ve been thinking of purchasing it. If I did, would you like to live there? It will need work, but if you and your young man would consider putting up paper and doing some cleaning, I would consider giving you the rooms at a reduced rate.”
Muriel giggled. “Would those reduced rates still include food privileges?” she asked.
Mrs. Haskell laughed. “I’m sure something could be worked out. Now, you should go upstairs before your young man eats all the stew I left in your rooms.”
Muriel climbed the stairs, the cart banging behind her as she climbed. When she opened the door, she called out a greeting.
“Hello to you too, my love,” Ewan said. He was sitting on the sofa, reading a book. “Where have you been all afternoon? I had hoped we could make some quiet, but very sensual love on your afternoon off.”
“Then why did you send me after all these packages?” she asked, indicating the cart she’d just brought inside. But she knew as soon as she said the words that he hadn’t sent her after any packages.
He got up and crossed to where she still stood. As he did she told him about receiving the message from him just as her shift at The Written Word had ended.
“Show me,” he said. He held out his hand and she gave him the missive. He studied it carefully, and silently. Finally, he said, “This could be a joke, or someone could be trying to tell us something. Let’s open the packages and see what’s inside.”
He reached for the first one, but then he pulled his hand back.
“What?” Muriel asked. “Do you think they could contain something dangerous? Or perhaps something stolen?”
“There is every chance,” Ewan said. “However, we won’t know until we unwrap them. However, I think we should wear gloves, just in case there is some sort of poison on the wrappings.”
“You are paranoid,” she said. “The only people we crossed, while we were acquiring the Fortuna reliefs, are in prison in France.”
“Criminals have long reaching arms,” he said.
“If that is so, then I have already been exposed to the possibly deadly substance, as have the people who gave them to me. There might be something inside, but I think the outsides are safe.”
“I want to be safer,” he said. “You sit down while I unwrap them.”
He narrowed his eyes as he studied the packages, and Muriel laughed. “Do you really think someone is trying to hurt me? Or us?”
“No,” he said. He glanced at her, and then he put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her toward him, kissing her with a passion that she loved.
“You taste delicious,” he said when the kiss broke. “Perhaps we should throw the items in the corner and go to my rooms where we can make love and not have to worry about being overheard by Mrs. Haskell.”
“Later,” she said. “First we need to know what I’ve spent the afternoon collecting.”
He went to where his coat rested near the table and pulled out a pair of gloves. “You sit and I’ll unwrap,” he said.
“All right, while you do I have something else to tell you.”
He started to undo the string on the first package. “That one contained a note telling me not to unwrap anything until I was home,” she said.
“Was it also typewritten?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Curious,” he said.
Was it her imagination, or did he sound intrigued? She laughed as he pulled back the wrapping. Inside was a small box. He lifted the lid and bent over the table, obviously to get a better look.
“Hmm,” he muttered.
“What is it?” Muriel asked, bending over his shoulder to peer inside. The box contained a wooden block, like you would find in a child’s nursery. On it was printed the letter y.
“Odd,” Ewan said. He pulled off his gloves and picked up the second package. Muriel decided he was no longer concerned about there being poison in the wrappings. He unwrapped the packages quickly, and by the time things were done they had six blocks with the letters y, p, s, r, u, and a.
“This is everything?” Ewan asked.
“Except for the package of figs Tyrell gave me from the green grocers,” she said. “That was in addition to the package he gave me. He seemed to think it was some sort of game the two of us were playing, and he was happy to take part.”
Ewan was moving the blocks around, making words with them. He
was silent for a few moments before he finally said, “I can’t come up with any word that makes sense using all six letters.”
Muriel helped him move letters around and it didn’t take her long to decide he was right.
“What should we do?” she asked.
“We need to use different combinations of the blocks and see what we come up with. First, get a sheet of foolscap and write these down,” he ordered, his voice deep and demanding.
Muriel loved that tone of voice, one that he often used while the two of them were making love. She went to the desk and wrote the words he called out, using five, four, and three of the blocks:
Spray, prays, raspy, praus, rays, spur, pay, yup and spy.
“Those are only a few,” he said. “I’m sure if I had more time I could come up with more.”
“What do they mean?” Muriel asked when he finished calling out words.
“I don’t know,” he said, sounding as if he were lost in thought. “The only word that really stands out, as part of a scheme, would be spy, or pay, maybe.”
Muriel stared at the blocks, and then she chuckled. “Someone is evil,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
She picked up the scroll of paper that had been attached to the top of the first package.
“I’m not following you,” he said.
“Tyrell gave me figs, which he said were considered aphrodisiac in Egypt.” She wiggled the scroll at him. “A scroll, which could be used in Egypt.”
Ewan smiled. “You mean a scroll on papyrus?” He rearranged the letters. “We weren’t meant to take away letters, we were meant to use one twice the p. The only word I can see that can be formed with the blocks, with a double p is papyrus.”
They moved the letters around, and knew that, if they doubled other letters they could make several other words, but nothing that would go with the scroll that had been attached to the top of the first package.
If they doubled the a they couldn’t get a six, or seven letter word.
If they doubled the s it just made plural of a few words that didn’t seem to have any meaning to them. They got the same results with the u and r. Words that didn’t seem to mean anything.
If they doubled the y they saw syrupy, but nothing else.
The only thing that seemed to make sense was the double p, for papyrus.
“Do you have any notions about papyrus scrolls?” he asked.
“I believe if it’s plural it’s called papyri,” she said.
He wiggled his finger at her. “Don’t correct me.”
Muriel captured his finger in her mouth and sucked it gently.
“I could give you something better to put in your mouth, sweet Muriel,” he said, his voice husky with desire.
Without further instruction, Muriel dropped to her knees. She undid his breeches and greedily swallowed his prick when it sprang out of its prison. He tasted so good, so salty and male. He wrapped his fingers in her hair and guided her head back and forth.
“Muriel, sweet Muriel, I thank the stars above for putting our paths on a parallel course so that we can spend the rest of our lives together.”
In response, Muriel tightened her lips around him. Her juices flowed as she continued to savor his length.
“Stop,” he said, which shocked her because he’d never ordered her to stop before.
“Stand up,” he said.
As much as she loved sucking on his prick, she loved it even more when he took over, when he dominated her during their lovemaking.
“Have I done something wrong?” she asked as she stood. She wasn’t frightened that she’d upset him. She was just going along with the game they’d played so many times.
“It just occurred to me that you went on this little scavenger hunt by yourself,” he said. “You put yourself in danger.”
“There was no real danger,” Muriel said. But she could tell by the tone of his voice what was coming next. A spanking. Her clit twitched with need at the thought of him spanking her bottom.
“Are you arguing with me?” he asked.
“No, I am simply stating a fact,” she said. “I thought the instructions came from you. It wouldn’t be the first time you sent me notes at the store.”
“Hand written notes,” he said. “I never sent you something produced on a typewriting machine.”
“I did nothing wrong,” she said. Although, in her mind, she knew that this was a game, she also knew she should have checked with him before she collected the items. Whoever had sent her the missives had counted on her independence. She wondered what would have happened if she had contacted Ewan, although she wasn’t sure where he had spent the afternoon, or what job he was working with.
She said as much as she watched him cross the room. She watched him take a small wooden paddle from the cupboard. She tingled with excitement.
“You know the position you need to be in,” he said as he gently tapped the paddle against the palm of his hand. “Over the bed, skirts up, underthings down.”
“I can’t believe you are punishing me for this,” she said out loud. Inside she screamed at herself for drawing it out. Get in position! Get in position now!
“Don’t make this any harder on yourself than it needs to be,” he said.
But she wanted it to be harder. It wasn’t often they did things like this in her rooms, because there was every chance Mrs. Haskell would hear. Muriel had always thought that her landlady knew Muriel and Ewan were having carnal relations in her rooms, despite the fact they were not married. But she had never brought the subject up, because Ewan did not stay overnight, much to Muriel’s dismay. She loved waking up next to him while they were working on their case in France, and she couldn’t wait for it to happen again.
“Get in position,” he said once more.
Muriel moved slowly, and when she was near the bed she adjusted her clothing to his specifications and then bent over, her naked bum ready for a spanking.
He crossed the room, moving as slowly as she had. When he was next to her, he rubbed her bottom with the paddle.
“You are a naughty girl,” he said.
“Yes, I know,” she said. “I’m sorry, Ewan. I thought you had sent the message. I promise.”
He slapped the paddle against her bottom.
“Ten swats for each place you stopped,” he said.
Muriel wanted to scream, “Only ten?”
Instead the words, “As you wish” came out of her mouth.
The first ten stung, and the second ten were a little harder. By the third and the fourth sets of ten, Muriel felt as if she were floating, the pain from the paddle making her claw at the bedclothes and pray for more, more, more.
For the last two sets the swats were even harder. Muriel bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out. Part of her wondered if Mrs. Haskell would hear, if she would come upstairs and ask what was happening.
But there was no knock at the door, and no interruption. When she’d received the six sets of ten, Ewan rubbed the paddle against her bottom. She couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d spanked her, and how angry it had made her. Now she wanted it more and more. She savored the feel of the pain, and the pleasure she knew would come afterward.
As if he could read her mind, she felt Ewan lower himself over her. His hard prick pushed at her opening and slid into her wetness
Muriel continued to claw at the bedcovers as he gently rode her, sliding in and out as she moaned and softly whispered, “More, more, more.”
He kept up the even, sweet pace. Pleasure swept through her as they stayed as one, until he was close. Ewan lifted his weight from her, and Muriel put her fingers into her quim. She found her clit and stroked it as he moved in and out. When her orgasm hit, she squeezed his cock and he groaned as he emptied inside her.
When they were both done he rolled off her onto his side. He stroked her back and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Ewan, more than you’ll ever know.”<
br />
“Oh no, I know, and I’m pretty sure my feelings match yours.” He kissed her shoulder. “We’ll be together forever.”
She thought now might be the time to tell him about Mrs. Haskell’s offer, but she didn’t want to talk. She turned onto her side and snuggled into him, savoring the feel of his warm body against hers.
A little cat nap, and then they would eat, and discuss the possible meanings of today’s scavenger hunt.
Chapter 8
“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Muriel took a bite of her stew and studied the man who had just delivered so much pleasure to her. His hair was a mess, and it was on the tip of her tongue to mention he should see a barber tomorrow.
“My plans are to see about getting our banns posted…” His voice drifted off as if he had more to say, but his gaze, which had been trained on his bowl, was now focused on her. There was a smile on his face, and she returned it. “If that is all right with you?”
“It is perfect,” she said. “When shall we marry?”
“The first of January,” he said. “The start of a new year.”
“Perfect,” she said. “Speaking of which, I need to tell you something Mrs. Haskell told me.” She relayed her landlady’s plan of purchasing the building next door
“Ask her if we can look at it tomorrow afternoon, before the sun goes down,” he said. “I think it is a good plan. It keeps us in a nice neighborhood, and a little papering and painting could be entertaining.”
His voice seemed a little drawn, and she worried that he wasn’t as pleased with the plan as he sounded. He would, she knew, much rather have a house they could call their own, much as she would. But they had plenty of time for that, she knew.
“I’m also going down to the museum and hang around the Egyptian rooms,” he said. “I have a few friends who work there. A few well-placed questions might see if there is something happening that concerns a papyrus. I think your little escapade today might be someone trying to hire me.”
“By sending me on errands?” she asked. “Wouldn’t they just come up to you, tell you what it is and give you money? Preferably lots of money.”
Muriel’s Adventures Page 9
