The Duchess and the Dreamer

by Jenny Frame

  All Clementine wanted to do was feel Evan’s skin against hers, but it was so long since she had done anything like this. In fact there was no other experience she’d had that made her feel like this.

  Evan reached down for the hem of Clem’s T-shirt and pulled it off in one go, leaving her naked apart from her lacy knickers.

  She gasped and said, “You’re beautiful, Clem.” She reached out towards her breasts, but hesitated. “May I touch you?”

  “Please,” Clementine said.

  Evan cupped her breast and squeezed softly. Clementine moaned and put her head back. She hadn’t experienced this intense need to be touched before, the need for Evan to touch her, and so she just paused for a time and let her body feel.

  Evan let go of one of her breasts and trailed her fingers down the centre of Clementine’s chest, then her stomach, and teased the waistband of her knickers.

  Clementine’s sex was pulsating, anticipating what Evan’s touch would be like. Evan rolled her over and began to kiss her more fervently.

  In between her kisses Evan said, “I want to touch you everywhere, make you feel what I feel in my heart.”

  Evan was overwhelmed with what she was feeling. Her heart was bursting, and she could only hope Clementine felt a fraction of what she did, but she would show her. Evan would love her body until Clementine understood what her heart felt.

  When she took Clementine’s nipple into her mouth, Clementine grasped her hair painfully. She pulled back and blew on the nipple.

  “You like that?”

  “Um, uh-huh. Yes.”

  Evan used her tongue to lick and flick her nipple while still squeezing her other breast. Clementine rocked her hips against Evan’s, clearly needing some relief.

  The fact that this beautiful lady, this gentlelady, wanted her, blew her mind, but she wanted to feel, to taste just how much Clementine wanted this.

  She let go of her nipple and kissed her way down to Clementine’s sex.

  “Yes, Evan. I need you.”

  Evan could see the wetness through Clementine’s tiny underwear. She couldn’t resist her first impulse to lick her sex and taste her. Her inclination to go slow and enjoy every second was forgotten after that first taste, when Clementine’s hands rested on the back of her head, encouraging her not to take it slow.

  She didn’t even stop to take Clementine’s underwear off. She just pushed it to the side and licked as she had before. Clementine’s legs tensed and her hips raised off the bed.

  “Oh God, Evan.”

  Encouraged that she was doing exactly what her lover wanted, she opened her up and placed short teasing, rhythmic strokes on her clit. It had just been instinct, but she’d obviously hit on something her lover liked.

  Clementine’s hips started to undulate in time with her strokes. “God, where did you learn that, Foxy?”

  Evan stopped and smiled to herself, then drew long slow circles around the outside of her clit. Clementine moaned at the loss of the strokes directly on her clit, so Evan began again. Then each time her lover’s breathing got more erratic, her hips matched, and her moans more desperate, Evan stopped abruptly and circled around the outside again.

  After the third time of doing this, Clementine’s groans almost became cries. “Please, please, make me come.”

  Evan teased Clementine’s entrance with her tongue a few times and then got back to her clit. Clementine closed her legs tightly around Evan’s head as if trying to control her from stopping, but Evan had no intention of stopping this time.

  She went faster and could hear her lover was going to come soon. Then Clementine went still and almost crushed her head with her thighs. As quickly as she tensed up, all the tension was let go just as quickly. Clementine was left audibly trying to get her breath back.

  Evan moved back up and stroked Clementine’s hair from her face. “Are you all right, Clem?”

  “Yes. That was—”

  Instead of answering she pulled Evan down into a kiss. Evan got caught up in the moment and the feeling of being close to Clementine again. Her mind was mush, and all she could think was how much she wanted, how much she needed Clementine

  Evan’s hips betrayed what her body wanted and started to thrust between Clementine’s thighs. She kissed, licked, and gently bit at Clementine’s neck, making her shiver.

  Clementine moved her hand down between them and slipped her fingers into Evan’s sex, splitting her fingers around her clit.

  “Oh yes,” Evan said.

  “This is what you want, isn’t it?” Clementine whispered in her ear.

  Clementine’s breath made her shiver. “Yeah.”

  It was perfect. She got to be on top, the way she liked, and thrust herself onto Clementine’s fingers. Controlling the pace, but giving herself over to Clementine completely, being vulnerable, and enjoying the deep kisses she was giving her.

  She so wanted to take it slow, but her body was demanding she thrust her hips faster, so she could assuage this deep need inside her. Evan could feel herself ready to lose control. She pulled away from Clementine’s lips and buried her face in her neck. She moaned and said, “Oh yeah.”

  Her thrusts took her to the precipice, and she fell off into the deepest, almost painful orgasm.

  She collapsed on Clementine, and she wrapped her arms around her, soothing her as she regained control.

  “Evan?” Clementine kissed her head.

  That was so mind-blowing. Evan knew Clementine was the right one for her. Fate sent her here, and now all she had to do was convince Clementine that she would love her forever.

  * * *

  Evan started to wake and her memory of last night filtered slowly back through her mind. She smiled and opened her eyes, expecting to find Clementine next to her, but she wasn’t in bed.

  She sat up and was relieved to find Clementine was still in the room, sitting on the wide windowsill, her knees pulled up to her chest. She was staring out the window, looking lost, deep in thought.

  Evan was almost frightened to let Clem know she was awake. What if she said this was a mistake? She dreaded that. Clementine could see into all her darkest places, the places where she was fearful, anxious, not the happy-go-lucky Evan Fox that she showed the world. It was such a relief for someone to see the real her, and still care, still kiss, still touch her.

  Clementine was the strong woman Evan needed in her life, and she prayed that she wouldn’t run from her.

  “Clem?” Evan said while she sat up on the bed.

  Clementine looked back and gave her an anxious smile, which made Evan nervous.

  “Morning.”

  “Are you okay, Clem?”

  She nodded. “I used to sit here when I was a little girl. It was my favourite spot to survey the estate.”

  “And here you are again,” Evan said.

  Clementine just nodded in response. Something wasn’t right. Evan got up and slipped on her sleep shorts but didn’t worry about a T-shirt. She walked over and kissed Clementine on the cheek.

  “Are you sure you’re all right? After last night and everything?” Evan sat on the large sill with Clementine.

  “Last night was wonderful. I can’t remember ever feeling like I did last night.”

  Evan reached over and took her hand. “Then why do you look worried, or whatever?”

  “It’s not you. It could never be you. I woke up and walked over here just to see if everything was all right after the storm. Then I remembered the day we left here, and I sat here for what I thought was the last time.”

  “Yeah? And what?” Evan couldn’t quite work out what the problem was.

  “I began to think, here I am again, in my family home, and all because I slept with the new owner.”

  Evan was hurt at that remark. “You really think that?”

  “No, Evan. That’s what other people will think. The poverty-stricken duchess gets herself a cushy job with the estate, and then sleeps her way back into the house.”

  �
��Who cares what people think, Clem? All that matters are our opinions, our truth,” Evan said firmly.

  “What is our truth, Foxy?”

  “That we have something amazing between us. My dad has told me ever since I can remember that when he first saw my mum, he felt like he had been hit over the head with a banjo. I’ve carried that story with me as a benchmark for the people I’ve dated, but those dates were always just one or two with each person because I didn’t feel it. Then I come here ready to start a new chapter in my life. The first time I met you…remember?”

  Clementine laughed. “I was beastly to you. I was having a hard time, and the house was gone for good with you buying it—but I’m sorry.”

  Evan took her hand. “I don’t need any sorrys. When you opened the door to me, that banjo I’d been waiting for smacked me so hard around the head, I should have had concussion.”

  “Really? You liked me since then?”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t ready to accept me. Now I think you know I am committed to the village, and a half decent person.”

  “Of course you’re a half decent person, you’re a wonderful person. It’s just too soon,” Clementine said. “Too soon for people to know. I was brought up with these people, and I don’t want them to think I’m jumping in bed with you, to work my way in here. I have my pride.”

  “Okay, as long as you’ll give us a chance. It’s nobody’s business but ours,” Evan agreed.

  “There’s Archie and the office staff too.”

  “What about Archie?”

  “I’ve heard her warning you about me.”

  Evan sighed and stood up. “It’s only because she cares about me. Plus, she has a very jaded view of commitment and relationships. She’s relationship phobic, but she’ll come around. I don’t want you to care about gossip or whispering behind your back. Do you not think I get looks and whispers for the way I present myself? How awkward it is when I walk into a public lavatory? I can hear it, I can feel the stares, but I choose positivity. I live by it.”

  Clementine stood up and put her arms around Evan’s waist. “And I choose to think the worst because then no one ever disappoints me.”

  Evan cupped her cheeks. “I’m going to show you that there’s a different way to look at things. Positivity rules, and no one can change how we feel about each other by gossip or tittle-tattle.”

  Clementine couldn’t help but want to try Evan’s way. “Your enthusiasm is so infectious. You know that?”

  “That’s my job, m’lady, Your Highness. Don’t worry about anything else—just concentrate on enjoying each day.” Evan swept her off her feet, making Clementine laugh, and said, “I’m going to show you how fun life is, but why don’t we have this further discussion in bed.”

  “Are discussions not best held sitting or standing?” Clementine asked.

  Evan scrunched her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “Oh no. I always think more clearly when I’m lying down.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Evan was right. She did make life more fun for Clementine. The next couple of weeks were as happy as Clementine could remember. After a day’s work at the office, she and Evan would eat dinner together, walk on the beach, spend time watching TV together, or as Evan called it, “Netflix and chill.” Nobody knew they were seeing each other except Kay. Clementine couldn’t keep it from her closest friend, and Kay encouraged her to explore the relationship.

  The weather had cleared up, although the river was still high, letting the builders get caught up on lost time. The residents’ cottages had been mended—from leaky roofs to stonework needing to be redone, kitchens and bathrooms refitted. Even the most critical villagers, the Murdochs and Mr. Mason, were delighted with the improvements and the cut in their electricity bills from the new wind turbines.

  This evening was an important one for the village. The pub was reopening under the landlordship of Rupert’s husband, Jonah. To celebrate, Evan was hosting a party in the beer garden with a barbecue.

  Evan, of course, took charge of the barbecue and was having the time of her life. Clementine and Kay sat at a picnic table with the Tucker twins and Ash. Everyone else stood around chatting, and Kay’s boys sat in the corner playing Evan’s new app on their iPad.

  The Murdochs, Ash’s dad James, and Mr. Mason had been initially quiet when they met Rupert and Jonah. They had never met a gay male couple, Clementine supposed, but within twenty minutes Jonah, a big bear of a man, had the other men onside, telling naughty jokes and discussing the finer points of real beer.

  “Look at her,” Kay said, gesturing towards Evan. “She’s having the time of her life.”

  Clementine chuckled and shook her head as she watched Evan in full chef whites and a chef’s hat, dancing away as she cooked the food.

  “She likes to play dress up. I don’t think she’s progressed from nursery level sometimes,” Clementine said.

  Agatha, who was holding a near empty glass of sherry, said, “We think she’s a breath of fresh air to this village. Don’t we, Ada?”

  Ada was chirpy despite still being in plaster and a wheelchair. “Oh yes, indeed. This is a lovely afternoon. It’s quite a treat for us.”

  Clementine’s heart sighed in the most nauseatingly romantic way. She’d never been a romantic, had always held a disdain for romantic movies and books, and here she was, her heart sighing at the sight of her lover in a silly chef’s hat.

  Jonah interrupted them with some more drinks. “Ladies, some more sherry?”

  “Oh yes, Jonah. Fill them up,” Ada said, handing him her glass.

  After he refilled the drinks he left to take more drinks around.

  “Isn’t he just a lovely big man,” Agatha said.

  “Yes,” Ada agreed, “like Thor, one of those big strong Greek gods.”

  “Norse gods.” Ash laughed.

  “I think our elder ladies have taken a shine to Jonah,” Kay whispered.

  Fergus and Archie, who had been talking, walked over to their table.

  Archie said, “Food will be ready in a few minutes.”

  Clementine stood up. “Why don’t I go and make a plate up for you and Ada and Agatha, before there’s a rush.”

  “Good idea,” Kay said with a wink, clearly spotting her ulterior motive of wanting to talk to Evan.

  As she approached Evan from behind, she heard her singing along to the music playing in the background.

  “Enjoying yourself, Foxy?”

  Evan jumped. “God, I was lost in my own world there. What can I do for you, m’lady?”

  “I’m here to get the Tucker twins food, but secretly I wanted to see you.”

  “Lucky me,” Evan said.

  Evan couldn’t believe how lucky she was. The past few weeks had been amazing. Clementine was opening up to her more every day, and they were just loving every moment they were spending together. The only thing that irked Evan was that, apart from Kay and Archie, no one knew they were together. She didn’t see the need for the secrecy any more, but Clementine was insistent that she wasn’t ready to go public.

  “So how’s the food going, grill master?” Clementine asked.

  “Perfectly.” Evan tended two barbecues side by side. She pointed to the one on her right. “This one is for all the meat products, and the one next to it has all the vegan and vegetable choices.”

  “You don’t feel uncomfortable cooking the meat? You want me to do it?”

  “No, I’m fine. It’s obviously not ideal, but I’m seeing this as a teaching moment. Everyone who’s having a meat burger has agreed to try the vegan plant-based burgers.” She pointed to the vegan burgers. “These bad boys come from a plant-based butcher’s in London, and they are as near meat as you could get. I think they’ll surprise a lot of people.”

  “A plant-based butcher? Seriously? How does that work?” Clementine asked.

  “They’re popping up in all major cities now. They use plant-based ingredients to make meat-style products. They make it look like a but
cher’s shop. Very cool.”

  Clementine chuckled. “You are positive about everything, aren’t you? Even serving vegan burgers to farmers. That takes guts.”

  “Nah, I just believe in compromise and bringing people over to your side of things, through understanding and tolerance.”

  “I bet your mum wouldn’t.”

  “You’re right. She’s a firebrand, but I got the mellowness from my dad.” Evan took Clementine’s hand discreetly and leaned over and whispered, “Do you fancy meeting inside the pub after I’ve fed these people for a bit of a kiss in the basement?”

  Clementine laughed. “You say the most romantic things.”

  “Is the food ready yet?” Fergus asked as he walked up behind them.

  To Evan’s annoyance, Clementine snatched her hand away.

  “Any minute, Fergus,” Clementine answered.

  Evan was getting frustrated with this. This had happened too often, and the feeling of rejection Evan felt was bubbling away underneath and was going to explode eventually.

  They were going to London for a few days at the end of the week. The interviews for prospective residents of Rosebrook cottages were taking place at Fox Toys. Evan was looking forward to showing Clementine her other world, and she was determined that they were going to talk about this.

  Evan wanted to shout about her new relationship from the mountaintop, not hide away like they were doing something wrong.

  * * *

  Clementine held her mum’s hand. “Mama, I’m going away for a few days. I want you to promise you’ll listen the to nurses and eat when they ask you to.”

  “Are you going to school, Clemy?”

  “I’ll just be a few days, okay?” It filled Clementine with worry to leave her mother. She’d never been away from her for more than a day before, but she had to go. She and Evan were holding interviews at Fox Toys for the first phase of cottages, and Evan was excited to show her London offices to Clementine.