Of course, with age comes wisdom and, often times, the realisation that all the money in the world holds no value over true love. As his thirtieth birthday approached, Stanley found himself thinking more and more about what really matters in life. It dawned on him, much later than it should have, that he absolutely had to get down on one knee and propose to Marisa. He was aware that he had been far from the perfect boyfriend over the past three years and knew that if he waited much longer, there was a significant chance that the girl would pack her bags and leave him for somebody who would share his name with her. And so it was on a warm spring evening at the manor that the Duke removed a glittering wedding band from his breast pocket and placed it on the dining table before his girlfriend as she guzzled down the final drops of wine from her cup. When the young girl lowered her glass and beheld the ring that brightly shone in front of her, it was a moment of romance that would not be bested even a century later when Hollywood would make such moments common place.
Though she was too stunned to give a verbal answer to the question (which was never verbally asked), Marisa soon made her response clear when she rose from her seat at the opposite end of the dining table, walked slowly to Stanley and took his thin face in her cupped hands before leaning towards him and placing her sweet lips against his. To the best of his memory, this was the first time Stanley had ever been involved in any sort of romantic situation with Marisa outside of his chamber. With two other maids and a butler seemingly always around, it was far too risky for the two to express their love in any other part of the manor. However, the Duke had given all members of the help whom he wasn't planning on proposing to the night off in anticipation of what was going to occur after dinner and so he was more than happy to rise from his seat and take Marisa in his arms, still holding his lips to hers. He held his love tightly as the kiss evolved from a soft peck of appreciation to a steamy, passion driven affair of much tongues and saliva. Though Marisa had not changed from her maid's uniform before the dinner, she had managed to find some time to clean herself up and cover her body with a nice coat of perfume which was now wafting through Stanley’s nostrils and entering his brain, making him wild with desire. With hands moving faster than he could think, the Duke began to unfasten the single button at the top of Marisa's uniform, which served to keep her from pouring out of the garment. When she felt the hands of her lover endeavouring to remove her from her clothing, Marisa placed her hands on his shoulders and gently pulled herself away before saying "perhaps we should go to the chamber." Much like his fiancée had reacted when asked to marry him, Stanley replied to this suggestion by engaging Marisa in another passionate kiss. The maid spoke once again, this time omitting only a sigh, which contained a half-hearted attempt to say "very well", inhibited mostly by the sense of pleasure she was feeling at the time.
Stanley managed to undo the button without any further protest from his soon-to-be wife and all but tore the clothes from her body in one movement. He took a step back for a moment, eager to take in the sight of his fiancée as she stood in nothing but her undergarments. Now that she was out of that uniform, Stanley no longer saw a maid. The person who stood before him was a woman of great beauty; powerful, yet not without a trace of delicacy and worthy of wearing any crown the Kingdom had to bestow upon her.
"You look wonderful,” said Stanley with a lump forming in both his throat and trousers.
"There is plenty more to look at" Marisa replied as the twinkle in her eye was replaced by a look of mischief and her lips took the shape of a cheeky grin. She had never said anything like this before; such suggestive sentences were a far cry from her usual arsenal of words and phrases. Then again, this night was a night of firsts. She had never before been proposed to; she had never before kissed the Duke outside of his chamber and she had never before been naked in the manor's dining room. Two out of those three things had changed already and Marisa was about to make it three for three.
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 pectinous 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.
The Duke's Dilemma: Regency Romance Menage Short Stories Page 16