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972 Posts |
 Posted - November 04 2007 : 01:41:28 AM
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George Challenger and Nicole Finnegan were tired, but content as they undressed and put away their clothes and equipment.
"Marguerite said that she really likes the new Smith & Wesson like mine, but with the shorter barrel," commented Finn. She took Challenger's trousers from his hand and hung them on a hanger, smoothing them before she put them on the rack in the closet.
"Good," replied her man. "I daresay that she will someday be glad of its added power. I hate to think of you ladies having to use revolvers except in sport, but reality here is that you both will probably have to shoot occasional snakes or even men before we reach civilization. I half wish that Ned had not brought up going to London tonight. It made me homesick," he admitted wistfully.
"Isn't home wherever we are?" asked Finn, hoping to cheer him.
He brightened. "Yes, Darling, but as Ned said, there is so much that he and I will love showing to you and to Veronica. And our real home will be the one that we will buy in Kent, where we shall raise that child that you are carrying, and maybe a brother or sister for him. It will be the first time that you will be able to call someplace home and know that it is indeed just that. I have never really been at home before, wherever I have lived. There are so many things that I want to have in that home, that we may fully enjoy it. But the first item that makes anywhere my home is you."
"Will I pass okay as English?," she asked, a little concerned. "I know that I don't look or sound Brazilian. Ned says that I can pass for American. Is that good? I don't want to embarrass you."
Challenger chuckled. "Just don't shoot anyone unless it is truly necessary," he joked. "The British don't understand honor killings as they do here. Fortunately, the chances of having to shoot someone are remote, at least in the areas that we will frequent, and where we will live. Nor will you have to worry about dinosaurs and big cats trying to eat you. The Inland Revenue are another matter. They will gobble up as much of our treasure in taxes as they can, and I will have to hire a sharp barrister to keep their hands off as much as possible. But we shall certainly be rich. Even more so after I sell a few inventions. As Mrs. George Challenger, wife of a distinguished scientist, you will not only be accepted, you will be deferred to by merchants and most others whom you will meet. And your American accent will be accepted. America gave us a needed hand in the Great War. Most Britons will be tolerant of you, even like you, as they get to know you."
"Cool," she conceded. She ran her fingers around the waistband of her black, lace-trimmed panties. "Are we going to fool around tonight? I'm pretty tired. Can we just cuddle? I'm going to leave these on if it's okay with you."
"By all means, do, Finn. I, too, am tired, and I love to feel your pretty bum through that smooth material. It is surely one of the purest delights than a man can know in this life."
Finn walked over and and reached up to kiss his lips. "Genius, you say the sweetest things," she smiled. "I still can't believe that I'm standing next to one of the greatest scientists of all time, and what he finds to talk about is feeling my behind."
"Well, it is an exceptional behind," he noted. "And even brilliant men such as I am cannot fail to be impressed with it. Come to bed. There are other things that we need to discuss, then I want to sleep before I go fishing with the other lads tomorrow."
They set their revolvers by their sides of the bed, with candles and matches nearby, in case of nocturnal emergency. Then, they put out the light and lay next to one another, talking of the impending baby and how to raise it in the jungle.
They cuddled, sometimes rubbing noses as they whispered their love and their hope for a bright future. Finn lay next to Challenger, listening with rapt attention to what he said. Her heart filled with joy as he told her how much she meant to him, and what their life would be like off of the Plateau.
As the Moon crept its silent way across the sky, they slept, snuggled tightly together. Just before slumber claimed her, Finn thought, Mrs. George Challenger. What I aspire to be and will be. And I will be the best wife that this great man could hope to have! I'd better get to sleep. I want to get up in time to get him and Johnny and Ned fed before they leave on that fishing trip. Next time, just George and I or maybe another couple can come. I want to catch one of those payara fish.
She found Challenger's hand and put it on her womb. He stirred briefly and she moved her hips back against his manhood. Then, holding the hand to her, she slept the sleep of the tired and of the joyful.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
972 Posts |
Posted - November 04 2007 : 02:25:14 AM
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John Roxton and Marguerite Krux entered their room, and Roxton tossed his hat onto a side table and took off his gunbelt, sighing with weariness.
"This has been quite a day," he commented.
"Well, we survived it," she noted. "Could have been worse. I've actually HAD worse days. And we were together. With you beside me, I feel that we can overcome any danger, meet any challenge. Of course, I was already doing that before I met you." She stuck out her tongue playfully at him.
"I can't imagine how, not even being able to read a compass properly, being able to use it with a map to find your way. I'd say that you're better off with me than without, Marguerite." He smirked.
"Right you are, Roxton. Come over here and pull off my boots. Demonstrate your usefulness. You're always trying to undress me, anyway." She sat on the bed and extended her legs for him to take her footwear. Her eyes twinkled as he approached.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
972 Posts |
Posted - November 05 2007 : 02:21:04 AM
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He took her boots and set them beside the chair where she usually sat to put them on. This left him near the door from their room to the balcony outside. On impulse, he walked over and unlatched it and stood on the balcony, smelling the verdant night, hearing its sounds, trying to identify which animals made which noises.
He felt her beside him, and she reached out to touch his shoulder.
"John? What is it? I was teasing. Did I insult you or something? It wasn't my intention."
"No, I'm fine," he replied, turning to hold her hand, seeing that her skirt was now off. "Sometimes, I like to just stand here, listening, looking. As much as I yearn to return home, there are things about this place that I will miss. This and other wild places where I have been call out to me. They stir my soul, make my existence more vital. It's the elemental world out there, Marguerite. The natural order of things. I like being a part of that, knowing that I can hold my own in savage circumstances. War is different. It was an adventure, but one of which I easily had my fill. This, I want for all of my life. I want us to go to Africa, India, Alaska. Maybe a time or two a year, for perhaps a month or three. It connects me to my primitive side, I suppose."
"There's a certain primal rush of adrenaline when I stand before a bull elephant that has been destroying native crops and killing people and I know that in a moment, the elephant will die, or I will. I like the surge that comes when I have to follow a Cape buffalo that has escaped wounded into the long grass, and I have to go in after it because some fool muffed his shot at it."
"I don't want to do that too often, and I am not suicidal enough to face lions on foot frequently. There are too many headstones in Nairobi cemetary reading, 'Killed By a Lion". I don't want to find my way to a messy death like that. But sometimes, I'll risk it. It gives life meaning and purpose and satisfaction."
"So, you feel a connection to the wilder side of things by standing out here and drinking in the smells and sounds and sights of this place?" she wanted to know.
He nodded. "Yes, Marguerite. It's what I am. Me, the jaguar, the raptor, all brothers to some degree. I like thinking of the hunt, and of the hunted, and of that huge, full moon up there tonight and the world that it illuminates. Can you understand any of this? Is the concept too alien?"
"Oh, sure, " she said. "Man, the hunter. Man, the survivor and coper, the master of nature, of all that he beholds. I sense that in you. It scares me, and it thrills me, too. I want to belong to a man like that, one who will face an angry lion if he sees a need, and who thrills to it. Maybe I'm a litle wild, myself. Yes, I'll go to Africa and those other places with you. But, John, you have set limits for me, which I will respect and obey. I am your woman now, and I will not try to tame you. I wouldn't want you tamed. You wouldn't be yourself."
"But Darling John, you have an obligation to me now, too. Will you try to have relatively safe adventures, and not expose yourself recklessly to danger? I dread to think of anything happening to you, now that I have fallen for you. I want to know that you don't hate yourself for your brother's killing. Will that lead you to take chances like I've read that you have? Like you did in the war? I'm proud of your Victoria Cross, but I read the citation for it. You could have been killed! Nearly were. Were you trying to somehow atone for William's death by getting yourself killed? I don't want to have fallen in love with a man who hates his past so much that he won't try to live, for us." She held him by the waist, looking intensely into his eyes.
Roxton leaned down and kissed her. "Marguerite, there was a time when I did hate myself. Felt enormous guilt. I have gotten over that. You have helped, as has Challenger, with whom I have spoken privately about the matter. I listened to him, and he made sense. He told me that I have no right to risk myself to made amends for what was an accident in the first place. That I owe him and the rest of you a duty to stay alive and to help others to. Finn told me the same. They're right. I woke up one day and told myself that I needed to leave the past in the past, to let old agonies be bygones.
Loving you has made that easier. I have more to live for. And if we have children, I cannot deny them a father because I wanted to take too many foolish chances with wild animals."
"Rest assured, I want some adventure. It will always be a part of me. But I will be more prudent than I was at times. What I sense here, being part of the night, doesn't mean that I want to be reckless. Just that I want to commune with Nature. Look: the Moon is so beautiful. It reminds me of you."
"What!," she exclaimed. "You're saying that I have a Moon face?" But she smiled, and he knew that she had understood, and could now joke with him.
He nuzzled her nose. "Marguerite Krux, I love you and I want you, and I will protect you from the demons of the Plateau and of the press when we arrive home. I can barely wait to have a vicar proclaim us man and wife, and shout to the world that you are mine and that I am proud of it!" He played with her hair, toying with her ears, and she felt weak in the knees. Little crackles of electricity tingled all over her body. He felt her tremble in his grasp, and he led her back into the room, and latched the door.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
972 Posts |
Posted - November 05 2007 : 04:02:22 AM
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They sat side-by-side on the bed as he undressed, and she went to hang his clothes as he passed them to her. She removed her blouse and bra, remembering to face him, seeming oblivious to his presence. But when she bent one knee and reached back with both hands to unhook the bra, he knew that she was doing this for his eyes.
She saw the way that he looked at her,and was glad that she had chosen to please him in this intimate little gesture. It made her feel desirable and excited her.
Marguerite walked sensually over to Roxton, making each step that she took one that made his heart race faster. Marguerite knew how to do a slow strut that grabbed a man's attention and revved his circulation as if he had run a mile.
"I believe that I promised you a rather nice time tonight with a former slave girl," she breathed. "Care to collect on my offer?"
"I won't even pretend to think this over, Marguerite," he responded. "A man would be a fool to pass up something like that. Come here; I want to take your knickers. "
He pulled her to him and stripped her of her final garment, noting that they were a lovely color, some sort of pale purple with a lot of blue in it.
"What shade is this, anyway? Not your lavendar ones, to match your blouse. Periwinkle?"
She chuckled. "A good guess, for a man. Yes, that's what Challenger came up with when I asked for dyes to make periwinkle and cornflower lingerie. I made myself three pair,and a couple more for Veronica. Finn wanted a really dark, rich blue, and some true purple ones. Challenger made those colors, too, commenting that purple had been an expensive dye in Roman times. But nothing is too good for Finn. He came up with the shade she wanted. Along with some more black ones, of course. John, stop playing with those. Whatever are you doing?" She looked at him, baffled, yet amused.
"I'm taking a good look at what these look like off of you," he explained. "They look better on you, but you aren't getting these back. I want to put them in my pack and take them out on the trail sometimes, and think of you."
"Why?" she queried. "That sounds a trifle kinky, doesn't it?"
He shrugged. "I never said that I wasn't a ittle perverse when it comes to sex. There are ladies who could tell you things about me that would embarrass me, if I was easily embarrassed. I did have the reputation of being somewhat of a rake, I'm afraid. As you pointed out to me a few times when you thought that I just wanted you as my next conquest..."
"Seriously, I want to keep these. They'll remind me of you, and make me feel as if I have a piece of you with me, whenever we're apart. I can take them out when hunting or scouting and feel that you're with me, even if you're back home in the Treehouse. They will remind me of what I have to come home to. Rather like a medieval lady giving her knight a handkerchief or scarf as a token of her favor." He looked boldly at her and smiled that smile that was so HIM, when he knew that he had her at a disadvantage.
"Well, at least, let me give you a clean pair. Are you sure that you want periwinkle? I have some black ones, or those lavendar ones that you like. Finn and I are sewing tomorrow. I'll make myself a new pair of whichever color that you chose."
He thought. "Give me one each of black and lavendar. I like thinking of you wearing the latter while in that lavendar blouse. You can have these back when I get the others. And I want some that you've worn. Not the new ones." He grinned lasciviously at her, and she melted inside, knowing what would come next as he pulled her to him and tripped her so that she fell onto the bed beside him.
"And now, former slave girl, let us see what you remember of your talents in the harem of that hedonistic sultan." (See, "A Prisoner of the Sultan, Or, How Marguerite Learned to Dance" in Fiction on this board.)
"Yes, Master," she breathed. "I will be the vessel of your pleasure. Command me, that I may delight you in the way that most pleases you. Punish me if I am less than fully satisfactory."
"Oh, your're always fully satisfactory. I didn't ask you to marry me just because you say funny things. And it certainly wasn't because you were an exceptional cook."
She chuckled. "Well, where shall we begin?" She kissed him, and moved to kneel between his legs. "Why don't we start with me using my mouth for something besides talking? Let me know when you want me to move on to something else. If I get you too excited, say so. I'd hate to give you a heart attack."
Roxton looked at her and said, "Marguerite, I have had one long, continuous heart attack since I met you. Being with you is more exciting than getting a new rifle!" He winked, to show her that he was teasing.
"You talk boldly, Lord Roxton. By the time that I am through with you tonight, you will feel like you have had a whole set of rifles delivered fresh from Holland & Holland." She lowered her head and began doing things that made him feel very excited indeed.
And soon, she was the recepient of his own ministrations that left her moaning his name and clutching at his back as if he was a life preserver and she had been drowning at sea. If there was anything that she loved more than diamonds, it was John Roxton, and what he did to her before they merged, and after, made her think that she would - almost- give every gemstone in her possession to have this happen to her several times a week. The best part of it was that it cost her nothing except a look that said that she would be putty in his hands if he cared to have her. She got to keep her jewels and have Roxton, also.
And that, she exulted, was the very essence of having one's cake and eating it, too...
She heard mewing noises, as if a woman was in heat, expressing her passion in a primitive, wanton way, and was shocked to realize that it was her own voice. Roxton would be so smug when they were done, she thought, but being his so completely, having him drive her this wild, was worth it. She swung up her legs and circled his waist with them. I want to hold onto John this way forever, she thought.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
972 Posts |
Posted - November 06 2007 : 01:03:13 AM
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Three times that night, they coupled, talking between.
Finally, exhausted after trying everything that appealed to either of them, they lay in one anothers' arms, cuddling and telling each other how much fun they had had.
"This is invariably the highlight of my day," mused Roxton. "Having you show me how a REAL woman makes love never ceases to amaze me and delights my senses."
Marguerite razzed, "You have senses? Oh, yes, you were smelling the hearty outdoors earlier tonight. I trust that I made your INDOORS sport fun? Seriously, John, what you do to me awakens and tingles every fiber of my being. Until you, I had sex, usually to achieve a purpose, even if it was just physical release. I was afraid to become more emotionally involved. With you, I have learned to actually make love. For that, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It frightens me a little, thinking of just how much I have come to care for you. Love is wonderful, but it has its price. Now, I have to be terified that this isn't real; that my dream will end when I wake. Or, that something will happen to you. Or, to us."
"Nothing is going to happen to US, as long as you move your body like that! I'd be a fool to hope that any other woman would be half as entertaining. If ever I have been jealous of another man, it is of that damned sultan who enjoyed you so much before I did. But he doubtless had you hone your skills so that I can now enjoy them more fully than might otherwise be the case. And I love your banter, the way that you tease, your droll jokes."
"Well," she replied, "my jokes are basically survival humor, very useful on this bloody Plateau. My humor is so dry that you can rub two of my jokes together and get a fire. Nice work, that, isn't it? I never have to worry about running out of matches." She ran a hand lazily down the length of his body, noting how he reacted.
He muttered, "Quit that, Marguerite. If you linger there, you'll start something that I'm too tired to complete again tonight. That trip and the T-rex episode took a lot out of me today."
She laughed. "Thank goodness for that! I'd hate to have you able to do more to me than you did! I'd have to be a nymphomaniac to cope with you!" That thought appealed to her. "And along those lines, have you ever met a real nympho? Could even you cope with that?"
"Not sure, but I'd have to be more rested than I was tonight, to even try. Look, do you want to shower? There should be some hot water."
"Nope. Too damned dead to stagger downstairs and back up. I'll go down and shower with you before you go fishing in the morning. I want to help the other girls make breakfast for you before you and the other lads go have fun while Finn and I labor at the sewing and Veronica tends the garden. Gad, I hope she doesn't want me to dust again."
"I know, " he laughed, and took her hand. "Heavy, heartless, industrial labor, I believe you called it last time. You always find ways to amuse me, Darling. Look, I am truly glad that you thought to borrow that grenade today. But this place is growing old, even for my adventurous soul. Ladies should borrow a cup of sugar from one another, not hand grenades. Do you think that Challenger will think of a way to get us out of here, or shall we resign ourselves to being stuck? We'll need to think about having children if we do, with the attendant difficulty of raising them in this dismal backwater."
She looked at him with concern, her chin propped up as she rested an elbow on the bed. "John, are you really asking if I want to be the next woman after Finn to get preggers here? Do you want that? If I'm going to reproduce, I do need to think about it soon. I am already 34, no spring chicken. And Veronica is getting past her mid-20's. She and Ned will have to reach a decision on that in the next year or two. If we all start having children, how will that affect our situation with the Zanga? Will they continue to tolerate us? How will we build a new home? This Treehouse was never meant for three couples and their offspring."
"A set of good questions," he admitted. "We can wait to see what happens with George and Finn. How we all adapt to her first child. That will provide useful clues to what we'll need in the way of child care. Finn loves George enormously, but she is going to resent not being able to hunt or go have adventures whenever she wants. As feminine as she is, Finn is basically a tomboy, an adventuress, in the best possible sense of the word."
"And I have been an 'adventuress' in the less desirable sense, although the common meaning." Marguerite was uneasy. "Maybe we shouldn't give up hope. But if we don't find a way out of here, via one of George's mad schemes or just through discovering a trail down off the Plateau, do you want to become a father?"
"Yes, I think that I would like to try that, if it's all right with you. Lets wait another year and if we aren't en route back to England by then, discuss this in earnest. I will do whatever you want, but I think that I do want a son to teach the manly arts, including hunting. To know that another generation of Roxtons will carry on my bloodline and hopefully, remain civilized enough that when our decendants are eventually found that they aren't savages or as primitive as the other whites on this Plateau. Will you have my children, Marguerite? Do you want that year to decide?"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
972 Posts |
Posted - November 06 2007 : 01:45:36 AM
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She bit at her lip, thinking intensely. "Yes, a year seems good. We can't avoid the matter much longer. I've dreaded becoming a mother, and yet longed for it, if afraid that I wasn't emotionally equipped for it. But the lonliness that I have experienced has made me think how I can be a better mother than what I had. Let me see how I fare in helping Finn, as I'm sure that I will. She'll need assistance with the child, and I will see how I handle that. I think it will either repel me, or make me wish for a child of our own. Does this make sense?"
"A great deal of sense. I will see how I fare as a sort of godfather or whatever, too. I think that we'll make the right decision when the time comes. But I rather hope that we get off the Plateau first. As soon as the young Challenger is able to travel. If possible, I want us back in Britain when you conceive, with nannies to help you."
"All right," she agreed. "In the meantime, I will stay on George's little birth control pills and hope that they work. And we can continue to practice how to conceive. We should have that technique down pretty well by the time that a year has passed. I must say, you are already about all that my heart can stand in that regard."
"I haven't noticed you declining any opportunities to be stimulated," he leered. "Time to put out the light?"
"Yes, do. I'll get a blanket first, in case the night turns cold."
A few minutes later, she tucked herself in next to Roxton and said. "Whatever comes, we have one another now, John. That means the world to me."
"And to me. George and Finn amuse me with that claim that theirs is the love of the ages, the romance of all time. What we have is quite enough for us. I love you, Marguerite, very much indeed."
She leaned over and kissed him. "When I was on my own this week, I wanted more than anything to get back to you and the others. The days when I thought that I'd never have truly loyal friends are gone. And to have what I do with you, John, is the most priceless thing in my life."
He held her tenderly, and they drifted off to sleep, his hand cupping her right breast, her hand atop his. Important decisions lay in their future, but for now, they had all of the answers that they needed about one another. The rest would come. And Marguerite knew that they would reach the right conclusions, about everything. She counted her blessings, and slept.
The End
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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On Her Own
