The General’s Wife: An American Revolutionary Tale
experience every inch in her eager, aroused state. For one night, their lovemaking was exhilarating, exhausting, and it was never to be such again.
    That was the night, she was absolutely certain, she became pregnant.
    When she told her husband, he merely thanked her with a casual air. She, however, was elated. She considered how far along she must be and counted the days, the weeks, the months the baby was inside her, and how many months she had left. She prayed to God it would be a boy, and secretly hoped it would be twins.
    Clara spread her hand across the slight swell of her belly and looked down onto the yard. The reds and golds of the leaves were a reminder of summer turning into fall, of time marching forward. For once in this horrible backwater of a place, she was happy. Every day her child grew stronger, and every day brought her closer to home.

Chapter Two
    Annabella gaped at her lover as he pointed to the hayloft with a quirk of his brow. “Not there either, Redmond,” she complained, her hands on her hips.
    Redmond laughed and pulled her to him, a twinkle in his blue-green eyes. “I can think of no place more secluded to enjoy your luscious body, my sweet.” He greedily kissed her mouth.
    For a second, she complied, until the whinny of a horse reminded her where they were. She shook herself free. “I will not go into a hayloft and mess my hair and dress. Lady Strathmore and I will be going to Chesterton this afternoon and I will not look like a harlot.”
    Redmond grabbed her at the waist, securing her easily as he tantalized the sensitive skin of her neck with a slow stroke of his tongue.
    “I will not lie with you in a horse stall nor a hayloft.” This time her protest was a bit more subdued. If it weren’t for the fact that she would not have time to bed her betrothed and fix her hair and dress before doing her duty for her mistress, Annabella would have lain with Redmond anywhere, in any position, damn the hay and smells.
    “I have brought a very large, well-shaken, comfortable blanket for you, my love,” Redmond said, his mouth now at her cleavage. “And you may be on top. Your dress will not get mussed.”
    He did not wait for an answer but grabbed the aforementioned blanket hanging over a stall partition and proceeded up the ladder to the hayloft.
    “Oh, damnation!” Annabella muttered before following him.
    By the time she reached the top, he was already lying on the blanket, his hands laced behind his head, his desire apparent from the bulge at his crotch, his lips spread in a devilishly inviting smile.
    It was precisely that look that had captured her heart six months ago.
    Before she met him, Annabella was just beginning to realize she had something men wanted, and that she wanted something from them in return. From their whispers and entreaties, she discovered her auburn hair, blossoming womanly figure, and new-found coquettishness gave her a certain power with the men in the village, and especially with the soldiers quartered there. And then she caught the attention of General Strathmore. He had come to the village to hire his household staff, his eyes betraying an ulterior motive the moment he espied her. He asked her intimate questions and she responded willingly, ensnared by his seductive charisma. She admitted she was a virgin, and he immediately paid her mother a handsome sum to live in the Strathmore home as the lady’s maid.
    It was the general himself who gave Annabella her first kiss and taught her how to provide particular pleasures to a man with her mouth and tongue.
    Annabella quickly realized she could get whatever she wanted from a man if she promised him a kiss or allowed him a grope or especially if she offered the services of her newly acquired oral skills. She could also withdraw her attentions to punish the men who worked for the Strathmore house. Annabella held sway over the footmen, butler, and boy-of-all-work—who was really a man at eighteen. Never, though, did

Similar Books

April Morning

Howard Fast

Cover Her Face

P. D. James

Black Dog Short Stories

Rachel Neumeier

Of Starlight

Dan Rix

Willow Pond

Carol Tibaldi

Criss Cross

Lynne Rae Perkins

Rescue Me

Catherine Mann