Microsoft Word - FortunesFool.rtf by Kat

saw in his hand. Amongst all of that
    control were shadowed bits of his past, and his true character. His lines concurred with her intuitions, but for the most part she ignored what
    people's hands said. Even though she had been taught how to read palms
    as soon as she could comprehend the subtle differences, she never put all her faith in what she saw there.
    It was enough to know that taking that money had been the worst
    thing she had done, and that for all his arrogance, he didn't deserve what she had done.
    She picked the money up off her bed and tucked it into a bureau
    draw. Guilt was not a feeling she was accustomed to and it sat on her
    heavily.
    There was a light knock on the door. "Abby, you ready?"
    Her sister's voice came muffled through the heavy wood.
    "I'll be right there, go on without me."
    "May I come in?"
    Abby heaved a sigh. This huge house left to three women and she
    still could never find a moment alone.
    "Yes."
    Camille slipped in, her mended wrap snug around her shoulders
    with her hair braided like a rope down her back.
    She sat down on the edge of Abby's bed and stared at her.
    Abby sighed, untied her stockings, and started to roll them down.
    "What would you like, Camille?"
    Camille started to play with the hole in Abby's crazy quilt.
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    D'ARC, GALE, KENT, MARCH
    "Stop. Grandmother and I worked hard on that."
    "I could embroider a ribbon rose here to cover the hole." Camille smoothed down the velvet nap.
    "That would be nice." She stopped to fold up her stocking and
    looked at her sister. "Can you loosen my laces?"
    Camille went around to her back and started pulling the strings out
    just enough.
    "Ready?" Camille moved to the front and Abby took a deep breath and held it. Camille unbuttoned the busk, and the whole corset came off
    in one piece.
    Abby slowly let her breath out and took another, then rolled her
    shoulders. "Camille, what would you like?"
    "I saw Mr. Dupree give you some money."

    * * * *
It just wouldn't happen.
    He could feel it start, that lightning ball that crackled at the base of his spine and worked itself up to his scalp until his whole body tensed
    and fixated with it. Almost, just there, dangling out of reach, but then it dissipated.
    What was her name? Abigail. Her hands. He focused on how her
    hands caressed his, how they mimicked the teasing of a high paid
    courtesan. He had no idea his palms could be so sensitive or that they
    were routed to his cock.
    She'd taken him aback with her dark charred voice and her subtle
    sexuality. How she told him the kind of lover he was with complete
    understanding, but face of an ingénue.
    He wanted her hands again. But on his cock, where they were meant
    to be, stroking him with that smile that made him hard.
    Almost there, almost there. His eyes were slammed shut and Abigail
    told him how he loved the sensual, how he gave and received pleasure.
    He wanted to see her naked. What she looked like in climax.
    There. There…now, yes, yes, yes…His scalp tingled and he grunted
    as spasms wracked him.
    "Well, you took forever and a day tonight."
    Funny, when had her voice begun to grate on him, sounding
    petulant and coquettish?
    He should have told her not to speak under any circumstances,
    because it killed any relaxation he gained.
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    FORTUNE'S FOOL
    "Shut up, Beatrice." He pulled out of her and walked over to the wash basin, ignoring her staged moue.
    "What was wrong tonight?" She rolled over onto her stomach and looked at him over her shoulder.
    You. You were wrong. You are wrong.
    "How long have we had this arrangement now? Five years?" He
    glanced at her as he washed himself off.
    "Yes." A shadow crossed her face, but she reined it.
    He frowned. She was never a good actress.
    No use for it, though. He'd been thinking about cutting out long
    before now. He liked her, but he was starting to want more. Whatever it
    would be, Beatrice was not the one he wanted it with. It made him feel
    bad because she'd been there while he worked