Free One True Love by Lisa Follett Page B

and leaving only a note for her family. She forced herself to push those thoughts away. There was nothing that could be done about it. It was too late. What was done was done.
     
    The carriage stopped at the Birdsong Inn. Lamplight glowed from within, lighting up the windows and illuminating the dark night. The innkeeper recognized gentry and came to them immediately. Her betrothed asked for two rooms, baths, and a private dining room to enjoy their evening meal. The innkeeper sent his sent his staff off to do their bidding, and ordered a maid to show Cassie her room.
     
    The room was clean, bright, and warm with candles glowing and a fire roaring. Two maids brought water and filled the copper tub. She locked the door, pulled off her clothes, and slipped into its' heat. The bath eased the tension from her shoulders and washed away the dust of travel. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but images of her wedding night crept into her mind.
     
    Tomorrow night she would become a woman. She thought of Mr. Parker naked and could not help but giggle. She wondered if he would reveal himself to her. She wondered if he would want her to reveal herself to him. Cassie covered her breasts with her arms at the very thought.
     
    Her mother explained what happened in the marriage bed right after she became engaged. She told her how it would hurt at first, and how she would see blood, but after the first time it could be enjoyable, even pleasurable. She could not imagine her mother and father coupling like that, touching and kissing, and joining together. She laughed at the ridiculous image, but knew they must have or she would not be here, and neither would her sister.
     
    She washed her face to remove the images of her parents from her mind, and tried again to imagine Mr. Parker. He touched her breasts, kneaded them, made her squirm and pant in her family's drawing room. Would he do the same to her in their bed? Would he touch her naked breasts?
     
    She laid her hands on her breasts and squeezed them the way Mr. Parker did. She closed her eyes and kneaded, and flicked her thumb over the stiff crests the way Lord William touched her. Lord William. Bright blue eyes changed to black, stormy eyes. Blond hair changed to dark chocolate. Mr. Parker's hands changed to Lord Williams. They moved down her body and touched her where no man had ever gone.
     
    She stood up in the tub so fast water splashed over the sides and onto the floor. She wrapped her arms around her chest and shook not from the cold, but from her wayward thoughts. A sob rose up in her throat and threatened to rack her body. She stood this way for a long time, water dripping down her body, until the air chilled her skin and raised her gooseflesh.
     
    Finally she stepped out of the tub, grabbed the towel and briskly dried herself and her thick curling hair. She donned her nightgown and sat by the fire, pulling a brush through her tangles. She had to stop these insane imaginings. What was wrong with her? She could not continue on like this. She braided her hair, slipped beneath the covers, and drew them up to her chin. She closed her eyes and attempted to will herself to sleep. Sleep finally came late in the night, a restless, dream filled sleep, a sleep that haunted her throughout the night, and snapped her eyes open before the first strands of light broke through the morning clouds.
     
    ***
     
    The next morning Cassie dressed in a green silk gown, the very one she ordered made for her wedding day, and joined her future husband for breakfast. She tried to scrub away the shadows on her face and the dark circles beneath her eyes, but they remained. She finally resorted to a touch of powder and rouge. She hoped Mr. Parker did not notice either.
     
    They sat in a private room next to a window facing a small pond with a family of ducks. She watched five baby ducks follow their mother across the water, onto the embankment, and march across a small bridge. She laughed at the