Free Beauty and the Beast (Erotic Fairy Tales) by Nicole Dreadful Page A

recognize the road. It had begun to snow and the tracks behind him were quickly becoming as obscured as the way ahead. He dismounted and led his horse, following the line of the road while he could see it. The snow grew thicker and he began to despair.
    The merchant stopped to stamp his feet, trying to warm them. As he leaned into his horse's sturdy shoulder, he caught sight of a distant light in the cold gray gloom. Hoping for shelter from the storm, he turned his steps towards it and soon came to a tree-lined avenue. He could see the path clearly, for each snowflake that fell upon its stone slabs immediately vanished.
    At the end of the avenue, an ornate gate swung open as he approached. The merchant hailed loudly as he walked through the gates, but a whicker from his horse was the only answer. Inside, he found a large garden surrounding a manor. The air was warm and he could see oranges and lemons hanging in the trees.
    When no one appeared to greet him or take his horse, he walked through the gardens and found a stable. There were neither horses nor grooms, but he found grain and hay, and made the faithful beast comfortable before returning to the manor house.
    As with the gate, invisible hands opened the door before him. Inside, he walked through the candlelit salons, finding each one more elegant than the last, but without a single inhabitant. At last he came to a small study, where a roaring fire danced on the grate. "Surely the fire has been prepared for the master of the house," the merchant said to himself, "to welcome him when he returns from this snowstorm."
    As he spoke, one of the chairs moved to a place near the fire. The merchant looked around, but he could detect no living creature other than himself in the room. However, he was too weary to worry; he sank down into the chair and was soon asleep.
    When he woke, he was still alone. The pale morning light showed a small table near his chair, set with a generous spread of food. He ate his fill and walked out to the stable. He found that the saddle and tack he had left hanging were well cleaned and oiled, and the few small tears in his saddlebags had been neatly mended. Now he was certain there was magic around him, for he had never known human servants to be so thorough and thoughtful. "Thank you, my invisible friends," he said, bowing low to the empty air, "for the kindness you have shown to me and my horse."
    In the afternoon, he explored the house, finding the rooms as well-furnished as any he had seen. The curtains were all of velvet, the carpets were thick and soft, the paintings on the walls were tasteful depictions of well-known acts of bravery and love throughout history. At the end of one hallway, he came to a room decorated in white and blue. In the middle stood a large four-poster bed, hung with a delicate lace canopy. Long white tapers stood in silver and sapphire candlesticks and garlands of fresh flowers adorned the walls.
    The merchant stood in the doorway and remembered another bedchamber filled with flowers, more than twenty years ago. The way his young bride had laughed, nervous and yet somehow coquettish as he fumbled with the complicated fastenings of her dress. He might easily have tumbled her back onto the bed, lifting up her skirts as he'd done with girls in haylofts and taverns, but he had wanted to see her. He had worked for the prestige to marry a wealthy man's beautiful daughter and now he would run his wondering hands along the whole of her.

    The laces defeated him; his hands trembled with desire and drink, and so he sat back to watch as she undressed herself, layer by layer. Each item removed revealed more of her creamy skin: a pale shoulder, the line of tendon behind her knee. He sat on his hands to keep from tearing the clothes from her body. His bride turned away as she let her shift fall--unnecessary modesty--and pulled the pins from her hair. A long tangle of red brown curls tickled the small of her back, but did not hide the