Author's note - This is a work of fiction. The characters are all above the legal age of consent.
BALLING THE BELLE
Charlotte O'Leary tiptoed down the wide staircase of the Five Pines mansion. The other female guests of the estate's annual soiree were upstairs resting in anticipation of the evenings festivities. Charlotte wasn't interested in rest. Charlotte was horny.
She spied the object of her lust, Bentley Phelps, walking toward the drawing room with a bottle of fine brandy in his hand. Phelps was the scion of Five Pines, an elegant, bookish young man whom everyone agreed would do great things one day. Charlotte wanted him to do great things to her and she wanted them done now. She skipped across the marble floor, seized Bentley Phelps by the arm and dragged him into the library.
"Why, Charlotte. What is it?" He gave her a bemused, indulgent smile. "Why aren't you upstairs with the other ladies?"
"They bore the shit out of me," she said. "I want to be with you, Bentley."
"I'm flattered of course. But I have other guests to attend to." He showed her the bottle of brandy as though that explained everything.
"Your other guests are stodgy old men who can talk of nothing but war, war, the price of cotton and more war." Charlotte took the bottle from his hand and set it down on a small writing table. She batted her long eyelashes and turned in such a way that he couldn't help but notice the generous swell of her bosom. "Don't you think it would be more interesting to spend some time with me, Bentley?"
"I do. Yes, indeed I do. But I have responsibilities. You understand that don't you, my dear?"
She wanted to slap the condescending smile off his face but instead, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Her tongue darted between his lips and hungrily explored his mouth. It was a kiss designed to enflame and entice. For good measure, Charlotte pressed her pelvis to his and moaned softly. But Bentley pushed her away.
"Charlotte, we mustn't."
"Yes, we must."
"No. No, we can't."
"Yes, we can." She reached for the buttons of his fly.
"No, Charlotte!" He brushed aside her anxious hand.
"For Chrissake, Bentley," she wailed. "Don't you want me? I'm hotter than a half-fucked rabbit in a forest fire and you're saying no? What's wrong with you?"
"There's nothing wrong with me," he said. "At least I hope not. The truth is, Charlotte...I'm betrothed to another."
"No!"
"Yes. To Bethany Wilmington."
"I don't believe it!" Charlotte staggered back a step. "Why would you want to marry that titless, mealy-mouthed heifer?"
"You mustn't speak that way about Bethany, Charlotte. She's a wonderful girl."
"She's a fucking mushroom."
"I'm sure you'll think differently after you've come to know her." Phelps smoothed down his lapels and retrieved his brandy. "And now I must return to my guests."
Charlotte seized an antique vase and would have sent it crashing into the back of Bentley's blonde head if he hadn't already closed the library door between them. Instead, she whirled and threw the vase in the opposite direction, where it sailed over a stuffed couch that faced the fireplace and shattered against the mantle.
"Has the war begun without me?" asked a disembodied voice.
Charlotte gasped with surprise. "Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself at once."
A handsome, grinning face appeared above the back of the sofa.
"You!" Charlotte hissed. "I know you...you're that scalawag from Charleston."
"Ben Rutler, Miss." He leapt to his feet and bowed from the waist. "At your service."
"How dare you eavesdrop on me, you...you..."
"And how dare you interrupt my nap with such a display of unmitigated lust?"
Charlotte sucked in her breath and turned crimson. "If you so much as breathe a word of this..."
Rutler cut her off with a wave of his hand. "I've no intention of sharing your secrets with anyone else, my dear. Nor your abundant charms."
"I can't imagine what you mean." She turned her back to him but Rutler crossed the room with a few quick strides and spun her to face him.
"I mean to have you, Charlotte," he said. "I expect there'll be no objections since you've already declared your need and that fool Bentley Phelps has turned you down."