Once upon a time, there was a cold country and a warm girl. She married the rich and fearful count not because she feared the winter cold, but the other men. She would not last long amongst those wolves, as anyone could imagine. The count kept them at bay, of course, famous for his cruelty and possessiveness.
She knew this of course, and the young countess used to use it to her advantage mercilessly, skating along the frozen river from the mansion to town for caffè, ankles flashing, furs unbuttoned to show white décolletage, brightened to rose by exertion and iced air.
One desperate young man, fearless of the count, penniless and ardent, would approach her of an afternoon in the Café, outside, drawn by her steaming breath and fragrant cup.
"Do you need me today sweet countess?" he would begin, each time.
"What can you mean by that, scalawag? Shall I ask my husband the count how I should answer? ...for I am sure he would have something to say about it!" Such banter as this would always be her retort, but her eyes would laugh, and her hand, pressed to her throat in astonishment, or was it perhaps a bit lower? ...Her hand would somehow stray under the furs, tracing from the chill red breast exposed to the warm white portion beneath, under a small brown circle, tightening. And her thumb might encourage the tightening, and the rogue, unseeing but imagining the press of digit to nipple, he too would be encouraged, and feel his own tightening, but relent, happy.
Now, it was not known to any, but the count had grown cold, having such warmth always by his side, and no understanding of the chill life might offer others who did not share his luxuries. Thus her softness went unpressed, she felt herself always as a furnace thirsting for iron, unslaked. And thus of a morning would the young countess find herself seeking sauna more often, seeking ever more heat, or perhaps the ice, hunting some sharp cold penetration through her limbs in (poor) masquerade for a hot, smooth one between. On the ice at least she could feel free and fast, feel her heart pound, be sure, racing by, that a boy on the dike had seen too much down the throat of her parka, left far unlaced to release the heat of her exertions, and more.
She became a sensation at the coffee shop: what would the wanton countess wear today? How high would the flounce be cut, how many buttons undone? Suspicions about the count's virility were whispered and tittered over after she passed.
One such sunny spring afternoon found her lingering over cakes, skates removed and pink socks propped steaming on a metal chair, everywhere icicles dripping. She wore a blue wool Nordic-patterned sweater, thick and tight, the cream-colored fur trimmed parka cast over a chair. Brown ski-pants buttoned below the knee, leaving 8 inches of clear smooth calf that curved in all directions towards her heels, balanced together on the other chair. Thick as it was, the sweater revealed all. Her breasts posed too far askance to be confined beneath. One had to imagine the scratch of wool against the imperceptible soft of areolae. Steam rose also from these, after the hard skate. It swirled slightly in absolutely still air.