My cousin, Charles, is the true son of his father.
There is absolutely no doubt about it. My uncle is a charming man without an honest bone in his body and a real bastard when things don't go his way. Which is frequently, because he's a bit of a dumbass with delusions of adequacy.
Describe my uncle and you describe Charles, with the rider that Charles is also arrogant. Without any justification that I've yet seen.
Me, I also have the charm, but with the charm I have a fairly good intelligence and a healthy respect for doing the right thing. Not always, I'll admit, but as a general principle. And yes, I can be a right bastard at times, but I do pick my times and victims, reserving my bastardry for those who truly deserve it.
I am currently residing with my Uncle and cousin. My father died and my uncle is supposedly my guardian. Not my trustee, thankfully. My trustees are a hardnosed lawyer and a penny pinching accountant, and under the guidance of these two men my inheritance has grown substantially. My uncle is severely pissed that the trustees won't give him open slather to spend my money. If they consider a purchase dubious, they won't cover it. It only took one court case and a scathing Judge to make my uncle see the light.
Truth be known, I'm not staying with my uncle and cousin. I own the house, so technically they're staying with me. On top of that I have reached my majority, so the guardianship has lapsed. I just haven't found a need to make an issue of this little fact.
This weekend my uncle is holding a house party with a few selected guests (which I'm paying for, of course). The chief guests are a young lady called Melissa and her father. My cousin had told me that he and Melissa are getting engaged this weekend. That set me back a bit. My cousin fancied himself as something of a Lothario, and he wanted to get married? Something didn't gel.
"You?" I asked. "Married? Why?"
"She's a very nice girl and I love her," Charles said, and he said it with a straight face.
"Uh-huh. Now the real reason and what's she really like."
"Her father is Oliver Hardwick."
Come the dawn. Oliver Hardwick's money makes even my nice inheritance look small. He'd be able to afford to keep my cousin in the manner to which he feels entitled.
"So what's the girl really like and how did your courtship go."
"I met Oliver on the golf course. I managed to make up the numbers when he was looking for an extra player for a foursome. We hit it off quite well and I've seen him a number of times since then."
That was Charles. Court the father and have the girl fall into line. What sort of girl wanted to be courted through her father?
You still haven't mentioned the girl. Melissa, was it?"
"Oh, her. Rather plain and very shy. Quite docile, which will suit me. She won't complain if I have a little bit on the side."
"You can't always trust a woman in that area. She may get the idea that you belong to her and kick up a fuss."
"She doesn't get ideas," said Charles with a snort of laughter. "She's not too bright. That doesn't matter because I'll do her thinking for her. Anyway, when she leaves here after this weekend she'll be committed. I'll have bedded her and she won't have any choice but to agree. Her father will see to that."
That was Charles. Always looking on the bright side and not even considering the chance that things might not go his way. I considered asking what would he do if she refused to go to bed with him, but didn't. I didn't think I'd like his answer.
Oliver and Melissa turned up during the afternoon.
At first glance it seemed to me that Charles had Melissa typed pretty accurately. Very shy, not really looking at anyone, and getting the hell out of the way as soon as she could. She also seemed to be excessively obedient, docile, even, going along with whatever her father or Charles suggested.
That obligatory second glance made me suspect that Charles may have been mistaken in a few areas. Sure, she looked plain, but to me that seemed due to poor makeup, a shocking hair-do, and poor choice of clothing. If she put some effort into it she'd be quite a beauty. That dressing down made me wonder about the level of her intelligence. Surely it took a certain amount of smarts to make yourself look that plain. I wondered what she was really like.
After dinner I was taking a stroll through the gardens when I came across Melissa also taking in the gardens. She froze when she saw me, her eyes darting about, looking for a chance of escape, I thought. Maybe she was overly shy.
"Melissa," I said, nodding hullo. "I'm Paul, in case you've forgotten."
"Why would I have forgotten?" she asked. "We were only introduced a short while ago."
She had an odd note in her voice. One I couldn't quite interpret. For some reason, that woman interested me.
"Let me show you the gardens," I said, offering her my arm.
She wanted to refuse, I could tell, but she didn't. She took my arm and I showed her around. The gardens were good, and especially lovely at this time of the year.
The twilight was deepening when we reached the rose garden. The rose garden is a little secluded and I took the opportunity to do what I'd been wanting to do for a while. I turned Melissa to face me, pulled her closer and kissed her.
I didn't just give her a light peck. I kissed her properly, maintaining the pressure on her lips until they yielded and she kissed me back. She kissed very sweetly, let me tell you. While I kissed her my hands were running lightly up and down her back. When I thought the time was right one hand drifted around and cupped her breast. A surprisingly full breast it was, too. Far more breast than was hinted at by the clothes she wore.
That was all I had time to determine before she jerked away from me and landed a slap right across my face, and she put some effort into it.
I yelped and staggered back.
"You rotten pig," she snapped at me. "How dare you grab me like that? What do you think I am? Some plaything for your amusement? Why are you laughing?"
I could help but laugh. She'd dropped right out of character. The dumb, docile and shy girl had been replaced by a fury, and her looks picked up substantially when there was some animation in her face.
"Ah, you've dropped your disguise," I pointed out.
She glared at me, blushing.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she snapped.
