*Someone asked if there was an epilogue, I mentioned it to Isa, and she suggested that there was a third party involved that we didn't know about. Such a clever girl!*
Sequel to "The Foul Murder of Richard Poole"
Part 1 of 4
The next day, very early, Richard Poole rolls over and groans in deepest pleasure and memory. He reaches for her and finds her exactly where he expects her to be… where she OUGHT to be… where she belongs! He snugs her in tight and holds her like a lifeline, curling himself around her in possessive glee. He has a woman in his bed at last! And not just ANY woman! Oh, no, he has the exact RIGHT woman!
For her part, Camille Bordey wakes up to the extremely pleasant sensations of a Richard Poole second skin and groans in answering pleasure. Oooo, this is so good! This is perfect! This is heaven in all its glory and it's about time! I'm in his bed at last!
They open their eyes at exactly the same moment and revel in the intimate closeness of each other.
"Good morning," he murmurs, kissing her brow.
"Good morning," she replies, kissing his jaw.
They shift and draw each other closer as if trying to climb inside one another. Finally he has to huff a laugh and say, "Camille, I don't think that will work. It isn't possible to get any closer… but I applaud your sentiments."
She chuffs a laugh, "Do you? Well, I'm pretty sure we can do better so how about you put your leg here and I put my hips here and…"
"Oooo," he sighs, "I stand corrected. I stand totally corrected. Do with me as you will."
She rubs noses, "Um, my will is tellin' me it's time for another round of loving so howzabout it?"
He shivers, "Whatever you say, dearest. I am at your disposal."
They still and look deep into one another's eyes for a long time, memorizing each other, remembering the night before.
"I thought you said you wouldn't be up to anything when you dragged yourself in from the sea," she teases.
He huffs, "Well, obviously I was wrong." He hugs her tight, "Obviously I was wrong about just about everything. Thank you for being so forgiving and overlooking my lapse in judgement."
"Mmmm," she croons, "thank you for being so giving and overlooking my murder charges on you."
He laughs low, "And thank you for overlooking my accusation of abandoning me to my watery fate. If I'd been in my right mind I would have known you'd never leave me adrift in a shark-infested ocean."
She nods happily, running her hands up and down his back, "Mmmm, I'm so mad I can't remember everything about how you fell out of the boat. Can you take me out once it's dark and show me?"
He kisses her cheek, "Gladly! Only this time, I fully intend to stay the course and finish what I tried to do before I went overboard."
She shivers, "Oh, good, I can hardly wait." She touches his bruised cheek, "How are you feeling?"
He thinks about this, "Surprisingly good, all things considered. How's your head? Do you think we should take ourselves off to the hospital like we planned?"
"Mmm, I don't know. My head still aches a bit but I've had worse. Maybe it was just bad luck on our part to have such an accident-prone 'first time'. What do you think?"
He casts his mind back to that tumultuous day, "I think… I think someone spiked our drinks. I know someone spiked mine. I've never felt so out of control before. It was like a drug in my blood."
She chuckles, "Are you sure that wasn't just me?"
He squeezes her, "Well, it's you now… but two nights ago… I'm not so sure. What do you remember?"
She laughs uproariously and he blushes, "I mean about how we got so… um… caught up in each other?"
"Oh," she says, "well, I remember ordering a drink. Then you came in and ordered tea and then…"
He nods, "Yes, and then! I think I'm right, someone spiked our drinks. It's the only explanation."
She kisses his chest, nuzzling intimately, "Well, not the ONLY explanation, not for me. I was already so eager to jump you that I don't think I needed much nudging in that direction."
"No?" he quips, smiling, "Well, me being me, I DID need a nudge, a huge nudge. So. We were drugged… but how? We were in a public place and neither of us left the table. So how did…?" He falters as her eyes grew wide, "What? What is it, Camille? Do you remember something?"
"Our drinks came right from Maman's own hand!" she whispers.
"Your mother? Surely not! She wouldn't poison us!"
Camille's eyes dart about the room, "Nooo, not poison, not exactly… but maybe… maybe to give us that nudge in the right direction that we both needed?"
Richard gives her a serious look then sits up, "Are you saying… that your own mother may have slipped us something in our drinks to make us… um… more convivial?"
She looks up at him, "Am I? I don't know about 'convivial' but I for sure know there are love potions sold in every voodoo shop on the island. She's been on my case for over a year now to hurry up and find a man or else! I wouldn't put it past her to try and rush things a bit. I'm just amazed that she chose the exact right man to drug for me."
He is puffed up in umbrage then stops, giving her a cautious look, "Um, do you mean that?" At her questioning look he expounds hesitantly, "That she chose the exact right man? You mean me?"
She grins, slipping her hands around him once more, "Oh, yeah, I mean! C'mere, you sweet sweet Englishman you. I need another heaping helping of manflesh, just the kind you got so much of!"
All suspicions and thoughts about poisonings deliberate and/or accidental go out the window as the action on the bed heats up once more to the total satisfaction of both parties involved. Any investigation, any CRIMINAL investigation, will have to wait.
Maybe for quite a while.
END – part 1
