A/N: You know the drill!
The many candles cast eerie shapes and shadows around the room, hiding who knew what with in them, and making one man very uneasy.
Colonel Tavington sat silently, watching Lady Cornwallis. She had yet to look at him, and for whatever reason, she kept her eyes on her lap.
"Catherine?"
She shuddered slightly at the sound of his voice.
He studied her for a moment.
"Catherine, might I ask what bothers you tonight? You seem rather preoccupied by something."
She still did not look at him, but nodded quickly in answer to his question.
He took this to mean that he should ask what the problem was. How infuriating these women could be! He could only imagine, and with great distaste, what her mother had been like.
"Catherine, I shall ask only once, what is bothering you? What has your mind so preoccupied, that you can't even look at me?"
Catherine Cornwallis turned her head, looked up at him, smiled vaguely and looked back down at her lap.
"Catherine." he said once more.
"My lord, may I ask you a question?"
He grinned.
"Of course, madam."
She seemed to steele her courage and her nerve, then looked directly at him.
Those green eyes...
He shook his head quickly.
She gave no sign of having noticed his reaction, though her eyes travelled over his face rapidly, she simply ran headlong, into what she wanted to ask him.
"Colonel, have you ever met a woman, who is just as good as a man, but perhaps better then he is?"
Tavington stared at her briefly.
"No, of course not, madam. The women that I have met, simply don't fit that description."
"How so?" Catherine inquired.
Tavington thought about this for a second. Reaching over, he took her small, warm hand into his own, and laughed.
"They care nothing for military life, my dear. They would no sooner touch a saber, or a musket, then they would a poisonous snake. And, " he laughed again, "I doubt, they would ever ride a horse in quite the same manner as a man."
Catherine smiled slowly.
"But, have you ever wanted to meet one who would touch a saber or a musket, or who would ride a horse as a man would? Has it never interested you in the slightest, Colonel?"
"William. I asked that you call me, William."
She nodded.
"I am sorry, my lord," she smiled again, "William."
He couldn't help, but to smile back at her. Despite his uneasiness at being in this gloomy room, when Lady Catherine Cornwallis smiled, it drove everything else out of his mind.
"Well?" she asked him after a moment's silence.
"No madam, I haven't."
Catherine's smiled changed abruptly.
"You say you haven't met one, correct?"
Tavington nodded.
"That's correct."
She studied his handsome face. He still held her hand in his, and without warning, she yanked her hand free of his.
He looked astonished by this.
"Have I offended you, Catherine?"
"No you haven't, William."
She leaned a bit closer to him, ran her fingers along his arm...
And once more, without warning, she drew his saber and held it up before him.
"You say you haven't met a woman like that, William...but I say you have."
Tavington glared furiously at her.
How dare she!
"Madam, I don't know what game you wish to play with me, but I warn you, it won't end well."
Catherine only smiled coldly.
"Oh William! I sit before you, as proof that such women do exist! Now here, in this God forsaken hell, there are two of them. I am one..."
Tavington's expression was unreadable.
"And the other? Your sister, Mona?"
Catherine nodded.
"Yes, my sister Mona."
She lay his saber longways on the dark oak table, touched it with the greatest respect, and then looked at him warmly.
"It is the extension of you, my lord."
"Every solider's sword and musket, would be an extension of themselves. We become one with our weapons, my lady."
She touched the gleaming sword again, but with only her fingertips.
"What else, would it be an extension of, William?"
Tavington smiled.
"I believe you know that answer, my pet, as well as I do."
She blushed slightly, recovering herself quickly, then smiled once more.
"Yes, I do know that answer, William."
How he loved the way his name fell from her silky lips...
His smile widened a bit.
"And that answer, Catherine?"
Again, she blushed.
But she never hesistated to answer.
"It would, obviously, be an extension of your manhood, correct?"
The shadows now hung low around them.
He shuddered uneasily.
"Yes, madam."
He dearly wanted to show her that extension...wanted to plunge deep into her, feel her clinging to him...
But that, he reasoned, would happen soon enough.
Perhaps, the moment they left this table?
Perhaps, even before they left it?
Perhaps, right now?
he reached over, grasped her hand in his again, and pulled her from her chair. When she stood before him, he allowed his eyes to undress her in his mind...then, even though he knew she would not resist, he allowed his hands to carass, to feel, to study her body.
Soft moans floated from her lips.
"Madam," Tavington looked into her eyes, "Have you ever met a man, who could make you so frustrated, that you simply couldn't resist him?"
Catherine shook her head.
"No, my lord, I have not."
He smiled at her.
"You said you haven't, but tonight...oh tonight, I shall prove that he does exist."
He encircled her waist with one arm, dragging her closer to him...
She could feel the heat rising...the fire building...how it would burn her...
And yet, she didn't care if it did.
Catherine sank down onto his lap, straddling his legs and facing him.
He smiled wickedly at her.
"Perhaps, dinner is now over, my pet?"
"Oh yes, my lord, I do think it is."
He snuzzled her slender neck, letting his lips burn trails of fire along her skin.
"But, my lord...what if..."
He silenced her with a deep, passionate kiss. When it was over, she repeated what he had silenced.
"What would the servants think, my lord?"
Colonel Tavington laughed coldly.
"And you care what servants think? You are their mistress, you own them! What you do, is no concern of theirs."
Catherine smiled .
"You are right, William. If they talk, their tongues can always be silenced..."
She nodded towards his saber.
The shadows now drew in upon them. But this time...
This time, Tavington didn't shudder with uneasiness.
It didn't matter...let the shadows do what they will...
He had something far more important to concentrate on...
She moved against him willingly, waiting for his reaction...hoping he would not hesistate in taking her...
Whether here...in her bed...or, where ever he choose...she wouldn't resist him.
Not now.
Not ever.
She moaned deeply, as his hand found it's way inside her bodice...he cupped her firm breast in his hand, squeezed it roughly, and before she could utter a single cry, his mouth engulfed hers completely. The kiss heightened her senses, the fire that ran through her veins, burned ever hotter.
For him.
When the Colonel finally broke the kiss, he gazed at her with a longing so great, for a moment, he wondered if it were but a dream.
But, it wasn't.
How could war be a dream?
How could she, Lady Catherine Cornwallis, daughter of the Lord General, be but a dream?
It wasn't.
And she, sitting here warm and willing upon his lap, his hand still carassing her breast, his body desiring her, his manhood aching to be buried deep within her...
If she was a dream...
Colonel Tavington gazed into her haunting green eyes...
If she was a dream...
Waking would be a bitter blow.
And to a man such as William Tavington, bitter blows could end in bloodshed.
A/N: Please R and R! And, you'll see what happens next! Thank you!
