The Duke Sobers Up Ch. 3
For a moment William was in shock. He didn't know if this was real or, a dream. He couldn't think straight. He felt a hangover from the drinking the night before, accompanied by a slight headache and an enormous thirst. He reached over to the night stand where there was a tall glass of water, being careful not to awaken the sleeping beauty, caressing his chest. He drank it down, pinched himself and lay back on the pillow intending to figure things out, but alas, he was tired and fell back asleep.
The next time he awakened he was alone in the bed. He was not quite sure what had happened, but this time he was very much awake and aware of his surroundings and being. He looked around the room and knew that he was in Mr. Scarlett's room in Eliza Scarlett's house. He knew that he had slept here and awaken with Eliza lying across his chest sleeping…naked. This he was quite sure of but, he couldn't quite make sense of how this all came to be and what, if anything had occurred in this room, last night, with Miss Eliza Scarlett….
He needed to relieve himself. He noticed a bathroom adjoining the room and hurried to it. He washed his face and rinsed his mouth before going back into the room and sitting on the edge of the side the bed. He sat there thinking. There came a knock at the door. He quickly turned and positioned his body up in the bed with the covers up to his waist.
He looked up as the door softly opened and in walked Eliza. She was carrying a tray with coffee, pastry, eggs and meat. She was wearing a fitting white and pink morning gown and looked a tad bit embarrassed as she sat the tray upon the bed, even though she didn't flinch at the sight of his bare chest as the sheets lay at his waist.
"I thought you might like something to eat, although it is afternoon, I brought you some breakfast", Eliza said, a little unsure of what she should say or do next. "Thank you," William said, reaching for the tray and grabbing the coffee. He took a sip and then asked, "Will you join me". Eliza took this moment to excuse herself saying, "No, I've already had my morning tea. I'll be back when you are finished. Can I get you anything else?"
William looked down at the tray and could find nothing that he needed, missing. He looked up into Eliza's eyes, which looked rather fearful, and said, "No, thank you, this is good". Eliza averted her eyes, turned and left the room. Eliza's awkwardness, gave him all the courage he needed to distance himself from the current situation and to go completely into detective mode. It was important that he knew who?, what?, when?, why? and how? this thing had played out the night before. He ate his breakfast, which surprisingly, was very good, then set out to make sense of what had taken place that night, in the wee hours of his drunkenness.
William first observed the bed sheets. There was quite a bit of blood, which led him to believe there had been sexual intercourse. He then noticed his clothes were laid neatly across a chair; his shirt, tie, trousers, coat, under garments, socks and shoes. He looked down at the floor, where he saw a discarded condom wrapper, and a jar of some kind of gel. He pulled back the sheets, and searched under the pillows, around the bed. He pulled the comforter and the sheets back and there it was…the used condom. He inspected it carefully, noticing that there was indeed, semen present. He inspected his groin and there were tell tell signs that it had seen some type of action earlier.
The inspector in him laid all the evidence on the nightstand next to the bed. Now, there was one thing left to do and that was to interview the suspect and witness and come to some kind of story and conclusion. He waited awhile and guessed that Eliza would take her time coming back to the room. He decided to take a shower and tidy himself up a bit in the adjoining bathroom. Eliza had left him towels and a morning robe so he made way to the bathroom for a hot shower and shave. While he was in there, he heard a soft knock at the door. "Is there anything I can get for you, William"? Eliza asked. "No, if you could just wait for me, I'll be out in a minute", he replied.
William dried himself with the soft towels and gave himself a good shave with what he suspected to be left over from Mr. Scarlett. He draped himself with the robe and walked out into the room. Eliza sat in a chair peering out the window. She did not immediately turn towards him, but when he walked towards the chair where his clothes lie, she looked over just in time to see him drop the robe, look directly at her, before turning down the bed clothes and climbing back into the bed, completely naked. Eliza smiled nervously as they gazed at one another silently. Their eyes locked in a curious gaze for what seemed like forever. So many things were said in the silence that locked their eyes, but mostly relief seemed to exude from both spirits.
Finally, William spoke, softly, but firmly pulling back the covers on the other side of the bed, "Come…join me." Eliza stood up and moved towards the bed, then she stopped and seemed to question herself…. Slowly, not very confident, she began to remove her morning gown allowing it to slip lightly to the floor. She stood for a moment completly naked, unsure of what she was doing, then she slipped into the bed, pulling the covers up to her waist. She turned to William. His hands embraced her head looking deep into her eyes. Slowly, he moved forward and began to kiss her lips gently, yet eagerly, as if he had found something he had been looking for for a long time. She returned his kiss passionately, feeling every nerve in her body reacting with involuntary excitement. After what seemed like a kiss that should have lasted forever, William, lifted her chin so that their eyes met and said, "Now tell me what this is all about. I feel that you had an intimate party in this bed last night that only part of me was invited to…I want to know what happened last night. I want the other part of me, the conscious part, to be privy to what happened at the party last night…and I want all the details."