(Part 01)
In the quaint chocolate box English Village of Mornington-By-Mere, which was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale, stood Mornington Manor which was the beating heart of the Mornington Estate.
The Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills and the village is quaint and picturesque, and is a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
Mornington Manor is the residence of the St George Family, the guardians of the estate, and the head of the Estate and the family is Baron Gabriel St George, who lives at the Manor with his wife Chantel.
The village retained its old English quaintness and its heart and soul into the 21st Century simply because everything in the village is owned by the Mornington estate, and under their stewardship the village has remained traditionally English and has not been allowed to become a soulless haven for hooray Henrys and weekenders with their second homes and country getaways.
The St George family had been landowners in Downshire since the Norman Conquests and at one time their lands covered the whole of the Finchbottom Vale.
However in the 21st century the Estate was much reduced and only extended to a radius of between 11 and 12 miles from the Mornington Mere although they owned other land and properties all over Downshire which they had rescued from developers over the years.
And it was one such property that was the subject of a meeting at the Manor one Wednesday evening in May.
Thirty five year old Richard Stephenson was one of the attendees and he was one of “The” Stephenson’s who had supermarkets and convenience stores all over Downshire and he had worked his whole life for the family business and for the most part he loved what he did.
The only facet of his job he didn’t enjoy were the business dinners which were an inevitable part of his professional life, in fact he hated them, but sadly he knew they were a necessary evil so he had to endure them.
Not that he didn’t like restaurants or fine dining or indeed dining in general, the contrary was true.
Whether it was the more exclusive restaurants such as the
Worsted Viper and the Runcible Spoon in Purplemere, The Phoenix Restaurant in Shallowfield, The Diamond in the Rough in Sharpington, The Wooden Slipper in Abbottsford, The Leathern Bottle in Finchbottom or The Cloche Hat in the Dulcets.
The varied foreign cuisine served up by the Bengal Curry House in Shallowfield, the Scented Garden Chinese, Roberto’s Italian and the Beirut Lebanese in Abbottsford or the high standard of pub grub at hostelries such as Finchbottom’s White Horse Inn, The Huntsman’s Lodge and the Mallard in Childean, The Mulberry Tree at Brocklington, The Woodman’s Axe in Shallowfield and Mornington’s Old Mill Inn.
And it didn’t matter if it was one of his favourites or not, or if it had a good reputation, or if he thought it was just a trendy nouvelle cuisine restaurant serving high flavour, low substance dishes, with tiny artistic arrangements the size of an Hors d'oeuvre on a slab of welsh slate, or the sort of place where he was hungrier when it was time to leave than when he arrived, and he would need to go to a burger bar on the way home.
But despite his foodie loving appreciation of dining out he was still filled with the usual sense of dread when he was told there was another dinner meeting, but his fears were abated slightly when he found out that the dinner was at Mornington Manor.
(Part 02)
Thirty five year old Richard Stephenson was one of the attendees of a dinner meeting at Mornington Manor and he was one of “The” Stephenson’s who had supermarkets and convenience stores all over Downshire.
Despite his foodie loving appreciation of dining out he was still filled with the usual sense of dread when he was told there was another dinner meeting, but his fears were abated slightly when he found out that the dinner was at Mornington Manor.
Apart from Richard Stephenson, one of his legal eagles, Leonard Wells, was also to be wined and dined by Baron Gabriel St George and his wife Chantel.
Also present were Estate solicitor Rizalina Pugay and the Estates financial manager Michelle Smith.
30 year old Michelle was one of the Smith clan who were tenants at Smithfield Farm and they had been there for as long as anyone could remember and everyone expected her to take her place on the land but she surprised everyone when she chose the route which led her to accountancy instead.
Michelle had been driven and focused from the moment she made the decision at the age of 13 that farming wasn’t for her and she had always behaved with the utmost professionalism in every meeting she had ever attended but the moment she first laid eyes on the tall blonde haired Richard Stephenson, her legs turned to jelly and every fact, figure and number left her head and she felt like she was 13 again.
And as it turned out the feeling was mutual because on that night Richard learned to truly appreciate an intimate dining experience, because shortly after the main course was cleared away he felt Michelle’s hand on his knee and by the time desert arrived at the table her hand was in his.
The quality of the company not withstanding and the meal definitely falling into the fine dining category, the finer details of the meeting went completely over his head as his attention was totally focused on the girl holding his hand.
He was a well-seasoned man of business and he had been attending important meetings since he was 19 but he had never had one of the other side hold his hand.
At first he wasn’t sure if this was some strange new negotiation technique, or a seductive ploy to distract him from his purpose, but in truth it wasn’t a cynical ploy at all it was love at first sight.
When he looked at her during coffee she was smiling smugly and as they said good bye outside the Manor Richard said
“It was a very nice dinner”
“Yes the food was exquisite” Michelle agreed
“I particularly enjoyed desert” he added
“Me too” she agreed and then they shook hands and he said quietly
“You have a very firm hand shake”
“Thank you” she said
“But I preferred it when we were holding hands”
“Me too” he said “And I look forward to our next meeting with interest”
(Part 03)
Richard Stephenson had been very much looking forward to meeting Michelle Smith again after she had lovingly held his hand under the table during the business dinner they were attending at Mornington Manor, but seeing her the second time was different and if anything it was even better because he knew her and the ice between them had already been broken, but he had absolutely no idea what show of affection, if any, she might reveal at the meeting, before, after or even during.
The second meeting was again at Mornington Manor but was to be more informal and was not scheduled to be over lunch or dinner and he didn’t have his legal eagle, Leonard Wells, in attendance.
However as he drove into the Manor Grounds an alarming thought crossed his mind, what if Michelle wasn’t going to be there.
He was surprised at exactly how much he wanted her to be there after all they had only held hands, it was all very juvenile really in the cold light of day, but the effect she had on him was palpable and in the two weeks since they last met he had thought of little else.
Michelle Smith had also thought about that evening constantly and she was utterly embarrassed at her behaviour, he was a very good looking man but even so she wasn’t a schoolgirl, she was 30 years old for goodness sake and she had worked very hard to get where she was and she now risked becoming a laughing stock because she went all gooey at the sight of a square jawed, blue eyed, muscular hunk.
In fact she was so embarrassed at the behaviour that she tried desperately to get out of the second meeting all to no avail and to add insult onto injury she found out that morning that it was to be a one to one meeting so she hoped and prayed that he would be sending one of his minions but as she approached the reception area her heart sank and soared simultaneously.
“Hello Richard” she said trying not to look into his crystal blue eyes as she shook his soft well-manicured hand
“It’s good to see you again”
“Yes I was just about to say the same thing” he retorted and smiled but Michelle was looking at the floor
“Do you want to follow me?” she asked in as much of a business-like manner as she could muster.
As she strode down the hall ahead of him her short red hair bounced about her neck and shoulders and danced softly there in time with her movement.
Just as she had been at the dinner she was immaculately dressed, this time in a fitted green silk blouse tucked into the waist of dark grey flared skirt, which complemented her slender frame perfectly, her narrow waist and the flaring of her skirt accentuating her hips.
Her fleshy buttocks contained within the tailored skirt were quite hypnotic and her shapely legs were sheathed in black.
She paused by an open door and bade him enter, which he did.
“It will just be the two of us today” she said as she indicated where she wanted him to sit.
“I’m afraid all the other room are occupied” she said “but this will serve our purpose”
It was a small informal meeting room with no meeting room table as such and half a dozen chairs around the outside and an occasional table in the middle.
Two of the walls were solid while the other two had windows in the top half, one of which looked out into the grounds and Manor Wood beyond while the other looked into a small open planned office in the room next door.
“I thought Gabriel would be in the meeting” he said
“No this is a one to one” Michelle said trying to remain aloof
“Oh I see” he responded
“And you really wouldn’t want his lordship doing this” she added and leant in close and kissed him.
“I really love business meetings with you” he said
(Part 04)
“I thought Gabriel would be in the meeting” he said as he was seated in the meeting room at the Mornington Manor
“No this is a one to one” Michelle said trying to remain aloof
“Oh I see” he responded
“And you really wouldn’t want his lordship doing this” she added and leant in close and kissed him.
“I really love business meetings with you” he said
Many more meeting followed between them, mainly over dinner in some of the finest restaurants in Downshire and none of them ever resulted in them discussing business but after about a month Michelle thought things had stalled so she decided to take decisive action and she put her plan into action at a fund raising dinner at the Worsted Viper Hotel in Purplemere.
She knew he was to be there and asked Gabriel St George if she could attend to represent the Mornington Estate, and he was delighted to give her the opportunity to spread her wings while getting himself off the hook at the same time.
When Richard saw her at the dinner he was over the moon and resolved immediately that he was going to make sure he stayed close to Michelle and take advantage of the chance meeting.
He sat next to her, expecting to find her hand on his knee, but it didn’t happen, he danced with her in the ballroom hoping she would kiss him but she didn’t, in fact there was no brush of the hand or a boob graze or even a knowing look.
Michelle pretty much ignored him entirely so he ended the evening in abject disappointment and meandered back to his room in a cloud of melancholy.
Richard got back to his room and raided the mini bar and then got himself ready for bed and he was just about to turn the light off when there was a knock at the door.
“What the fuck?” he snapped angrily and got out of bed, it seemed that not only had he had a disappointment in regard to Michelle but now he was apparently not going to get any sleep.
He put on his robe and went to the door muttering expletives under his breath and he was ready to launch a tirade of abuse at the intruder and he threw open the door and was struck dumb because standing on the threshold was Michelle Smith in her PJ’s, she would have preferred to have been stark naked for maximum effect but she wasn’t that brazen.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” she asked as he stood staring at her open mouthed.
“Oh yeah” he said and stepped aside to let her in and then he watched as she walked towards the bed and he thought she looked as perfect in pyjamas as she did in everything else.
“I thought you were ignoring me” he said as she walked towards him
“I was merely testing your mettle” she retorted
“Oh”
“Yes I wanted to make sure you wanted me as much as I want you” she replied and kissed him
“And what conclusion did you reach?” he asked and in response Michelle pushed him back onto the bed and said
“You’re mine”
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