(Part 01)
James Ruddock was a 25 year old singleton and was what they used to call a twitcher, although nowadays they prefer to be called birders and he was staying at the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel at the head of Teardrop Lake.
The view of the lake from the Hotel was spectacular.
The lake was shaped like a teardrop, hence its name, and surrounded by the ancient woodland of the Dancingdean Forrest.
It wasn’t a huge body of water, just over two miles long and almost a mile at its widest point.
It was beautiful and relatively unspoilt which was the reason he chose it.
A lot of avid bird watchers gravitated to the Finchbottom Vale and the Dancingdean Forest in particular.
Teardrop Lake and the surrounding woodland was privately owned and divided into twelve parcels of land, each with one significant dwelling on it, although there were a number of cottages dotted around as well, some in use and some not.
It was both idyllic and peaceful, there was little or no noise pollution and although the lake was used there no speed boats or jet skis, only rowing boats, canoes, dinghies and skiffs.
James was a bit of a loaner so birdwatching was the perfect hobby for him.
He would have preferred not to be such a loaner but unfortunately he was a bit socially awkward, but the main reason he was alone was because he was shy and preferred to go unnoticed which is difficult to do when you’re 6ft 4 with flaming red hair.
On his fifth day by the lake he was up bright and early and headed up into the woods around the Lake and was heading for lover leap.
It was a rocky promontory which was a location that had been recommended to him.
Anna at the Hotel had given him a number of popular birding sites and after he had spent a couple of hours up at Lovers Leap including the small clearing where a Green Woodpecker had been sited.
But what he found waiting for him in the clearing, sitting on a blanket was Anna herself.
He moved a little closer and was about to ask her to direct him back to the path to civilization when she stood up and took off her dress to reveal a yellow bikini.
“Oh my” he said to himself as he studied a most interesting scene.
“This is much better than a Green Woodpecker” he said to himself “Much better”
It wasn’t the usual type of bird he was spotting for but it was a rare sighting indeed.
It was his habit to write down his more exotic sighting in his little book and he had nothing in his book to equal Anna.
Looking beyond the figure of Anna he could see there was a well-defined path which he thought if he followed would lead him back to Shallowfield as he was ready for his lunch.
It had been a very pleasant diversion from birdwatching but he wasn’t comfortable to spy on her further.
However he still had the problem of getting back to Shallowfield without crossing the clearing or being seen by Anna and it was as he was pondering this problem that Anna turned around and looked directly at him and smiled, and then she gestured him to join her.
“I’m so sorry” he said as he approached “I didn’t mean to look”
“That’s alright you were meant to” she retorted
“Wwhat?” he stammered
“I’ve been trying to get your attention all week” she said and slithered up to him and embraced him and when the kiss was over she said
“Now don’t you think that’s better than bird watching?”
“Oh yes definitely” he replied and leant in for another helping and thought.
“This is definitely going in the book”
(Part 02)
The morning after Anna had successfully lured James to the clearing in the Dancingdean Forest and they shared an extended period of kissing he rose late and was trying to figure out when he would get to kiss her again.
And it was with those thoughts about kissing the girl in the yellow bikini that he decided he would take a shower and then go in search of her.
However just as he got midway between the bed and the bathroom the maid, receptionist, waitress and all round dogs body Anna Hunt suddenly appeared at the door.
There followed a delightful interlude, in which she declared that she was his girlfriend, and that culminated in them making love in his bed.
The next morning he rose late again but this time however, when he headed to the shower, the door didn’t suddenly open and Anna did not appear.
This time he was already in the shower and had already given himself a good soaping before she joined him and on that morning he had no need to undress her as Anna was already naked.
Anna was a year or two younger than James straight brown hair and a rather plain, heavily freckled face, but lovely blue eyes, a cute nose and a thin-lipped smile.
When Anna got in the cubicle she was only wearing a broad grin so he kissed her smiling lips and made love to her.
Afterwards he was shattered, he had to sit in the cubicle to recharge his batteries, and James just sat there with the shower spraying down on him for about twenty minutes.
By the time he re-emerged from the bathroom, still dripping wet, Anna was already fully dressed.
“You’ve recovered then” she said and laughed
“I’ll remember that the next time you’re gagging for it,” he said in response
“You’ll still take me though” she said and walked over and kissed him and he grabbed her and scooped her up in his arms
“Put me down you’ll get me all wet,” she protested
“That’s just how I like you” he teased and then they kissed.
But that was all they did as she had work to do.
“Well you’ll have to wait until tomorrow now” she insisted
So he put her down and she giggled as she sponged herself dry as she sat down and watched him drying himself and by the lascivious look in her eye he couldn’t tell if she was remembering what she’d just had or imagining what she was going to get the next time and he knew there would be a next time, and soon.
Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Monday, 15 May 2017
Those Memories Made on Teardrop Lake – (61) Sleeping Maiden in Distress
(Part 01)
It was in the early nineties when Eleanor Gallaher knocked on the door of number 35 Finchbottom Road, which was the Shallowfield home of Gregory and Amanda George, and had been for 15 years, ever since they were married.
It was a house that was very well known to Eleanor as she had been friends with Amanda for about 8 years despite being ten years younger.
“Is Amanda in?” she asked urgently when Greg had opened the door, although she already knew the answer, before she asked the question, but he wasn’t to know that at the time.
Eleanor was pretty, but not beautiful with a long face, a big toothy smile and long wavy straw coloured hair and she stood around five foot three in her flip flops.
As was the fashion of the time she was wearing knee length denim dungarees over a white t-shirt.
“I’m afraid not Ellie she’s gone to Abbottsford so I’m not expecting her back until late”
He replied and to his great surprise tears started to well up in her eyes and then they ran down her cheeks as she sobbed.
Greg in an act of chivalry stepped into action and put his arm around her and guided her into the hall away from prying eyes.
He stood and comfort her without speaking when she said
“I’m sorry” and buried her tearstained face in his neck.
He made encouraging noises and stroked her back but being a shoulder to cry on, was the full extent of his expertise with crying women, even pretty young women that he had feelings for, and Ellie certainly fit the bill to a tee.
Not that he could or would have done anything about it, even though his marriage was in its death throws.
He and Amanda were only together for two reasons one was that she was catholic and didn’t believe in divorce and the other one was laziness, it had become easier to maintain the status quo and stay together and live separate lives than to take decisive action to get on with their lives.
Greg held Ellie for some time until her sobs began to get shallower and shallower and eventually abated but still she held on to him very tightly and even began to nuzzle his neck and he could feel her breath on his skin, which was when the beast below his waist began to stir itself.
While still nuzzling his neck her hands began to caress up and down his back until her nuzzles turned to kisses and Greg reciprocated the caresses and in an instant her mouth was on his, and he tasted her soft lips, and hot mouth.
Ellie’s hands began to claw at his shirt, dragging it free from the waistband of his jeans and when she had succeeded, her trembling hands were on his flesh and she sighed and exhaled through her nose.
The kissing and the caressing finally gave way to pure lust and culminated in them making love in the in the spare room.
The reason for her distress was revealed to be that she had been dumped by her boyfriend, but the reason for the love making was the fact they had fancied each other almost from the first time they met.
A brief affair followed that first afternoon of fulfilling lust but Eleanor called a halt to it when she started dating a lad called Kevin and said
“Her boyfriend wouldn’t like it”.
Greg wasn’t happy about it because his feelings for her had deepened but what could he do, he had to respect her decision.
(Part 02)
Eleanor had called a halt to their brief affair when she started dating a lad called Kevin and said
“Her boyfriend wouldn’t like it”.
Greg wasn’t happy about it because his feelings for her had deepened but what could he do, he had to respect her decision.
There were however fairly regular relapses on Eleanor’s part when she would turn up at the house often in tears or just angry after a spat with a “Kevin” or whoever the latest Mr. Right was.
Greg would then comfort her or calm her down and then they would make love.
However she only ever turned up when she knew Amanda would be out.
So it was no surprise to Greg on a Saturday morning when Amanda was away at her Mothers that there was a knock at the door.
However at the time he was on the phone to his boss so he opened the door and as expected it was Eleanor, it was obvious that she had been crying, she walked in and gave him a look and bustled through to the lounge.
He was on the phone for about 40 minutes and when he’d finished he went into the lounge to find her face down on the sofa asleep.
Greg imagined she had probably been crying half the night and when she reached his house and found him on the phone she had thrown herself on the sofa and cried herself to sleep again.
He knew by the sound of her breathing that she was deeply asleep, they had slept together enough times for him to recognize the sound.
He also knew that she slept like the dead.
“Lovely” he said as he admired the small figure of the girl he loved draped on the sofa.
Greg knelt on the floor beside her and pushed her straw coloured hair aside and kissed her neck and when he got no response he smiled to himself.
“I’ll just have to wake you up another way” he said
Because Ellie had just fallen asleep were she came to rest on the sofa, she was laying with all her weight on one side, but because she slept so soundly and because she was so tiny it didn’t take too much effort on Greg’s part to get her on her side facing him so he could see her serene face while he held and stroked her hand which he was periodically kissing, but what he wanted to do was kiss her lips, but this was problematic after her mouth fell open and she started dribbling, so he smiled at her lovingly and kissed her cheek instead.
After about five minutes she began to waken while he held her hand and when her eyes opened she smiled.
“I was dreaming about you touching me” she said and wiped her mouth on the cushion
“I thought you’d never wake you” he said and leant in and took the kiss he had wanted
“Come to bed”
“Oh Greg” she purred “You always know how to cheer me up”
It was in the early nineties when Eleanor Gallaher knocked on the door of number 35 Finchbottom Road, which was the Shallowfield home of Gregory and Amanda George, and had been for 15 years, ever since they were married.
It was a house that was very well known to Eleanor as she had been friends with Amanda for about 8 years despite being ten years younger.
“Is Amanda in?” she asked urgently when Greg had opened the door, although she already knew the answer, before she asked the question, but he wasn’t to know that at the time.
Eleanor was pretty, but not beautiful with a long face, a big toothy smile and long wavy straw coloured hair and she stood around five foot three in her flip flops.
As was the fashion of the time she was wearing knee length denim dungarees over a white t-shirt.
“I’m afraid not Ellie she’s gone to Abbottsford so I’m not expecting her back until late”
He replied and to his great surprise tears started to well up in her eyes and then they ran down her cheeks as she sobbed.
Greg in an act of chivalry stepped into action and put his arm around her and guided her into the hall away from prying eyes.
He stood and comfort her without speaking when she said
“I’m sorry” and buried her tearstained face in his neck.
He made encouraging noises and stroked her back but being a shoulder to cry on, was the full extent of his expertise with crying women, even pretty young women that he had feelings for, and Ellie certainly fit the bill to a tee.
Not that he could or would have done anything about it, even though his marriage was in its death throws.
He and Amanda were only together for two reasons one was that she was catholic and didn’t believe in divorce and the other one was laziness, it had become easier to maintain the status quo and stay together and live separate lives than to take decisive action to get on with their lives.
Greg held Ellie for some time until her sobs began to get shallower and shallower and eventually abated but still she held on to him very tightly and even began to nuzzle his neck and he could feel her breath on his skin, which was when the beast below his waist began to stir itself.
While still nuzzling his neck her hands began to caress up and down his back until her nuzzles turned to kisses and Greg reciprocated the caresses and in an instant her mouth was on his, and he tasted her soft lips, and hot mouth.
Ellie’s hands began to claw at his shirt, dragging it free from the waistband of his jeans and when she had succeeded, her trembling hands were on his flesh and she sighed and exhaled through her nose.
The kissing and the caressing finally gave way to pure lust and culminated in them making love in the in the spare room.
The reason for her distress was revealed to be that she had been dumped by her boyfriend, but the reason for the love making was the fact they had fancied each other almost from the first time they met.
A brief affair followed that first afternoon of fulfilling lust but Eleanor called a halt to it when she started dating a lad called Kevin and said
“Her boyfriend wouldn’t like it”.
Greg wasn’t happy about it because his feelings for her had deepened but what could he do, he had to respect her decision.
(Part 02)
Eleanor had called a halt to their brief affair when she started dating a lad called Kevin and said
“Her boyfriend wouldn’t like it”.
Greg wasn’t happy about it because his feelings for her had deepened but what could he do, he had to respect her decision.
There were however fairly regular relapses on Eleanor’s part when she would turn up at the house often in tears or just angry after a spat with a “Kevin” or whoever the latest Mr. Right was.
Greg would then comfort her or calm her down and then they would make love.
However she only ever turned up when she knew Amanda would be out.
So it was no surprise to Greg on a Saturday morning when Amanda was away at her Mothers that there was a knock at the door.
However at the time he was on the phone to his boss so he opened the door and as expected it was Eleanor, it was obvious that she had been crying, she walked in and gave him a look and bustled through to the lounge.
He was on the phone for about 40 minutes and when he’d finished he went into the lounge to find her face down on the sofa asleep.
Greg imagined she had probably been crying half the night and when she reached his house and found him on the phone she had thrown herself on the sofa and cried herself to sleep again.
He knew by the sound of her breathing that she was deeply asleep, they had slept together enough times for him to recognize the sound.
He also knew that she slept like the dead.
“Lovely” he said as he admired the small figure of the girl he loved draped on the sofa.
Greg knelt on the floor beside her and pushed her straw coloured hair aside and kissed her neck and when he got no response he smiled to himself.
“I’ll just have to wake you up another way” he said
Because Ellie had just fallen asleep were she came to rest on the sofa, she was laying with all her weight on one side, but because she slept so soundly and because she was so tiny it didn’t take too much effort on Greg’s part to get her on her side facing him so he could see her serene face while he held and stroked her hand which he was periodically kissing, but what he wanted to do was kiss her lips, but this was problematic after her mouth fell open and she started dribbling, so he smiled at her lovingly and kissed her cheek instead.
After about five minutes she began to waken while he held her hand and when her eyes opened she smiled.
“I was dreaming about you touching me” she said and wiped her mouth on the cushion
“I thought you’d never wake you” he said and leant in and took the kiss he had wanted
“Come to bed”
“Oh Greg” she purred “You always know how to cheer me up”
Sunday, 14 May 2017
Downshire Diary – (55) Heatherlands – Doctor on Call
(Part 01)
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.
When Chris Palmer moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce he had sworn off women for good.
But he was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes, so he didn’t go unnoticed.
His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.
It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.
The senior partner, and Chris’s boss, at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, with Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
She had been a widow for 10 years when Chris arrived in her life, her widowhood had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness
But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t be disposed to go against her own edict.
But the heart wants what the heart wants which was why two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway.
And as a bi-product of the loving relationship she scrapped the “No Fraternizing policy” which meant that the surgical gloves were off in regard to work place relationships.
(Part 02)
As a bi-product of the loving relationship between Chris and Clarisse, she scrapped the “No Fraternizing policy” which meant that the surgical gloves were off in regard to work place relationships which was just what the doctor ordered for 34 year old Linda Bowles who had the hots for one of the clerical staff, Peter Butler.
She was pretty, stick thin, flat chested, seriously ginger and tall so she looked like an unstruck Swan Vesta.
She was known rather unimaginatively as ginger Linda and she wanted nothing more in life than to be Peter Butler’s significant other the problem was that Peter was scared of her.
Not that he didn’t like her or find her attractive, he did, very much so, but she scared him, because she was everything that he was not.
She was a confident, outgoing and feisty woman of the world whereas he was timid, mild and extremely naïve about life, and in particular women.
Peter had lived a very sheltered life and had spent much of his 32 years looking after his elderly and invalid parents so all he had ever known was work and caring from the time he left school.
And it was from school that he first joined Heatherlands, although it wasn’t called that then, and nor was it a health centre, it was just an orthopaedic outpatients clinic.
But when it took on its present guise, he was one of the few who made the transition.
Peter was an only child and his parents had him late in life, his mother was 44 when she gave birth and his father was ten years her senior.
Neither of them were in good health while he was growing up, his mother never fully recovered from her traumatic labour, Peter had just turned 25 when her heart gave out and five years later his father lost his long battle with cancer.
For the two years that followed he lived alone in what had been the family home all of his life, he seldom went out, with the exception of the Heatherlands Christmas Party as Clarisse wouldn’t take no for an answer on that one, and he had no friends outside of work, and his job at Heatherlands was the only pleasure in his life.
That was until Dr Linda Bowles arrived just after Christmas and he had something else to look forward to every working day, seeing Linda.
He thought she was beautiful, especially when she smiled at him, but he couldn’t talk to her when she said hello because his knees turned to jelly and his mouth went dry.
She was gorgeous and terrifying in one moment, she was so direct and bold and fearless and she left him quivering, but he adored her more than anyone he had ever known but because of his shyness he knew he would never find the courage to speak to her.
So he resigned himself to the fact that he would just have to watch her from a safe distance.
(Part 03)
When singleton, Linda Bowles, first joined the Heatherlands District Health Centre, she was hoping it would be the last time she would be the newbie.
She had spent the previous three years as a locum, drifting in and out of various surgeries in the four corners of Downshire as well as the bit in between.
It had been a bit of a gypsy existence and she had been unable to put down any roots, but when she applied for the permanent position at Heatherlands, and got the job she hoped that she would finally have a normal life, her own home and someone to share it with.
In the short term she was able to rent a house in the village of Heathervale, or more precisely the granny flat in the garden of a house in the village, but it suited her needs very well.
But having secured a permanent job and suitable accommodation she was not prepared to lose her heart to a good looking man on her first day in her new job.
It happened while the senior partner, Clarisse Lowe, was introducing her to the staff around the building, and when they entered the administration office and she saw Peter Butler standing by the photocopier she felt cupid’s arrow strike home.
Peter was an inch or two taller than Linda was, and she was almost six foot tall, with a kind face, blue eyes and a mop of mousy hair and what endeared him to her even more was his shyness, she thought it was cute.
Having found someone for her to lavish her love upon she had to curb her desires because of the “No Fraternizing” rule but after Easter when Clarisse and Chris Palmer got together and she scrapped that particular edict Linda tackled her crush in the same way she dealt with everything in her life, head on.
She let him know in no uncertain terms what her intentions were and what her desires consisted of, namely him,
Or at least she thought she did, but if she had then her advances had fallen on stony ground.
For almost eleven months she flirted with him outrageously and flaunted herself unashamedly at every opportunity, but to no avail.
“He’s just not noticing me” she said to herself one day
Peter had noticed her, he couldn’t fail to notice her, she was always there smiling and looking good enough to eat he was just too scared to react, because he didn’t know how to act with a woman, especially one as lovely as she was.
By the autumn she was getting a little despondent so when in in November she was invited to a dinner party at Clarisse Lowe’s house she took her chance, when she got her alone to confide in her that she really fancied Peter.
“Well everyone in Heatherlands knows that” she retorted and laughed
“Really?” Linda said
“Well you’re not subtle Linda”
“Well Peter hasn’t noticed me or worse he has noticed and he’s horrified” she said and grimaced
“Oh he’s not horrified, he really likes you, he’s just scared of you” Clarisse said
(Part 04)
By the autumn she was getting a little despondent so when in in November she was invited to a dinner party at Clarisse Lowe’s house she took her chance, when she got her alone to confide in her that she really fancied Peter.
“Well everyone in Heatherlands knows that” she retorted and laughed
“Really?” Linda said
“Well you’re not subtle Linda”
“Well Peter hasn’t noticed me or worse he has noticed and he’s horrified” she said and grimaced
“Oh he’s not horrified, he really likes you, he’s just scared of you” Clarisse said
“Scared? Why? I’m not going to hurt him” Linda asked
“You have to understand that he has led a very sheltered life”
Clarisse said and then explained about him having to care for invalid parents and missing out on his childhood and a normal young man’s social experiences.
“It’s like he’s lived his whole life in monochrome and then you turn up and you broadcast directly to him in technicolour” she said
“You are larger than life Linda and Peter is a shadow dweller who is happy to be anonymous, which of course he wouldn’t be if he was with you, and that’s why he’s scared”
“So what should I do?” Linda asked
“Well if I were you I would wait until the Christmas Party” she replied
“Will he go to the Christmas party?” she asked “I wouldn’t have thought it was his kind of thing”
“It’s not, but he goes because I tell him to” Clarisse replied
“Why?”
“Because he’s scared of me” she said and laughed
It was true that Clarisse did tell Peter that he had to attend the party and because of that that was what he was going to do, but not out of fear he did what she asked out of respect.
So over the course of the year Doctor Linda Bowles had set her cap firmly at shy and naïve Peter Butler but she had struck out but then in December there was light at the end of the tunnel in the shape of the
Heatherlands District Health Centre staff Christmas Party which was held at The Foothills Hotel in Oxley Ridge.
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
On his death however he had left her extremely well off so at Christmas Clarisse always laid on transport for those who had to get back for baby sitters after the part or alternatively they could stay overnight at the Hotel.
Unfortunately on the day of the party Linda was on call until midnight and therefore couldn’t indulge herself in the pursuit of Peter Butler.
And when Linda had to go to Nettlefield for a suspected case of Meningitis at 10 o’clock she thought she was going to miss her chance altogether.
(Part 05)
Unfortunately on the day of the party Linda was on call until midnight and therefore couldn’t indulge herself in the pursuit of Peter Butler.
And when Linda had to go to Nettlefield for a suspected case of Meningitis at 10 o’clock she thought she was going to miss her chance altogether.
However half way to see the patient she got a phone call to say that an ambulance had been called as there had been a deterioration of the patient’s condition and she was now critically ill and the ambulance beat her to the patient by 15 minutes which meant she was not required to attend after all.
And as Linda did a U-turn and headed towards Oxley Ridge she chastised herself for being relieved and felt guilty because it was an outcome that benefitted her.
She would have felt even worse if she’d known that the critically ill patient had died on route to hospital.
It was a little before midnight when she walked through the doors into the foyer of the Foothills Hotel and was greeted by Clarisse.
“Linda darling let me get you a drink” she suggested
“That will be lovely” Linda replied “But I’m still on clock for another ten minutes”
Just at that moment there was a commotion in the hall which prevented a slightly tipsy Clarisse from telling her not to worry about ten minutes and to get a drink down her neck.
They looked around and saw Chris Palmer and his brother Darren carrying Peter Butler between them who was holding his left foot.
“What’s happened?” Clarisse asked
“He tripped over his own feet” Chris replied and laughed
“I’m fine, I just twisted my ankle” Peter said
“We’ll be the judge of that” Linda said “After I’ve examined you”
“You can use room 104” The night manager said
“Perfect” Linda said “And can you arrange for some ice?”
“Time to get him into my consulting room” she whispered to Clarisse as she followed the casualty
“Just be gentle with him” Clarisse retorted and laughed
When she reached room 104 the door to the room was open and Chris and Darren had Peter laying on the bed waiting for her and he had already shed his shoe and sock.
“Right let’s have a look at you” Linda said
“It’s just twisted” he said
“Really? Remind me which one of us is the Doctor?” Linda asked
“Sorry Doctor” he said meekly
“That should reduce the swelling”
She said as she packed the bags of ice around his ankle
“And now if we can have some privacy I’ll give you a proper examination” she said
“We’ll leave you to it then” Clarisse said and went out the door with Chris but they didn’t close the door completely and stood peering in.
“Right then let’s start with your blood pressure” she said
“Why are you undoing my trousers?” he asked with alarm
“Are you sure that you’re a proper doctor?”
“Just relax” Linda said
“But I don’t think that’s the way to check blood pressure” he said
“Trust me I’m a professional” She said “you’re in safe hands”
“Whatever you say doc” he answered and closed his eyes.
“Well there’s definitely nothing wrong with your blood pressure”
She said
“Oh my” Peter exclaimed
“Well I think we can safely leave them to it” Clarisse said and quietly closed the door
“He doesn’t know what he’s in for” Chris added
“All his Christmas’s have come at one” she said and they both laughed
The next morning, those who made it down to breakfast were a sorry looking lot, severely hungover with bloodshot eyes and thumping heads, and among them were Clarisse and Chris.
But the exceptions to the rule were Linda and Peter who were both bright eyed and bushy tailed and smiling from ear to ear.
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.
When Chris Palmer moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce he had sworn off women for good.
But he was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes, so he didn’t go unnoticed.
His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.
It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.
The senior partner, and Chris’s boss, at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, with Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
She had been a widow for 10 years when Chris arrived in her life, her widowhood had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness
But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t be disposed to go against her own edict.
But the heart wants what the heart wants which was why two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway.
And as a bi-product of the loving relationship she scrapped the “No Fraternizing policy” which meant that the surgical gloves were off in regard to work place relationships.
(Part 02)
As a bi-product of the loving relationship between Chris and Clarisse, she scrapped the “No Fraternizing policy” which meant that the surgical gloves were off in regard to work place relationships which was just what the doctor ordered for 34 year old Linda Bowles who had the hots for one of the clerical staff, Peter Butler.
She was pretty, stick thin, flat chested, seriously ginger and tall so she looked like an unstruck Swan Vesta.
She was known rather unimaginatively as ginger Linda and she wanted nothing more in life than to be Peter Butler’s significant other the problem was that Peter was scared of her.
Not that he didn’t like her or find her attractive, he did, very much so, but she scared him, because she was everything that he was not.
She was a confident, outgoing and feisty woman of the world whereas he was timid, mild and extremely naïve about life, and in particular women.
Peter had lived a very sheltered life and had spent much of his 32 years looking after his elderly and invalid parents so all he had ever known was work and caring from the time he left school.
And it was from school that he first joined Heatherlands, although it wasn’t called that then, and nor was it a health centre, it was just an orthopaedic outpatients clinic.
But when it took on its present guise, he was one of the few who made the transition.
Peter was an only child and his parents had him late in life, his mother was 44 when she gave birth and his father was ten years her senior.
Neither of them were in good health while he was growing up, his mother never fully recovered from her traumatic labour, Peter had just turned 25 when her heart gave out and five years later his father lost his long battle with cancer.
For the two years that followed he lived alone in what had been the family home all of his life, he seldom went out, with the exception of the Heatherlands Christmas Party as Clarisse wouldn’t take no for an answer on that one, and he had no friends outside of work, and his job at Heatherlands was the only pleasure in his life.
That was until Dr Linda Bowles arrived just after Christmas and he had something else to look forward to every working day, seeing Linda.
He thought she was beautiful, especially when she smiled at him, but he couldn’t talk to her when she said hello because his knees turned to jelly and his mouth went dry.
She was gorgeous and terrifying in one moment, she was so direct and bold and fearless and she left him quivering, but he adored her more than anyone he had ever known but because of his shyness he knew he would never find the courage to speak to her.
So he resigned himself to the fact that he would just have to watch her from a safe distance.
(Part 03)
When singleton, Linda Bowles, first joined the Heatherlands District Health Centre, she was hoping it would be the last time she would be the newbie.
She had spent the previous three years as a locum, drifting in and out of various surgeries in the four corners of Downshire as well as the bit in between.
It had been a bit of a gypsy existence and she had been unable to put down any roots, but when she applied for the permanent position at Heatherlands, and got the job she hoped that she would finally have a normal life, her own home and someone to share it with.
In the short term she was able to rent a house in the village of Heathervale, or more precisely the granny flat in the garden of a house in the village, but it suited her needs very well.
But having secured a permanent job and suitable accommodation she was not prepared to lose her heart to a good looking man on her first day in her new job.
It happened while the senior partner, Clarisse Lowe, was introducing her to the staff around the building, and when they entered the administration office and she saw Peter Butler standing by the photocopier she felt cupid’s arrow strike home.
Peter was an inch or two taller than Linda was, and she was almost six foot tall, with a kind face, blue eyes and a mop of mousy hair and what endeared him to her even more was his shyness, she thought it was cute.
Having found someone for her to lavish her love upon she had to curb her desires because of the “No Fraternizing” rule but after Easter when Clarisse and Chris Palmer got together and she scrapped that particular edict Linda tackled her crush in the same way she dealt with everything in her life, head on.
She let him know in no uncertain terms what her intentions were and what her desires consisted of, namely him,
Or at least she thought she did, but if she had then her advances had fallen on stony ground.
For almost eleven months she flirted with him outrageously and flaunted herself unashamedly at every opportunity, but to no avail.
“He’s just not noticing me” she said to herself one day
Peter had noticed her, he couldn’t fail to notice her, she was always there smiling and looking good enough to eat he was just too scared to react, because he didn’t know how to act with a woman, especially one as lovely as she was.
By the autumn she was getting a little despondent so when in in November she was invited to a dinner party at Clarisse Lowe’s house she took her chance, when she got her alone to confide in her that she really fancied Peter.
“Well everyone in Heatherlands knows that” she retorted and laughed
“Really?” Linda said
“Well you’re not subtle Linda”
“Well Peter hasn’t noticed me or worse he has noticed and he’s horrified” she said and grimaced
“Oh he’s not horrified, he really likes you, he’s just scared of you” Clarisse said
(Part 04)
By the autumn she was getting a little despondent so when in in November she was invited to a dinner party at Clarisse Lowe’s house she took her chance, when she got her alone to confide in her that she really fancied Peter.
“Well everyone in Heatherlands knows that” she retorted and laughed
“Really?” Linda said
“Well you’re not subtle Linda”
“Well Peter hasn’t noticed me or worse he has noticed and he’s horrified” she said and grimaced
“Oh he’s not horrified, he really likes you, he’s just scared of you” Clarisse said
“Scared? Why? I’m not going to hurt him” Linda asked
“You have to understand that he has led a very sheltered life”
Clarisse said and then explained about him having to care for invalid parents and missing out on his childhood and a normal young man’s social experiences.
“It’s like he’s lived his whole life in monochrome and then you turn up and you broadcast directly to him in technicolour” she said
“You are larger than life Linda and Peter is a shadow dweller who is happy to be anonymous, which of course he wouldn’t be if he was with you, and that’s why he’s scared”
“So what should I do?” Linda asked
“Well if I were you I would wait until the Christmas Party” she replied
“Will he go to the Christmas party?” she asked “I wouldn’t have thought it was his kind of thing”
“It’s not, but he goes because I tell him to” Clarisse replied
“Why?”
“Because he’s scared of me” she said and laughed
It was true that Clarisse did tell Peter that he had to attend the party and because of that that was what he was going to do, but not out of fear he did what she asked out of respect.
So over the course of the year Doctor Linda Bowles had set her cap firmly at shy and naïve Peter Butler but she had struck out but then in December there was light at the end of the tunnel in the shape of the
Heatherlands District Health Centre staff Christmas Party which was held at The Foothills Hotel in Oxley Ridge.
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
On his death however he had left her extremely well off so at Christmas Clarisse always laid on transport for those who had to get back for baby sitters after the part or alternatively they could stay overnight at the Hotel.
Unfortunately on the day of the party Linda was on call until midnight and therefore couldn’t indulge herself in the pursuit of Peter Butler.
And when Linda had to go to Nettlefield for a suspected case of Meningitis at 10 o’clock she thought she was going to miss her chance altogether.
(Part 05)
Unfortunately on the day of the party Linda was on call until midnight and therefore couldn’t indulge herself in the pursuit of Peter Butler.
And when Linda had to go to Nettlefield for a suspected case of Meningitis at 10 o’clock she thought she was going to miss her chance altogether.
However half way to see the patient she got a phone call to say that an ambulance had been called as there had been a deterioration of the patient’s condition and she was now critically ill and the ambulance beat her to the patient by 15 minutes which meant she was not required to attend after all.
And as Linda did a U-turn and headed towards Oxley Ridge she chastised herself for being relieved and felt guilty because it was an outcome that benefitted her.
She would have felt even worse if she’d known that the critically ill patient had died on route to hospital.
It was a little before midnight when she walked through the doors into the foyer of the Foothills Hotel and was greeted by Clarisse.
“Linda darling let me get you a drink” she suggested
“That will be lovely” Linda replied “But I’m still on clock for another ten minutes”
Just at that moment there was a commotion in the hall which prevented a slightly tipsy Clarisse from telling her not to worry about ten minutes and to get a drink down her neck.
They looked around and saw Chris Palmer and his brother Darren carrying Peter Butler between them who was holding his left foot.
“What’s happened?” Clarisse asked
“He tripped over his own feet” Chris replied and laughed
“I’m fine, I just twisted my ankle” Peter said
“We’ll be the judge of that” Linda said “After I’ve examined you”
“You can use room 104” The night manager said
“Perfect” Linda said “And can you arrange for some ice?”
“Time to get him into my consulting room” she whispered to Clarisse as she followed the casualty
“Just be gentle with him” Clarisse retorted and laughed
When she reached room 104 the door to the room was open and Chris and Darren had Peter laying on the bed waiting for her and he had already shed his shoe and sock.
“Right let’s have a look at you” Linda said
“It’s just twisted” he said
“Really? Remind me which one of us is the Doctor?” Linda asked
“Sorry Doctor” he said meekly
“That should reduce the swelling”
She said as she packed the bags of ice around his ankle
“And now if we can have some privacy I’ll give you a proper examination” she said
“We’ll leave you to it then” Clarisse said and went out the door with Chris but they didn’t close the door completely and stood peering in.
“Right then let’s start with your blood pressure” she said
“Why are you undoing my trousers?” he asked with alarm
“Are you sure that you’re a proper doctor?”
“Just relax” Linda said
“But I don’t think that’s the way to check blood pressure” he said
“Trust me I’m a professional” She said “you’re in safe hands”
“Whatever you say doc” he answered and closed his eyes.
“Well there’s definitely nothing wrong with your blood pressure”
She said
“Oh my” Peter exclaimed
“Well I think we can safely leave them to it” Clarisse said and quietly closed the door
“He doesn’t know what he’s in for” Chris added
“All his Christmas’s have come at one” she said and they both laughed
The next morning, those who made it down to breakfast were a sorry looking lot, severely hungover with bloodshot eyes and thumping heads, and among them were Clarisse and Chris.
But the exceptions to the rule were Linda and Peter who were both bright eyed and bushy tailed and smiling from ear to ear.
Downshire Diary – (54) After the Lord Lieutenant’s Summer Ball
Neil Etherington was an average man approaching his thirtieth birthday not that he was a bad looking man, he wasn’t, but he wasn’t stunning, sexy or buff, he was strictly middling but his girlfriend
Samantha Barraclough was anything but, she was an absolute beauty three years younger, elegant, daintily petite, intelligent, funny, sexy and with a perfectly beautiful angelic voice, pure Carrington Chase educated perfection, Carrington Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire thought it was the other way around, and it was a voice that made Charlotte Green sound common.
He pinched himself at the start of everyday, especially the ones on which he woke up beside her, just to check he wasn’t dreaming.
Because the good fortune that brought Samantha into his life was the type of thing that didn’t happen to him, and everyone who witnessed them together unanimously agreed that he was punching well above his weight.
They first encountered each other at a business meeting at the Abbottsford Regents Hotel, where she was a potential new client and he was trying to win a new account, but the meeting was unresolved as it was love at first sight.
Neil worked for a firm of architects called New Horizons whose head office was in Sharpington by Sea while Samantha Barraclough was approaching her 28th birthday and was a project consultant for the family business, Barraclough Ventures and the project that Samantha’s company was heading up was the regeneration of the former Industrial Power House of the county, Northchapel.
The love that bloomed between Samantha Barraclough and Neil Etherington in Abbottsford in June went from strength to strength
However things had not been all plain sailing since they had met, though not between the two of them they were completely simpatico.
The problems stemmed from a different quarter entirely and from those who should have been the most delighted for them, their close friends and family.
Neil and Samantha were the victims of snobbery, inverted and otherwise.
Her family thought she had set her sights to low while his nearest and dearest believed he had set his too high.
Her friends thought he was common while his thought she was a snob.
Only their closest friends Jonathon Hardman and Isabelle Decoene stuck by them.
So as a result they had found it difficult to fit inside each other’s worlds, but the couple believed that love will out and Samantha drew a line under the difficulties when she said
“If you can’t live in my world and I can’t live in yours we shall just have to make a world of our own”
If he hadn’t been in love with her already he certainly would have been after that speech.
As part of “making a world of their own” they decided to plan to spend as much time together as possible which meant staying at each other’s houses, normally on a pre-planned basis but on the night of the Lord Lieutenant’s Summer Ball in July Sam had pitched up at Neil’s in a taxi because she couldn’t face all the constant nagging from her friends and family about her unfortunate choice of a boyfriend.
So they spent the night but on the next afternoon she had to go in search of her car, which she had left at her sister’s house in the grand neighbourhood of Sharpington’s Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco the locals nicknamed Nob Hill.
So they drove from his Cottage the relatively short distance from Brocklington to Sharpington and then followed the sign towards the posh part of town.
“I don’t get to Nob Hill as often as I’d like” he said and Samantha laughed and then she began
“I don’t get no...”
“Don’t say it” he interrupted, “you’re a lady remember”
And she laughed a very dirty laugh.
“Samantha Barraclough?” he said shocked “I thought you were a lady”
“I am a lady” she said when she could talk again “it’s just that you bring out my inner trollop”
And then she disintegrated in to laughter again.
When she had calmed herself she suddenly said
“Don’t drop me off yet”
“Why not?”
“I’m not ready to say goodbye” she said and looked at him sadly
“Ok then to the promenade” he said
“Hooray” she cheered
They spent the next two hours walking hand in hand along the beach and the promenade.
“I’m so glad I didn’t go to the ball, I’ve had much more fun with you”
She said
“It’s been a lovely weekend” he agreed
“But too short” Sam added
“Yes far too short” he agreed and then they fell into silence as they watched the holiday makers as they walked along and then they both stopped and looked at each other and said in unison
“Holiday”
An hour later he drove her to her sister’s house where they shared a farewell kiss and he watched her walk away towards the house.
Samantha Barraclough was anything but, she was an absolute beauty three years younger, elegant, daintily petite, intelligent, funny, sexy and with a perfectly beautiful angelic voice, pure Carrington Chase educated perfection, Carrington Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those in Downshire thought it was the other way around, and it was a voice that made Charlotte Green sound common.
He pinched himself at the start of everyday, especially the ones on which he woke up beside her, just to check he wasn’t dreaming.
Because the good fortune that brought Samantha into his life was the type of thing that didn’t happen to him, and everyone who witnessed them together unanimously agreed that he was punching well above his weight.
They first encountered each other at a business meeting at the Abbottsford Regents Hotel, where she was a potential new client and he was trying to win a new account, but the meeting was unresolved as it was love at first sight.
Neil worked for a firm of architects called New Horizons whose head office was in Sharpington by Sea while Samantha Barraclough was approaching her 28th birthday and was a project consultant for the family business, Barraclough Ventures and the project that Samantha’s company was heading up was the regeneration of the former Industrial Power House of the county, Northchapel.
The love that bloomed between Samantha Barraclough and Neil Etherington in Abbottsford in June went from strength to strength
However things had not been all plain sailing since they had met, though not between the two of them they were completely simpatico.
The problems stemmed from a different quarter entirely and from those who should have been the most delighted for them, their close friends and family.
Neil and Samantha were the victims of snobbery, inverted and otherwise.
Her family thought she had set her sights to low while his nearest and dearest believed he had set his too high.
Her friends thought he was common while his thought she was a snob.
Only their closest friends Jonathon Hardman and Isabelle Decoene stuck by them.
So as a result they had found it difficult to fit inside each other’s worlds, but the couple believed that love will out and Samantha drew a line under the difficulties when she said
“If you can’t live in my world and I can’t live in yours we shall just have to make a world of our own”
If he hadn’t been in love with her already he certainly would have been after that speech.
As part of “making a world of their own” they decided to plan to spend as much time together as possible which meant staying at each other’s houses, normally on a pre-planned basis but on the night of the Lord Lieutenant’s Summer Ball in July Sam had pitched up at Neil’s in a taxi because she couldn’t face all the constant nagging from her friends and family about her unfortunate choice of a boyfriend.
So they spent the night but on the next afternoon she had to go in search of her car, which she had left at her sister’s house in the grand neighbourhood of Sharpington’s Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco the locals nicknamed Nob Hill.
So they drove from his Cottage the relatively short distance from Brocklington to Sharpington and then followed the sign towards the posh part of town.
“I don’t get to Nob Hill as often as I’d like” he said and Samantha laughed and then she began
“I don’t get no...”
“Don’t say it” he interrupted, “you’re a lady remember”
And she laughed a very dirty laugh.
“Samantha Barraclough?” he said shocked “I thought you were a lady”
“I am a lady” she said when she could talk again “it’s just that you bring out my inner trollop”
And then she disintegrated in to laughter again.
When she had calmed herself she suddenly said
“Don’t drop me off yet”
“Why not?”
“I’m not ready to say goodbye” she said and looked at him sadly
“Ok then to the promenade” he said
“Hooray” she cheered
They spent the next two hours walking hand in hand along the beach and the promenade.
“I’m so glad I didn’t go to the ball, I’ve had much more fun with you”
She said
“It’s been a lovely weekend” he agreed
“But too short” Sam added
“Yes far too short” he agreed and then they fell into silence as they watched the holiday makers as they walked along and then they both stopped and looked at each other and said in unison
“Holiday”
An hour later he drove her to her sister’s house where they shared a farewell kiss and he watched her walk away towards the house.
Saturday, 13 May 2017
Downshire Diary – (53) The Student Muse
(Part 01)
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north, but our story begins in the East, or more precisely, 20 miles inland from Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between Finchbottom and Pepperstock Green, in the sprawling village of Denmead.
Owen Carrington’s Uncle Glyn died on New Year’s Day and left him his Cottage and a small cash sum, more than enough to keep him going for a few more years.
He left it to him because he felt they were kindred spirits, he wanted to be a writer himself but his father made him get a proper job, Owen really liked him and he was a great story teller, and it was his Uncles colourful tales that helped him when he was writing his novels.
His death came as a shock as it was sudden though not unsurprising given his health.
So that was how he found himself living in a lovely Victorian Cottage in the quaint Downshire Village of Denmead.
It was a very tranquil place though not without its distractions.
From his study he could look out through the open French windows and across the expanse of lawn to a stand of ancient woodland, there was no fence to separate garden and wood the two just merged.
And on the other side of the wood was the hub of the village, the Green Oak, everyone seemed to go there at some point, either for a drink, the restaurant or the coffee suite.
Owen’s star was definitely in the ascendency after the success of his first Romantic novel “The Maiden Muse” but the change in the fortunes of his writing career were not universally well received, his publisher liked it, his new agent loved it, the bank manager was ecstatic about it but his mother was disappointed by it because she thought it was a bit girlie.
But it wasn’t just his writing career that was climbing high, so was his love life thanks to his muse and lover, Juliana Molesworth, who had brought his writers block to an end, but his muse was going away and as always when then were apart he planned to catch up on his writing as he had fallen hopelessly in love with her the only antidote for his wanting her, in her absence was to throw himself into his work.
It had been a most unproductive Friday and he was not in the best of moods.
He had been on the phone all morning, not one of his favourite activities, firstly he had a very long winded call from his agent about a literary dinner in Nettlefield, which was only a few days away, he thought he should attend as he had been nominated in two categories, having initially decided just to ignore it as it was in Nettlefield.
He wasn’t keen at all and he normally only accepted those kinds of invitations in order to facilitate a night in a hotel with the love of his life and muse extraordinaire Juliana, but she was going back to University.
(Part 02)
It had been a most unproductive Friday and he was not in the best of moods.
He had been on the phone all morning, not one of his favourite activities, firstly he had a very long winded call from his agent about a literary dinner in Nettlefield, which was only a few days away, he thought he should attend as he had been nominated in two categories, having initially decided just to ignore it as it was in Nettlefield.
He wasn’t keen at all and he normally only accepted those kinds of invitations in order to facilitate a night in a hotel with the love of his life and muse extraordinaire Juliana, but she was going back to University.
So he declined, his agent insisted, he declined again, he insisted again, Owen declined more emphatically, his agent insisted more forcefully, eventually and with great reluctance he agreed, if for no other reason than to get him off the phone.
He then called the garage to see if his car was ready, which it wasn’t, which posed another problem as he was supposed to be driving Juliana to Abbottsford in it.
So he phoned her dad, Gregory, and explained about the car and he said he could use the Molesworth family Volvo.
So it was late afternoon when he decided it was time to shower and get ready for his date with Juliana, she would be returning to University in Abbottsford the next day for the start of her final year so their date would be the last one for a while.
Juliana and a bunch of friends had rented an old Victorian house and he was helping her move her stuff in.
Under normal circumstances they would have moved in at the beginning of July but the week before their tenancy began the water tank in the loft sprang a leak and brought down the ceiling and made quite a mess.
So the occupancy had been delayed while the repairs were being done, now that they were complete the whole group were moving their stuff in.
They did have the option to renew their tenancy in the house they were in the previous year but it had turned out to be a bit of a slum.
He was going to walk up to Juliana’s when she finished work so they could load all her stuff into the Molesworth family Volvo.
They would then unload her stuff into her room, have a take away with her friends then Owen would leave her up there to unpack her stuff and drive the car back to Denmead and then he wouldn’t see her for a few weeks.
He reached chez Molesworth ahead of schedule to find Juliana’s dad, Gregory, had started loading the car without him and Juliana hadn’t arrived home from work.
“Hold on Greg, you should have waited for me”
“Hello Owen” he said “I just thought I’d make a start as she’s running late”
“Come on then I'll give you a hand” Owen offered
They had it all loaded and were sitting in the kitchen by the time Juliana got home.
“Sorry I’m late” She said “The pub was unbelievably busy and Emma was late in so I stayed to cover”
“Don’t worry darling” her dad said “Owen and I have the car loaded”
“Really?” She said and kissed them both “my heroes”
She then joined them in a cuppa before going to get changed, she was only gone about half an hour and when she came back she was wearing a short denim skirt and a pale blue short sleeved shirt, and not forgetting blue and white ankle socks.
Her short curly red hair was still wet from the shower and left damp splodges on the shoulders of her top.
“Do you want something to eat” her mum Lavinia asked
“No thanks mum” she answered “We're eating there”
She looked up at the clock then turned to Owen and said
“We need to get going”
(Part 03)
The fact they were an hour late leaving didn’t hamper them in any way, in fact because the traffic was lighter than they were expecting they got to the house only ten minutes later than they had originally planned.
They were just taking dinner orders as they arrived so he let Juliana choose and Owen started unloading the car.
It was slightly harder work getting it out of the car and up the stairs and into her room than it was getting it loaded back at her house.
Still a couple of the other lads lent a hand and it was soon done and with perfect timing because just as he closed the boot down on the Volvo, the pizzas arrived so Juliana and Owen took the last two remaining places in the lounge, which were in the bay window.
There were nineteen people sitting in the lounge drinking wine and eating pizza, not Owen’s favourite fast food he would have had to say, and of the 19 Owen was by far the oldest and by some distance.
There were the four housemates and partners plus an assortment of friends.
It wasn’t a bad sized room with three large sofas in it but it was never intended to accommodate nineteen people.
Juliana and Owen were seated on the deep window sill in the bay window.
With a gap of about two feet between them and the back of one of the sofas.
It was also quite dark in the corner so Juliana took the opportunity to kiss him but a few minutes later one of the girls on the sofa turned round and spoke.
“Here Juliana look at this”
Juliana leant over the sofa between her two friends looking at something on her tablet.
All three of them were laughing at whatever they were looking at the moment he smacked Julianna’s buttock and she sat back down next to him again.
After the pizza’s was finished Owen said
“I should get going”
They were seated in the perfect place for s farewell kiss without being seen by everyone else but just as there lips touched the lights suddenly went on and the music stopped and some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to raise a toast to the new abode.
Juliana tutted
“Cheers” she said smiling falsely.
The moment the chinking of glasses was over Juliana was on her feet saying
“Come on”
So he followed her out of the room and once in the hallway he pursued her up the stairs.
When he reached her room she was standing scratching her head and when he looked around the room and there really wasn’t any room for the two of them so a farewell kiss was out of the question so they looked at each other and said in unison
“Bathroom”
So they quickly crossed the landing to the bathroom and once inside he bolted the door and then they had their kiss in private, which was long and lingering because it had to last a few weeks.
When they left the bathroom Owen went straight downstairs, while Juliana went into her room and cried.
When he got back to the Molesworth’s it was quite late so he was planning to just park the car on the drive and pop the keys through the letter box, but just as he was about to post the keys through, the door opened, it was her dad.
“Ah hello Owen I thought I heard the car door” he said
“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you,” Owen said apologetically
“No its fine I hadn’t turned in yet, come in for a nightcap and tell us the tale”
So he spent the next half an hour telling Gregory and Lavinia about the house and her friends and as he was telling them he started missing his muse and lover, his student muse.
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north, but our story begins in the East, or more precisely, 20 miles inland from Sharpington-By-Sea, equidistant between Finchbottom and Pepperstock Green, in the sprawling village of Denmead.
Owen Carrington’s Uncle Glyn died on New Year’s Day and left him his Cottage and a small cash sum, more than enough to keep him going for a few more years.
He left it to him because he felt they were kindred spirits, he wanted to be a writer himself but his father made him get a proper job, Owen really liked him and he was a great story teller, and it was his Uncles colourful tales that helped him when he was writing his novels.
His death came as a shock as it was sudden though not unsurprising given his health.
So that was how he found himself living in a lovely Victorian Cottage in the quaint Downshire Village of Denmead.
It was a very tranquil place though not without its distractions.
From his study he could look out through the open French windows and across the expanse of lawn to a stand of ancient woodland, there was no fence to separate garden and wood the two just merged.
And on the other side of the wood was the hub of the village, the Green Oak, everyone seemed to go there at some point, either for a drink, the restaurant or the coffee suite.
Owen’s star was definitely in the ascendency after the success of his first Romantic novel “The Maiden Muse” but the change in the fortunes of his writing career were not universally well received, his publisher liked it, his new agent loved it, the bank manager was ecstatic about it but his mother was disappointed by it because she thought it was a bit girlie.
But it wasn’t just his writing career that was climbing high, so was his love life thanks to his muse and lover, Juliana Molesworth, who had brought his writers block to an end, but his muse was going away and as always when then were apart he planned to catch up on his writing as he had fallen hopelessly in love with her the only antidote for his wanting her, in her absence was to throw himself into his work.
It had been a most unproductive Friday and he was not in the best of moods.
He had been on the phone all morning, not one of his favourite activities, firstly he had a very long winded call from his agent about a literary dinner in Nettlefield, which was only a few days away, he thought he should attend as he had been nominated in two categories, having initially decided just to ignore it as it was in Nettlefield.
He wasn’t keen at all and he normally only accepted those kinds of invitations in order to facilitate a night in a hotel with the love of his life and muse extraordinaire Juliana, but she was going back to University.
(Part 02)
It had been a most unproductive Friday and he was not in the best of moods.
He had been on the phone all morning, not one of his favourite activities, firstly he had a very long winded call from his agent about a literary dinner in Nettlefield, which was only a few days away, he thought he should attend as he had been nominated in two categories, having initially decided just to ignore it as it was in Nettlefield.
He wasn’t keen at all and he normally only accepted those kinds of invitations in order to facilitate a night in a hotel with the love of his life and muse extraordinaire Juliana, but she was going back to University.
So he declined, his agent insisted, he declined again, he insisted again, Owen declined more emphatically, his agent insisted more forcefully, eventually and with great reluctance he agreed, if for no other reason than to get him off the phone.
He then called the garage to see if his car was ready, which it wasn’t, which posed another problem as he was supposed to be driving Juliana to Abbottsford in it.
So he phoned her dad, Gregory, and explained about the car and he said he could use the Molesworth family Volvo.
So it was late afternoon when he decided it was time to shower and get ready for his date with Juliana, she would be returning to University in Abbottsford the next day for the start of her final year so their date would be the last one for a while.
Juliana and a bunch of friends had rented an old Victorian house and he was helping her move her stuff in.
Under normal circumstances they would have moved in at the beginning of July but the week before their tenancy began the water tank in the loft sprang a leak and brought down the ceiling and made quite a mess.
So the occupancy had been delayed while the repairs were being done, now that they were complete the whole group were moving their stuff in.
They did have the option to renew their tenancy in the house they were in the previous year but it had turned out to be a bit of a slum.
He was going to walk up to Juliana’s when she finished work so they could load all her stuff into the Molesworth family Volvo.
They would then unload her stuff into her room, have a take away with her friends then Owen would leave her up there to unpack her stuff and drive the car back to Denmead and then he wouldn’t see her for a few weeks.
He reached chez Molesworth ahead of schedule to find Juliana’s dad, Gregory, had started loading the car without him and Juliana hadn’t arrived home from work.
“Hold on Greg, you should have waited for me”
“Hello Owen” he said “I just thought I’d make a start as she’s running late”
“Come on then I'll give you a hand” Owen offered
They had it all loaded and were sitting in the kitchen by the time Juliana got home.
“Sorry I’m late” She said “The pub was unbelievably busy and Emma was late in so I stayed to cover”
“Don’t worry darling” her dad said “Owen and I have the car loaded”
“Really?” She said and kissed them both “my heroes”
She then joined them in a cuppa before going to get changed, she was only gone about half an hour and when she came back she was wearing a short denim skirt and a pale blue short sleeved shirt, and not forgetting blue and white ankle socks.
Her short curly red hair was still wet from the shower and left damp splodges on the shoulders of her top.
“Do you want something to eat” her mum Lavinia asked
“No thanks mum” she answered “We're eating there”
She looked up at the clock then turned to Owen and said
“We need to get going”
(Part 03)
The fact they were an hour late leaving didn’t hamper them in any way, in fact because the traffic was lighter than they were expecting they got to the house only ten minutes later than they had originally planned.
They were just taking dinner orders as they arrived so he let Juliana choose and Owen started unloading the car.
It was slightly harder work getting it out of the car and up the stairs and into her room than it was getting it loaded back at her house.
Still a couple of the other lads lent a hand and it was soon done and with perfect timing because just as he closed the boot down on the Volvo, the pizzas arrived so Juliana and Owen took the last two remaining places in the lounge, which were in the bay window.
There were nineteen people sitting in the lounge drinking wine and eating pizza, not Owen’s favourite fast food he would have had to say, and of the 19 Owen was by far the oldest and by some distance.
There were the four housemates and partners plus an assortment of friends.
It wasn’t a bad sized room with three large sofas in it but it was never intended to accommodate nineteen people.
Juliana and Owen were seated on the deep window sill in the bay window.
With a gap of about two feet between them and the back of one of the sofas.
It was also quite dark in the corner so Juliana took the opportunity to kiss him but a few minutes later one of the girls on the sofa turned round and spoke.
“Here Juliana look at this”
Juliana leant over the sofa between her two friends looking at something on her tablet.
All three of them were laughing at whatever they were looking at the moment he smacked Julianna’s buttock and she sat back down next to him again.
After the pizza’s was finished Owen said
“I should get going”
They were seated in the perfect place for s farewell kiss without being seen by everyone else but just as there lips touched the lights suddenly went on and the music stopped and some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to raise a toast to the new abode.
Juliana tutted
“Cheers” she said smiling falsely.
The moment the chinking of glasses was over Juliana was on her feet saying
“Come on”
So he followed her out of the room and once in the hallway he pursued her up the stairs.
When he reached her room she was standing scratching her head and when he looked around the room and there really wasn’t any room for the two of them so a farewell kiss was out of the question so they looked at each other and said in unison
“Bathroom”
So they quickly crossed the landing to the bathroom and once inside he bolted the door and then they had their kiss in private, which was long and lingering because it had to last a few weeks.
When they left the bathroom Owen went straight downstairs, while Juliana went into her room and cried.
When he got back to the Molesworth’s it was quite late so he was planning to just park the car on the drive and pop the keys through the letter box, but just as he was about to post the keys through, the door opened, it was her dad.
“Ah hello Owen I thought I heard the car door” he said
“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you,” Owen said apologetically
“No its fine I hadn’t turned in yet, come in for a nightcap and tell us the tale”
So he spent the next half an hour telling Gregory and Lavinia about the house and her friends and as he was telling them he started missing his muse and lover, his student muse.
Downshire Diary – (52) The Sensual Seminar
Paul Ager sat in the Beaumont Room at the Worsted Viper Hotel in Purplemere wearing his name badge bearing the name Paul J Ager.
He was there for a seminar on Health and Safety in the workplace and he was dreading it.
Not that he wasn’t interested in the subject, it was after all his career and he had been doing it for more than twenty years, and he really knew his stuff.
His dread was due partly because he had attended seminars on the subject many times before, but mainly he was dreading it because of the trainer, Claire Draper, who was so gorgeous he was always distracted away from the presentation and into sexual fantasies about her.
He had known her for several years and for a lot of those years he did little more than give her an appraising look, because he knew she was so far out of his league, that was until he came upon her by accident at the Hotel on the previous evening, just before the evening meal as she was reattaching a suspender to her black stocking, it was only a glimpse, a split second, the smallest foretaste of lacy stocking top, but once seen it couldn’t be unseen, and after that delightfully sensual moment whenever he saw her he could think of nothing else.
It was a glorious summer day outside and the sun streamed into the room and bathed Claire in sunlight which was the beginning of the erotic moving pictures in his head.
The sun shone on her white silk blouse and highlighted her beneath the silk and the lacy contrivance beyond but in PJ’s mind’s eye there was no bra and no blouse, only her faultless naked breasts.
He watched as she worked the room strutting on four-inch heels and black stockings and suspenders which he had no need to imagine.
All the while the floor show was going on she carried on chatting away in her ultra-professional manner and then his mind went into overdrive.
Claire crossed the room and closed the blind that was illuminating her blouse, but it didn’t stop PJ’s imagination and he was lost in his own lustful world.
“PJ!!” Claire shouted “PJ!!”
“Wh…what!!!” he exclaimed
“It’s all over, the seminar has finished” She said “Everyone else has gone”
“Oh sorry” he said “My mind was elsewhere”
“I’m well aware of that” Claire said “I would never have let you see my stocking top if I’d known it would have this much of an effect on you”
“You mean you did it on purpose?” he asked in amazement
“Of course” she admitted “I had to get you to notice me one way or another”
“Well….erm” he stammered
“Come on then” she said taking hold of his hand
“You can take me to dinner” she said and with a wry smile she added “it’s the least you can do for mentally undressing me all day”
“Oh ok” he said
He was there for a seminar on Health and Safety in the workplace and he was dreading it.
Not that he wasn’t interested in the subject, it was after all his career and he had been doing it for more than twenty years, and he really knew his stuff.
His dread was due partly because he had attended seminars on the subject many times before, but mainly he was dreading it because of the trainer, Claire Draper, who was so gorgeous he was always distracted away from the presentation and into sexual fantasies about her.
He had known her for several years and for a lot of those years he did little more than give her an appraising look, because he knew she was so far out of his league, that was until he came upon her by accident at the Hotel on the previous evening, just before the evening meal as she was reattaching a suspender to her black stocking, it was only a glimpse, a split second, the smallest foretaste of lacy stocking top, but once seen it couldn’t be unseen, and after that delightfully sensual moment whenever he saw her he could think of nothing else.
It was a glorious summer day outside and the sun streamed into the room and bathed Claire in sunlight which was the beginning of the erotic moving pictures in his head.
The sun shone on her white silk blouse and highlighted her beneath the silk and the lacy contrivance beyond but in PJ’s mind’s eye there was no bra and no blouse, only her faultless naked breasts.
He watched as she worked the room strutting on four-inch heels and black stockings and suspenders which he had no need to imagine.
All the while the floor show was going on she carried on chatting away in her ultra-professional manner and then his mind went into overdrive.
Claire crossed the room and closed the blind that was illuminating her blouse, but it didn’t stop PJ’s imagination and he was lost in his own lustful world.
“PJ!!” Claire shouted “PJ!!”
“Wh…what!!!” he exclaimed
“It’s all over, the seminar has finished” She said “Everyone else has gone”
“Oh sorry” he said “My mind was elsewhere”
“I’m well aware of that” Claire said “I would never have let you see my stocking top if I’d known it would have this much of an effect on you”
“You mean you did it on purpose?” he asked in amazement
“Of course” she admitted “I had to get you to notice me one way or another”
“Well….erm” he stammered
“Come on then” she said taking hold of his hand
“You can take me to dinner” she said and with a wry smile she added “it’s the least you can do for mentally undressing me all day”
“Oh ok” he said
Friday, 12 May 2017
Downshire Diary – (51) Heatherlands – Doctor in the House
(Part 01)
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.
Chris Palmer was new to the area having moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce.
He was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes.
He also had had very bad luck with the opposite sex, which was why he was now divorced, but he planned on turning over a new leaf and leaving his courting days far behind him.
As he was rubbish at picking the targets for his affection he decided the safest thing to do was stop picking.
After his divorce he decided not only to give up on relationships but also to give up on Purplemere, so he sold up and planned to head for pastures new.
His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.
It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.
The senior partner at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, she had Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.
But he was a new man and besides she was probably a lesbian because she seemed to have a very close relationship with one of the practice nurses, Josie Minter, a skinny blonde girl ten years her junior.
But the fact that he suspected Clarisse was playing for the other side didn’t stop him admiring her lovely long legs or her impressive cleavage at every opportunity and Josie’s sexual orientation, if he had read the situation correctly, didn’t prevent her from flirting with him outrageously on a regular basis.
In fact her flirty behaviour led him to what was a false assumption, namely that she swung both ways, because she was very definitely straight and the close relationship she shared with the lovely Doctor Lowe was as a result of Josie being her step daughter.
(Part 02)
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
She had been a widow for 10 years which had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness.
In the beginning, as Clarisse was the senior partner at Heatherlands, Chris was required to have almost daily briefings with her on his progress and he took those meetings as an opportunity to feast his eyes on the good Doctors assets, though he drew the line someway short of staring down her blouse at her large breasts in their lacy hammocks, though he could quite easily imagine them.
But he did look at the gorgeous Doctor Lowe in a less than professional manner however discreetly that might have been and over the weeks, he found that despite his pledge not to get involved with any more women, he had fallen for her in a big way.
Clarisse for her part had noticed the effect she had on Chris but did nothing about it and certainly didn’t encourage him, but she was flattered that she was still alluring enough to quicken a man’s pulse.
But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t go against her own edict.
After he’d been at Heatherlands for a few days short of three months, which just happened to be the week before Easter, there were quarterly reports to be completed and as it was his first quarterly reporting, combined with the fact that it was their yearend as well, he had to spend disproportionately longer in Clarisse’s office than was normal.
Which he for one didn’t mind as it meant that he got to spend more time with her as well as giving him additional ogling time.
Come the day before Good Friday however they worked late into the evening and they still hadn’t finished.
By 7.30 Dr Conway had left for the day and there were just the two of them, although Josie was due back from a home visit.
“Let’s call it a day” she said
“Are you sure?” Chris asked “we need to finish them before next week”
“I know but I can’t look at another number tonight” she said
“That’s ok you get off and I’ll press on and finish” he offered “it’ll only take another couple of hours”
“No I don’t think that’s a good idea” She said and rubbed her eyes
“Why not come to the house tomorrow after church and we’ll carry on when we’re fresh, with clear heads and we’ll be done in no time”
“I think that’s a great idea” he said “I’m done in”
“I thought you said you’d be done in a couple of hours” she said and smiled
“That was just bravado” he admitted and laughed
(Part 03)
Clarisse lived in the village of Heathervale in a six bedroom converted farmhouse that was originally her marital home which she now shared with her stepdaughter Josie and although she was a lonely widow she was blessed because she and Josie had a very close relationship.
Clarisse and Josie were very strong in their faith even before Edwards’s untimely death but it had deepened in the years that followed and they were both regular congregants at St Giles’ church so on Good Friday Clarisse and Josie attended the midday service at the village church but Josie had to leave before the end because she was working and had a couple of home visits to do.
Chris also had a strong faith but he had lapsed in his attendance since his divorce, partly because he felt ashamed that he had failed in his marriage.
So when Clarisse walked back to the house after the service he was waiting in his car on the drive when she reached home.
It was a cold day and as she approached he could see that she was wrapped up against the cold but he knew it was her by the way she moved, which was quite distinctive to someone who had spent a lot of time watching her walk around the health centre.
“Sorry I’m late” she said as he got out of his car “I got chatting at the church”
“No problem” he said amiably and opened the car boot and removed his laptop bag and some folders.
“Come in out of the cold” she said and he followed her in
When she had slipped off her long winter coat and removed her boots he could see that instead of her normal tweed suit she was wearing trousers, tweed obviously and a chunky sweater.
Her apparel, for her at any rate, was casual in nature but in Chris’s eyes made her no less alluring.
“I thought we could work in the dining room, we can spread out in there” she said as she walked down the hall and he followed on.
Chris was correct in his assessment, they did finish in a couple of hours but that was only due to the fact that they were fresh and rested as Clarisse had stated.
“I just need to print off copies for the partners” he said “And we’re done for another year”
“So you’re planning on still being here next year then” she said “We haven’t managed to scare you off, or rather I haven’t”
“Not at all I like working at Heatherlands, and I really enjoy working with you” he replied
“Good, I think we are good together” Clarisse said and fearing she had given him the correct impression that she liked him she hastily added “I mean we work well together”
Chris did indeed get the impression that she liked him more than a colleague and he liked that she did, even though he had sworn off the opposite sex.
“Do you mind me asking you a personal question Clarisse?”
“It depends what it is” she replied
“It’s very personal” he said
“Ask away then”
“Why are you always wearing tweed?” Chris asked
“That would be telling wouldn’t it” she said
“Then do tell” he encouraged her and she blushed slightly
“Oh dear” she began “I wear tweed so that people see me as a Doctor and not just as a woman”
“Really?” he exclaimed and she nodded
“Well I can tell you for sure, it’s not working”
After he said it she went properly red and became quite flustered
“I’ll make us a drink” she said and hurried out of the room.
While she was gone he packed all of the folders away and stowed his laptop in his bag and sat back and waited for her to return, positioning himself so as to have the best view of her when she re-entered the room.
(Part 04)
Clarisse returned after about twenty minutes with the drinks and Chris gave her a good appraising look as she walked in, as had become his habit, but this time she was wearing a different outfit,
Instead of the tweed trousers she was wearing jeans and the chunky sweater had been replaced by a figure hugging white top and her chestnut hair that had been tied back now hung loosely onto her shoulders.
If he thought she was sexy and alluring in tweed then seeing her in tight jeans and a clingy top sent her sex appeal off the scale.
As she walked towards him she was moving differently than normal as she was no longer trying to look like a Doctor and then when she was close enough to hand him his drink he could smell her liberally applied perfume which heightened his senses further.
“Thank you” he said but he wasn’t really thanking her for the tea.
Clarisse then sat with her bum perched on the dining table beside him and sipped her tea and he thoroughly scrutinised her from head to toe.
On the outside she was very calm and collected but inside she was ablaze with desire.
She knew what effect she had on him as she entered the room and was still having on him because she also knew he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
What she didn’t know was what she should do next, she was a little out of practise, not that she was ever that well versed, but with a man five years younger than her she was a bit out of her depth.
Fortunately her dilemma was brought to a resolution when Chris put down his tea on the table and stood up.
“What if he walks out?” she asked herself in a panic “How will I face him in the centre next week”
She needed have worried because when he stood he took the mug from her trembling hand and put it on the table next to his before taking hold of that same quivering hand and pulled her to her feet and then he kissed her.
They were alone in the house, so neither Clarisse or Chris held back as the longing and want of each other that they had been suppressing for weeks surged to the surface and the kiss was progressing well, he feel her heart pounding in her chest and there appeared no end in sight to the kiss as the door was flung open and Josie appeared.
“I don’t believe it” Josie said holding the door handle as she stared at her stepmother kissing her practise manager, which of course stopped as a result of the interruption.
“How could you?” Josie said as the pair continued to hug in front of her. “You said no fraternizing with colleagues”
“I did say that” Clarisse agreed
“I think she’s miffed” he said
“Miffed, I’ll say I’m miffed” she said
“I’m very bloody miffed, I could have got off with the locum last month, but I said no because of the “No Fraternizing” policy”
“Ah I think we’re scrapping that policy” Clarisse said and they all laughed
“By the way you said that that locum was an oily creep”
“That’s not the point” Josie said “he still asked me out”
“Well you are now free to say yes to the next oily locum that asks you out” Clarisse said and kissed Chris again and Josie was laughing as she went out of the room.
So that was how it came about that two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway.
Downshire is a relatively small English county but like a pocket battleship it packs a lot in, a short but beautiful coastline, a channel port, the Ancient forests of Dancingdean and Pepperstock, the craggy ridges and manmade lakes of the Pepperstock Hills National Park, the rolling hills of the Downshire Downs, the beautiful Finchbottom Vale and farm land as far as the eye can see from the Trotwood’s and the Grace’s in the south to the home of the Downshire Light infantry, Nettlefield, and their affluent neighbour’s, Roespring and Tipton in the north but our story begins slightly further south equidistant between Nettlefield and the Oxley’s, in the beautiful village of Heathervale.
Chris Palmer was new to the area having moved to Nettlefield from Purplemere following a very acrimonious divorce.
He was a relatively good looking man who was fast approaching his 40th birthday, with a good physique and short sandy hair, greying at the temples and was possessed of piercing blue eyes.
He also had had very bad luck with the opposite sex, which was why he was now divorced, but he planned on turning over a new leaf and leaving his courting days far behind him.
As he was rubbish at picking the targets for his affection he decided the safest thing to do was stop picking.
After his divorce he decided not only to give up on relationships but also to give up on Purplemere, so he sold up and planned to head for pastures new.
His reason for moving to Nettlefield in particular, over all the other places he might have chosen either in Downshire or beyond, was the Heatherlands District Health Centre.
It was a large practise that serviced a large area, covering Nettlefield itself, Oxley Green, Heathervale, Oxley Ridge and Tipton and Chris had been fortunate enough to land the job as practice manager and he also found himself a nice little flat in Nettlefield.
The senior partner at the Health Centre was Dr Clarisse Lowe, a tall statuesque woman who dressed in tweed, she had Chestnut hair, a voluptuous figure, lovely long legs and a generous frontage, who was in her mid-forties and was just the kind of woman Chris would have fallen for in his previous life.
But he was a new man and besides she was probably a lesbian because she seemed to have a very close relationship with one of the practice nurses, Josie Minter, a skinny blonde girl ten years her junior.
But the fact that he suspected Clarisse was playing for the other side didn’t stop him admiring her lovely long legs or her impressive cleavage at every opportunity and Josie’s sexual orientation, if he had read the situation correctly, didn’t prevent her from flirting with him outrageously on a regular basis.
In fact her flirty behaviour led him to what was a false assumption, namely that she swung both ways, because she was very definitely straight and the close relationship she shared with the lovely Doctor Lowe was as a result of Josie being her step daughter.
(Part 02)
Clarisse had been married to Edward Lowe, who had been an eminent surgeon in Downshire, he had also been twenty years older when he married her and he had two children from his first marriage, Josie being the oldest.
The marriage was a happy one but only lasted five years because Edward died suddenly on the Tipton Twelve Trees Golf course after suffering a heart attack.
She had been a widow for 10 years which had left her lonely but also afraid of risking her heart on someone who might end that loneliness.
In the beginning, as Clarisse was the senior partner at Heatherlands, Chris was required to have almost daily briefings with her on his progress and he took those meetings as an opportunity to feast his eyes on the good Doctors assets, though he drew the line someway short of staring down her blouse at her large breasts in their lacy hammocks, though he could quite easily imagine them.
But he did look at the gorgeous Doctor Lowe in a less than professional manner however discreetly that might have been and over the weeks, he found that despite his pledge not to get involved with any more women, he had fallen for her in a big way.
Clarisse for her part had noticed the effect she had on Chris but did nothing about it and certainly didn’t encourage him, but she was flattered that she was still alluring enough to quicken a man’s pulse.
But apart from the fact that she had vowed not to risk her broken heart again she also had instigated a policy at the practise forbidding fraternisation between members of staff, so even if she were so inclined toward Chris she wouldn’t go against her own edict.
After he’d been at Heatherlands for a few days short of three months, which just happened to be the week before Easter, there were quarterly reports to be completed and as it was his first quarterly reporting, combined with the fact that it was their yearend as well, he had to spend disproportionately longer in Clarisse’s office than was normal.
Which he for one didn’t mind as it meant that he got to spend more time with her as well as giving him additional ogling time.
Come the day before Good Friday however they worked late into the evening and they still hadn’t finished.
By 7.30 Dr Conway had left for the day and there were just the two of them, although Josie was due back from a home visit.
“Let’s call it a day” she said
“Are you sure?” Chris asked “we need to finish them before next week”
“I know but I can’t look at another number tonight” she said
“That’s ok you get off and I’ll press on and finish” he offered “it’ll only take another couple of hours”
“No I don’t think that’s a good idea” She said and rubbed her eyes
“Why not come to the house tomorrow after church and we’ll carry on when we’re fresh, with clear heads and we’ll be done in no time”
“I think that’s a great idea” he said “I’m done in”
“I thought you said you’d be done in a couple of hours” she said and smiled
“That was just bravado” he admitted and laughed
(Part 03)
Clarisse lived in the village of Heathervale in a six bedroom converted farmhouse that was originally her marital home which she now shared with her stepdaughter Josie and although she was a lonely widow she was blessed because she and Josie had a very close relationship.
Clarisse and Josie were very strong in their faith even before Edwards’s untimely death but it had deepened in the years that followed and they were both regular congregants at St Giles’ church so on Good Friday Clarisse and Josie attended the midday service at the village church but Josie had to leave before the end because she was working and had a couple of home visits to do.
Chris also had a strong faith but he had lapsed in his attendance since his divorce, partly because he felt ashamed that he had failed in his marriage.
So when Clarisse walked back to the house after the service he was waiting in his car on the drive when she reached home.
It was a cold day and as she approached he could see that she was wrapped up against the cold but he knew it was her by the way she moved, which was quite distinctive to someone who had spent a lot of time watching her walk around the health centre.
“Sorry I’m late” she said as he got out of his car “I got chatting at the church”
“No problem” he said amiably and opened the car boot and removed his laptop bag and some folders.
“Come in out of the cold” she said and he followed her in
When she had slipped off her long winter coat and removed her boots he could see that instead of her normal tweed suit she was wearing trousers, tweed obviously and a chunky sweater.
Her apparel, for her at any rate, was casual in nature but in Chris’s eyes made her no less alluring.
“I thought we could work in the dining room, we can spread out in there” she said as she walked down the hall and he followed on.
Chris was correct in his assessment, they did finish in a couple of hours but that was only due to the fact that they were fresh and rested as Clarisse had stated.
“I just need to print off copies for the partners” he said “And we’re done for another year”
“So you’re planning on still being here next year then” she said “We haven’t managed to scare you off, or rather I haven’t”
“Not at all I like working at Heatherlands, and I really enjoy working with you” he replied
“Good, I think we are good together” Clarisse said and fearing she had given him the correct impression that she liked him she hastily added “I mean we work well together”
Chris did indeed get the impression that she liked him more than a colleague and he liked that she did, even though he had sworn off the opposite sex.
“Do you mind me asking you a personal question Clarisse?”
“It depends what it is” she replied
“It’s very personal” he said
“Ask away then”
“Why are you always wearing tweed?” Chris asked
“That would be telling wouldn’t it” she said
“Then do tell” he encouraged her and she blushed slightly
“Oh dear” she began “I wear tweed so that people see me as a Doctor and not just as a woman”
“Really?” he exclaimed and she nodded
“Well I can tell you for sure, it’s not working”
After he said it she went properly red and became quite flustered
“I’ll make us a drink” she said and hurried out of the room.
While she was gone he packed all of the folders away and stowed his laptop in his bag and sat back and waited for her to return, positioning himself so as to have the best view of her when she re-entered the room.
(Part 04)
Clarisse returned after about twenty minutes with the drinks and Chris gave her a good appraising look as she walked in, as had become his habit, but this time she was wearing a different outfit,
Instead of the tweed trousers she was wearing jeans and the chunky sweater had been replaced by a figure hugging white top and her chestnut hair that had been tied back now hung loosely onto her shoulders.
If he thought she was sexy and alluring in tweed then seeing her in tight jeans and a clingy top sent her sex appeal off the scale.
As she walked towards him she was moving differently than normal as she was no longer trying to look like a Doctor and then when she was close enough to hand him his drink he could smell her liberally applied perfume which heightened his senses further.
“Thank you” he said but he wasn’t really thanking her for the tea.
Clarisse then sat with her bum perched on the dining table beside him and sipped her tea and he thoroughly scrutinised her from head to toe.
On the outside she was very calm and collected but inside she was ablaze with desire.
She knew what effect she had on him as she entered the room and was still having on him because she also knew he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
What she didn’t know was what she should do next, she was a little out of practise, not that she was ever that well versed, but with a man five years younger than her she was a bit out of her depth.
Fortunately her dilemma was brought to a resolution when Chris put down his tea on the table and stood up.
“What if he walks out?” she asked herself in a panic “How will I face him in the centre next week”
She needed have worried because when he stood he took the mug from her trembling hand and put it on the table next to his before taking hold of that same quivering hand and pulled her to her feet and then he kissed her.
They were alone in the house, so neither Clarisse or Chris held back as the longing and want of each other that they had been suppressing for weeks surged to the surface and the kiss was progressing well, he feel her heart pounding in her chest and there appeared no end in sight to the kiss as the door was flung open and Josie appeared.
“I don’t believe it” Josie said holding the door handle as she stared at her stepmother kissing her practise manager, which of course stopped as a result of the interruption.
“How could you?” Josie said as the pair continued to hug in front of her. “You said no fraternizing with colleagues”
“I did say that” Clarisse agreed
“I think she’s miffed” he said
“Miffed, I’ll say I’m miffed” she said
“I’m very bloody miffed, I could have got off with the locum last month, but I said no because of the “No Fraternizing” policy”
“Ah I think we’re scrapping that policy” Clarisse said and they all laughed
“By the way you said that that locum was an oily creep”
“That’s not the point” Josie said “he still asked me out”
“Well you are now free to say yes to the next oily locum that asks you out” Clarisse said and kissed Chris again and Josie was laughing as she went out of the room.
So that was how it came about that two people who despite their reluctance to expose themselves to love again and who were very definitely not looking for a relationship, let alone love, found it anyway.
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