Downshire Diary – (68) The Ginger Amazonian Surprise

 

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 considerably further south in the Finchbottom Vale although the players in this tale come from every corner of the county.

 

A group of University friends were camping at the Eastern end of the Finchbottom Vale, on the Maxlins camp site in Sharpinghead that was once a working railway station before it fell afoul of Dr Beeching and his draconian cuts.

The campsite was attached to Maxlin’s Holiday Camp and although the campgrounds were nothing to do with Maxlin’s, all those attending did have day passes to use some of the amenities.

 

They were just spending a week relaxing before they returned to Abbottsford University for their 3rd year.

One of them was Sean Hallows who was a rather ordinary looking lad, a bit of a bean pole with scruffy blonde hair and a bad complexion, the only remarkable thing about him was his heart. 

 

He had to return to his tent one morning after breakfast because he had forgotten his phone.

“Get my sunnies while youre there” his girlfriend Daisy said

“Ok” he retorted and set off at pace. 

They were about ten minutes walk frrom the food hall but with his great long strides he did it in five and he went to Daisy’s tent first and went inside without hesitation as he knew where she kept her sun glasses.

But as soon as he got inside he stopped dead in his tracks as her best friend Katie Bell was still in the tent, though not still in her sleeping bag, in fact she wasn’t in very much at all really.

She was kneeling down, facing the flaps, pulling a T-shirt over her head, apart from that she was only wearing her underwear.

Sean stood motionless by the opening spellbound by the vision of the girl he had been in love with for almost a year.

She was a big Ginger Amazon of a girl almost as tall as he was, long limbed, busty and beautiful, well he certainly thought so, which was why when he came upon her in a state of near undress he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and there was a lot of her to look at.

Katie hadnt noticed him at first as her long ginger locks had fallen across her face but when she did she made no attempt to cover herself and chose instead to glare at him.

“Sorry” he said still staring at the expanses of pale naked flesh “Sorry I didn’t know you were here”

“Well you do now” she pointed out

“Sorry” he said again

“Not sorry enough to look away though” Katie said

“Sorry” he repeated and stopped staring at her long enough to find Daisy’s sunnies and then he went out the way he came still appologizing as he went.

 

He was breathing hard and his cheeks were burning with embarassment by the time he got inside his tent where he quickly found his phone and was just about to leave when he was suddenly kneeling face to face with the ginger amazon, Katie.

He jumped when he saw her kneeling there and he was flustered again and his cheeks burned red a fresh.
“I really am sorry” he said but her attention was elsewhere

“I really am sorry Katie”
“Its ok” she said “I’m not cross, I can easily understand that my lovely naked bod could easily make you spy”

“I didn’t spy, honestly Katie” he exclaimed

“So why are you so red?” She asked curiously still staring at him, making him uncomfortable and enjoying it, and under her quizzical gaze he replied quietly

“Because of what I saw” he confessed

“So you’re red because you spied on me?” she mused

“I didn’t spy” he said “I didn’t know you were there”

“But you did look didn’t you?” she asked

“Yes” he replied uncomfortably

“So do you make a habit of staring at half naked innocent young girls?” she quizzed
“No of course not”

“But you did stare at me didn’t you?” she added

“Yes”

“So if you don’t make a habit of it why did you do it today?” she asked and for the first time during the exchange felt nervous herself

“You of course” he said

“What about me?” she asked expectant of the answer

“Everything” he confessed

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently and felt her cheeks colour up

“I like everything about you” he replied

“Details?” she demanded

“Your gorgeous ginger hair, your lovely face and your sweet smile” he admitted

“But you weren’t looking at my hair or my face” she pointed out

“No I wasn’t” he admitted “I was looking at your long legs and your alabaster skin”

“And?” she prompted

“Your hips, your bum, your flat belly and your breasts” he concluded and she smiled

“And what were you thinking about while you stared at me?” she asked

“The same thing I always think about”

“And what’s that?” she asked and the moment the words left her lips he grabbed her by the lapels and pulled her into the tent and onto her back.

“I was thinking” he said as he half lay on top of her

“What it would be like to hold you in my arms and kiss you”

“Stop thinking about it and do it then” she exclaimed softly and his lips touched gently onto hers.

 

When they got back to the food hall Daisy was waiting for him with an unhappy expression on her face

“Where have you two been?” she demanded

“Well first of all I couldn’t find my phone” he explained “and then I forgot where you keep your sunnies”

“And whats your story?” she asked Katie

“Well I was helping Sean to rembember stuff” she said

Downshire Diary – (67) Heatherlands – While the Doctor’s Away

 

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 between her and Chris, Clarisse 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 35 year old practice nurse, Josie Minter, a skinny blonde girl who was the step daughter of Senior partner Clarisse Lowe.

 

However although she was given the green light at Easter she couldn’t find anyone she liked sufficiently to surrender her heart to either inside or outside the practise.

Not, that is, until the Christmas party.

 

The Heatherlands District Health Centre staff Christmas Party was held at The Foothills Hotel in Oxley Ridge.

Senior partner 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.

 

It was at the Christmas party where Josie finally met a man worthy of her love.

Clarisse was hosting the party and was attending with boyfriend Chris Palmer who had brought along his younger brother Darren to be his plus one. 

Darren was five years younger than his brother and he shared his good looks, physique and short sandy hair and possessed the same blue eyes and skinny blonde Practice nurse, Josie Minter, felt for him instantly and him for her.

 

She really liked him from the first moment she saw him, but she just stood rooted to the spot, just staring at him if she hadn’t liked him so much she wouldn’t have been so mesmerised, but it had been a while since she had fancied anyone, and she was desperately trying to think how to proceed.

Chris smiled as he noticed Josie standing open mouthed then he could see who she was looking at transfixed, so he went to her aid and said

“Come on Josie come and meet my kid brother”

And when the introductions were done Darren asked

“Would you like to dance?”

“Oh yes” she replied

Darren took her hand and led her to the dance floor and they stayed there until just before midnight.

They danced through 10cc, James Blunt, Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Fleetwood Mac and numerous others, but then clumsy Peter Butler fell over his own feet and sprained his ankle and Chris tapped Darren on the shoulder.

“Come on bro” Chris said “Give me a hand”

“Ok” he replied and reluctantly relinquished his hold on Josie and the spell was broken.

And although he returned ten minutes later the pace of the musical offerings had changed and there was no return to the dancing.

 

Although Darren returned from his mission of mercy ten minutes after he had to leave her on the dancefloor the pace of the musical offerings had changed and there was no return to the dancing.

However there was quite an extended period of flirty conversation and a rather clumsy form of goodnight kiss and the promise of a future meal or trip to the cinema.

 

In the weeks that followed Josie dancing at the Christmas party with Darren Palmer she had been able to think of little else, but for all that come New Year’s Eve she still hadn’t heard from him .

As one of the practice nurses at Heatherlands she was kept very busy over the Christmas period but she still had time to think and those thought tended to stray to the night of the Christmas party.

She thought they had hit it off and she really had thought he would have called her sooner rather than later.

At the height of her despondency, or should that be the depth, she spoke to Chris.

She had wanted to ask him after the first couple of days but she had been putting it off and putting it off because she didn’t want to appear desperate, but by Christmas Eve she was desperate, but speaking with Chris soon put her mind at ease.

She knew from her conversation with Darren on the night of the party that he was a medical assistant with the Downshire Light Infantry, but what she didn’t know, and more significantly nor did Darren, was that the next day they had the first of a series of medivac exercises at various locations around the county.     

 

On the morning of New Year’s Eve she watched Clarisse and Chris drive away from the house as they were to drive down to Abbottsford for a party which meant she would be seeing the New Year in on her own.

She wasn’t able to attend a party herself that year as she was working the next day, so she planned a quiet evening and the time hung heavy all day, until just before 7 o’clock when her phone rang. 

She picked it up off the table and saw it was an unknown number and pressed answer

“Hello”

“Josie?” a voice asked

“Speaking”

“Hi it’s Darren Palmer”

“Oh hi Darren” she responded and began fiddling with her hair

“I’m sorry I haven’t called sooner but…” he began

“It’s ok Chris explained” she interrupted

“He did? That’s great” he said “well I was wondering if we could get together tonight”

“I would love to” she said “But…”

“But?”

“But I can’t, because I’m working tomorrow”

“So am I, so I wasn’t suggesting any serious partying” he said “but I would like to see you”

 

An hour later he drove into the village of Heathervale and parked on the drive of Josie’s home.

He knocked firmly on the door and waited and a few moments later the door opened and a grinning face appeared from behind the door.

Downshire Diary – (66) Nanook of the North

 

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.

 

So having overcome their initial difficulties of not being accepted in each other’s worlds and having set out to make a world of their own, they made the decision, after spending two weeks together on a narrow boat on their first holiday together, that they should move in together.

Samantha asked “In Tipton or in Brocklington?”

Her house was up in Tipton, although she was rarely in it as she spent more time living in hotels than she did her house so it had never felt like home to her, but she thought it might if she had someone to share it with but Neil had a nice cottage in Brocklington and that would also be lovely so when he replied.

“Neither”

To her question, she was taken aback.

“Neither?” she asked

“I think we should buy somewhere new, a blank canvas, somewhere that will be ours and not yours or mine” he replied and a she exclaimed

“That’s perfect”

 

However as perfect as that solution was it didn’t solve the problem of where they should set up home. 

Samantha was from Tipton in the north of the county but when she fell in love with Neil she also fell in love with the Finchbottom Vale so they considered buying a house in the area and they almost bought one in Forestdean but it fell through at the last minute.

 

At the time they were quite upset about it but every cloud has a silver lining because they found a place in Applesford that needed a bit of TLC but by the time they completed and took possession it was almost a year after they started courting.

 

Because of her high powered job with the family business, Samantha had to spend a lot of time away on business.

It was during one of her trips away that Downshire was gripped in winters bitter grasp and snow fall and near blizzard conditions had closed a lot of the Downshire roads and Samantha was stranded in Northchapel on the evening before Neil birthday.

“I can’t get back tonight darling” she said on the phone “But I’m going to try again in the morning”

“Don’t risk it hon” he said “it’s not worth it”

“But I want to celebrate your birthday with you” she said

“We can still celebrate the next day or the day after that”

He pointed out

“It won’t be the same though” she said sadly

“Promise me you won’t do anything silly” he said

“But…”

“Promise me” he insisted

“Ok I promise” Samantha said with her fingers crossed

“Ok I’ll see you soon” he said “I love you”

“Love you too”

 

Washed and shaved Neil decided to go and put the kettle on before he got dressed so he slipped on his dressing gown and made his way down the stairs to the kitchen and it was when he reached the bottom step that there was a loud knocking so he went to the door and when he opened it Nanook of the North stepped into the hallway.

The figure was dressed in a fur hat, long winter coat with a heavy woolen scarf wrapped around the neck and knee length boots and Nanook was carrying a hold all.

In fact the only part of them that was visible was there eyes but he recognized them immediately.

“Samantha?” he said, “What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t want to miss your birthday” she replied through her scarf.

“You could have had an accident” he said crossly and took off her fur hat and kissed her forehead as she un-wrapped the scarf from around her neck.

“Where’s your car? I didn’t hear you pull up,” he asked as she sat on the stairs and unzipped her boots

“Do the honours?” she said holding out a leg.

Neil hung her hat on a peg and pulled her boot off to reveal a knee length red sock”

“I had to park down on the main road and walk up” she replied as she held out the other leg

“Happy Birthday” she said as he removed her other boot and she stood up and kissed him

“Thank you” he said “But I’m still cross with you”

“You can spank me later” Sam said and kissed him again

“I didn’t want to miss your birthday” she replied “and I wanted you to have your present on the day”
“I didn’t mind waiting hon” he said “I would rather have had it late than risk losing you”

“It was quite safe” she said and kissed him softly “I followed a snow plough all the way”

“I don’t know what I would do if I lost you” he said and held her tightly  
“That’s never going to happen” she whispered “You’re my soul mate”

“And you’re mine” he said

After a prolonged embrace she broke the silence

“Do you want your present now?” she asked

“Well as you risked life and limb to bring it to me I better had”

“Good choice” she responded as she unbuttoned her coat and slipped it off to reveal her beautiful figure in a red wool dress.

“Oh is that my present?” he asked hopefully

“If I’d known that was all you wanted I wouldn’t have brought you these” she said as she carried the hold all into the lounge and then she shouted “happy birthday”

And she emptied the hold all onto the sofa.

  

When he had opened all his presents Samantha looked at him smugly

“I did good didn’t I?”

“Yes you did, I loved my presents” he said and she looked up at him childlike and smiled and then he kissed her smiling lips.

“I love that you are here with me, but I’m still cross that you took such a risk in the snow, but having you with me has made it a perfect day” he said and she looked up at him childlike and smiled and then he kissed her smiling lips

“But...”

“But? There’s a but?” she asked with a frown

“But there is something that would make it even more perfect” he said enigmatically

“What? What could possibly make the day more perfect?” she asked

“Just one thing” he said

“Yes but what is it?” She asked impatiently

“The one thing that would make the day more special and more perfect is you agreeing to be my wife” he said and handed her a ring box and her mouth fell open.

“You want to marry me?” she asked disbelievingly

“Yes” he replied suddenly doubting her response “if you don’t like the ring I can change it”

“NO!” she shouted “I’m never giving this back”

“So you like it?” he asked

“I love it” Samantha replied “it’s perfect”

“So is that a yes then?” he asked

“To what?” she asked as she admired the ring on her finger

“Will you marry me?” he asked

“Of course I’ll marry you” Samantha replied and threw her arms around him and showered him with kisses

Downshire Diary – (65) Propositioning the 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 great 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.

 

As a writer 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, and since she had become his muse he had become a writer of bodice ripping romances which had proved to be an occupation which suited him very well indeed.

And it suited him in many ways, but the main benefit was that he was able to work at home, so he had no tedious commute every day and his working day was flexible to the point that some days he didn’t write at all.

This afforded him the opportunity of playing a round of Golf during the working week when most people had their noses to the grindstone or even taking a day out to go fishing.

However his muse was in her third year at the University of

Downshire where she studied English at Abbottsford.

In the short time they had been together she had come to mean everything to him so in the final weeks of the year he did something that rocked her world.

 

Owen Carrington’s muse and lover Juliana Molesworth, was in her third year at the University of Downshire where she studied English at Abbottsford.

In the short time they had been together she had come to mean everything to him so in the final weeks of the year he did something that rocked her world.

 

He had driven up to Abbottsford to see her unexpectedly to find bedlam in the house that she and her friends rented.

He had hoped to get a quiet half an hour with her but it didn’t work out that way.

When he got there it was really busy and that weekend there was a houseful but she was pleased to see him.

“What a lovely surprise” she said “I wasn’t expecting to see you until next weekend”

“I have something important to talk to you about” he said but she didn’t hear him because of the rowdy atmosphere.

As a result of the raucous gathering he wasn’t able to get her on her own and that was a problem because he really needed to talk to her and the longer it went on the quieter and more troubled he became and Juliana had picked up on that so she also became quiet and troubled.

When they eventually found themselves alone together on the doorstep before his drive home he said more forcefully than he intended

“Juliana I need to talk to you”

“Oh ok” she said with a sense of foreboding

“Not here though” he said “Lets walk over to the park”

They walked in silence, Owen deep in thought and Juliana fearing the worst.

It was a cold evening and the park looked eerily beautiful in the moonlight and they eventually found themselves sitting on a bench in the little park looking up at the moonlit sky.

“Juliana I have something important to say….” he began

“Oh God,” she exclaimed “You’re going to dump me”

“No of course I’m not going to dump you” he replied “Why on earth would you think that?”

“You’re not dumping me?” she said quietly “Honestly?”

“Juliana Molesworth I promise you that I have no intention of dumping you” He said frankly

“What then? You turn up out of the blue, you’ve been really quiet all day, and then you say you have to talk to me, about something important no less” Juliana said “so if you’re not dumping me then what?”

“Juliana Molesworth will you please stop talking for one moment, just long enough, so I can ask you to marry me” he said

“What?” Juliana exclaimed

“Will you marry me?” he asked,

“Yes, yes, and yes” she screamed and threw her arms around his neck.

“I haven’t got a ring” he said “We need to buy your ring together”

And then they kissed, but not just another kiss in a long line of kisses, not just of affection or of gratitude, this was a kiss that marked an engagement, and it was a kiss which lead to them spending the night in the Abbottsford Regents Hotel.

Downshire Diary – (64) The Demerera Girl

 

Tony Ritson was the manager of Nettlefield Furniture Palace and was fast approaching his fortieth birthday and as he approached that milestone he had lost his heart to his new assistant manager Shona Sarai, who was his junior in more than one respect because apart from being his assistant she was also 12 years younger than him.

She was what was termed in the 21st century as mixed race, but in that regard he did not consider himself to be her superior because he just adored her.

He was her boss certainly, he was older than her undeniably but he was not better than her in anyway shape or form.

Some of his employees however thought she was inferior because of her ethnicity but not him.

He wasn’t entirely sure what her heritage was, and he thought it indelicate to enquire directly, but the result was most pleasing to his eye.

He thought of her as his “demerara girl” although he wasn’t sure if that was an offensive term or not, he just thought of her like that because she was as sweet as sugar and her skin was a beautiful soft brown.

Over the three months they had worked together he had grown fonder and fonder of her but what he didn’t realize was that she had fallen for him from the first moment they met, but he didn’t find that out until the end of August.

 

It was the August bank holiday and the store had closed an hour earlier than normal, the rest of the staff had gone home and Tony and Shona were just finishing up.

Shona had done the walk round of the shop floor, while Tony did the same on the basement level, and then she sat herself on one of the large corner sofas at the back of the store adjacent to the top of the stairs.

In reality she was draped there more than sat and as he appeared from below he swallowed hard when he came upon her.

“Have you finished?” he asked trying to appear indifferent and failing spectacularly

“Yes all done” she replied “Why don’t you sit down for a moment”

“Ok” he replied dry mouthed but sat down on the opposite end of the suite from her.

“That won’t do” she said to herself, so she got up and walked over to him and sat on his knee.

“Oh dear me” he exclaimed quite flustered

“Do you know what this means?” she asked

“No” he replied

“It means this” she said and she put her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth, a hot liquid kiss, passionate yet measured.

He had dreamed of that kiss many time but that hadn’t prepared him for it to be quite so wonderful which made his head swim but despite just how much he was enjoying it he still stopped.

“What’s wrong?” she asked urgently

“Nothing” he said

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked in panic

“Of course not” he replied reassuringly

“Then why did you stop?” Shona asked in confusion

“Because I don’t think its right” Tony replied

“You don’t want me then” she said forlornly

“I didn’t say that” he corrected her

“Then what’s wrong?” she asked earnestly

“What’s wrong is that I’m your boss!”

“I don’t care” she said “so nor should you”

“But I’m also 12 years older than you” he pointed out

“I don’t care about that either” she said and tried to kiss him again but he evaded her

“So you don’t want me then” she said forlornly

“I don’t want you here” he said

“I don’t understand” she said with a confused expression

“I don’t want you to be a work place fling” he said “I want to take you out in the world, I want to take you out for dinner, or a movie and then I want to kiss you, and more”

Shona was wearing a beaming smile as she got off his lap and offered him her hand

“Come on then, old man” she taunted and she giggled like a schoolgirl.

Downshire Diary – (63) Heatherlands – Doctor in Conference

 

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.

 

As a bi-product of the loving relationship she began with Chris, Clarisse 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 a lot of the staff, but for doctors 

Tony Dark and Denise Guilford it made no difference at all because they had been romantically involved for two years.

The scrapping of the relationship ban should have given them the green light to come out of the closet but the simple truth was that they rather liked the closet, they enjoyed the sneaking around.

 

When they were around other people at the health centre they were cold and aloof, but in private they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, so whenever an opportunity to enjoy some intimacy presented itself they grabbed it with both hands.

And from the first moment when Denise made the decision to seduce Tony it opened up a whole new world of sensual pleasure, dirty, lustful, naked pleasure.

They both loved the excitement of sneaking around and it made them very aroused and they had to indulge themselves wherever they could.

Sometimes they did it in his house, occasionally in hers, at times they met at hotels and from time to time they did it at the surgery and even on occasion in her car, but never in his as it was far too small.

 

So whenever an opportunity to enjoy each other’s “company” arose they grabbed it with both hands.

For example on the day of an important patient conference call with the surgical team at St Augusta’s Hospital in Nettlefield.

Tony had been looking at Denise very lustily all morning, but he had to put his lust aside for the duration of the shift, as the call with the St Augusts was particularly important.

The call was scheduled for 11am in the Video Conference room, and Tony was a few minutes late, as he had to take a phone call.

When he arrived he found Denise was already sitting at the table and looking pensive.

“Five minutes” he said from the doorway and to the staff in the vicinity he added

“Absolutely no interruptions”

“What about emergencies?” Mrs Clarke on reception shouted

“No exceptions” he replied and closed the door and turned the key.   

He walked towards where Denise was sitting with all the relevant documentation in easy reach of her trembling hands and stood behind her.

“Just relax” Tony said and put his hands on her shoulders and peered down inside her gaping blouse.

“You really need to relax” he added and then without further preamble he plunged his hands inside her gaping blouse and displaced the cups of her bra with his hands.

“We haven’t got time for that” she said and pulled his hands out “we only have a few minute”

“We have 45 minutes because Dr Steadman just called to apologize because the conference call has been delayed until 11.45am” he replied

“Oh” she murmured and fed his hands back inside her bra

“Good choice Doctor” he said and bent down and kissed down into her mouth.

Downshire Diary – (62) House Warming

 

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.

 

So having overcome their initial difficulties of not being accepted in eacho ther’s worlds and having set out to make a world of their own, they made the decision, after spending two weeks together on a narrow boat on their first holiday together, that they should move in together.

 

Samantha asked “In Tipton or in Brocklington?”

Her house was up in Tipton, although she was rarely in it as she spent more time living in hotels than she did her house so it had never felt like home to her, but she thought it might if she had someone to share it with but Neil had a nice cottage in Brocklington and that would also be lovely so when he replied.

“Neither”

To her question, she was taken aback.

“Neither?” she asked

“I think we should buy somewhere new, a blank canvas, somewhere that will be ours and not yours or mine” he replied and a she exclaimed

“That’s perfect”

 

However as perfect as that solution was it didn’t solve the problem of where they should set up home. 

Samantha was from Tipton in the north of the county but when she fell in love with Neil she also fell in love with the Finchbottom Vale so they considered buying a house in the area and they almost bought one in Forestdean but it fell through at the last minute.

 

At the time they were quite upset about it but every cloud has a silver lining because they found a place in Applesford that needed a bit of TLC but by the time they completed and took possession it was almost a year after they started courting.

 

Neil spent a lot of time doing up the house, he was good at DIY, and there were things they wanted to do before they moved in completely,  so he had been staying in the house all week decorating and doing some repairs while Samantha was away on business.

 

He was up early on Friday morning which was just as well as at 8 o’clock Samantha arrived at the house dressed in joggers and a T-shirt, not her normal apparel at all, in fact he had never seen her dressed down to that degree and he was quite surprised that she actually owned a pair of joggers.

“Can I help?” he asked

“It’s me you fool” she replied

“Who’s me?”

“Your girlfriend” Samantha said

“No, no, not dressed like that you’re not” he said

“These are my working togs” she said

“And it’s no good putting on that posh voice either” he said and laughed and then he kissed her

“What are you doing here?” he asked “I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow”

“I wrapped it up early so I could come and help” she said

“And I missed you”

“I missed you too” he said and kissed her again

“So how have you got on?” she asked

“Pretty good, the dining room and the lounge are done they just need tidying and the furniture putting back” he said “So if we do that I’ll let you take me to lunch”

“Well the sooner we get started the sooner we’ll be finished” Samantha said cheerily.

 

So Samantha set about dusting and hovering the lounge and dining room while Neil started carrying things in from the garage and by eleven o’clock they were almost finished, there was just one small sofa to bring in and then they were done.

So the two of them set about the task and having maneuvered it through the hall and into the lounge all that was required was to push it into place and with both of them pushing, it moved easily into position.

Which was when with the job done he said

“Thanks Sam, it would have taken ages without you”

Samantha leant back against him and he kissed the top of her head,

“Welcome to your new home” he said and she turned around and kissed him.