Eugenia's Embrace

"I really have to get back to my girls right now," she said, pulling away from him. It was also the first time that she hadn't been repelled by his sweaty fingers on her. "Leaving Clarissa alone with the girls, who could guess what she might be up to?"

Frederick frowned darkly. "You may have made a big mistake taking her in, Eugenia," he said. "You have embarrassed her. She will get revenge. You'll see. Please watch her closely. I don't know how I was fooled by her presence so long. I guess it was because she was all I had at the time. But now my fräulein, I have you."

Eugenia smiled warmly. "Yes. You have me. But now I truly must run. Shall I come tomorrow? Maybe in the morning? Afternoons

are quite busy for me, I guess you know."

"Ja." He laughed. "Quite. I'm sure. But I have to ask, Eugenia…"

"Anything."

"Is it true that you are the madam whom doesn't participate in the activities of the house?"

Eugenia could feel her face reddening as she slung her cape around her shoulders. "Yes. It is true."

Frederick began to walk beside her toward the door. "Is it because of that fellow you had with you that one night here in the tower room? Do you still think of him?"

Eugenia's eyes widened, studying Frederick, wondering if he had thought of that often when he thought of her.

"I'm not sure what it is, Frederick," she said softly. "I guess I'm just not ready to add that type of relationship to my life. I just don't know."

Opening the door for her, Frederick followed her on out to the porch. "Always stay as innocent and sweet as you are, my dear," he said, laughing lightly. "And you will get what you deserve in life. I'll see to it."

"I'll try," Eugenia giggled, then waved as she began to walk away.

"Don't you want a carriage to return you to your house?" he yelled after her.

"No. I love the walk. It's good for the soul." She laughed, walking away, feeling cleansed inside for some reason.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Spring seemed to have arrived in small doses, but now it was really here. Eugenia made her way down the sidewalk on Myers Avenue, heading back toward home after having her daily tea and cake with Frederick. This day she felt so much freer, not having a cape around her shoulders. No, this day she had on a thin, flowing dress of silk, dotted with small blue flowers to match the spring atmosphere all around her. She inhaled deeply. The aroma wasn't like that of a spring day back on her parents' homestead. Ah! How she remembered how the wild daisies had filled the air with their tartness!

But now, in the city, the streets seemed to have been washed clean with the melting snows and the brief spring showers of the past few days. Yes, it was only a smell of freshness. How the warm sun fell against her bare arms. She had waited so long for this.

Stepping out onto the street, waiting for a cable car to clatter by in front of her, Eugenia had to laugh when she stared downward onto the paved street below her. How she had dreamed of these streets being paved in gold. What a shock it had been to have found out that was only a tale, a tale of half-truth, with the streets actually having been paved in low-grade ore from the mines. The ore was a part of the gold mined each day in Cripple Creek's mines.

After a stagecoach drove past her, Eugenia lifted her skirt and hurried along, now worrying about Frederick. He had looked so different this day. Something about his eyes. So tired. And he hadn't had much to say. Just sat there watching her with his right hand beneath the left lapel of his suit jacket. She had questioned him about this, but he had only scoffed at her, told her she was beginning to nag like a true wife would do. He had told her not to worry. But she couldn't help it. When she would leave him each day he was alone. He hadn't asked anyone else to live with him, saying she was all that he needed. She smiled knowingly to herself, knowing that wasn't entirely the truth. She had found out, many months ago, that he frequented another parlor such as her own, getting his sexual desires quenched in this manner. She had been glad to find this out, knowing that he would never expect such favors of her. They had, indeed, conformed to a "friendly" relationship.

Walking up the front steps of The Old Homestad Parlour, Eugenia could already hear the merriment from within. She knew that she had remained much longer than usual with Frederick this day, and hadn't arrived back home in time to greet the influx of men who had made appointmets for this afternoon and evening's callings. Turning, Eugenia stared openly at the horses tied up at the hitching post. One in particular caught her eye, resembling the one horse that she had loved back home on her parents' homestead. Its coat was as sleek, and as rust in color, making her want to go and run her hand over it, whisper into its ear to receive a nuzzle of thanks in return. But she shrugged her shoulders and went on inside.

Pausing only for an instant, she looked into the parlor and saw that everything seemed to be under control. Only Nell and Lola were still in the process of serving French champagne to two gentlemen callers, which had to mean that the others were already entertaining… upstairs in their own rooms.

Sighing heavily, Eugenia climbed the steep staircase then paused at the head of the stairs. She noticed that the door leading into the small room where the special window had been placed was open. Wondering why, she inched her way toward the door and opened it slowly, only to find the room empty. She could hear the giggling surfacing from the twins' room and couldn't stop herself from going to the curtain. Opening it only enough for her to see, she felt her heart begin to pound in skips as her gaze fell on the passionate scene before her. With one hand, she pulled the door shut, locked it, then continued to watch the twins at work. She hadn't ever taken the time to do so, but now she was mesmerized by it all.

Making sure the curtain wasn't open enough to reveal her standing there, Eugenia watched as Aimee and Denise performed their sensuous act of arousing a man very identifiable to Eugenia, making her feelings mount at a more rapid rate. It was Adam Harper, a man who had been pursuing her, trying to get her to allow him to have her for one full evening by showering her with gifts of chocolates, gorgeous bottles of French perfume, and even satin underthings that had taken her breath away knowing that a man had chosen them with her in mind.

Continuing to watch, she began to feel an ache between her thighs and in her breasts, making her feel like moaning with the need pressing in on her. Aimee and Denise were completely nude, with the light color of their skin visible beneath the twinkling lights reflecting in the mirrors on all sides and above them. There were so many of them to watch. Their numerous images would entice anyone who might be watching what they were doing to Adam, who was also lying nude, stretched out in the middle of the red-satin covered mat on the floor. His skin glistened, almost like satin itself, from the perfumed oils being rubbed all over his body. Eugenia watched the erotic scene being played out before her closely, suddenly aware of what she had been missing by not having accepted a man's touches and kisses, and her not having touched a man since Drew. She had been wrong to refuse herself these pleasures, and was now in need of it so badly she could hardly bear it any longer.

Her fingers went to her breasts and began to knead them as Aimee knelt down over Adam and began to run her tongue over the hardness of his manhood while Denise continued to rub more oils on his chest, pinching his nipples, giggling loudly as his fingers began to search her own body between the deep cleaveage of her womanhood. Then as his manhood disappeared from full view inside Aimee's mouth Eugenia knew that she couldn't stand any more. She straightened the material on her dress and hurried to the twins' door. She swallowed hard, wondering if she should really do it. Then decided, quickly, that yes, Adam had been wanting her. He could have her now. She raised her fist and knocked lightly. She could hear the giggling stop and the room grow silent.

"Aimee?" she said, waiting.

Aimee opened the door a small crack, and looked outward with questioning in her eyes. "Aimee, I want you to tell Adam that I'm waiting for him in my room. Yes?"

Aimee's brows tilted, then she turned and walked away.