He had never thought anything of even the mixed get-togethers she sometimes went to after work. He had joined some of those and she had always been de...ighted to see him. Hadn't see?Now he wondered. He tried to think back and see any signs that she might have been closer to one of her friends than he could have suspected. How about Teresa, the divorced woman in her early fifties? Or Christy, the slightly heavy-set tall brunette? She had never been married. Or Rebecca, the heavily bosomed single. After the fourth blow, Mayla knew she was near the limits of her endurance and decided to gamble. As she heard what would be the last stroke near her, she faked satisfaction. “Now, did you enjoy that?” her husband asked, “No!” he answered for her,”Now stand up.” Mayla tried to rise but the pain she had inflicted on her made her legs feel weak. “Husband, I don’t think I can.” She said through her tears before the belt landed again. “You can and will,” her husband ordered, “or do you need more. For a brief moment I gave thought to his being unmarried at such an advanced age. My father gave me away with, I am sure, mixed feelings. The idea of his daughter becoming a mistress was tempered by the fact that I would become Lady Adelaide, wife to a Baronet. Rupert had assured me that Dashwood would not attempt intimacy with me. I was worldly-wise enough to believe differently. Imagine my surprise when Dashwood made no attempt to join me in bed. In time I discovered that he assuaged his lust. A sudden wave of jealousy or, to be more precise, insecurity flooded through him. Her sexually driven comments began to toy with his mind, had she really meant it, did she really not care whose cock she had?Victoria reached behind her and flushed the toilet before moving over to the wash hand basin and looking into the mirror. A large smile stared back as she studied her reflection while waiting for the hot water to filter its way through the plumbing. Streaks of greyish black tear drawn.