52. Pillow talk, part the second

If I had allowed her to, Naiad and I would have done many circuits of the park, she would have run until she dropped, she was that willing. After several circuits though, because she was still regaining her condition, her bouncing trot was less energetic than it had been. I think it is a testament to the mare's spirit and a validation of all of the work that went into her care over the winter, that she looked no less magnificent when she walked gracefully into the Rogeringham stable yard than she had when she walked out. A little less feisty, but something told me that once Naiad had rested, then she would be prepared to go again this afternoon.

Sadly, that was not to be, I found myself with visitors and other things to deal with.

At dinner Helena announced that we had been invited to a ball at Lady Dorrington's in a month's time to mark Arabella's nineteenth birthday. I wasn't surprised.

"All of us mama? Not just William?" Charlotte asked, mischievously.

Helena re-read the invitation, "It appears so," she laughed.

I noticed that Caroline cast a possessive glance at Henry and Hermione did the same towards James, both of whom now dined with us on a regular basis. I chuckled inwardly. If only they knew, I thought, that it was not the men folk that were in danger.

Helena must have seen something because she asked me about it as we lay in bed that night.

I told her about meeting Arabella, leaving nothing out of my account.

"A tribade?" Helena asked.

"The writings of the Greek poetess Sappho, it is believed that she was a lover of women. I don't know whether she was exclusive in that, but these days tribade is a name that some people use for women who sleep with women."

"A lesbian?" Helena asked.

"Exactly!" I laughed, "Sappho came from the island of Lesbos."

"So does Arabella only sleep with women, because you said ..."

"I did. And yes, we did." I replied. "In fact, she thinks I am very good as a lover." I said proudly.

"And how was she?"

"She was also very good. I was her first man, but she knew what she wanted and that is so important. Her mother was better." I let that snippet fall into silence.

"Lady Elizabeth?" It was not the angry blast that I expected, it was more an amused curiosity. "You slept with her too?"

"Yes, and then with them both together."

Helena got up on her elbow next to me. "When did you actually find time to fight the French?" She laughed.

"It was in the late autumn of last year," I told her as I toyed with her nipple. "The campaigning Season was done, and we had been in Portugal since the mid-summer previously. Wellesley took us into winter quarters."

I told Helena about the bed hopping around Wellesley's headquarters and the Portuguese whores, and how Elizabeth had propositioned me at a soirée and how I had fucked her that night, ostensibly so that she could 'try me out' for her daughter.

"I must have done something right, because the next afternoon I received an invitation to her house and I was introduced to Arabella.

"The girl had turned eighteen half a year earlier, and her mother wanted me to relieve her of her virginity; I spent the night and did just that, although in actual fact it was just a damned good fuck.

"I was invited back a third time, where I found myself entertaining both of them."

"If you had told me this before Christmas, I fear it would have made me most insecure." Helena's warm hand was wrapped round my cock, stroking its hardness up and down. "It bothers me less now."

"And so it shouldn't, beloved, the past is no threat to you and I. When she was at the ball, Elizabeth told me that when she finally met you, she understood why I was so enamoured. Lady Elizabeth thinks you are very lovely, so does Arabella, and I think that they would both rather bed you than me these days."

I smiled at the surprise on my mother's face at that.

"Arabella did say one thing," and I explained her proposition about mutual co-operation over the course of the Season.

"And what do you think of that?" Helena had slid down the bed and her chin rested on my belly as she slowly frigged my prick, curling her hand around it and pumping it slowly up and then down.

"It has merit." I told her. "But I am undecided. This Season is about my sisters. Not myself and Arabella. I am not at all concerned about acquiring a wife and she does not desire a husband, so we could repel all comers by dint of mutual defence."

"But _ I just don't know." I admitted.

Helena chuckled, "This will be a Season to remember!" she laughed, before lowering her mouth down over my cock.