Nola by Carolyn Faulkner Page B

balance as she rode
him in an ever more violent spiral.
    Near the end, he
let her tender nipples go in favor of claiming her hips again, slamming her
down onto him harder than she could herself, watching her avidly as she again
climbed to the summit and then let herself go, enjoying the sight of her in
such abandon almost as much as he was enjoying their joining.
    At the end, he
shouted her name once, short and sharp, clutching her to him and emptying
himself into her helplessly.
    When they
returned from their lost weekend, they were both more refreshed and relaxed,
and Geoffrey found that he was extremely happy at having interfered in the
small way he had, insisting that they spend some time upstate together. They
both looked much happier for it, and he figured that the happier they were, the
more likely they were to get to producing his first
grandchild.
    As she had
feared, Brandon didn't try to prevent her from seeing Wilde. He just let her
know that he preferred if they didn't get together like it was some sort of tete a tete . He encouraged her to
invite Wilde over to Serenity, or for the three of them to get together for
lunch or dinner, and Nola could not have been more pleasantly surprised. He
wanted to get to know Wilde. She was amazed. Unfortunately, Wilde knew her a
bit too well, and she wasn't at all sure that that was
a good idea. Her bottom might well be the worse for it, especially if he got
Wilde talking about some of the things she'd done in regards to her women's
groups.
    The next few
months made her change her mind completely about being married. At first she'd
been quite sure she was going to be completely miserable for the rest of her
life, and had become somewhat resigned to that idea. But Brandon had been very
attentive and much less surly of late, and she was definitely
liking this marriage idea - as long as he didn't revert to his former
type.
    Her life was
getting a little bit more back to normal. She was stepping up her involvement
in various groups, and had even planned some trips to speak at rallies all
around the Northeast, as she had before she'd married.
    The problem was, that she had neither consulted nor even told her
husband that she'd made those plans. Nola had a justifiable fear that if she
did, he'd become the ogre he'd bee when they'd first gotten married. So she
simply... avoided telling him until almost the very last minute, when Wilde was
to dinner one night, telling amusing anecdotes about his travels in Europe, and
he happened to mention her trip to Albany.
    Dead silence
fell over the table, except for Wilde's sharp yelp as Nola's pointy footed boot
connected firmly with his shin.
    "Your tripe
where?" her husband turned to her with a raised eyebrowed glare that she had come to know and hate.
    "Well..."
    Brandon's
grandfather, Alexander, came to her rescue, sort of. "You must have your dates
mixed, Wilde. Why, our dear Nola hasn't so much as hinted that she'd be leaving
us to our own devices this weekend. I'm sure you're mistaken."
    But Brandon
corrected him, gently, if angrily. "No, Father, I don't think he's wrong. Our
dear Nola was most definitely going to leave us this weekend to go make sure
that the matrons of the Northeast all have the ability to cast their votes, or
leave their husbands, or whatever it is that she feels it necessary to leave
her family for without a word."
    "I was going to
tell you!" she whined, throwing her napkin on her plate. "I just hadn't found
the right time."
    Brandon stood,
taking a hold of Nola's wrist firmly and forcing her to rise. He addressed
their guest first, however. "Wilde, thank you very much for
your company this evening. I hope to see you again soon." He shook hands
with the other man, who rose and looked more than a little befuddled, and
turned, exiting the room abruptly, tugging his reluctant wife along behind him.
    Nola could hear
Wilde asking his father and grandfather if they thought she'd be all right, and
they were trying to reassure