©2002 by WILDBEARIES

"Shhhh," Ana cautioned Marina, "he's asleep and I don't want him awakened just yet." She shut the door of the stables behind her and went outside with the younger woman. Seating herself on a marble bench, she pulled Marina down next to her with a smile. "Now, what is so important that you had to come seek me out?"

Marina, who was quite embarrassed that the place she'd actually found Ana and the general was in the stables - in the hay loft to be more specific - covered with hay sprigs and chaff to be totally exact - blushed deeply before getting her nerves under control. "Madame, I'm so very sorry to have just barged in on you in the middle of - well, just in the middle of, um, things."

She had actually arrived after "things", but Ana didn't correct her. She was quite enjoying the red face and confused looks she was getting. Obviously the younger woman didn't realize passion continued into old age - or in the case of herself and Maximus - late middle age. Had Marina arrived five minutes sooner, she might have really gotten a shock. Ana stifled a hearty chuckle and regarded her gravely. "No need to apologize again, girl - now, what was it that sent you out here?"

Marina brightened, eyes sparkling as she leaned forward, seizing Ana's hands in hers, "Oh, my lady - he has finally done it!"

There could be no doubt about the "he" Marina referred to - it had to be her reluctant suitor, the shy Antoninus. "What, exactly, has he done?"

"Spoken to me," Marina replied, as if Ana should have known that already. "It's wonderful, don't you think?"

"Spoken to you? That's all? Spoken to you how?"

"Civilly - he's never done that before - not on his own intiative anyway. I think it's a great step forward, don't you?"

Ana resisted the urge to scream and tear her hair. At this rate, it would be two years before 'Ninus got up the gumption to actually propose to the chit. "Yes, I can see where you'd be excited by that all right - so tell me, what did he say when he spoke civilly to you?"

Marina looked at a loss for a moment, then replied, "Well, he asked how I was and if you and the General were doing well." When Ana merely nodded, she went on, "And then he remarked that he supposed a girl like me missed going to parties and events such as in Rome. I assured him yet again that I did not like parties at all, and that since I'd never been to Rome, I had no notion of what kind of events took place there other than gladiatorial games - which I am sure I would not like anyway. We actually had quite a long discussion then about books and music and gardening - it was quite wonderful!"

Seeing the younger woman's glistening eyes, Ana didn't have the heart to act disappointed that once again Antoninus had failed to come up to the mark and actually ask for her hand. And he really ought to - given that the whole neighborhood knew they'd feen found swimming naked in the pond the month before. How that little tale had gotten 'round, Ana wasn't sure, but somebody in her household had no doubt flapped their jaws about it. "I'm sure it was, dear - Antoninus is quite well educated, as I'm sure you've found. He should appreciate your wit and intelligence."

They talked a bit longer, then Marina went off to help with the sorting of herbs into bunches for drying while Ana went to fetch her husband. She opened the door and crept into the shadowy stables. She could hear him, still breathing quietly in the grasp of sleep and tiptoed over to just stand watching him for awhile. It was something she never tired of, watching Maximus. It was especially nice to do it when he was unaware of her scrutiny, when there was no teasing or modesty or silly male posturing to interrupt her unabashed pleasure at the sight of him. And he was still a sight to behold.

Even now, past fifty, he was nearly as agile and graceful as he had been when she'd first met him. The limitations of age sat lightly on him, and except for a sprinkle of glistening white hairs at the temples, he was still her black-haired Spaniard of old. His body was slightly heavier, a bit thicker around the middle, but not at all soft. "You're staring a hole through my belly," came his rumbling voice, tinged with a bit of laughter.

Ana smiled and patted him there, "It's a fine belly - I like staring at it. Especially when it's unadorned as it is now." She flipped up the hem of his undertunic and laughed when he made a grab for it and missed. "Now now - I've a right to look, I am your wife, after all."

Maximus sat up, grabbed her by both upper arms, and lay back down with her sprawled on top of him. He kissed her giggling face, growled softly into her ear and tickled her until she was limp against him. Then, with her at his mercy - right where he liked her - he slid his large hands under her stola and up her bare legs until he was cupping her bottom. "I love your backside," he told her, giving her a very lascivious smile.

"So you say - often," she answered, idly twisting the soft hair in his armpit. "Is that all you love about me, just my bottom?" twist twist

He pretended to think, "I love your breasts - twin founts of pleasure - and your eyes - you have lovely eyes, cara." He kissed her breasts and then her eyelids, as if applying his seal of approval to each body part. "And your belly - I love this soft, white belly. . ." He trailed a fiery line of kisses down there, stopping just short of her mons. "Lovely," he said softly, stroking her there.

"I-is that all?" she stuttered, wanting him to stroke lower, kiss her more.

Maximus pretended to think. "You have adorable feet," he finally announced, laughing at her frown of annoyance. "Pax! Cara - I love all of you, and most especially. . ." he slid his fingers down between her warm thighs, into the moist, welcoming petals surrounding her sex, then up and in until she quivered in his grasp. "Most especially, I love this hot wet cunny of yours." With this, he rolled so he was on top of her, yanked up her skirt and positioned himself between her thighs. "Now I'll show you what I like to do with it," he told her, and proceeded to do just that.

Much later, decorum restored, they walked into the house, Ana whispering in his ear, "Twice in one day, ooh-la, what the servants would say if they knew!"

"I'm hungry, seemed to have worked up an appetite," Maximus teased her right back. He nodded to the steward, "Mid-day meal ready?" Informed that it was, he led his wife into the triclinium. When they were eating, he winked at her over his wine cup. "Perhaps we'll try for three later - who knows?"

Ana just laughed and shook her head at him. "Braggart."

Maximus grinned. "Ah - a challenge - never challenge me, little Venus."

She rolled her eyes and called for more wine.

Marina, meanwhile, had eaten earlier and gone riding, intent on seeing if she could get Antoninus talking more openly given her success the day before. She saw him working in amongst his grape vines and dismounted, walking over to see what he was doing. "Good harvest, it looks like," she commented after they exchanged greetings.

He regarded her a bit warily, feeling just a bit hunted, then told himself any man would count himself lucky to have such a beauty on his trail. He forced himself to be more voluble. "Indeed - especially these, the darkest purple ones." He cut a small branch and gave them to her to taste. When she smiled in delight at the sweetness, he smiled with her. "Yes, you like those? Try these light ones next," and he handed her a few of a new variety he'd started the year before. They progressed down the rows, talking and tasting until he was finished checking the vines, then he invited her to sit beside him on a stone bench overlooking the terraced hillside behind his villa.

Marina couldn't recall ever having felt so welcomed by him, and was particularly delighted that he had shared his knowledge of the grapes and the grapes themselves with her. Everyone knew he considered them his children - or practically so, since he did have grown children from his long-dead wife. "Your daughter - how goes her babe?" His daughter had just birthed a son, his first grandchild, off in Gaul with her husband in the army.

"I had a letter from her just this week," he said, and went into the house to fetch it, shortly returning to read portions of it to her. "I think she enjoys being off with the army - she always wanted to see more of the world, just like I did." He rolled up the scroll and tied the ribbons before setting it aside. "I should think you might like to see something besides Baetica," he said meaningfully.

"I have - but it's here I love," she answered truthfully. "Nothing is as beautiful as here, no people as friendly or warm, no air as crisp or warm as here at home. Does that make me dull?"

He was quick to answer, "Oh - no, not at all! That makes you rather rare, actually. Most of the young noblewomen seem to champ at the bit to be away from the provincial life - that you prefer it is very unusual."

"Well, I never fell in with what the majority liked or did - I make my own decisions and have my own opinions. Being educated with the General's children, Lady Ana made sure we all were encouraged to be individuals and not carbon copies of some idealized being."

Antoninus nodded, finding her somehow more easy to speak than before. And she was so lovely - and far, far too young for him, despite her obvious infatuation. "I'm old enough to be your father - your grandsire, even," he said out of the blue.

She nodded, considering, "I suppose - but I don't think of you that way. I care nothing for callow boys or the boasts of the young officers. I think it is because I was raised where I was - and had the example of the General to look up to - that spoiled me for immature men."

He found himself smiling at her, hoping he wasn't looking too ridiculous. He did not want to be a doting oldster drooling over a toothsome young female, but by the gods! she was growing on him daily. "Marina - it's well known that I've been a widower for a number of years. I'm not sure I even know how to be a married man."

She digested that rather interesting declaration, then nodded soberly, "I understand. Perhaps the right woman could inspire you to relearn it?" She turned the full force of her large eyes onto him, watching color flare along his cheekbones and his pupils dilate as he absorbed her look. He did everything but toss his mane like a stallion, she thought later.

Antoninus grew bolder. He took her hands in his and set his much larger ones against her small, delicate ones so they sat palm to palm, just examining one another over the spread of their fingers. Then, as if hearing some unspoken request, he slid his hands down, fingers encircling her wrists, then down and down until he was holding her upper arms, and from there, down onto her body, until he was cupping her bosom, thumbs brushing the buds of her nipples through the thin fabric of her stola. She had a beautiful bosom, he thought, the young breasts heavy and firm in his hands. Gods, it had been a long time. . .he swallowed, mouth suddenly gone dry, and drew her toward him, one hand at her waist. He bent his head to hers and kissed her.

Inwardly exulting, thrilled, and feeling very womanly, Marina kissed him right back, enjoying it when he licked at the seam of her mouth and she opened to the invasion of his warm tongue. It was wonderful. She slid her tongue against his and then dared to explore his mouth as he did hers. A pulse beat strongly down between her thighs and she fought the sudden urge to just grind herself against his strong thigh. When he lifted her onto him, though, when she was astride his lap, she gave in to that urge and felt him surge up against her. It was good - it wasn't quite what her body wanted, but it helped the ache. Part of her mind noted that he had his hands inside her gown and was squeezing and fondling her breasts, but it felt so good that she threw all caution to the winds and unfastened the silk knots so the front of her gown drooped low. Leaning towards him, she offered more of herself to his questing hands. She moaned with the force of what she realized was carnal desire.

Antoninus pulled away from her, panting, "We cannot do this - my lady - I. . ."

"Shut up," Marina whispered, mouth swollen from his kisses. "I want this - I want you."

"Not here," he said, some semblance of decorum returned. He rose to his feet, hoping the front of his tunic wasn't tented out too much - he couldn't recall when he'd felt so hot to have a woman. He took her hand and led her deep into the gardens, far in among the riot of tree roses and thick growth of shrubs to where there was a small, very private arbor with soft grass and a fountain. There, he took off his tunic and short trousers as she removed her gown and undergarment, and they knelt on the grass, facing one another with delight before desire overcame caution and he returned to his ravishment. "Now - here," he said in her ear, and showed her the way of things between adults.

Spread beneath him like some pagan wench, Marina responded to his caresses with strokes and pats of her own, learning his body and what made his turgid flesh leap until he resembled one of his stallions. She couldn't take her eyes off that erect shaft, finding it beautiful, wanting to stroke it, wanting to feel it inside her. "I want it," she told him, "I want you to make me a woman."

"Gods," he managed, lifting her hips to position himself between her thighs. He gathered his shaft in his hand, guiding himself to the juncture of her womanhood, aware that the next obvious move would bind her to him as surely as a marriage ring. "Have it then - and me with it," he said to her, and thrust inside her.

He broached her virgin channel carefully but with enough command that it was almost painless when he broke through her maidenhead. When he had hilted himself for a few breathless moments to allow her to get used to his being in there, he drew almost out, chuckling a little when she whined in frustration. "Patience, little one - see? Here I am again - you will like this part. . " and he began thrusting in and out rhythmically, delighting at her moans of pleasure and how her hands ran greedily over his back and buttocks as he rode her. And when he rubbed the little engorged knot of flesh right where his shaft penetrated her, she uttered a low scream of surprised delight and convulsed on and around him, driving him to spill his seed deep within her body. Done, he collapsed against her, rolling onto his side to cuddle her shaking body close to his.

Marina kissed his damp shoulder, nuzzling up the muscular cords of his throat and onto his strong jaw. She ended by nipping his earlobe, to his delight, whispering, "I loved it - when can we do it again?"

"In a while," he told her, optimistically, "it seems you have inspired me - maybe not so long awhile at all."

She wrapped arms and legs around him, snuggling so her cheek was against his chest. "Good," she said contentedly. "I think I like this very much."

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Copyright 2002 by wildbearies

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