Naseby part 1

Any resemblance in the following fictional tale to persons living, or dead, is purely coincidental...

September 1645

With an early morning mist clinging to to surrounding landscape, Sarah emerged from the kitchen doorway of her farmhouse and stretched, the early autumn chill refreshing and awakening her. Collecting her wooden pail she made her way to the water pump and began to fill it. As she pumped the handle her thoughts drifted back six months to when she last saw her husband John. He had sworn an oath to fight for King and country and they had made rough, deeply passionate love on a morning such as this before he had left to join Lord Astley in the struggle against Cromwell. The memories brought a warm feeling between her legs. Suddenly awakened from her thoughts by the ice cold water spilling over her feet she heard a sound...

She saw a horse approaching. The hoofbeats seemed irregular and were accompanied by an occasional cry from the horse. Sarah instinctively knew there was something wrong. Cautiously (these were dangerous times where neighbour was set against neighbour) she watched as a figure loomed out of the mist. As the stricken beast entered the farmyard she could see its rider slumped against its neck, barely able to hold on. She ran out and took hold of the reins. Patting the horse to calm it she felt someting sticky and realised it was wounded, though not seriously. The rider groaned, his eyes flickering open as he realised the horse had come to a halt. Gazing down at Sarah, taking in her full figure and her deep hazel eyes, he managed to utter the words "help me" before passing out, slowly sliding off the horse towards her. She just about managed to take most of his weight but ended up tumbling to the ground with him on top of her. "Well, I've been in this position before now, but usually with someone more responsive," she mused to herself, somewhat cheekily, remembering once more her last time with John.

Carefully extricating herself from beneath the stranger she saw that he, too, was bleeding, badly. Dragging him to his feet she guided him to the farmhouse and set him down in the chair by the fire then went to stable the horse. Returning to the kitchen Sarah was taken by how handsome the stranger was. "Now then, let's take a look at you..." There was a deep wound to the man's right shoulder which, upon closer examination, appeared to have come from a pistol shot. Sarah realised the shot must still be inside and needed to be taken out. The man groaned and regained consciousness sufficiently to tell her his name was James. Sarah did what was necessary to remove the offending piece of lead and bandaged the wound. Supporting James she led him to the bedroom and lay him down on the bed. Slipping in and out of consciousness he noticed her long hair and her welcoming smile. As he passed out once more he could've sworn he could feel her removing his lower garments...

When he awoke it was to find Sarah sat by the bedside with a bowl of hot broth. He then realised that he hadn't been dreaming and that he was in a cotton nightshirt with, it would appear, nothing underneath! Sarah smiled as she saw the realisation spread across his face. "Nothing I haven't seen before, sir, though not as well packaged I might add!" Blushing, James enquired how long he'd been there. "Three days. You had me worried a few times but you seem to have come through the fever now." "Thank you," said James, gently touching Sarah's arm and looking directly into her eyes. It was then that she felt the internal flutter, the warm glow she had felt that morning. When she had undressed him and seen how strong his body appeared to be her thoughts had momentarily drifted, imagining herself in bed with him. At the time she had scolded herself for having unfaithful thoughts, but now she knew what she desired. "You're welcome," she said softly as she helped him lay down again, making sure he got a good enough look at her bosom. "Now rest. We don't want you wearing yourself out now, do we?" James lay back as she brushed a lock of hair from his eye before leaving the room. Watching her leave, he felt himself becoming aroused...

to be continued...