Lori grinned, her beautiful violet eyes sparkling as the two of them admired her. Hugo recovered himself enough to also greet her and shake hands, before turning to nudge his brother.
“And to think we’ve been working our way through Estonia’s finest; maybe we should have followed David here to America if they grow them like that over there!”
Lori blushed at the compliments, and giggled when Richard asked her if she had any sisters or cousins she was willing to sacrifice to the cause.
“Mother said you were from Iowa, methinks we’ll shortly be finding we have important business to contract over there; who knows, maybe we’ll find a couple of black-haired, blue-eyed Iowa knockouts of our own.”
“I’m so glad I met you both,” she laughed, “Aunt Sophie was right, I think we’re going to get along just fine; did you know David even has your names?”
They both looked blank until Lori elucidated.
“David’s full name is David Richard Hugo Denham; he was named after your father and his brother, just like you, so you see, he’s a close part of you two as well; it’s no wonder Aunt Sophie and Uncle Richard took such a liking to him!”
Both men looked pleased, and Richard grinned at me.
“She’s right you know; my middle name’s David, after your father, I assume. Well, well! Now all we have to do is wait until Father and Mother return home, and the whole wedding thing can get into full swing. Mother said she’s organising the whole thing; you have no idea what you’ve let yourselves in for; truly, may God have mercy on your souls…”
Hugo decided to chime in.
“Mother also told us about the baby, congrats by the way, cousin, and I’d like to thank you both for turning up the heat and tightening the screws even further. Once Mother gets her hands on that baby, she’s going to be relentless; I can see it now, both of us drugged, clubbed senseless, and chained to the altar while she marries each of us off to some knock-kneed, mouth-breathing, horsey-type called Brenda, or Susannah, or Lucinda, perish the thought, complete with bad skin, bad breath, buck-teeth, big feet, and reeking of saddle-soap and horse liniment, but from an impeccable family; the monastery might be a kinder fate…”
Richard was nodding in agreement, a big grin creasing his face.
“Three months ago Mother decided to do a little long-distance matchmaking with some random friend’s daughter, and suddenly I’m fielding this girl, name of Tallulah Bartlett-DeVere, a made-up name if I ever heard one, who looked exactly like she’d been cursed by the ‘My Little Pony’ fairy. I kid you not, I’ve never had anyone look at me with their teeth before; the girl had so many teeth her mouth was jammed permanently open; it was frightening, like staring at a bloody marble cemetery. I swear to God, if she ever manages to close her mouth fully she’s going to bite herself in the forehead! Really, if I wanted a wife who reeked permanently of horses I’d marry some steppe nomad, not Tallulah and her teeth. No, I think I’ll stick to Ukrainian so-called models for now; at least they’ll happily hitch their knickers back up, accept a Chanel goodie-bag, and bugger off into the sunset, never to be seen again!”
Lori, Rosie, and Sybil were laughing helplessly by the time they’d finished. I was frankly astonished at how quickly and easily I’d slipped into this side of my family; Richard and Hugo were bantering and ribbing us as though we’d known them all our lives, and I was glad Lori had met them; they really were the better side of the Denham clan. Her obvious attachment to Sophie was working for her; the boys obviously adored their mother, and so they were completely taken with her, finally ending-up preparing to arm wrestle to see who got to be godfather of the baby…
Lori broke that up by averring that as it would be impossible and unfair to choose between them, both of them would be godfathers, earning a pleased hug from both of them. One day, I’d ask Aunt Sophie’s permission to tell them just how closely related to me they actually were; that Uncle Richard was my father’s half-brother, even though he was supposedly unaware of that fact, which made the two of them my first-cousins, along with Rosie absolutely the closest family I had (after Lori, of course, but I was never going to reveal that particular fact to anyone…)
During my conversation with my cousins the fact that we were house-hunting came up, and Richard had the number of an Estate Agent who he actually trusted, the man who’d arranged the purchase of his own house. Lori was adamant that she wanted to live near Sophie and Aunt Sybil, as she was going to need all the help she could get, but Richard didn’t think that was a problem.
“This guy has properties all over the county, so he’s bound to have a few near where the parents are going to be living, just give him a call, go and see him, and give him your wish-list; if he hasn’t got the place you want on his books, he’ll find it and persuade the owners to sell; I promise you, he’s that good.”
We sat around for a while longer, chatting about Lori’s parents, both the boys offering her their condolences when they heard about mother and Charlie’s passing. Both Lori and I had to tread carefully so as not to tip them off about our actual relationship, instead giving them the cover story we’d prepared, that Lori was a school friend and former girlfriend I’d met again while in Iowa for mother’s funeral; it was a thin story, with more holes than an Agatha Christie murder mystery, and Richard gave me a very old-fashioned look when I sidestepped some of his questions about mother and my step-father, but it got me off the subject, much to my relief.
Hugo was curious what we’d do with Denham Hall, and I confessed I was stumped; I wanted to pull the creepy eyesore down and maybe build holiday cottages or something, anything to keep the developers at bay, but Lori was unconvinced; in her opinion, the place had stood for over 300 years, it deserved to stay up and in place, if only to serve as a reminder and an object lesson for future generations on how not to build a country retreat…
Hugo eventually took Jimmy aside and gave him some locations where Lori might want to start looking for her dream house while Richard teased and ribbed Rosie about her new man, the teasing revealing just how fond of her he really was; Rosie had been my best friend when I was small, almost like a sister, we were both roughly the same age, and that bond had started to re-establish over the last day or so. In light of what Sybil had told us about her former fiancee, I was glad to see she and Jimmy were becoming closer and more attached with every passing hour; the attraction between them was plain and obvious, and I was pleased for her.
Eventually, the brothers had to leave; they both had business to attend to in London they’d delayed in order that they could meet Lori and me, which I appreciated, and so, with hugs for Lori and Rosie, a handshake for Jimmy and me, and a kiss for Aunt Sybil, they left us to our own devices.
Now that Jimmy had a list of places that should yield some interesting properties, as well as details of Richard’s pet realtor, we had some calls to make; I to let St. Giles Hospital know I’d be back on staff from the following day, and Lori to make an appointment to see the realtor and start plotting-out her assault on the Oxfordshire property market. I noticed she was looking tired after making her call, and I was certainly feeling the effects of a good breakfast after a disturbed night with little actual rest, so Rosie captured Jimmy to take him around and show him some of the local sights (and possibly the inside of a haystack or two…) while Lori and I retired to catch up on a little sleep.
In fact, though, tired as I was, sleep was the last thing on my mind; the sight of Lori in that clingy top and those skin-tight leather jeans outlining every wondrous curve of her spectacular arse was giving me ideas far above their station, and I was feeling the need for a little one-on-one with my beautiful wife.
Lori seemed to be feeling the same way; her walk had an additional sway, her hips had a little extra tilt to them, and her lovely bum cheeks seemed just that little bit more pouty, and when I tore my eyes away from them, it was to meet her frank gaze as she caught me ogling all her lovely, juicy, wobbly bits.
“No prizes for guessing what you want, Darling Boy…” she grinned, making me grin in turn at her use of mother’s favourite name for me. I reached for her and pulled her closer, sticking my tongue in her ear to make her cringe and giggle while I squeezed those taut cheeks through the glove leather of her jeans.
“Bedtime, Mrs. Loretta Denham, I prescribe a couple of injections to help you sleep, I think I should administer them as soon as possible…” I breathed in her ear, Lori undulating against me the whole time.
“Why Doctor Denham, you aren’t planning on seducing l’il ‘ole me, are you? I’ll have you know, I’m a respectable married woman!” she smiled back, her voice that sexy, breathy whisper guaranteed to turn me into a walking erection in a blink of an eye. She obviously felt it, grinding her mons pubis against the suddenly unruly bulge in my trousers as she licked and lightly kissed my lips, teasing me with her nearness.
“Land sakes, Doctor Denham, is that a stethoscope in your pocket, or do you just have a big ole hard-on for me?” she husked, grabbing and gently squeezing my balls as she rubbed her lovely bubblies against my chest; I could feel her stiff nipples through the material of her top and my shirt, so I knew she was building a head of steam, if all went well she’d pop that particular cork while I was in the saddle, a thought that made me hustle her upstairs as fast as we could; suddenly I had a burning urge to strip my girl and jam something hot, stiff and friendly inside her, and I knew she wouldn’t be too particular about where, that was for certain.