Minerva Ch. 10 of 10

She even managed a little wave for the crowd, but ignored their shouted questions. Until one of them asked whether I was Gilroy Jameson, just as I was helping her into the Rolls.

Kylie stopped, turned to me and kissed me on the lips and then called back, "What do you think?"

But she ignored the follow-on, "When are you going to get married?" question.

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At Tarrent Hall we found a police car and several officers, along with John Carpenter's people, guarding the front gate. Several of John's people were patrolling around on motorcycles as well. No longer a covert security operation, they were there to keep the paparazzi away from the Hall and out of the grounds.

The instant Lady Minerva entered the great house; she immediately morphed back into my Kylie. But then very quickly retired to bed. The journey had knocked all the life out of her.

Around three o'clock the following morning, I awoke to find Kylie sitting on my bed. Well I don't think it was her sitting on the bed that woke me, more the kiss she was applying to me forehead.

"What are you doing Kylie, you shouldn't be in here; it's not proper." I said, but she stilled my tongue, by planting a kiss on my lips.

I'd better point out that I found myself in a rather embarrassing position. Firstly I have always slept as nature intended, as they say. And secondly Kylie was sitting on the bed covers on one side of me, and leaning over, her elbow holding down the covers on the other side. Effectively I could not move, unless I became really violent. Neatly trapped, one might say.

"I got lonely, I can't dream of rescue anymore and... Well, I wanted to feel what it's like to have you hold me in your arms again."

"Kylie I'm not wearing..."

"That was obvious before I sat on the bed JG, I had to cover you. But I'm not shy either." She said sitting up and grabbing at her nightdress.

"Whoa, hold up there Kylie! Tanya would have my guts for garters."

"Don't be so silly. Aunt Tanya believes that we should go where our heart leads us. Besides I only want a cuddle!"

"If it's a cuddle you want, come here, lay down on me and I'll cuddle you."

"No it's cold out here. I want to come under the covers with you."

I could see that Kylie had made her mind up, but I was still worried about the delicate mental condition thing. Actually I was in a real quandary, I had no idea how Kylie would take it, if I told her no. I did some quick lateral thinking.

"I tell you what Kylie. You go out of the room for five minutes, and if you still wish to sleep in this bed with me after that five minutes is up, you may. And what's more, I promise you that I'll cuddle you real tight for the rest of the night."

She gave me a strange, curious look, then agreed to the deal and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

The instant the door had closed I dived out of bed, hunted down my tracksuit trousers and put them on. Then I dived back into bed and arranged the bedcovers carefully; even leaving one side open so Kylie could enter the bed easily. Then I lay on my back, my right arm outstretched so that I could envelop her with it.

"Rotten cheat, that was a sneaky thing to do." Kylie said as she cuddled up beside me. "I can understand why you did it anyway. From the eye-full I got, when first I came into the room; our honeymoon will hold no surprises for me now."

"Oh I'm sure that... if it ever comes to a honeymoon, kylie, I'll surprise you somehow. I promise you that."

"Sometimes you do talk rubbish Gilroy, of course we'll be wed... eventually. Aunt Tanya says that if I play my cards right, I've got the winning hand."

"Oh, and how does she work that one out?"

Suddenly I felt Kylie's right leg move up over my legs, she then slowly raised it until her inner thigh made contact with my groin. Which I have to admit achieved, the reaction that I have to assume Kylie had been expecting and planning it would.

"Hook, line, and sinker, JG. All I got to do is reel you in." She whispered, "That shouldn't take me too long now.

"Kylie, firstly I fear that you are recovering from your ordeal, a little too quickly. Secondly you are assuming that I'm a gentleman. I might well be the type of person who...

"Gilroy Jameson! Do I look that stupid? I have it on good authority, from the girls at the Cliff Head, who told me that you were a real gentleman about that kind of thing. At least two of them you could have had a one-night-stand with, whenever you wanted, by the way."

"How come, no bugger told me about that, at the time?"

"JG, I told you I'm not that daft. Anyway, and then, when we swam out to the headland... Well I threw myself at you and no one could see us out there, but you behaved yourself like a perfect gentleman. Rather disappointing, actually!"

"Kylie?"

"Yes darling?"

"Will you please go to sleep now?""

"If that's what you really want darling."

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Okay we just cuddled that night, and for many nights after. Kylie would retire to her own room each evening, but during the night she'd join me in my bed at sometime. In the end, it got so obvious that the staff would bring Kylie's breakfast straight to my room in the mornings.

However, I wore my tracksuit bottoms to bed every night, until the wedding. Mind you, that didn't stop Kylie wearing some ever more brief night attire, in an attempt to break my resolve, I believe.

Honestly I think, had it not become some kind of a game we were both playing, I might well have weakened. Odd that Kylie and I share the wish to win character. But I'm not exactly sure every other guy in the world would think that I had won that one though. Or, that I wasn't completely off my head.

---- ---- ---- ----

One might ask why I remained living at Tarrent Hall? Well I had little choice really; Kylie needed me and for many weeks my flat was under siege by the press. A couple of the Carpenters people had to move in there as house sitters. Kylie and I, being safely holed-up in Tarrent Hall and out of their reach, at least one -- presumably less reputable -- reporter had tried to break-in, looking for I don't know what. Probably some muck he could sell to the iffy Sunday papers.

It was truly remarkable how quickly Kylie recovered from her ordeal. She says it's because she spent nearly all of her... under the influence time, dreaming about me. Flattering I can assure you, but surely not the whole truth. But she would say little else about those almost four years.

Four months almost to the day after Harcourt and Sandra knocked on my door -- one day short to be precise -- Kylie and I walked out of Tarrent Hall's private chapel man and wife. Marco played my Best Man and Bernie gave Kylie away. Tanya by that time, had taken both of them onto the full-time staff at Tarrent Hall, and moved their families into tied cottages on the estate. Although both guys still work for the Carpenters sometimes, when their rather special talents are required.

One might also ask about the difference between Lady Minerva and my own financial standing. Well after Tanya got finished, legally there wasn't one. Lady Tanya took me completely by surprise by not only naming me as her heir, but formally adopting me. Much to the consternation of most of her other relatives I have to point out; with the exception of Kylie of course.

Although Lady Minerva still had her estate in Scotland -- Burgess and Fabian's father (and possibly Fabian himself, but he wasn't charged over it) had liquidated some of the Wisdom family assets; the cash had disappeared into the crooks bank accounts. And from there, to... well, no one knew for sure. Whatever Kylie was still a very rich woman, but my potential worth was the greater. Lady Tanya and I spent many hours together where she... taught me how one should handle.... living with that kind of cash in the bank.

Less than a year after our wedding Kylie and I -- along with her aunt Tanya -- moved into the manor house I'd first met Tanya in. Both Tanya and Kylie thought that the Hall was too large to bring up a modern family in.

Tarrent Hall is undergoing complete and full restoration, in readiness to be opened to the public in the near future. Lady Minerva's Scottish estate is in the process of being repaired and converted into a country hotel. It had been all but abandoned by William Burgess, while he was running things.

---- ---- ---- ----

Only the psychiatrist who set the place up, and a couple of his staff were charged with kidnapping Lady Minerva. Well all the other staff had been told that she was a very mixed-up Sarah Jessup, who thought she was Lady Minerva Wisdom.

Just about the perfect cover story actually. The odd times that Kylie did manage to speak to anyone and tell them that she was being held against her will, she was telling what they already knew. Or, what they thought she incorrectly believed, anyway; does that make sense?

Mind you, that didn't explain away that guy on reception, claiming that he'd never heard mention of a Lady Minerva. But then again, he had claimed that he'd never been anywhere near the fourth floor anyway, didn't he?

---- ---- ---- ----

As I've already told you, William Burgess was eventually picked-up in the Philippines. On his return to the UK, he faced all kinds of charges connected with his businesses empire; as well as complicity in the kidnapping and unlawful detainment of Kylie. To which -- somewhat surprisingly -- he pled guilty. But less than a year later (before he'd been brought up on the conspiracy to commit murder charges) he was found dead in his prison cell, from a heart attack. One wonders whether he knew he was on borrowed time, and that's why he had wanted the court case over as quickly as possible.

Fabian's father never did stand trial. By the time the Argentinean authorities went looking for him, he was nowhere to be found. Apparently he'd been getting up to similar tricks, in his business dealings out there, as Burgess had been pulling in the UK Europe and America. Fabian himself, served five years of a seven-year sentence, and then was shipped off out of the country. I'm not sure, somewhere in Eastern Europe I believe.

Kylie and I have three children now, and we spend quite a few weeks every summer at the Cliff Head. Jack and Grace along with Lady Tanya are godparents to all of the children, of course. Tanya actually comes along sometimes, and with Grace's connivance, she drives Aunt Gertrude potty. But I think its all a big game to them really.

That really is the whole story, as I know it anyway. Lady Minerva will add no more I'm sure. But if you can persuade Kylie to put in an appearance, then she's a little more open. It rather depends on whether she decides that you are a friend, or just another nosy undercover reporter.

Life goes on.

Sorry, posting of this story was interrupted by circumstances completely beyond my control. As most people are aware, after an unpleasant email exchange with the sites webmasters, he who is Denham Forrest, refuses to post here personally. R Ribbs