Shanghaied

"Come here!" ordered Rebecca as she tugged Archie down onto the bed. Slowly, they worked off each other's clothes. Off came the stiff red military tunic. Open came the row of buttons that closed the dress. Off came the military boots. The dress fluttered to the floor. He held her close in her cool white slip, his hands sliding along her trim body in wonder. Off came his undershirt revealing a dark hairy chest dusted with gray. He worked off the slip and took in her perfect svelte body in the astonishingly sexy underthings. He realized that he had been hard again for some time. His pants and socks came off, leaving him naked before her appreciative eyes. He divested her of the lacy brassiere and the French cut nickers but insisted that she keep on the stockings and the suspenders. She was above him now, centering her blonde womanhood over his erect manhood. She slid down with a gasp, planted a succulent kiss upon his lips before returning to an upright position.

He fondled her adorable breasts as she rode, and he pumped in silence. Before long, Rebecca was making little kittenish mewing sounds that increased in frequency and ferocity. She cried out, "Oh God!" as Archie exploded deep inside her before collapsing atop him and burying his face in a fusillade of kisses. Together they laughed as Archie held her tight. There was simply no need for conversation.

They fell into a brief slumber. Both awoke refreshed and extremely horny. Archie amazed Rebecca by dining or her kitty, something she did not know men even did. He focused on the knot behind her hood and Rebecca savored the remarkable sensations coursing through her body. Archie clearly knew what he was doing. He edged her closer and closer before backing off for a moment and then plunging her into an orgasm that had her aflutter from temples to great toes. "Gosh!" she sighed, "Where did you learn THAT Archie?"

"A gentleman never tells," he replied as he kissed her full or the lips. Rebecca tasted herself and found it pleasant.

"Up for something different love?"

"Oh, yes, Archie!"

"Up or all fours in the center of the bed."

Rebecca obeyed. From a dispenser on the bedside table, Archie coated his hands with olive oil and then proceeded to run his fingers all over the opening to Rebecca's pert little bum.

"Archie?" she asked apprehension in her voice.

"Trust and obey your elders," he said soothingly.

He finished the task at hand and then oiled up his erection. Slowly, deliberately, he began to enter her backside.

"Archie!"

"Relax, love. That is an order."

Rebecca managed to get ahold of her breathing. She began focusing or what she thought Archie was up to. Suddenly it began to feel very good as her rectum expanded to take all of Archie's maleness in. And then he was balls deep inside her. The rocking motion seemed to stimulate her love knot from the opposite side. Archie's pace increased and Rebecca found herself panting for breath. All at once, Archie released himself deep inside and his penis withdrew like a snake from a cave.

"Jesus!" cried Rebecca. She turned to face him and for the second time of the evening both emitted gales of laughter.

"I bet they didn't teach you THAT when they made you an officer!"

"You'd be surprised, lassie," he replied with a wink.

"I've never been with a man like you before, Archie."

Fearing it would ruin the evening, Archie nonetheless followed the question up.

"What sorts of men have you been with?"

"Greedy, self-centered ones who have no consideration of a woman's needs or desires!"

"I'm very sorry to hear that, love," returned Archie as he gently stroked Rebecca's hair.

"Thank, you but it is my lot in life."

Again, Archie found himself overwhelmed with desire. A different, more piquant desire. A simple urge to please this wonderful, kind woman. He began kissing her all over. He expertly suckled her breasts he kissed her ribs, circled her navel with red-hot kisses, and took a tour of each leg down to the least toe. He had her roll over and he kissed every part of her back, all along the spine, the dimples in her knees and butt, her long, graceful neck. She turned under him and parted her legs. He slid in like a buttered knife. Rebecca allowed Archie to do all the work while she lay there and savored his attentions. She came softly with a mournful sigh followed by, "Thank you ever so much, Archie."

"You are welcome, Miss Jones, whoever you are, you are very welcome."

"It's late, we should get some sleep, Archie," she said as she yawned.

"You are quite right," he echoed. She was in the arms of Morpheus, just seconds ahead of him.

**

Rebecca stepped out of Archie's bathroom in the spare robe he kept handy. The shower had been so refreshing. In so many ways, she felt like a new woman. In addition to the evening with Archie, which she would treasure forever, she was positive that she had saved Benny's life. In the light of day, she felt guilt, but not as much as she had anticipated. Actually, she was still brimming over with warmth from the night before.

All the clothes she had worn to the room were absent as Archie had insisted that they be laundered and ironed at his expense. She sat opposite him across the table on which a room service breakfast sat. To Rebecca, it mattered not that her robe was so short or that so much of her was hanging out of it. She adored the way Archie appreciated her. No wolf-leer, simply honest, open, admiration. "If only all men were like Archie," she mused. Over the traditional English breakfast with coffee for her and tea for him, they exchanged pleasantries, like a long-married couple. Although both wanted more of each other, both somehow understood that their phenomenal evening could never be surpassed and trysting by daylight would utterly ruin the magic.

He quizzed her on geography by having her guess in what country was the city he named where he had served. At first, she had to surrender kisses for every wrong answer. The bright, but not very well-educated American lost so many times that Archie ordered her to forfeit her robe as well. He gazed at her alabaster loveliness as she sat in his great chair, unashamed and bare as Eve; her back to the open doors of his balcony eagerly committing her trim, compact, physique to memory.

The magic was broken by the arrival of her freshly laundered clothes and Archie's subsequent announcement that "A military commander can only delay returning to active duty so long."

She agreed to his request to allow him to dress her. Archie did so delicately and expertly, having no trouble in getting her seams to lie straight or her hat to sit correctly. They kissed deeply before Archie led her to the elevator. He could accompany her no further. In a glorious daze, Rebecca hailed a cab. When she opened her purse to pay the driver, she discovered three one hundred Pound notes inside, pinned together through a fabric letter A. The taxi deposited Rebecca before the not upscale at all, hotel where Benny and she were staying. She paid her fare and rushed into the building and up to her room. A package had preceded her. Rebecca tore it open to find the clothes she had worn to Chang's the previous morning. She searched in vain for her wedding band and engagement diamond, but they were nowhere to be found. Rebecca practically ached to have them back or the third finger of her left hand. The clothes she was currently wearing were, apparently, a gift.

Rebecca hastily stripped off and found some acetone to get the whore's red off her nails. She looked at the cast-off clothes. It seemed a shame to just toss them away, even if she could not think of another occasion on which she would ever wear them again. She folded them into a neat bundle and secreted them into the bottom of her suitcase. She put on one of her familiar frocks and wondered what to do next.

There was a knock at the door. When she answered it, a Chinese telegram boy stood waiting. Rebecca paid for the wire, closed the door, and tore open the envelope.

TONIGHT. STOP

SUGGEST YOUR HUSBAND MAKE SPEEDY HASTE FROM SHANGHAI. STOP.

Signed. C.

That was it then. She had fulfilled her bargain and now Chang would fulfill his. She did not feel as relieved or as happy as she had anticipated. With literally nothing to do but wait, Rebecca made her way to the hotel lounge and browsed foreign fashion and travel magazines. Despite herself, her thoughts often returned to Archie. She had a night, brief as it was, that was like the ones she read about in romance stories and cheap novels. A night when she had been, appreciated, loved, and adored. Yes, she reminded herself, she loved Benny, but...

After tiring of reading, she made her way to the café and ordered a simple lunch. She followed this by writing and mailing mundanely worded picture postcards that gave no hint as to how things had gone for herself and Benny in this captivating city. Dusk settled over Shanghai. Bored, Rebecca turned in early.

**

Benny was rousted from his cell in the middle of the night.

"It is time to meet your maker, Hayes!" barked a guard.

"I thought they did these things at dawn," replied Benny as he worked the sleep out of his eyes.

"Change of plans, Yank!" came the immediate rejoinder.

"Don't I get a priest or something?"

"No time! Get moving!"

A short time later, Benny was being led up the thirteen steps of the gallows, his hands shackled behind his back. His overarching moods were of irritation mixed with sadness. Even up to this moment, he never believed that he'd truly hang.

As he mounted the top step, a hooded man slid a small bag into his breast pocket and whispered in his ear, "The means of your deliverance, Hayes."

There was a sudden tumult. From concealment places in various alleyways, a row of scarlet tunics appeared. British soldiers! There was hollering and gunfire. A British marine scaled the gallows as the hangman departed in fear.

"What ails you, man! We are here to rescue you!" barked the marine.

Instantly, Benny sprang into action. He hustled down the thirteen steps and allowed himself to get swept up in a scrum of marines as they came under what seemed like heavy fire. Then, the marines were in the clear, congratulating each other as one of them freed Benny's bonds. For the longest time, the American sat dazed in his seat in the omnibus of marines as it headed out of the walled-off section of Shanghai. Finally, he reached into his vest pocket. Even under the pale light of the street-side gas lamps, Benny recognized the rings. "Oh, Becky!" he moaned. Suddenly, all the tears he had refused to shed since being arrested were upon him at once.

They dropped him off at his hotel as dawn was breaking. Scarcely believing his deliverance, Benny made his way across the threshold. As quietly as possible, Benny entered his room. There was just enough light falling on the mattress for Benny to discern that his wife's ring finger was quite naked. In a mixture of rage and gratitude, he collapsed onto a nearby couch and cried angry tears this time before he slid into a restless slumber.

"Darling! Darling Benny!" Rebecca was shaking him awake.

She moved to kiss him, but Benny was having none of it. He held out the incriminating rings.

"What is the meaning of this?" he said in an accusatory tone.

"I saved your life, Darling!"

"How?"

"That doesn't really matter now, does it, Benny?"

"Yes, it does! What did you do? Did you sleep with that filthy Chang?"

"NO! Benny, of course not! We are back together again and that is all that matters."

"You did something! What did you do, woman?"

"I did what I had to do to save you, you jackass!"

"I have to know what you did!"

"Benny! I will not have you talk to me that way. Calm down. Let's have breakfast and a celebration."

"I'm alive because you fucked somebody! Somebody important, right? You whored yourself out!"

"Benny. Calm down. We have a fresh start. You didn't die."

"Who did you fuck, bitch?"

"Benny..." Rebecca's face twisted with emotion, and she began weeping.

"Spare me the tears and tell me exactly how you got me out of Chang's clutches."

"No! It's personal!"

"I'm your Goddamned husband! You wear or wore, at any rate, the rings I gave you! Why did you take off your rings? Who did you fuck?"

"I should have let Chang kill you!"

"Maybe you should have!"

"It would have served you right! What I did, I did because I love you! I love you, Benny!"

"And yet you spread your legs for someone else! Who?"

"All right, you, ungrateful ass! Chang had me sleep with the commander of the British garrison in exchange for your freedom. There! Satisfied? Next, you are going to ask me if I enjoyed it. I most certainly did! Archie is twice the man you will ever be!"

"Oh, Becky! How could you?"

"Because I love you, jerk!"

"Oh, Becky! Becky!"

He reached out and took his wife in his arms. "You should have let me die. You'll never be the same. We'll never be the same."

"Perhaps, we won't ever be the same, Darling Benny. But we can start fresh and in time all of this will fade like a bad memory."

"Rebecca, don't you understand that for as long as I live, every breath that I will take will be because of my wife's quim? I'm alive because you became a whore. I can NEVER hold my head up high ever again!"

"Do you think it was easy for me? They strip-searched me before I was allowed to visit you. It was humiliating and embarrassing, but I endured it because I love you! Do you think I wanted to do any of the things I did? I have to live with this for the rest of my days as well. But I CAN hold my head up high because I did what a loving and noble wife should do when necessary. I saved your life! Now, you can wallow in your male vanity, or you can get on with the task of living. We have families. You have a career. We have friends, and NONE of them ever has to know what either of us did in this city. You murdered a man, yet I forgave you. I became something I am not for your sake. Yet you think my "crime" is somehow worse than yours! You, put me in that position, Darling Benny. Never forget that."

"Oh, Becky. I'm sorry."

The reunited couple kissed for a long time before Rebecca broke things off and said, "Let's order breakfast from room service, Benny. Let's talk about this over bacon, eggs, and coffee."

Benny was calmer once the food arrived. After a few bites of food and sips of coffee, he started in again.

"Rebecca, you have to tell me everything."

"That will only hurt you to no purpose, darling."

"But I have to know about the man who had MY wife!"

"What good would that serve, Benny? It will get inside you and fester until it is gangrenous."

"I have to know, Beck!"

"No, you don't."

"I can never sleep with you again, Rebecca so long as his shadow hovers over our bed."

"I'm sure you'll change your mind with time, husband."

"No, I won't"

"Fine. Deny yourself this lovely body. That is your loss."

"You don't understand..."

"Yes, I do. What we need to do is get out of Shanghai. Maybe we can go to India before returning home. I hear that it is lovely."

"What's he like? Is he young or old? Is he rich?"

"That's none of your damn business. It's counter-productive."

"But Rebecca!"

The young wife stood up and cast off her nightdress. The early morning sunlight slanting in the windows practically made her naked body glow.

"See, Benny? I'm just the same. Nothing has changed. This is the body you fell in love with and adore above all others. I'm still the same, and I love you."

"He saw you naked. He has memories of your body. The body of MY wife!"

Rebecca threw her hands up in frustration, "Oh, you are impossible! Finish breakfast and start packing. If you are not out of Shanghai by tonight Chang will finish what he started on you."

The frustrated wife restored her nightdress and strode away from the table. She had no clue as to how to explain to the man she loved that she was talking sense. Knowing all the details would only make things worse between them. She entered the bathroom, locked the door behind her, and started to draw a bath. Only now did she realize that she had yet to restore her rings.

**

An icy wall erected between them. Benny continued to fire questions at his wife and she, adamantly, refused to answer any of them. They managed to book a last-minute passage on a cruise ship headed for the Philippines. It seemed as good a destination as any. As they placed their luggage in their narrow stateroom, they realized that they would have to share one tiny bed.

"I'll sleep on the floor," he said.

"You most assuredly will not!" she answered.

"Why would I bed down with a prostitute?"

"You, imbecile! I did what any wife would have done in my shoes."

"Not any wife. MY wife!"

"Benny, keep this up and I won't be your wife anymore."

"Good!"

Flustered Rebecca grabbed her husband by the tie and made him meet her eyes. "You don't understand. If you divorce me for what I did to save you and our marriage, I will tell everyone we know exactly what you did to those two men in Shanghai! Who do you think is going to get more sympathy, Benny? The murderer or the heroically "fallen" woman? Think your customers will want to do business with a robber and assassin? Think the bank will trust you with anything ever again such as handling your own payroll? Jesus praised Mary Magdalene and she did things far worse than me. If push comes to shove, people will support the wife every time, especially a noble one. I will atone for what I did by being the best possible wife I can be. A better wife than you deserve, you big lummox!"

As Benny stood there, his mind processing his wife's words, Rebecca tugged down his chin and planted a prolonged sensual kiss full upon his stunned lips.

"Do you agree to stop this nonsense now, Benny darling?"

The sandy-haired man's eyes teared up. He shook his head as though coming out of a fog.

"It's going to be hard, Beck, but I'll try."

"We were never promised an easy life by anybody, Benny. What we need is time and togetherness. Let's find a quiet place on a beach in the Philippines and spend the rest of our vacation learning to forgive each other's sins and promising to love each other as fully as possible. We also need to formulate a plan as to how to save your business or resolving ourselves to bankruptcy and a new start. Whatever happens, Benny. I want to be by your side."

Benny sighed. One of the reasons he loved Rebecca was because she knew how to talk to him and inspire him to greater things. Maybe, if he hadn't concealed how bad his company's finances were in the first place, she could have told him the right thing to do before things got out of hand. He really had been acting stupid for a while. He'd gone as far as to kill a man! He was a murderer! The word ricocheted around his mind hot, red, and accusatory. By rights, he should have forfeited his life. What Rebecca had done for him was a blessing no matter how you sliced it. Yes, now there was another man in their marital bed, yet at the same time Rebecca was willing to bed down for the rest of her life with an unalterably changed husband; a man whose hands would always be stained in blood! How could he just toss her away? There were tears in his eyes when he asked weakly, "Why do you love me, Rebecca?"

"I could give you a hundred answers, Benny, but it all comes down to the fact that we are right for each other, and we need each other, and because you're strong, tall, handsome, and kind. Isn't that enough, darling?"

"It's more than enough, baby!"

The subsequent kiss was the most rewarding of their marriage.

"Benny, let's test out this bed."

"Now, you're talking, doll. Let's try something new this time. After all, this is the first night of the rest of our lives."