Women in White

"Who are you?" I whispered.

"I'm the woman in white," she replied. "Didn't you see my white dress before the candle blew out?"

"Yes," I replied. "I saw, but you are not the only woman in white tonight. I know who the others are but not you. Have we met before?"

"Briefly, in passing, you might say, but you had only a fleeting glimpse. After tonight you should know me better."

"Maybe..."

Her lips cut me off. Her hand covered my mouth at the end of the kiss.

"We will be well acquainted, Mike. If you like you can call me Mariana."

"Of the moated grange?" I joked.

"No, of the moated castle. Mariana is a good enough name for the moment."

As she was speaking she rested on one arm and pulled her skirt and petticoats out from underneath her body. Her bare legs were still very cold against my skin. I flinched.

"You're very cold," I protested.

"Then you'll have to warm me up, won't you Mike. Like this..."

Her hips pressed against me. A hand grasped my erection and guided it inside her. Even there was cold. My tool shrank at the contact yet her hand thrust it deeper. Her muscles contracted around me, squeezing me tight before relaxing and then repeating the process. My erection returned, stronger than before as her pussy massaged it. Her legs tightened around mine, her arms wrapped around my pinioned ones, her lips pressed hard and her tongue probed. I felt trapped, not just by my bonds but by her body and limbs.

Mariana pounded up and down on me, smashing the breath from me on every downward thrust. She seemed to object to the noise I was making. She grasped the hem of her skirt and petticoats and stifled my mouth with them. That precipitated my orgasm and I bucked hard up against her next thrust, shooting deep into her. I sagged back as she continued to ride me mercilessly until she too reached a climax.

After my first climax she held me deep inside her with firm pressure until I began to respond again. This time I was able to hold myself back until she had shuddered in climax several times. She too was becoming noisy. She pushed her skirts back over my face and kissed me through them muffling her own cries as well as mine.

Eventually she relaxed and settled down on top on me, still holding me inside her. We drifted off to sleep.

I woke just before dawn. Mariana was riding me again. This time her skin felt warm and soft. When she was satisfied and I was shattered from the exertion she gradually sat up and pulled her skirt and petticoats down. Her knees gripped my hips. Her clothing covered me from ankles to neck.

"Sorry, Mike," she said. "I have to leave you now. If you want me, same time, same place."

She thrust the scarf back between my lips and tied it in place with some material I didn't recognise. She climbed off me and tucked the bedclothes back in place. I felt her hair brush across my face, and the scent of lavender as she kissed me on the forehead. Then she was gone.

Anne and Emma released me from my bondage soon after dawn.

"Sorry, Mike," Emma said. "Did you sleep well? Did you have an enjoyable night?"

"Yes," I murmured. "Who was she?"

"She?" Emma asked. "What she?"

"The one who came in the night."

"It wasn't me," Emma said.

"Nor me," added Anne.

"I know that," I replied. "It wasn't Maureen either. It was someone else. So who was she?"

"We don't know," Anne answered. "We didn't arrange anything for you. We just wanted you out of the way while..."

I sat up.

"You two are having me on," I complained. "Why did you tie me up if not to be ready for her."

Anne was getting exasperated.

"Mike. Listen carefully. We didn't arrange for anyone to visit you in the night. No one could have got in. The doors were bolted on the inside. What are you talking about? The drug didn't affect the others like this. They seem normal this morning."

"Anne!" Emma hissed. "What's this?"

She held something up between herself and Anne.

"I don't know," Anne replied. "It's not ours."

Emma whispered in her ear and tucked whatever it was under her T-shirt.

"OK, Mike. Someone came to see you during the night. It wasn't any of us. We didn't set it up. I'll ask Maureen about this. If she doesn't know about it I'll give it back to you as a souvenir of whatever happened."

Emma did, later that day. It was a pair of Victorian long-legged pantaloons. They had been wrapped round my mouth holding the gag in place. Mariana must have left them. They still smelled faintly of lavender.

That was last Halloween. Since then I have found no trace of Mariana nor anyone vaguely like her. The three couples are now married. I was the Best Man at all three weddings. Mariana remained a mystery. All of us eventually thought she must be the real woman in white.

Tonight we are re-enacting last year's Halloween as a tribute to the night when the three weddings were made possible. I wanted no part of it. If Mariana was a real woman then I would have found her. If she was a ghost?

I intended to slip away before the end of the evening. The three women tricked me again. This time the drug was in my first glass of whisky. I'm back in my cell, bound to the bed, gagged and helpless. I have just come round from the drug and I can hear the rustle of a long dress approaching me.

Is it a woman or the ghost of one? I don't know.