Past Loves Ch. 09: Beth & Humility

All characters involved in sexual activities in this story are over the age of 18

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9: Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony: AD1773

Bethanny and Humility

It always came back to tea. Tea seemed to be the hotbed topic amidst the cafes and salons of the thriving Massachusetts town of Boston that year. Humility Price, daughter of the wealthy merchant Arnold Price, had just about had enough of the infernal brown liquid that had so captured everyone's attention. Every newspaper, broadsheet and gossip column seemed to be fixated on the tariffs, taxes and trade of tea in the colonies and back in England. And Humility, being a smart educated young lady, watched and listened as much as she could.

As far as she could work out, everyone wasn't really angry about tea. The tea was just a metaphor, a cover for the much bigger problems of their little colony on the western shore of the Atlantic. There was a lot of talk about 'no taxation without representation', parliamentary authority in the colonies and stealth taxation.

Even though she was only nineteen, Humility had read enough about the world, to know that it was all just a load of overblown hoo-hah over nothing. The men who ran the government, the Empire and indeed, she supposed, the entire world were merely puffing up their chests and jutting their jaws at each other across the ocean, neither backing down for fear of losing face. There was probably a perfectly reasonable and sensible solution to the whole sordid mess, but things would probably come to blows before anyone was calm enough to see it.

But, it seemed, there was very little that Humility could do about it. Or any woman for that matter, her sex was expected to be quiet, demure and domestic, not opinionated or outspoken. So for now she sipped her bitter coffee, freshly imported by the Dutch, and looked over the rim of her cup and her glasses to read her paper. She allowed the words from the page to wash over and through her and cocoon her in a peaceful closed-off world of her newspaper, fresh off the press that morning.

Although she had been born in England, Humility never remembered seeing the homeland, as she and her family had moved to the colonies when she was only two years old. Her father's successful paper making and trading business had flourished in Boston, and she had been brought up, if not in luxury, then at least in comfortable peace. And what with paper being her father's stock and trade, she had had nearly unlimited access to books, journals, papers and all manner of printed word, that she had ravenously devoured from an early age. She was considered by all who knew her to be a devilishly intelligent girl, if quiet and closed off, having few friends or acquaintances in the Boston social circles.

She had been invited to many parties and social gatherings by others of her age that she had been encouraged to mingle with. Humility found these dinners and dances and promenades exhausting most of the time, and inevitably ended up leaving early to seek the solace of solitude and her books. It was for this reason, and perhaps others, that she had yet to be proposed to by any of the young men who had occasionally come sniffing around her father's business. It seemed that her closed off nature and quick wit were always a little too much to handle for these boisterous, dull men. Frankly, Humility was happier without them.

She certainly looked like she lived up to her name though. Currently, she was seated in a comfortable corner booth in one of Boston's many bustling coffee shops. Her long mousy-blonde hair was up in a sensible high bun behind her head, tied with a blue ribbon. Her face was poised in a look of mild concentration as her blue-grey eyes flitted back and forth across the page, her brow slightly furrowed and her thin pink lips pursed. She was wearing a high-necked, long pale blue gown which hugged her thin waistline and narrow hips very sensibly. She sat with her right leg crossed over her left, as her long slender arm reached down to her coffee cup for another sip.

For those around her, the figure of Humility in the corner booth was a regular fixture of the coffee shop. Dead to everyone but the characters in her book or the news in the paper, she would sit there and drink coffee either until she ran out of pages or refills.

It was therefore quite a shock to Humility when a loud, ugly shout of alarm rose up from outside and she looked up briefly to see several young men run past the window, shouting something to the people behind them. The next moment there was a bang as the door to the shop burst open and a young woman ran into the establishment in a flurry of skirts, loose hair and autumn wind.

The young woman took one quick glance around the main room, as everyone stared at her in shock, before her eyes alighted on the empty seat at the table next to Humility and strode purposefully towards her.

Humility regarded this strange creature with intrigue and fascination over the top of her reading glasses. The young woman was not like any creature she had ever seen before. She was neither the model of the prim and proper ladies of society that her mother was always encouraging her to fraternise with. Nor was she the rough and red-faced fishwife or serving wench that inhabited the lower strata of society.

The young woman now approaching Humility's table was wearing a most peculiar set of clothes. What looked to be a set of loose, billowy trousers which gathered at the heel. To reveal the dirt-stained boots on her admittedly dainty feet. On top she was wearing a well fitted, maroon coloured jacket, with open-necked blouse underneath. Her hair was long and dark, but currently tied up in a loose ponytail behind her head, but several strands had broken loose and hung like unruly vines down over her face. Her face was firm and determined looking, her skin was pale olive brown, and her eyes were rimmed with dark makeup giving her a fierce and intense expression.

Without waiting to be asked, the strange woman sat down in the armchair next to Humility and placed a golden sovereign on the table.

'This is for you, gorgeous. Keep it, let me borrow your paper and stay quiet, please.'

Humility was too shocked to even reply, she looked down at the gold coin which had been placed on the table with her mouth open, before looking back up at her peculiar new seatmate, and then back down at the coin. Without waiting to be asked, the woman reached over and pulled the paper gently but firmly out of Humility's fingers, she was too taken-aback to resist. And then the woman sat back in the armchair and held the paper up in front of her face, as if studying its contents intensely.

Humility had just about regained her wits enough to protest at this woman's rude intrusion into her afternoon, when there was another bang as the door swung open once more. In stepped two red-coated infantrymen wielding muskets strode into the coffee shop. Humility noticed her new companion tense up slightly at the sound of their leather boots on the stone floor, and just at the edge of hearing she heard her whisper,

'Don't tell them I'm here... please.'

There was a slight tremor in the voice. Humilty's heart rate increased slightly. She knew that she should just alert the infantrymen as to where the woman was sitting, but at the same time she had read about the severe beating and punishments laid out to those who defied the King's men. Did she really want to be responsible for sending this young woman beside her to prison, or perhaps worse? And, she found herself peculiarly intrigued by the strange individual, she was exciting and devious. Something stirred within Humility, a curiosity for this woman, why was she on the run from these lobsterbacks? Could it be something terrible? Was she harbouring a violent criminal right now?

'Why are they looking for you?' She furtively whispered back, whilst keeping her eyes on the soldiers. 'What did you do?

'Nothing awful I swear,' the woman replied also in a hushed whisper, 'some friends and I just got a little carried away with offloading the new tea consignment, that's all.'

'What? They're after you because you offloaded some tea?'

'Yeah, that's all. Offloading tea. Off the ship. Into the harbour. Nobody got hurt, just a big tea-party that's all.'

A nervous chuckle escaped from behind the newspaper, and Humility looked over to where the soldiers were now talking to the shop's proprietor.

'They're after you because you dumped a load of tea into the sea?' Humility whispered incredulously. This woman was clearly a troublemaker, and a scoundrel, but did that mean that she deserved to be dragged off to the stockade by two of the military bullies? Humility didn't think so.

'Come with me,' she said calmly, before standing and putting her payment for the coffee on the table, and retrieving the gold sovereign she had been offered.

'What?' The young woman asked from behind the paper.

'Come with me right now, I know a way out of the back of this shop. I'll get you away from these thugs and then you can tell me all about it, come on.'

Whether it was Humility's matter-of-fact tone, or the fact that she didn't have any other options, Humility didn't know. But quickly, the two of them were out of the main room, down the corridor and out the back door of the building and into the alley beyond before anybody could notice they were gone.

'Whew, thanks gorgeous, that was a close one,'

'You're welcome, and please don't call me gorgeous, good lady, my name is Humility. I would most appreciate it if you would tell me your name.'

'Ha! I'm certainly no good lady, but it's very nice to make your acquaintance gorgeous Humility. The name's Bethany, Bethany Hargreaves, at your service. But most people just call me Bad Beth.'

Humility's blood ran cold and then hot once again as she realised that she knew this woman, or at least knew of her. The notorious smuggler of Dutch imports and illegal goods that had been running rings around the naval patrols of the East India Company for months. If she were to believe everything that she had read in the papers then she was now in the presence of a infamous fugitive from the law, and probably the most interesting person she had ever met.

'So what now, Lady Humility?' Bad Beth asked with a mock curtsey. 'You helped me out with those lobsterbacks, I'm sure there's something I can do to repay you?'

Humility looked left and right, and seeing no other people around, reached out with her arm and neatly tucked it under Beth's, making it look like the two of them were just two friends out for an afternoon stroll through the city. At the same time she whispered in the taller woman's ear,

'If you really are who you say you are then by all accounts you are a very bad woman. A dangerous person to know and by even associating with you, I am putting myself at risk.'

'Then why help me? I could just walk away right now and you never have to see me again.'

'Because I am a good woman. I have never been bad in my entire life. The only excitement that I have found has been between the pages of my books and papers, distant tales of long gone or far away adventures. But, I can keep you safe, simply come with me back to my home not two streets away and you will not be found by the king's men for your crime.'

'And what's in it for you 'good woman' Humility?'

'You are not a good woman 'Bad Beth' you are exciting and rebellious, I find you intriguing. So if you will indulge a good woman's fancy, then you will come with me, I will keep you hidden and you can indulge me with your tales of high adventure and stirring endeavours.'

At that, Beth stopped in her tracks and pulled Humility round until the two of them were face to face, mere inches apart. They were close enough for Humility to look up slightly at Beth's light brown eyes and see the inquiring, puzzled look on the notorious smuggler's face. She seemed to be analysing her, as if checking her out for subterfuge. They were close enough that Humility could feel the warmth of Beth's body in the cool autumn air and see the delicate moisture of her lips.

'What do you say, Bad Beth?'

'All right good-girl Humility, lead the way.' And with that, the smuggler offered her arm once more for Humility to link into hers and the two of them walked nonchalantly through the streets of Boston back to her house.

- - -

Once they were back at the house, Humility quickly got them settled into the lounge next to the fire with another pot of tea (Dutch imported of course) and a request not to be disturbed by the servants. Her father and mother were also away for the next two days so they would not be disturbed.

For Humility the next several hours flew by in a blur. Beth's stories of her life on the high seas, dodging patrolls, dealing with pirates, bargaining with criminal gangs and greedy privateers was more than she could have ever imagined. As well as this, Beth was an expert storyteller, adding spice and intrigue to her tales, whilst always making Humility the centre of her attention. When she was listening to her, Humility felt like nothing else in the world existed, so enraptured was she in the other woman's tales.

But it wasn't just the stories that excited and intrigued her. Bad Beth herself was both a dashing, charismatic young woman, and a beauty. She had doffed her maroon long-tailed jacket when she had stepped inside, allowing her open-necked blouse to open more freely at her collar, exposing her delicate, tanned neckline and even a hint of bosom at the crux of her cleavage. When she stood to illustrate a point or add motioned action to ehr tales, Humility found her eyes wandering downwards to the wide, curvaceous form of her hips and nimble legs. Her hair now fell in untamed ribbons around her face and her cheeks were flushed from the warm interior, her eyes were alight with the thrill telling her tales to such a receptive audience.

Although she had lived a sheltered life, Humility had read enough trashy romances and lover's novels to recognise the feelings which were bubbling up inside her. It was so strange, to be so captivated, and entranced by someone, let alone another woman, a creature of the same sex and gender as her. It was forbidden, sinful, exciting and tantalising. She knew that what she felt was real, unavoidable, a secret taboo pleasure that she simply must indulge her body in.

After another exhausting story featuring a pirate king and an unidentified sea-monster Beth seemed to calm for just a moment, coming back to the sofa on which Humility had sat enraptured, and smiled sweetly at her.

'I've been doing a lot of talking this past while now Miss good girl. It's nice to have someone listen to my stories. But it's not every day that a beautiful young woman like yourself offers to put me up in her private home just for want of a good tale. There must be something more going on here? Something you haven't told me? Why don't you tell me about yourself?'

'Me?' Humility replied, suddenly very aware of Beth's closeness to her on the sofa beside her.

'I'm afraid that there's not much to tell. Like I said, I've always been my father's good girl, never done anything out-of-order or done anything to defile the family's name. Not like you Beth, you're a bad girl. Someone like me shouldn't even be seen in the same county, let alone the same house, the same room as you.'

As she teased, Humility unconsciously shifted her weight on the soft sofa beneath her, feeling herself drawn forwards by Beth's hypnotically beautiful dark-rimmed eyes. Her lips parted slightly as she leaned closer, her hand hovering in the air between them.

For a moment Beth looked taken-aback, almost insulted by Humility's playful teasing, she reached over to her drink and sipped it delicately, all the while maintaining intense eye contact over the rim.

'If that's the way that you feel lady Humility then you only need to ask, and I'll leave. You need never see me again. Like you say, good girls like you shouldnt be mingling with bad girls like me.'

Beth placed her drink back down and continued to lounge back in an easy reclined position. She seemed fully aware of Humility leaning delicately towards her, but seemed prepared to let the other woman come to her.

'No. Don't leave. You've already told me so much, opened my eyes to the world. Just stay with me for a while longer. I'm sure that there's lots more that you could teach me.'

The two of them were close now, Beth leaning back in a lounging position, and Humility draped expectantly towards her, hand still outstretched. Their faces hovered mere inches apart, Humility's perfume's scent mixing with the earthy, hot aroma of Beth's skin. Finally, almost in submission to her advances, Beth reached up gingerly with her hand, her long calloused fingers trembling slightly, maybe with excitement, or trepidation?

Just before their hands touched, the two of them looked up into each other's eyes one more time, both seeing the desire, the passion and the desperate need swirling inside. And then finally their fingertips touched, before their fingers quickly entwined and their mouths softly opened to mesh together in a long lustful drawn out kiss.

Humility allowed her body to melt forward so that her whole weight pressed down onto Beth's, their slim frames pressing together tightly. Humility thought that she must have died and gone to heaven, rather than being condemned to hell for this act. The soft but firm feeling of Beth's body beneath hers, and the tight grip of her hand, holding hers along with the expert, delicious flicking of her young inside her mouth was enough to make her moan out loud with the sensation.

For just a moment the two of them broke their kiss and looked into each other's eyes again, smiling happily in the moment. Beth reached up and cupped Humility's face tenderly in her palm, and Humility inclined her neck down so that she could kiss it lightly on the rough skin there.

'For such a good girl, you sure do behave in a bad way miss Humility,' Beth teased playfully.

'Well it must be the influence of such a bad girl encouraging me.' Humility replied, throwing caution to the wind and reaching up to untie her perfect hair-do. Her long mousey blond locks fell down around her head like a long mane, and Beth reached up to run her fingers delightedly through their mass. Humility enjoyed the soft, gentle pulling of her lover's hand through her hair and arched her back, biting her lower lip.

The two women dived back into each other in another open-mouthed kiss which drew gasps and moans from both of them. Humility's hands raked and pulled at the loose fitting blouse which covered Beth's upper body, pulling it fully off to reveal her beautiful, creamy brown neckline and chest, leading down to her tight, simple corset below. Humility leaned in and lightly licked and nibbled at Beth's neckline, licking tenderly along the line of her clavicle until she reached the rounded shoulder, where she bit lightly on the soft flesh there. Beth moaned out in pleasure as she did, and cradled her head tenderly, forcing her head down into her neckline to kiss and bite softly even more.

Humility pulled back for a moment, looking down at her partially clad lover through the now free flowing rivulets of her hair.

'You've been a bad girl, Miss Hargreaves,' she cooed in a sultry dominating voice, as she gazed down at Beth over the top of her gold-rimmed glasses.

'A bad girl, tempting little old me into such devilish acts of wanton lust.'

'If I've been a bad girl then maybe Miss Humility will teach me a lesson?' Beth replied playfully, as she reached up to cup the full ripeness of Humility's breasts still encased in their corseted prison. Humility smiled sweetly and pressed herself gratefully into the strong firm grip of her lover's hands and ran her slim, dextrous fingers up and along the other woman's arms.