Valerie and the Bachelor Ch. 04

Marcus, who was already dressed for the excursion produced another outfit. "Well if that's what you'd like? Here's a little something the girls got. Try it on see if you like it." He handed her a full-fledged sailor suit. It had a sailor's cap, wide bell-bottom trousers, a sailor's blouse with bow tie, and a pair of low cut white tennis shoes. As he handed them to her, in reference to her modesty he said. "I know. I'm turning my back now."

She smiled and slipped into the suit. It was an almost perfect fit. She thought the pants were a little long, and the sleeves were either too long, too short, or they were three-quarter. She didn't know. There was another cotton bra cotton panty set, all very comfortable and very functional. Once dressed she announced. "Ready!"

Marcus turned around. "Wow! Everything you wear looks like a million bucks! Come on let's go."

Again they walked hand in hand down the steps and out the front door. This time they had to drive to the wharf which was down the road. When they reached the wharf Marcus took her by the arm and pointed to two boats. One was large, and the other was small. He said. "We're going out in the little sunfish. It's a tiny little fellow, but we're staying close to shore, the wind's mild, and things are balmy. We'll only stay out for about an hour. I don't want you to get overtired or sunburned."

She smiled. "Always the gentleman. You're my kind of guy."

Marcus played along. "And you're my kind of gal."

They got in the boat. He hoisted the small sail and off they went. True to his word she did almost no work. All she had to do was ride along and bend from side to side every now and then. The water was pretty calm, and there was only a mild breeze. She lay back on the boat and soaked up the evening sun. "Oh." She said. "This is the life."

Marcus answered. "Yeah. I could do this everyday." Then he looked at her more closely, with a sly grin he added. "Almost every day."

Valerie just lay back and smiled. She wondered what he had in store for later."

They enjoyed the boat, the sun, the breeze, and each other for the allotted amount of time. Then around 7:45 he announced it was time to head for home. They were back at the wharf in no time. He had them speeding back to the house by 9:00.

When they got back to the house Marcus looked her up and down with a little concern. He said. "Valerie I believe you got a little sun out there this afternoon. Let's go back out on the sun-porch. It has a pleasant western view. We can watch the stars on the western horizon. Maybe I could rub a little aloe on some places where you look a little pink."

Valerie felt more than a little brittle. She was starting to feel fragile, like she was coming down with something. She hoped she would be all right. She still had to get home. Tomorrow was Monday. "OK. I'll let you make over me some more."

Marcus answered. "It'll be my pleasure."

He walked her to the sun-porch. On the way they stopped by the kitchen and he asked one of the kitchen people to bring them a tray of lunch meats, some bread, some salads, and a pitcher of iced tea.

On the porch he pointed to the glider. He said. "Down girl."

Valerie obliged him, but she wasn't sure another massage was what she wanted. "Marcus. I wonder if I couldn't take a short nap. I have to get home. Tomorrow's a workday."

He gave her a closer look. He tilted his head as though he were trying to figure something out. "You don't look too good." He picked up his handy dandy cell phone and called inside. "Could somebody bring out a thermometer?"

Valerie started to get up. "I'm all right. Look it's getting late. I should leave."

Marcus gently pushed her back down. "Not yet. Let me take your temp."

One of the staff had arrived with a thermometer. Marcus shook it down and plunked it her mouth. "You didn't eat anything out of the ordinary?"

Valerie thought back. "No. But I did have a taste of that Beluga Caviar on the table this morning. I didn't like it."

He gave her a very serious look. "I guess not. It was bad. It was on the table to be thrown out. How much did you eat?"

Her ears and eyes were wide as saucers. "I'd never had caviar before. I suppose I tried five, maybe six spoons. I wanted to give it a fair chance."

"Well you gave it a fair chance. The stuff was rotted. Christ!" He said. "Horseback riding, sail boating, and bad caviar." He took the thermometer out of her mouth. "You're sick kid!" He hit another button on his cell phone. Someone somewhere answered. "Valerie will be spending the night. We'll put her in my bed. Please change the sheets, get a big bowl of ice, and put in a call to Doctor McCall's answering service. Tell them we have a case of food poisoning at the Burke's and we'd like an appointment as soon as we can get one for the morning."

Valerie's stomach was starting to churn and she wasn't sure if it was because of the sudden fuss, or if it was something she ate. "No Marcus. I'll be all right. I'll go home and get a good night's sleep and be fine in the morning." She started to try to get up again.

He pushed her back down. "No Valerie you won't go home. You're staying right here. Tomorrow we'll get you to the doctor's, and don't worry about work. I'll put in a call."

She was feeling worse by the minute. He was right. She was getting sick. Still she had her reputation to think about. "What will they say when they find out, I stayed over at your house?"

He answered. "They'll think you were sick. They'll think what a wonderful man that Mr. Burke is. They'll think how lucky she is to have him as her personal nurse. That's what they'll say."

She was feeling achy, and the light was hurting her eyes. She knew the symptoms. She started to cry. "I'm sorry. I ruined your weekend."

He put a finger on her lips. "Shut up. You didn't ruin my weekend. You made my weekend perfect." He leaned over and picked her up. He marveled at how little she was. She was so light. He took his left hand and cradled her head against his chest. Her hair felt soft, fluffy, in his fingers. She had tiny little ears. He nuzzled her. She smelled good, a fresh clean smell. He could feel how warm she was. She felt so delicate and frail. He carried her through the first floor and upstairs to his bedroom. The staff had everything ready. He laid her on the bed. He covered her up with a sheet and light blanket, turned off all but one light, and put a cool cloth on her forehead. He reached into the night table beside his bed and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. There was a water glass beside the bed. He filled it, put two of the pills in her mouth under her tongue so she wouldn't choke, and tilted her head up. "Here. Take these and drink all the water."

She looked up at him like he was some kind of father figure. Her a little girl, and him a grown up. She swallowed the pills and drank the water. She was all dreamy eyed. "Thank you."

He sat back. "Try to go to sleep. I'm going to lay down on the divan over in the corner."

She gave him a wan smile. "Yes sir." She'd drifted off to sleep before he found the divan.

Marcus stayed awake most of the night. He had a couple good books he'd been working on nearby anyway, and there was the crossword in the newspaper. She awakened twice during the night, but they were more fever awakenings than actual wake ups. He kept a close tab on her temperature by feeling her forehead, and he kept cool cloths on her all night. Every now and then he wiped cool water on her face and arms. He couldn't help it. Even if she was feverish, he just really liked touching her. She didn't have any clothes on. He'd slipped them off right after she went to sleep. She didn't get an old fashioned R.E.M. sleep, but she got some of the rest she needed. Off and on all night he played amateur voyeur. He'd slip the coverlet down and look at her. She had such perfect little pear shaped breasts, sweet little aureoles, and perfect little nipples. He took a finger and traced around one of her breasts. He took the same finger and touched up under her arm gently sliding it down her side. She moved and squirmed a little so he stopped. She had such perfect eye lashes, and her eyebrows had such a gentle, delicate, arch to them. He couldn't help it. He had to do it. He leaned down and gave her some butterfly kisses. It tickled, and he liked it. He realized he was getting stupid, so he got up and went back to rest on the divan.

Sometime the next morning Valerie awakened. She felt like she'd been in a brawl. Every muscle ached, her head was pounding, and she was dying of thirst. Over on the divan she noticed Marcus slumped down like he'd been in a losing mob fight. She started to tally up the previous day's events, the short circuited spanking and how it almost ruined the relationship, the horseback riding, the few moments by the stream, her finding a special place by the stream, lunch, her afternoon nap, sail boating, the bad caviar and subsequent illness. She still felt queasy and weak. She lifted her underarm. She stunk! She looked back at Marcus, still asleep on the seat. Wow! She bet he'd stayed up with her all night! Gee! It's Monday, she's supposed to be at work. She took another look at the man in the chair. He really looked wiped. He looked handsome too.

She slithered her head back down on the pillow and studied the man across from her. He was tall, sort of handsome, muscular, and he'd stayed up all night taking care of her. He was a little older than she was, but not much. He had some crow's feet around his eyes. He needed a shave. He had strong looking hands. They weren't heavily callused, but they were obviously a man's hands. He didn't have what you'd call a flat athlete's stomach, but it wasn't round either. Looking at him it was easy to see he took care of himself, but he wasn't obsessive about it. Masculine, manly, but not narcissistic, that was Marcus. He was muscular, but not muscle bound. He had a sharp nose, high cheekbones and manly chin. He wasn't good looking or anything, but he looked good. Not really handsome, he was just good to look at. At least she thought so. She liked looking at him. He'd carried her upstairs in his arms the night before. She'd felt so safe. She knew she wasn't making any sense. She must still have a fever.

She glanced at the night table beside her. There were two glasses of water, one was half-empty, and the other was mostly full but she saw there were still shards of ice in it. He must have tried to get her to drink some ice water, or maybe he'd just put chips of ice on her lips like they do in the hospital. He'd taken care of her. He'd nursed her. There was an opened bottle of Tylenol. She remembered him giving her some. She saw a wash cloth on the table. It looked like it was still damp. The water from the cloth had stained the tabletop. It looked like a mahogany table, not cheap! She remembered him putting something on her forehead. She remembered how good it felt. He had a half dozen people working around here who could have done all this stuff. He'd stayed up, taken off from work, and done it himself, just for her. She dribbled down further in the bed sloshing the covers up around her head and shoulders. God she felt sore. God he looked so damn good. He looked all crumpled. His pants were all bunched up around his waist. His shoes were off, and one of his socks was half off. His Tee shirt looked like it was on backwards. It must have been a tough night for him. Why would he do that? Why would he hang around with her when he had his work and probably a hundred other things to do? Mondays were always busy. He'd stayed here with her. Why did he stay here with her? She knew why!

Valerie felt like she'd been run over by a truck. Oh! She felt awful! She was so tired. She drifted back to sleep. God she hurt. God was she ever in love! Her whole body was one mass of pain. This was the happiest she'd been in her whole life.

Marcus woke up slowly. He saw, though she had been moving around, she was still asleep. He quietly got up and went over to look her over, an angel, his little angel. He went in to take a shower. He'd take a few days off. He was tired anyway. He'd give Valerie some quality time. Work her over a little, feed her some pills, Tylenol, get a doctor out, get some antibiotics in her, maybe a little chicken soup. He'd already cleared her workload off. A little home grown TLC, and then he'd set her up around here. He still wanted his live in, his little sex toy. She was going to fit the bill nicely, very nicely. He was getting a hard on thinking about it, but that was just going to have to wait a few days.