onny eventually gave into Belinda and stripped down to his birthday suit and they spent the greater part of the day cavorting together in the water like a couple of teenagers. When they finally climbed out of the water, they collapsed on the picnic blanket together. "I want to be fair to you." Sonny told her. "I don't want to use you for a substitute for anyone, even if I'm doing it on a subconscious level."

Belinda placed a finger to his lips. "Shh." She ordered. "I don't want us to talk of this again. You can't use someone who wants to be used by you." She crawled into his lap and straddled his hips, pressing her slippery body to his. "Do you know I love to be naked." She added. "I especially love to be naked with you."

Sonny gave up trying to be fair with her. "I rather like it, myself." He confessed.

"I always had to hide this side from Jocelyn." She revealed. "He would have died of apoplexy if he ever knew the truth about me." She climbed out of his lap and laid back on the blanket so the sun could dry her body. "I enjoy being naked and I love having sex." She mused. "I think life would have been much better for me if I had taken up work in a brothel instead of becoming a rich man's wife. I'd make the perfect whore." She looked over at him with a smile on her face, totally comfortable in her own skin for the first time in her life. "I won't lie to you. I enjoyed having sex with all those men I was with before you. I think I could be perfectly happy earning my living by having sex with men."

Sonny couldn't help it. He threw back his head and laughed. "Well." He commented when he could finally speak. "No one can't say you're not honest about yourself."

"You've done that for me." She told him. "Being with you has enabled me to be myself for the first time in my life." She added. "That's why I don't care if I'm a substitute for someone else. Everything you've given to me balances that out."

He reached over and cupped her cheek in his hand. "I love you, Belinda." He leaned over and kissed her. "Make love to me."

"I thought you'd never ask." She rolled on top of him.

But even as he tried to think about only Belinda as he made love to her, his mind was filled with images of making love with Brenda and how it felt to be with her.

ocelyn was not happy when the butler announced the arrival of his mistress, Claudine Bouchet. What if Belinda had been here when she arrived. Like all men of his class, he kept a mistress on the side, but he'd made sure Belinda had never known about her. "Claudine, what are you doing here?" He asked her coldly. "I told you to never come to the house."

Claudine was not thrilled by his attitude, but she decided to ignore it. "I thought coming here to inform you of the fool you're being made of was more important." She snapped.

"What are you talking about?" He wanted to know. Then he added. "You had better not be making this up in some hopes Belinda will find out about us and leave me."

"Belinda, Belinda, Belinda." Claudine spat. "You fool! She's the one whose making a fool out of you."

"What are you talking about?" He wanted to know.

"Belinda could care less that you're screwing me." She retorted. "She's too busy screwing her brains out with her stable boy."

"Your foul lies against my wife aren't going to work." Jocelyn spat. "I will never leave Belinda for you."

"You still won't face the truth about her, will you?" Claudine demanded. "Just how many men have you caught her with, and how many times have you put the blame on them and given her a pardon for her behavior?"

"It was their fault." Jocelyn declared passionately. "Belinda was taken advantage of by them, if not forced against her will." He added. "And if it's true that she's messing around with Marco Consuelos, then the same is true of him."

"I didn't mention a name." Claudine gloated. "Interesting you knew exactly who I was talking about." She added. "And I'd like to know how you can say she's being forced when she was stripping off her clothes in front of him while he remained dressed. If anyone is being forced, it sounds like the stable boy is being forced to service your slut bride."

"That's a lie!" Jocelyn refused to believe her.

"It's the truth." She yelled back. "I saw them with my own eyes. I saw her lifting up her bare breasts and running her hands down her body to entice her stable boy into giving her the jump she was so hungry for."

"Get out!" He ordered. "I won't listen to anymore of this filth about my wife."

"Fine!" Claudine spat. "Continue to believe all your fantasies about the little tramp your married to. But know this, Jocelyn. Everyone knows your wife has a terminal case of hot-panties for anything male and you're the laughing stock of town as you refuse to believe the truth about it." She sneered as she flounced to the door. "You're the court jester. The fool who doesn't know he's a cuckold. So cuddle up to your fantasies about your pure little bride, while the rest of us snicker behind your back as we watch Belinda lifting her skirts for the lowest of the low."

"Get out!" Jocelyn snarled. "I never want to see you again!"

"Don't worry, you won't." Claudine promised. "I prefer having a man between my thighs, not a cuckold whose too stupid to know he's a cuckold even when he's told." She added one final cutting remark. "By the way, if Belinda should ever births you an heir, and it looks nothing like you, you should be aware it could be the get of any man in town. Single or married, she's been with them all."

And then she was gone, and Jocelyn, once again confronted with his wife's infidelities, tried to whitewash her behavior in his mind. He tried to assure himself she would never allow a man who was little more than a slave to have her. He tried to explain to himself why Belinda had gotten him to allow Marco Consuelos to live in the house with him. Or why she'd refused him entrance to her bed of late.

When he could still the suspicions roaming around in his head any longer, he went in search of Belinda in hopes that being in her presence could allay them. Only when he went to find her, he was told she was out for the day. Upon further investigation he learned she had had cook pack her a picnic lunch and she was seen driving off in her carriage with Marco Consuelos. How cute, a bitter voice inside his head whispered, she and her lover have decided to go off on a picnic.

Jocelyn shook his head violently to make the voice go away. "No!" He screamed to the room. "It's not true. Belinda has not betrayed me. She and Marco Consuelos are not lovers."

onny and Belinda slowly dressed each other after they finally finished making love. Belinda didn't seem to realize Sonny's thoughts had been filled with another woman while his body was making love to hers. Or maybe she knew and just decided to ignore it. "We should probably be getting back." Sonny said to break the awkward silence that had developed between them. "We're playing with fire. We're just begging your husband to catch us."

"Jocelyn wouldn't be able to catch us." She sidled up to him. "If we ran away together." She sighed. "I know I promised not to pressure you about this, but have you been thinking about it?"

"I can't say I have." Sonny put some space between them. "I've been a little busy dealing with my returning memories and the fact I'm not Marco Consuelos indentured servant."

Belinda hadn't thought about that. She'd been too concerned over the Brenda factor. "How is that possible." She asked. "If you're not Marco Consuelos, then why does everyone think you are."

"I don't know." He helped her climb on top of the carriage and he climbed up next to her. "I'm guessing there's a Marco Consuelos somewhere, and if I find him I think all the answers will fall into place."

"Do you think Marco regretted selling himself into indentured servitude and changed his mind." Belinda suggested. "Then maybe he conked you on the head, which caused you to lose your memory, and made everyone think you were him?"

"I don't think so." Sonny sighed. "From what Angus told me, it sounded like Marco Consuelos was brought into that stable, and somehow after that we switched places." He added. "But don't ask me how. The only thing I can figure out is that I look just like Marco." He threw out a wild explanation. "Maybe I came to the stable after Marco arrived, he saw I looked a lot like me, and conked me on the head and switched places with me."

"So you and Marco look alike, just like me and this Brenda do?" For some reason Belinda didn't like that. "What do you think that means?"

"I don't know." Sonny didn't like it either. "But it does seem more than a mere coincidence, doesn't it? Two sets of look-a-likes and I'm lovers with both of the female look-a-likes."

This conversation was becoming too creepy for Belinda and she was desperately trying to come up with something to change the subject. Then she saw it. "Oh, look, Marco!" She cringed. "I mean, Sonny. It's going to take me awhile to get used to calling you Sonny. I'm used of you being Marco."

"It's a gypsy encampment." Sonny looked to where Belinda had pointed.

"Let's stop." Belinda urged. "We can dance with the gypsies and they can tell our fortune."

"How do you know they'll welcome us?" Sonny asked, looking at the encampment with trepidation.

"Because they have before." She told him. "I've spent many a carefree afternoon with the gypsies. Until you, it was only with them that I could be myself."

"Have you also had a few of the male gypsies?" Sonny couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Are you jealous?" She asked hopefully.

"You've been with a lot of men." He pointed out, not admitting to anything.

She slipped her hand boldly between his thighs and cupped him. "And I'm sure this has been inside a lot of women, too."

"I guess it's fair to say we've both been around." He helped her down from the carriage.

"Gypsy men are wonderful lovers." She told him, then caressed his face. "But none are as good as you. You have nothing to worry about." Then she took him by the hand and lead him to the encampment.

"Belinda." Esmeralda, the self-annoited queen of the gypsies greeted Belinda as she came near. Then she undressed Sonny with her eyes. "And how is this fine specimen of manhood."

"He's mine." Belinda declared possessively. Then she looked around. "Do you think we could have some music. I'm in the mood to dance."

"You heard Belinda." Esmeralda clapped her hands together. "She wants to dance. Let's have some music."

Several of the male gypsies got their musical instuments and the air filled with music. Several of the men ogled Belinda openly, and Sonny guessed they knew her intimately. "Come and dance with me." She tried to pull Sonny into the middle of the circle the men had formed.

"I'm not much of a dancer." He refused. "Besides, I think your audience would be disappointed if I danced with you."

"Fine." She sighed in disappointment. "I'll dance alone, but I'll only dance for you."

Sonny stood back and watched her dance seductively, while never taking her eyes off of him. She weaved a seductive spell over Sonny and every man there, until Sonny felt that he was being stared at. He turned around and saw a little old gray-haired gypsy woman glaring at him. Before he could form the words to ask her what she was staring at, she spoke.

"You don't belong here." She spat, then made a sign of the cross to ward off evil.

"What do you mean?" Sonny asked as he walked towards her, strangely drawn to her. "What do you mean I don't belong here. Are you talking about me not belonging here at your encampment or are you talking about something else entirely."

"You know." She accused him. "You know the truth, even though you try to deny it to yourself."

"What's going on here?" When Belinda saw the woman attract Sonny's attention, she stopped dancing and walked over to find out what's going on.

"He's not for you." The old woman looked in her direction. "He belongs to another and nothing will stop her from getting him back." Then she turned back to Sonny. "Look at what you fear to look at. It'll give you the answers you're too afraid to face."

While it sounded like she was speaking in riddles, Sonny knew exactly what the woman meant, and it sent a chill through his body.

"Come on." Belinda lead Sonny away. "It was a mistake to come here."

Sonny helped Belinda to climb back on top of the carriage, then they drove home in silence. Both were haunted by the gypsies words. While Sonny was sure the gypsy had been talking about the suit he was afraid to look at in his closet, Belinda was sure the woman that the gypsy was talking about was Brenda, and that she was going to take Sonny away from her. Belinda wouldn't allow that to happen, no matter what she had to do to stop it.

Both were so lost in thought that neither noticed Jocelyn Jerrold watching them from the window as they walked into the house together.