A Walk on the Water

"Perhaps you'd like to go exploring," the Señora suggested with a smile, startling Alannah out of her reverie. "You can use one of the back entrances when you come and go; that way you may let yourself in and out without making Maria drop whatever she's doing. But don't you go traipsing through my gardens! If you feel you must look at them, stay to the footpaths. I daresay they're clearly enough marked."

Before the Señora could finish her thought, Alannah was thanking her and walking out of the glass room. She certainly didn't need to be prompted twice, she found her way out of the house and found herself standing on a narrow side path in the midst of the most bewitching back garden she had ever laid eyes on. There she came face to face with Nicolò, who was blushing, apparently he had seen her turn and remove her underdress. He walked up to her and planted a very passionate kiss on her lips, pulling her more into him as he was doing so. She felt his manhood grow with every lingering moment. When they parted he whispered in her ear "You have a beautiful body Alannah, I would like to be more than just your companion. I would like to be your lover." And with that he kissed her again, and then let her go breathless and longing for more.

Alannah walked along the paths, the place had an exotic, wild look, every flower, every tree and shrub appearing to be native to the island. It was more like stepping into a sort of giant floral jungle than a garden: she felt dwarfed by the enormous broad-leafed plants and tall brakes of fern, by the flowering shrubs that were as tall as small trees, by clumps of towering palm trees that leaned like watchful sentinels. Everywhere there grew a silent symphony of brilliant flowers and beautiful colors, some of them too enormous to be believed - but something of their fragrance soon became too overpowering, sending Alannah moving on in search of a setting more suited to her present mood.

Within moments she was out of the garden and onto a grassy lea with a number of small sheds and glass greenhouses, and she followed a well-used footpath that brought her eventually to a field and another footpath that winded its way down toward the lake. This place was more subdued, a place of grassy knolls that was dotted with small white flowers and low marshland with tall blowing grasses. Tiny birds would occasionally make their presence known, they were chirping and chasing one another about, and they would occasionally stop to cling to a tall grass or marsh plant and watch her.