The Nature Of Woman

The is an excerpt from Day Three fo the novella.

Day Three In The Afternoon

As Breanna thumbed through the book, she envisioned the house full of
activity. A collection of attractive people all dancing and
socializing.
The binder did reveal the history of the house in a very specific
manner. It contained photos and newspaper clippings of the house and
the former inhabitants. The estate was built in the latter part of 1910
and was owned by a prominent attorney, Jefferson Martin. He had two
daughters, three sons, and a very beautiful wife. When he passed away
in 1930, the house was put up for auction to pay off his gambling
debts. His wife moved up north with her family. The house sold for
enough to cover the funeral expenses and enough of his debts to keep
them off of her back.
The next owner of the home, Jason King, was a bachelor of thirty-five
years old who had a very successful medical practice in the town; the
only medical practice in town. Every available woman in town spent at
least one exhilarating night in the upstairs master suite. Breanna
imagined a man of some splendor taking her up those long velvet covered
stairs and doing things to her that she only dreamed about. He died in
the house shortly after his fifty-fifth birthday of the pneumonia. He
had no family and no will, so the county auctioned off the house to
raise money for the local orphanage.
The present owner, John Hale, purchased the house from the county that
year. He had purchased the house to turn it into a bed and breakfast,
but when one of the guests on the night of the grand opening
disappeared, he was spooked and he shut it down. He kept it up and
empty for years, but recently he started renting it out for private
gatherings.
Breanna sat in a leather high-back chair in the library immensely
engrossed in the book. A voice from behind startled her and she jumped
up from the chair. A friendly and appealing face looking back at her
simply said, "French Vanilla." He shook his head at her and pulled the
steaming Styrofoam cup in toward his chest, "Perhaps this is what you
have had too much of. Cappuccino is full of caffeine." He
grinned.
She blushed and reached out for the cup. As his fingers slid slowly
across hers, she tingled from head to toe.
"Thanks." She shrugged, "Everybody has some bad habit, right."
He nodded and she felt relieved.
Breanna had to change the subject quick and all she could think of was,
"So is this place haunted or something?"
A look of sheer bewilderment captured his facial expressions. "Haunted,
you have no idea." He leaned up against the door and told her the most
amazing story.
"It is said that when Jason King, the previous owner, lived here, women
in town came up missing. Now, no one wanted to point a finger at the
good doctor, but all the evidence led them straight to him, but money
does talk and his bought him freedom. People said that he would lead
the girls upstairs to the bedroom, drug them, have intercourse with
them, and then throw there weighed down bodies in to the lake behind
his house. The authorities looked for the bodies, but none were
recovered. Some locals say that every September 21, the anniversary of
Jason's death, you can hear the women rejoicing from the back yard.
This town is full of stories like that about this house. Just locals
running their mouths, though. Probably doesn't mean anything." He
winked at her and grinned.
Breanna stood up and caught a chill. It ran through her body with such
force, she almost fell down. Mason grabbed her arm to steady her. "You
Okay?" He said.
"I'm fine, just a little over worked, I guess." Breanna was so
embarrassed, but she stood tall. "I have a partner and I know that she
will want to see the place, will that be a problem?"
Mason shook his head and handed her the keys. "You can come back when
you get time. You can just leave the keys under the mat at the
backdoor."
"Thanks." Breanna walked out of the library and into the dining room
and then into the kitchen. Every detail of the house astounded her.
Even the molding was hand crafted with stunning detail. This must have
been some house for this town when it was built.
Mason led her into the grand ballroom. Breanna knew this must be the
most dramatic room in the house. A mural of a carnival full of people
laughing and playing encircled the room. There were no windows and only
one door, which seem to disappear into the wall when it was shut. The
floor was tiled with vibrant colored swirls, circles, and lines. It
almost looked tie-dyed. Mirrors were placed impulsively on the walls.
The ceiling had the same sporadic pattern as the walls. It was a
fantastic room, one more enchanting than any other she had ever seen.
She was entranced by the splendor of the house and the stories she was
sure graced the aura of each room.
Mason reached out to her and pulled her to him; she was startled, but
also enraptured. She pressed her body snuggly against his. She looked
up into his eyes. They were hypnotizing. She couldn't think of anything
else. The warmth from his body sent pulses of excitement she hadn't
felt in a very long time. He held her close as they danced. There was
no music but they made their own.
A moment of awkwardness broke the mood and they separated.
"I will call you, Ok?" Breanna said as she looked down at the
floor.