Chapter 1

Cindy was not looking forward to Christmas this year because her cheating boyfriend Mark had made her look ridiculous by being caught naked in bed with a dark-skinned working girl from the other side of the tracks.

It would not have been so bad but their engagement had just been highlighted in the society news of Port Jefferson, New York and she now wished she had never posed for that picture with her arm around his disloyal and perverted neck.

Her parents were opening the summer house in the Hamptons for Christmas this year and she had only yesterday been daydreaming about the two of them making out behind the locked door of her bedroom on the big four-poster bed that had to be almost a hundred years old. She had been leading up to it with lots of kissing and petting but under her strict rules of "only so far" that precluded any serious interaction. Now she was certain he would be the last man that she would consider as a candidate to open her magic gate to paradise and finally become a woman in every sense of the word.

At twenty-three, Cindy felt that life was passing her by and if she didn't take the bull by the horns she might wind up an old maid like her Aunt Dottie with her odd ways and sour puss that often put a damper on family holidays. Most of her girlfriend classmates and sorority sisters had either done it with a boyfriend or close friend of the family or had actually married an eligible bachelor suitably benefited by a family with oodles of cash. In fact, it wasn't so much the cash but the way it was collected that really mattered because there were no redeeming qualities about "new" cash derived from non-traditional sources.

It seemed to her that she was perhaps thinking too much about financial resources and not enough about prospective husbands other qualities like a good sense of humor and enough strength of character not to get caught in a common girl's trap by photographers with no conscience about ruining people's lives indiscriminately.

Even now, she looked at all her wardrobe laid out on top of the bed with her party dresses and the special outfits from Victoria's Secret that she was dying to wear for her anticipated future spouse as a special treat at Christmas.

She wasn't really planning to do anything of a truly carnal nature because it was simply not in her nature but Cindy expected that she would be able to steam her fiancée up into a lather of response that would make them both happy to be behind a locked bedroom door in her parent's luxury summer place.

Now, she would have to start her spousal search all over again.

This time she decided she would bypass all the usual routes of family connections and males recommended by her many friends and close relatives. Her first choice had been Winston Douglas with his irritating way of dismissing her thoughts as infantile and inferior because she was a female. He was attractive in a charming way that made her comfortable and not threatened. Unfortunately, he was more interested in her best friend Sylvia because she had a far larger trust fund and access to some assets that would complement his failing business. They already had a small child and it was totally dismaying to her to watch them cooing at each other in mixed company.

Cindy had settled on Mark as her second choice primarily because her parents liked his constant chatter about the merits of polo which was their favorite sport as well. She didn't like the formality of the events because they were so centered on fashion and social correctness. At least, he would be shunned for a short period by the notoriety of his transgressions against the morality of their social class and people would understand her reluctance to continue any pretense of personal contact with him any further.

Two nights of crying herself to sleep put her at the limit for self-pity and she was ready to go to the Hamptons just to get out of the unwanted limelight of guilt by association. Perhaps up there she could find the peace and solitude that she craved in this Christmas season. Hopefully, the servants had already fully decorated the place to her mother's satisfaction and she could just sit back and absorb the Christmas spirit without lifting a hand.

The limo driver was a new man and she didn't recognize him.

He told her to just call him James and that was just fine with her. It didn't seem fair that a large number of these "common" men workers were blessed with such good-looking genes. For a few minutes, she felt a bit uncomfortable because her insides were fluttering like she did when it was time to give a public address or just before acting in one of the school productions that she dearly loved.

"James, have they decorated the house for Christmas yet?"

He looked at her in the rear view mirror with those striking steel-grey eyes that made her heart go pitter pat for a silly feeling that she was sitting there naked in front of him.

"Yes, Miss, they have it all finished now and it looks super nice. When we put the lights on in the evening you can see how nice it all looks. I would have to say it is one of the best decorated homes in the Hamptons."

Cindy crossed and uncrossed her legs several times. Her special place was suddenly lonely and she knew she was having improper thoughts about her new driver. That certainly would not do because she was one of the best behaved young ladies of the Hampton society and considered a true "Hampton Princess" by the folks that really counted. She just wished this impertinent fellow with the wavy blond hair was not so blasted good-looking because it was distracting to her scorn of anyone male at the moment.

They arrived at the long driveway and she remembered the huge fountain with the pair of trees decorated with the lights of Christmas just like in previous years. James opened her door and she moved slowly to the front door as he gathered her luggage from the back of the limo.