Chapter 3

Lady Lucy Turner learned valuable lessons on her first adventure, contacting a swinging couple through the Scottish Caledonian Cupid website. The couple, Brian and Jane McDonald, had taught her that she had to be sure of herself and stick to a pre-arranged plan of what Lady Lucy would be willing to do and not do. It was all in the planning. It had been a challenging and painful lesson that Lady Lucy had learned from that first meeting. Even now, she would sometimes shudder with the memory of it when she sometimes looked at herself in the mirror.

It was now three months since Lady Lucy’s husband had suddenly died of a heart attack. Leaving her a widow at the age of 37. And her teenage 15-year-old son, fatherless. The sadness of her husband’s sudden death had a silver lining to it. He was a wealthy man with a title, which Lady Lucy inherited and would control until her teenage son turned 21.

She had several plans, which she slowly implemented. One was to transfer sums of money from the family account into her own private account, thus giving her some financial security for the present and the future.

Another one of her plans was to explore and have adventures. That is why she joined the website Caladoian Cupid. She created an account and a small but exciting profile, seeking friendship and partnerships. After her first adventure with McDonald’s, Lady Lucy now had several offers and reviewed them carefully.

First, she changed her profile picture on the website. Then, she chose a single man who seemed to suit her requirements for a partner with whom she could have exciting adventures. His profile name caught her eye. David Squires.

Lady Lucy liked the idea of being ‘Squired’ by Mr. Squires.

Lady Lucy made arrangements for them to meet. She chose the same place as before, the Parkway Hotel, for the same reasons. It was a busy hotel with many tourists and business people arriving and departing all day and night.

Saturday evening at the bar in the Parkway Hotel, Edinburgh.

Lady Lucy Turner was dressed in a red cocktail dress and high heels. She had bought herself a whole new wardrobe in the past few weeks. She was waiting on a bar stool for her partner to arrive. She sipped one cocktail. (Not the two or three like before.) She looked around the room and spent time people-watching. Trying to figure out who was who and what they might be doing in the hotel bar.

David Squires appeared as if by magic by her side, and she was taken by surprise.

‘Lady Lucy?’ David Squires asked her politely.

‘Yes, I am. And you must be David Squires, if I am not mistaken.’

‘Yes indeed I am.’

He was dressed in a nice tweed jacket the colour of mountain heather, grey trousers, and an open white shirt. He had brown eyes that Lucy could dive into swim in and dark hair. He spoke with a local Edinburgh accent.

They gazed at each other for a few moments in silence, gauging each other.

‘Drinks?’ Lucy finally asked him.

‘Yes, please, whiskey.’

They chatted for a while, Lucy sitting on a bar stool with David standing. Lucy stuck with her plan. She asked questions, and David happily answered them all to her satisfaction.

‘How about we sit at a table together.’ Lucy suggested.

‘Sure, how about that booth over there.’ David asked.

Lucy looked to where he pointed.

‘No. Not that one.’ Lucy replied.

They chose a table in the middle of the bar room and sat opposite each other.

‘So what do you do?’ Lucy asked David.

‘I am a painter, artist. I also do some modelling and act as an extra for films and TV shows.’

‘Wow!’ That sounds very interesting.’

‘What do you do?’ David asked Lucy.

‘Me! I don’t do anything. Well, when I say I don’t do anything. I do things. I shop, I do some more shopping, and I do stuff... ‘ Lucy replied, and her explanation ran out of things when she said she did shopping and stuff.

‘That explains a lot and nothing all at the same time.’ Said David with a smile on his face.

‘I am an independent woman.’ Said Lucy with a smile.

Both chatted together, with Lucy mostly asking questions and David answering. Lucy herself was vague when answering David’s questions.

‘What about another drink?’ David suggested.

‘Ok, just orange juice for me.’

As David went to the bar, Lucy had time to think about how the rest of the evening might go. She liked David. He seemed like a good man. He was ten years younger than her, 26 years old, compared to her 37 years. But age was just a number, wasn’t it?

Lucy was in a sort of undecided mood when David returned with the drinks.

‘What sort of things do you paint?’ Lucy asked.

‘Almost anything, Landscapes, still life, portraits. Everything and anything.

‘Portraits? What kind, clothes on or clothes off?’

‘Both kinds.’ Replied David.

‘What about me? How would you paint me?’ Lucy asked.

‘Hmm. Perhaps naked as a water nymph.’ David remarked.

Lucy likes that idea.

‘I will be back in a moment. Stay right there.’ Lucy told him.

She got up and went to the reception desk from the bar. She booked a double room for that night, and once she got the key, she returned to the table at the bar, where David was waiting for her.

Smiling at David, she sipped her orange juice and then showed him the key with the room number.

‘Meet me there in five minutes.’ Lucy said and left.

David watched her go and caught her looking back. He smiled and gave her a thumbs-up signal as she looked back at him. She looked amazing in her red cocktail dress, cutting her way through the crowds filling the hotel bar.

In the hotel room, Lucy took off her red cocktail dress and hung it in the wardrobe; she took one of the hotel dressing gowns from the bathroom and put it on. She picked a half bottle of white wine from the mini bar and poured herself a glass. Sipping her wine, she looked at the panoramic view of Edinburgh from the window. City lights glowed and twinkled in the growing darkness of the night.

There was a knock on the room door. Lucy opened it just a few inches and peeked out. David was standing in the hallway. She smiled at him.

‘Yes, what do you want?’ She asked with a smile.

‘You invited me... ‘ Said David.

‘What’s the password?’ Lucy asked him.