Chapter 5

As the first few months went by the Mansion was starting to take shape.

Rayne noticed that after her first visit, Vanessa started to visit more often, even though she said she hated the dirty site. She came to visit at least 3 times a week, and they were all overnight visits every time she came.

She always seemed to find some way to bait Rayne, by continuing to suggest in different ways that she was also having sex with others, but never quite telling enough of the story that Rayne could figure out what was going on.

But in not knowing Vanessa well enough, she might just be playing with Rayne's mind.

Rayne did still get up early and teach Matt unarmed combat. He was getting better. With his very limited skill he would be able to hold his own against someone who knew absolutely nothing about fighting, but he would be in real trouble against anyone else.

One night Rayne even asked Matt several questions about Vanessa.

Matt raised an eyebrow at the questions, and Rayne took a deep breath and tried to appear normal as she pointed out that she needed to know about her incase she needed to protect her too if she was in danger around Matt.

Matt just smiled.

Matt told her that Vanessa was the daughter of a client he met seasons ago. That a couple of seasons ago they met again at a party and Vanessa made it known that she was interested in seeing him more. And as one thing let to another, they soon were dating.

He did admit they were getting married faster than he thought, and that his parents didn't really like her, but he thought that she did really love him.

Rayne looked at him for a minute and asked, "Matt, one thing I've always been curious about you guys really don't seem to talk. You guys seem to walk and, forgive me, have sex, but you don't really talk. I mean, how much do you really know about her? Do you even know what her favorite color is, or her first childhood pet?"

"Yellow and a puppy named Oscar," smiled Matt widely. "I can even give you her bra size, her shoe size, her favorite actor, favorite dress, least favorite food, or even last place she went on vacation without me if you want."

"Aarrrgghh! You're so infuriating!" said Rayne as she headed to bed

Rayne did attend a few functions with Matt during the first months.

At the first one Rayne went too, she found that she was required to wear a dress.

Rayne hated dresses. She never really wore one before, and had no use for them. But since it was a society luncheon that was for charity, she had to look the part of Matt's date. Vanessa said she had a previous engagement that she needed to attend herself.

The dress Rayne wore was a shimmering shiny scarlet color, which was shoulder-less and back-less, and wrapped around her neck to hold it up. It was open and dipped deep in the front to show off a lot of cleavage. And it reached to the floor where it was split up the left side almost to the hip.

It came with matching four inched high heeled shoe that made her the same height as Matt's 6'1". The dress appeared contoured to her figure like a glove.

A very snug glove.

Matt had even convinced her, easier than he thought, to unbraid her hair and let it hang behind her, where it hung midway down her back. She had brushed it until it shone brightly before they left. The dress seemed to accentuate her small waistline and flared hips.

Rayne normally wouldn't have chosen a dress like this, but Matt said that Vanessa suggested that she wear this for the function, and had it sent over since Rayne had no other dresses to choose from with such short notice.

After she saw the dress, Rayne knew she hated Vanessa for a reason. And the next time she would pick her own dress. A dress that didn't leave so little to one's imagination.

In this dress, every time she took a step, her entire left leg was always on display, and she saw more than one man, with an escort or not, turn to watch her walk by.

But she really felt like she was exposed for every man to ogle, because she had to go san underwear when the dress didn't fit right with any on.

And she couldn't fail to notice the room was very cool, and that everyone was aware that she was cold, because the dress also wasn't padded in the breasts area which caused her nipples to show or her breasts to swing freely if she turned too quickly.

So she often tried to move or walk as slow as possible. But this caused a new problem of making her hips roll with every step.

Yes she really hated Vanessa right now, because in this dress it was almost as if she was naked.

Rayne was standing in the hall with her back against a wall looking over the crowd. She tried to keep her arms across her chest for obvious reasons, as she was trying to watch over Matt for any possible dangers.

But as she stood not too far from Matt, they both noticed when another man came up to her. He stood staring at her for a moment as he was slowly looking her up and down blatantly with a half smile on his face. Most women would have called him quite hansom.

He tipped his glass at her and said "My buddies over there bet me that I wouldn't be able to start a conversation with the most beautiful woman at this function. Want to help me buy some drinks with some of their money?"

Rayne stood and stared at him with the most incredulous expression she could muster on her face. She didn't say anything, but just continued to stare at him with her mouth open, unmoving, the whole time.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, and feeling slightly embarrassed, the man eventually wandered away without looking back.

Rayne returned to slowly looking around the room, but on one pass she noticed Matt was looking her way and he was laughing into his hand as hard as he could with his eyes almost closed.

For some reason, that comforted Rayne to see him do that, and she shyly smiled at him when he opened his eyes again to look at her.

Matt stopped laughing and looked at her, almost stunned for a moment, with his eyes widening, but recovered and smiled back.

Later that night as they were on the way back to the villa, Matt said "Rayne earlier that was an interesting response to his attempt to pick you up. How did you think of that?"

Rayne said "I could have broken body parts, but in my experience slight embarrassment, without saying a word, always works better than any fight when in a crowd. But of course if that doesn't work, then it's time to give out a beating."

She then smiled sweetly.

Matt laughed again and said that he would have to remember that. But he did say that he could understand what prompted the man to try so hard.

Rayne just watched him laugh and still thought it was the most perfect sound she had ever heard. But she didn't hear the last thing Matt said because she was too busy staring at him as they rode home in his carriage.

But by far the most frustrating times were when Vanessa didn't come to the villa and Matt and Rayne would sometimes have dinner outside under the stars.

Sometimes after Rayne would walk around the site, where she would check her wards around the area for intruders, she would return to the manor and he would have dinner spread out on a blanket for them to eat outdoors.

It was during one of these times, that Rayne finally got Matt to talk a little about himself as a boy.

She found out how he was always considered a genius in mathematics and design. How because he excelled at the sciences, it was that knowledge that he used when he incorporated his engineering works into his building designs. And that because of this incorporation of modern conveniences, that always made his work in high demand.

But while she enjoyed the talks, what really frustrated her was that he would lie back on the blanket under the stars while he talked and she could see how deeply involved he was in his work and how he felt about it.

And as he did she felt herself drawn more and more to him.

She was really impressed with his dedication and found herself often fantasizing about him just grabbing and taking her on the blanket in this romantic setting.

But he was always the perfect gentleman and never did anything. No touching or even a stray suggestive comment that she was always used to getting from other men. But even if that had happened, she would have welcomed them from Matt, because she would know he meant them. But they never came no matter how hard she wished for them.

Often when they went to bed after this, she would dream the whole night of her and Matt being together forever, and it was always glorious.

One of the other things Rayne did was to take a trip into the near by city and purchase a few supplies for Matt. Sometimes it would be food and other times it might be to put in an order for materials to make a quick design change.

Matt wanted to go himself but Rayne always pointed out that no one would attack him in the open with plenty of witnesses like the employees on site. He would be less exposed in the open area he was in, and she could move faster without him.

And she put up wards for his protection when she left, so no one could get on the site until she got back.

But it was during one of the trips she saw Vanessa coming out the side door of a house, where she was in the process of fervently kissing a man who was dressed by holding a sheet around his lower body. The man was clearly older than Vanessa by a few seasons with slightly graying temples in his dark blonde hair.

When Vanessa had left earlier yesterday morning Matt had said that she told him she had a few previous engagements that she couldn't get out of and she would see him later in the week.

Now here it was early afternoon the next day, and she was for all appearances, just now leaving another man's house, and quite possibly his bed.

She was still kissing him and he had his hands all over her body, groping and squeezing everywhere he touched.

Rayne casually passed close to the door, as she headed on pass the house, and read "Roger Wilcox Smythe Esq." over the door.

"Hmm I wonder who he is," she thought.

But she wasn't really shocked at Vanessa's behavior or attitude.

"Have you ever heard of Roger Smythe?" asked Rayne a few days later over dinner.

"Yes he's a competing architect. He's a pompous twit and windbag that tries to put on airs to make others believe he is better than he really is. He has stolen some of my better designs and floor plans before.

"That's another reason I wanted a guard. I need to figure out how he's doing it and who he has that I know in his pocket," said Matt frustrated.

"Where did you hear his name?" asked Matt with some slight irritation as he looked up.

"Oh, I just heard someone mention him in the market as an Architect and I wondered if you knew him," Rayne lied airily.

This was a different Matt than she had ever seen before. Before tonight she had never seen him angry. But he was gritting his teeth as he spoke of Roger.

She didn't have any proof to show Matt that Vanessa was cheating on him. It was her word against Vanessa's still right now. And Matt might even know she was sleeping around too, so she didn't really want to alienate Matt if he did know.

While Rayne didn't like it that Matt felt frustrated, she did like that he was slowly opening up more to her. She liked it that he wasn't always smiles and laughs, but that he felt he could be himself around her.

"I'll need to do more investigation into this Roger Smythe, and Vanessa's time away." she thought.

But even with all of Rayne's worrying about how to tell Matt his girlfriend was cheating, possibly being the one who was giving away his secrets, and trying to glean any information that she could find about Vanessa while she was in town, it all came for naught because Matt found out for himself a few months later.

They were at another charity benefit where they were asked at the last minute to come. Matt didn't really want to it, but his construction was right on schedule and he really had no reason to refuse and not to go. Some of these people helped make him what he was.

Matt tried to contact Vanessa to see if she could join him, but he was unable to contact her. He asked Rayne to fill in and she was secretly delighted to.

Rayne decided to keep her trademark braid this time, but she has long started styling her hair in bangs to go with it, so the braid went well with her outfit.

And it accentuated the dress she was going to wear. It was a black cocktail dress that ended just above the knee. The dress was a black satin dress with no shoulders, but had a turtle neck like appearance and it zipped up the back and covered her chest nicely she thought.

She was in high heeled shoes again, so that she was able to look Matt in the eye. It still made her taller than most women, but she only cared if she would be impressive to Matt.

Her legs, which had a slight tan to them since birth, and along with her normal muscle definition, gave off a smooth silky appearance when she walked.

When she came out and Matt helped her into the carriage he couldn't help getting an eye full of the way she was dressed and the way her legs moved as she allowed him to help her in the carriage.

Matt had to adjust himself a couple of times before he climbed in after her. He was really finding it hard to visualize her as just a contracted employee. She seemed worldly in some ways and completely innocent in others. He kept trying to deny it, but he found himself drawn to those qualities in her.

They were fashionably late to the gala event and Matt needed to head to the men's room to adjust himself once more.

Rayne had sat in the carriage across from him crossing and uncrossing her long legs, as she went over where she was going to be and how she was going to be trying to remain unobserved as much as possible, and she never took note that her dress was slowly riding up showing off more and more of her legs.

After awhile Matt had to cross his legs too so that he didn't give away his sudden interest in Rayne's attire. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable since he knew she hated dresses. But the sight of her in that dress showing off her legs to mid thigh gave him a raging erection like a teenage boy.