It's hot. I feel like I'm on fire, but how?
Miriam Carlisle had the distinct impression that she had been wandering in the desert forever and all she wanted was a drink of water.
For one brief moment, in an oasis of utter coolness, a man's frigid lips melted down on hers. She flung her arms about his neck and sucked at him hungrily.
Soon the room echoed from heavy moaning and panting. It reached the wall on the other side which was overlapping with a desire.
Because of the dim light Miriam could hardly see his face. She had in mind nothing else but how bestial he had been. Still half asleep he had violated her until day-light.
He left as morning arrived.
Miriam awoke to the blur of a man's back and the awful tattoo of a wolves' head on his lower back.
The tattoo of a roaring wolf with its mouth wide open, as if it was going to taste a kill, caused her heart to race in panic.
Miriam dreamed. She had been a vine in it, wrapped about a tree so high she could not see the top of it nor the bottom of herself, and she would never be able to get loose.
She was in so much pain all over her body as she woke up.
Miriam sat up on her bed, holding her head to help with the pain that was cutting through it. She looked down on the dirty men's shirt and rubbish on the bed and searched through her memory while in complete terror to figure out what had happened last night.
Her fiancé had cheated on her at the engagement party. Her cousin Verity Hargrave had taken her to Sultry Night as she'd wanted to drown her sorrows before she killed him.
Announcing slurringly that she was going to kill her unfaithful fiancé, Verity promptly found a man for Sloane in the bar.
Miriam grabbed her chest in amazement of what happened to her last night. Oh My God! I was cheated by some unknown person!!
!
Frustrated she pulled her hair too.
It took her a minute, but finally she came out of it and got into her clothes. Reporters were waiting for her when she stepped out of the hotel.
The pointed questions from the reporters arrived with the flashbulbs in her face.
"Ms. Carlisle, is it true that the Sterlings called off their engagement, so you spent the night with a male escort from Sultry Night?"
"Ms. Carlisle, do you know that the man serving as the escort is transgender?"
"Ms. Carlisle, are you aware that your father filed for bankruptcy?"
We also found out your father killed himself, Ms. Carlisle. He jumped off the side of his business.
Miriam was struck dumb as if by lightning. She turned and ran, but a car knocked her down and she fell unconscious.
Her father's story made all the headlines next day.Richest Man in Westcliff Richard Carlisle goes broke and commits suicide.Richard Carlisle's daughter, Miriam, spends night clubbing with transvestite male prostitute after Gareth Hargrave jilts her.
Both the news were the part of headlines instantly.
Miriam belonged to a very rich family but suddenly she turned in to a vile and dirty b*tch. She had lost everything; her family, her reputation.
That happened about ten months ago, and then suddenly there was the chaos-inducing roar of newborn infant wailing from an inconspicuous suburban hospital.
Congratulations, Miss. You became a mother to triplets. A girl and two boys!" Mrs. Della came rushing up to Miriam who was being supported by members of the family and friends.
At the train station in Westcliff, four years later,
Miriam came in with her children; Mrs. Della brought them into town.
The overweight Mrs. Della was walking with two large pieces of baggage that were heaving.
Miriam and her three children hurried out of the cramped train station, her denim knapsack slung over her shoulder.
A low-income folk family visiting relatives in the city to the rest of the world. ''Out of my way rustic rascal !''
Mrs. Della was shoved roughly out of her path by a woman lolling back in a opossom coat.
Miriam had time to brace herself, opening her mouth to shout at the woman when a row of shining cars pulled up next to her.
Dozens of bodyguards spilled out of the cars and formed two neat lines before anyone could react. Then, in unison, they all bowed deeply and said, "Welcome home Mrs. Hargrave!"
Hearing the word "Hargrave," Miriam looked over at the procession and saw the Sterlings' coat of arms on the cars.
Have they anything to give me? That idea excited her still more.
Can it be that Gareth has never deceived me? was it because he could not help himself at the time he broke off our engagement? He will have come to fetch me now that he knows I am back!
Is Mr. Hargrave come to take us, Miss?
Just before a beaming Mrs. Della could proceed, she was angrily pushed back by two body guards.
A minute later a smartly dressed woman in expensive clothes emerged surrounded by body guards.
With awe, Miriam parted her lips. This Verity Hargrave, isn't it?
Verity had on a designer suit. Four years later, she looked better.
She wrapped her fingers around a small boy's hand that looked to be about the same age as Miriam's triplets.
"Mrs. Hargrave, Timothy, please come this way," the bodyguards said in a kind manner.
I'm not getting on the train every again. It's filthy and all the damn same," Verity sneered, wiping her nose on a handkerchief.
"No. Mr. Hargrave would have never let you or Timothy go through this if it weren't for the rain.
Verity and the young kid were taken into a car by the security.
They were both so haughty they didn't even look about, that's why they missed Miriam in the throng.
'What is the matter?' Mrs. Della exclaimed at sight of Verity. 'Is that your cousin? is she married to Mr. Hargrave?'
'I think she is.'
As the Sterlings' caravan disappeared from view, Miriam remembered Gareth's vow all those years earlier.
I will never marry anyone else in my life.
But now, he's married to my cousin. They even have this large of a son!
Miriam felt her nose begin to burn and her eyes prick with tears.
"Mom, what's wrong?" The three kids clustered around Miriam and voiced their concerns when they saw her red eyes.
"I'm alright," Miriam crouched and brought the three of them into an embrace, wiping her eyes dry.
"Mommy, please don't cry. I will buy you a big car when I grow up. Then, you won't have to suffer anymore," her 10-year-old son Edwin told her. He thought his mother was sad because she had been teased.
"Mom, who teased you? I will fight them!" declared her five-year-old Cedric, puffing out his cheeks and waving his little fists.
The youngest triplet, Tessa, comforted Miriam by placing her face against hers. "Don't cry, Mommy!"
A green head popped out of Tessa's pocket unexpectedly. It was that of a roguish parrot who was now surveying the scene with one beady eye.
"I'm not crying." Miriam caught her breath and smiled through clenched teeth. "Just go away and leave me alone!"
"Hooray, let's move on!" Miriam said and kissed each of them, swung the bag back over her shoulder, and walked to the corner for a taxi.
She was a wealthy heiress who always had an entourage, but now that Mrs. Della and her children were with her, she had to wait in line to call a cab with a lot of their stuff.
Mrs. Della had to take a separate cab because they would not fit in one.
A storm was coming and the sky had turned dark. The cabbie, in a hurry to outrun the rainclouds, crashed into a Rolls-Royce ahead of him.
As soon as I noticed his face turning pale, I got out of my car and went to have a look.
Sitting on the co-driver seat, Miriam frowned and looked out of the window.
It was a Rolls-Royce Phantom, limited edition. There were only thirty-five in the whole world and three in Veridale. For any scratch, even if it was too small to be seen by normal eyes, the taxi driver would have to pay an astronomical figure that might make him go bankrupt.