Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. WARNING: This story includes sexually explicit material. Any comments, including constructive criticisms, would be most appreciated. Please send to artemis55@hotmail.com I would like to thank the proof-readers for all their help This work is copyrighted by the author. You may download and keep one copy for your personal use as long as my by-line and e-mail address and this paragraph remain on the copy. Any posting or reposting on a website, other than the archive, or to a newsgroup requires my permission first (but I'll probably say yes). This story should not, under any circumstances be used to make a profit. ======================================= What's In A Smile by Vickie Morgan Even with a boy waving a fan, it was warm in the room with all the candles blazing away in faint imitation of the Mediterranean sun outside the windows, . She enjoyed the heat though, even if her favourite dress was clinging to her back. Somehow she found the heat comforting. She hated the onset of winter and retreated to small intimate rooms, where she would huddle next to the hearth wrapped in fur robes. But winter was far away at present. She sat up straighter in her chair and smiled as she listened to the musicians playing quietly in a corner. Some of her friends hated to be sitting still, preferring to be constantly active. She, however, enjoyed peace and stillness. If you sat quietly you could see such fascinating things: a butterfly landing on your arm, a stolen kiss between servants, a fawn venturing across a lawn. Her husband said she was the most restful woman he knew. At the thought of Francesco she couldn't help smiling. Her friends had pitied her when the betrothal contracts had been exchanged. Marriage to an elderly man, his face already lined and wrinkled and his spine beginning to bend under the weight of his years and responsibilities, hadn't held out much prospect of happiness. Yet, as she grew to know Francesco, she had discovered a true gentleman of integrity and humour. Without being conscious of it, she had done the unthinkable and fallen in love with him. Even more surprising, the physical side of their marriage was a source of unending delight. Her friends giggled about doing their wifely duty while having torrid affairs with a string of nubile boys. Yet Francesco was a tender and considerate lover who gave her endless pleasure. Her smile deepened as she thought of her silly friends, restlessly seeking out new lovers in an endless search for fulfilment. Maybe it was the love and respect that she shared with her husband that made their lovemaking so special. When he ran his hands over her body, it wasn't some practised, soulless manoeuvre but a physical expression of his feelings for her. When she pleasured him with her mouth, she wasn't compelled by duty but by a desire to return the pleasure he gave her. Each encounter had echoes of previous times, of intimate moments they had shared together, both joyful and sad. When he held her close to him, she recollected how he had comforted and reassured her when she had miscarried. When she felt the thud of his heartbeat against her breasts, she remembered how she had nursed him when he had been taken ill and almost died. Her friends had no concept of how wonderful a love affair could be or how wasted their pity was on her. She smiled to herself at their foolishness until she was startled from her reverie by Leonardo, the painter. "This sitting is finished Madam, you may relax your pose now." But Madonna Lisa del Gioconda kept on smiling. Copyright Vickie Morgan 2000. E-mail artemis55@hotmail.com Website, still in the process of being completed: http://members.tripod.com/VickieMorgan/ Historical Note: I've probably got some things wrong. As far as I could find out, Leonardo da Vinci probably began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503. Madonna Lisa Gherardini was from a noble Neapolitan family and she married Francesco del Giocondo when she was either sixteen or eighteen. Francesco was a rich silk merchant and he was about twenty years older than Mona. His first wife had died in childbirth. Leonardo took up to four years to complete the painting. Mona came to sit for him in the late afternoon and it is likely that he used banks of candle to keep the light constant. She would be accompanied by her sister Camilla, who would sit apart with her missal. Leonardo is said to have tried to make the long sittings easier for Mona by providing entertainment. He invented a kind of musical fountain where the water played on small glass spheres. He also hired six musicians to play and put a greyhound bitch and a white Persian cat nearby for her to pay with. As always, any comments, suggestions or corrections are always gratefully received.