The Virgin Conquest: Love Through the Ages, #1

By R.J. Will

The Virgin Conquest; A Contemporary Romance Novella

Vol. 1 of Love Through the Ages

Harvey Holloway and Wanda McFalls were among life's social misfits. Both were high school seniors nearing their 19th birthday. Neither had ever had a date. Both were virgins.

For years, Wanda fantasized about being intimate with a boy. Harvey had similar fantasies about girls. Wanda finally got a chance to make her fantasy a reality when Harvey mustered his courage and asked her to be his date at their senior graduation dance and party. Wanda, to prove to herself she was a virgin heroine, gathered her courage and said yes.

Because neither Harvey nor Wanda could dance, and really had no interest in it anyway, they made an obligatory appearance at the dance, then headed straight for the party. More precisely, they headed for the back seat of Harvey's car, where, despite their fear of the unknown, things were heating up nicely until …

Shots were fired and the police swarmed the party venue, a wooded area just outside of town, and Harvey and Wanda's dreams were abruptly shattered.

It was only the first of a series of obstacles Harvey and Wanda ran into, but a funny thing happened on the way to their post-high-school, post-virginity world.

They started to fall in love.

Days after the shooting, the determined pair lost their virginity in a grassy clearing on the banks of the Missouri River. The brief hilarity that ensued – "jumping for joy" – ended badly when Harvey broke his ankle.

The broken ankle was bad enough in itself, but over the weeks and months it led to tragic consequences for the couple, and eventually they split up. But Harvey lost a lot more than the young woman he once loved. He was no longer the young man he used to be.

Could the couple repair the damage that had been done? Could Wanda once again muster her courage, as well as her strength and perseverance, in an effort to restore what once held such promise?

The Virgin Conquest is Vol. 1 of Love Through the Ages, a five-book bundle of contemporary romance fiction love novellas. Love Through the Ages is not an ordinary series. Each book is a stand-alone. The setting for each book is the same, the fictitious city of Neehawk, Nebraska. But the characters in each book are different, and they are older in each succeeding book – thus "love through the ages." The characters in The Virgin Conquest are 18-20 years old. The characters in Vol. 5 of the bundle are in their 70s.

But love is the same throughout.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.J. Will
• Release date: Dec 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502258250

Book preview

The Virgin Conquest

Love Through the Ages, Vol. 1

The Neehawk Chronicles

Ages 18 to 20

Love has no age, no limit, and no death.

– John Galsworthy

R.J. WILL

Copyright © 2014 by R.J. Will

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About Love Through the Ages

Love Through the Ages is not an ordinary series. Each book in the five-book bundle is a stand-alone. The setting for each book is the same, the fictitious city of Neehawk, Nebraska. But the characters in each book are different, and they are older in each succeeding book – thus love through the ages. The main characters in The Virgin Conquest are 18-20 years old. The main characters in Vol. 5 of the bundle are in their 70s.

But love is the same throughout.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – The First Kiss

Chapter 2 – The Full-Slip Girdle

Chapter 3 – The Gunshots

Chapter 4 – The Crime Scene

Chapter 5 – 'A Little Talk'

Chapter 6 – Unfinished Business

Chapter 7 – Barefoot in the Sand

Chapter 8 – A Bad Break

Chapter 9 – A Woman Possessed

Chapter 10 – An Open Fracture

Chapter 11 – The Recovery

Chapter 12 – A 3 a.m. Phone Call

Chapter 13 – The Amputation

Chapter 14 – The Apartment

Chapter 15 – The Breakup

Chapter 16 – A Punch in the Face

Chapter 17 – The Psychiatrist

Chapter 18 – One Year Later

About R.J. WILL

What's Next?

Coming Soon by R.J. WILL

R.J. WILL Recommends

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Chapter 1

The First Kiss

Harvey Holloway, shocked, confused and almost paralyzed, stood 10 feet tall, the king of the world.

One moment adoring crowds cheered and applauded him, tossed rose petals in his path and called out his name; the next moment he crouched in a dark, cold, musty cellar, alone, unsure what to do, and frightened.

Ecstasy and Confusion seemed like such an odd match, yet they had managed to emerge deep within him at the same instant. To Harvey, the pairing of those two contradictory conditions made no sense, but at this moment they sat arm in arm, humming along in his veins like an old married couple.

The story of how Harvey got into this predicament began a week ago when he had mustered every ounce of gumption he had and asked Wanda McFalls to be his date at the Neehawk, Nebraska, High School graduation dance one week hence.

Wanda had swallowed hard, closed her eyes and clenched her fists, as if she were mustering every ounce of gumption she had, and said yes.

Her voice was so soft, however, Harvey couldn't be sure he heard right.

Yes? he asked.

Yes, Wanda said with conviction.

Obviously, Harvey thought, nobody had ever asked Wanda such a question. He thought none the less of her, however, because he had never asked a girl such a question.

Harvey and Wanda had a couple of things in common: both were 18 years old going on 19, and neither had ever had a date, a real, official date, as when boy asks girl out, or sometimes the reverse. Yes, Harvey and his buddy Duane picked up girls from time to time and took them to Pecker Point, a 200-acre wooded park-like area dotted with grassy fields along the Missouri River about a mile outside of town. Pecker Point had become a popular party place for teenagers, a place where Harvey and Duane drank beer or cherry vodka and got into some lukewarm petting with the girls. So what if Harvey had never asked a girl for a real date. He didn't consider himself a failure – he had been with plenty of girls.

Harvey doubted Wanda had ever had an amorous moment with a boy, date or no date. He had never had an extended conversation with her. Whenever they met in the hallways at school, she would cast her eyes downward and hurry on by, seldom saying a word unless he said something first. She was a bit short and on the chubby side, and Harvey considered her slight double chin a sign that a matronly figure was in her not too distant future. Her school clothes consisted mostly of jeans and a shirt, and she kept her auburn hair short. The most noticeable feature about Wanda McFalls was her 4.0 grade point average, which threatened most boys and thus made things even more difficult for her to enjoy any sort of love life.

Even with all those strikes against her, however, she seemed to be a good match for Harvey. She was, in many ways, a female version of Harvey, who at 5 foot 9 and weighing 185 pounds, was somewhat burly himself. His school clothes consisted mostly of jeans and a shirt, and he kept his dark hair short. He had no double chin, but his frame suggested he might sport one before too long. Although he and Duane gave the girls a good time at Pecker Point, Harvey had practically zero social skills. His goal at Pecker Point didn't include talking with the girls; he only wanted to get physical with them.

So, like Wanda, Harvey fit the description of shy, quiet, only marginally attractive – and untouched.

Harvey admitted he asked Wanda to the dance because there weren't all that many choices left. Wanda's name appeared near the bottom of the popularity list, and so did Harvey's. We deserve each other, he told Duane. I thought I should go on one date, one real date, before I graduate, and Wanda is my last chance. I'm kind of sorry for her.

Even though they had gone to school together from kindergarten through the 12th grade, Harvey and Wanda didn't know each other well. They were invisible members of the student body, the only exception being Wanda's high scholastic achievements.

So Harvey spent the week leading up to the dance worrying about whether he had made a big mistake, and wondering whether he should call the whole thing off. He ignored his better judgment, however, and decided he would stick with Wanda regardless of the consequences. Then he worried whether that was a mistake, and the whole torturous cycle began anew.

I can't dance. Not a single step, and I don't know how to talk to a girl, he said to Duane. This is going to be the biggest male-female disaster in history. Years from now relationship counselors will be citing this date as the tipping point that drove the Battle of the Sexes out of control.

Two words, Duane said. Cherry vodka.

You think so?

"Look, you and I both know nobody goes to this dance to dance. They go to one, make an obligatory appearance at the dance, and two, to go out and get drunk, and three, most important of all, to get laid, and the same thing goes for the girls as well as the boys."

Harvey snorted.

I cannot, in my wildest and craziest dreams, he said, conceive of a situation in which Wanda McFalls would want to get drunk and get laid.

●●●

Duane had been right about one thing. Harvey and Wanda made a brief obligatory appearance at the dance graduation night before they headed straight for Pecker Point.

Harvey thought Wanda was stunning in her black ruffle dress; complemented by her dark hair, which had waves and curls he had never seen before. She wore makeup for the first time in his memory. The corsage of pink carnations he gave her and she wore on her wrist made for a classy touch. Had he misjudged her, he wondered.

I love your dress. You're so pretty tonight. Harvey had gone online and found an article about things to say on a first date. Knowing what to say and how to say it are two different things, however, and Harvey thought what he said sounded phony and stupid. I love your dress seemed to him to be something a woman might say to another woman. Thank god it's dark and she can't see my red face. The ironic part was that he meant what he said. Regardless, he decided he wouldn't use any more of those canned lines.

Thank you, Harvey. I'm so glad to be your date.

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Ever been to Pecker Point?

Harvey had parked his car off the main road in an area hidden by tall cottonwood trees. He was trying hard to sound casual and relaxed. They had decided not to go to the unofficial graduation party, which was taking place in a clearing the size of a soccer field about a hundred yards down the road. Most of their classmates would be on hand, but Harvey and Wanda had no interest in big parties.

No, Wanda said in answer to Harvey's question. No, but I've heard some of the girls talk about it.

Harvey was dying to know what the girls had to say about Pecker Point, named after Harold Pecker, a now-deceased rancher who donated the land to the county. Harvey didn't want to put any pressure on Wanda, however, so he kept quiet.

Many of them say this is where they lost their virginity.

Harvey gulped. His brain froze.

"Of course, I think they're exaggerating. A lot of girls like to brag about that sort of thing, just like boys do. I don't pay much attention to