Claiming His Wife (29 page)

Eleanor grasped her hand,
her serious blue eyes filled with earnest sincerity.  "Maybe
you should confront him.  You've been doing everything you can
to find out his motives,
except
 actually asking him.
 If he knew why you left him, why you don't trust him now,
maybe it would help."

"Or maybe he'll see me for the little
fool that I was," Grace said bitterly, wincing.  She didn't
want to talk about that with him because she was too afraid he
would ridicule her.  

So she was afraid to question him
because he might turn out to be a man she couldn't love, and at the
same time, she was afraid to love him anyway because she hadn't
confronted him.  Maybe she really was a little fool.
 

"Talk to him," Eleanor whispered,
squeezing her hand.  "I wish I had talked to Edwin sooner.
 I kept hinting around what I wanted from him, because I
wanted him to say what he felt in his own words, but he didn't
realize what I needed to hear.  I thought the declaration only
mattered if it came, unasked for, from him... but if I had asked,
he would have told me.  He would have reassured me until I
believed it, the way he did as soon as he realized what I wanted.
 I was too stuck in wanting something specific from him,
instead of appreciating what he was doing to show me how he
felt."

Nodding, Grace admitted to
herself that, in some ways, she'd been unreasonable ever since Alex
had shown up in her life again.  Not that he'd been entirely
reasonable.  Hence, the kidnapping her to Bath.  She
hadn't been ready to listen before.

Watching as yet another woman stepped
away from Alex and Hugh, a look of disappointment on her beautiful
face, Grace knew that she was ready to start listening now.
 Alex was making an effort to show that he could be the same
kind of caring husband that his friends were to their wives;
eschewing the company of other women, staving off the flirts, and
showing that he was serious about this reconciliation.  More
serious than Grace had originally thought, certainly.
 

"I'll talk to him.  But not
tonight."

Eleanor made an exasperated noise.
 "Why not tonight?"

"Because we're leaving
Bath tomorrow and I will be stuck in the carriage with him
for
hours
, if the
trip here was any indication.  I'd like as pleasant a ride as
possible, so I might as well wait until we're at the estate to say
anything.  At least that way I'll have a whole house, not to
mention the acreage, to get away from him if I need to."

The reasoning made sense,
but she couldn't help but giggle when Eleanor did.  Just
having a course of action, knowing that the end of her current
Purgatory was coming in one way or another - although she didn't
know whether she'd fall into Hell or rise into Heaven - made her
feel better.  Even if she did fall, at least then she'd
know
.  The constant
doubt and anxiety was turning her mad.

"You can come stay with us if you need
to," Eleanor said, the giggles subsiding as she turned more
serious.  "You'll be right next to Hugh and you know he'll do
whatever he can to help you, if you need it."

He would too, even though
he was now Alex's friend, Grace knew that.  Hugh was, by far,
the most serious of the trio that had grown up together, he would
consider it his duty to protect his sister's best friend.
 After all, he had often enough when she was younger.  It
was a position she had never put him or his family in when she and
Alex had separated, because she hadn't wanted to take advantage of
their feelings towards her in a way that could cause them some
strife among the rest of their peers.  They'd never kept her
from Eleanor, and that had been enough.

If she had to take shelter with
Hugh...

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
 Because if she did, and Alex was determined to keep her in
their marriage, the law would be on his side.  Hugh could
actually be arrested if he tried to keep Alex from her.  If a
husband wanted his wife under his roof, there was very little
anyone could do.  She truly would flee, rather than forcing
her friends to make terrible choices.  

But even thinking about
such things couldn't stop the almost painful burgeoning of hope in
her chest, spurred by both Alex's recent behavior and Eleanor's
encouragement.  Her life had been a kind of Hell for years
now; perhaps it was finally time for redemption.

******

As much as Edwin wanted to hear
exactly what his wife and Grace were whispering back and forth, he
could tell from the way they were huddled together that leaning
down to overhear would only result in the end of the conversation.
 From the way they both kept peeking over at Alex, he was sure
that it had something to do with Grace and Alex's marriage.
 Just as he was certain that last night's escapades were about
that as well. 

He couldn't figure out exactly what
they thought they'd accomplished last night.  Sometimes women
just did inexplicable things.

Although, it had led to some very
satisfying moments for himself.  There was something
exquisitely erotic about teasing Eleanor into a needy frenzy and
then denying her pleasure.  The look of aghast disbelief on
her face as she realized the control he had over her body and her
climaxes had been hotly arousing for him.  He'd held her close
all night to ensure that she wouldn't cheat and pleasure
herself. 

Today he amused himself with little
touches to the nape of her neck, her shoulder, her lower back...
small caresses meant to tantalize without satisfying.  The
angry, sexually charged dirty looks he received in return only made
him grin.  He wanted to get his Nell to a frustrated boiling
point, and then tomorrow he'd wake her with his mouth between her
legs.  This was a punishment he was going to have to remember
even after he didn't have to worry about disciplinary spankings
again. 

He didn't doubt that he'd need plenty
of creativity through his life when it came to disciplining
Eleanor.  Their marriage would be a constant testing of wills,
but he was sure that he would always win.  It wouldn't be
restful, as Hugh would put it, but it was what Edwin loved about
her. 

This time, when he
caressed the back of her neck and she glared up at him, her gaze
almost immediately softened.  Perhaps because of the way he
was looking at her.  He could practically feel his love for
her flowing out of him, as if it was water spilling out of a
too-full glass.  It still baffled him that she hadn't known
how he cared for her.  

"There you are!"  Lady Harrington
pushed through a knot of people, beaming at her daughter,
son-in-law, and daughter's friend equally.  Since returning to
Bath, it was obvious that her health had improved greatly.
 Trailing along behind her with an indulgent look on his face,
Hugh and Eleanor's father just smiled at them, without the
excitement that Lady Harrington was showing.  "I've been
looking all over for you."

To their surprise, she reached out to
Grace, leaning down to give her an affectionate kiss on each cheek.
 Murmurs from the people around them, showed that Lady
Harrington's preference had not gone unnoticed.  Edwin coughed
to cover his laughter.  He smelled a motherly plot afoot.
 The Countess had also been marked in her attentions to Grace
this past week, keeping her from the censure of the high sticklers
that had been invited to the wedding.  He wasn't sure if Alex
had asked her to help or if she had just decided to do it on his
own, but Grace's mother and Lady Harrington were best friends, so
it wasn't too surprising that she would be putting her own foot
forward to further Grace's re-entrance into the higher echelons of
Society. 

For herself, Grace looked surprised,
pleased, and - strangely - a bit worried.  Edwin saw her
glance at Alex before turning her attention back to Lady
Harrington, a happy smile on her face, although the tension hadn't
quite left her shoulders.  She was another one who obviously
didn't know how much her husband cared for her, but that wasn't his
problem.  That was something Alex would need to work out on
his own; Edwin had his own stubborn wife to deal with.
 

He stroked his fingers down the back
of Eleanor's neck, watching her shiver.

Reaching back, she grabbed his hand
and tugged, pulling him downward.  To any onlooker, it would
seem that she just wanted a wifely word in his ear, but her tone
was viperish as she hissed at him.

"If you don't stop touching me,
Edwin... I swear...  I'm going to explode!  A spanking
would be better than this!"

The feverishly bright look in her eyes
made him immediately contrite.  The entire point of this
exercise, other than to punish her, had been to provide discipline
in a way that wouldn't cause her undue distress.  A
disciplinary spanking would have her bucking and crying, stressing
her both emotionally and physically; he hadn't meant to drive her
quite to that point now.  It seemed that he would have to be
more careful than he realized with this kind of creative
sanctioning of her behavior.

At least while she was
pregnant. 

"I’m sorry, sweetheart,
calm down," he said, his voice full of apology.  He’d only
meant to tease her, not to torture her. While it was gratifying to
know the effect he had on her, he also needed to maintain his
control.

When he straightened and put his hand
back on her neck, it was no longer the seductive, light touch that
he'd been tormenting her with.  Instead, he used his fingers
to massage and soothe her, affection running through him as he felt
her relax under his ministrations.  

Soothed, Eleanor allowed herself to be
drawn into the conversation with Grace and her mother.
 

"Well, you two seem to be happy as two
peas in a pod," Lord Harrington said jovially, sidling up to Edwin.
 He looked down indulgently at his daughter, who (fortunately)
hadn't heard a word he'd said.  "I knew she'd come around once
she had a chance to settle."

"She's perfect," Edwin said,
conveniently ignoring the various escapades that Eleanor had put
him through.  After all, they were his concerns to deal with
now, not her fathers.  Besides, those same escapades were what
made her perfect for him.  As long as she wasn't putting
herself in the way of harm, he quite enjoyed her high-spirited
antics.  Playful spankings were arousing in their own way, but
he knew that his favorite ones were those that Eleanor had earned.
 He would miss seeing her tear-stained, contrite face
following a well-deserved punishment, and that hot, red bottom,
until her pregnancy was over... but he would also be tallying all
of her misdeeds and build his anticipation for the day of reckoning
once their child was born.  

"Just like her mother."  The
loving look Lord Harrington bestowed upon his wife left little
doubt to his own feelings.  "Have you spoken to your parents
yet?"

"I wrote them, of course," Edwin said.
 He shared a knowing look with the older man.  "They
encouraged us to visit the Manse as soon as possible.  We'll
be leaving tomorrow to make our way there.  They're thrilled,
of course, especially mother."

Lord Harrington nodded, knowing his
friends' vagaries very well.  None of them had truly expected
Edwin's parents to leave their estate, not even to meet his new
bride.  If they'd had enough advance notice of the wedding,
they would have come, but once the deed was done - and to a young
woman that they knew quite well - they'd be content to wait for him
to come home.  

"Penelope and I will be in Bath for
another week before we leave for Stonehaven.  After that,
we've been invited to come stay at the Manse."

"I'm sure Eleanor will be particularly
glad of her Mother's company by then," Edwin murmured, careful to
keep his voice low.  They hadn't announced her condition yet,
and they wouldn't until they were ready to leave Bath, but he knew
that she was going to tell her mother sometime today or tomorrow.
 Dropping a discreet hint to her father wouldn't ruin that.
 "I hope you plan to stay for a while."

The sharp-eyed Earl looked down at his
daughter and then back up at Edwin and grinned, making him look
years younger.  "I'm sure that can be arranged.  Penelope
will probably insist."

"So will Eleanor."
 Truthfully, Edwin would be grateful to have Lord Harrington
there as well.  While his own father was a good man, he could
also be rather absent-minded and unreliable.  Lord Harrington
was like a bulwark of paternal strength to lean on, whereas the
Earl of Clarendon was just as likely to be buried in the library
with his research as he was to be attending to his parental duties.
 It wasn't that he meant to be distracted, but Edwin was still
glad that Lord Harrington would be there to help as
well.

Sometimes he wondered if the reason
they kept putting off announcing Eleanor's condition was because he
found the reality utterly terrifying.  He'd told his closest
friends, of course, in the first rush of excitement, but with every
day that went by he found himself less excited and more overwhelmed
by the impending life that was growing in his wife's belly.
 To the best of his ability he would keep Eleanor safe and
healthy, but the dangers of childbirth were unavoidable.  Only
so many factors were within his control.