Dealing With Discipline (23 page)

The sight of his wife behaving so
wantonly was a powerful aphrodisiac for Hugh. During their
honeymoon he’d discovered an unknown penchant for controlling their
love-making, probably because she was so responsive. No other woman
that he’d indulged with had ever been as eager as Irene. They had
always laid back and expected him to do the work – which he hadn’t
minded at the time, but now he knew that he could never get enough
of Irene’s particular brand of passion. Seeing her body become so
aroused for him, her eagerness to obey him, to follow his commands
until they were both lost in repletion.

Spreading her thighs wide
with his hands, he looked down at the striking picture she made
with her innocent face and her erotically writhing body. The lips
of her quim were plump and ready for him, slick with moisture, the
musky scent of her arousal filling the air around them like an
exotic perfume. As she squeezed her breasts more tightly, the soft
flesh spilling out between her fingers, Hugh couldn’t take any more
either.

Grasping her by the hips
he buried himself in her in one hard thrust, Irene moaning wildly
as her body lifted to meet him. Her sheath clasped him tightly,
rippling around him, and she cried out as she almost came just from
the heavenly sensation of her body stretching to accommodate his
spear. She pinched her nipples even tighter, unaware that Hugh was
watching her every move, she was so lost to the incredible
pleasure.

With a groan of masculine
satisfaction, Hugh began to pump into his wife, taking her hard and
fast, the way that he knew she wanted it but that he so often made
her wait for. Irene had expected a slower pace, had expected to beg
more, and so his sudden rhythmic pounding caught her off guard.
Releasing her breasts she reached up to cling to his shoulders,
sobbing with the sudden ecstasy as her body jerked and spasmed, her
orgasm coming fast and unexpectedly.

It began small and grew as Hugh’s body
rubbed against hers, his groin sliding against her clitoris with
every hard stroke of his cock, the shaft rubbing against that spot
deep inside of her that never failed to send her up in
flames.

“Hugh!
Please
, HUGH!”

She screamed, unable to process the
incredible pleasure as her orgasm overflowed her, it had grown by
leaps and bounds until her skin felt too small and too tight to
contain it. Her nails ripped down Hugh’s chest, an automatic
reaction as her body struggled to reassert control over itself, to
stop the overwhelming pleasure as it began to verge on the border
of pain rather than ecstasy. The sharp jabs of nails had Hugh’s
body arched backwards, his hips thrusting forward, eliciting
another scream of passion from Irene.

Grasping her wrists again
he held them down beside her head, still thrusting roughly into the
swollen and dripping folds of her cunt, full of the power and
pleasure of sending Irene to such heights that there were tears
leaking from her unseeing eyes. She screamed again, her body
struggling against his, as the intensity of her climax practically
choked her. It was too much… it was heaven, it was hell, and she
couldn’t break free. The hold he had on her wrists, the useless
struggle, only made her body react even more passionately, she was
excited by the restraint and it sent her spinning.

Her world narrowed to the rubbing
friction of his cock, the swollen pulse of her clitoris as his body
slammed against it, the bursting rapture that bubbled and raced
along her nerves. When he finally filled her to the brim and began
to jerk and throb inside of her, Irene was sobbing from the
incredible climax. Tears coursed freely down her cheeks as Hugh
finally released her wrists and clasped her closely, her face
buried in his chest as he filled her with his seed.

It had been so far beyond
anything that she’d experienced before that she didn’t even know
how to process the bliss, she couldn’t do anything but sob, to the
point where Hugh began to worry.

“Sweetheart,” he murmured cradling her
face in his hands, searching her face for some clue as to why she
was reacting the way she was. He didn’t think he had been that
rough, but he knew that he had lost control in a way that he wasn’t
used to. “Did I hurt you? Are you alright?”

Irene hiccupped, trying to
stifle the welling sobs, choke them back. She hated the look of
concern on Hugh’s face. Her body was still tingling from the abject
ecstasy, Hugh hadn’t done anything wrong at all, she just didn’t
know how to handle everything that he had done right. “I’m fine,”
she said, hiccupping again as she let out another little sob. “I
don’t know why I’m crying. I’m more than fine… that was… that was
indescribable.”

“Yes it was,” he said with a little
laugh, still looking down at her in concern but seeming slightly
reassured. He kissed her cheeks, kissing away the tears, and Irene
laughed through them.

She loved the way he felt on top of
her, so powerful, so concerned… her gentle giant, capable of
reducing her to quivering moans and sobs, and yet so caring of her
wellbeing. Covering his hands with her own, she turned her head to
kiss his palm, the sobs and tears slowly gentling as he cuddled her
and murmured words of praise for how beautiful, how wonderful she
was. The words, his touch, it was soothing, healing balm to the
little cracks and fissures she’d lived with her entire
life.

******

That evening before dinner Irene was
reading a letter that she’d received from her father while Hugh
took care of some of the estate business that needed tending to.
Her father described the balls in London that he and her mother
attended before heading back to their home in the country. Thanks
to Irene’s marriage they now had plenty of money to cover the debts
that they had incurred and he described her mother’s pleasure over
the new jewelry that he had purchased for her. Irene knew that her
father wanted her to be aware of the way her marriage had made
their lives better and she was glad for it, especially because Hugh
was a wonderful husband. Her body was sore in the most delightful
way from their exertions earlier that day.

In fact, everything was wonderful with
her world until she came to the last paragraph of the
letter.

Before we left London I
met with Lord Brooke at the club and he sent you his greetings and
his hope to see you upon your return. He had been rather concerned
over the fact that your marriage was arranged, I think, but
informed me that he had spoken with your husband at the wedding and
was greatly reassured by their conversation.

Groaning, Irene set the
letter down, feeling a sudden headache beginning in the back of her
head. Too often she forgot about Alex of late. It made her feel
dreadfully guilty whenever she realized that she’d put him from her
mind yet again, but lately she’d been feeling just as guilty
whenever she was reminded of him. Was it possible to love two men
at once? Because she knew her feelings for Hugh had grown leaps and
bounds out here in the country where they were able to spend time
together without the shyness that her mother’s hovering usually
caused. The disturbing excitement had been tempered with warmth, a
glow whenever he looked at her, and the increasing sense that she
would do whatever it took to make him happy.

In short, very similar feelings to
those she’d always had for Alex, but enhanced by her body’s
response to Hugh.

Over dinner she distracted
herself from her growing anxiety over her conflicting emotions when
it came to the man she’d always loved and the man she was
increasingly fearful that she was coming to love, by arguing with
Hugh about whether or not she should be allowed to ride Rex. The
more she watched him on the magnificent stallion the more she
wanted to prove that she was enough of a horsewoman to handle him.
Hugh’s stubborn insistence that she not even be allowed to try felt
like an insult, although she knew he didn’t mean it that
way.

“You could ride alongside me,” she
coaxed prettily, “and ensure that nothing goes wrong.”

Sighing, Hugh took a fortifying sip of
wine. Irene’s soft voice and pleading eyes were extremely hard to
say no to. “I don’t have a horse his equal in my stable,” he said.
“If Rex bolted for some reason, I wouldn’t be able to catch
you.”

“I wouldn’t let him bolt.”

“You may not have a
choice. He’s a much larger horse than you’re used to.”

She pouted, slightly hurt
by his insistence. At the same time, the argument was making her
feel more inclined towards Alex. After all, he’d always protected
her but he’d never tried to control her the way Hugh currently was.
Her husband’s careful nurturing of her confidence had made her feel
rebellious against her mother’s strictures about her behavior and
permitted conversation, now those feelings of rebellion were
spreading to include her husband’s limitations on her.

“I’m a good enough horsewoman to
handle him,” she insisted.

Hugh shook his head,
setting down his foot well and truly for the first time in their
marriage. “No, Irene. I don’t want to hear any more about it. He’s
too big and too unruly for me to trust him with you.”

Although Irene bowed her head in
seeming submission, Hugh felt rather unnerved. Before her emerald
eyes had been hidden from him, they’d looked remarkably like the
rebellious sapphire eyes of his unruly sister – not at all the kind
of expression he’d ever wanted to see on his wife’s
face.

Chapter 11

Edwin grinned as he read
over the missive from Hugh, leaning back in his favorite chair in
his study. The Season was mostly over, but Hugh and his bride would
be returning to London for the remainder of it, having enjoyed a
most pleasurable honeymoon. Of course Hugh didn’t go into detail in
the letter but it was obvious to Edwin how very pleased Hugh was
with his new wife. Edwin was happy for him, he had been slightly
worried considering that Hugh didn’t know Irene very well when
they’d married yet had already been rather enamored of her. She was
so quiet and reserved that Edwin had wondered whether or not Hugh
really knew her.

At the time he’d preferred
Eleanor’s outspokenness, although of course his wife alternated
between being very vocal and being very secretive. But he found he
usually didn’t mind, it kept him on his toes. Lately he wished she
would just tell him what she wanted from him.

As if the thought had
summoned her, his wife knocked and then swept into the study
without waiting for him to answer. She was looking beautiful, as
always, in a cream and pink morning gown, her hair piled in a
fetching coiffure. Sometimes he thought he could sit and admire
Eleanor’s beauty for hours – if he could keep his baser desires
from rising and causing his contemplation to turn to a more
physical form of appreciation.

“I want to have another dinner,” she
said rather abruptly, without pausing for greeting. They hadn’t
hosted an event since the dinner she’d planned in which she’d
served all the foods that Edwin hated, after which she’d been
soundly punished. Since then he hadn’t suggested that they host
another and she hadn’t mentioned it. The defiant tilt to her chin
said that she expected him to deny her request.

“Hugh and Irene will be
home in a week,” he replied rather casually, tossing her brother’s
letter on the desk. “We could have a dinner to celebrate their
return.”

“Hugh’s coming home?” Eleanor’s eyes
brightened in excitement and then dimmed quite suddenly as her
expression turned contemplative. “Yes… yes I think I would very
much like to hold a dinner for them.”

Edwin raised his eyebrows
at her. Speaking of being secretive. He knew Nell well enough to
know that a statement like that indicated some kind of ulterior
motivation. Knowing Nell, it wasn’t always a motivation that he
would approve of. “Any particular reason why?”

The brilliant smile that
she gave him didn’t fool him in the least. “Just looking forward to
seeing Hugh again. And Irene of course. She and I didn’t have a
chance to spend much time together so of course I’m looking forward
to getting to know my new sister better.”

Studying her expression, he almost
cracked a smile when she looked away, but he doubted whatever her
secret motivation was that it was something which would affect him.
Perhaps she and Irene had discussed some feminine ah… confidences
before the honeymoon and Eleanor wanted to speak with her new
sister-in-law again. Either way, Edwin was content. Eleanor would
get her dinner party and he would see what she did with her second
chance.

“I’ll write to Hugh and
send it by courier with a selection of dates,” he said, tapping his
fingers along the arm of his chair before sitting up straight and
reaching for a clean sheet of paper. He paused. “Don’t invite Lady
Brooke this time, please.”

Although he didn’t look up he could
feel Eleanor’s clear, crystal gaze on him. “Should I invite Lord
Brooke?”

“As he’s a childhood friend of Irene’s
and become a rather good friend of mine, I think that would be
appropriate.”

His wife made a small noise that he
couldn’t interpret and decided to ignore. Something about the way
she was standing made him think that she wanted to say something
snappish that was likely to get her in trouble and he didn’t
particularly want to punish her today. Some days he was certainly
more inclined to it than others, although he wouldn’t hesitate to
dole out the necessary punishment if he deemed it necessary.
Hopefully ignoring her would keep it from being so.