Lady Harriet's Unusual Reward (13 page)

She gasped as he moved his arms around her, tugging at the ribbon that held her braid in place. Then he was combing his fingers through the braid, undoing it. She dropped her head back, enjoying the feel of the thick tresses tickling the skin on her back. She could not help herself. She began to move up and down his thick shaft.

“Mmm, yes, that’s right, my love. Ride my cock.”

She paused momentarily, shocked by his language. He had been about to latch onto her other breast but he raised his head, licking his lips.

“Ah yes, I do sometimes use vulgar language when I make love. Should have apologised in advance. Sorry.”

Harriet giggled.

She moved slowly on him and he groaned, moving his mouth back towards her breast.

“So, if I’m riding your cock,” she whispered. He laid his forehead on her collarbone and she was sure he uttered an oath. “What do you call my breasts?”

“Pardon?”

He looked up at her as if he was a schoolboy sitting a particularly difficult Latin test.

“What vulgar word do you use for breasts, Stephen?”

He waved a hand then seemed to give in.

“Tits,” he spat out.

She grinned at him.

“Earlier, I told you I was anticipating you coming to me and you asked what I anticipated you doing to me. I anticipated you sucking on my tits.” She pressed a kiss to his lips then pulled away to ride his cock as he’d requested. “Suck my tits, Stephen, please.”

“Christ,” he muttered as he took one in his mouth and placed his hands on her bottom, helping her to maintain a rhythm.

Harriet had no idea what she was doing. She was following her instincts, but it appeared to be working. She worked herself up and down his “cock,” the front of her sex rubbing deliciously against his body, building the tension in her that had built last night. The one that had eventually seemed to explode and bring her such a wonderful release.

She tugged on his hair and he released her breast. She covered his mouth with hers and he entwined his fingers in her long curls. His tongue appeared to work in harmony with his cock, to the same beat, like a symphony of their bodies. She was so close. She drew her mouth away, resting her forehead on his, slowing her movements to get just the right angle to bring herself to the peak she had found the previous night.

“That’s it, my darling. Find your release on my cock.”

“Oh Stephen, I…”

“Shh, I know, my love.”

“Oh God.”

He pressed a thumb to her nipple and tugged. One, two three more thrusts and she found bliss. She gasped as her fingernails dug into the flesh of his shoulders. As she plunged once more onto his hard length—onto his cock, she buried her face into his neck, shuddering her release. He held her, rubbing her back for a few moments, before gathering her in his arms, turning them both and laying her on the mattress. She muttered her displeasure when he slipped out from her. He chuckled.

“It’s seldom possible to turn and stay inside, though it can be done. Are you able to continue? You’re not in pain, are you?”

“No, I can continue.” She was a little tender but she wanted to see and feel his release inside her. She wanted him to lose control as she had done. He did not need further reassurance. He pressed his lips to hers and began to move in her deep and fast.

Harriet wrapped her legs around her hips and when he lifted her bottom to angle her hips, she felt him sink deeper. He was so very masculine as he moved inside her, searching for his own completion. His back muscles flexed under the tips of her fingers. She did not expect what happened next. Her sensitive flesh began to tingle again and instinctively she knew she was rising to another peak. She moved under him, ripping her mouth away from his.

“Oh Stephen, it’s happening again,” she gasped, half frightened, half in awe.

“Jesus, you’re going to kill me, Harriet,” he muttered into her skin, as he shifted his position and drove deeper into her. She moved with him and at last she understood that passage in the Bible about a man leaving his parents and becoming one flesh with his wife. This was what it meant. They were one being now. Working in complete harmony—towards the same end.

And they worked together for long minutes, pushing each other, helping each other, ramping up the desire and need in each other. But there was something almost leisurely in it when he abandoned her neck and sucked the aching peak of her breast into her mouth.

She was still near the edge of release but it remained just out of reach. And somehow she did not mind. Being joined to Stephen was what mattered.

Then he looked up from her breast and moved his head, kissing her lightly on the nose.

“We could do this all night, holding off our releases, but I fear it would make you unbearably sore in the morning.”

“I am not in pain yet.”

“I know, but I would feel like a cad if you were unable to walk tomorrow. Besides. It’s time for dessert.”

He withdrew from her then and planted kisses down her chest and then her belly. She watched in dawning horror as his lips moved nearer to the small thatch of red hair at the top of her thighs.

“Stephen!” she squealed, trying to bat him away. He laughed and caught her wrists.

“Trust me, love. You will like this.”

“But you cannot mean to kiss me…
there.
”

“I mean to do more than kiss you.”

“Stephen, you cannot,” she all but wailed.

“Husband’s prerogative, but… you must allow me to do it for three minutes and if you really do not like it, I shall stop after three minutes. You only have to say. But just like peas, you have to at least try it. That is fair, is it not?”

She could not really argue with that, no matter how embarrassing it may be. And he had not moments before had his cock inside there, so it was rather late to be missish about the whole thing. And now she was even using the word cock in her head. Oh dear, she would never again be able to chastise William for talk of tupping Mary.

Then he touched his tongue to her folds. One swipe and she forgot every concern she’d had.

“Oh, that is…” She had no adequate words.

He chuckled and adjusted her legs, settling in to his task. Harriet had never imagined anything could be so mind-alteringly exquisite and decadent. Now she understood what the word erotic actually meant. His tongue swept along her cleft before he sucked the swollen flesh near her hairline into his mouth, sending her nearly into an abyss of sexual pleasure. She writhed under him, one hand scrunching his hair, attempting to direct him, while the other held tightly to the cotton sheet and she fought for some kind of purchase—some way to remain in reality as Stephen attempted to send her into sweet insanity.

Suddenly he rose up and entered her again, apologising, driving into her as he gathered her into his arms. She wrapped herself around him tightly. It only took a couple of thrusts before her body clamped around him.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered into her hair. “I’m going to come.” His movements were jerking and lacking in any sort of rhythm, but he continued to plunge into her. “I love you,” he ground out, as he strained into her, his body hard and tense. The warmth of his seed filled Harriet, washing her insides and soothing her flesh that only now she realised probably did hurt a little. But her own body was still fluttering around his cock in the aftermath of her release and she was still slightly reeling from the words he had grunted when he had released his seed.

Lord Stephen Charville loved her. Oh she knew he held her in some kind of affection and they got on well. But love had not been something she had expected. Though she knew that somewhere along the line, she had fallen in love with him. She had just been unwilling to admit it. Not even to herself.

His breathing was beginning to slow and she could not help thinking that Stephen was trying to work out what to say next.

“Would it help if I said I love you too,” she said, running a finger slowly down his damp spine.

“Only if it’s true,” he said onto her hair and the mattress.

“I love you too and that’s the truth.”

“Even when I compare your maidenhead to peas?”

“Even then.”

He lifted himself, withdrawing from her, both of them wincing slightly.

“Lie on the pillows,” he urged. Then he climbed off the bed and walked towards the dressing table. Her heart plunged. He was leaving her already. She had hoped… Well she was not entirely sure what she had hoped for. Her parents had kept separate bedchambers so she knew he would go back to his room.

Instead he poured some water from her pitcher into the bowl then lifted a linen, dipped it in water then wrung it out. He approached the bed again, a dry linen in his other hand.

“Let me wash between your legs. You shall be more comfortable.” She opened her thighs and he wiped gently, then dried, before swiping both cloths over his now limp member. She was surprised at how much smaller it looked. He took them back over to the basin and left them by the side. Then he returned to the bed, pulling the covers over both of them as he climbed in beside her.

She laid her head on his shoulder and he placed a hand on her hip, encouraging her to lay her leg over both of his.

“This is nice.”

“Harriet, would you mind sharing a bed? I could move to my own bed when you have your courses or if you are unwell or when you are with child and uncomfortable and when you are nursing our child but at other times, would you be averse to sharing a bed with me?”

She looked up into his dark eyes. He ran his hand through his hair, then tucked a red curl behind her ear.

“No, not at all. I… think I would prefer it. Did you share a bed with Sarah?”

“Sometimes but not as often as I would have liked. She came from a rather strict and old-fashioned family and I think her mother had put notions in her head about sharing a bed with her husband.”

“Will the servants talk?”

“Servants do as their masters and mistresses tell them to do. Good servants say nothing outside the house. But it is not unusual for a husband and wife to share a bed. I did notice there was enough blood on the sheet that the maids will not gossip in the morning.”

“The maids would gossip?”

“Oh I have no doubt. Had there been none, they would have assumed you were not innocent.”

“That is terrible. What business is it of theirs?”

“None, but they would have gossiped anyway. In the same way that people will gossip when your new sister-in-law delivers a perfectly healthy baby in seven months.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Indeed. But no matter. We shall be in the country and by the time we come back to town, there shall be a new scandal to take away everyone’s interest from the new Countess of Oldbeck.

“When should we return to the country?”

“A few days? We shall have a ball to celebrate both sets of nuptials. And a family dinner. Phoebe shall be upset that she missed it, but we can perhaps take her for a picnic in Hyde Park to make up for it.”

“Oh that would be lovely. I shall arrange for a new gown and new hair ribbons for her. That should cheer her up.”

“We can give Miss Paton time to prepare to travel to her new home. Then I must buy another coach. We shall be a merry little party as we head back to Oldbeck estate.”

“Do you think we shall be happy?”

He lifted his head and pressed a kiss to her nose. “You know, I believe we shall.”

“What about William’s babe?”

“I believe he or she shall be fine too.”

“What if it is like its mother and father?”

“Then we shall cross that bridge when we arrive at it. But from what you say, whatever is wrong with William was complication from his birth. And as for Mary… well, I guess we shall never know. But William has managed and this child will have Phoebe and cousins around it to help it out. Let us not worry until we have to. I would wager that William does not have a care in the world tonight.”

“No, he will not.”

“Then, my beautiful love, snuggle into me and claim your reward.”

“My reward?”

“Your reward for saving Phoebe’s life.”

“Oh yes. I owe you an apology it seems. You are a gentleman of honour, Lord Stephen Charville.”

“Honour and good taste, Lady Stephen Charville.”

Epilogue

Ten years later

“Mama, may Eleanor and I go riding?”

Harriet arrived at the bottom of the stairs and looked at Phoebe, all grown up and looking more like Stephen every day. She was going to break hearts when she was let loose on the marriage mart in a couple of years. She fidgeted with the ribbons of her riding bonnet and bounced on her toes. Harriet had always struggled to say no to her step-daughter and even more so to her nine-year-old niece who looked expectantly at her.

“Please, Aunt Harriet. Papa said to ask you. He seems upset again.”

“All right then, run along. But where are the others?”

“I think they are all in the nursery. No one else wanted to ride. They said they were going to ask you and Papa to take them swimming in the lake after lunch,” said Phoebe over her shoulder as she headed for the grand entrance of the old manor.

“Are they indeed,” she said to no one in particular.

“Harry,” came William’s voice. “Please, can I talk to you?”

Harriet ushered her brother into the drawing room and closed the door. He started to pace.

“William, what is the matter?”

He stopped pacing, looked as if he was about to speak, then started pacing again.

“It’s Ellie. She knows.”

“Knows what?”

“That I’m an imbecile.”

“William, please do not use that word.”

“Why, Harry, it’s true.”

Harriet sighed. “What does she know? How does she know?”

“Some boys in the village called me it in her hearing and she was in the library and she found a note I had written to Mary. I had just told her I had gone to the stables and may be late for dinner. The day the horse was foaling. You know I cannot spell and my writing is a mess and she saw it and she asked me about it. I just shouted at her to get out and, oh God, Harry, what have I done? She was in Phoebe’s room. She was crying her heart out.”

“She will understand, William. Once you tell her the truth.”

“The truth?”

“Yes, William, the truth.”

“What do I say?”

“That you find words and writing very difficult. And that understanding can be difficult too. And that sometimes people call you unkind names because of it. But none of that makes you love her any less. Tell her you were afraid that the unkind words would make her love you less and that is why you shouted. But William, I do promise that she will not love you less. In all the years that you and I have been on this earth together, my love for you as a brother has but grown. And that child loves you. And so do your other two children. You will always be her Papa, no matter how bad your spelling is.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“I do.”

She drew William into a hug then released him.

“Go and tell Mary. Let her know what is to come. You both need to be prepared. You need to decide if you should mention that she has similar difficulties. But only you and she can decide that.”

“Thank you, Harriet. You look like you need to see Charville. He’s in the study.”

“Thank you.”

She picked up her skirts and hurried as fast as her feet would carry her to the man who had been at her side almost constantly since the day they had wed.

He was on his feet as soon as the door of the study clicked shut. Harriet rushed into his arms and he enveloped her in his arms. He was not wearing a jacket. She buried her nose in the silk of his waistcoat and snuggled into the warmth of his body. Once she had explained what had happened with William she was pleased that Stephen agreed that her course of action was right.

****

Later that evening, the children arrived downstairs for dinner, William looked much more at ease, but he gave Ellie a wary glance as she walked into the dining room. She gave him her usual sunny smile. It was custom in the Oldbeck manor for the children to join the adults once a week for dinner. Suddenly Ellie threw her arms around her father’s neck.

“I love you, Papa.”

Phoebe walked up to Harriet, whom she had called Mama since the day after Stephen and Harriet had married, and bent down to Harriet’s ear.

“She has known he is an imbecile for about two years. She has seen his writing before and they say it all the time in the village. Some of the staff here sometimes say it too. She was only upset because he shouted at her. And before you say anything else, I would never normally use that word to describe my uncle. I only use it now to explain that Ellie already knows what people say.”

Harriet turned to Phoebe, her mouth wide open. Phoebe shrugged and raised a placating hand.

“Why did you not say anything before?”

“I thought you knew.”

“Clearly not.”

“Did she know about Mary?”

“She was not so sure about her mother. Aunt Mary hides it better. But she knew her mother could not read and write.”

“I see.”

“But all’s well that ends well. She loves her parents and they love her. And young Benjamin will make a wonderful earl when the time comes. Not that Uncle William is not a great earl in his own right, of course.”

Harriet’s gaze fell on five-year-old Benjamin who was making a horse fly through the air with whooshing sounds. There was no sign that any of William’s three children had any difficulties in learning and for that she was grateful.

“My horse has an invisible knight who will slay St George’s dragon,” called out the young viscount. Harriet laughed. Then she caught her husband’s gaze. Thanks to him, Oldbeck was safe to pass on to the next generation. And in the next ten years, they would have built their own house on a piece of land adjoining the Oldbeck estate. It would be passed down to Henry, their two-year-old son and generous dowries would be given to Sarah, and Caroline, their seven and five-year-old daughters.

As she looked around her happy, laughing family it seemed that Lady Harriet had got much more than the reward she had originally requested for saving Lord Stephen Charville’s daughter on that fateful sunny day at Lady Hawthorne’s house party.