Riverbreeze: Part 2 (25 page)

When he returned to her, his skin had broken out in goose flesh and she immediately ran her hands over his chest, eyeing his muscles and his small, dark nipples. She lightly ran her fingertips over the hardened nubs and he grabbed her hands, growling, “That’s not fair. You still have your bodice on.”

“Take it off of me then.” She said boldly.

“It will be my pleasure.” He said softly, and reached for the pearly buttons on her bodice. When his big fingers couldn’t unfasten them, he became too frustrated and he grabbed the two sides of the material and ripped them apart. She gasped a little, and thought how angry Evelyn was going to be with her. Evelyn would have to do the mending. But seeing the burning passion in Robert’s eyes made her forget all about Evelyn.

He also tore open her chemise, baring her breasts. And immediately dipped his head to nuzzle and suck her nipples. “You are so beautiful.” He murmured against her soft skin.

More beautiful than her
? She thought, then quickly wiped that thought from her mind. Yes, she was more beautiful. Of course she would be more beautiful than a dirty, greasy savage.

His suckling aroused her; her breathing quickened. She started to move her hips a little, pressing against him. He continued to lick and kiss her nipples and all over her breasts and soon she was panting. She held his head against her chest, smelling wood smoke, sweat and the night air in his hair.

“Oh God, Lily, I do not think I can wait any longer.” He said, his breath hot and fast on her breast.

“Go ahead then.” She said. “Take me now,
mon mari
.”

Surging into action, he shoved his trousers down his legs, then kicked them off of his feet along with his moccasins. She did the same, unfastening her skirt and pushing it down and off her legs, along with her drawers and kicking her shoes off at the same time. And then instead of taking off her chemise, he just pushed it up around her waist and rolled on top of her.

He was heavy; he wasn’t doing much to hold his weight off of her. Kissing her neck again, his breath stirred the hair at her ear. She could feel he was ready, more than ready; he was hot and hard and pressing into her thigh and once again she had an awful thought. That part of him, that intimate part of his anatomy had been inside of her, that slut…that whore…that heathen savage. She wanted to cry. No! No, she couldn’t do this! She let out a whimper and she brought her hands up to push him away, but before she could do anything he was parting her thighs with his knees and entering her with a mighty thrust.

She gasped, the breath pushed right out of her. She squeezed her eyes shut; she clutched his shoulders, her fingernails digging into his flesh.

All right
, she thought.
Calm yourself. He’s inside of you now; he is your husband and
you want him to forget her, so be his wife and lover
.
Besides, he said he would only see her once a month so it had been that long since he had gone to her. Surely that was enough time for him to get the stink and filth of her off of him.

He must have raised himself up because she felt the cool air on her breasts, causing her nipples to pucker. “Did I hurt you?” He asked and she opened her eyes to see him looking at her with infinite tenderness.

She swallowed, forcing herself to relax. “No.” She whispered, then stronger, “No, you didn’t hurt me.”

“Good.” He gave her a quick kiss before pushing himself up and supporting himself on his hands, and then he started to move.

Sacrificing her own pleasure, Elizabeth moved with him, lifting her hips to meet each of his thrusts, spurring him on. He pressed deeper and deeper, quicker and quicker until sweat broke out all over his body and his arms trembled.

She moved her hands to his chest and stroked and pinched his nipples and he let out a moan that made her smile. He seemed to be getting close to the end and she slid her hands around to his buttocks and dug her fingers into his flesh, urging him to go deeper and to move faster.

Finally he froze and threw back his head and let a long groan. And collapsed on top of her. She held him close, smiling to herself
. He’ll never go back to that whore if I can help it.

* * *

Afterward, snuggled under the covers, Robert held Elizabeth in the crook of his arm, her head on his shoulder. She slipped her hand under his limp penis so that it lay on her palm like a plump sausage.

“This reminds me.” She said casually.

“Reminds you of what?” He asked suspiciously.

“This reminds me of Jeffrey Hudson, her majesty’s dwarf.”

“Dwarf?” He bolted upright to loom over her; she let out a little shriek and he grabbed her hand so that together they squeezed some life back into his penis. It grew large and hard. “This reminds you of a dwarf!” He exclaimed indignantly, squeezing his hand around hers so she could feel how big he became. “Have you ever seen a dwarf’s yard?”

She was giggling uncontrollably. “No, I’ve never seen a naked dwarf.”

“Then how can you say I remind you of a dwarf! Is this your revenge?” He pinned her with an accusatory stare.

“No! No, I promise!” She laughed, putting her one free hand up to indicate her innocence. “Honestly, I do not know why I was thinking of the Queen’s dwarf.”

“Mmmph.” Robert grunted, eyeing her suspiciously. “I bet his cock is the size of my little finger!” He held his pinky finger up to her face so she would have a clear view.

“You’re probably right.” She was still giggling and her cheeks were starting to hurt, along with her ribs. “He’s a very small man, unlike you, of course, who is a very
large
man.”

“Mmph.” He grunted again. “That’s better.” He said, then flopped back down onto the bed next to Elizabeth. “Tell me of this dwarf, if you must.”

Elizabeth sighed, snuggling close to her husband again. “Well, like I said, he was very small, only about 18 inches tall…”

“Eighteen inches tall!” Robert exclaimed. “I take back what I said earlier. Now I bet his cock is the size of my little toe!”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Stop that! That is not nice!”

“Sor-ry.” He said, but he didn’t look sorry.

In fact, Elizabeth thought he looked pretty adorable, trying to keep from grinning. “Anyway…” She continued, “He had been presented to the King and Queen in a pie…”

“A pie! Were they going to eat him?”

Elizabeth glared at him and he lifted his eyebrows while pressing his lips together, affecting an innocent look. “No, they weren’t going to eat him.”

“Well, you said he was presented to them in a pie. What was I supposed to think?”

“I didn’t mean he was baked in a pie; he would have been dead! No, they had baked the crusts separately and put him in the pie afterwards.”

“Oh.” Robert mouthed.

Elizabeth continued, “Now, if you would quit interrupting me, I will continue.”

“Sor-ry.” He intoned again, looking properly chastised.

Elizabeth let out a huff. “The queen loved unusual pets and Jeffrey had been presented to her as a pet.”

“The poor little bugger.”

“But the first time I ever saw him he was in a masque.”

“He was wearing a mask?”

Elizabeth giggled again. She slapped his chest playfully. “No, you silly, he was performing in a masque. You know, a masque is like a play. Anyway, King Charles and Queen Henrietta Marie loved to put on masques. The Queen herself, in fact, loved to perform in them as well.”

“How did you get to see one of these masques?” He asked, nuzzling the top of her head. He was breathing in the scent of her hair again and Elizabeth smiled triumphantly.

“King Charles personally invited my father and his family, his family being me, Evelyn and Louise, our governess. I’ll never forget how excited we all were.”

“I’m sure.” He muttered under his breath, not impressed.

She pushed at his ribs and frowned at him. “Being invited to Whitehall by the King was a great honor. My father was both proud and humbled by the personal invitation.”

“How did your father know the King?” Robert asked, lazily stroking his fingers along her upper arm.

“Through his goldsmithing business. This happened about six years ago; Evelyn and I were only eleven and all I remember is that, one night, at dinner, Papa was speaking to our governess, Louise, about doing some business for the King. At the time, I didn’t understand fully what he was talking about, but later I learned the whole story.

At that time Holland and Spain were at war and the King used my father and several other goldsmiths to process Spanish bullion. You see, the King had favored the Spanish and had allowed them to provision their ships on the south coast of England and even to process the pay for their soldiers through the London goldsmiths. And since King Charles was desperate for money, and since he was assisting the Spanish, he didn’t think it was wrong of him to skim a percentage of the processed Spanish bullion for himself. My father wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, but that evening at supper, he told us everything along with telling us about the invitation.”

“So your father turned a blind eye so that the King could steal from the Spanish.”

Elizabeth frowned, not liking that statement. “When you are commanded to do something for the King, you do not refuse! My father would have been beheaded if he had refused his King.”

Robert sighed. “I guess in a way I can relate to that. My brother, Wesley, to some extent, thought himself the king of his manor and you know how Jamie and I both suffered because of his highhandedness.” He said bitterly.

She hugged him closer and murmured, “I know and I am sorry.”

“Never mind. Go ahead and tell your story. I know you’re dying to tell me about the dwarf and this masque.”

And she was. Already he had interrupted her too many times and she knew he really didn’t want any sympathy, so with an animated expression on her face and with an excited voice she described that special evening.

Even though she could have told him about the fancy gowns she, Evelyn, and their governess wore—hers was of the prettiest peach satin with rows of delicate embroidery down the front of the skirt and layers of lace at the three-quarter length sleeves and more lace along the neckline—she didn’t, knowing he would probably be bored with that part of the tale.

So she started by telling him about Jeffrey, the dwarf, and the ravishing costumes and the fabulous sets.

She explained that the masque really wasn’t like a play because there was no plot, just scene after scene of magnificent stage effects. The masque had been written by a man named Indigo Jones and he had also written all the songs and created all the scenes and come up with all the dancing routines and all the costumes.

Seated in the audience among her family, royals and the nobility, she had felt like she was in a dream. Everyone had been so excited, anticipating the rise of the curtain. She remembered the sounds of the guests whispering to each other in hushed tones, the rustling of all the ladies’ voluminous skirts and the scraping of the men’s boots on the marble floor. And she had been glad of the noise because then nobody could hear the frantic beating of her heart.

But as soon as the curtain rose, everyone went quiet.

The first scene was of woodland and in the distance, a river, shimmering in the moonlight. Everyone let out an ‘Ah’ and she had been in awe of the marvelous, lifelike props. Owls hooted and birds sang. And suddenly the ground opened up and smoke poured through, at first screening the sight of whatever was being raised through the floor. But then the smoke cleared and a chariot could be seen drawn by two enormous owls and driven by a woman dressed in the darkest amethyst purple with black wings and a golden crown studded with amethyst stones. It was night and she sang a lovely, lilting song about how the onset of night brings calm to the land.

Elizabeth had been entranced by it all and with a shy smile, admitted that she had sung that song for years to come.

She was sorry when the scene ended and the curtain closed, but that’s when Jeffrey appeared to entertain the crowd as the next scene was set up behind the curtain. He was dressed in a Captain of the Fairies costume and he performed a grotesque dance, bringing the audience to hilarious laughter. He seemed to enjoy doing it, but Elizabeth had wondered if he was only pretending to please the King and the Queen.

The next scene was even more fantastic than the first. It featured witches, clowns, five feathered men and a morning star played by a beautiful young man who was naked except for his light blue mantle and a shiny yellow star on his head. Elizabeth had been completely mesmerized by the young man’s nudity and had stared like a half-wit. As he performed a flitting dance over the stage, she and Evelyn shared private giggles.

Jeffrey came out again between scenes, doing his outrageous antics and people laughed and guffawed, enjoying the show.

The next scene was the most anticipated because so far the queen had not appeared and everyone knew to expect her. And they were not disappointed. The third scene began with a stunning display of unusual buildings, windmills, mountains of gold and unusual formed trees. Eventually the furthest backdrop was drawn aside to reveal the Queen herself sitting on a splendid golden throne in a garden with all her ladies-in-waiting surrounding her. She was wearing the most glorious gown in aquamarine silk and strands and strands of pearls draped over her bodice. A bright sky glowed behind her and radiant rays of light shone from her being, expressing her to be the queen of brightness. Everyone let out an ‘ah’ again and she acknowledged her guests with an expressive face, an impish smile and a playful wave. She was more magnificent than Elizabeth could have ever imagined and for weeks afterwards, she and Evelyn took turns playing the Queen in the privacy of their bedchambers.