Silence of Scandal (13 page)

He didn’t think his throbbing head could stand another tongue lashing from that shrew of a maid and he didn’t trust himself at all in his beautiful wife’s presence.

The very thought of her pale skin and her delicious dark red nipples had him almost bursting the breeches he had borrowed from Grady.

He peered behind the bath screen and was pleased to discover that fresh water had already been drawn. He stripped down quickly and stepped into the tub. His soap had a more masculine scent and he rubbed it all over his body before sitting down in the water and pulling the silk ribbon holding his hair. The stench of burning dog still lingered and he scooped the suds all over his head lathering it as much as possible before bending his knees to their tightest, sliding down and dunking his head under the water.

When he came up for air the burned dog smell was gone and he lay back in the warm water to relax for a moment. His mind immediately filled with the memory of Elizabeth’s naked, foam smothered form. His own body reacted violently and he felt himself hardening rapidly.

He groaned as desire filled him to the point of near pain and without considering resisting the urge, he took the soap in his hand before slickening his tight skin and stroking himself gently. He closed his eyes and relaxed even further in the warm water as he remembered her dress sliding from her milk white shoulders, how her corset fell to the floor leaving her in a nearly transparent chemise and pantaloons. His blood thundered through his veins and his hand’s pace quickened as he remembered the feel of her rosy nipple under his fingertip.

His visions expanded and engulfed him in unfamiliar emotions. Lust was part of it but there was something else there too. She had felt comfortable in his arms as he had carried her to his room. Her head had nestled perfectly into his shoulder, her breath had whispered across his neck and everything had felt right about it.

What had happened later still flooded his mind but it was with a care that he wanted her. He wanted her to want him back. The thought of her crying out his name as he took her, brought her to paradise with him as only true lovers can, was too much. His head fell back and his mouth opened on a deep groan as he whispered,

‘Elizabeth.’

The depth of his climax caught him unawares. He shuddered for what felt like minutes before he opened his eyes and the room came back into focus.

He pushed himself upright in the bath and took a deep, calming breath. His essence covered his hand and he stared at it for a long moment almost ashamed at his lack of self-control. This wasn’t his normal behaviour; he could usually bite down feelings of lust, but with her it was becoming impossible. He rinsed his hand and stomach and climbed out of the bath feeling a complete heel for what he had done. He grabbed up his drying sheet and gave himself a brisk rub all over before donning his robe.

He moved over to his dressing table and picked up his comb, dragging it through his long hair and tying it back from his face with a fresh black ribbon. He put the comb down again and was about to turn to his wardrobe to find a clean shirt and breeches when his hand stopped in mid-air and he stared down at his dressing table in mute horror.

His silver stud tray was empty.

He spun to the door aghast at the thought that someone may have seen or heard him taking his own pleasure. He swallowed as he realized that it could only be Elizabeth or her maid as no one else would know where her pins were. For some reason he doubted it was the maid. There was no way a woman of her nature could have held her tongue if she had seen the state of his arousal. She would have more than likely picked up his open razor that lay beside his stud tray and sliced his offending protuberance off. He winced at the notion but the thought that Elizabeth might have seen him was equally disturbing. She would think he was like some kind of debase animal. His cheeks burned in humiliation as he looked back at the scene of his shame and was relieved to see that the tub wasn’t visible from the dressing table area. If she had only come to pick up her pins then his secret moment of weakness may still be safe. Being deaf she wouldn’t have heard him sloshing wildly in the bathwater so her curiosity wouldn’t have been roused. 

He quickly chose a shirt and breeches and dragged them on. He wanted to check that the salon had been set to rights after the floor mopping and finding of a replacement rug. He left his room quickly but then stopped only yards down the corridor as he caught the sound of his wife’s tuneless singing coming from her room. He closed his eyes for a long moment as something tugged at him, a memory of tuneless songs that had driven him to distraction but it was out of reach and he shook his head as he began walking again.

Elizabeth couldn’t stop her heart fluttering beneath her breast. The strange ache between her thighs pulsed madly and she pressed her legs together as she sat at her dressing table in the desperate hope that these strange sensations would leave her soon.

She had opened the connecting door between hers and her husband’s room and run in wearing only her clean chemise and pantaloons to collect her forgotten hair pins while Betty selected a fresh gown from her dressing room.

She had thought his room was empty and she gathered the pins quickly from the tray but the scent of masculine soap roused her curiosity. She sniffed the hay air as she spied his discarded gown and breeches and peeped around the bathing screen. Her hand had shot to her lips masking her gasp at what she saw there.

Alexander lay back in the far too small tub, his muscled shoulders gleaming damply, his sculpted chest looking like one of the statues of the Gods. The water came up as high as his ridged stomach but his long, lean legs were sprawled apart, one over the edge of the tub and the other somewhere beneath the water. His hand was wrapped tightly around a huge length of throbbing flesh that protruded through the water from somewhere between his thighs. She watched in fascination as he moved his hand slowly up and down the length of himself.  Seconds later his pace quickened. His chest rose and fell deeply as he dragged in gasping breaths.

She glanced at his face and for a moment he appeared to be in pain as he threw his head back, but then his expression turned to complete wonder and she saw his lips move.

‘Elizabeth!’

His mouth formed her name and she looked back down to where his hand had now stilled as a great spurt of thick, white fluid erupted from his flesh. His body began to shudder as more of the creamy liquid appeared and splashed onto his stomach and then he sank back into the water with a deliciously sated smile on his face.

She stepped back quickly, not wanting him to discover her watching him and she quietly tiptoed from the room.

She wasn’t sure exactly what she had seen. It was clearly a private moment of almost painful pleasure but she wondered as she read his lips, what part she had played in his satisfaction. Her cheeks heated and her breasts tingled inside her chemise. She hadn’t dared to tell Betty that he had already touched one of them. The memory of it caused her legs to tremble such was the desire she had felt and she could feel it again now.

The part of him that he had stroked had been huge and she remembered the feel of something firm prodding into her back as he had carried her on their wedding day. This was clearly the same part of him but she was surprised that something that big wasn’t visible inside his trousers at all times.

Did all men have this length of thick, pulsing flesh between their thighs? She certainly hadn’t noticed anything like it before but then she hadn’t met many men except her father, Carter and the men who worked at Ormond. None of them had shown any evidence of huge amounts of rigid flesh in their breeches, though she knew there was definitely something more than she had there.

She pondered for a moment. Grady wore his trousers very loose so it was too hard to tell. There was the butcher’s boy of course, and the lad that delivered the bread but they hardly counted as they were not half the size or height of Alexander and their flesh may not have shown. She thought of her husband’s friend, Giles Denvers. She had barely noticed him at the wedding and hadn’t seen him since but when she thought about his fine figure and skin hugging breeches she clearly remembered the outline of something behind his placket. Alexander’s flesh had looked huge in comparison but then she realized that it didn’t look this way at all times. It clearly grew in relation to the amount of pleasure one gave it. Alexander had looked as though he might be about to ascend to heaven.

She wished that she could ask Betty what it meant but she couldn’t. She wasn’t sure that Betty would know any more than she did herself. It was very frustrating.

She sat back down on her chair and hummed a tune from her childhood while Betty lay a fresh dress on the bed. The maid then moved behind her and began to brush her curls, piling them on the top of her head and fixing them with the pins. Her riotous hair tumbled about her face and tickled her already sensitive neck. It felt like Alexander’s hot breath. She bit back the gasp that threatened to escape her lips and concentrated on her reflection in the mirror. Betty quickly finished her hair and it wasn’t long before she was tied into her corset and buttoned into a rose coloured gown. She slid her feet into brocade slippers, took a deep breath and walked back down the stairs to wait for her first dinner with her new husband.

Chapter Eight

Progress

He was unsure how long it would take for her to be ready. His mother had always disappeared hours before the appointed meal time but Alexander was famished and he didn’t feel like waiting hours for his bride. Dinner was going to be tense enough as it was without him having his stomach rumbling throughout the first course. He almost wished he had invited Geoffrey and Giles to join them but then he cursed himself for a coward. He had served for five hard years in the Kings cavalry; there was nothing that could frighten him now. Nothing but a bewitchingly beautiful woman who happened to be his wife.

He tipped back the glass of watered wine that Grady had decided he was drinking from now on and poured another from the carafe on the buffet. The weakened wine was doing nothing for his attack of nerves and he wondered whether his father’s old stash of brandy was still hidden in the back of the glass cabinet. He shook his head. It simply wouldn’t do. He had to keep a clear head when he spoke to her; if he slurred his words she might not be able to understand him and he couldn’t risk that.

He poured a second glass of the wine for when she eventually came downstairs and was about to take a sip of his own when the door opened and Grady announced her arrival.

“Your Grace.” He gave a quick bow and grinned at Alexander as a vision of beauty stepped through the door. Whatever the shrew of the maid had done to Elizabeth’s hair and the cut of her gown left Alexander nearly gasping for air. She dazzled him anew. Everything highlighted her delicate features. Her swan like neck was unadorned and Alexander immediately became desperate to hunt down the elusive family jewels and present her with something suitable to grace her flawless flesh. Tight and low cut in the bodice, the aqua coloured gown fell like a waterfall from beneath her beautiful breasts. It wafted about her form, clinging to her curves as she walked towards him.

Alexander swallowed quickly and strode forwards to take her hand. He lifted it to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her warm skin. He stood straight before he spoke, making sure that she was looking directly at him.

“My Lady, you are simply exquisite. I hope you have recovered sufficiently from the shocks of today.”

Elizabeth’s cheeks became a delicate shade of pink at his compliment and she nodded as she took the proffered glass. She sipped the pale wine and then glanced up and down Alexander’s form. For a moment he wondered at her scrutiny and hoped desperately that she wouldn’t find him lacking but then her eyes wandered lower and she appeared to study the front of his trousers.

He shifted uncomfortably and waited until she lifted her eyes before he spoke again. She flushed more deeply as she realized that he’d seen where her gaze had rested. He ignored her embarrassment.

“I hope that you have forgiven me for my appalling behaviour over the last three days. It was beyond rude of me to leave you unattended in your new home but I had no idea what was happening. I confess that for a moment I considered you mad. I’m afraid that my imagination rather ran away with me.” He felt the heat rise in his own cheeks as he made his apology.

Elizabeth stared up at him. His square jaw twitched with strain and she nodded quickly, glad to see the relief in his eyes.

“Maginations can do tha,” she agreed in her strange nasal tones and she took another sip of her wine.

Alexander looked as though he was about to speak again but Grady came in and announced dinner. Alexander proffered her his arm and she lay her gentle fingers atop his sleeve. Tremors immediately ran through him and he glanced down at her slender form.

She didn’t appear to be suffering in the same way and his pride was piqued with disappointment. She kept her eyes forward as they walked and he watched her intently knowing that it was useless to speak while she was not facing him. Her gaze slid to the right. They angled downwards slightly, her eyelashes fluttering delicately and he caught her studying the front of his trousers again.

His soul burned with shame as blood rushed to his groin and caused his breeches to tighten. He gritted his teeth and willed his arousal back down but not before he saw the small smile twitching at the corner of his new wife’s mouth.

My God! The little minx was playing with him!
She had seen him in the tub and was clearly curious. He would investigate that thought further when they retired to bed but for now his stomach needed filling.

He guided her to the table and waited until she was seated before he took a seat himself. He had arranged for Grady to place the settings opposite one another, either side of the table rather than him at the head and her at the foot. To try and converse any other way was going to be far too difficult.

Grady served soup and they ate in silence but Alexander wanted to gain some more information about her and as soon as Grady removed their plates he cleared his throat and tried to gain her attention. She kept her eyes downcast but he leaned over and touched her hand. She looked up at him, glanced away again as if scared to see what he might say but when he stroked the back of her hand with gentle fingertips she lifted her gaze once more and stared at his lips.

Alexander waved a hand about the huge room.

“I had lived at Ormond all my life until I went to school and then war but I never expected to inherit it. It has come as a bit of a shock to find myself as its owner. I don’t recall any Carlton Hardacre’s from my youth. Did you live nearby?” He enquired.

Elizabeth stared at him for a moment and appeared to be very frightened. She answered by deflecting the question.

“Misser Carter sayd tha’ your family died. I am sorr’ to hear tha’.”

Alexander nodded.

“I am very sorry too. I loved my father and brother dearly. You were looking at some of Phillip’s drawings this afternoon. I hadn’t known that we kept any.” He took a bite of the roasted capon that Grady had carved onto his plate.

Elizabeth smiled at him, feeling on safer ground.

“I like the drawin’s. I can understan’ them. I like to draw. Betty says that I am goo’ at it. Books are har’. I can no’ make out all the wor’s.”

Alexander nearly dropped his fork. He swallowed before he asked the obvious question.

“You cannot read?”

Elizabeth shrugged her slender shoulders.

“The simpler wor’s but I ‘ave no one to teash me properly. Betty canno’ read very well either an’ my fadder says that is too har’ for me. I canno’ ‘ear the sounds the letters make but I would like to try. Can I ‘ave a teasher, Alassanda?” Her onyx eyes glowed hopefully.

He gulped down his shock and wondered how she had ever learned to speak if she didn’t know the sounds. It took him a few seconds to realize that she could not have been deaf her entire life.

“My dear, you can have anything you like if I can possibly afford it but Ormond has been under unusual financial strain recently. However I would be happy to try to help you myself until I am on a more secure footing. We could start tomorrow evening if you would like. I have also heard of a sign language for deaf people. Many men have come back from the war with hearing problems and a universal system is being talked of. We could ask about that too.”

Elizabeth lifted her delicate shoulders again.

“No, sign only any goo’ if others can sign too. I don’ know any other deaf people but then I don’ know many people anyway. I thin bes’ if I stay here at Ormond. I am happy here. I was miserable when we movt away.” She took a bite of her meat but her mouth stilled for a second before her eyes left his and she carried on chewing.

Alexander stared at her, momentarily unsure of her meaning but then she swallowed her food and spoke again quickly.

“There is a beesh nearby. Can we go to it if the weather is fine? We could take a pinnic or if I can ‘ave some paper and pencils I can draw.”

Alexander nodded immediately.

“I’ll have Grady find what you need. There must be piles of drawing paper bout the place. Phillip was always jotting down something new.” He was about to carry on but then he frowned at her words. The beach was nearly half a mile away and though the sea was visible from her room the beach was not obvious from Ormond. He had thought she had come straight to the church from wherever she had lived previously and the road came in from the opposite direction to the coast. He wondered how she knew about the nearby stretch of sand. He gave a small shrug. It wasn’t important. Maybe she had just assumed or perhaps Grady or one of the other servants had told her. It wasn’t as though she’d had many other people to talk to over the last few days.

“Will you come too, Alassander? It would be good to ‘ave some company.”

He smiled at her guiltily, pleased that she thought him worth getting to know even after running out on her on their wedding night, but time was not on his side. The estate still needed a firm hand.

“One day soon perhaps. I’ll make time early next week. We could go down for the morning tide.” He took a breath as he realized that it would be the first time he’d see the place since the death of his father and Phillip. He placed his fork on his plate, his appetite suddenly gone. “It won’t have good memories for me though. Both my father and brother died there.”

The blood drained from her already pale features.

“I did not kno’ tha. I am sorry to bring the subject up again. I apologize Alessanda. You won’t want to go there.” Her head went down and she didn’t look up again. He reached across the table and put his finger under her chin. She looked back up at him with wary eyes.

“You were not to know Elizabeth. You have no need to be sorry. They drowned trying to save the lives of a wrecked crew. They would have been happy knowing that some men survived,” his voice was not as steady as he had hoped it would be and he had to clear his throat.

Her hand came up to her mouth and she gave a little cry of distress as she rose to her feet and ran around the table. She dropped to her knees by his side and took hold of his hands as he looked down at her. She bent her head and kissed the backs of them.

Alexander nearly choked at her display of compassion. He drew her up from the floor and pulled her onto his lap. The top of her head fitted against his shoulder.

“It really is alright, my love. I am not sad when I think of them. I am happy to have known them and to have had their affection. They were good men,” he tried not to think of the last years of their lives as he spoke into her hair. She lifted her head from his chest and looked at him.

“Yoo said something? I fel’ your chin move.” She put her finger to his jaw and then to her hair to emphasise her point.

“Damn. I forget you cannot hear me if you cannot see my lips. It’s very frustrating.”

She threw her head back and laughed loudly. The sound honked around the long room.

“Yoo think it is frustrabing for yoo?”

Alexander’s eyes widened as he realized how stupid his words sounded and laughed back at her.

“Yes, my pet. It is for me but obviously much more for you. I wonder how you ever learned to speak at all.”

She touched a fingertip to one of her shell like ears.

“I was no’ always deaf. I learned to speak when I was little an’ I member. I was very ill and in bed for a long time and when I was better I could not hear anything.” She pressed her palm to her ear and moved it away quickly as though the pressure may make the sound come back.

Alexander looked at her curiously.

“What on earth sort of illness would have made you deaf? Did you have a proper doctor call?”

Her face paled and she slipped from his knee.

“I have a sudden headache. I am not use’ to all this talking. Is a strain to get my wor’s right. I mus’ go to bed and rest.” She was off and out of the door before he could say a word in protest but his curiosity had already been piqued by her earlier mention of Ormond.

Now alarm bells were ringing loudly in his ears. He turned back to what was left of his plate of food and chewed quietly while he thought about the things she had revealed. It was obvious that she was hiding something from him and he wondered if she could have had a hand in the plot to ruin his father and brother, but how could a deaf girl influence grown men. It was inconceivable. She acted and sounded as though she had barely stepped foot outside her own house.

He made a mental note to find out everything he could about her and to find out soon. Her father had bought all of his brother’s gambling notes at vast expense. He would have to be a rich man to afford them if he could hand them over as soon as his daughter was married to Alexander. Carlton Hardacre wasn’t a name known to him but the man must have known his family to fix things as he had. She must know more than she made out and Alexander was determined to leave no stone unturned in his quest to find the man that had ruined his family.

Elizabeth threw herself on her bed and dissolved into loud hiccoughing tears. Betty appeared through the door and ran to her side. She rolled Elizabeth towards her and pulled her hands from her eyes.

“What did the brute do to you? Has he hurt you?”

Elizabeth shook her head.

“No, Betty. Alessander di’ nothing wrong. It was me being loose tongued. I revealed things that I shoul’ keep quiet. Alessander is no fool. He noticed immediately. I was so comfortable with him and we were getting on so famously I forgo’ what I am meant to be doing here. Now if he guesses the truth ‘bout me, he will hate me.”