The Duke and The Governess (29 page)

‘Yes, My Lord.’ Bennett said and watched a disconsolate Earl walk away.

~*~*~*~

The Duke of Warwick looked down on his daughter’s cherub like face and was ashamed. ‘I’m sorry, Pigeon. I didn’t think about it being Mrs. Beaton’s day off.’ He dropped a soft kiss on her forehead.

‘Why were you fighting, Daddy?’ Elizabeth asked. ‘Is this to do with Miss Jessica sharing your bed at the house party?’

‘Yes, pigeon,’ h
e murmured and s
troked his cheek over her curls. ‘I’ve wanted her for so long that I forget other important things.’ He kissed her head again.

‘Was the man you were fighting angry with you?’

‘Yes, at the time he challenged me, but I think, like me he is sorry that it happened.’ He squeezed his child gently. ‘I shouldn’t have done it, pigeon, she’ll never forgive me and now she probably won’t marry me either.’

‘I think you should ask anyway.’
Elizabeth said with such child
like clarity that John wanted to sob. ‘If she didn’t care she wouldn’t be angry.’ She delicately touched the bruise on his face, where his eye was closing. ‘Does that hurt?’

‘Yes, pigeon, it does.’ He sighed. ‘My whole face hurts; my ribs too.’

Bennett knocked and entered at that point. ‘Do you need anything, Your Grace?’

‘Yes, if I could have somebody to sit with Elizabeth while I try and make it up to Lady Jessica?’ the Duke requested.

‘Don’t forget to beg, Daddy.’ She smiled coyly, ‘just don’t pout.’

‘Why would I pout?’ John asked, intrigued.

‘Well, I’m just telling you not to, because it never works for me!’ He smiled down on his innocent daughter, his heart turning over in his chest. He squeezed her and kissed her brow.

Mary bustled in the room. ‘You sent for somebody, Your Grace.’

‘Yes, could you sit with Elizabeth for me and is your mistress still receiving?’

‘She hasn’t retired to bed yet, Your Grace. She is in her sitting room.’

He could hear the rejoinder
if you’d like to bait the bear in it’s den!
in Mary’s tone of voice, but he just ignored it. He looked down at Elizabeth. ‘You should try to go back to sleep.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll be back to take you home later.’

John handed his daughter, still bundled in the blanket, to Mary and she settled herself in the rocker. ‘Do you want to hear a story?’ she asked and she had Elizabeth’s undivided attention.

John trudged disconsolately into the hallway and asked to be shown to Lady Jessica’s sitting room. A footman sprang forward and showed him to the stairs.

~*~*~*~

Jessica had arrived in her rooms like a tornado, the anger was like a living thing in her body and the only way to dispel it was motion. At first she paced and then she flung herself into her bedroom, hauled out her trunks and set to packing for her journey into the country tomorrow.
I can’t stay here any longer.
She yanked the door of the armoire open with such force it was lucky not to be ripped off the hinges.
I just can’t handle any more damned gossip!
She berated herself as she threw her shoes, one at a time, into the trunk like she was shying at coconuts at the fair.
I knew I shouldn’t have come to London; it was much better being a lowly governess!
The drawer of the armoire was sticky, so she yanked it really hard and the whole drawer flew out of the slot and landed on her feet, making her curse and hop around the room. ‘Blast!’ she yelled and then sat on the bed to rub her feet.

She heard the gentle tap on her door and then the footman as he announced the Duke. ‘Give him a chair. I’ll be there in a moment!’ she shouted and scooped the contents of the spilled draw into the trunk.

John Farrington sent the footman away and stood in the doorway to her bedroom watching her with handfuls of silk underwear. Just seeing stockings and garters in her hands made his mouth go dry. He cleared his throat and leaned nonchalantly in the doorframe. ‘I’d much rather be taking those off you than watching you throw them into a trunk.’ He smiled gamely. ‘Are you going somewhere?’ She lifted the large drawer to fit it back into the armoire and he could see the outline of her perfect bottom as she heaved and tugged, her backside wiggling provocatively. His desire thundered in his temples as his blood pumped around his body to fill the exceptionally swift rise of his penis at the thought of her naked and her thighs spread for him as she bent over the drawer.
Damn it! You want her for a wife, not a courtesan.
He berated himself for his lascivious thoughts.

She straightened from the task of trying to get the drawer back in and stared at him as if he was a stranger. ‘You more than any other man should understand why I’m going to the country tomorrow.’ she said coldly, kicked the drawer back into place vigorously with the sole of her slipper and then opened the top drawer of the chest of drawers, pulling petticoats out, folding them and placing them in the trunk.

‘I have something in particular that I would like to ask you.’ John murmured which only earned him a frigid stare making his heart race faster, before she resumed her packing.

‘If you have come to offer me marriage, you can forget it!’ she said heartlessly.

John stood up straight and clenched his hands behind his back to stop himself from rushing into her bedroom, grabbing her and throwing her on the bed before he ravished her. ‘Why?’ he asked softly. ‘Would I not be an acceptable husband?’

Acceptable? Does he have no idea just how acceptable he is?
Raced through her mind.
He’s a damned Duke, of course he’s acceptable.
  ‘You possibly would be a very
...
suitable
husband.’ Jessica said just as coldly, ‘but I will not feed the gossip mill any more than it is already devouring our lives.’ She opened the second drawer and started on the chemises and nightgowns.

‘Why are the gossips devouring us?’ he asked with a frisson of trepidation as he watched her bend over another trunk.

‘If you announce an engagement everybody will know your stupid pugilism was over me.’ She stood up straight and pierced him with her eyes. ‘And I cannot stand the thought of more gossip about me. I can just hear them, how I managed to ensnare a Duke and who does she think she is, after all she had to marry David Carruthers, she’s just a little whore in silk!’ this last was spat with such venom that John strode forward, determined to help her through this distress. She backed away from him.

‘Nobody thinks that about you, Jessica. You’re blowing this all out of proportion.’ John tried to placate her, but the desire for her was like fine wine singing in his veins as his erection threatened the stitching of his britches.

‘Am I?’ She hurled at him. ‘Do you honestly believe that? And when did it matter what anybody thinks, only what will feed the gossip mill!’ She shook her head and returned to the armoire, ‘nobody is interested in the truth,’ she began pulling her silk gowns out and throwing them over the bed. ‘Please leave.’ She said sadly. ‘I don’t want to argue with you and you have no right to tell me to do anything and neither does Anthony.’

‘Maybe I don’t, but what about the child you’re carrying?’ he asked softly from right behind her.

‘Who said I was with child?’ she demanded, still facing the wardrobe, her spine as
stiff and straight as a poker
, the gown in her hands forgotten in an instant.

‘I assumed that’s why the Earl was angry enough to give me a facer in White’s.’ The Duke whispered as his hands caressed her upper arms. ‘What other reason would he have?’ he murmured as his lips touched the back of her neck between the ringlets of hair.

Jessica’s heart suddenly pounded in her chest, making it difficult to breathe. She could feel the heat from his body and a pulse started in her groin, spreading to the rest of her body as her passion found a focus. ‘Maybe he’s already asked for my hand.’ She murmured, her body relaxing as his hand drifted up over her shoulder to cup her chin and he slowly turned her face towards him.

‘I hope not.’ He mumbled as his lips took hers in a searing kiss, telling her with actions rather than words exactly how much he wanted her. His tongue forced it’s way into her mouth and she opened for his intrusion with total abandon as his fingers slowly caressed the exposed skin above the neckline of her gown. The silk gown in her hands slid to the floor to puddle at her feet. She shivered at his touch and she felt her nipples clench into hard peaks as his other hand tackled the hooks down her back and the ties of her stays. She gasped as the bodice loosened and his hand swept over her breast, the erect nipple making a hard button in his palm as he massaged that mound of pliant flesh. She wanted to remain angry at him, but all that rage turned into passion as his fingers and lips caressed her, driving her to a wantonness she didn’t know she possessed. She let out a soft sob of need as he adjusted his mouth over hers and a wicked impulse stole over her. She reached behind her and laid her hand over the hard ridge in his britches, stroking him gently as she traced the outline of his erection with her fingertips.

John let out a growl of passion and before Jessica could react, he spun her around, slamming the armoire door and pushing her up against it. He deftly peeled the bodice down revealing her perfect bosom, the nipples erect with desire and begging for his mouth, even as his lips traced the curve of her breast and she jerked as his mouth closed over the aching crest making spirals of want race down her body. Such was her desire, that she stood on tip toe for him and clasped her left hand into his thick, lustrous hair, while her right opened the first few buttons of his britches, before her left dropped
to help release him. As the front
of his britches fell away, his maddened, throbbing manhood sprang into her hand and he growled again.

Quickly, and without another thought in his head, he reached down for the hem of her skirts, yanked them up around her waist and smoothed his hands over her hips and around to the back of her thighs. With no effort at all he lifted her up and pinned her to the wardrobe, opening her thighs for him. She gasped and suddenly stared him in the eyes. His passion was there to see, it was like a forest fire out of control, blazing out as it overrode his good sense.

‘John!’ she gasped as she felt the tip of his throbbing penis at the entrance to her moist core. Slowly he lowered her body onto his staff, filling her and making her moan in ecstasy. He felt her throb with desire as her body engulfed him in it’s velvety heat.

‘I love you.’ he said hoarsely. ‘I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?’

‘Yes!’ burst from her throat. ‘Oh! God! Yes!’ and he started to move, slowly but surely. It was incredibly erotic as she felt him slide within her and she couldn’t stop her body from responding, arching to meet his thrust so he could achieve the ultimate penetration and as he drove in to the hilt, she felt the head of his penis nudging the mouth of her womb at the same time as his pubic bone rubbed against her clitoris scattering her senses to the four winds.

John was astonished at her reaction; she was alive in his hands. It was almost as if she was riding him, her fingers were hooked into his shoulders like claws and her feet were pressed against the back of his thighs. She panted as her head rolled from side to side against an armoire that was rocking to their erotic rhythm. He watched her face as her hair tumbled about her shoulders, scattering pins in all directions. He felt a tremble start in his thighs and hoped they’d be able to achieve orgasm before he collapsed.

Suddenly Jessica’s body arched violently and a keening scream was torn from her throat. He felt the ripples of her orgasm all along the length of his cock and it was enough to send him over the edge as he crammed himself in to the hilt and let go of his control. She was like a vice, clamped around his throbbing member so that he felt every last pulse of her orgasm as his penis flexed with the strength of his ejaculation and he couldn’t stop himself from thrusting against her, even though he couldn’t get any further inside her. Each thrust made them groan and it was only a few moments until he lifted her off the armoire door, carried her to the bed and they made love again amongst the silk dresses lying there. This time Jessica orgasmed twice before he succumbed and as her muscles settled, she was lying spread-eagled on the bed, with her chest heaving. John rolled off her and stared at the ceiling, fighting to regain control of his breathing.

‘I’ll have to make you angry regularly.’ He murmured, ‘such passion!’ but Jessica wasn’t listening, she was filled with wonder at their lovemaking.

‘Is that....what David....and Lady Saddleworth....were doing at....Lord Devon’s?’ she managed to gasp out between breaths as she pointed at the armoire.

‘Yes.’ He said simply. He turned to look at her sharply. ‘You said yes.’ He murmured.

‘I did.’ She smiled quickly and turned an impish expression on him. ‘Did you think I’d forgotten?’

‘I wondered if you’d try to avoid it.’ He said and rolled on his side. She looked down the length of his body, his jacket was still buttoned, his cravat still tied and the only sign they’d had intercourse, was the open fall on his britches, his softening manhood flopping against his thigh and the sweat shining on his brow.