TuesdayNights (40 page)

Anna’s face displayed a blush at her husband’s account of their quick marriage. “I fear Madame Suzanne would be most displeased with me leaving her employ except that Edward ordered an entire wardrobe for me as he was taking me away from the modiste,” she explained, mostly to Olivia. “I did not have the heart to tell him I already have beautiful gowns I made in the hopes that he would one day come for me.”

Olivia felt tears prick the edges of her eyes when she heard Anna’s words. “I am so very glad he found you,” she whispered to Anna.

The young woman’s eyes widened at Olivia’s comment. “I have you to thank for that,” she whispered back. “I do hope you have forgiven Edward his ... impropriety,” she added, leaning in so that her whisper could only be heard by Olivia. “The naughty boy told me what he did.”

Smiling demurely, Olivia nodded. “Of course. He was only trying to help.”

Anna leaned over so that her lips were very near to Olivia’s ear. “But it was entirely unnecessary! Mr. Cunningham made it very clear to my husband that he loves you dearly – that he always has, and that he had no intention of keeping a mistress – so Edward’s trick was very cruel to you,” Anna confided, her eyes taking on a worried look as she pulled away from Olivia. “I was quite incensed with him when he told me what he’d done.”

Olivia regarded Anna with a bit of surprise and wonder. So, Michael admitted his love for me to his best friend? Then, surely he must love me. “Do forgive him,” Olivia whispered, her lips quivering as she returned her attention to what Michael was saying.

“Have you decided where you’ll live?” Michael queried Edward, deciding he really didn’t want to know what the women were discussing.

The issue of where these newlyweds would live hadn’t come up Tuesday morning when Edward left to find his Anna. Edward had seemed so nervous about the prospect of marrying his beloved seamstress, Michael did not wish to burden the man with thoughts beyond getting married.

His father’s pronouncement about taking over the duties of the viscountcy meant Michael and Olivia would probably be moving to Horsham very soon.

Olivia exchanged glances with Anna and Edward before looking up at Michael. “Why not at the townhouse?” she wondered, afraid that perhaps Michael had declared they could not share the home. “I would so like them to live with us. I would have another woman with whom to learn how to be the wife of an aristocrat!” She turned her gaze back to the beautiful seamstress, hoping to find her of a similar opinion.

“The arrangement is agreeable with me, of course,” Michael countered with a shrug, “But I believe it is up to Edward and Anna as to where they wish to live.”

Edward pulled his bride closer to his side. “All in good time, my friends. It will be at least a few months before Anna and I settle down,” he said with a cocked eyebrow. “I’m taking her with me to Italy and Greece for a very long honeymoon.”

Michael and Olivia exchanged quick glances, mischief apparent in both sets of eyes. “Then we shall have to make the most of the terrace while you are away,” Michael replied with a cocked eyebrow. “And when you are back, we’ll simply move to Horsham.”

Later that evening ...

Olivia hurried into the purple room, removing her gloves even before she’d closed the door behind her. Although she considered ringing for Sarah to help her out of her dress, petticoats, and corset, she resisted in the hopes that Michael would arrive before she was completely undressed.

Tease him, her sister had said.

Olivia took a deep breath and slowed her movements, remembering her ball gown would be Eloisa’s wedding dress. She carefully pulled it over her head and draped it on the only chair. Peeling off her petticoats, she suddenly felt liberated. She hoped Michael would arrive in the next moment or so. Her heart beating hard, she loosened the ties of the corset. Before long, she had wriggled out of it and was left in her chemise, stockings and slippers. Standing in front of the cheval mirror, she pulled off the chemise and regarded her nearly naked body. Her suddenly swollen breasts felt heavy, their tips hardening in anticipation. The stockings were tied with garters near the tops of her thighs, and she wondered if she should remove them completely. Instead, she pulled the rose buds from her hair along with the pins that held the braids and chignon in place. Her hair cascaded down past her shoulders as she shook it out, its red highlights catching the candlelight along with the jewels of the necklace. Putting one foot up on the bench at the end of the bed, she bent over a bit to untie a garter. The sound of a sharply inhaled breath reached her, and she froze.

“Please, do not scream,” Michael spoke quietly from where he stood leaning against the panel door, his hands behind his back. The latch and lock clicked into place as Olivia turned her head slowly to regard him. Michael had removed his topcoat and waistcoat, and his cravat was hanging off one shoulder, apparently forgotten when he’d quietly entered the salon.

She straightened, but left her foot resting on the bench, her knee bent enough so that her leg hid the dark space between the top of her thighs. Her hands moved to rest on her hips, and she could almost hear Michael as he suddenly swallowed – hard.

“You’ll have to kiss me, then,” she ordered, her head cocking to one side as she watched his eyes travel the length of her body and back up to her face. Michael stood frozen in place, the sight of his nearly naked wife an erotic surprise that both delighted and frightened him. As he stared, she slowly lowered her foot to the floor and turned to face him. She is allowing me to see her nude, he thought suddenly,
j
ust as I dreamed she would. Her upturned breasts, topped with their hardened nipples, were framed with waves of her mahogany hair until she slowly pushed it away from one side and over her shoulder. His gaze followed the curve of her hip and thigh, the sweep of her long legs still sheathed in their translucent stockings, up to the darker area between the tops of her thighs where his hand had been the night before, along the line of her arm as her hand rested on her hip.

“I should warn you that I have intentions to do far more than kiss you,” Michael murmured and moved quickly to embrace her, one arm pulling her against him and the other cupping the side of her face. His lips captured hers, and he kissed her, more gently than his quick moves would suggest. The kiss deepened, and Olivia’s body seemed to melt and mold to fit against the front of his as she returned the kiss. Soon, though, he allowed her to take a breath as he moved his lips to her jawline, to her neck, to the lobes of her ears, where he suckled for a moment, sending shivers through her body. He was only slightly aware of her fingers undoing the buttons of his shirt, the fastenings of his breeches, until she had pulled down the fall and placed her hand against his hardened manhood. His lips let go of her ear as his body spasmed. A low moan escaped him as he felt Olivia’s other hand slide slowly over his chest and around to his back, her bare breasts pressed hard against him.

Shrugging the shirt off his body and arms, he slid one hand down past the small of her back and over her bottom to cup one globe. Olivia grinned and gasped as his other hand slid around her shoulder and to the side of a breast, lifting the mound, gently kneading it before he pressed his thumb against the hardened bud, circling it until he heard her breath catch, felt her body liquefy, watched her bee-stung lips open for his hungry mouth. Her entire body trembled, her breaths coming more quickly as he moved his lips to suckle the other nipple.

Her fingers combed through his hair as she kissed his temple and ears. The shivers of pleasure increased to waves, and she cried out his name as he continued to lick and suckle her. When he finally let go and returned his lips to hers, Olivia was no longer standing before him but was held up, her body lifted by his large hands under her bottom and the back of her thighs. She gasped as the tip of one finger caressed the warm, wet folds between her legs as she wrapped them around his hips.

He carried her to the bed, his lips never leaving hers. And in a single movement, she was suddenly on her back, her hair splayed out across the linens, her legs no longer anchored on his body but bent slightly as she dug her heels into the mattress as she pushed herself farther onto the bed. Michael removed his breeches and stockings, all the while keeping his eyes locked on hers. He was aware of her entire body trembling, shivering as if she was cold.

“I have never done this before,” he murmured suddenly, his motions slowing as he realized he, too, was trembling.

Olivia gave him an incredulous look, her eyebrows cocking in a manner that suggested she did not believe him. “Neither have I,” she whispered as she watched him climb onto the bed and hover over her. He rested on one elbow and shook his head.

“I have never bedded a virgin,” he clarified, his hand sliding ever so lightly down the front of her body as he leaned down to kiss her. His lips took hers as the hand moved up and spread out over her breast and then slid down the front of her body, lighting caressing her belly and hips before moving toward her center.

“Oh,” Olivia replied, a bit surprised by the confession. “You look as if you ...”

“I do not wish to hurt you,” he said quietly, his lips moving down to her breast and her belly, while his hand reached the space between her thighs.

She spread her legs a bit and allowed his probing fingers to touch her inner thighs. His hand continued its journey to the space in the soft, wet folds of her womanhood, his middle finger finding the engorged nub therein. Touching it lightly, he thrilled when she writhed next to him, her chest rising from the bed. Rubbing several fingers around the tender spot, he watched as her head fell back and she began to moan. He didn’t realize how close he’d brought her to the brink until one of her knees was suddenly against his thigh and he heard her whisper, “It will not be so bad.” She panted quietly, and then she cried out in ecstasy as one of his fingers found her sheath and slid in easily. He pulled it out slowly as her back arced and her breath caught. He added another finger and watched her as her chest heaved, her breasts so full and her nipples so hard that the sight of them alone made it almost impossible for him not to allow the release his body craved.

Olivia placed a hand against his face and lifted her lips to his as his fingers were making their slow journey out of her. “Come into me now, I beg you,” she whispered, her breaths coming faster.

Michael regarded her for only a moment, surprised by her plea. She’s begging me to bed her, he realized, his heart soaring. She must feel affection for me! He positioned himself so his knees were between her legs. She lifted hers and moved her hands to his bottom, pulling on his buttocks until the tip of his manhood, wet and hard and silken, rested against her wet folds. Closing his eyes, Michael slowly drew himself back and then, when he knew he could hold on no longer, he opened his eyes and entered her slowly, very slowly, all the while watching her face to be sure he did not cause her too much pain.

Aware of something keeping him from her, he stopped his movement. But one of Olivia’s hands moved to touch the back of his manhood, stroked his sac, while her other hand suddenly pulled hard on his bottom, and his cock was impaling her, filling her and making her arc her back and gasp with pain or pleasure, he could not tell. He grunted at the sudden grip on his manhood as it slid inside her hot, wet haven, amazed at how her body took him in and continued to do so when he tried to pull out just a bit. Her gasps and whimpers excited him, and he increased his thrusts, deepening his penetration into her over and over until he marveled at the looming ecstasy he knew he was about to experience.

With his release imminent, he tried to pull himself out. But Olivia’s hands gripped his buttocks and pulled him back into her, hard. The climax caught him, gripped him, and he called out her name, his mouth coming down onto one of her shoulders so that he might stifle the sound as flames of pleasure burned through him and a curtain of black descended.

Olivia arced her back again at the sensations that coursed through her body, at the feeling of liquid warmth that filled her, the incredible waves of pleasure that were just beginning to subside. She was left trembling, her entire body visibly shaking as if she was chilled despite the intense heat of his body where it was pressed against hers.

After a moment, the only sounds were of her quiet whimpers and Michael’s labored breathing against her neck. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and clung to him, felt his body shivering despite the waves of heat she felt wash over her.

“Are you cold?” Michael whispered, feeling her trembling body while at the same time realizing his own body was doing the same.

“No,” Olivia replied, drowsily, her arm sliding over his shoulder to pull him back down to her chest. “I am blissfully warm.” He was still inside her, although the sensation of fullness had subsided and his heartbeat had slowed somewhat. She could feel his slowing breaths against her neck and thought perhaps he had fallen asleep. How can he sleep? she wondered, her body still thrumming, occasion shocks of pleasure still coursing through her body.

Relaxing a bit, she slid her feet down his legs to rest on his calves. She kissed his forehead. Will it be like this every time? she wondered, reveling in the sensations and the closeness and the security she felt. His seed is in me, she realized then, a small smile touching her lips.

Michael tried to raise his head again but gave up and allowed her to hold him against her. “Did I ... did it hurt?”

Purring, Olivia wondered how to respond. It had hurt, but she hadn’t been frightened, and he’d seen to it she was prepared for his manhood. And then the pain had subsided and was replaced by that sense of fullness. “A bit, but your lovemaking was ... exquisite,” she murmured, her beatific expression enough to assuage his fears.

“I’ve never ...,” Michael started to whisper and then went quiet. I am still inside her, he thought, remembering how she had prevented him from pulling out of her as euphoria overtook his body. My seed is in her.