“Thank you for the use of your smelling salts, Mrs. Torrington,” a deep, familiar voice said. “But I do believe she is coming round now.”
“Of course, Dr. Vii,” a feminine voice replied. “I’ll leave her to your expert care then.” There was a tapping sound, as of someone retreating and then she heard something else.
“Caroline?” the deep, familiar voice said in her ear. “Caroline, are you well?”
“Please,” she whispered feebly. “Please, can’t…can’t breathe.”
There was a low curse and the voice said, “Laced too tightly, I’ll be bound. Come, let’s get you someplace with some privacy.”
The voice pronounced it “privicy” with a short i sound and Caroline thought dimly that was how the actors and actresses in all the BBC dramas pronounced it—with a proper British accent.
But now you’re living in a BBC drama, whispered a little voice in her head. Bet you thought that would be fun, didn’t you? You had no idea how much trouble it would be to do something as simple as just getting a deep breath.
Then she was being carried through a less populous area of the vast hall. Then up a flight of stairs.
Plain stairs—they must be the back stairs—servants’ stairs, she thought haphazardly. None of the family or the guests of quality will bother coming up this way.
Apparently that was the intention because very soon she was being carried into a room and heard a door shut behind them. Then someone lay her gently on a giving surface—a bed, she realized.
“What—?” she began but then the same deep voice—Richard’s voice—said,
“Now then—let’s get you out of this damned dress and corset for a moment so your lungs can expand properly.”
Somewhere inside, Caroline was pretty certain that letting someone—even the man who was supposed to be her husband—remove her dress at a party was probably a pretty bad idea. If anyone found out, her reputation would probably be shot all to the Seven Hells, as the Kindred liked to say.
But just at that moment, she didn’t give a damn about her reputation. Being horribly nervous all evening, then trying to sing in front of people while her anxiety was at an all-time high, and lastly the vigorous, giddy dance in the over -heated, over-crowded ball room while wearing the tight corset and heavy dress and hoopskirts had all taken their toll and she felt like she couldn’t catch her breath no matter how hard she tried. At the moment, she just wanted desperately to breathe.
“Yes,” she whispered faintly. “Yes, please, Richard—take it…take it off.”
“I shall. Hold still half a moment—you’ve a thousand ribbons and buttons and laces on this damn thing…”
She felt him working steadily on the row of small cut crystal buttons that ran down the front of the ball gown and then, when he had the gown open, he began tugging at her corset. But apparently the dress and hoop skirts were getting in his way.
“There’s no help for it, Caroline—the dress and cage must come all the way off,” he said in her ear.
“Yes, please.” The idea of getting out of the heavy dress and hoopskirts was immensely appealing. Caroline tried to help him, lifting her hips as he untied and unfastened and finally stripped away the dress, crinoline, hoop skirts and all. He let them fall to the floor beside the bed and then turned his attention to the corset once more.
“Damn but you’re fastened in tightly,” he growled as he fought with the formidable garment with its whalebone stays. “How many times have I told your mother about the dangers of tight-lacing? It restricts the breathing to a dangerous degree and can even cause derangement of internal organs.”
As far as Caroline was concerned, he was absolutely right. There was no way being this constricted could be good for her insides. It felt like her liver was being shoved up into her lungs and her stomach was being pushed down into her abdominal cavity.
At last, to her relief, Richard managed to unhook the front of the corset. He yanked it open, tearing her chemise at the same time, but Caroline didn’t care. All she knew was that for the first time in what felt like hours, she was able to fully expand her lungs. Finally get as much oxygen as her starved body demanded.
“Oh thank you,” she gasped, panting, taking in deep gulps of air. “I feel so much better now!”
“You may not thank me later,” Richard remarked. “It’s going to be a damned nuisance getting that lot back on you. But we’ll do our best.”
“I don’t care about any of that,” Caroline told him. “I’ve been so miserable ever since Mary Ann laced me up.” She sighed. “I guess I’m just not used to wearing a corset—let along singing and dancing in one.”
Richard gave her a strange look, which she was able to see by the moonlight seeping in through the half-closed curtains.
“But you’ve been wearing a corset since you came out at the age of fourteen,” he remarked. “Have you not?”
“Oh, uh, yes, I suppose I have.” Caroline could have kicked herself. For a moment she’d forgotten she was supposed to be the other Caroline instead of herself. “I just meant…I…I don’t know what I meant,” she confessed. “I’m sorry—thank you for rescuing me.”
“It’s quite all right.” His voice was unexpectedly gentle. “That’s twice I’ve saved you tonight. You really were bungling that song most dreadfully,” he remarked.
“I know,” Caroline admitted. “It’s just been so long since I played anything,—I mean it felt like so long since I’d played—that it was almost as though I’d forgotten how. And there was no way I could sing with this horrible corset choking the life out of me.”
She looked down at the foundation garment in question, which was now open all the way down the front, and noticed with a shock that her breasts were plainly visible through the ripped chemise.
“Oh my!” Quickly, she covered herself, drawing the torn white linen around her exposed breasts as well as she could.
Richard frowned. “Earlier tonight when I examined you, you were not so shy. You let me see your naked flesh and even begged me to touch you. Do you regret our earlier intimacy?”
“I…no. I…I don’t think so,” Caroline whispered.
Her heart had begun pounding and, now that she could breathe, she again noticed his dark, spicy scent. What was that? Was it some kind of cologne he wore? Whatever it was, it made her want to get close to him—much closer than was probably proper in this world.
“Why?” she asked him. “Should I regret it? Letting you see me? Letting you…touch me? I mean, you are my husband, right?”
He frowned. “I am, but in name only since you refused to honor the rules of our Claiming contract and I refused to force you.”
“Rules of the Claiming contract?” Caroline looked at him uncertainly. “What rules are those?”
He shook his head. “Is your memory still uncertain, then? I suppose it must be the lightning strike. And yet, it seems to have affected not only your memory but your personality as well. You seem so…different since our walk in the park today.”
“I am different,” Caroline said earnestly. “Er, that is, I feel different. I feel like a whole different person.”
“You act like one as well,” he said frankly. “I keep wondering when you will return to normal and begin pushing me away again.”
“Maybe I don’t want to push you away anymore,” Caroline said boldly, looking up at him.
They were both lying half-reclined on the bed and facing each other. She was propped on her left elbow and Richard was propped on his right as they looked at each other’s faces in the dim room.
Her heart was beating a quick rhythm in her chest and she was very aware that the torn sides of her chemise had opened again, showing her bare breasts. But this time she didn’t cover up—she wanted Richard to see her—wanted him to touch her again. She wanted it desperately.
“I don’t want you to push me away, either.” His blue eyes were intense as he cupped her cheek and drew her to him for a slow, gentle kiss.
<
br /> Caroline couldn’t stop herself—didn’t want to stop herself—she pressed forward and kissed him back. Her lips parted invitingly and then she felt his tongue exploring her, delicately, gently, as though he didn’t want to frighten her.
But Caroline was anything but scared. She met his tongue eagerly and then, when he retreated, she followed him, exploring his mouth in turn.
She felt the sharp points of his fangs and stroked them lightly with the tip of her tongue. A deep shiver ran through him and something like a groan came from his chest. Were his fangs and erogenous zone?
“Gods, Caroline,” he growled and then he was kissing her even more deeply, cupping her cheek in his hand and taking her mouth hungrily, as though he was starving for her kisses.
Caroline moaned with pleasure as she felt his big, warm hand moving from her cheek down to stroke her throat and then the top of her chest. His fingers slipped over her bare shoulder but he hesitated, as though he wasn’t sure he should go further.
Reaching up, Caroline took his hand and placed it firmly on her bare breast. His warm touch on her skin sent sparks and shivers of pure need through her entire body. Once more she felt like a woman who had been starved all her life but was now facing a banquet set just for her.
Richard’s warm palm cupped the globe of her breast and then his thumb flicked gently—almost idly—over the tight nub of her nipple.
Caroline moaned into his mouth as sparks of pleasure shot from her sensitive bud straight down to her pussy. She was acutely aware of how hot and wet she was getting between her legs, of how desperately she wanted this—needed this. No doubt she was acting like a “loose woman” according to the local standards. Probably she ought to act modest and pretend she was too delicate and shocked by his erotic action to react to such an intimate, forbidden touch.
But she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Every touch of his hand on her flesh stoked the fires higher. After years of searching, she had somehow found the one man in the whole Multiverse who could make her body react and the pleasure he gave her was like a drug—she just wanted more.
But suddenly Richard withdrew his hand and stopped touching her. He pulled back, breaking their kiss.
“What…why did you stop?” Caroline’s entire body ached with need and she couldn’t disguise the disappointment in her voice.
He sighed. “This is wrong. I should help you on with your dress and let you get back to the ball.”
“But I thought we were married!” Caroline protested. “Surely it’s not wrong for a husband to touch his own wife? Is it?”
“Some say it is,” Richard said gravely. “The sexual act is meant to be only for procreation, at least according to the morals of the day. Some say that a wife must submit to her husband stiffly and with no outer show of desire, and he must take her in the same way, his only purpose to father a child on her—but that has never been the Kindred way.”
“The Kindred way?” she whispered. “You mean…are you talking about the Claiming contract rules again?”
He nodded. “Those rules—the ones you refused to follow and I refused to force—are one reason my people are reviled on your world—on Terra. Because they are all about the male giving pleasure to the female—which, of course, is anathema according to polite society.”
“Tell me about them,” Caroline begged.
“Very well.” He seemed bemused. “If you wish, I shall refresh your memory. As you may or may not remember, the law laid down by Good King George, after we saved your planet from ruination by the Scourge, states that any Kindred male may call any Terran female to be his wife. According to the Claiming Contract, they have two years to get to know each other and decide if they want to stay together. The two years are divided into six-month increments, each allotted to different intimacies, which may take place between the Kindred and his chosen bride.”
“Intimacies?” Caroline was aware her voice was breathless, but she didn’t care.
“Yes, of course. For instance, the first six months after they are joined are called the Holding Time—during that time, a Kindred may hold and caress his wife every night—but only over her clothing. Unless she gives him express permission to touch her under the clothing as well, of course.”
He looked pointedly at her bare breasts and Caroline felt a shiver go through her. Still, she refused to cover up.
“And I guess I wouldn’t let you do that—hold me, I mean? Not even on our wedding night?” she asked.
Richard shook his head. “You informed me that you were my wife in name only and you refused to let me touch you—or even get near you.” He sighed. “At the time, I thought I could still win you with gentleness. I told you I would never outrage you in any way—that I would renounce my husband’s rights to your body and only touch you and take you if you changed your mind and wanted me to.”
“Well, maybe I’ve changed my mind now,” Caroline murmured.
He frowned. “What are you saying? That you wish to give me rights to your flesh?”
“I just want you to touch me again.” She felt her cheeks get hot with a blush. She’d never been so shameless before—but then, she’d never wanted anyone like she wanted him. “Please, Richard—I want your hands on me.”
His eyes were suddenly half-lidded in the dim room.
“Gods, my darling—you have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear those words from your lips. But…why now? I don’t wish to take advantage of you if you are still incapacitated by the lightning strike.”
“I’m not incapacitated—but I am changed,” Caroline told him earnestly—which was more or less the truth. “Completely changed. After the lightning, I remembered all the dreams I’d been having about you. And now I just feel so drawn to you. I…I can’t seem to help it. I have desires I’ve never felt before.”
The sharp, skeptical look on his face softened.
“Darling, I don’t want you to help it! I was so afraid for you when you were struck, but now I see the Goddess must have had a purpose for it—it jogged your memory and helped you remember that we had been Dream Sharing all this time.”
Caroline felt a little guilty at this. She had been trying to stick to the facts but what was true and what was false had somehow gotten all mixed together. Still, she couldn’t deny to herself or to Richard how badly she wanted him.
There will be time to tell him everything later, she promised herself. I’ll tell him before I go home.
Though she had no idea how she was going to do that. Maybe go hang out in the park and hope that the window generated by PORTAL somehow opened again?
Then his large, warm hand cupped her bare breast and all practical thoughts were driven out of her head.
“Oh…” she half moaned as he tugged gently on the tight bud of her nipple. “Oh Richard, that feels so good. Tell me…tell me what else a Kindred and his wife are supposed to do. And…and touch me while you tell me.”
“Very well, but come here my darling—I want you close.”
His voice was a low, possessive growl as he pulled her into his arms and settled her into the crook of his elbow with her head pillowed on his shoulder. He loomed over her in the dimness but instead of feeling frightened, Caroline felt loved and protected by the bulk of his muscular body surrounding hers.
This is another woman’s love you’re stealing, whispered a little voice in her head. It’s the other Caroline he loves—not you.
But she pushed the guilt away. For the first time in her life, she was with a man whose body made hers react—no, not just react—he made her body sing.
She felt like a violin which, after years of being played by amateurs, had finally been picked up by a master musician. Richard knew just how to touch her—just how to kiss her—to give her the pleasure she’d been missing for so long.
God, she wanted him!
“So, now that we’re comfortable,” he murmured, looking down at her and stroking his free hand lightly over her bare breasts, “Maybe we can go on.”
“Y-yes.” Caroline pushed her chest up, offering herself more fully. “Tell me more—after the Holding Time, what comes next?”
“Well, the Bathing Time is the next six months,” he rumbled. “At that time, a Kindred may see his bride naked and he may touch and bathe her nude body and rub scented oils into her bare flesh.”
As he spoke, he was caressing her breasts and tugging her nipples, making Caroline moan and writhe against him helplessly.
“That sounds wonderful,” she whispered.
“Mmm—to me too, my love,” he murmured. “Though I understand it is easier on the Mother Ship, where they have great baths called “bathing pools,” where the warrior and his bride can submerge themselves completely at the same time.”
Caroline knew what he was talking about—she had a bathing pool in her new suite aboard the Mother Ship. In fact, she’d been looking forward to using it before she got sucked into this other universe. But thinking of that brought up more questions.
“So…a Kindred isn’t allowed to bring his new bride up to the Mother Ship?” she asked curiously. She knew in her own universe, the Kindred and their brides went back and forth between the Mother Ship and Earth all the time. But apparently it was different here, because Richard was shaking his head.
“Unfortunately, when a Kindred warrior finds his mind aligned with a female of Terra, he must, by law, renounce his people and all their ways and come down to live permanently here with her. He must never go back to the Mother Ship or use any Kindred technology to aid him in his new life.”
“But that’s terrible!” Caroline exclaimed. “Cutting you off from your people like that!”
He shrugged. “It was the deal my father took, in order to be with my mother. He used to tell me of the Mother Ship sometimes when I was a child, but I have never seen it—nor do I expect to.”
“So you’re not even allowed to visit?”
He shook his head. “Not unless I wish to live there permanently. In fact, that was what I had planned to do—I was going to go live with my people and learn their ways. But then…”
“Then what?” Caroline asked curiously.
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