Rosalind

by Brianna York

  Rob nodded agreeably. “That sounds like a wonderful idea,” he said. “I shall leave it to your capable hands.”

  Rosy frowned a bit. “I had thought that we might plan it together,” she told him. She tried not to let the hurt show through in her tone. “Your property and its people have missed having you at home to care for them. I thought we might start a new era for us all with the fair.”

  Rob shrugged. “I am happy to advise if you are not sure who to speak to in the village about planning the thing. I have never been one to enjoy such goings on. My mother always took care of those things as it is usually part of the duties of the lady of the house.”

  Rosy closed her eyes a moment, reaching for patience she did not feel. “Very well. Perhaps you shall find that you enjoy a fair that I have planned,” she said in a placating tone before dropping the subject. How on earth was she to manage an estate with a man who had absolutely no interest in taking part in its existence? She understood his mixed feelings about the place and his bad memories that likely clouded his time here. What she could not understand was his lack of interest in the people and the property itself. As the daughter of a man who was passionate about his role as steward of his lands and protector of their future, she felt boggled that a man with so much lovely property could be so indifferent to it. She decided that she would have to start making things more welcoming for him. Maybe if she were able to start renovations on the house and get some income coming into the coffers he might take an interest.

  Feeling refreshed somewhat by having a plan of action, she forced a smile onto her face as they rode up to the first cottage to meet the tenants who lived there. Rob might not know how to be a proper landholder but thankfully she did. She would teach him what he needed to know even if it killed her trying.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I have not been out riding nearly often enough of late,” Rosy complained as she preceded Rob into their bedchamber. She rolled her neck side to side. “I am quite sore from our efforts today.”

  Rob winced as he seated himself in a chair near the cheval glass. “If you are sore, my dear,” he said tightly, “Just imagine how I feel.”

  She turned toward him with a sympathetic smile on her face. “I did not think of that at all,” she confessed. “My poor husband who rarely rides. You must be quite miserable.”

  Rob stretched his legs out carefully, stifling an exclamation of pain. “I think that does describe my current state, yes.”

  “I know what we shall do,” Rosy said happily. She crossed the room and rang for Hester. When the girl arrived, she ordered dinner for their rooms and asked that a bath be drawn for the Earl posthaste. Hearing them stirring in the chamber, Jasper arrived as well and offered to take care of the bath while Hester saw to getting a dinner tray.

  “There now,” Rosy said with a pleased smile as she shrugged out of the jacket for her riding habit and discarded her hat on the dressing table. “We shall be a snug as can be shortly.”

  Rob felt a smile stealing over his face. He had been irked with Rosy about her lack of admiration for the Bruxtons and his irritation had colored the remainder of their day. He had not been as receptive as he knew he should be to her suggestions about updating the pottery production process in the village and taking on new livestock like Merino sheep to try out new ways of making wares to sell for profit. It had not helped his mood to discover that she knew far more about how to manage an estate than he did and that he would likely not be able to outstrip her knowledge even with application of interest that he did not truly feel. He had not expected to feel like a fish out of water on his own property but that is what had come to pass.

  Enjoying the fruits of her labors on his behalf now reminded him that she was a kind and generous partner and that it was not her fault if he had not applied himself to practical things as he should have in his youth. While the process of managing the farming, industry and rent collection on his property still sounded deadly dull to him, he thought he might try and make a better effort in the future.

  “Thank you for riding with me all day,” Rosy said quietly, coming to stand behind him and rubbing his shoulders. “I know that you would rather have stayed in bed.”

  Rob leaned appreciatively into her touch and closed his eyes. “In all honesty, there is probably nothing that I would rather do than stay in bed with you all day.”

  She giggled at this and worked on a particularly tight knot she found. “You are quite naughty, my dear.”

  He caught one of her hands and drew it to his mouth. He placed a kiss in her palm and then allowed his lips to travel up her arm, dropping a cascade of feather light kisses as they roamed. “I do not think that it is only I who is fond of naughty things,” he said warmly to her. He twisted in the chair to look up at her.

  She smiled at him and stroked her hands through his thick hair. “You know all my secrets now, Husband,” she said happily before leaning down to kiss him.

  They were interrupted moments later by the arrival of the first of the water for the bath and their tray of dinner. “Come along, you rake,” Rosy said softly in his ear. “Let’s eat a bit before we get you into the bath.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  “How is the water?” Rosy called from the dressing room where Hester was helping her out of her riding habit. Hester offered her a dressing gown and Rosy took it with a smile before dismissing the young woman.

  “It is heavenly,” Rob answered her as she stepped back into the room. “You have the best ideas.”

  Rosy padded on the slightly worn carpet to stand before the fire for a moment, enjoying the warmth of it on her sore legs. She caught Rob looking at her from the tub with a heated look of wanting that she recognized well by now.

  “What?” she asked saucily.

  Rob grinned at her. “That dressing gown is very thin and the fire is shining straight through it. I can see all my favorite bits of you.”

  “Oh indeed?” Rosy glanced down at herself for a moment then shrugged and did a little pirouette to show him all of her.

  “If you do not leave off I shall have to end this bath before I have even had my hair washed,” he threatened her.

  “Oh, do not do that,” she scolded him. “It would be silly to waste the water.” She crossed the room and picked up the ewer of warm water. “Close your eyes,” she ordered him before tipping part of the warm water onto his hair.

  “You are so much better at this than Jasper,” Rob murmured as Rosy began lathering soap into his hair.

  She chuckled. “Well I should hope so,” she teased. “I should have to find you another valet if you enjoyed his ministrations as much as mine. I should not be able to stand the jealousy.”

  Rob chuckled and leaned into her touch. “Have no fear,” he reassured her. “You are the only person who has ever made me feel this way.”

  She smiled happily at this and reached for the ewer again. She rinsed the soap from his hair and then stepped back to inspect her work. “I think that you shall do now,” she told him. “Feel any less sore?”

  He nodded and pushed back his sodden hair. “I do feel much more the thing,” he told her. He glanced at her speculatively. She had a moment to wonder at what he was thinking before he snatched a hold of her wrist and pulled her into the tub with him. She squawked with surprise but quickly dissolved into giggles.

  “Well I did need a wash myself,” she chuckled as he settled her against his body. “I was just planning to do it alone and also not in my dressing gown.”

  “What is the fun in that?” he asked her as his hands roamed over her curves.

  Rosy turned to look at him, her eyes sultry with banked passion. “Most things are more fun now that there are the two of us,” she agreed, her voice slightly husky.

  Rob could not resist the look on her face and he dropped his mouth greedily onto hers. He felt their teeth scrape together as his eagerness did not afford her room to turn completely in his arms to open herself to him. He could not seem
to slow down his own tempo though and gave in for the moment to the pleasure of the wet weight of her body and the swirling and teasing touch of the silky gown she still wore. He skimmed his hand up her slender leg and curled his palm possessively over her softness. She was ready for him and he felt a surge of lust for her. It never ceased to flatter and tempt him that she could become so wet for him so quickly.

  “Stand up,” he said hoarsely to her. She looked at him with some confusion but did as she was bade. “Turn around,” he said then. “Hold onto the edge of the tub.”

  “Why do you want me to…” she began to say as she gripped the rim of the tub. Her words were cut off as Rob lifted the clinging folds of her dressing gown out of the way and delved his fingers into her eager softness. “How will we…” she began again but Rob made a hushing noise at her.

  “Trust me, little one,” he said softly, allowing the hand not pleasuring her to knead her small, firm buttocks before reaching up to cup one of her breasts. She gasped and instinctively pressed back toward him. She felt the hardness of him and the tickle of soft hair on his belly as he pressed closer to her.

  Giving in to the requests of her body, she arched back against his questing fingers in open demand. She felt the fullness of him slide along her tender flesh, not slipping inside her but teasing her with the promise of what that fullness could do. She pressed back again with a whimper, her hips lifting toward him in instinctive invitation.

  “Not so fast now,” he told her gently as he continued to tease her with the touch of him on the most sensitive part of her slick flesh. “Let the wanting take hold a bit first.” He leaned forward and bit her shoulder as his fingers again pressed into her.

  A little cry of need slipped from her lips and she felt a trickle of wetness skim down one of her thighs as her desire began to peak. “Rob, please take me,” she begged in a raspy voice.

  She heard him murmur a wordless reply to this and then she felt the welcome pressure of him at the cusp of her. The tip of his penis slipped into her a tantalizing little bit and she moaned aloud.

  “Please, Rob,” she whispered, her insides quivering as her hips sought to thrust back against him.

  “Such polite words,” he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling against her skin and causing goosebumps to race across her body. “They are at odds with the greedy nature of your body in this moment,” he said with a little chuckle as his hand tickled the most sensitive part of her folds.

  “My body is more honest than I dare to be,” she replied to him, the last words nearly drowned out by her cry of pleasure as he slid all the way inside of her. “Oh God, Rob!” she gasped out as he began to move within her. She gripped the slippery edge of the tub to balance herself as he began to drive harder into her. The angle afforded him by this new position caused her pleasure that was nearly pain and she welcomed the intensity of it as she pressed eagerly back against his demands.

  Rob reached up to catch a hold of her silky hair and tilt her head up and back. He pressed a nipping little kiss to the side of her throat and felt her pulse beating wildly just beneath her skin. Releasing her hair, he slid his hands down her back to grasp her hips as he continued to increase the tempo of their coupling.

  He knew her body well by now and he felt the contractions that indicated she was about to orgasm. He slowed his motions for a moment and pressed deeper for a few thrusts, feeling that he must be touching her womb he was so far inside of her. She shouted out loud as the rush of her release descended upon her and he heard her nearly sobbing out his name over and over in time with the waves of clenching pleasure that he felt roll over her. The force of her body’s reaction as she came tore away his last control over his own release and he allowed himself to give in to the shocking intensity of it. He felt his body shaking as he came and he gripped her hips harder than he had meant to as he tried to anchor himself to time and place.

  “I hope that I did not hurt you at the end,” he panted as he came back to himself somewhat. He released the grip he had on her narrow hips and stroked her back through the wet dressing down affectionately. She was silent for so long that he became concerned and he started to ease out of her so that he might make sure she was all right.

  “No, wait,” she said huskily. Her head was angled down and her loose hair was hanging over her face, blocking it from his view. He did as she asked and stopped moving. She pressed her hips back toward him, taking him fully into her body once again. She reached up with one hand to push back her sodden hair so that she might see him. “It feels nice having you inside of me afterwards,” she told him as she wriggled her hips a little. “It doesn’t feel right to have you leave me right away after the intense part is over.”

  Rob grinned at her, his hands skimming up and down her back. “That is a lovely sentiment and one I shall remember,” he told her. He drew back and she felt him slip out of her. “For now, however, this is a very awkward way of standing and you should probably get your bath before the water grows cold.”

  “Rob?” Rosy said as she sank gratefully into the warm and soapy water.

  “Hmm?” he answered as he dried his hair with a towel that had been left on the end of the bed for that purpose.

  Rosy rubbed the bar of scented soap over her arms. “Would you be very sad if I were to bear us a daughter first rather than a son?” Her gaze busy with her ministrations in the tub, she did not see his sudden cessation of movement and the narrowing of his eyes.

  “What makes you ask that?” he inquired. His heart thudded in his chest. Did she know about the entail of the property left to his sister? Had she found out and was just now debating how she felt about it?

  “Oh, nothing in particular. We have just never spoken about children before and I rather expected that you would want a son more than a daughter. Inheritance and all that.” She shrugged slightly and looked up at him with her head tilted to the side. Her expression changed when she saw the troubled look on his face. “Is something wrong?”

  Rob debated explaining to her the details of the entail but then stopped himself. It still felt too soon to reveal something that she would clearly see as a driving force behind him marrying her so quickly. He wanted to be able to deliver the information when she felt more secure in her place in his life.

  “Nothing is wrong,” he assured her quickly, returning to toweling off his body and then shrugging into a dressing gown. “I have to admit that I had not much thought about the sex of our first child in particular. Although, I likely should have considered the topic given how often we have coupled since we were married. Would you prefer a daughter?”

  Rosy blushed a bit at his mention of the number of times that they had made love in the first weeks of their marriage before she answered him. “I suppose that I would not have a preference in particular. I should like the child to be healthy is all.” She was silent for a moment, then said softly, “I should also hope that I should not have too much trouble bearing our child. A daughter might be smaller, so maybe that would be best for our first child.” She placed a hand on her abdomen solemnly, her expression worried.

  Rob crossed to the tub. He reached out to cup her cheek in his hand and she leaned against his hand. “I am sure that you shall not have any untoward difficulty with childbirth, my heart. You are young and healthy. Why are you so worried?”

  Rosy blew out a breath and he felt the whisper of it caress the heel of his hand. “I am not an only child for lack of my parents trying to produce more heirs,” she said in a voice that was nearly a whisper. “My mother had six miscarriages before they finally quit trying to bring forth another child. The last miscarriage was so bad that my mother nearly died. She was sickly for weeks after.” Rosy fell silent for a moment, her thoughts on the tiny graves of her lost siblings. “I visit the graves of all my little lost siblings every year and leave flowers for them.”

  Rob felt his heart ache for her and for her lost siblings. “I am very sorry,” Rob said softly, his thumb stroking her cheek g
ently.

  Rosy sniffled a little and turned her head to press a kiss into his palm. “I suppose it is silly to cry over lives lost so long ago,” she said quietly. “It just seems so unfair that they should have died before they could live. I should not wish to have my mother’s trouble.”

  Rob knelt beside the tub and reached out with both hands to cradle Rosy’s face. “You listen to me, Rosalind Fenton,” he admonished her. “I shall never forsake you if you cannot have children. I shall never blame you for a child that we might lose before it had a chance to live. You are worth more to me than the getting of heirs.” He heard the words leave his lips and realized with a bit of a shock that they were true. At one point some weeks earlier he would have been very upset to hear news that his new wife might not be able to bear him his much-needed heir. Now, having learned to care about Rosy as deeply as he already did, he could not imagine placing the need for an heir above his affection for her.

  Rosy’s eyes had filled with tears at his words and one slipped free to slide down the petal soft curve of her cheek. It slipped over his palm and ran between his fingers as he held her face in his well-made hands. “Thank you,” she whispered, her throat choked with unshed tears.

  “You are welcome,” Rob said to her with a smile. “Now, let’s get this hair of yours washed so that you can dry it before bed.” He rose from his awkward position alongside the tub and reached for the pitcher of warm water. “Close your eyes,” he ordered before slowly draining the warm water over her long, thick hair.

  Rosy leaned into the massaging pressure of Rob’s fingers as he soaped her hair. She had not realized how afraid she was about pregnancy until she had begun to discuss the subject with him. It was a huge relief to hear his assurances that he would not be displeased with her if she were unable to give him an heir. So many women were not so lucky in their marriages. Feeling as though nothing could ruin the perfection of their new life together, Rosy allowed herself to drift into a light doze as Rob continued his ministrations on her behalf. Her dreamy thoughts imagined a dark-haired toddler with chubby cheeks and Rob’s piercing blue eyes. She smiled happily at the thought. Life felt so perfect with Rob in it. She would be entirely bereft without him.