“And are you happy when you are with me?”
“Of course,” she said, before she could stop herself. It was true what she said, but it felt a tad embarrassing to admit it, especially given why they had met. She could feel herself blushing, but looked up to see he was grinning from ear to ear. She wasn't sure if he was grinning because he thought it amusing her statement embarrassed her or because he was glad she had made it.
“I am happy when I am with you, too.”
Ella blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She hadn’t realized she’d become tight at the prospect of him knowing about her feelings without knowing about his, but she had. And now she felt relaxed. It was almost like a real relationship. And then she shut her eyes. She couldn’t think like that. They couldn’t have that. Lady Kenna would never condone it. Whatever Ash’s name really was, he was probably of much higher station than Lord Angleton, and it would be a cold day in Hell before Lady Kenna consented to a marriage between Ella and Ash.
She wanted to slap herself. What was she thinking? A marriage. Ash had simply said he was happy when he was with her. Nothing else. She opened her eyes again and he was staring at her.
“What’s your real name?”
Ella froze. He was asking her for more than Cinders and Ash. He wanted to know who she really was. And this time she wanted to tell him.
“Don’t you trust me now?”
“I do,” she said, nodding vigorously. She took a deep breath and said, “Ella. My name is Ella and sometimes my mistress and her daughters, if I am covered in ash from the chimney, charcoal from my drawings, or just plain dirt, call me little Cinder girl or Cinders, or sometimes even Cinderella.” She leaned in closer to him on the blanket and said, “But I don’t mind when they call me Cinderella, because once, a long time ago, before my father died, I’d been using charcoal to draw and my face was covered in dark smudges, and he looked at me and said I was the prettiest coal-covered girl he’d seen. ‘Perhaps I’ll call you charcoal-Ella.’
“He’d made a joke of it. And once I’d come home after playing in the fields rather roughly and my dress was stained with grass, and my father said to me, ‘Perhaps I’ll call you GrassElla. Or we’ll pretend you’re a Spaniard and call you Graciella.’ So, whenever they call me Cinderella, I think of my father. I think of him seeing me all covered in grime and teasing me in his usual way, saying, ‘You’re the prettiest Cinder girl I’ve ever seen. I’ll call you Cinderella.’ When I think of it that way, I feel happy and loved and it does not bother me that they use it as a putdown, for it can never be a put down if it is something my father would have gladly called me with cheer and love in his heart.”
Ash leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Then I shall always say your name with cheer and care in my heart, Cinderella,” he whispered in her ear.
She smiled at him and lay back down on the blanket, squinting up at the sunny sky. While the weather had generally started to cool, and it had been a very pleasant walk to the pond, she realized today was turning into a much warmer day than she anticipated. Ella wiped her brow.
“Hot?” Ash asked.
“A little,” she said turning toward him, then sighing. “So,” she said, drawing out the word. “I’ve told you my real name. What is yours?”
He chuckled. “Ashton,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Truly?”
He nodded. “I go by Ashton,” he admitted. “When you said your name was Cinders, I’d thought Heinrich had asked you to say it to play a trick on me or something, but then I realized he hadn’t, so I told you my name is Ash. Though no one calls me Ash. No one except for you.”
She nodded at him. It was such an odd thing that his name would actually be Ashton, but she liked that his name naturally fit with the name she had chosen to share. It was almost as if it was fated. Ashton. It was a lovely name. “Would you like me to call you Ashton?”
“I like that you call me Ash,” he said, licking his lower lip, so that it looked red and ripe and perfect. “And you go by two names: Ella and Cinderella. Which do you prefer?”
Ella stared at him, biting her lower lip as she considered it. No one had ever asked her such a question before, and it occurred to her that she preferred a rarer name for him too. Not that no one ever called her Cinderella. They did. It’s just that she liked the idea of someone saying it to her with affection. Imagining it being something her father would’ve called her had helped, but she thought that having Ash call her Cinderella with affection would be sure to never let her, for even one second, feel a sting when Bathilda said it with such nastiness. “Cinderella,” she replied, laying her head back on the ground and taking a deep breath. The sun was directly overhead, and she wondered if this were going to be the hottest part of the day.
Ella felt Ash’s warm fingers gliding across her cheek and turned toward him.
“Your skin is warm, too,” he said “We should go for a dip in the pond. This time a proper one, where I don’t think you’re drowning.”
There was something about the way he looked at her, his hazel eyes alight with yearning, that made her nod her head in assent and sit up. He had been honest with her, with his name and it had made her feel closer to him, even closer than the other night when they’d been intimate. Sharing a name shouldn’t have felt so intimate but given how they’d met, it did.
Ash began removing his clothes. She couldn’t help but staring at his body. His sculpted chest, well-defined arms, breathtaking abdominal muscles and strong hands. Below the waist was dazzling as well: powerful legs that were agile and well built, and of course, in the center, his manhood. Today, it wasn’t at attention; rather, it lay there languidly against him as the summer breeze kissed his skin.
He walked toward the water and bade her to follow. She stood but didn’t move toward him immediately, enjoying the view from behind and the way his buttocks flexed as he walked gracefully into the water.
She took off her clothes and was naked. He smiled at her from the water. He was facing her now, and in, waist deep.
She joined him in the water, passing him and walking to the point when the water covered her shoulders. Ashton waded over to her and touched her cheek again. “You’re cooler now.”
She smiled. “Yeah, the water helps.” She felt a smidge of awkwardness with him in this moment. They’d been naked together before, and alone, but never in the water, never in the light of day. Never really knowing each other’s name. They were together now with no barriers. Not clothing, not the cover of Cinders and Ash. Not even the cover of darkness.
Ella took a deep breath and leaned back into a float. Ash laughed. “Are you leaving me?”
“No,” Ella replied, the water filling her ears so she sounded a bit muffled. “I just wanted to relax, to float. You can float, too, if you like.”
A moment later, Ash leaned back and floated too, his head near hers. She enjoyed the lingering cool of the water, the peacefulness of floating, and having Ashton here with her. In knowing his name — Ashton.
She felt the water ripple, heard a splash and looked to her side, to see Ashton wasn’t there. She let her legs fall from the float and repositioned herself so she was treading. Then she felt hands grab her waist and looked down to see Ash’s head rise from the water to smile at her. “Got you,” he said.
She giggled. “So you do.”
He kissed her and then she slipped away from him, swimming slightly deeper into the pond, and turning back to him. She splashed him, a huge hunk of water splatting his face. He crinkled his brow and said, “Oh, you’re in for trouble now.” Then he splashed her back and she felt the water plunk in her face and laughed, as they embarked upon a splash war. They eventually called a truce and dove to the bottom of the pond to look for stray rocks, the pretty smooth, colorful ones that were sometimes at the bottom of the pool. Her mother had called them fairy stones. In fact, her mother had called many things magical in Ella’s childhood, on s
everal occasions telling Ella that they were part fairy because Penelope’s mother, who was Ella’s grandmother had been a fairy. Ella had believed it to be true when she was little, only now she knew better. Still, she called the tiny smooth rocks fairy stones, even though it had been ages since she’d found one. She and Ash didn’t find any today, though they had fun searching.
Tired from their frolicking, Ash pulled her toward the shore a little till they were both standing on the silty bottom of the pond. He kissed her and wrapped his arms around her, his hands sliding along her wet skin. He somehow tasted fresh in the pond, like the crystal clear water. His arms wrapped tight around her, he kissed her neck. She tilted her head back and enjoyed the luxurious feeling of him suckling at her neck as her hair floated in the water.
Every part of her tingled with sensation as he fondled her in the water, his mouth on her skin, her hands lingered on his back, feeling his taut muscles, pulling him closer to her, their skin, wet, soft pressed against each other.
She lifted her head now, found his lips and kissed him back. She felt his arms grasp around her backside and lifting her, carrying her out of the water toward the silty shore. He lay her on her back on the soft shoreline, then leaned forward and nipped at her earlobe.
“Cinderella,” he whispered in her ear.
“Mmmhmm” she murmured.
“I want you,” he said. “I’m going to have you right now. Quickly and fiercely, if that’s alright.”
She looked up at him, and there was a hunger in his eyes she hadn’t thought she’d seen before. Yet, she felt it inside herself as well. The liberating hunger of being with a person who you knew. She offered him a crooked smile and said, “Please, Ashton. Take me right now.”
With that he slid a finger inside her, testing her moistness, which had managed to grow to a pool of its own as he’d toyed with her in the water. With a kiss of her lips, he slid his cock, already hard and ready, into her. Ella gasped in pleasure at his entrance, clenching around him. He moved deftly with purpose inside her, pushing deep and hard. At the same time he tangled his fingers in her hair and bent forward, planting kisses on her neck.
Feeling his mouth on her while he rode her insides drove Ella wild. She wrapped her legs around him, as he offered intense thrusts. Her back grinded into the silt at the water’s edge, which felt remarkably soft and soothing and cool given today’s heat.
Ella choked out a raspy, “Ashton” as his fingers found her breasts and teased her nipples while he somehow managed to increase the intensity of his onslaught. She wasn’t sure she could take much more of his unrelenting pleasure. Her thighs undulated around him as her body quivered with pleasure. A moment later, Ashton whispered her name and shuddered on top of her. Spent, he lay down next to her, and folded her in his arms.
* * *
They’d rinsed off in the pond and Ella had tossed her dress on after. Ashton had only bothered to put on his shirt and his knickers, and they lay on the blanket, with Ash’s arms wrapped tightly around Ella. She lay nestled in his arms, feeling contented, but knowing it couldn’t last. “Ash,” she said. “I need to finish your picture and then I have to get home.”
“Why do you go back to that woman?” Ashton asked. “I can pay whatever debt you owe her and you can leave her household, rent a room to board.”
Ella shook her head. “Ash, I can’t,” she said.
“Of course you can.”
She looked at him, debating whether to tell him the truth or not. “She’s not just my mistress. She is my stepmother. Legally, I am bound to her. I can’t leave. I can’t be married without her permission and I can’t strike out on my own either. She’s already told me if I cross her again, she will marry me off to someone who is harsh and low and needs a pittance of a dowry. And I will have to go. I am stuck with her unless I can get very, very far away, far enough away that she won’t come after me. Far enough away that I can pretend to be what I’ve pretended to be with you: a woman who is poor, whose parents are deceased and therefore must fend for herself.”
Ashton’s cheeks reddened in anger. “Your stepmother beat you like that? A woman who is supposed to care for you, treated you like this?”
Ella put a finger over his lip. “It’s OK,” she said. “She is not a nice woman, but I don’t begrudge her what she did. If she hadn’t done that, I never would have met you, and I am glad for meeting you. But I can’t fight with her. I’ve taken liberties, too many liberties, coming to meet you. I can’t afford to have her find out and marry me off to some snake because she is angry.”
Ash kissed the finger on his lips. “I see the position you are in,” he said. “But I don’t like you going back.”
“Well, what would you have me do? Where should I go when leaving will only incur her wrath?” Ella asked. “And I don’t want to be married off to someone who is harsh and cruel all due to her spite. She’s already threatened as such. I think she may even have someone in mind, if I cross her. I can’t risk that. You can agree that at least now I have hope of escaping, but if she forces me to marry, I have no hope of escape. I cannot break the bonds of matrimony.”
Ash’s fists were balled at his sides and his lips were pressed in a firm line. “You’re right about marriage,” he said. “You can’t have her marry you off.” He blew out a deep breath. “But this still isn’t where you should be, Cinderella. Go back today, but come to me in five nights. We can figure out a solution for you. I know we can. Promise me you’ll come.”
Ella nodded, and whispered, “I promise.”
Chapter 24
Cinderella. It was a lovely name. Much more suited to her than just Cinders. He wished she had told him that in the beginning. He needed her away from the stepmother, but he needed it done in the right way. Cinderella was right about her stepmother’s providence. Her stepmother had the right to choose who her stepdaughter married, and if she grew angry and quickly married her off, there would be no way to undo that. Not even the king could get rid of a marriage the church had sanctified.
Initially, his plan had centered on getting rid of the stepmother altogether. If she were arrested for a crime, her lands seized, something to move her out of the picture, it would free Cinderella. Leith was subtle and discreet, so Ashton had asked him to find out all he could about the woman’s property. But Ashton had called it off, even before Leith had gotten a chance to start, because he realized such a tactic would disgrace Cinderella and her family. Despite what Lady Kenna had done, a public shaming of her family would do Cinderella no favors.
It had been two days since he’d seen Cinderella and he’d spent the time forming and discarding plans to aid her. He’d been out riding today to clear his mind and think. An epiphany hit him while he was staring up at the sky as blue as her eyes. He’d formulated a plan. Now he just had to pull it off.
Ashton found his parents in their chamber. His mother was reading her bible, while his father was perusing a parchment, probably a proposed new law.
“You’re back,” his mother said with a sigh of relief. “I was worried, Ashton,” she said. “You were out all day without any word.”
Ashton nodded. “Yes, mother,” he said. “I know, and I apologize for worrying you.” He went over and kissed her cheek. “However, I think you’ll be quite pleased.”
“Pleased?” his mother said, raising a curious eyebrow. “Why?”
“Well, I’ve done some thinking,” he said. “About the prophecy.”
His mother’s eyes widened and her mouth opened. His father set his parchment down. “What about it?” his father asked.
“I think mother is right,” he said. She stared harder at him. “I should marry.”
Neither of his parents said anything for a moment, and then his father smiled. “I take it you have someone in mind.”
Ashton shook his head and casually said, “No.” There was no way he could tell his father about Cinderella. Not how they met, not what they’d been doing and not about the stepmother problem. He
had a simpler solution. One that would put the ball entirely in his court, if he could get his parents to go along with it. “But I was thinking about my birthday ball. I’d like to change it to a costumed ball, and I want to invite all the eligible ladies of the kingdom. I think I might find a bride that night.”
His father’s thick jaw dropped open. “Son, that’s insane.”
He turned to his mother. She was his primary hope of succeeding, given his father’s reaction. His father rarely deviated from his first instinct without her push. And since his mother believed wholeheartedly in the insanity of this prophecy, Ashton needed to use that to his advantage. “The prophecy said I should turn 20 and marry. It mentions them in the same breath, as if they are all part of one act. I think it’s meant for me to find my bride at this party. I’m not saying the girl I marry will definitely be at this ball or that I must marry a single girl from this ball, but I feel with all my heart that this prophecy is urging me to find my bride at this gala.”
Henry rolled his eyes. “I have no objection to you finding a bride at the ball,” he said. “But, a commoner? A princess should be of royal blood, or at the very least from noble stock.”
“Father,” Ashton said. “In the past, that’s been how it’s done, but I see no reason to continue this tradition.” He turned to his mother now. “Besides, I have a feeling that I will find my bride among the common folk. Gertrude told me I should listen to my gut.”
He’d made the comment about Gertrude because his mother believed in her. Gertrude was the only person whom his mother tended to trust wholeheartedly. Whatever had allowed Gertrude to be sent away for so many years was obviously behind them. And Gertrude seemed to spend a fair amount of time talking to the Queen, if you believed the jealous sniping of the other servants. His best bet was to play upon his mother’s trust of Gertrude. And what he said wasn’t entirely untrue. Gertrude had always told him to follow his instincts.
Cinders & Ash: A Cinderella Story (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 3) Page 13