A Scandal In the Making

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  "Yours." She reached up and stroked his cheek with the backs of her fingers. "I am yours, dragon. And I would not have it any other way."

  Evan strode through the hallways of his home with Cassie in his arms. In the distance, he could head doors closing as they approached and knew that it had to be his staff. They had likely heard the yelling, and while that was hardly a new occurrence, it had been some time since he and Cassandra had raged at each other in that fashion.

  Now? They were likely not certain what was happening which suited him just fine. Given his raging erection, the fewer servants that saw him in this condition the better.

  When he reached their bedchamber, Evan did not stop but kicked the door open with his foot and all but raced inside. With more tenderness than he thought himself capable of at the moment, he placed Cassandra on her feet and then went back to secure the door. With his bloody luck, a maid with fresh sheets would come scurrying through the door any moment.

  Turning back to his wife, he saw that Cassandra was still standing there, just watching him through those mossy eyes he was coming to adore.

  Evan's steps slowed as he returned to her side, but when he was in front of her again, he reached for her immediately. "I am a complicated man, Cassie, but I am not a man prone to jealousy. Or at least I was not until today. But when he touched you..."

  "Something I should not have allowed," she countered as she reached up to undo his cravat.

  "It is not your fault," he replied, his voice catching for a moment. "It was...well, I am not certain what it was." He spun her around and slowly began to undo the laces on her gown.

  "A mistake," Cassie sighed as Evan ran his hands over her now bare back, the thin silk of her gown slipping away easily. She reached behind her and used her own hands to caress his hard, muscled thighs. "It will not happen again. I am wise to him and his tricks. I am no man's fool."

  Evan pulled her back hard against him and when she gasped at the feel of his cock pressing into the small of her back, he could not help but smile. It might be arrogant of him, but he knew he was not a small man in that regard and somehow, he doubted that one Mr. Matthew Taylor could please Cassandra the way he could.

  "And I will learn to be more trusting." Standing in the middle of his drawing room, Evan had watched the emotions play across Cassandra's face. Like him, she was hurting, likely from the loss of the child. Yet he dared not say anything for this was Cassandra and she might well bolt if he pushed her too far too fast. No, it was best to give her time to come to him on her own. He was - mostly...usually, anyway - a patient man. He could wait. As long as she was in his bed and no other's, of course. "It is difficult for me, Cassie. When one has only purchased loyalty and trust through coin in the past, when it is freely given it can be...difficult to accept."

  She leaned her head back into his chest and Evan relished the weight of her there. She belonged here, with him, and he was about to remind her of that very fact - not with words but with his body. For this was the one place they had no trouble communicating. He slid down the bodice of her gown so that he could free her breasts and play with her nipples with one wide, male hand, while using his other to span her rib cage, holding her to him. She was his. He would not let her go.

  "This is new to me as well, Evan." Cassandra's breath hitched as he shifted his weight and ground his hips into her, letting her feel the full force of his arousal. "I had no real plans to marry anyone, let alone marry into the aristocracy. Now I am a marchioness with a husband many women in Society have already enjoyed in their beds. I know you were no saint, nor would I expect you to be, and I am also aware that I am hardly the sort of siren you once preferred. I need to learn to trust as well, at least until the terms of the contract are fulfilled."

  That bloody, fucking contract regarding their marriage and his heirs. Their children. Evan wanted to rip the damn thing to shreds and he might yet do so. But not today, not when emotions were still so raw and his thinking still so muddled.

  "Then from here on, we trust." He leaned down and raked his teeth across the tender flesh where Cassandra's neck met her shoulders, making her shiver and moan. "Agreed?"

  Wiggling free of his grasp, she spun around in his arms and reached up to take his face in her hands. "Agreed. We trust." Then, to his complete delight, she wiggled the rest of the way out of her gown and reached behind her to undo her stays.

  "Allow me," he grinned and turned her once more so that he could undo the offending fabric and strip it from her delectable body.

  In the dim afternoon light, Cassandra's body was cast in partial shadow, her curves highlighted and defined in a way that no candlelight could match. She was utterly lovely and he sank to his knees, all but worshipping her where she stood.

  "Turn for me, Queen." His low baritone shattered the silence of the room. "I need to taste you again." Out of all of the wicked things that Evan had done to Cassandra's body, the act of tasting her intimately was among his favorites. While he had performed this act on various women over the years, none had ever been as open and giving of themselves to this act as his Cassie was.

  He felt her legs tremble, but he used one hand at the small of her back to steady her while he widened her stance with his other before parting her feminine lips. When he leaned in to slick his tongue through her feminine heat, she gasped and he could not help but smile. "Like this, do you?"

  "You know that I do." Her voice was strangled. "Oh, Evan. Yes!"

  That was precisely what he wished to hear, his name on her lips. Something surged through him just then and whether it was lust or something more he could not say. All he knew was that it drove him on and before long, Cassandra was trembling and moaning and finding her release so powerfully that even he was shocked at the strength of her desire.

  "I want to feel your lips on me, queen," he growled as he rose from his knees, stripping off his clothing as he went. "Now, my Cassie. Like you, I cannot wait long, I fear."

  Her body was still quivering as she, too, removed the last of her clothing. "With pleasure, dragon."

  Then she was on her knees before him, naked and looking every inch the harlot she most certainly was not. She was his wife and when she reached out to take his cock into her mouth, he came to the shocking realization that, for him at least, this would never be unappealing to him. The mere sight of Cassandra on her knees before him, her lips wrapped around his stiff and swollen cock, was enough to make him hard all over again.

  Even now, Cassandra was surprised at how much she enjoyed pleasuring Evan in this manner. The first time he had requested she get on her knees, she had been shocked and more than a little dismayed at the idea of doing such a wicked thing. However, with his usual flare for crude words laced with sexual innuendo, Evan had made the act seem enticing and she had grudgingly agreed to give him what he desired. Now? Well, she would not go so far as to say that she adored sucking his cock, but she found pleasure in the act as well and she did like the intimacy this provided them.

  "Touch yourself," Evan growled and Cassie did as he asked, sliding her fingers through her own wet center until she was panting around him, her body quivering with need once more.

  To increase her own pleasure, she took him deep, as deep as she possibly could, stroking her tongue along the thick veins, gliding it over the velvet encased iron length of him. He made a garbled sound from deep in his throat when she ran her tongue lightly over his tip, lapping at the moisture she found there. This was real and true, possibly the one true thing between them where there were no lies and no hidden secrets.

  With her body, Cassandra attempted to give all that she was to Evan, holding nothing back. For she truly feared that she was falling in love with him, this man whom she had once wished to perdition, and she knew those were words he would never wish to hear upon her lips. Still she could not deny these growing feelings either, so she spoke them with her body, with every lap of her tongue and suckle of her mouth on his cock.

  It was Evan's turn to t
remble now, his body ablaze with need - the need to plunge into Cassandra's tight, wet heat once more, to mark her as his, to plant his child within her belly. It frightened him a bit how much he wanted that, but he shoved fear aside. This was Cassandra. His wife. And he craved her as he had never craved anything or anyone in his life. That, more than anything, was utterly frightening, but he also knew that he had to have her or go mad from desire.

  She whimpered as he pulled away from her but then sighed in a mix of relief and pleasure as he brought her to her feet and then guided her to the bed. He lay down first, settling himself upon the soft mattress before dragging her with him so that she could straddle his big, strong body.

  "Fuck me, my Cassie," he demanded, his eyes dark and unreadable. "For I need you just as much as you need me." This sort of action he understood, this physical need to mate. It was not emotions or tender feelings. It was hard, driving need, a demand made by his body that he could not ignore.

  "With pleasure, Evan." She smiled down at him, her hair cascading around her like a curtain and when she straddled him, he surged up, unable to stop himself.

  He drove inside of her hard, not waiting for her to mount him as he usually did. No, this time was different. This time, whether fueled by jealousy or something more, he claimed her roughly, needing to feel her womanly heat around his cock. He needed to know that she was his and his alone.

  "Mine, Cassie," he growled as he thrust up again just as she ground her hips down upon his, making his eyes fly open wide with the sheer pleasure that exploded through his body just then. "You are mine and no other's!"

  "Yours," she agreed, gasping as he thrust up again before rolling them over and setting a torrid pace, thrusting hard and fast, her legs spread wide. "I am forever yours, Evan!"

  Then there was nothing but the sounds of their bodies mating hard and fast. It was rough and tumble and Evan poured everything he was into this moment. This was crass and not the gentle lovemaking that she was accustomed to from him. It was fucking. There was no other word for it, but he could not bring himself to care. He needed to mold her to his body, make her crave no other man but him, stake his claim so that no one could question that she was his and his alone.

  His acts bordered on the barbaric, and there was a part of him that was ashamed of himself. However, that part was quickly drowned out by the rest of him that wanted to consume the passionate fire that was Cassandra and make her a part of him forever.

  Over and over he thrust into her, reaching between them so that he could stroke her swollen nub, pushing her closer and closer to that precipice of release. He bit and laved at her swollen nipples, suckling at her breasts until she arched up and screamed with pleasure. Then he kissed her, his mouth devouring hers, sucking her tongue hard into his mouth and twisting his body until they were perfectly matched, impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.

  Finally, when he felt her begin to buck and tremble beneath him, he increased his pace, his hips thrusting faster than he had imagined he could move. He was close, so very, very close and when he felt Cassie let herself go, Evan released his seed inside of her, hard and fast - much like this coupling had been. He claimed her as his with his words and his actions, mumbling incoherent nonsense into her ear as he finished spending himself inside of her and praying that this time, if she conceived, the child would live.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Town Tattler

  The Season is well underway and scandals abound. We all know that Lord and Lady Berkshire were the first unlikely couple to the altar, but who will be next? I have heard rumors that wedding bells might yet ring for at least two or three couples, some of which are rather surprising.

  The one man I have not heard much about in the way of matrimonial plans is our American Marquess. Really, the man does need to select a bride, but if he continues to dally with the help? Well, that does not speak very well of him. Or is that merely a cover for his infatuation with another young lady of proper breeding? I am hearing rumors that might very well be the case. If so, who is she? I have no idea, but I do intend to find out. Makes for better gossip, you know.

  So many young people these days picking mates of questionable backgrounds. While a fortune is not everything, it is necessary in our society, is it not? The same can be said for breeding and good bloodlines, though I have it on excellent authority that there is at least one duke who does not see the situation in that manner and believes - wholeheartedly, I might add - in affairs of the heart. Love. What is the world coming to these days? Surely marrying for love will be the end of us all. I shake my head at the notions that the young - and in some cases not so young - among us have these days and pray they do not lead to the downfall of our society as we know it.

  -Lady A

  After that magical, soul-stirring afternoon in their bedchamber, Cassandra's life settled into something of a routine. While she and Evan never again shared that same body-wrenching grand passion again, they did make love at least once a day. Usually more than that. Evan was an insatiable lover, something she had known well in the year she had lived with him as his ward but had never truly understood until she became his wife.

  That suited Cassandra just fine because the more they made love, the closer to him she felt, something that she was craving more and more as of late. Those moments were also the only times that she did not have to hide her growing feelings from him because in bed, there was no real difference between passion and love. She couldn't say the words, but she could show him with her body how she felt. She had also come to the conclusion that if this was all the closer she could ever come to Evan, it would have to be enough.

  However, all of their late nights were costing her sleep, especially since Evan could barely wait until they reached home before undressing her each night. In fact, at Lord Chillton's ball a few nights past, he had simply led her into a dark corner of the viscount's conservatory and taken her against one of the room's many glass walls. It had been utterly scandalous and oh-so-delicious, and Cassandra wished he would do it again soon. On the other hand, she did need her sleep.

  "Your husband keeping you awake until all hours?" Lady Diana McKenna, Marchioness of Hallstone, teased Cassandra as they sat together in a back room at Madame LaVallier's. In the weeks since she had become a marchioness, Cassandra's circle of friends had expanded greatly and now included some of the most respected and admired ladies of the ton. "Do not worry. Once you become with child, he will begin treating you as if you are made of glass and you will wish for his attentions once more."

  "Hathaway was much the same," Abby agreed with a smile, replacing a book of fabric swatches on the table and leaning back. Like Diana, Abby had just borne her husband an heir and was only now returning to her previous state of health - not to mention waistline. "Drove me mad, of course, but I understood his fears. Towards the end of my confinement, I didn't even wish for anyone to so much as touch me on the arm."

  Cassandra's hand strayed to her still flat stomach. The memory of the lost child - of what would have been a child - still clawed at her on a regular basis. She did her best to hide the guilt she still felt, but it was becoming more and more difficult with each passing day. She wanted to tell someone. She knew she should tell Evan. However, each time she tried, the words died in her throat.

  Additionally, if her calculations were correct, her next round of courses would be coming soon. Provided she was not already with child, for she wasn't quite certain how these things worked exactly. If she was with child? Then what? Would she lose that babe as well? Perhaps she could not have children. Dr. Hastings didn't believe that to be the case, but how could he know for certain? He could not. No one could, really.

  "I...would not know," Cassandra finally said, picking at a biscuit on her plate.

  "Cassandra?" That came from Abby. "Is there something amiss? Whatever it is, you can tell us." She gestured around the room, the sweep of her arm encompassing Diana, as well as Lady Jane St. Giles, Countess of Covington
, and Lady Sophia Blackmore, Countess of Hunterdon.

  Sophia, who was in the early days of her own pregnancy, came over from where she had been discussing a new gown to accommodate her increasing waistline with one of Madame LaVallier's shop girls, and placed a hand on Cassandra's shoulder. "We are your friends, Cassandra. These women? I trust them and they know everything about me. Which in my case is extremely scandalous." A bit of a blush crept up Sophia's cheeks. "They even know what my former betrothed, Lord Selby, did to me last summer."

  It was a poorly kept secret among the ton that Lord Alex Selby had forced himself upon Sophia one rainy night in a coach traveling the Great North Road towards Scotland. Few spoke about the matter openly, but enough people knew that Sophia's shame wasn't quite the secret that it had once been.

  "I..." Cassandra tried to speak but once more, the words would not come. "I..." she tried again.

  This time it was Jane who placed a comforting hand on Cassandra's arm. "We wish to help you, Cassandra. All of us have suffered in some fashion before we found our happiness." She snorted. "My own father attempted to sell me like a bit of property to Diana's father-in-law. And Diana herself had a bad bit of business with Abby's husband. And yet, none of us judge. We only support. We would do the same for you if you would allow us."

  Looking into Jane's kind eyes, Cassandra felt something inside of herself break. She could keep this secret no longer. "I was with child. I think. It was only a few days at best, but..." She trailed off, unable to continue.

  "And now you are not." Abby pulled Cassandra to her feet and embraced her, offering her friend a handkerchief to wipe away the few tears that fell. "You are not the first woman this has happened to, you know. Nor will you be the last."