Wedded in Scandal bf-1

by Jade Lee

  “Now—,” she began, but he pressed a finger to her mouth. Then, while she watched, he sat down on the bench facing the mirror.

  “Come here,” he said.

  She moved forward, but he stopped her, slowly turning her around. A moment later, he had set her on his lap, slowly coaxing her legs apart such that they draped over his knees.

  Her face flamed in embarrassment, but also with excitement. She had never looked at herself all plump and open. It was scandalous for sure, but she was a mistress now. Scandalous was supposed to be her stock-in-trade.

  “It’s not very pretty,” she said.

  He chuckled. “No, it’s gorgeous. Now watch what happens when I do this.” So saying, he cupped her breasts, lifting them in the mirror and tweaking her nipples. She gasped at the sensation and her bottom tightened. His organ was thick and tall between them, and she realized that with a slight shift of her hips, her movements would torture him as well.

  “Minx,” he whispered, but he didn’t stop her.

  Her head was resting on his shoulder as he began to slide down on the bench. He didn’t go far, just enough to lift her center higher, into better view, and one of his hands abandoned her breast to slide between her legs.

  Her skin was afire with flashes of heat, but it didn’t stop her from watching the slow progress of his hand down her belly. Large tan fingers against her white skin, slipping down until he slid into her curls. It was the most incredible sight, and to feel it as it was happening was beyond erotic.

  “This is where I want to be,” he said as he thrust a finger deep inside her. She gasped in reaction as he filled her, instinctively tightening around him. “But this is what you like,” he said as he pulled his hand back and began to stroke her higher up.

  Her thighs tightened, but she was draped across the outside of his knees. He was so much stronger than her, so he kept her open for view. And he continued to stroke her while she writhed on his lap.

  She was close, so close. But this was not what she wanted. Not his fingers. And so she gripped his hand and pulled it away.

  “I want to watch you enter me.”

  He looked at her. “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. “I want to see it. Slowly.”

  He grinned. “As you wish.”

  She directed things this time, adjusting the bench for the best angle. She sat down, making sure to position them in the mirror. And then she leaned back, trying as coy a look as she could manage.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asked.

  His eyes darkened in hunger as he grabbed her legs and placed them on his shoulders. “You wanted to watch? How is this?”

  He placed himself at her entrance and she looked in awe at his large mushroom head and thick stalk. It amazed her that he could fit in her, and indeed as he slowly pressed inside, she felt her whole body stretch around him.

  Inch by slow inch he entered her and she had the dual view in front of her and of his backside in the mirror. And then he was fully seated, and she completely impaled. Opened, pinned, and impaled. Never would she have thought it would excite her to feel this vulnerable, but she did. And looking in his eyes, she could see an answering hunger in him.

  Then he withdrew slowly until he was fully out, his breath coming in shuddering gasps as he lowered her legs from his shoulders.

  She frowned. “Robert?”

  He bent down and pulled out a French letter from his pocket, opening it to show it to her. “I cannot do that again without risk,” he said. “Do you—”

  “Oh, God!” She’d forgotten it. Again!

  He looked at her face. “I have been worried about the last time. I didn’t remember then. I—”

  “I know. But I had my courses last week, so we are fine. I mean, there is no baby.”

  He exhaled a heavy breath in relief. “Thank goodness. I would have cared for the babe. Made sure everything was as you wanted it. But—”

  “It’s better this way.” She touched his hand and the condom he held.

  “Yes,” he agreed. Then he showed her how to put it on him. It was an amazing thing, really, and it warmed her to know that he had thought of this. And that warmth translated to desire. And love. Such love she felt for him.

  This time when he entered her, there was no holding back. Though she thought he intended to go slow, her patience had already run out. She wanted him inside her. She wanted to grip him inside and out. And she wanted to feel him thrusting deep.

  He gave her what she wanted. He rammed into her while she cried out at every impact. And she watched in the mirror as his buttocks tightened and his back bowed.

  Her belly was tightening, her thighs were adding to his rhythm. Again and again.

  Bliss!

  She came back to herself in his arms. How he had managed to twist them around such that she now sat on his lap was beyond her. But he had, and now she rested full and still impaled in his arms.

  “You are a marvel,” she said as she kissed his beard-rough jaw.

  “Hmm,” he rumbled. “I was about to say the same to you.” Then he straightened, his eyes serious as he looked into hers. “Helaine, I have something to ask you. This is not quite the way I’d envisioned, but—”

  Thump, thump!

  Helaine slapped a hand over Robert’s mouth. He had heard it, too, so he kept himself very still. And there it was again. Thump, thump on the back stairs.

  “Helaine?” came her mother’s voice from the doorway. “I heard a noise.”

  Robert’s eyes widened and his lips curved in laughter. Helaine glared him into silence as she called out to her mother.

  “Don’t come down!” she called. “I, uh, I dropped a glass and it broke. There are shards everywhere.”

  “Oh, dear. I’ll get the broom—”

  “No, no! I’ve got it!” Helaine pushed herself off Robert, silently mourning the loss of him inside her, but mortified by the idea of her mother finding her like this. She was hastily pulling on her gown as she tried to warn her mother away. “Pray go back to bed, Mama. I’m sorry I woke you.”

  “But you should go to bed, dear. You have to be up and dressed for the wedding ever so early tomorrow.”

  “I know, I know!” She had pulled on her gown, but was having trouble buttoning it. Robert helped her out, of course, his fingers much more sure. But the damned man did it while still sitting down. Naked!

  “Were you drinking tea?” Her mother asked as she made it to the main floor, but not around the corner into the workroom. “Where is that mop?”

  “Go upstairs, Mama!” Helaine cried in near panic. Then she had an inspiration. “Could you warm a pan for me? For my bed? And throw some more coal on the upstairs fire?”

  The sounds from the closet stilled. “I suppose, though it’s not that cold a night.”

  “I’m freezing, Mama,” Helaine countered. “Please, would you do that for me?”

  She heard her mother sigh. “All right. But I think it’s a waste of coal. Come up soon.”

  “Right away.”

  Helaine waited a moment, listening to her mother’s steady tread back up the stairs. When she heard the coal rattle in the pan, she exhaled a sigh of relief. Then she turned to Robert, who was still sitting on the bench completely at ease. At least he’d pulled on his pants, but his upper torso was still completely nude. “Get dressed!”

  “But—”

  “Good God, Robert, my mother could come back down here any minute.”

  He gave a worried glance up the stairs, then returned to look back at Helaine. “I would like to ask you something, my dear. As I said, it’s not exactly the time.”

  “It’s not the time at all!” she said as she tossed him his shirt. “Whatever it is will wait until tomorrow.”

  He grimaced as his shirt hit him in the face. But then he pulled it away and she was startled to see how very serious he had become. “That’s too late, my dear. Really it will only take a moment.”

  “Which is all my mother n
eeds to get worried and come back down here.”

  “Helaine!”

  “No! I shall be there first thing in the morning to help Gwen with her gown. She’s invited me to the wedding, you know. I hope that doesn’t upset you.”

  “Upset me? I asked her if she’d like you to come. If—”

  “Ssst!” she hissed as her mother continued to thump around upstairs. They both waited as still as statues to see where her mother would go. She thought for a moment that the woman would come back down the stairs, but after a bit, there was a different creak in a different place. Helaine exhaled. Her mother had gone into a bedroom. Probably Helaine’s to put the warming pan in. Which meant the woman would be back down in less than a minute to haul her daughter up to bed.

  “My dear—,” Robert began again, but Helaine rushed to the door and pulled it open.

  “It can wait until morning.”

  Robert frowned, obviously hating that idea, but Helaine would have none of it.

  “Go!” Then she grabbed his shoes, dropped them in his hands, and shoved him out the door. She felt bad seeing him stumble outside in bare feet and bare chested. But sure enough, she heard her mother’s tread on the stairs again.

  “Helaine?”

  “Coming, Mama!” Then she shut and locked the door tight.

  Chapter 25

  Helaine was in the middle of a yawn when Dribbs opened the door. Fortunately, she had enough warning to hide it behind her gloved hand. He nodded gravely to her and ushered her inside. Barely a minute later, she was upstairs in Gwen’s room, where the girl was seated before her mirror dabbing color onto her cheeks.

  “Oh, no!” cried Helaine. “You don’t need that. You are perfect without—”

  “You are here!” Gwen cried as she abandoned her paint pot to engulf Helaine in a fierce hug. “I am so glad.”

  “And I am so glad you invited me. But come now. What is this silliness? You don’t need paint.”

  Gwen bit her lip, looking unsure. “I want to look perfect.”

  “But you do! You are a stunning bride.” Helaine stepped back to inspect the young woman. She was dressed in her shift and hose, covered by a dressing gown. Her bridal dress lay across the bed, a vision in purest white. It wasn’t really common for brides to marry in white, but Helaine had thought the fabric the perfect accent to Gwen’s flushed pink skin. With pearl drops along the bodice and skirt, she would appear like Venus emerged from the frothy sea. And Penny had made slippers to match, adding a trace of gold to flash beneath the skirt as Gwen stepped down the aisle.

  “Come, come, let us get you into your gown.”

  Gwen agreed, her eyes shimmering with excitement as Helaine held out the dress. But before she could do more than put one foot inside the skirt, there was a knock at the door.

  “Gwen? Did I hear Helaine come in?”

  “Helaine?” Gwen mouthed. “I thought your name was Helen.”

  Helaine flushed and shrugged. She could think of no answer, not with the memory of everything that had happened the night before flashing through her mind.

  The knock came again. “Gwen? Is she there?”

  “For heaven’s sake, Robert, I’m dressing!” Gwen said back through the door.

  “But I should like—”

  Helaine interrupted before he could finish. “Whatever it is, my lord, it can wait, can’t it? Your sister is about to get married!”

  He groaned. “I know that, but—”

  “Later!” both women cried together.

  He had no choice but to agree, though he did so with an audible grumble. A moment later, they heard him clump down the stairs and away. The two women exchanged equal looks of bafflement at Robert’s bizarre behavior, then quickly descended into giggles. There was no fathoming the male brain at a time like this, so they addressed themselves to making Gwen beautiful.

  They succeeded because Gwen was so very happy. She was lovely, of course, but with the happiness literally filling the air around her, she would have appeared gorgeous in sackcloth. And with her future in-laws now moving to that school in the mining town, Gwen had no reservations about her marriage at all. She was head over heels in love with Edward, and that was all that mattered.

  They took too long with the dressing. Despite rising in plenty of time, there were extra pearls to add to Gwen’s hair and a dash of oil to give her lips a special shine. There were shoes and wraps to set just right. And gloves, of course, to protect the bride’s most delicate hands. Helaine carried the veil, which they would add at the church.

  Then they rushed downstairs filled with giddy laughter, only to see Robert pacing the hallway in front of Dribbs. The butler was in his best looks, his uniform pressed to a knife’s crease, but he was nothing compared to Robert, who wore deepest black over crisp white linen. It had been Helaine’s suggestion that his cravat be white shot with gold to match his gold waistcoat. And it was punctuated by a solitary pink diamond. Helaine had never seen its like before, but Gwen had told her it was a family gemstone worn by every earl at his wedding.

  “There you are!” he said. “Helaine, I must ask—”

  “Robert! Look at your hair!” cried Gwen. “It looks like you’ve been tugging it out by the roots!”

  Robert looked over at his sister and frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “You, brother dear!” Gwen said with a laugh. Then she sent a maid rushing back upstairs for her brush.

  “But we haven’t time!” he huffed.

  “There is time for you to be in your best looks at my wedding!”

  The maid came downstairs with a brush, which Gwen plied, to Robert’s mortification and Dribbs’s amusement. Then, before Gwen was finished, Robert grabbed the brush and waved it at Helaine. “Please, could I—”

  “Oh, Gwenie! You look like a vision!” That was Gwen and Robert’s mother, descending the stairs in a gown of pale blue. It matched her watery eyes and gave her a joyous look that—thankfully—seemed to match her spirits today.

  “Mama! You are beautiful!”

  As the two women embraced, Robert stepped to Helaine, touching her arm as he tried to get her attention. “Please, Helaine. I beg of you—”

  “My lord, my lady. The carriage awaits,” Dribbs intoned as he threw open the door. And indeed, there was the earl’s carriage waiting at the base of the walk, cleaned to a gleaming shine. The servants lined the walkway, all there to give Gwen their well-wishes as she all but danced down the path. A moment later a hackney appeared and Gwen’s father, the Earl of Willington, descended. The youngest son Jack was with him, and both had dressed in their finest.

  There would have been more hugs and talking but at that very moment, Edward’s mother came running out of their home. “Go! Go! Edward is almost to the door. He cannot see you!”

  It was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, and so everyone bustled Gwen into the carriage. Her parents and Jack followed next, with Robert lingering, one foot on the step while his eyes sought Helaine’s. He started to open his mouth but she shook her head.

  “Go! Edward is almost here!” she urged him, pointing to where both mother and aunt were physically blocking the doorway until Gwen could leave.

  “At the church, then,” he said as he ducked into the carriage.

  “Of course!” she returned, holding up the veil. She was to follow in another carriage, along with Dribbs and two other special family retainers who were allowed to attend. She followed Dribbs’s direction and was soon ensconced in another carriage, which followed the family in the slow, ponderous pace that befitted a lady’s wedding. The carriage had barely stopped at the cathedral when its door was opened by none other than Robert himself.

  “Robert!” Helaine cried. “Whatever are you doing?”

  “It is imperative—”

  “That you go inside and make sure everything is set to rights. Go! I need to help with her veil.” To everyone’s horror, Edward’s carriage was arriving as well and they were still standing a
bout like gawking urchins.

  “Helaine—”

  “Go!” She shoved Robert away and then dashed up the stairs after Gwen. Really, she would have to take that man to task for being such an idiot at his sister’s wedding. But that would have to wait until later. Right now, Gwen needed her veil.

  All was accomplished with much giggles and excited talk. Gwen’s two attendants were there before them, chattering in the excited voices of best girlfriends. Connie joined them as soon as the groom’s carriage stopped and she ran with all the joy of a girl thrilled to be gaining a new sister. Helaine faded into the background. In truth, she should not be here at all, but she could not resist watching Gwen’s happiness. It was a joy she would never have, and so she wanted to soak up as much as she could. But in the end, she had to leave. She pressed a kiss to Gwen’s cheek and shared another tight hug. Then she rushed away to find a seat at the back of the cathedral.

  It took her a bit, but she found her own family also hiding in the back. Wendy would not miss a wedding when the bride was wearing a gown stitched by her hand. Penny, too, was there with Tommy. And Helaine’s mother rounded out the foursome, a ribbon in one hand for Tommy to play with and a kerchief in her other hand. Her mama liked to cry at weddings.

  Helaine took her seat beside her mother, and then they watched with held breath as ushers seated the family members. Weddings were usually private family affairs, but this was the wedding of Lady Gwen, the daughter of the Earl of Willington. For many it marked the official opening of the Season, and people had been vying for months to get invitations. Those select few came now, dressed in finery better suited to a ballroom, but gorgeous nonetheless.

  And then the event began.

  Gwen was radiant, and Edward was grinning. It looked as if he couldn’t believe his luck to be joined with his lady love. Robert stood as his best man, tall and proud. He could not have looked more handsome, and Helaine fell more deeply in love with him.

  The priest was no less a person than the Archbishop of Canterbury. The service proceeded as was expected with Edward and Gwen speaking their vows in voices that carried to the back of the cathedral. It was clear to all that there was no doubt in their minds. The two were desperately in love. Helaine had to reach for her own handkerchief at that moment. Before long, they were pronounced man and wife. The organ music swelled, Edward kissed Gwen soundly, and the two were wed.