He declared that the line of her neck was exquisite, exceeded by the path from her shoulder to her hip, over the swell of her lovely breasts to the sweet roundness of her stomach.
She loved the feel of his legs wrapped around her, all muscle, with nothing tender about them.
When they had tortured each other long enough, he pressed her back on the pillows, imprisoning her hands with his. For a delightful minute she felt like a concubine awaiting her master’s pleasure. She almost wished that Meryon would take the next hour entirely out of her hands and use her with all the mastery he must have at his command.
“You look as though you are waiting to be ravished.” His expression was both wicked and willfull and she could only nod.
“I want you whether you want me or not,” he said, not smiling. “I will tie you to the bed if I must. I do not have to, do I?”
“No,” she gasped as he pressed into her and then held perfectly still. She wrestled under him, begging for more with her thrusting hips. When she arched her body he still bracketed her hands, forcing her submission.
“Do not move, Elena.”
Her body tensed with the effort to obey him.
He moved in and out, but as soon as she moved her hips he stopped.
“Hold still.” He spoke with a sharp edge to his voice.
“I can’t. I can’t,” she told him and he smiled as though those words were exactly what he wanted to hear. They moved together but he held her pleasure just beyond completion until she thought the frustration would kill her.
“Do not close your eyes.”
Elena obeyed him, almost afraid of the consequences should she disobey. If he left her like this it would be an insult beyond bearing.
Meryon plunged into her again, finding the exact spot of release by either chance or genius, she was beyond caring. Even with her eyes open she lost sight of him as an orgasm swept her into a world of pure sensation.
Meryon followed her, releasing her hands, cradling her to him. They clung to each other as if lost at sea with the other their one hope of rescue.
Finally, with a long breath, he moved away from her. Elena curled up with her back against his chest. His deep even breaths told her he had fallen asleep. Elena lay with her eyes open, wondering if there was anything she would deny this man.
22
MERYON DIDN’T SLEEP, at least not for long. Eventually, he pulled away from her, despite her soft protest, and sat on the edge of the bed. The room was colder now, but he stayed uncovered, his body still restless if not too warm.
What had he done? How could he have behaved like that? Even his mistress had never aroused that kind of behavior in him. With her, sex had been a way for him to relax, to be selfish, to take what he needed. With Elena he had given as much as he had taken, but with a frenzy and dominance that were as foreign to him as tears were.
She had not complained, not at all. If she had asked he would have stopped. Could he have stopped?
He felt her hand trace his backbone with a lover’s touch. It made him want her again, right now. How long would he have to wait?
“I do have to go home tonight, Meryon. Tina is not expecting me until late, but if I do not come at all she will tell her husband and they will worry.”
Meryon did not comment on the way her servants ruled her life. It was the wrong way to tell her that he did not want to let her go. Not now. Not ever. “I will see you tomorrow.”
She did not answer him at first. He looked over his shoulder. “I may enjoy a little dominance in bed, Meryon, but that is the only place.”
He turned to face her. “You were not afraid?”
Now she laughed, her frisson of annoyance disappearing. “No, not really, rather deliciously frightened.”
Elena slipped from the bed, her delightful backside as full and round as her back was straight. She began to pick up her clothes. She came back to stand at the edge of the bed, her clothes pressed against her bosom. “Please believe me when I say that I am so afraid of you I can hardly wait until we can lie together again.”
He came from his side of the bed, toward her, shrugging into the banyan that lay on the chair nearby. It was not what he wanted to do at all. “I am not going to let you go.” He took her into his arms, kissed her, and hoped she could feel the combination of happiness and dread he felt. “I want to keep you here, in this bed, forever.”
“And I would stay even without being tied to the bedpost, but not tonight.” She kissed him and he could feel nothing but her satisfaction.
Elena disappeared into the dressing room. He heard the distant ring of the bell as she called for the maid to help her dress.
If they had been completely alone in the house, he might have shown her that he was not entirely joking about keeping her in this bed forever. He wanted her here whenever he needed her, which could well be every minute of the day. He pulled the banyan around his nakedness and felt like he was covering the base part of him with a gentleman’s veneer.
Meryon gathered his clothes and went to his dressing room. With each layer of clothing he felt more himself, rather than a man whose animal urges ruled him. As he tied his cravat and struggled into his very well cut coat he realized why he had used her so. He wanted to prove to her and to himself that he was in control.
Elena was every bit a lady when they met again in the salon. “We are so proper, after having been not proper at all. What are we afraid of, do you think?”
He put down his glass and picked up her cloak, holding it out for her. “I am not going to even pretend I know why we are circumspect. I am going to take you home, count the hours until we can be together again, and sleep so the time passes more quickly.” He kissed her, as though it was a seal on every sweet memory of the last few hours. “My dear, I do not think we have to have all the answers as long as we are happy.”
Acting as groom tonight, young Wilson lowered the stairs and pushed the door shut with growing confidence. The carriage was their warm cocoon once again, but they used the cold outside as an excuse to sit as close together as possible. Until Elena announced temptation too great and moved to sit across from him.
Meryon was sure from her expression that her mind was filled with thoughts as lascivious as his.
“Tomorrow,” Meryon said, as he took Elena’s hand and kissed it. “I will send my carriage for you and meet you at the St. German Street house. At four o’clock.”
“Yes, all right.”
Elena smiled at him, but her agreement was more guarded than he liked. She had said yes and he would be an ass to press her for more enthusiasm.
They rode in silence until he heard a sound, suspiciously like a yelp. From a dog. He ignored the first one, but the second and then the third had him rapping on the roof for the carriage to stop.
Wilson came to the door promptly.
“Either Magda is up there with you or you have been spending so much time with her that you are beginning to bark like she does.”
“Yes, sir, Your Grace. I’m sorry, but Magda followed me here. We din’t have no choice but to keep her with us since we din’t know how long you would be.”
“You make it sound so reasonable, Wilson. How unusual that it has never happened before.”
“I have a way with animals, sir, Your Grace. I like them and they like me.”
That was true, but Meryon suspected that Wilson had deliberately brought Magda. While he mulled over an answer, Wilson decided they had finished conversing and without waiting to be dismissed he gave a brisk nod, closed the door, and climbed back up onto the driver’s seat.
Elena tried to hold back her laughter but a little giggle escaped. “You must like that groom very much or else you would have fired him on the spot.”
“His family needs the money. His father is north looking for work.” When she merely raised her brows he went on. “Yes, I like the boy. He has an answer for everything, a natural intelligence that I would hate to see wasted.” Meryon wondered if the boy could re
ad and write. “Alan Wilson reminds me of Rexton and the accident of birth.” Meryon called the picture of his golden-haired son to mind. “Wilson’s father has been gone for months, if not a year, and the boy had been earning money doing God knows what until I hired him. I don’t think Rexton could find his way from here to Penn Square. My son’s current talent is asking questions to which no one knows the answer.”
“I think we do what we have to do, Meryon. It could be that your son would surprise you.”
Elena shifted back to his side of the carriage, but did not close the space between them. “I was on my own at fourteen.”
“Good God. You were still a child.” He could easily believe that Bendas had allowed that, but had no idea why. He kissed her and drew away quickly before it could become something more. He did want to hear her story.
“I began singing before I said my first words. My mother wanted to give me singing lessons. Her husband insisted it was a waste of money. It was a constant source of conflict between them.” Elena was quiet a moment, then drew a deep breath as if it would give her strength.
Meryon clenched his fist at his side and waited. This was her story to tell. “When I was fourteen my mother died. A few weeks later her husband asked me to sing for a friend and he did not like the song I chose. The next day he told me to leave the house, to sell my talents on the street.”
“With no reason given.” That explained the upset at Georges’s story about the girl who played the piano.
“He did not need to give me one. His word was law.”
Now Meryon did reach out. He gathered her into his arms, sitting her on his lap, rocking her as one would the child she had been.
“I am so sorry for the little Elena, but I also know that struggle was part of making the glorious woman you are. Believe me when I say that the woman before me is as lovely and as honest as the sun is hot.”
“I had an ally. My godmother. She gave me a home without hesitation and we eventually settled in Rome. And the rest is much happier than the beginning.”
She kissed his cheek, and as the carriage rounded a corner she slid from his lap to sit beside him. He relaxed his fist and took her hand and held it.
“That rather dour story is by way of telling you that children will call on resources that we do not even suspect they have. Lord Rexton is your son, Meryon, and that tells me he is thoughtful, observant, and kind. Even kindness stands one in good stead in dark times.”
“I would argue that but I have seen it too, when Garrett took care of Olivia. His kindness saved her life at some cost to himself.”
———
ELENA WANTED TO tell him how sweet and dear he was, but was sure he would consider it an insult. Instead she cupped his chin in one hand and framed his mouth with her lips.
There was nothing but the two of them, no past, only this all-consuming present and the hint of a future. A little moan escaped her as she gave in to the delicious feeling that reminded her of their lovemaking.
He ended the kiss with his own sound of regret, holding her a moment longer. She saw something in his eyes that was more than passion, less than commitment, but filled with love.
“I suspect that you know more of the mean part of the world than I do, Elena, and I would have taken it all on myself to spare you that. But Gabriel has yet to invent a way to travel into the past.”
Elena leaned her head on his shoulder. Did he know that it was not possible to rescue everyone? “Beggars must approach you every day.”
“Yes, and giving them a coin now and again is not a long-term solution.”
“Your goal being to save England’s future one boy at a time.”
He laughed, which surprised her.
“Oh my, you are learning not to take every word I say as an affront.”
“I have been taught by a master. You. Besides we now have a better use for our passion than arguing, do we not?” They spent a long moment proving it to each other.
This time Meryon moved to take the seat opposite her. “I am going to propose a bill to give monetary and educational assistance to widows and orphans.”
“That sounds very ambitious. Admirable, make no mistake about that, but much too expensive to gain support in these times.”
“Yes, I know.” He did not seem at all daunted by her criticism. “It’s both the best and worst time to make such a proposal. I accept that it will not succeed this year or even next year. I plan to send a letter to William Wilberforce.”
“Will his support help you?” The name sounded familiar but she could not place who he was.
“He may lend his support. His ideas are very progressive. But what he can teach me is how to persevere. His efforts to outlaw the slave trade took more than fifteen years.”
And who will teach you patience? She did not ask him that. Nor did she ask him if he had any idea what a cause like this would cost him in heartache and despair. He had been part of Parliament for years now. He knew what it would take.
They rode the rest of the way in silence. As soon as the carriage slowed at the house on Bedford Place Elena’s maid opened the door.
“What in the world?” Elena could make no sense of it. Tina had wrapped herself in a knitted shawl, totally inadequate against the cold night air and not at all like her usually careful appearance.
“I’ll come in with you. Signora Tinotti looks upset.”
“No, no. It is most likely some domestic upset that would have you rolling your eyes.” Tina would be truly hysterical if something terrible had happened.
Meryon hesitated, then took her hand and kissed it quickly. “Send word if you need help and if not I will see you tomorrow, soon after four o’clock.”
The boy lowered the stairs for her, the dog over his other arm.
“I will take Magda now, Wilson,” was the last thing she heard Meryon say.
23
WHAT HAPPENED, TINA?” Elena asked as soon as she closed the door behind her.
“Where were you, signora?”
Tina sounded like the disgruntled mistress, rather than the servant. It appeared to be a rhetorical question as Tina did not wait for an answer.
“Mia has disappeared. She was with Lord William in the salon with the governess as chaperone. That stupid woman tells me that Mia excused herself and went upstairs and then Lord William announced he was going to leave and would the governess explain that he remembered a promise he must act on. When the governess went upstairs to tell Mia, the girl was gone!”
“William and Mia left together?” Elena was not sure if the two of them together made it better or worse. Better, much better, she decided. Mia alone in town at night was a horrifying thought.
“The stupid butler had gone off to have his supper, not at his post, and did not see either one of them leave.” Tina spoke as though supper were an indulgence the butler was not worthy of.
“If I know Mia,” Elena paused, and after a moment’s thought went on, “and William, they timed their departure so that no one would stop them. What time was the butler off for supper?”
A rap at the door, followed by its opening, ended their discussion. Mia and William came stumbling in. Mia was giggling and William was trying to shush her with whispers that were loud enough to be heard across the street.
“Are you two drunk?” Elena asked, shocked not so much at their behavior as at William’s hand in it.
Mia stopped so fast that William ran into her back and the cloak she wore enveloped them both. The girl turned and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, my lord. That was such a grand adventure. It is worth whatever punishment Elena contrives.”
At least, at the very least Elena would be grateful that Meryon was not here to witness this disaster. She had no idea what he would think but her mortification would have been unbearable. “Mia, you make it sound like I spend my days and nights thinking of ways to punish you. As I recall you promised that with your come-out so close you would be on your best behavior.”
> “I said I would try, and, truly, I did try.” Mia bit her lip and tried to look penitent.
“Go to your room, go to bed, and I will talk to you in the morning when I have had time to devise an appropriate discipline.”
A rebellious expression replaced Mia’s remorse, but Elena saw William’s slight nod and Mia was solemn again and halfway up the stairs.
“Elena, I can explain,” William began.
“Not here.” Elena held up her hand to stop his babbling. “Come into the salon. Now.”
He followed her with a cheerfulness that seemed to belittle the seriousness of the situation.
“Shall I bring some refreshment, signora?”
“No, Tina. His lordship will not be staying long.” Elena pulled the door closed.
“What were you thinking?” She tried to keep her voice level but when she did that hysteria crept in and hysteria was not what she was feeling. So she yelled at him. “I am furious with you, do you hear me?” There was no doubt he could hear but he was smart enough not to say that.
“Elena, I know how it looks but you have to let me explain.”
“I don’t have to do anything. With one sentence I can forbid you this house.” Elena walked over to her Canaletto but even his blue sky could not calm her.
“Yes, I know. But if you do that, things will grow worse.”
“Is that a threat?” She faced him, all but seeing red.
“Oh, God, no. It’s only that—” William stopped, and when he began again, he was pleading. “Let me explain and you will, I hope, understand why I went with her.”
“All right.” She sat down and smoothed her skirts, and when he would have sat beside her, she raised her hand to stop him. “Do not sit. You have behaved like an unconscionable schoolboy and you will stay standing while you explain.”
Was that barely restrained annoyance she saw on his face? If it was, he did not give voice to it and stayed where he was, in front of her, slapping his gloves against his leg. Finally, he tossed his gloves on the table and began.
Mary Blayney - [Pennistan 03] Page 19