Lord Rose Reid and the Lost Lady (The Contrary Fairy Tales Book 3)

by Em Taylor

  “Yes well, we do not allow babies to do as horses do and just let loose in the street, Gideon. They have a covering that has to be changed. Please tell me you planned to explain all this to him before you have the baby, Emily?”

  Emily laughed. “Possibly. Or maybe I was just looking forward to the jolly japes of watching him work it out. Come, let us find our rooms.”

  The ladies headed off arm in arm up the stairs, leaving Jason holding his hat over his cockstand to hide it.

  “May as well have a drink in the tap room. They shall be gossiping for ages. We can arrange a parlour for dinner too,” Beattie grunted.

  “Indeed and then I can perhaps explain myself so I do not leave this inn with a broken jaw.”

  “I believe my sister would have something to say if I broke your jaw.”

  “Your sister is a formidable young lady.”

  “I am aware.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  The men only stayed in the taproom for half an hour. Oscar had fed in the carriage not long before they had arrived, so he was now snoozing in the cradle in Sophia’s room. She had been given a room next to Jason’s with an inter-connecting door. Since the rooms had been booked by Gideon, the innkeeper must have assumed them to be married or having an affair. Besides, the key was on her side, as it should be.

  Jason knocked and she bid him enter.

  “Good evening, my love. Dinner will be in two hours.”

  “Excellent. We have an hour to… rest? Then I can dress and fix my hair.”

  “Do you need a bath?”

  “No. I would not put the staff to all that bother on a night like this.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Are you going to have a bath?”

  “Um, No. I think not.”

  “I see. Do you need anything at present?” There was a long silence. “Jason?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is a large inn.”

  “It is.”

  “Gideon and Emily’s room is at the far end of the hall.”

  “I…” She walked over to him and placed one hand over the fall of his breeches. “Sophia,” His voice was half-pleading, half-groan.

  “You do not want to make love to me, Jason?”

  “No, yes. I mean, of course I do. Christ, I had a cockstand like a carriage axel when you were rubbing that pert bottom of yours against me downstairs.”

  “I was aware.”

  “You little minx. But we cannot.”

  “Oh. I thought you would want to, now that my courses have finished. I misunderstood. I am sorry.” She hurried away from him and sat, facing away from him so that he would not see her shame. He must think she was a terrible lightskirt for throwing herself at him.

  “No, Sophia. It is your brother.”

  “What about him? I have no desire to tumble my brother.”

  Jason laughed. “I would hope not. But it seems less than honourable to tumble you in the same inn as he is in.”

  “You do not think he is tumbling Emily as we speak? Good God, they cannot keep their hand from each other. The woman looks permanently tumbled. She will have a new moniker among the ton at this rate.”

  “You sound envious.”

  Sophia sighed. “A little. I am pleased that Gideon has found someone with whom he is truly happy. I know we have known each other such a short time, but I have missed you in my bed these last few nights. I know we could not make love but I could have…” She looked away. She did not want to finish her thought. He already thought her fast.

  “You could have what?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

  “I… well you allowed me to use my mouth on you before. I thought…”

  “Damn, Sophia. Do not taunt me with such things.”

  “They would not be taunts if you would let me, rather than dropping the falls of your breeches in the middle of the night when you think I am asleep and stroking yourself to release.”

  “You saw that?”

  “I wanted to climb out of bed, crawl between your knees and take you into my mouth and…”

  “Stop, Sophia.”

  Sophia stood and walked towards the large dressing table. Jason had sounded almost in pain. She was getting this all wrong. She glanced at her ruddy, embarrassed cheeks in the mirror as he pressed his hardness against her bottom.

  “I would have allowed you to take me in your mouth. My only regret would have been that I could not return the pleasure, because you had your courses and your breasts are still painful.”

  “The pain is beginning to ease in my breasts.”

  “That is good. You make it so difficult to be honourable, Sophia.”

  “I do not wish you to be your idea of honourable, Jason. I wish… Oh I do not know.” She placed her face in her hands on the dressing table, avoiding looking at herself in the mirror. She must look so dishevelled after a day of travelling. When she felt the warm air from the fire which was close by wafting around her stockinged legs, she stopped breathing. Jason was lifting her skirts.

  It was only when he tugged on her girdle and said “What the hell is this,” that she remembered.

  “It holds my clout in place. I was sure my courses were finished, but because we were stuck in a carriage I wore one just in case they had not. I have checked at every stop and they are definitely over. I planned to remove it before dinner. I forgot it was on.”

  “So I just untie it here?”

  She felt it loosen and could not help checking the clout as it dropped to the floor. No blood. Jason’s finger’s made short work of the girdle before it too ended on the floor, then he ran his index finger through her slick folds.

  “Christ, Sophia, you are ready for me without me doing anything to you.”

  “I have been ready for you since you climbed into my bed on the first day of my courses.”

  She realised then that he had swapped his finger for his hard length and she moaned with pleasure.

  “Watch us in the mirror, Sophia.”

  “You are going to do it now? Like this?”

  “Let me try, love. If you dislike it, I will take you to the bed.”

  “This is how Octavius…”

  “I am not Octavius, my darling. You are definitely ready for me. Please trust me?” The question in his voice went quite some distance to reassuring Sophia and she nodded and looked into the large mirror on the dressing table.

  As Jason slid inside her, she knew he was correct. This was very different to when Octavius had penetrated her from behind.

  He moved slowly in and out of her, then he leaned forward and hovered above her so she could see his face in the mirror too. His blue eyes were dark with lust.

  “I love you Jason.” She had to say it. It was a compulsion.

  “How do your breasts feel?”

  “Still a little heavy but not sore.”

  “And your nipples?”

  “Almost like they did before I had Oscar.”

  He cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over the nipples. They peaked instantly, but instead of the stinging pain, pleasure raced to her core. Jason pressed his lips to the side of her neck. “I can tell you like that.” He continued to massage one breast but moved his other hand down around her hip, under her skirts and to the front, where he began to massage her pearl. As the speed of his thrusts increased, Sophia thrust back, clenching her muscles to increase the friction. Jason groaned.

  Sophia dropped her head onto her arms, which were spread on the dressing table.

  “Watch us, Sophia. I need to watch your face as you release. Is this position to your pleasing?”

  “Yes. Don’t stop. Faster, please.”

  A grin spread across his face and he quickened the pace again.

  “Jason!” The orgasm was upon her before she’s had time to prepare.

  “God! Soph! Argh!” Her walls pumped around him as he emptied himself inside her. “Devil take it. That was… damn, it was unexpected.”

  Sophia leaned on her hands a
nd watched the myriad of emotions cross her lover’s face.

  “You do plan to marry me in the next few weeks, do you not?” she asked him

  “Of course I do.”

  “Then if I do end up being with child, it shall be legitimate.”

  He seemed to collapse against her back in relief, still joined with her.

  “Thank you, my darling.”

  “Why are you thanking me, Jason?”

  He slipped out of her body and immediately she felt a little bereft, but he urged her to the bed and took time to help her undress down to her shift.

  “We have half an hour or so until we need to call Maggie to come and dress you. Let us rest or something for a while and we can talk.”

  “That sounds serious.” Her brow furrowed, and she bit her lip. He pulled her close and she revelled in the closeness. She has never had this with Octavius. Companionship, yes. But never a closeness like this.

  He slipped off his own clothes, then held back the bed covers. She climbed into the large bed and moved over. He wrapped her in his arms, immediately after he had moved in beside her.

  She rested her head on his bare chest and his hand moved over her breast and started to massage.

  “Is this painful?”

  “No. It is actually very nice.”

  “What about this?” He flicked his thumb over her nipple. She gasped as a spear of need shot straight to her core.

  “What is that?”

  “Well, when you are not breast feeding, your nipples and breasts are erogenous areas, my love. It pains me that your husband did not give you pleasure like this.”

  “I really think he did not know what he was doing. How… oh never mind.” It was best she did not know the answer to the query that was burning in her mind.

  “No, please ask. I would hate you not to know the answer to something you wanted to know.”

  Well, perhaps she could ask in a more general sense.

  “How do gentlemen learn about sex?”

  “Hmm,” he seemed to be searching his mind to remember how he learned about it. “A mixture of things really. We were all at school together and boys talk. Some of the information was nonsense. Some boys managed to sneak copies of banned books into school. They taught us a few things.”

  “Did you?”

  “Not I. But Whitsnow did.”

  “Whitsnow? But he is so straight-laced.”

  “Not when he was a boy. I think the heavy mantel of responsibility when he was so young changed Whitsnow. Anyway, many of us have those books in our own libraries. My father has them. Probably if you look in the Rutherford library, you will find them. Either in Town or in Cumberland. And then there was trial and error. Many young men end up taking older, more experienced lovers and learning from them.”

  “Did you?” The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it.

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Curiosity, I suppose.”

  “Will you be jealous of any of my former lovers?”

  “Most likely.”

  He laughed. “Well, at least you are honest. But you have no need to be jealous. I never once wanted to spend the rest of my life with them.”

  “You nearly married last season.”

  His mouth twisted. “Yes, but I was slightly infatuated with Lady Caroline. I was not in love with her. Now I see the difference.”

  “What if someone else came along and you saw the difference again?”

  “It would not happen. When Caroline eloped, I was embarrassed more than anything. I had been cuckolded and I had not seen it coming. I hated the stares of pity and sniggers behind the fans as women gossiped. If you did that, I would care not about the gossiping ton or my reputation. I would be devastated. I would feel it in the depths of my soul. I would not be merely embarrassed to have been made to look a fool.”

  “I understand.”

  “I hope you do. And for the record, I love Oscar too. He is part of you and I would fight to the death for that little boy.”

  “Would you mind awfully as he grows up, if he calls you Papa like our children will?”

  “I would be honoured.”

  “Of course, he will have to know about his father, his lineage and the Rutherford viscountcy for when he takes it over.”

  “That is a given and we shall take frequent trips to Cumberland so that he can visit the estate and get to know the staff. I am well aware of his duties, my love.”

  She sighed. “I know you are. I just feel it necessary to look out for my son’s future after everything that has happened.”

  “I understand and I know I can never understand the bond a mother has to her baby, but I care deeply for him. No harm shall come to him in my care.”

  It seemed he was done talking as he moved himself on top of her and licked her nipples gently through her shift, then kissed down her stomach. He moved her shift and pressed kisses to her bare flesh. When he reached the nest of curls at the apex of her thighs, he opened her legs and insinuated his whole body between them.

  “Jason, you can’t. Your seed is dripping out of me.”

  “Yes, it’s rather messy. You need to be cleaned up.” And he used his tongue to clean every inch of that area. And when she cried out in pleasure, releasing another gush of her own essence, Jason, patiently cleaned that too, until he was satisfied and climbed back up her body, his chin glistening, and kissed her hard. “Damn it to hell, you taste delicious.”

  “Shall I use my mouth on you?”

  “No, we do not have time. You have to get ready for dinner.”

  “That hardly seems fair, Jason.”

  “I know. I did get all the pleasure. I apologise.”

  “No, you…”

  “Believe me, my love, tasting you is pleasure enough to see me through dinner with your brother.”

  He climbed out of bed.

  “You have… a…” she swallowed hard… “cockstand.”

  He bent down and kissed her softly again. “I always do when I am near you, or thinking about you, or dreaming about you. In fact, it is almost permanent these days. Worry not, my love. It is not fatal.”

  And with that he scooped up his clothes, tugged on the bell and sauntered into his own room giving her a wicked grin just before he shut the door.

  Chapter 18

  They were travelling through the northern part of town, heading towards Mayfair. The curtains were drawn so that no one would see and recognise Lady Rutherford and Lord Rose-Reid. They were supposed to be dead after all.

  Sophia had initially wanted to go to her own house in town, but it had been decided they would all go to Beattie’s town house. Much better if they were going to spring a surprise on Mr Benson, for him not to realise that Rutherford House was occupied again. Besides, he may have decided to use it himself. That very thought had made Sophia shudder.

  They were alone in the carriage since the baby was with the wet nurse and the other servants in the carriage behind.

  Jason placed his arm around her. It had been two days since they had met up with Gideon. Jason and Gideon were still rather surly towards each other, which was rather stupid considering they both wanted what was best for her.

  “Under any other circumstances, I would have the fall of my breeches undone and have you astride me, riding my cock to give us both pleasure.”

  “I believe we did that yesterday in the carriage.”

  “Yes. I keep having very vivid memories of the event. You looked beautiful.”

  “Until I hit my head off the carriage roof and the driver pulled to a halt.”

  “Ah well that was unfortunate. But I dealt with it quickly and the driver thought you were just standing to get a book out of your valise.”

  “Do you honestly think he is so naïve?”

  “Probably not but he knows better than to say anything. Now, you look nervous, place your head on my chest so I can hold you and comfort you. I hate to think of the distress this whole awful business if caus
ing you.”

  She did as he asked but did feel she had to protest a little. “I am not a wilting flower, Jason. I shall not swoon and require smelling salts.”

  “I am aware of that, my darling. But it still grieves me that you are at all put out by that scoundrel Benson.”

  “I shall be fine. We shall all be fine. When are you going to see the Archbishop of Canterbury?”

  “The day after tomorrow.”

  “Would you allow me to pay for the licence?”

  “Certainly not? Why would you even ask?”

  “It is my fault we need to marry by special licence and not by the reading of the banns.”

  “It is no one’s fault. I wish to marry you as soon as possible. Besides, if I had a bit more self-control and could manage to withdraw from your body instead of just spilling my seed inside you all the time, then there would be less of a rush, but you are just so dashed arousing.”

  “That is what I mean. I am too wanton.”

  He laughed then. A hearty bone-shaking laugh. “My darling, when in the bed chamber, there is no such thing as too wanton. You are perfect. And I wish to hear no more on the subject of you paying for the marriage licence. Indeed. Whoever heard of such a ridiculous idea?”

  “Fine. Do you think we are nearly there?”

  He glanced through the curtains quickly.

  “Aye. We are on Bond Street. Beattie said we would go in through the mews entrance so no one would see us.”

  “That is sensible since we are doing this whole cloak and dagger thing.”

  “It is only for one day.”

  Within minutes their carriage drew up in the mews at the back gate of Gideon and Emily’s house. Of course, this was the townhouse where Sophia had come when she had been young and where she had lived during her first season before she had been married off to Octavius. She had some very fond memories of this house and the things she and Gideon would get up to when he was home from school. Not to mention their older brother Stephen, who had died when he was fifteen.

  Jason handed her down and led her through the gate and up the garden path to the back door. They were about to open it when it flew open and a maid, carrying washing almost barrelled into them. She squeaked and almost tumbled back but Jason shot out a hand to steady her.

  “I apologise. We did not mean to startle you. Lord Beattie asked us to use the back entrance so that we would not be seen. Our presence here is best kept a secret. Can you keep a secret?”