Lawrence knew the pressure was building within him, and wanted her to enjoy the swing before he spread her on the blankets and devoured her own special strawberry with a liberal coating of chocolate sauce.
At his wicked grin, she asked, "What? Have I done ought amiss?"
"Not yet, but I have the feeling you're going to be decidedly naughty later on."
"Not now?" she asked, fluttering her lashes.
"Not yet," he said with a grin. "Now you're going to try your swing. Come, love."
She settled onto the wooden seat and clung to the ropes. He came around behind and began to push.
His warm hands touched her waist, back, buttocks, the sides of her breasts. The thrill was enhanced by the unpredictability of it all, for as she swung, she could never be sure where his hands were going to land next. It was wild and free, but after a time Juliet could discern a pattern, with the contact growing more and more intimate, and increasingly lingering.
His hands began to stroke, not just push, and his fingers crept around to the sides of her bosom. She ceased pumping her legs and the swing slowed, and eventually rocked to a halt as her entire body was caressed from shoulders to hips.
"You must be tired," she said with a breathlessness only partly born of exertion. "Why don't you sit and I can push you."
"Better still, you can sit on my lap." He looked at her so warmly she could feel her cheeks tinge with colour, but she did not hesitate.
He settled on the seat, and she put her slender back to his broad chest, her legs between his. He set the swing in motion once more and clasped her around the waist so she would not slide off. He could feel his arousal pressing into her bottom. In a fit of daring she took his hand, lightly running her fingers over the back of it for a moment until she finally placed it on one curvaceous breast.
Lawrence was thrilled and delighted. For though he was trying to mend fences with her, it was more than he'd hoped for. He took full advantage of her willingness to make love with him outdoors in broad daylight. He alternated hands to massage her legs or breasts as the other prevented her from slipping onto the grass.
Her skirt began to ride up her calves, and she planted her feet on the ground and stopped the swing. She cast a smoldering look at Lawrence over her shoulder. The dark fire in her violet eyes heated him even further, but he simply watched and waited. She had her shoes and stockings off in a trice, and after that it was a simple enough matter to remove her drawers, leaving her in only her simple pale lavender muslin gown.
She then caressed his waist, before lightly fanning her fingers downwards over his thighs to his knees. There was no mistaking his desire, which bulged through his black broadcloth trousers in a most demanding manner. She hoped he wasn't going to try to take control of what was happening between them as he always did in bed. He had said it would be her special day.
She brought her hands slowly back up to the waistband of his trousers. "May I?"
"Yes, most certainly."
She opened the fastenings of his breeches and stroked him delicately with her palm, causing him to shudder with unalloyed delight. Her touch was exquisite, and he reached for her to pull her into his lap.
But she shook her head and knelt for moment. "I don't think he's quite ready yet."
She suckled him all the way into her mouth for a moment, before moving her lips and tongue up to the satiny tip. She soon had him glistening nicely, and her own pleasure had already flooded through her, enough for her to be certain that their joining would be a smooth glide of delight.
"Mmm, it's too good. Please come here," he begged, opening his arms.
But instead of sitting facing him, she put her back to him once more, joining with him with a smooth ripple which brought him deeply inside. Then they set the swing in motion again, both gripping the silk ropes, with her leaning all the way back into his chest as she as nestled against him. "Oh my."
A few more movements back and forth were enough to appreciate the effects of gravity and the compelling rhythm, and she put down her feet to slow and stop them once more. Under his ardent gaze, she threw all caution to the winds and removed her gown and chemise with a couple of naturally seductive movements which left him dry-mouthed with desire.
Now as naked as a wood nymph, Juliet climbed into his lap facing him and they began to swing once more. She savoured his neck and began to tug at his clothes until his shirt was fully parted.
She licked his nipples, beaded with the perspiration which trickled down his neck. She rubbed her breasts against the crisp starched linen of his shirt. He moved his legs in a sultry tempo which caressed her bare bottom as he continued to keep them in motion.
The swing soared skywards, raising her derriere in the air, but the forces gravity were already plunging her down onto his full length. As he swung backwards, they were pulled apart, only to be brought together again cataclysmically as she rose in the air once more. She gasped and groaned as the pressure built within.
Just when he couldn't go any deeper, and she felt sure she was about to be split in two, her whole world exploding into crystalline fragments, the pendulant swing arced the other way, pulling them apart once more with the most delicious gliding motion.
The angle was exquisite, making all of her feel well and truly massaged, from her entrance to paradise right to the tip of the roseate swirl which she could feel springing to attention almost as avidly as Lawrence's own flesh.
"Oh, Juliet, I'm not going to be able to hang on," he gasped.
Even as the words left his lips and puffed into her shell-like ear, they were flying upwards again, literally as well as figuratively. The arc was now even higher, bringing him even deeper. She could feel her inner muscles clenching to try to hold him in that one sweet spot forever, but already he was being drawn away from her.
Desperate with need she released her frantic hold around his neck, clung on to the ropes, and leaned back. The subtle shift in position caused even more friction between them. With a wild cry she threw her head back and gave voice to the complete bliss he filled her with.
Lawrence was thrilled with her unbridled response and stuck his legs straight out, angling himself even more acutely and taking them that much higher on the next upswing.
He nearly dropped Juliet as her climax notched up to a new frenzy, wringing his delight from him. He locked his elbows around the ropes and clung onto his wife like a shipwreck survivor, for truly he felt as if he had been swept up in a maelstrom of pure rapture. Only Juliet anchored him to this world as they kissed deeply, the swing bringing them back down to earth at last.
"That was, well, incredible," she panted feverishly, smothering his face with warm wet kisses.
"It most certainly was. And will be again if you just give me a minute."
She looked up at him with passion-glazed eyes, and moved to leave him.
His heart hammering in his chest, he exclaimed, "Where are you--"
He hung onto her possessively, one hand on her hip, the other on her breast as he stayed her. "Where are you going? Unless you really hated it?" he asked, feeling a cold finger of dread ice his spine.
"No, it's not that, it's just-"
"Tell me! Are you hurt? Was it too much?"
"No it's not that, it's just, well--" She sighed.
"What is it, Juliet? If it's a matter of your safety and well-being, then you must tell me."
She had wondered about the activity harming the baby, but in truth she was more concerned with--
"I suppose I just wanted to know who else you'd built a swing for," she said tonelessly.
His face fell.
She said hastily, "Never mind! I have no right to ask."
Juliet was already attempting to stand. He grasped her waist and held her on top of him, his flesh tumescing within her once more. "No one! Ever! Please, Juliet, don't do this to yourself or us. It wasn't--"
She tried to will away the tears which beaded her long jet lashes. There was no need to cry. It had been so
wonderful. But her joy was short-lived in the face of her jealousy. She knew she sounded like the shrew she swore she would never turn into.
But her body was raging with fierce need, and with the change within her, new life, new emotions. Everything seemed to bubble and fizz on the surface like the vintage champagne they'd drunk. It stirred her deeply, peaked her breasts, set her hips surging against his, her legs spreading even wider of their own accord.
He sensed the need vibrating through her, and was both awed and humbled. "I swear. The swing was just supposed to be fun. I never even thought-- I never built anyone a swing before! I overheard you talking to the children about how much you enjoyed having one when you were their age, and I wanted to surprise you. It's the last place I ever imagined making love to anyone.
"Except that the first time was so wonderful, now you've got me thinking about it all over again. Well, doing more than thinking," he admitted, for the fierce pulsing within her and drag of her hips was enough to set him moving with Juliet all over again.
His feet left the ground, and with her legs spread so wide, his penetration on her upswings became even deeper. Four more movements back and forth had her whole body primed for release, tautened with rampant need like a bowstring.
He twanged her tension ever higher as he rubbed her rosy nipples and delicate bud on the down swing, so that by the time they began the upward motion she was already half-mindless with need.
"Lawrence!" she gasped. She could feel herself tumbling into eternity.
His own climb was only one breathy sigh away, but he waited a moment until he was sure she was coherent enough to hang onto him. Then he put his feet down for the briefest moment, pushing off hard, the better to set the swing rocking even higher.
"Hold onto me, love. Don't let me fall."
She was moved by his request, for it showed a deeper level of trust than she ever could have hoped for.
"I've got us both, Lawrence. We'll be fine. Take what you need, all of me."
She pumped once with her legs to keep the swing soaring, and a raw moan of passion echoed in her mouth as he kissed her like a demon. He shuddered so hard that for a moment she was sure he was going to thrust them right off the seat.
The swing rocked back down to earth, and at last he stumbled off of it and onto the blankets with his tiny burden. His hands still cupped around her buttocks, he lay hard and heavy on top of her, but she relaxed into him and waited for his breathing to calm.
"That was easily the most superlative experience of my life. But I'm willing to do anything to try to top it."
"What could possibly top that?" she said breathily.
He withdrew himself carefully from her body and tossed his clothes in every direction as he stripped naked.
Then with a sultry grin he reached for the bowl of chocolate. "You tell me, love. If anything you like here tops it, you can have it for the rest of your life."
She reached for the bowl, dabbled her fingers in it, and smeared it over his satiny head. "Let's just see if we can find something special for you too. And I do so adore chocolate."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The next month passed by in a whirl of happiness, as Lawrence and Juliet made time for each other during the day, and their lovemaking took on a whole new intensity and intimacy at night. His tenderness grew as his anger and suspicion diminished. If neither of them could quite believe their luck, nor could they bring themselves to spoil it with doubts, pushing them firmly to one side.
That was until Ash and his wife Ellen came by and he commented on how well her pregnancy suited her, and that she looked blooming.
Lawrence overheard the remark as he entered the drawing room, and froze. He said nothing while the Paigntons were there, but as soon as they had gone he demanded, "When were you going to tell me?"
Juliet didn't even try to pretend she didn't know what her husband was talking about. "When I was sure that everything was all right. Plus you're always so domineering, I was going to tell you when I was sure that things weren't going to change between us yet again. This past month has been so wonderful and--"
"When?"
"When what?"
"When did it happen?"
"My guess is just about the very first time."
"Unless of course you already were! I only ever saw you bleed the once!"
Juliet said patiently, "Are you angry with me because I didn't tell you, or because you're so obtuse you didn't guess?"
"Or because you've fobbed me off with someone else's bastard!" he carped.
She sat hastily on the sofa again before she fell down, gripping the armrest with white-knuckled fingers. "Please, don't shout. The boys--"
"I want to know. Whose is it? Who was it?"
"There's been no one but you! Never anyone but you, I swear."
"Then how did that young buck know you were pregnant before I did!" he demanded.
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Because he's a doctor and his mother examines me! She's known for months. They all have."
"Surely. First-hand experience of what a--"
"Stop it!" she shouted tearfully. "You're finally going to say or do something so unforgivable that I really never will be able to trust you again."
"What about you? Going around with that--"
She shook her head. "He's a nice young man, decent, who loves his wife. He was chaste before he married, and is faithful now!"
Lawrence's eyes bulged. "And just how would you know that? You tried him on?"
Juliet shook her head, the tears beginning to fall in earnest. "No, no! We were talking about what you had said to me the other day. When you told me you would probably be unfaithful at some point. I saw you with Georgina and Matilda, Lawrence. They were all over you and you were doing nothing to dissuade them."
"I didn't want to cause a scene—"
"You did anyway when you got all testy about me speaking to Thomas."
"That was different?"
"How? I was upset, I admit it. Jealous. You'd certainly given me enough cause, with your attitude toward your former fiancee and your callous remarks about your intended lack of fidelity one day.
"Ash didn't agree with your sentiments at all, however. He said it the case of adultery, it was clearly wrong for all parties concerned, and therefore not even to be contemplated. That it was a case of mind over body. That a man could stay pure if he worked at it hard enough."
"And was in command of Indian philosophy. But I'm weak, and I've never lied to you. Can you say the same?" he challenged.
"Yes! I am weak. But only where you're concerned. I love you, Lawrence, though God help me, sometimes I wish I didn't! I've never lied. I'm not lying now. The baby is yours and will be born some time in November. I'm well enough, though I've not gained much weight. I'll begin to show even more soon, so we may have to be careful--"
"I can't believe this," he said, scowling.
"With all we shared when we were first married, and you not taking any precautions, why would you doubt it?"
"All the weeks I was away--"
"I was alone. Ask Sam and the gardener! Or are you saying that Eswara runs a brothel now?"
"I've heard the rumours about Ash and Ellen being sexually immoderate. Everyone in the district has--"
"I don't know about Ellen, but the rumour about Ash was a mistake. Thomas thought--"
"I can't believe you would have such inappropriate conversations with a virtual stranger!" he gasped, pacing up and down on the hearth rug.
"He asked for my help."
"I'll bet! Which you generously gave," he sneered.
"No, no, it's not like that!" She began to weep hopelessly, sobbing as if her heart would break.
He relented long enough to give her a handkerchief.
"Please, can you take me upstairs?" she gasped. "I don't think I can manage--" She clutched her belly, and all the colour had drained from her face.
Lawrence immediately lifted her and shouted for the servan
ts to run for Eswara and Dr. Sanderson.
Juliet was able to catch her breath once he got her to her bed, but her head was swimming, and she couldn't stop crying.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"
"This should have been the happiest time of our life, and you've destroyed it." Her eyes closed and she turned her head away on the pillow, and let the tears fall unheeded.
Lawrence was sure then that he had lost her. He felt as grief-stricken as if she had died in his arms, as if he had killed her...
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