Lord Whitsnow and the Seven Orphans

by Em Taylor

  “Taking you to bed.”

  “No. You go to your bed.”

  “Hmm, I like yours better.” He stumbled over to the bed and landed on it just as he slid his breeches over his backside He kicked off his shoes and lifted his legs onto the bed. He pushed himself onto the bed and lay with his head on the pillow. “Damn, my cravat will choke me to death.”

  Lucy looked at the drunk lord, half naked on her bed and sighed. It looked as if she was sharing her bed tonight whether she liked it or not. She leaned over and unknotted his cravat.

  “Darling, no need to undress me fully, just ride my prick as though you were riding a stallion,” he murmured. She looked at the rather limp looking appendage and smiled. He really was in his cups.

  “Lift your head so I can unwind this cravat, Robert, else I may accidentally throttle you in the night.” His eyes popped open.

  “You would not.”

  She chuckled. “Perhaps not. As long as you behave yourself.”

  “I think I may be a little drunk. I think Em told me to go to bed. Am I in bed?”

  “You appear to be in my bed.”

  “I am? You should join me.” Lucy rolled her eyes. He had not seemed so drunk when he first came into her room. She glanced at the carafe of wine he had brought in. Oh! It appeared he had drunk all but the glass she had just sipped. She was not going to be able to convince him to go to his own bed. He was far too drunk. “I have something to do before I join you.”

  Lucy grabbed a candlestick and hurried into Lord Whitsnow’s bedchamber. She quickly drew the curtains around the bed and banked the fire. When she arrived back in her own bedchamber it was to the sound of light snoring. She laughed to herself and grabbed a blanket from the chair. After leaving the candle on the bedside table, she draped the blanket over Robert’s half-naked form. She then blew out the candles around her own room, except for the one at her side of the bed, drew the curtains around her bed and banked the fire. As she climbed into bed, Robert rolled on to his side, murmuring something incoherent. Lucy blew out the candle, assured herself the curtains were properly in place and slipped under the covers.

  “Lucy!” Robert’s hand slipped around her waist as he pulled her against him.

  “Robert, you must sleep.”

  “I just wanted to check it was you. It smelled like you. You smell lovely.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I think you’re giving me an erection.”

  “Robbie, you are drunk.”

  “I know but I just wanted you to know you are beautiful and I find you terribly arousing even when I am in my cups.”

  “That is nice. Now go to sleep.”

  “I can protect you both if you marry me you know.”

  Lucy froze. “Truly?” It was the only thing she could think to say that did not repeat what Robert had said.

  “Shh! Sleep.” Something wet grazed the back of her neck. His lips presumably. What did he mean?

  “Robert?”

  A snore was her answer.

  Lucy lay awake for a long time wondering what the devil he meant. Both! Did he know? Was it just the ramblings of a drunken man? What was going on? Should she confront him or leave well alone?

  It was the early hours when she heard Robert stumble out of bed, cursing and muttering about what an ass he was. She pretended to be asleep when he leaned over her and pressed a sweet kiss to her neck.

  “I am sorry, my love. Whatever I said or did, I apologise for. God, you deserve better and you shall receive it. Just… I just wish you would tell me the truth. Please don’t wait until I am asleep to confess.” He chuckled without mirth. “Look at me. I have no right to judge. I get drunk to pluck up the courage to ask you the truth then… what? I have no idea. Please forgive me if I crossed a line last night. I shall speak to you when you wake. We shall get this out in the open. Of that you can be assured.”

  She could feel the pressure of him on the bed ease and then he spoke again. “Devil take it. I am pathetic. Speaking to a sleeping woman because I lack the courage to confront you when you are awake. Sleep well my love. We shall speak later.”

  Chapter 22

  “My Lord, the maid found a note on the floor of your study. It had Miss Butterworth’s name on it, but Miss Butterworth is not awake yet. We were not sure if she had given it to you or…”

  Robert looked at the little note in Lang’s hand.

  “I shall take it, thank you, Lang.” He took the piece of paper from the butler. He knew that reading the note was an invasion of Lucy’s privacy. He knew it was wrong. But he did not care. His head was splitting, his mouth felt as though it was full of cotton and frankly he could have done with the morning in bed. “Bring some coffee to my study.”

  As he sat in his chair behind the large oak desk, once the place from where his father had ruled with a rod of iron, he turned the paper over in his fingers. Should he read it? Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Tommy in the parterre gardens with one of the gardeners. The gardener had the boy hard at work, but Tommy seemed to be in his element. The gardener patted him on the head and pointed to something which Tommy pulled at and showed to the servant. The man nodded, and Tommy’s chest puffed out in pride.

  Robert sighed. Perhaps Lucy was right. Corporal punishment was not always the best option. And she would be annoyed at him for reading her correspondence.

  When the coffee arrived, he sat for a long time drinking it and contemplating the note on the desk. He should work but the note was all he could think about.

  Eventually he made his decision He was going to get the truth out of her somehow. He walked out into the large foyer. The tinkling of piano music drifted down the stairs. Lucy was playing music to Eleanor.

  “I hear Miss Butterworth is awake, Lang. Can someone fetch the nursemaid and bring her to the music room?”

  “Aye, My Lord, of course.”

  The wait at the top of the stairs for the nursemaid seemed interminable but eventually the woman appeared with a maid. They both curtseyed, and Robert was as polite as he could be under the circumstances.

  “Come with me please.”

  They walked into the music room to find Eleanor, hands on the piano, in her bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of the music that Lucy was banging out rather loudly. Robert coughed, and Lucy looked up and pulled her fingers off the keys immediately. Eleanor turned to see why her entertainment had been so abruptly halted. Robert schooled his features.

  “Miss Butterworth, we need to talk. The nurse has come to take Eleanor back to the nursery.” He knelt beside the child and smiled. He pointed to the nurse and made a walking motion. Eleanor pointed at him, but he shook his head. Then he held out his arms and the little girl walked into them for a cuddle. When he let go of her, he looked into her eyes. The child held his gaze and smiled.

  Eyes so like her mother’s.

  “I will let you ride the pony later if you go now.” he said slowly to her. She read his lips and grinned.

  Then she launched herself into his embrace again.

  “She will be spoiled if you offer her treats like that,” said Lucy tartly.

  “She deserves to be spoiled. She has been unwell.”

  “So, have some of the boys.”

  “And they get to ride too.”

  “But you favour Eleanor.”

  Robert gritted his teeth and turned to the nursemaid.

  “Take her please.”

  Once the nurse and Eleanor left he closed and locked the door.

  “Why did you lock the door.”

  “Because, my love, I want to make love to you and I love this room. It is so bright and airy and frankly I want to see you without the artifice of clothing in this room.

  He was already undoing his cravat, then his waistcoat. Before long he was standing naked before her and Lucy had not moved a muscle.

  “Lucy, please. I am sorry about last night. I wanted to speak to you. I wanted to discuss things and I may have had a litt
le too much Dutch courage.”

  “A little? You were drunk as a lord.”

  He gave her a wry smile. “I am a lord.”

  She waved a dismissive hand. “You know what I mean, Robert.”

  “Yes, I do. And I apologise profusely. It was not well done of me. Please tell me I did not force my attentions on you.”

  She shook her head. “You only forced your presence in my bed. Which is fine. You do not make the worst bed companion. Believe me. Eleanor leaves bruises when she is ill and shares my bed.”

  He closed the gap and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Then please will you make love to me?”

  She pursed her lips. “How can I say no to a naked man?”

  “You can say no if you do not wish to. I just… would very much prefer if you would oblige me.”

  When she placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled his face down into a desperate kiss, he knew he had won the first round of this battle. It was not going to be an easy won victory and he may be bloodied and bruised by the end of it, but he would have his answers.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Lucy supposed she had known his intentions as soon as he had walked into the music room with the nurse in tow. She had known when he had spoken to her thinking she was asleep that morning. But she could keep her secrets. She would reveal nothing to him.

  Now he lay atop a chaise—longue and she writhed atop him. His hands seemed to be all over every part of her back and bottom as he urged her to kiss him and rub herself against first his thigh, then his hard length. She was getting quite close to her release, then he would change the position and she would lose it.

  Now Robbie was tugging on her hair to extend her neck, so he could kiss down the column of it.

  “Lucy, I need to be inside you. Slide onto me.”

  “How?”

  “You can do it, love. Just take me in hand then ease yourself onto me. Sit up slightly.”

  She did, watching him as she did. His breathing was heavy and his eyes dark with lust. He reached out and toyed with her nipple.

  “Like this?” She raised up and Robert moved his hand to help her.

  “Yes, just like that. Ease down. Oh God, you’re so wet. So ready. So perfect. Now move up and down a few times.”

  He was correct. It did feel good and it was nice to feel in control of what was happening.

  “So, my love, tell me something…”

  “Yes. Anything?”

  He reached beneath the chaise-longue and produced a small piece of paper. “What does the note say?”

  Her eyes widened. That was one of the blackmail notes. What was Robert doing with it?

  “Have you read it?”

  “No. Has it got something to do with the six hundred pounds?”

  “That is none of your business?”

  “It is my business if my money is being used for nefarious purposes. What would you be doing with that kind of money? Are you being blackmailed?”

  “You have read it.”

  He shook his head and she knew he spoke the truth. Robert had such an air of entitlement. If he had read the note he would have said so. That was the way of aristocrats.

  “Lucky guess. So, what would a nice young lady like you be blackmailed about?”

  He bent his knees and urged her back.

  “Robert. This is none of your business.”

  He smirked. “You can climb off me anytime you want. But we both know that you are as intrigued as I am to find out where this conversation will lead and how many of your secrets I have guessed and how much I know.” He rubbed a thumb over the lines on one side of her belly. “I do not recall you ever needing to lose weight, but I have seen marks like these before. Usually on widows. Intriguing little lines, Lucy, are they not? How did you get them?”

  “Please Robert.”

  He lifted his hands away from her.

  “You carried one of those orphans, did you not, Lucy?”

  “I hate you.”

  “Eleanor is your daughter. Eddie Dick left you with child when he went away to war. Tell me I have the right of it.”

  She gave him a mutinous scowl. “Yes, My Lord. You are correct. Now that you know, you can use me and cast me aside like the contents of a chamber pot and leave me to my ruin.”

  Robert sighed and tugged at her shoulders. She resisted, but as her eyes filled with tears he felt her resistance crumble.

  “Oh, my love, I could never cast you aside. Does the fact I stripped you naked, so you could not run out of the room while we had this conversation not tell you anything? I want you. I need you to stay. You have been so badly treated. It is time for someone to look after you, and Eleanor, and, devil take it, but we’ll look after your orphans too.”

  “But Eleanor is a bastard.”

  “Eleanor will be the step-daughter of an earl. She can get a good match with a gentleman when she is older. We can make sure of it.”

  “But I am ruined.”

  “You shall be a countess. Very few people will say anything to your face and you shall be the gossip of the ton for half a season before some other unfortunate debutante is convinced that a gentleman will die if his cock is not buried in her sweet virginal cunny. Unfortunately, my love you are not the first and I doubt you shall be the last to fall for the charms of a rake who tells sweet lies about the frailties of the male of the species. We’re hardier than some of us would have you believe and can manage without sex for quite some time.”

  “I feel like such a fool.”

  “Never a fool. Young and not given the proper information you needed. Do you mind if I explain to Beattie the general points of the story and seek his counsel on the next steps with regard to Eleanor? He has been in town more recently and visits London more frequently.”

  “I should like to be honest with Lord and Lady Beattie.”

  “Good. Now can you please move before my poor prick thinks it has been entirely forgotten. I think I should like to make love properly to my wife-to-be.”

  “You have not asked me to marry you.”

  “Oh! Miss Lucy Butterworth, will you marry me?”

  “Oh, right there. Oh, that is nice Robbie. Yes, that is good. Oh umm, yes, yes, I will, I shall marry you. Oh!”

  Chapter 23

  Lucy sat in silence throughout the first course of the meal, stealing glances at Robbie every so often. He seemed relaxed. When she caught his gaze, he gave her an encouraging smile. They had talked for a while after making love, with Robbie reassuring her that he had no compunctions about her having a child out of wedlock and Lucy tearfully apologising for keeping the information from him.

  He had moved her under him and kissed every single part of her, using his mouth to give her another release, before crawling up her body and taking her again.

  Once the main course had been served Robert dismissed the staff and looked at his sister and brother-in-law.

  “We, umm, we have some news, Miss Butterworth and I.”

  Emily laid down her cutlery and wiped her mouth with her napkin.

  “Well, this should be interesting.”

  Lord Beattie gave her a look. Emily shook her head.

  “Miss Butterworth, I mean, well, I suppose we can call her Lucy now. There is something you need to know about her.”

  “Well, get on with it, Robbie, darling. I am eating for two here and I am starving,” said Emily, Picking up her cutlery again. This was no good. Lucy felt like casting up her accounts.

  “One of the orphans - Eleanor. The little deaf girl. Well, the thing is…”

  Emily put down her fork.

  “Oh, good God, Robert, please tell me that you have not just worked it out.”

  “Worked what out?”

  “That Eleanor is Lucy’s child. The whole village knows.”

  “Emily!” It was Lord Beattie. Lucy felt light-headed as she watched Lord Beattie’s mouth move but did not hear his words. He was obviously having words with his wife.

  “How was I to
know my brother is a dolt,” Emily was saying, as the spinning continued.

  “My love, you need to learn not to say exactly what is in your head.”

  “What else am I to say. It is obvious.”

  “Mayhap.”

  “The child is her spitting image.”

  “Lucy, are you well?” It was Robbie. His hand was on her shoulder and he was crouched at her chair. “Please Lucy, tell me you are well.”

  “Everyone knows, Robbie.”

  “I know. Except me, it seems.”

  “Lucy, I am sorry. I did not mean to blurt it out like that.”

  Lucy looked at her sister-in-law-to-be and gave her a wan smile.

  “It is fine. At least I know now.”

  “She is very sweet. Do you mind me asking who the fa…?”

  “Emily!” Robert and Lord Beattie seemed to growl the name at the same time and Emily put her hand over her lips as tears sprung to her eyes.

  “Oh! I am sorry.”

  Lucy heaved in a deep breath.

  “No please do not apologise. The question is fair, given the circumstances. Lieutenant Edward Dick is Eleanor’s father.”

  Emily seemed to pale visibly.

  “Oh, the poor soldier who was shot in the head and is now in an asylum?”

  “Yes. The very one.”

  “Does he know he is a father?”

  “I do not think he knows anything.”

  “And his family?”

  “Our courtship was a secret. His mother wanted him to marry an earl’s sister. Apparently, the sister of a baron was beneath her son.”

  “Oh, but he did not have any aristocratic blood. Why would she think an earl’s sister would be interested? Unless he has money.”

  “He was not particularly wealthy. Wealthy enough to buy a good commission.”

  “Where would he find an earl’s sister or daughter to marry?” Lucy wanted to laugh. Considering Emily had been so quick to work out Eleanor’s origins, she was quite slow to work out the machinations of Mrs Dick. Lucy waited and watched as Emily’s brow furrowed. “He wanted to marry me?”

  “His mother certainly wanted him to marry you. What Eddie wanted is anyone’s guess. At the time he just wanted to…” She could not think of a way to end that sentence in polite company. He had just wanted a warm body in which to put his hard cock. And for the first time since Eddie Dick had taken her in that cowshed, Lucy felt truly ruined and spoiled. Instead Lucy stood and excused herself. She needed to leave. She needed to be alone.