by Golden Angel
Eleanor gaped. "Waiting for me?"
Beside her, she could feel Edwin stiffen. She didn't dare look at his face.
"The two of you were inseparable as children. It was obvious to all of us that knew both of you that it was only a matter of time," Lady Montgomery said, smiling benignly.
That was a new viewpoint, one that Eleanor had never considered before. She rather liked the idea of Edwin waiting for her. The only question was, was Lady Montgomery correct? Eleanor finally snuck a look at Edwin's face, but his expression was blandly impassive.
Maybe she could ask him about it later. She'd found it easier to coax tender words and memories from him while they were in bed. It was all part of her latest plan to get him to confess his feelings for her. Because she wanted a marriage based on love, and when she'd first wed Edwin she didn't know if he had those feelings for her. Indeed, she'd thought that it was clear that he didn't, although she had fallen in love with him far too quickly for comfort.
While he hadn't yet said the words, many of his actions seemed to indicate something deeper than the affection of a childhood friend. But she wanted the words, the acknowledgment... the security. And she was determined to get them. In fact, the more days that passed without that declaration, the less certain she was of her perceptions.
******
Waving off his valet, Edwin finished shucking off the rest of his clothes by himself and strode into the bedroom. Eleanor had gone to bed about an hour before him, as he'd had a few matters to attend to when they'd returned home from the Montgomery's dinner. Hopefully she was still awake, not that waking her up for his amorous desires was a chore, but he always did feel a little guilty about disrupting her slumber. Even if he did enjoy it when she was all soft and languid, an entirely different Eleanor than the rest of the world ever got to see.
Fortunately, she was still awake, sitting up in bed reading a book and wearing a gossamer thin nightgown that clung to her curves. The faintest blush of her nipples was visible through the material in the flickering candlelight. Edwin grinned and strode forward, his erection hard and ready against his belly. It had been that way since he'd begun undressing, anticipating joining his wife in their bed.
Eleanor sat up, setting her book to the side as her lips curved in a small, welcoming smile. There was something to be said about a passionately inclined Eleanor, although he had to admit, he did also enjoy the chase and seduction when she was being reluctant as well. He adored Eleanor in all her moods, even the bad ones.
"Aren't you a pretty picture, waiting for me in the candlelight," he murmured, stalking closer. He could feel his blood rising as she waited patiently for him, excitement kindling on her face and in those sparkling blue eyes. Beneath the folds of her night rail, her nipples were hardening into little buds that poked out at him, begging for attention.
"Who says I was waiting for you?" she responded tartly. "Perhaps my book took my attention."
"Perhaps," he said, grinning wickedly as he reached her, knowing how she enjoyed it when he played the rake for her. "But I doubt it."
Grasping the covers, he yanked them from her body, chuckling at her outraged gasp. But she didn't fight him as he replaced the covers with himself, inserting his knee between her thighs and hovering over her with his body, his lips descending to hers and taking them with a conqueror's kiss. Her hands came up to press against his chest, fingers sliding across his skin and hair.
Then, without warning, she pushed him off to the side, taking him utterly by surprise so that he landed on his back.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, bemused, as she immediately followed her advantage by straddling his thighs, the soft fabric of her night rail teasing his legs and groin.
"You always take the lead," she said, looking down at him in a challenging manner, her stubborn chin thrust outward. "I want to take the lead tonight."
Keen arousal, hot and needy, shot through him and he only barely resisted the urge to turn her on her back and take her immediately. It was the instinct of a man who was always in control, who had never considered relinquishing it. During his time as a rakehell, he'd occasionally come across a woman who desired to take the lead; he'd never allowed them.
But this was Eleanor. His wife.
And she wanted to take the lead.
With a supreme effort of willpower, Edwin forced himself to lay back against the pillows, dropping his hands to his side. Achingly aware of Eleanor's scrutiny as he battled with himself.
"Very well," he said shortly, uncomfortable with the idea but wanting to indulge her now that she'd made a request.
His reward was a brilliant smile that made every bit of discomfort worth it.
Leaning over him, her night rail brushing fleetingly against his body and making him ache, Eleanor pressed a kiss to his lips. Her kiss was much gentler than his, and he opened his mouth, allowing her to take the lead in this as well. The movement of her tongue was inquisitive, almost tentative, before growing in confidence and eagerness.
When she pressed her soft curves down on top of him, Edwin immediately lifted his hands to cup the ample mounds of her bottom. Immediately Eleanor pulled away.
"No... no trying to tempt me to go faster," she said fiercely, pushing his hands back down to his sides.
Edwin groaned. "I can't touch you at all?" He sounded depressingly whiny.
The teasing little smile that flashed across Nell's lips wasn't the least bit reassuring. She was enjoying her newfound power over him. He hoped that she got the most out of it, because this wasn't going to be on the menu on a regular basis.
"Not until I tell you that you can. I want to explore."
True to her word, she began her 'explorations.' Fingers dragged across his skin, followed by her lips, lightly at first and then harder. She constantly looked back up to his face, looking for clues about what he enjoyed and what he didn't. That was easy: he loved and hated all of it.
The light caress of her fingers, the moist kiss of her lips. When her breasts pressed against his chest and she sucked his earlobe into her mouth, dragging her teeth across the sensitive lobe, he nearly lost his control. His hips thrust upwards, his hands moving, before she pulled away, obviously delighted as his response but irritated that he'd moved again.
Taking his hands, Nell shoved them up towards the rails on the headboard. "Hold onto that and don't let go," she admonished, her blue eyes narrowing at him.
Inwardly gritting his teeth, outwardly being as stoic as possible, Edwin obeyed. It was not in his nature to acquiese easily to something like this. Eleanor sat back, studying him, and a little smile went across her face.
"I have an idea," she said. Her weight left him and Edwin let out a long breath, taking the opportunity to marshal his willpower back underneath his control. Eleanor seemed bent on testing it, and while part of him enjoyed her brazenness, he was also not entirely comfortable with it. But she was pleased, and that counted for something.
When she came back, one of his cravats hanging from her hand, Edwin scowled darkly at her. "Absolutely not. You are not tying my hands."
The look that Nell gave him was reminiscent of when they were younger and he'd said something she considered stupid.
"No, I didn't think you'd let me do that." It was reassuring to know that she had some measure of what kind of man he was, at least. He was allowing her to be in control, and he could take back that lead anytime it pleased him. Even restraining his wrists wouldn't help her. Truthfully, it would probably only make him more likely to take it back sooner rather than later.
What Eleanor wanted quickly became evident as she placed the cravat over his eyes. Edwin groaned. He'd liked watching her even if he couldn't touch her, and he knew that her touch was going to become much more intense now. Although he'd never let another woman blindfold him, since their marriage he and Eleanor had made love in complete darkness several times. He'd found the experience achingly erotic, being able to feel but not see her.
But h
e allowed her to tie the cravat around his head, before dropping his head back to the pillow beneath it. His fingers gripped the rail he was holding so hard that the bed creaked.
******
Utterly delicious.
If Eleanor was asked to describe how her husband looked at this moment, those were the words that came to mind. His hard body was tense, stretched out before, a veritable banquet for her eyes. In fact, that was part of why she'd wanted to blindfold him, so that she could look her fill without feeling awkward, as he could no longer watch her look at him.
Trailing a finger down the center of his chest, all the way to his belly button, she watched in fascination as his muscles tensed and quivered. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his fingers re-wrap around the rail of the headboard, as if he was reminding himself not to let go. Licking her lips, she lowered her mouth to his chest, kissing one brown flat nipple.
His cock jerked and he sucked in air in response. From the way his jaw tightened, he liked that nearly as much as she enjoyed having him play with her nipples. When her teeth nipped at the tiny bud, he growled under his breath and Eleanor giggled.
"You'd better not be laughing at me," he said darkly, his head swinging towards her. She could just imagine the glare that she was receiving beneath his cravat.
Instead of answering, she just lowered her mouth to his other nipple, her hand on his stomach tracing lower to brush against the silken shaft of his cock. Edwin moaned. A rush of heady power went through her. Was this what he felt like when he had her tied down and at his mercy?
No, of course not. He'd inevitably feel more. Because when she was tied down, she was truly at his mercy, whereas she was all too aware that at any moment he could decide he was tired of indulging her and she'd find herself on her back with him between her thighs in a heartbeat. The thought of him turning the tables on her made her heart beat faster, but that wasn't the point of tonight.
She wanted to explore. To see if she could pleasure him the way that he pleasured her. To know more about his body.
Lifting her head from his nipples, she brushed her fingers over his cock, watching as it strained and jerked at her touch. It was an angry, reddish looking color, and the tip was weeping a whitish creamy substance - his seed. Fascinated, Eleanor rubbed her finger through it and Edwin groaned again, his big body shifting towards her.
"You like that?" she asked, rubbing her finger over the tip of his cock again, collecting the wetness and spreading it over the bulbous head of his shaft.
"Yes, I like it," he replied through gritted teeth.
It was all Eleanor could do not to giggle again. Shifting herself down the bed, she pressed her lips against his hip, her face very close to his straining cock as she worked up the courage to actually put the turgid organ in her mouth. How would Edwin react?
He seemed to like her lips against his hip, especially when she nibbled gently on the jutting bone. Letting her fingers play over the length of his cock, she worked her way down to the heavy sack beneath. It was wrinkled, soft, and Edwin's grunt of surprise followed by his low moan when her fingers gently rolled the swellings within it told her that it was also very sensitive.
"You like this too."
"Yes." His voice was short, almost angry. The bed creaked again.
Eleanor realized she had better get to the main event soon or she might not get her chance. Gathering her nerve, she gripped his cock at its base. It was hot and hard in her hand, and Edwin's breathing began to quicken as her fingers wrapped around the shaft.
For a moment she hesitated, and then she leaned forward, taking the entire head into her mouth. It was soft against her tongue, textured, and his seed tasted slightly bitter and slightly sweet at the same time. She wasn't sure if she liked it. But she did like the taste underneath, a kind of musky, hot male flavor that made her want more.
Edwin gasped, his hips rising, trying to push more of himself between her lips, and she was so surprised that she let him. Yes, he liked this very much. As some of her saliva began to gather at her mouth, she sucked to keep from actually drooling down his cock, eliciting another moan and jerk of the hips from her husband. Oh... he liked that too. Experimentally she sucked again, moving her head up and down a little bit, the way he thrust into her body when they were making love.
Quite suddenly her mouth was empty again, the flavor lingering on her tongue, and her head was pulled back so that she faced the furious, glittering dark eyes of her husband.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
Chapter 5
Possessive fury had a hold of Edwin like nothing ever before. At first he'd been enjoying Eleanor's tentative explorations, frustrating though they were. He'd been able to feel her hesitations, her delight, and so he'd persevered and relaxed enough to lose himself in the sensation. After all, the whole point of removing them from London had been to take the time to reconnect and woo his wife, prove that he wasn't taking her for granted. Allowing her to take the lead, to blindfold him no less, was part of that.
He'd been enjoying her ministrations so much that when her hot mouth first clamped around the head of his cock, all rational thought had flown from his brain. Only the slightest vestiges of good intentions had kept his fingers wrapped around the rail of the headboard, rather than flying down to press her mouth more firmly on him. Then she'd sucked, her tongue flicking against him, her mouth sliding further down his cock and back up, and he'd had the sudden, horrifying realization that Eleanor had quite a bit of knowledge that she shouldn't.
Throughout their marriage so far, she'd experienced quite a few things that he was sure most wives in their social set hadn't. In part thanks to the wedding present Wesley had given him, as well as his own particular tastes, but not this. It just hadn't been on the top of his list, not the least because it meant trusting Eleanor to be on her very best behavior as he would be putting his most tender parts in her care.
And while she was no longer the unmanageable brat he'd married - indeed, she'd become quite the proper lady in public, for the most part - he hadn't been sure whether or not to introduce this particular act into their lovemaking yet.
While he could see that Eleanor might think of kissing his cock, even licking it - after all, that was what he did to her pussy on a regular basis as he loved the sweet taste of her honey and watching her writhe as he pleasured her - he couldn't quite countenance that she would think to take him within her mouth and suck. Ergo, someone else had introduced the idea into her head.
Which was when he'd ripped the cravat from his eyes and grabbed her by the base of her hair, pulling her off of his cock, unable to even enjoy the sight of her kneeling over him in that gauzy night rail, her lips wrapped around his shaft.
Sitting up as he was, he was big enough that he still had to tilt her head back to see her eyes, gleaming sapphires of shock as she stared up at him. Edwin's hand tightened on her hair when she didn’t answer him.
"Nell," he growled. "Where the bloody hell did you learn to do that?"
Perhaps it could be considered his just desserts if some other man had coaxed his wife into some kind of intimacies, considering what a rakehell Edwin had been before he married. But the pain that lanced through his chest said that his heart didn't care for such equality, and the utter rage that engulfed him indicated that his temper didn't either. He'd thrash whatever man had dared touch Eleanor in such a way. And once he got himself under control, he would blister her bottom like never before for allowing it.
"Cyn- Cynthia," Eleanor whispered, looking almost frightened. "Did I... Did I do it wrong?"
The answer was so unexpected that Edwin literally felt dizzy, as if his world had just shifted on its axis. Relief, so sweet it was almost painful, swamped him. Every muscle in his body relaxed and he loosened his hold on her hair. She wasn't lying, she was too surprised, too shocked by his reaction to think of a lie like that. Besides, her answer was so ridiculous that it had to be the truth.
"Cynthia? How did she k
now?" he asked. Not particularly because he wanted to know the answer, but because he couldn't think of anything else to say. Of course he knew the Countess had told Wesley that Cynthia had been throwing herself at various gentlemen, and Wesley himself had said the chit was brazen, but Edwin certainly hadn't expected this.
"She said that gentlemen had asked her to do it..." Eleanor said hesitantly, reaching up to rub the back of her head. Immediately Edwin let go of her hair completely, smoothing the hair with his fingers, a look of contriteness on his face.
"I'm sorry, sweet, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. "I was just so surprised... I..." He hesitated, scrambling for words as he reached out for her.
And Eleanor realized exactly what had happened. Whereas Edwin's fury had obviously abated, hers now sprung up to take its place. She glared at him.
"You thought another man had…! You thought I did... that I did that with another man!" She pointed her finger at him accusingly, absolutely furious. "You... You utter slow top!" Didn't he realize that she had no interest in any other man but him? It's not like she was the one who was backward in showing affection. In her anger, she conveniently forgot that she originally also spent just as much time giving him the cold shoulder in her efforts to spur him into declaring his feelings.
"I'm sorry, Nell," he said, grabbing her hand with the pointing finger and trying to kiss it. She yanked it away, still utterly enraged. "I just knew that I hadn't shown you... well... anything like that. You're a very passionate innocent, for all I knew some bloody scoundrel had tricked you into doing something like that." The dark look that crossed his face at the very thought was heartening, but it didn't do anything to relieve her frustration and fury.
"Get out. I don't want you anywhere near me you... you... blackguard!"