Monty smiled at the thought, rubbing his hands together excitedly. His planning mind was already amassed with thoughts. If she was pregnant, there would be much to prepare; a nursey, clothing. But before any of that, there was lost time which to make up; lovemaking in various ways, in every room of the grand house.
I will see about all those items. Perhaps the room adjacent to Lucy’s chambers? Or perhaps I will move Lucy into my quarters as man and wife should be…but after the child is born. It is unhealthy for a pregnant woman to sleep in the same bed as her husband. It is bad for the child. A baby will do Lucy a world of good. She will bear me a son.
When Monty arrived home, his disposition was much brighter than it had been earlier in the day. He had convinced himself that Lucy was pregnant with his child and he intended to have her confess her secret. He had stopped along the way to acquire a bouquet of flowers, determined to set their marriage in a more positive direction.
Our union started on a sour foot. It has been mostly my doing but I will change that now, especially with our son on the way. I will hire more servants for she is not working so laboriously. She has been running the house tirelessly. I must afford her a break. Perhaps she will want me to hire a nanny. Yes, a nanny is a fine idea. We can see about having another child right away.
He thought of the scent of her saccharine hair as he lay atop her, the sweet moans in his ear. He wondered how she would feel if he did some of the acts to her as he did with Celia. The thought aroused him and disgusted him simultaneously.
She would likely protest weakly and succumb to the pleasure, he thought allowing himself into the house. It is sinful to think of your wife doing such things to you and you to her…but if she were to enjoy them the way Celia appears to enjoy them, where is the harm? I will start with subtle actions, tease her other opening, press my mouth to her center and eventually, she will take me in her mouth and I will tie her to the bed, pour honey on her body and lick it off. She will swallow me and I will drink her in. We have much to accomplish. I cannot wait to begin.
Monty was almost humming at the thought but he maintained his stoic dignity in the presence of the servants.
“Good evening, sir,” Bentley greeted, taking his master’s coat and jacket. “That is a beautiful bouquet.”
“Bentley.” Monty strolled past the butler, barely acknowledging the lumbering man, eager to see his wife. His member was already growing in his underpants and he did not wish to get too excited before bringing Lucy to a full climax.
Perhaps I will bring her to release twice before entering her at all, he thought excitedly, bounding toward the back of the house like a small puppy.
“Can I offer you a drink, sir?” Bentley asked, following him. Monty did not respond, striding meaningfully into the kitchen, expecting to see Lucy attending to supper. To his surprise, she was nowhere to be found. Supper was not underway and it appears no one had been in the giant galley all day. He turned expectantly to the butler.
“Where is Mrs. James?” he demanded. Instantly his shoulders sagged at the silliness of his question. He realized where she was; upstairs resting, no doubt.
Well perhaps our lovemaking will have to wait today. Perhaps she will be feeling better into the night and we can copulate into the morning. I cannot wait to see her beautiful face.
Before Bentley could respond, Monty was climbing the servant stairs up to the second floor, two at a time, the flowers still firmly in his grip.
I will tend to her this evening, he thought, a small grin creeping across his face despite his resolve to not have Bentley see him in such a state. I will have the maid fix supper and serve it to her in her quarters while she rests. Perhaps I will rub her back slowly and depending on how she feels, I will lay soft kisses to her neck and shoulders. If she encourages me to go beyond that, how can I argue? She may even find her own hands stroking me outside my pants as I reach around for her full breasts. She will sigh and I will murmur, “We shall go slowly” but as we finally find one another, our passion won’t be sated. I will not mean to be rough but she will beg me to bring her to heights she has never experienced and how can I say no? She is my wife and it is my duty to provide for her in every way possible.
He chuckled aloud, pausing outside the door to her chambers and straightened his tails, smoothing his trim goatee. Without knocking, he allowed himself into the room, the colorful petals pressed tightly at his chest.
Why, I feel quite like a schoolboy, he thought chuckling slightly to himself. Yet even as Monty thought about it, he realized that even as a schoolboy, he had never felt the need to court a woman this way. He imagined this was the heady feeling of a schoolyard crush. Even with Celia being as adventurous and daring as she was, and all the women whom he had bedded, Monty could not recall ever wanting to possess someone as dearly as he did his wife in that moment.
Soon, Monty, he laughed to himself. In moments, you will have everything you ever wanted.
Lucy was not laying on the burgundy settee in the modestly sized sitting room and Monty made his way toward the bedchambers through the thick French doors.
Tapping lightly for appearance, he opened the entranceway. Lucy’s bed was properly made, the pillows propped upright against the headboard. Blinking in confusion, Monty ventured toward the patio door and peered into the afternoon sunlight. She was not on the veranda either.
Whirling, he hurried back into the corridor where Bentley stood, his emaciated head lowered, awaiting instruction.
“Bentley, where is my wife?” he asked in a clipped tone.
“I do not know, sir,” came the manservant’s apologetic response.
“You do not know?” Monty echoed. “Is she in the house?”
“No, sir. She left early this morning, not long after you departed and has not been home since.”
A combination of panic and anger flooded through Monty as he stared at the butler.
“You might have mentioned that before I went trapezing about the house seeking her whereabouts, Bentley,” Monty snapped furiously. The giant man hung his head in apology but said nothing else, long since accustomed to Montgomery James’ irrational outbursts.
Where could she have gone? Has she been hurt? She should not be out in her condition!
Yet as Monty felt the gift he held for Lucy slip from his grasp to the floor, he had a terrible sense of foreboding. He had a sense that his wife was not endangered and something else was occupying her thoughts.
Chapter Six
“Will you husband not be wondering where you are?” Jared asked Lucy as they made their way through the streets. Immediately, Lucy found herself shaking her head.
“He works quite late into the afternoon,” she replied simply. She did not mention the backlash her late arrival home had caused the previous evening. Monty had been furious at her arriving after him, without supper being prepared. She had simply lost track of time that afternoon, helping Jared go door-to-door, collecting for the mission to China. It was not until the sun was near setting that she realized how late it had become.
His only concern is his bloody meals. He does not worry where I am or whom I am with! Why should he? He believes he can treat me as he wishes and I will ever remain his dutiful wife.
From her peripheral vision, she saw Jared smile slightly, a pleased look upon his face. His apparent joy gave her a fission of excitement. It seemed that the more time she spent with Jared, the more her thoughts were filled with lust and longing for the man. She wanted to know what it would feel like to be wanted for once, not merely used as a vessel to bear children.
He is content to have me in his company, Lucy thought, flushing slightly. He continuously brushes by me and every time he makes contact with my skin, I feel as if I am on fire. I want to embrace him and have him caress me, the way his eyes tell me he wishes to do. What will he taste like? What will his hands feel like?
Before she could stop herself, she found her mind travelling toward her husband again.
Wh
y can Monty not be happy with me the way Jared appears to be? He is making me feel the way I had expected my husband to make me feel and yet, I find myself being drawn to a stranger.
Yet Lucy could not regard Jared as a stranger, not completely. Through his unwavering devotion to the church and his missions, Lucy had found an unlikely kinship in the attractive man, one that made her feel as if she had known him for much longer than a few short days. Through Marietta Jacobs and the Reverend, the two had been willingly thrown together, travelling through the parish seeking supplies and donations for the impending mission to China. Lucy knew that given her vulnerable state of desire, the time the two spent in each other’s company was sinful but she reasoned with herself that she was a married woman and would not allow for anything disrespectful to occur.
If Jared were to seize me and throw me to the ground, would I resist? She asked herself. Turning pink, she knew she would likely not resist and sometimes wondered if she was encouraging the mission leader with stares and sighs.
He is but a man. He cannot withstand the pressure of my hints forever. I see the way he stares at me, as if I am already in the nude before him.
“Will you come with us to China?” Jared had asked her a few days earlier. “We could certainly use someone with your compassion and faith in our company.”
Lucy’s heart had skipped several beats, wanting desperately to say yes but knowing that her place was in Boston, with her cold, unfeeling husband. She shook her head regretfully.
“I fear that my husband’s work will not allow for him to make such a journey,” she had responded properly. Jared had paused mid-step to stare at her with wide, serious eyes.
“I did not ask of him,” he answered quietly. “I asked of you.”
Thrilled and embarrassed, Lucy murmured something incomprehensible and continued to walk. Jared hurried to join her.
“Lucy, you cannot deny that we have an attraction between us,” he told her urgently. “You cannot look the other way forever.”
“I am married, Mr. Stone,” she answered icily but her heart was on fire.
Is this it? Is he going to kiss me here, on the street? Will I fight him? Or will I let him do with my body precisely as he wishes and envision him to be my husband, the only man with whom I truly want to be? I can already feel myself letting lose beneath the sun, feeling loved for once by a man who wants me. Yet I want only Monty…do I not? How will I know unless I succumb to Jared?
“Lucy, forgive me for saying so but it seems you are not living in martial bliss with Montgomery. He seems a hard man – “Jared began to say.
Immediately, Lucy cut him off, anger coloring her face. Monty may not have been the easiest man but Jared had no right to assume anything of him. Monty did not strike her, she was well provided for. There were many women who had it much worse than she and he was still her husband, despite his shortcomings. Or so Lucy told herself often so that one day she might believe it to be the truth.
He may not be as handsome or kind as Jared. He may not look at me the same way Jared does, his eyes filled with adoration and arousal…but Monty is my wedded. It is my duty to speak on his behalf no matter how true Jared’s words may be. It is not his place to say such things.
“You should not presume to know my relationship with my husband!” she almost shouted, attracting stunned looks of those passing by. Contritely, Jared hung his head and instantly apologized.
“Forgive me,” he pleaded, touching her arm. “I meant no harm in what I said. I realize we have not known each other long, nor do I have any right to speak whatsoever. It is simply that…”
Reluctantly, Lucy paused her gait again, looking at Jared’s melancholic expression.
“Simply that what?” she finally asked, willing him to look at her.
“From the first moment we met, I felt a bond with you, as if God had put us together. When I learned you were married, it was as if the wind was knocked from my body and I found it difficult to breathe. ‘How could God show me the woman with whom I was destined to be if she was already with another?’ I asked myself. But who am I to question His plans? I suppose I am morbidly hoping for a sign that perhaps you are discontent in your union so that I may have a chance to intervene and save you.”
Lucy had never heard a more beautiful or sorrowful speech in her time and unbidden tears sprang to her eyes.
Yes, please save me from the embittered man I married! She wanted to plead. We will embark on the mission to China together and never return to Boston again!
Of course, she said none of those things because in her heart, Lucy knew that while she found Jared deeply stimulating, she was in love with her husband, despite his detachment to her. Perhaps it was her imagination but she seemed to feel Monty was warming up to her, despite the quarrel they had the night before. There had been a look in Monty’s coffee colored eyes which she did not recognize, one she may have mistaken for longing.
“You have become a very dear friend to me,” Lucy heard herself choking. “I sincerely appreciate your companionship and the work you are doing in God’s name.”
Disappointment blackened Jared’s light blue eyes and he nodded, visibly swallowing the lump in his throat.
No! Wait! Do not give up so easily! Lucy cried silently but her sense of properness shoved the words back into her throat.
“Thank you,” he mumbled and Lucy thought she saw him blink back tears of his own.
Recant your words! She urged herself. Tell him you are miserable in your marriage! Tell him to save you! Throw your arms about his neck and press your lips to his!
She could not bring herself to do so. They continued to walk down the avenue in silence and Lucy made a silent vow.
If Monty does not become the man I wish of him, I will leave with Jared when he is finished in Boston.
Neither Jared nor Lucy paid mind as they passed Boston State Bank for if they had, they would have seen a pair of dark, angry eyes following their every step.
Chapter Seven
“Mrs. James, your husband would like you to meet him at the bank immediately.” Bentley was waiting for her by the front door as she entered. Lucy froze in her tracks and stared at the butler pensively.
“Is he unwell?” she asked, concern tickling the back of her neck.
“I do not know, madam. He sent message via pageboy less than an hour ago. You are to go directly to the bank upon your arrival home.”
Her concern was immediately replaced by uncertainty.
He has never asked me to join him at the bank previously, she thought nervously, starting out the door. What could he possibly wish from me?
She began down the street, barely noticing the storm clouds brewing in the sky. Fat drops of rain splattered across her face, her bonnet providing little protection against the wet sprinkling determined to soak through her. As she reached the front of the majestic stone structure, she was a shivering mass. Thunder had begun to rumble angrily in the distance, followed by flashes of blue-white lightening. Heart racing, Lucy allowed herself into the building, dripping against the pristine marble floor. She was greeted with scrutiny by the two tellers in their cage.
“May I help you, madam?” one man sneered. “I do believe you are lost.”
Lucy’s face, stained crimson, scowled at his condescending tone.
“I daresay I am not,” she retorted haughtily. “I am seeking my husband.”
Both men chuckled shortly and cleared their throats.
“As you can see, madam, there is not another soul here. Be gone with you, now.”
Furiously, Lucy drew toward the cages but before she could speak, the door to the back office opened and Monty strode forward.
“Lucy! You are a fright! Where is your umbrella?”
The tellers lost their jeers as Monty embraced a shocked Lucy in his fold.
“Come in, darling, you must be frozen. Charles, bring in some firewood at once!” he barked at the blonde man in the booth. He ushered his wife into his offic
e and closed the door.
“Take this,” he told her, draping his black jacket about her shoulders. “I will have Burt fetch you some tea.”
Lucy stared at Monty dubiously, not understanding who was the man fussing about.
Is he drunk? She wondered, straining forward to smell for alcohol on his person but she could sense nothing.
“I am fine, Monty – “she started to say but he was already bellowing an order at Burt from the doorway. Charles entered then with the firewood and Monty gestured for him start the fire. Charles did not hesitate but Lucy noticed how he did not dare meet her eyes. A moment later, as the first teller struggled to light the flames, the second arrived with a pot of tea. Lucy noted with some satisfaction that his hands were trembling as he set the silver set on the side table.
“Would you like anything else, Mr. James? Mrs. James?” he grovelled. Monty grunted and waved him away in dismissal. Burt was happy to oblige, Charles fast on his heels.
“Drink this,” Monty urged, handing her a cup of steaming tea. Lucy eyed him suspiciously.
“What is the meaning of this?” she finally asked, eyeing him warily as he leaned against the desk and watched her.
Why is he behaving so civilly toward me? She wondered worriedly. She felt slightly guilty as his black eyes reflected deep worry.
What have you to feel shame about? She chided herself. You have done nothing wrong.
She willed herself not to think of Jared and returned Monty’s steadfast stare. He lowered his eyes, his shoulders sagging.
“Lucy, I am not an easy man,” he started gruffly. Lucy felt her brow furrow several thoughts flooding her mind.
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