Argyll sat and watched him as Elizabeth played her way through a Bach Prelude and Fugue with such ice cold precision that it was as if she didn’t have an emotion in her body. He saw how Robert scowled and couldn’t sit still, constantly crossing and re-crossing his legs. At the end of the piece, he clapped with everyone else and Elizabeth moved onto a Mozart piece, which was all flair and technique. Her playing was stunning and in the end even Robert forgot his discomfort as he watched her hands fly over the keyboard. She finished her recital with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The first movement passed over their ears as any other music would, but the second movement made Verity weep. It was so haunting and beautiful, that Argyll watched the tears leech out of his mother’s eyes. The last movement was nothing short of spectacular and all of them were spellbound as Elizabeth’s fire was felt through the intensity of her flying fingers. As the last notes died away, Lady Verity walked over to her and patted her shoulder.
‘Never have I heard the like.’ She whispered. ‘To be filled with such compassion and rage, it must be like a war inside you sometimes.’
‘It is, Lady Verity. Life has a tendency to do that to us.’ She spoke calmly, but Verity could see the unshed tears trembling on her eyelashes. She stood up abruptly. ‘I’m sorry, but I must retire. This has been quite a traumatic event.’ And she practically ran from the room. Robert was just going to follow when Argyll grabbed his arm.
‘Don’t. She needs to settle down. That was music from her soul, to show you just how tormented she is.’
Sarah had settled at the piano and was singing a love song with sweet clarity, so the gentlemen gave her their attention, but Robert was still concerned for Elizabeth.
Robert and Argyll played their usual game of cards, but it was obvious Robert was distracted.
‘Do you want to tell me about it?’ Argyll asked softly and poured more brandy.
‘Elizabeth came to my room, last night.’ He sighed eventually.
‘Did you fuck her?’ he asked in shock.
‘I think it was the other way around.’ Robert admitted and washed his hands over his face. ‘It was a first for me, to wake up being made love to by a beautiful woman.’
‘Why do you think she did it?’ Argyll asked puzzled.
‘She said I woke a ravening beast. I assumed her marriage was loveless and violent, but maybe I was wrong.’ He murmured.
‘You’ll only know that when she finally tells you about it.’ Argyll said. ‘But we all know she isn’t an inexperienced virgin. Maybe she needed, like we do and you are the best rake around here.’
They played cards, until Robert called a halt, before he consumed too much brandy. ‘Why are we stopping now?’ Argyll said indignantly.
‘Because I would rather be sober for her tonight.’ He said bashfully.
‘Do you know yet?’ Argyll asked him.
‘Know what?’
‘If you love her.’
Robert shook his head. ‘Do you love Sarah?’
‘I do.’ He smiled softly. ‘But I’m waiting for her to decide if she loves me.’
Robert said goodnight and trudged up the stairs, feeling quite depressed. The day had gone nothing like he’d expected. He had anticipated spending the day somewhere quiet with Elizabeth, where they could talk or sleep or make love and she had been distant and uncommunicative.
Burke was waiting outside his door. ‘Thank you, Burke, but I think I can manage tonight. You get off to bed.’ He said kindly.
‘Will you need a call in the morning, Sir?’ Burke asked and it was the way he said it that made Robert look at him sharply.
‘Do I have company in there?’ he whispered and pointed at his door. Burke smiled and nodded. ‘Not too early, Burke,’ he spoke clearly. ‘I think I’d like a lie in tomorrow.’
‘Very good, Your Grace.’ Burke said evenly, smiled and departed.
Robert took a deep breath and opened his door. Lamplight was pooled about the sensuous body sprawled face down and naked on his bed. Her hair was down, instead of braided and it washed over her back and the pillows in autumnal waves. He jerked his first boot off as he closed the door, the second one hit the floor as he arrived at the raised dais where the huge bed was mounted, and his jacket was somewhere between the two. He stood looking down on her body as he pulled off his cravat and started to undo his shirt, his manhood almost bursting out of his britches. Starting at her dainty feet, her legs were shapely, not long, but in perfect proportion to her overall size. Her buttocks were round and firm looking and the dimples above them were perfect. Her hips were rounded and they curved gracefully into a small waist and flared up her flanks to her shoulders, and that’s when he saw the white scars across her back. He frowned and picked up the lamp, holding it close to her bare skin as he pushed her hair aside. Her back was a mass of cicatrices, from her shapely buttocks to her rangy shoulders.
‘He treated me like an animal, at times.’ She murmured. ‘But I now realise why. He needed the violence to arouse him. He couldn’t get hard any other way.’ She sniffed as he sat on the edge of the bed. ‘I was his property to do his bidding. And if he wanted to beat me, there wasn’t anything I could do to stop him. He would give me the crop first and then he would take me, but he didn’t really have a clue. That’s probably where the violence came from, his own inadequacies.’
‘Why did you come last night?’ Robert asked softly as his lips brushed the largest scar on her back.
‘I needed to conquer my fear.’ She whispered. ‘To be afraid of sex makes you feel like half a woman. To be afraid to perform a basic need would make me useless for any other man, I had to overcome it and you were the catalyst.’ She sniffed again. ‘I wasn’t lying when I said you released a beast. I have never wanted so much in my life as I did after I left you at the tree yesterday. But I needed you to love me, not fuck me.’ She whispered hollowly. ‘And the only way to ensure that was for me to start it.’
He was shocked to hear her use such a word. ‘Where did you hear that expression?’ he asked softly as he kissed and stroked more of her back.
‘Edward would use it all the time. “Get in here bitch I want to fuck you!” or “you’re just a fucking whore!” He would say things like that every day and I became inured to hearing it. If he was particularly angry with something I’d done, he would hit me first, with his fists and then he would kiss my face and say sorry,’ she gasped, ‘before he took the whip to me and then fucked me!’
Robert placed the lamp back on the night table and stroked his hands over her shoulders. ‘I suppose it’s easier to see pain when there are scars to show it, but when there aren’t, it’s very difficult to see them.’
‘Robert?’ he huh hummed as his lips caressed her spine. ‘Love me again?’
‘I intend to, my love. Just let me finish undressing.’ He stood up and continued to open his shirt. She sat up suddenly and turned to him, reaching for his britches and he found it incredibly arousing for her to open them. She did it erotically, sliding her fingers from one fastener to the next and all the time the backs of her fingers stroked his groin and manhood as it stood at attention for her. She slowly peeled open the flap, pulling it down to reveal his engorged penis with his arousal discharge glistening in the lamplight. She deftly swirled it around the hood with her index finger as she looked up at him with innocent eyes, in her innocent Madonna’s face. ‘Do you wish me to pleasure you again?’ she asked softly. And he was speechless as she engulfed him in her mouth again. She slowly stripped off his britches and then held him by the hips as she gently sucked on him and then stroked him with her tongue, up and down, tormenting the head.
A groan was torn from his chest and he clutched her hair, in an attempt to pull her away.Oh! God! This is exquisite! He screamed in his mind, as his body trembled, and he could feel himself getting closer to ejaculation.Dash it all! I will not come in her mouth; I’m supposed to be a gentleman!!He berated himself and as his testicles cramped in preparation to spurt his semen,
he somehow found the strength to yank his manhood out of her mouth.
He literally picked her up like a child and threw her onto the middle of the bed in a flurry of limbs, climbing between her thighs, he buried his face between her legs, licking and sucking at her, sliding his tongue along her silky sex from clitoris to vagina and back until she was on the verge. She grabbed his hair in her fists, gasping, moaning and writhing. He felt the first throb of her passage and scrambled up her body, plunging himself into her as she moaned and lifted her thighs for him. It was harsh and frantic and over in four thrusts. He filled her with his seed as her internal muscles contracted and throbbed, and she writhed and moaned in ecstasy under his rigid frame. He panted as his cramped body relaxed. He sighed deeply and looked down on her pretty face; her eyes alight with passion and her mouth open in a surprised O of pleasure. He slowly pulled himself out and she gasped and looked at him. ‘Please? Again?’ she begged.
He kissed her softly. ‘My love, we have all night. Be patient.’ He held her gently in his arms and kissed her passionately, her body was still moving and he knew she was desperate to be fully satisfied, but he knew from experience that he had to pace himself. She could feel his erection against her hip and she tried to get her hand on it, so he manoeuvred it out of her reach. He stroked his hand over her right leg, clasped it behind the knee and draped it over his body, while he traced his lips over her collarbone and down to her right breast. His tongue circled and licked the nipple as his right hand held the other breast, its pliant mass filling his hand and his thumb tormented the puckered point. He looked down on them and gasped at just how erect they were, smoothing his hand over her right breast and feeling the button in his palm.
‘Oh! God!’ she moaned, as he dipped his head to torment her nipple again and her body writhed. He slipped his hand down from her breast until it was stroking between her thighs and he gasped as she opened her legs wider enabling him to stroke inside as well. He slipped his fingers in and circled his thumb over her swelling clitoris, making her pant and buck as she demanded more of him. When her orgasm burst like a dam, she started to giggle uncontrollably as she slammed her legs shut, but he kept on teasing her and soon her legs opened and she writhed and begged for more. After her next orgasm her muscles calmed and she relaxed and sighed. He slowly withdrew his crushed fingers in a gush of lubricious fluid.
He pulled her against his chest and gently kissed her cheek. She stared up at his face in the lamplight, gently stroked his hair off his forehead. ‘Why did you become such a rake?’ she asked cheekily. ‘Did you just decide to be one or did it sort of happen accidentally?’ she asked and was rewarded with both a look of confusion and pain as he tried to assess what actually made him distrustful. He rolled on his back and put his free hand under his head. She clambered onto his body and resting her chin on her folded arms looked down into his face.
‘I loved a girl once.’ He started his voice thick with emotion. ‘She was from the local gentry, from a good family. I fell in love with her the first time I laid eyes on her. She was so pretty and so demure.’ He looked down at her face. ‘You reminded me of her at the opera, the way you kept your eyes down.’ He looked back at the ceiling. ‘I thought she was so innocent and virginal, like you she had a face like a Madonna, and like you it concealed a beast.’ He sighed and turned his face away, looking into the shadows of the room. ‘I went to the stable to check my horse, he’d strained a fetlock when I was out hunting the day before and I just wanted to check the treatment was working.’ He sniffed. ‘I opened the stable door and there she was, completely naked, riding one of the grooms for all she was worth. My father was furious. He sent her packing that day.’ He was silent.
‘But what did you think?’ She asked. ‘Seeing the woman you loved in such dishabille?’
‘Rage.’ He whispered. ‘Blind red rage. I had to run out of the stable before I killed them both. How I didn’t strangle her later, I’ll never know.’ He sobbed suddenly. ‘She came to apologise and promised that it would never happen again, but she’d been desperate because I wouldn’t tup her.’
‘Did she ask you to?’ Elizabeth asked surprised.
‘Not in words, but I suppose the indicators were there. Now I would know exactly what she wanted, but I was more innocent than her. I’d never even had a kitchen wench at that time.’
‘What did you do?’ she asked and he looked her in the eye.
‘I bought a commission and joined the army.’ He said coldly. ‘That’s where I learned everything I needed to know about women, so I would never be fooled again.’ He finished harshly.
‘Have you ever considered marriage since?’ she asked.
‘No.’ He said coldly and she knew it was his protective barrier to hide his raw emotions behind. Abruptly he rolled her on her back. ‘Enough talking, I have a deep seated need to hear you beg.’ He said as he crushed his lips over hers in a searing kiss.
Chapter 8 Yes or No?
Robert opened his eyes again and found his bed empty.This is disconcerting.He said to himself. He rolled over and groaned as the muscles in his lower back spasmed.I know I didn’t dream it this time; she was here when I came to bed.He recalled her body arranged face down on the bed, one leg bent to the side, her buttocks so creamy and her back so scarred. He frowned as he recalled telling her about Christina and how he almost brutally took her to stop the conversation. He felt a little ashamed to have done it quite like that, but she didn’t seem to mind and they made love after that and not always in the bed. He groaned again as he thought about her lithe body writhing on his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed and how her lips traced the wound in his shoulder, as he traced his fingers over the scars on her back and her hair filled his hands. And how she writhed and moaned as he had her pinned to the wall by the french doors, his hands clutching her thighs and her feet on his buttocks and then he remembered how slowly they had made love the last time and at the climax he’d whispered those fateful words in her ear.Damn! I told her I loved her!He scolded himself and then he contemplated that statement.Do you love her?He asked himself.Because you’ve never said that to any girl since Christina, even in the longest and deepest of relationships. Can you live with her for the rest of your life?He tried to picture them old and grey, but couldn’t because he knew they would both be lucky to get there. He would probably die of the pox and she would die in childbirth.But what if that doesn’t happen, can you live with her? Yes. YES!He shouted in his mind and a beaming smile cracked his face. He stared at the ceiling and envisioned her rocking and feeding his children, being beside him in the large bed at his London Mansion. He could see her ruling his staff with a rod of iron and he could see her hosting his first ball. Then he had the biggest revelation of all, and that would be the thrill of actually removing her clothes, of seeing her beautiful body slowly revealed, of stroking her thighs to remove her silk stockings and finally being able to pull open the ribbons of her chemise and watch her breasts spill out into his hands.
While his mind roved over the possibilities, Burke came in and the bath was filled, but Burke knew not to disturb his reverie. When the room was quiet again, Robert got slowly out of bed, sauntered across to the bath and slowly submerged his body. He had a picture of a delicate body with flaming hair piled on her head sharing his bath and how erotic it would be to soap each other’s bodies.I think I need to start looking for a bigger bath.He thought and smirked as he picked up the soap and loofah and scrubbed all the dried sperm off his body.
Elizabeth had gone back to her room before it got light. She stripped off her nightdress and washed her body thoroughly. She climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling as the dawn came up and the windows lightened. She heard the house start to wake up, got out of bed and dressed quickly. She went along to Lady Verity’s room and saw her maid. ‘I need to see Lady Verity, it’s very important.’
‘Just a moment, my Lady.’ The maid vanished into the room and then came back and showed Elizabeth in.
La
dy Verity was propped up in bed drinking some tea. ‘Good Morning Lady Elizabeth.’
‘Good morning Lady Verity.’ Elizabeth said softly and looked at the floor.
‘Come and sit on the bed and tell me what’s bothering you.’
‘It’s Robert.’ She gasped and Verity watched the tears fall from her eyes.
‘Do you love him?’
‘I...I...don’t know!’ was wrenched from her throat.
‘Have you been sleeping with him?’ Verity asked in a non accusing way.
‘Yes. Oh! God! Yes!’ Elizabeth sobbed out. ‘And it’s so good!’
‘I sense a but?’
Elizabeth struggled to regain her composure. ‘He told me he loves me, last night, but I need time to sort through all the conflicting emotions. Fear, hate as well as love. Oh! Verity, my heart is breaking, but I don’t know why!’
‘So what would you like to do?’
‘I need to be away from you all. Especially Robert. I’m not actually used to being around so many people.’
‘In that case, you should go back to London. I’ll be back by the end of next week anyway. That will give you a few days to consider your decision, just in case he’s going to ask for your hand.’ Elizabeth nodded as she gulped down her distress. ‘It’s nice not to hear you scream, though.’
Elizabeth looked up at her kindly face in astonishment as she realised it was nearly a week since she’d had a nightmare at night and only two days since she dozed off by the lake.
‘Go and start your packing and I’ll get a coach organised for you.’
Breakfast was quiet and Robert was disturbed by Elizabeth’s absence. He spoke to Mary afterwards and she assured him Elizabeth was well, but busy.
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