Beastly Lords Collection Books 1 - 3: A Regency Historical Romance Collection

by Sydney Jane Baily

  Lifting each foot for him, she let him slide the silken hose off her ankles, her skin raising in goosebumps where his fingers trailed down the skin of her thighs. When her stockings were lying on the floor, she watched as Simon removed his Hessians. In another minute, he had stripped off everything except his trousers.

  Standing before her now, he undid the buttons of his fall and stepped out of his pants. He was wearing nothing underneath, and she was treated to the mouthwatering sight of her virile husband in full glory. It left her giddy with arousal. It had been so very long.

  She no longer needed the tips of Aristotle’s Masterpiece to know what would happen next and how best to please him. However, there was one small piece of information he did not yet have.

  “Turn over, please,” he said, his voice thick with desire.

  She complied, kneeling upon the bed and giving him access to her buttons, the long line of them that had him swearing before he’d finished undoing half.

  “I’m sorely tempted to destroy this gown,” Simon muttered.

  “No,” she pleaded. “I like it, and it was quite costly.”

  “Because of the former and not the latter, I shall persist,” he grumbled. “And also, because I do not intend to begin our reunion by simply tossing your skirts over your head though I promise you, you would thoroughly enjoy that as well.”

  Blushing, she thought she might ask him to do precisely that. Next time. It sounded wicked, even for a married couple, and she wanted to experience everything with him.

  As soon as Simon could open her gown wide enough he slid it off her shoulders and down her torso to pool at her hips. Without turning her, he reached around her, using his large palms to cup her breasts through the layers that remained, kissing her neck as he did.

  “Zounds! I can see why someone was looking at your breasts, sweetheart. I don’t remember them being so bountiful. I have indeed been away too long.”

  Jenny remained silent. He would discover her secret soon enough. And she couldn’t wait to be stretched out bare skinned before him, for her excitement seemed even swifter and stronger than usual, causing a pleasant but insistent throbbing between her legs. One only her husband could satiate.

  Unlacing her corset, Simon removed it and peeled the shift from her shoulders. Turning, she lay on her back and lifted her bottom, giving him access to ease the many garments over her hips and down her legs.

  Tossing these behind them onto the floor, he feasted his gaze upon her naked body, his scrutiny taking in her thighs and her stomach and her breasts. He frowned at her slightly thickened figure and luscious curves.

  She saw the moment he realized her condition, for his eyes widened before his gaze flew to hers.

  “You carry our child?” His voice was an incredulous and hopeful whisper.

  Feeling the tears prick her eyes, Jenny could only nod, amazed to see her husband’s eyes also fill with emotion.

  “Over three months along,” he said with wonder, stretching out beside her and lightly tracing a circle around the small roundness of her belly.

  “How do you feel?”

  Jenny was tempted to tell him the woes of her nausea, but instead, spilled out what was truly surging through her.

  “I feel if you don’t touch my breasts immediately and kiss me, then slide inside me and ease the ache, I shall scream.”

  The grin that spread across his face served to increase her anticipation.

  “Say please, Genevieve,” he demanded, lowering his head so his lips were hovering over one rosy nipple. At the same time, his hand stroked down toward the soft hair at the apex of her thighs where the curls were already dampened with her desire.

  “Please,” she murmured.

  He suckled her breast and then the other one, all the while letting his fingers strum a heavenly chord where her ache was most intense. Her body raised to meet his hand, needing more.

  “We’ll go easy,” he said, then nipped at her breast before licking over the tingling area, making her moan.

  “Don’t you dare go easy.” Her voice was thick with desire.

  “Dear wife,” he replied in a teasing tone.

  “Dear husband.” She pulled him close.

  As he slid inside her, she sighed in bliss.

  *

  Unfortunately, not many moments later, they lay entangled in each other’s arms, already spent but only temporarily satisfied. Simon knew it wouldn’t be long before they were engaging in the act again, more slowly, more tenderly. She’d been right, they’d mated like wild rutting animals, and it had been glorious.

  “That was precisely what I needed,” Jenny said, her eyes closed, appearing entirely worn out.

  Simon chuckled. “Thank goodness I arrived in time.” Then he sobered.

  “I did arrive in time, didn’t I? I could have lost you.” He stroked her soft shoulder, almost unable to believe she was there beside him. Had she any idea how frightened he’d been seeing her with another man, gazing at Alder, touching him?

  Without opening her eyes, Jenny shook her head.

  “No, it was I who thought I had lost you.”

  “I went away to save us,” he promised. “To try to give us a normal marriage.”

  Her eyes slid open, and she rolled onto her side to face him. “Did you succeed?”

  Brushing a strand of her hair behind his wife’s ear, Simon considered her question.

  “I believe I did. Nothing is assured, of course, but I have been successful for many nights through many dreams.”

  Her plump breasts caught his eye, and he dropped his hand to caress them with the back of his knuckles, watching as her nipples puckered. Then he lowered his palm to her stomach.

  “Now there is the baby to consider.”

  Her eyes sparkled. “Yes. Are you pleased?”

  That was putting it far too mildly.

  “I am over the moon, yes.” Except for the added worry. He would hide nothing from her. “Though knowing there will be two lives beside me in bed does not ease my mind.”

  He watched her eyes darken, and then she sat up.

  Gazing down at him, her earnestness was etched in her sweet face.

  “I ask you not to leave me again. Not to leave us!” Protectively, she covered her bare stomach with both hands.

  Simon reached for her and pulled her to his chest.

  “I have no intention of it.” His hand smoothed up and down her back, relishing the texture of her satiny skin.

  “The ton has not been kind,” she confessed.

  He had figured as much. “I don’t care what they say about me.”

  Her silence alerted him that there was something more.

  “Tell me.” Then it dawned on him. “Were they speaking of you?

  He felt her nod. That they would attack her in his absence caused needles of anger to prickle his skin.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t believe so. Before you returned, I had determined to enter my confinement early. My last social event ended with my fleeing the Chantel-Weiss’s dining room and being ill in their water closet.”

  He would have chuckled if she hadn’t sounded close to tears. He was only sorry he hadn’t been there to support her.

  “I’m truly sorry.”

  “It wasn’t only that. Cousin Ned was there, and he humiliated me in front of everyone at the table.”

  The prickling he’d felt became blades of fury. How dare the man? Ned was her family!

  “He told everyone how good I am with … with mathematics.” Her voice broke.

  “How good you are with …” As his anger ebbed, Simon struggled not to laugh. He must be missing the insult.

  “Aren’t your abilities something of which you should be exceedingly proud? I know I am.”

  “It was the way he said it and how he portrayed me as such an oddity. And worse, he mentioned how I was ‘servicing’ you and others in the village, leaving it unclear at first what services
I was providing.”

  Now he took insult. “I’ll flay him alive.” At that moment, holding his soft, voluptuous wife in his arms, he could do it, too. He would gladly punish anyone who hurt her.

  “I must confess, dearest husband, I, too, am concerned about the nighttime, now that I’m enceinte.”

  The air left his lungs. Her mercurial changes of topic were entirely new. That was unbalancing him enough. Yet, her concern on behalf of their baby because of him came so unexpectedly and mirrored his own fears, he didn’t know what to say. Would she banish him from her room? Before he could even prove he was healed?

  Maybe it was for the best. What if he lost control despite what Holtzenhelm had taught him?

  *

  Jenny felt him hold his breath for a moment, and then he relaxed. Almost, she wished she hadn’t voiced her fears. Yet, she’d had to. She could no longer blithely put herself in danger for fear he might hurt the life she carried. What would happen later that night, she could only wonder?

  As it turned out, Jenny would never have guessed her husband’s outlandish solution, for it was beyond the pale in many respects. Simon decided the admiral would remain in their room on a cot for the entire night.

  “Wouldn’t a dog at the end of your bed be preferable, my lord?” Binkley intoned, his face deadpan at his important yet embarrassing position.

  Jenny would rather have had a dog, too. Or her lady’s maid, but Simon reminded her of the last time he’d attacked her, and a woman might not be strong enough to stop him.

  Thus, it was after they retired for the evening and had concluded another long and delicious bout of lovemaking conducted far more languidly than their earlier encounter, Simon admitted Binkley to their chamber.

  Jenny was under the covers in her nightgown with a robe draped over her shoulders, sitting up to watch the proceedings. Simon padded to the door in his drawers and a dressing gown and admitted the butler, whom she assumed had been waiting in the hallway. How mortifying!

  Earlier, while they’d dined, a cot had been brought in and put under the window where normally two chairs and a small table rested.

  Jenny nearly laughed at the admiral’s sour expression. Simon had insisted the man be comfortable and dress for sleep, thus Binkley paraded in with a nightcap on his balding head, a full-length nightdress, and slippers that poked out from under.

  “Nice cap,” Simon said as the butler got settled.

  “Thank you, my lord.”

  Simon climbed back into bed as Binkley turned down the oil lamps and then crawled into his cot by the light of the moon.

  After a few minutes of silence during which everyone seemed to be trying to stay as quiet as possible, Jenny said, “This is the strangest night of my life.”

  Simon chuckled, rolling onto his side and punching his pillow into shape.

  “For me as well, my lady.” Binkley wriggled and his cot squeaked. “Good night to both of you.”

  “Let us hope,” Simon muttered. “And then this peculiar arrangement can end as soon as possible.”

  *

  When Jenny awakened the next morning, both men were still sound asleep. The realization that nothing untoward had occurred filled her with pure happiness.

  Simon was on his back, snoring slightly but appearing utterly peaceful.

  Glancing at their butler, she tamped down an insistent snicker that threatened to erupt at the sight. Binkley was hanging off the side of the cot, one arm and one leg draped to the floor, and his head lolled to the side. One bony shoulder was exposed where his nightgown had slipped down, and his nightcap had popped off completely.

  Could she get out of bed to use the water closet and the bathroom? She would have to tiptoe across the room past the admiral. No doubt Binkley, who had been instructed not to leave until one of them arose for the day, would welcome them getting up so he could attend to his morning duties.

  Slipping out of bed, Jenny made it out of the room with both men still sleeping. Perhaps a dog would be more useful.

  Chapter Thirty

  Simon found his lovely wife in the dining room sipping tea and munching on a slice of toast. He had never felt more grateful in his life.

  Grinning at her as she looked up from the newspaper, he came to a halt and opened his arms to her. Her face broke into a broad smile, and she rose and ran to him.

  After holding her close, he leaned back to look down into her lovely face.

  “You seemed to sleep quite peacefully,” she said.

  He nodded, his throat closed with emotion. Coughing slightly, he said, “I did.”

  “Did you have a bad dream?” Her eyes were wide with concern.

  “I did.” Regardless, he couldn’t stop his smile from reappearing.

  She frowned. “Then why are you grinning like the village idiot?”

  “Because I knew it for what it was, and I didn’t let it provoke me to violence.”

  Shaking her head with wonder, Jenny reached up and touched his cheek.

  “The time apart was worth it for this, for the rest of our lives.”

  “I think so.” Should he explain about the guilt that had been gnawing at him, causing the violent beast that came out in his dreams? He thought not.

  “Sit down, wife. Let me wait on you. Would you like more tea?”

  The sound of her laughter was like the biblical milk and honey, nourishing his soul. She sat and patted the chair next to her.

  “Are you waiting on me because poor Binkley is sleeping still?”

  Helping himself to a plate of hot breakfast from the sideboard, Simon took the proffered seat beside her.

  “I roused him with a swift kick to his side. He is rather like a hound, after all.”

  She giggled softly. “No, he is a dear to put up with us. But your idea was quite brilliant. I did feel more at ease having him there.”

  “And there he shall remain, at least for a little while.”

  Her nodding acquiescence heartened him. They would make this work.

  “Is that all you’re eating? Don’t you need to start eating for two?”

  “Gracious, no,” she said. “If I did, I would be as large as a horse by the time our child came along.”

  “So, an autumn boy.” He imagined a son with Jenny’s chestnut-colored hair and soft brown eyes.

  “Or girl,” she reminded him.

  Yes, a daughter with his wife’s intelligence and beauty. Good lord, he’d have to battle the young bucks off with a stick. At the moment, however, it was simply the two of them, and he could ask for nothing more.

  “Shall we start fighting over the name now?” he teased her.

  Jenny laughed again, and Simon was delighted with how her eyes sparkled at him.

  “Why don’t we simply pretend we’ve had the fight and I’ve already won?”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” She was level-headed and practical, and he could trust Jenny wouldn’t name their baby anything outrageous, like Napoleon or Gertha.

  Before Simon had finished his eggs and bacon, Binkley entered, looking as if he’d slathered on an extra layer of reserve after the indignities of the night.

  “Lord Cambrey to see you, my lord,” he said stiffly, eyes straight ahead. “Shall I request he wait in the library?”

  “No, show him in.”

  Wiping his mouth with his serviette, he glanced at Jenny.

  “There are no secrets between us, and nothing I discuss with Cam that can’t be shared with you.”

  She seemed to flush with happiness.

  Suddenly he wondered, “Have you shared our news with him?”

  She shook her head, eyes wide. “Of course I wouldn’t, not before telling you.”

  “Telling him what?” Cambrey asked, entering swiftly and with great familiarity, tapped his thigh in greeting before pulling out a chair and lounging at their table.

  “Do sit,” Simon said.

  With equal sarcasm, Cambrey held his hands up. “No matter how many times you off
er, no, I say no. I don’t need any nourishment. Don’t push that delicious smelling food on me.”

  Jenny chuckled. “It’s good to see you, Lord Cambrey. Please, help yourself to anything at our sideboard. It’s a serve-yourself morning. But I will pour you some tea.”

  “I will say yes to tea, and no to the rest. I ate before I arrived. I’m here to discuss politics.”

  “Maybe I should leave you gentlemen alone,” Jenny said.

  Simon shook his head. “I welcome your company, wife. In fact, I don’t think I can stand for you to leave the room.”

  Cambrey laughed at this open declaration. “Indeed, Lady Lindsey, don’t leave on my account. I won’t be long and the topic affects women and children as much as anyone.”

  Simon felt Jenny startle beside him. Should he tell his friend about his heir now, or would that embarrass her? He decided to remain silent until she was ready to speak. But he was well-aware to what Cam was referring.

  “Ah, yes,” Simon said. “Lord Ashley’s bill.”

  “Indeed. Ashley is still pushing hard for his Factory Act, and I, for one, support it. I hope you will, too.” Cam leaned forward in his chair.

  “Of course,” Simon agreed. “It’s about bloody time.”

  Jenny set her teacup down. “It will pass this time, I hope. It is only right and just and humane. How can anyone be expected to work longer than ten hours a day? That should include the men, though. After a hard day’s work, these women need their husbands at home, and the children need their fathers.”

  Cam smiled. “We should ask your countess to come speak before the ministers.”

  The two men laughed, but Jenny was adamant. “No, thank you. I think I’ve stepped outside my role quite enough.”

  “Have you given up bookkeeping then?”

  Simon’s ears perked up at his friend’s question, awaiting her response. Obviously, as Lady Lindsey, she now had no need of working for the Belton townsfolk.

  Glancing at him with her unassuming way, she sent him a questioning look.

  He reached over and took her hand. “I had rather hoped you would continue to oversee our family ledgers.”

  She smiled. “I would love to do that, my lord.”

  “Well, then, now that’s settled, I will be off.” Cam rose to his feet. “I only wanted to make sure you were going to put in an appearance tomorrow, and I thought I might have to browbeat you into voting yea.”