Chapter 33

The young

couple spent their first day in Bath in their room, eating,

drinking, making love , and

talking. Always they seemed to find it easy to talk to one another

about so many things, continuing to learn new things about one

another.

The following morning,

Alessandra looked out the window and felt her excitement take

over.

"Shall we go out and walk

around the town, Edward?" she suggested. "It looks so

beautiful."

Edward moved up behind

her and kissed the back of her neck, making her temporarily wonder

if she did want to leave their room.

"You look so beautiful, my

lovely wife."

Alessandra pulled away from him

as she smiled.

"Come,

my love. There are things for us to

see and do," she said with mock sternness.

Edward laughed before putting

on his coat and starting to follow her.

~~~~~

As they walked through

the streets, Alessandra grew wide-eyed in looking at the many

people around. Everyone she saw seemed to have come from a much

higher place in society than she had ever seen. She found herself

looking at gowns, jewels, and the elaborate ways the women wore

their hair. If she had been of another kind of nature, the

experience might have made her feel ugly, and not of a class high

enough to be among such people. With her exuberance and keen

eagerness for learning, she walked among them like a scholar in a

university.

Edward watched his wife

much more so than he looked at anyone else. Her facial expressions

were a constant source of allurement to him. He knew that even he,

with the standing his family had in the land due to the size of his

family's estate, would never be regarded as high in society as many

of the people around them were. Despite that, he, at least, had

grown up around such people through his parents' entertaining at

the estate. To know and fully understand where his wife had come

from, made him even more in awe of her for so easily walking among

such people without any indication of unease at all.

~~~~~

From a distance, another

pair of eyes found their way to Alessandra, and were now watching

the way that she and her husband looked at each other. As Tom

Missinger stared at the couple, he felt a deep regret once again

for not having insisted to his parents that she was the one he

wanted to marry. He also recognised that he had a deep longing for

her. He needed to be looked at the way that Alessandra looked at

the man beside her.

While continuing to watch

her discretely, he took a moment to think about his own marriage,

and look at his wife beside him. Of course, their marriage had

seemed an acceptable idea at the time. With his intended bride, he

would be able to add much land to his family property - Missinger

Estate. It had been easy when he had first met his intended, as

he'd been truly struck by her immense physical beauty. That hadn't

wavered since they'd wed, but now he looked at Alessandra, and even

though she was no beauty - and had never been - the level of

happiness and contentment on her face transformed her into someone

with a very attractive quality about her indeed.

"Are you well, Tom?" he heard

his wife ask.

He smiled sadly at her. "Of

course, Katherine."

That was all it took for

her to be reassured and turn her attention elsewhere. Even though

they had been married for so long, she still seemed, to him, to be

just an accessory to him. Equally, Tom felt like he was just an

accessory to her. She had never seemed to have any desire for them

to have true intimacy. She treated the marital act like it was a

necessary unpleasant thing that had to be done, but should be done

as quickly as possible and then forgotten. Even in that, there was

still no child. That had left Tom wondering what the point of all

that land would be if there was never going to be any heir to

inherit it.

Looking at his previous beau

and her beloved, Tom could tell that they had an entirely different

type of marriage. It was evident that Alessandra's husband was

sharing with her all the things that Tom had always wished for. The

thought made him feel unbelievably sad. He was still processing

that thought, looking at Alessandra, when he came back to the

present and realised that she was looking straight back at him.

Without any thought of his

wife, Tom Missinger moved forward.

~~~~~

Alessandra and her

husband enjoyed exploring and looking at many things. They were

just about to head back to their lodgings when Edward saw

Alessandra's face change from joy to surprise, and then to intense

thoughtfulness. When he followed her gaze, he was unhappy to see

heading toward them the same handsome man he'd seen her with in her

home town. Thinking quickly, this time he made sure to be in the

picture that the man saw of Alessandra. Edward remained close to

her, holding her hand.

"What a delightful

surprise, seeing you here," Tom said directly to Alessandra and not

giving Edward any acknowledgement at all.

Alessandra curtseyed but

avoided his eye contact.

"Tom, what are you doing?" Tom

heard his wife ask as she approached them.

Alessandra saw his face

cringe.

"Katherine, please allow

me to introduce an old friend - Alessandra - and her husband," he

said, trying to seem normal even though his nerves were frayed.

"This is my wife, Katherine."

"It is a pleasure to meet you,

Mrs Missinger," Alessandra said to the woman. She couldn't help but

see the icy cold look being returned to her. "It is good to see

you, Tom. Please excuse us as we cannot stop," she said and walked

away quickly, holding Edward's hand tightly.

Once they were a suitable

distance away, Edward stopped their walking.

"Alessandra,

take a deep breath ," he said.

"I can see you are tense. What is upsetting you so much?" he asked,

then saw Alessandra give him a look that almost made him

reel.

"I do not

feel comfortable being around a man I once thought I had feelings for," she said. "It makes

me feel … ill at ease."

Edward looked at his wife

and did not want to say anything more that might upset her. He

decided to divert her instead, moving forward to her, putting his

arms around her, and kissing her. It was not a done thing to do in

such an open and public place, but Alessandra reacted quickly. As

she put her arms around him and held him, she let her mind be taken

to another place - a far more pleasurable place.

She looked at him demurely and

whispered close to his ear, "Could we please go back to our

room?"

As

Edward smiled at her, she could see

- and feel - his reaction. It was strong.

"Yes, of course my love, but I

do need a minute to think about the weather," he said, smiling

shyly, and causing her to giggle in her more relaxed state.

~~~~~

Across the

road, the same eyes were still on the two of them. Tom watched as

the two of them embraced. He watched as Alessandra's husband kissed

her, and saw how eagerly she responded. What hurt even more was the

way her husband said something to her, and she laughed so freely

and easily, with true happiness on her face. What it must be like to have a wife look at me

like that , he thought to

himself. He watched Alessandra and Edward walk off, hand in hand.

Even as they moved further away, Tom could still see them looking

at each other with a message of desire broadcast openly on their

faces.

~~~~~

In their room, Edward

felt Alessandra undress him and then walk him backward to the bed,

pushing him down so that he was lying on his back. He lay still as

he watched her undress before him, and then climb up to lie down on

top of him. As aroused as he was, he kissed her as she moved over

him in a way that enabled her to rub against him. To Edward, it was

exciting to have his wife moving in her own way when usually he was

on top.

Alessandra felt confident and

highly aroused, taking control of the movements between them. She

moved down on him, experimenting with how it felt. Both of them

groaned at their joining.

"Oh, Alessandra," Edward

breathed out, enjoying the new feelings while watching his wife

move on him. "Oh, my love … what you do to me," he continued,

moaning in pleasure while alternating between kissing her and

watching her. It wasn't long before Alessandra saw, heard and felt

his release.

She relaxed on him, content to

just be with the man she loved so deeply. They kissed softly,

immersed in emotion, both knowing that nothing needed to be

said.