Chapter Nine

February 4, 1818

Huxley House

Manchester Square

Mayfair, London

H attie still buzzed with appreciation and satisfaction as she entered the closed carriage with her mother.

"Oh, Mama, that man's voice is like heaven." She tumbled onto her bench and sighed as she leaned back against the squabs. "Thank you for allowing me to attend the opera with you tonight. It was such a gift."

"That it was, and he is a gifted singer." As soon as her mother sat down, she rapped on the ceiling and the carriage lurched into motion.

With a smile, Hattie closed her eyes and remembered how Mr. Dellingham's voice had the power to send her to the heights and it had helped her forget the nightmare from two nights ago, but oddly enhanced that intimacy she'd received from her husband that had now mixed with her dreams. "I hope to see him again in person while he's still in London." That assumed he traveled about the world.

"He is quite popular," her mother agreed. "I wonder if he has a wife."

"Why?" She frowned.

"Oh, I don't know. A man with such a voice might make someone a lovely husband."

"Perhaps." Hattie nodded even if a bit of the joy surrounding the opera faded. "A lady would indeed find herself fortunate. Imagine waking up to that voice every day!" Though, to be fair, Simon's voice was nothing to sneeze at.

Her mother chuckled. "How are you doing, dear? This is your third day as a married woman. Is all… well between the two of you? Have you settled on a location for your wedding trip?"

"Oh." The delight gained from the singer's voice faded in the face of her real life. "The captain and I haven't discussed it." In fact, over the course of the last two days, they hadn't had much time to talk about anything. He was usually absent in the evenings, gone to parts unknown. Yesterday, the weather had decided to give over a mix of snow and rain, so she'd practiced her flute while he'd gone to visit a friend, and today, Simon had pleaded business. "As for things between my husband and I, well I don't know what to compare it to. We are steadily coming to know each other, I suppose."

Yet the secrets he kept bothered her.

"It is winter, dear, which should keep you both at home. I hope you aren't entertaining other men beneath his nose."

Hattie's jaw dropped. "Mama, how dare you!" She glanced out the window at the darkened streets of Mayfair. "You make me sound like a lightskirt." Her mother didn't know as much as she thought she knew. "When all I did was tease men until they kissed me." If there was occasionally some carnal exploration, there was no real harm in it.

Except, how did one kiss with her new husband and a bit of sensual exploration on his part that brought her out of a nightmare put all those meetings to shame? Even now, remembering Simon's kiss from the other day had the power to send tingles down her spine and butterflies dancing through her lower belly. And the feeling of his fingers on the sensitive portions of her body? A shiver gripped her. The potential for an inferno between them was incredible. To say nothing of his penchant for protecting her against unknown threats.

"So you keep saying, dear." Her mother leaned forward and patted Hattie's knee. "Obviously, you survived your wedding night. Was it… terrible?"

Heat seeped into her cheeks. "Why, uh, do you think it was terrible?" Was her mother that much of a prude?

"Well, you must admit, the captain is a rather… large man, which means that first time would have been quite… uncomfortable." Her mother gestured with a hand, to vaguely refer to sexual congress.

Dear mercy.

"We, ah…" She cleared her throat. "That is to say, the captain and I haven't… Er, well, we haven't consummated the union just yet." Thankful for the darkness in the carriage that hid her blazing cheeks, Hattie continued to stare out the window. "Doing so requires a certain amount of trust."

"Oh, Hattie." Slight censure echoed in the rebuke. "Best have the chore over with as soon as you can lest his attention wander. Men don't enjoy waiting."

There was nothing she could say that would make the conversation better, so she kept her own counsel. If that was true, and she didn't give her husband permission to bed her, would he seek physical repletion with someone else? Did he already have a mistress and that was why he had been gone two out of three evenings since they'd wed?

It was something she would confront him with later tonight.

Why did every time she found herself in her husband's bedchamber, a case of nerves beset her? And more to the point, why was he never actually in said room when she came looking for him? It was the third night in a row, which meant every night since their wedding he'd been absent.

This time Hattie didn't tuck herself into his bed, for she knew as soon as she laid down, the feather pillows would encourage her into slumber. Instead, as the carriage-style clock on the mantel softly chimed the midnight hour, she paced the length of the space. The light from a single candle flame flickered and bounced around the walls and ceiling. Outside the windows, a light snow fell to gently coat trees and shrubberies with a fine blanket of white.

The longer the captain remained away, the more her anger brewed in her chest, and when he finally made an appearance, the lid on her emotions was nearly bubbling over.

"Where the deuce have you been, Captain?" In her ire, she crossed her arms beneath her breasts and glared at him, closing her mind to how mouth-watering he looked in his evening wear complete with tailcoat.

Drops of moisture sparkled in his hair from where the snowflakes touched it from beneath his top hat, and those curling waves practically begged Hattie to run her fingers through the tresses. "Uh, I had an obligation this evening. At the theatre, in truth." He yanked his gloves off and then tossed them in the direction of one of the comfortable leather winged-backed chairs.

"Oh?" How interesting. "I was with my mother at the theatre tonight and don't believe I saw you."

Surprise reflected in his eye for a few seconds as he released the buttons of his tailcoat. "Well, it is a large, crowded place, so it's not outside the realm of possibility we didn't run into each other."

"Why didn't you tell me? We could have gone together." And she could ask his opinion of her favorite singer.

"That would have been an option, but I attended with a few others." When he shrugged out of the garment, he threw it toward the chair, not glancing at it again as it slipped quietly to the floor. "Why are you here in my suite?"

The rumble of his voice tickled through her chest. "I was waiting for you. We have a conversation to finish, wouldn't you say?" When he didn't answer immediately, some of her confidence ebbed. "Unless you were lying to me about your whereabouts tonight. Do you have a mistress? Or perhaps you spend time at a club in an effort to avoid me? I'm sure there are plenty of courtesans there to relieve pent-up desire." If he heard the bitterness in her voice, she didn't care. Wasn't he the one that said they needed to make the best of this situation?

"Ah, so because I've been missing for the past few evenings, you have jumped to conclusions and have decided to make wild accusations." As he spoke, Simon wrenched off his cuffs, collar, and then his cravat. Each piece fell to the floor like misplaced clouds. The black leather eyepatch with the shadows of the room partially obscuring his face made him mysterious and quite handsome.

She snorted. "What do you expect me to think when you won't talk to me?" Was her anger misplaced, then? "For all your talk of my fidelity, are you breaking your own order?"

"My schedule is not your concern."

"While I can understand that to a certain extent, if I'm to keep you informed of my plans for the day and night, why can you not do the same for me?"

Annoyance flashed in his sapphire eye. "You'll need to trust me, for I am unable to tell you of my commitments."

The arrogance of this man! "Then I shall do what I please without consulting you."

"As if you don't already do that?" His eyebrow rose as he worked the laces of his waistcoat at his back.

She threw up an arm. "What does that mean?" What was it about him that fired every emotion she had and sent them hurtling through her blood like fire?

After he yanked off the garment of green and gold brocade, he threw it onto the chair. "What of the man in Hyde Park? What was his name?"

"Mr. Toppin? I have already explained to you about him."

"What if I don't believe you?" Anger roiled in his eye and was etched in his expression. It was the first time she'd seen him with such an emotion. "The two of you seemed all too cozy that day, and he was quite interested in you."

Heat sank into her cheeks. "While that might have been how it appeared to an observer, I did tell you the truth. We'd flirted in the past, but once you and I married, I told him nothing could ever come between us."

"Yet he persists." With agitated movements, the captain sat on the trunk at the foot of the bed and then proceeded to remove his evening shoes. They fell to the carpet with dull thuds.

"He had some nodcock idea that I would consent to become his mistress."

When Simon's eye narrowed, she stifled a gasp. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to admit. "Is that what you want?"

"No, of course not. I have already promised my fidelity to you." What was it about this man that could have her riled so quickly?

He yanked off his hosiery and tossed it away. When he shot to his feet and faced her, his large presence seemed to fill the room; there was nowhere to hide. "This marriage isn't going to work unless honesty is the foundation." His face was like a thundercloud. "You are not to entertain that man anywhere, and so help me, if he dares to call at this house, there will be hell to pay. You are my wife."

The possessiveness in his tone had intense awareness washing over her. Somewhat discomfited, especially with his state of undress, Hattie rushed to her own defense. "I'm not the one who's hiding something! You talk of honesty, but you don't give it."

"Meaning?" A low warning rumbled through that one word.

"Wherever you go in the evenings, I'm certain you have a mistress, and while I understand that is de rigueur for gentlemen about Town, I won't stand for my husband's attention to be divided." What was good for the gander was also good for the goose.

"I do not keep a mistress. If my time is divided, it is not due to that." Mottled color rose up his neck. "However, you are entertaining men behind my back!"

She gasped, and when she strode forward a few steps toward him, the lace-edged night dress whispered across the floor. "I am not. I told him to leave, that I was married. It is the truth."

"Yet he was there, trying to lure you away not half an hour after we spoke vows to each other."

"I'm not responsible for anyone else's actions except mine!" Why was that the sticking point? "I realize my reputation isn't the best, which is why I was given over to you in a transaction stemming from the Lyon's Den. The last chance to match a troublesome woman so to speak, but those scandals were in my past. Just like you chose to accept this marriage as a new avenue, so did I." That was the most honest truth she'd told him since she'd met him on her wedding day.

For long moments, the captain stared at her, and his eye slowly darkened from the force of emotions no doubt battering him. "I want to believe you, except on our wedding night, you dreamed about him and talked about him in your sleep, dreamed he was fucking you."

The vulgarness of the word seemed to explode onto the air, and she looked at him with shocked reverberating through her chest. Then another round of heat went into her cheeks. "I did?" Oh dear. She did remember dreaming about him a few times since meeting him a handful of months ago. Was that really what she wanted? A life with Samuel Toppin?

He crossed his arms at his chest, and she was suddenly far too aware of the strength in those arms, highlighted by the fine lawn of the shirt he still wore. "Is that all you would say?"

"No." Shaking her head, she attempted to force moisture into her dry throat with a swallow. "It's not true."

"Which? The dream or the reality?"

"Both." Trembles shook her hands, so she hid them in the skirting of her night dress. "I cannot control what I dream about any more than I can control the actions of others. Despite that, I am yet an innocent."

"Ha." Simon snorted. "I don't believe that. You are far too experienced in carnal experiences."

She blew out a breath as her past behavior came home to roost. "I told you I liked chasing scandal."

"And the dreaming of a lion bit? Do you own such a cat?"

"No." A sudden swath of fear moved through her chest. "That was merely a dream. It's been recurring for months now as I've already told you, and I don't know what it means, but I suspect it might be a warning."

His sensual lips curved downward into a frown. "You expect me to believe that?"

"You have no reason not to trust me." Her voice rose with the words, for he was just so frustrating. "I don't do so for attention."

"I have no reason to trust you either." Visibly annoyed, his chest heaved from the force of the emotion he kept in check.

For the space of a few heartbeats, they glared at each other as tension crackled between them. Finally, it was Hattie who broke the spell. "Fine. You are entitled to your opinion, and if that is what you believe, then there is no need for me to be here."

"You would put an end to our union so soon?"

It was too difficult to puzzle out how he felt about that. Neither did she care. "If I should accept you as you are without question or suspicion, you should do the same for me." When she went to sweep past him on her way to the door, he shot out a hand and encircled her wrist with his fingers. Each one was like an iron manacle. It was both confusing and arousing. She gasped. Her gaze flew to his. "Common ground or nothing, Captain. Those are the terms. If you want a solid foundation, you must be willing to lay the first brick."

Respect reflected in his expression. "Do you swear there is nothing between you and Mr. Toppin?" There was an odd sort of longing, of hope in his eye, to say nothing of rampant desire.

It was quite intoxicating. "I swear. Was there an attraction between us? Yes. I won't lie. I enjoyed his attentions, but despite how our union came about, I married you ." Her heartbeat accelerated the longer she stood there in his hold, with her breath shallowed and his overwhelming presence filling the space. "I may be many things, but I refuse to break anyone's marriage, let alone mine."

The sound of her breath and the pound of Hattie's pulse in her ears marked the time as he searched her eyes, for God knew what, but she hoped he found it within her, hoped he wished to explore that attraction, the odd connection between them.

"I shall hold you to that, my lady."

For years afterward, she was never certain who moved first. But one second, they were at each other's throat, and the next, she was in his arms, and he was kissing her with fierce passion and definite possession that immediately lit tiny fires within her blood.

Words seemed superfluous when they communicated much more effectively with kisses and caresses. Clothes fell to questing fingers. Before she knew it, Hattie had been pushed against the wall between the windows. Her husband shoved her arms upward, pinned her wrists above her head, and held them with one hand while he kissed her with abandon.

It took next to no time for her to fall beneath his spell.

"Captain, please." She tried to tug her wrists from his hold, but he was quite strong.

"Simon, damn it. I have asked you to use my Christian name." The growl in his voice, the way he glanced his lips along the side of her neck had pleasure pinwheeling through her person.

"Simon." When he released his hold, a sigh shuddered from her throat. "Send me flying again." She couldn't help but ease her hands over the wide expanse of his naked chest and thrill at the planes and ridges there. "Or at the very least, let me lick champagne from your naval."

"What?" Surprise reflected in his eye, and when a slow grin curved those sensual lips, the gesture made him seem younger by a handful of years.

It was difficult to concentrate when he had her breasts in his hands and was doing all sorts of delicious things to them. "It would be a shame to not utilize your body for deviant activities, don't you think?"

"I think that can perhaps be arranged… later." Then he claimed her lips in a searing kiss while teasing her hardened nipples with the pads of his thumbs.

In this, he was as intense as he was in everything else, and it was all she could do to remain upright as he glided his lips and tongue all over her body. No place was off limits, and by the time he'd thoroughly explored her form with tongue, teeth, and lips, she could barely summon the strength to loop her arms about the breadth of his shoulders. Residual flutters went through her core, for he'd sent her flying already with a gentle release.

"There is more to come," he whispered against her lips as he lifted her into his arms, carried her to one of the leather chairs, and then tumbled them both into it.

"How can I endure more?" It was already better than she could have hoped for, but she was anxious and a tad afraid of what came next. Her mother had talked of things, but not in detail, and what she'd heard from friends, as much as she looked forward to this act, the not knowing was daunting.

And his aroused shaft was quite impressive and quite large.

"It is the way of things, but if you wish to beg off…"

"No." She grinned while she situated herself in his lap so that she straddled him. "I want you, want to feel you inside me." Having his mouth on that private part of her had been the height of thrilling, but now she wanted to explore him, be joined with him. "These past few years, I've wanted nothing except to lose my innocence, for what is the point of guarding it if I hadn't planned to marry?"

"Until you were forced to?" When his large hands came up to frame her head, she had no choice but to peer into his eye.

"Sometimes we all need a swift push to leave the mountain top, hmm?"

"Indeed." Then the man kissed her so thoroughly she thought he had a wish to reach her soul, but she didn't mind because he was a lovely kisser.

Eventually, she became aware of the urgent thickness of his length as it scraped against her arse. It grew more insistent the longer he plundered her mouth, and she adored every moment of this, almost as if all the years of her chasing other men, of teasing them, of taunting them had culminated into this time of her life.

Daring much, Hattie wriggled her bottom against his shaft, and as he moaned, she grinned, reached back and brushed her fingers along his member.

"Easy, Hattie, else this night will end before I can claim you." Strain graveled his voice. "It has been a while since I've had a woman in my bed."

"I hope I live up to your expectations." The temptation to kiss him was too much, and in this position, it was too awkward to properly explore him, so she set out to devour his mouth. The faint taste of herself on his lips from where he'd pleasured her was oddly an aphrodisiac, and as she sought out his tongue with hers, Hattie instinctively rose onto her knees and, putting a hand between them to guide that rampant length to where she wanted him, she said a quick prayer and swiftly slammed herself onto it until she was fully impaled. "Good heavens." A rush of sensation swamped her and mixed with a prick of pain. It zipped through her body, sent swirling warmth everywhere, and she let out a shuddering sigh.

Oh, he was so lovely and large, and he filled every centimeter of her.

His eye rounded with shock as he held her gaze. "You are no longer an innocent, truly."

"I told you I wasn't lying." But she couldn't contain her smile. For a few moments, she didn't move while she acclimated herself to his intrusion.

"Are you in pain?"

"Not exactly. It is… different, not too uncomfortable, yet not… pleasant? Perhaps more odd than anything else just now." Yet she rejoiced in finally being physically joined with a man.

"It will improve once I move."

"Allow me one moment more, for I suspect once things get underway, we will be consumed and won't stop."

"I quite agree. Your body is far too lush not to enjoy fully."

"Cheeky." Unable to help herself, Hattie kissed his lips, his cheek, the side of his neck, placed a series of nips and nibbles beneath his jaw that caused his length to jump inside her and his groan to echo in her ear. There was such power in pleasuring a man, and it was more satisfying than flirting and teasing.

"It is the truth." Then his hands were once more on her breasts as he teased her nipples into tight peaks with his fingers and mouth until she squirmed on his lap with a cry of both surrender and encouragement.

Again, there was no need to talk, and instead, she sought to enjoy this man's body as he did hers. With a bit of lingering reserve, she clutched his shoulders, moved up and down his shaft, slowly to savor the exquisite feeling of him filling her, hitting every sensitive point she possessed, rubbing everywhere with delicious friction, and it was the most amazing adventure she'd ever undertaken. So many new and incredible sensations and feelings swamped her, she feared she might go mad from trying to analyze them, and though the going was awkward at first, there was nothing—nothing—quite like being filled with him.

"Dear God, you are so tight, so exquisite, and I need so much more than this." Before she could reply, he struggled up from the chair with her in his arms. Their intimate connection broke, and at her cry of dismay, he grinned, tossed her onto the wide bed. "We are not yet finished." Seconds later, he joined her, eased his large frame over hers and settled between her bent knees. The weight of him was pleasant and comforting, and she craved him all the more since she now knew what it felt like to be joined with him.

"Touch me, Simon. I will break apart if you don't." Perhaps it was a silly thing to say, but that was how she felt. Trembles careened down Hattie's spine as he glided his fingers between her thighs and along her folds. When he teased and plucked the swollen nubbin at her center, she nearly launched herself from the bed. "Oh yes, just there." Heated pleasure swept over her, and she shook from the glory of it. Addicted as if his attention were a drug, she pressed a hand to his, guiding him, telling him exactly what she wanted.

The man made pure magic as he tortured and teased. So much so that she bumped her hips against his hand in the hopes he would penetrate her again. Need and pressure coiled tight in her lower belly, and with the next pass of his fingers, she shattered. "Simon! Oh, yes!" She arched her back as the release swept her away. How much more could she take this night?

How much more did she want of him?

Perhaps there was no answer since she hadn't hit that threshold yet.

"You are ethereal when you fall over that edge. It makes me selfish to see it again." Once the captain withdrew his hand, he settled his body between her thighs. As contractions continued to flutter in her core, he fit the head of his shaft to her opening, and with a powerful flex of his hips, he buried himself deep, so deuced deep, joining them again, but this time there was no doubting his authority, his dominance, his possession.

Her moan blended with his. "So much better than the first time."

"You and I agree in this as well." As he claimed her lips, he moved with forceful yet languid strokes she felt all the way to her soul. How exquisite was that slow, deliberate coupling! Each long thrust evoked wild sensation until she was drowning in it.

Hattie matched his rhythm as best she could, lifted her hips to receive him, and soon they moved together as if they'd been doing this all their lives. She clung to his shoulders and urged him down more comfortably over her, wanting to go ever closer to him, to feel him against every part of her, and reminded herself that when she had the opportunity, she would explore every inch of his form she hadn't had the time to once passion had consumed her. He shifted positions, and the new angle hit her passage differently. Raw need shivered through her, further quickening her response.

Then the rhythm changed, as urgency on both their parts made itself known. Through it all, he held her gaze. Desire and pleasure reflected in the dark blue depth of his eye, even evident in the illumination of the single candle, along with admiration, and she thrilled with that tiny concession to a softer emotion.

Would they ever fall in love with each other? There was no answer in this moment.

Already far too primed, it took little effort for Hattie to break and fall over the edge into bliss again. "Oh… oh…" A sea of swirling white light swallowed her as pleasure consumed her. "Simon, dear God!" Her scream was stifled because he kissed her, took the sound as a part of him, and he thrust into her contracting channel again and again and again until he found his own release. Witnessing the intense concentration then the break of ecstasy on his face was so remarkable and breath-catching, she continued to tumble through heaven with him.

"Damn, that was surprising." Once his shaft stopped pulsing inside her, he collapsed on top of her, and she couldn't have enough, wanted him all the more again. "I haven't had nearly enough time to explore your curves to my satisfaction," he whispered against the shell of her ear.

"I feel the same way, but toward your form." The night had been far too confusing and lovely, and being introduced to the carnal world of sex had been eye opening and thrilling. "The rumors regarding you weren't wrong." Tears welled and she didn't know why, for the whole thing was too mysterious to fathom. "I am… floundering." She sniffled then resorted to burying her face into the crook of his neck.

"Did I hurt you?" He lifted his head, nudged her to meet his gaze.

"No, of course not. I am overwhelmed by how I feel and this experience." Already, muscles she'd never thought about were showing a pleasant ache. "There is so much to think about."

"But you are satisfied? Pleased at what we've done together?" The barely there waver of vulnerability in his voice caused her heart to tremble. Drat if she didn't lose a piece of it to him in that moment.

"Quite." She caressed the side of his face, dared to trace the edge of his eyepatch before he flinched and moved out of her reach. "I had no idea coupling would be this splendid." Frankly, she was too stunned and in awe to do much of anything. "I might wish for another go 'round soon."

With a chuckle, the captain collapsed onto his back with an arm flung over his head. "I would be happy to assuage that curiosity."

"Good." A giggle escaped her, and she felt entirely too giddy. Yet worry snuck in to steal some of the wonder from the moment. He still hadn't been honest with her, and with that sixth sense of hers, she knew Mr. Toppin wouldn't leave her be merely because she was married.

To say nothing of the constant dreaming of a lion.

Perhaps it didn't matter right this second. Then she yawned. "I need to return to my bed."

"Stay with me." He encouraged her to snuggle into his side. "I rather enjoy having someone to talk to whenever the mood strikes."

Except, that hadn't been often. Would he change that now they'd consummated their union?