Chapter 16

It was as simple a fare as Charles could have imagined.

He and Lady Felicity were sitting in the middle of an open field. A blanket under them for comfort. A bevy of assorted cakes and cheeses and spreads to snack on. Wine also, because what were snacks without wine? The sun on their faces. A cool breeze blowing at their backs. And, most importantly, perfect company.

"... and we are not doing a joint wedding, by the way," Lady Felicity blew through her lips. "No matter how much Phoebe insists."

"Harry said the same thing to me!" Charles cried, laughing all the while. "Do you think they discussed it? Or are they just so in sync that they happened to have the same idea?"

"The second one, definitely," she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Gosh, they are the worst, are they not? If it wasn't so sweet, it would be sickly."

"So sweet that it is sickly," Charles corrected with a grin.

"Good point."

"I am happy for them, though," he sighed as if it pained him to admit it. "I cannot help but feel that they deserve one another."

"True love does exist," she agreed with a smile, even if there was a hint of cynicism.

"To true love." He lifted his glass of wine for a cheer, and Lady Felicity, rolling her eyes first so he would know how she truly felt, joined him. "So, no joint wedding then?"

She snorted. "I hope you are all right with that?"

"I am just glad to know that this arrangement of ours is going to continue."

She frowned. "Why would it not be?"

"Oh, you know..." he shrugged. "Now that you know the reason for it – the stud farm, I mean. I would have expected you to cancel on me, out of spite and the strange pleasure you take in seeing me suffer."

"Oh, please," she drawled. "I am not that bad."

"Joking, of course," he grinned. "In fact, I suspect the opposite is now true."

"Meaning?"

He looked at her flatly. "Now that you know I am not as big a rake as you initially imagined, you might have no reason to want to marry me. Seeing as I am not the easy conquest you probably hoped – ow!" he yelped when Lady Felicity slapped him.

"That is not even close to being true!"

"That hurt!" He pretended to pout as he clutched at his arm where she had struck him.

"Good. I hope it stings." She widened her eyes at him in warning.

"I jest, Lady Felicity. I jest." He held his palms out as if to surrender.

"You better...." Her eyes widened further, which had him snickering, which saw her break and join in on the laughter.

It was incredible how much things had changed between them in the past week. To think of where they were when they first met to where they were now, one would suspect that years had passed by. And that wasn't to mention all that had happened in between, the constant shifting of intentions and motives, the will-they won't-they dynamic that had hung in the air every time they spoke.

It hadn't escaped Charles' notice that they still had not mentioned their shared kiss from two nights ago. Strangely, it did not feel as relevant as it might have. When that had occurred, Lady Felicity had still assumed Charles was trying to use her for something... likely that his ultimate goal was to seduce her and nothing more. It was as if she was testing him, a means to coax out his true nature.

Now, it was difficult for Charles to assess the energy that hovered between the two. Nowhere near as hostile, that was for sure. And he no longer got the sense that she was testing him. But did that mean this was back to being a neutral arrangement? Of that, Charles was not sure...

Like Charles, Felicity had her own reputation to contend with. And, like Charles', he suspected it wasn't at all what he had been told.

"All right." Charles put down his glass of wine. "It's your turn."

"My turn?" she blinked. "Meaning?"

"I have told you all about my own sordid history. I would like to know about yours."

She blew through her lips. "I hate to break it to you, but there isn't much to tell."

"Oh, I doubt that. Remember, your reputation is nearly as bad as mine – not as bad," he said quickly when he saw her move to dissuade him. "But there is a good reason you said yes to this pending marriage and I doubt it is because you became lost in my eyes and didn't know to what you were agreeing."

She chuckled. "It certainly wasn't that."

"So, come on then." He shuffled closer to her. "Tell me. I am curious."

Strangely, Lady Felicity suddenly turned shy. She looked away and withdrew in on herself. "It is not at all what – it is boring."

"It usually is."

"You will likely think I am stupid."

"Somehow, I doubt that."

She forced herself to look at him; her big brown eyes filled with what looked like regret. "You are really interested?"

"Lady Felicity," he said with a smile. "If I am to marry an old spinster, I have the right to know it."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't stop herself from laughing. "I am certainly not that."

"Then prove it."

According to everyone whom Charles spoke with, Lady Felicity hated men. Never once courted. Never once even seen with another man. She espoused the notion of romance in every way imaginable. It had made her a perfect candidate for their marriage, for there was no chance she might want more out of him.

Charles had long since suspected that to be a lie.

Strangely, he hoped that it was. Oh, sure, things would be a lot easier if it was true. It would dispel the tension that Charles could feel hovering between them. It would convince him to behave and treat Lady Felicity as nothing more than a business partner. But as he looked at her, from her gorgeous smile to her beautiful eyes to her perfect figure, he knew there was no point in lying to himself.

If she was completely against romance, then so be it. It was not as if Charles was a bastion of the concept. But if not, if there was indeed more to her than the world knew... Charles could not help but wonder what that might mean for the future. The marriage. Them.

"I do not hate marriage," Lady Felicity began, as if she needed to get that point out. "Nor am I as against romance as everyone thinks. In fact, when I was a little girl, that was all I wanted. To meet the right man, fall in love, live happily ever after."

"How droll," Charles joked.

She laughed softly. "Things changed when I was sixteen."

"What... what happened when you were sixteen?"

She took a deep breath. "My mother died."

"Oh..." Charles felt immediately guilty. "I am so --"

"It is fine," she cut him off. "At the time, not so much, but that was years ago. Anyway, as you know I have twin sisters. Younger than I am. And when my mother died, I saw how broken my father was over it. I knew that if I didn't look out for them then nobody would. In that way, I was forced to become their mother. I could not run off and marry, start my own life, and leave them alone. And in that, I knew that when it came time for them to start attending balls and meeting men, it would be up to me to help them."

The atmosphere seemed to shift around them suddenly. Alone in the open field as they were, not a soul in sight, the sun suddenly vanished behind a cloud, and the cool breeze blew harder. Charles was sitting only a foot or so away from Lady Felicity, but he shifted closer so that he was right beside her; so that his body was pressed against hers.

"So, that is what I did." Lady Felicity turned her body slightly, moving her arm out so Charles could slide in closer. With the way the wind blew, it could be mistaken for trying to keep her warm. "As soon as they were of age, I started going to balls to find them future husbands, figuring that once they were dealt with, I could worry about my own future."

"I take it that it took a little longer than you suspected?" He rested a hand on her thigh gently. She eyed it for a moment but did not try and move it away.

"No, not really. But I suppose I simply lost interest in that path for myself. I spent so long worrying about my sisters that after a while, my own future did not seem so important. And by the time I found Lord Moore for Phoebe, well... you have heard what they say about me? I knew there was no point in even trying anymore because who would have me? Nobody." She laughed as if it was funny, but it came out as pained; a resignation to a reality she could not change.

The story broke Charles' heart. He hadn't expected it to. And were it anybody else, it might not have. But he knew Lady Felicity now. He knew the kind, sweet, innocent woman that she was. And all that she had given up and sacrificed for others, only for it to be turned against her. It simply wasn't right.

Charles had never imagined that he might get married. Like with Lady Felicity, it had also felt beyond his realm. And he had accepted that because who would ever marry him? And what woman would he even meet that he would want to? But as he looked at Lady Felicity, as he remembered their past few days spent together, as he considered her story and what it meant, and this arrangement they had made, he could not help but wonder...

"You're wrong, you know," he said softly.

"What do you mean?" She was looking down at her lap, as if too ashamed to meet his eyes.

"About nobody wanting you." Slowly, he reached out and rested a hand under her chin. And then, just as slowly, he brought her face up to meet his eyes. "If I recall, you and I are to be wed, no?"

She scoffed. "It is not the same thing."

"Is it not? I know that this agreement we have made is not the most romantic of notions. And I know that it isn't close to what your sister and Harry might have but..." He smiled for her, making sure it reached his eyes. "I don't know. I feel it is perfect for us, no?"

"Per -- perfect how?" she stammered.

"Our pasts. Who we are. What people think of us. It seems to me that if there was one person who I could marry in all of London, regardless of circumstance, it would be you, Lady Felicity."

She pushed his hand down and tried to pull back, but he shifted closer. "You are just saying that."

"No. I am not."

For a moment, he thought she was going to deny him. To argue. To rebuke. To push him away as she so often did. He was sitting so he was practically on top of her. Leaning in so that their faces were mere inches apart. Eyes meeting. Heart beats matched. Alone in this field, in this entire world, for how their lives had been.

But then she smiled, glanced away shyly, and looked back up. "For once, I actually believe you."

"It's about time --"

Lady Felicity leaned forward and kissed him, and something ignited inside of Charles.

He was through with pretending. Through with playing games. Through with denying himself. When her lips met his own all reason and self-control went out the window. His hand moved swiftly, wrapped itself around the back of her head, held her to him, and then he devoured her.

His lips pushed her mouth open and his tongue slipped inside. His teeth bit down on her lip and nibbled. She gasped and tried to pull back, but he did not release her. Rather, his other hand moved to her waist and pulled her into him with such power that she fell forward, knocking him down and onto his back. But she came with him, scrambling onto his body so that her legs straddled him.

Both his hands moved down her waist and wrapped around her butt. She ground her pelvis forward, moaning as he continued to kiss her passionately. And her hands! They were wild as they groped, insatiable in the way she pawed and clawed as if trying to grab at every inch of him.

For what must have only been minutes but felt like hours, Charles remained on his back, straddled by Lady Felicity, as the two made out in a way that suggested they had both wanted this for longer than either would have ever been willing to admit.

But it would not be enough, and they both seemed to know it.

His hands moved down her thighs, hoisting up her skirt. He grabbed hold of her bare skin, digging his fingers in until she gasped again. He leaned his head back and she started on his neck, biting and licking and sucking in a way that made his legs shake.

Hastily, he moved his hands inside of her thighs. Already, he could feel how wet she was. She shuddered as his fingers traced inside of her, between her thighs, all the way up until he touched her second pair of lips. Her body stiffened and she pulled back, looking at him in surprise. He thought she was going to tell him to stop... but then he saw it. The hunger in her stare. The want in it. A smile crossed her lips and he licked his own to let her know what it was he was going to do.

He was stronger than her. More powerful. More dominant. Without a word he sat up, lifting her with him, forcing himself to his knees as he held her around his body, gently lowering her on her own back. He kissed her neck as he lay her down. He tore open her dress as he kissed down her collarbone and to her breasts. To her nipples, he sucked and nibbled and enjoyed the way her body spasmed. And all the while his fingers worked.

No more games. No more pretending. No more denying himself.

Charles shuffled down Lady Felicity"s body, on his knees, and lifted her dress over his head. He dove beneath it. He kissed down her thighs as he held her legs apart. Her body twitched and begged him to go further. He could feel how warm she was, the desire pouring from her.

He chuckled as he kissed her thighs. As he teased her. Her hands tried to force his head, but he stayed strong, licking his tongue over her lips, pulling away, gently probing and prodding until he could wait no longer.

And then, finally, Charles wrapped his mouth around Lady Felicity and devoured her like the rake that he was.

She cried out in ecstasy. She begged him not to stop. She screamed so loud that the birds in the neighboring trees flocked to the sky. And still, he continued. Licking and sucking her as she convulsed and writhed and shuddered. As she spasmed and stiffened and exploded.

This arrangement of theirs. This marriage. All pretext was gone. All assumption that it was only for show evaporated. As Charles devoured Lady Felicity in that empty meadow, as he brought her to climax with nothing more than his tongue and lips and fingers, he knew that from now on things would be different between them. That things could never go back to how they were.

And what was more. He couldn't have been happier for it. Who would have guessed?