Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

T hey went, of course, to the same opera house where Anna had gone with Henry and Beatrice. She couldn’t even remember what it was they’d gone to see, only that Beatrice had paid her ticket to get into the opera, Henry had driven them there and back, and she had torn a hole in a pair of gloves and come rushing home to find the Earl sitting in her mother’s drawing room, quite at home.

Yes, that was the evening when everything changed, when Anna decided that she had to do something and proposed marriage to Henry.

It felt like a lifetime ago, not just a matter of weeks.

She entered the building in a very different fashion than she had before. Dukes and duchesses, it seemed, did not enter the building with the rest of the riffraff, not even with the other lords and ladies. They were ushered in through a side entrance, wide and plush-carpeted, with an obsequious footman showing them the way to their box.

They passed a few familiar faces, including Lady Tether, who squealed and waved from across the hall. Anna’s arm was looped loosely through Theo’s, as was proper, although they hadn’t talked much on the carriage ride here, or indeed all day.

Or the day before.

In fact, the last time they had had a conversation was at Kitty’s impromptu pianoforte recital. Anna might have thought that he was avoiding her, but of course, that wasn’t the truth.

She was avoiding him.

Wasn’t it easier that way? Easier, for sure, than fighting off unwanted, troublesome feelings every time they met. Feelings that her cold-hearted husband seemed to have no inclination to return. He wanted a child, and would probably enjoy the act itself, as men tended to do, but that was all.

She was a means to an end, and the reality of it all was a little… well, a little upsetting.

They were almost at the box when a tall, slim man in his thirties stepped forward from a shadowy corner, his eyes fixed on Theo. Anna felt her husband’s arm tense up.

“Don’t you dare,” he snapped, and it took a moment for her to realize that it was this man, this stranger , to whom Theo was speaking so impolitely.

The man blinked but did not say a word. He had chestnut-colored hair, a trim mustache, and a thin beard on his chin. He dressed well, like a gentleman and possibly a lord, but not a duke. He had a long, pale face, and might have been remarkably handsome five or ten years ago.

His gaze flitted over Theo, landing on Anna, and she felt the urge to shrink back under his stare.

She didn’t, of course, preferring instead to tilt up her chin and meet his gaze squarely. The man gave a thin, mirthless smile, and drifted past them. Anna wanted to twist around and stare after him, but Theo’s grip on her arm had tightened, and he pulled her forward. She glanced up at him, wondering who the man was and why Theo hated him so very much.

One look at her husband’s tight, angry expression convinced her that now was not the time. She said nothing, and they continued on their way in silence.

Theo’s aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Rackham, were already waiting at the box. Celine was there too, and she got up to greet Anna at once.

Pleasantries were exchanged, of course. As far as Anna could tell, Lord and Lady Rackham were pleasant and much friendlier than she had expected and were at pains to put her at ease.

The box was plush and comfortable, high above the pressing crowds. There were layers of seating below the boxes, further towards the back of the theater, and that was where Anna used to sit with her friends once upon a time. It was a respectable enough location, although it was difficult to see everything happening on the stage.

It felt odd, being so high above the crowds, so perfectly placed.

“What’s the play?” she asked.

“ Die Zauberfl?te, ” Celine responded, sitting down on the chair beside her.

Theo, naturally, sat in the other chair. That meant that he and Anna were tucked away in the back corner, the rest of the seats angled away from them, all turned towards the stage. Only the five of them were in the box, and the door that led out into the hallway was closed.

Below, the audience was mostly in their seats, muttering amongst themselves and eagerly waiting for the curtain to rise.

Anna scanned the other boxes in the theater, all containing esteemed attendees. A few of them caught her eye and gave her slow nods. A great many of them seemed bored, though.

“It’s a shame you don’t like the opera,” she said, sotto voce , to Theo. “ Die Zauberfl?te is one of my favorites.”

“I know the opera,” he grunted. “I would never have thought German, of all languages, would make such beautiful music. It’s not the music I dislike, but all of…” He paused, gesturing to the theater. “… all of this. Half of the audience will spend their time looking at the other patrons, yawning and checking their watches. We will be scrutinized all the time we are here, with no chance of enjoying the music.”

Anna digested this. In the boxes, it was true, one felt rather on display. She hadn’t worried about it all when she crammed into the lower galleries with her two friends.

“We could sit somewhere else,” she suggested, but Theo let out a hollow laugh.

“That, my dear, would be the most scandalous thing of all, I’m afraid.”

She intended to argue the point further, but at that moment, the orchestra struck up, filling the theater with music. The curtain began to rise, and the audience gasped in delight.

For an hour at least, Anna could see nothing but the stage in front of her.

Towards the end of the first act, she began to relax a little, enjoying the familiar story and the familiar music. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Theo was not looking at the stage. He had his elbow propped up on the side of the balcony, chin in his hand, and was scanning the crowd below.

It occurred to her, quite suddenly, that he might be looking for that mysterious man they’d seen earlier.

Impulsively, she twisted around, tapping him on the knee.

“Theo, who was that man in the hallway earlier? The one you spoke so sharply to?”

He only looked at her, his expression unreadable as always. There was something intense in his eyes, something that tugged on her insides, like there was a hook in there, all tangled up, and it was attached to the wretched man she’d married.

Abruptly, he leaned forward. “Meet me in the carriage in ten minutes.”

She blinked, frowning. “What do you mean? What for?”

A slow, wolfish smile spread across his face. “Goodness, my dear, what a short memory you have. Forgotten my rule already, wife?”

Color rushed to her cheeks when she realized what he meant.

Theo did not wait for her to respond, and simply got to his feet and slipped out. Nobody even turned around.

Her heart was hammering in her chest. This was it, then. The final step to consummate their marriage. Perhaps she would find herself with child after tonight—sometimes it did happen that quickly for women—and then there would be no need to see him again, or do this again.

Ever.

That was not a pleasant thought, but she put it firmly aside in favor of concentrating on the bubbling, simmering need in her gut.

She counted the minutes as they passed, one by one in her head, until it seemed time to go. She got up, a trifle shakily, and Celine turned around to squint at her. Her gaze lingered on Theo’s empty seat.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m feeling a little too hot,” Anna said. It wasn’t entirely a lie. “I’m going to take the air, I think.”

“As you wish,” Celine said, her expression unreadable. “Would you like me to come with you?”

“No! I mean, no, it’s not necessary. Stay and enjoy the opera.”

Before anything else could be said, Anna scuttled out of the box and into the hallway.

It was quiet back there, of course. Everybody was inside the theater, enjoying the show. Muffled music and voices drifted along after Anna, bouncing off the carpeted floors and papered walls. A few footmen and ushers eyed her as she went past, obviously disapproving of her being out and about during the show, but nobody stopped her.

Her feet and vague memory carried her all the way outside, where a long line of carriages stretched out into the darkness, the coachmen all gone to supper at various pubs and inns, secure in the knowledge that they wouldn’t be wanted for a few hours at least. A boy lounged by the door of the theater, mid-yawn. He straightened up when he saw Anna, his eyes bulging.

“Want me to fetch yer coachman, Milady? Or find yer carriage for ye?”

She smiled absently at him. “No, thank you, I know where to go.”

She followed the line of carriages, her heart hammering. Most still had lanterns burning, hanging outside the carriages, and it was easy enough to find theirs.

Drawing in a breath, she glanced around to make sure nobody was looking, opened the door to the carriage, and tumbled inside.

Immediately, she was seized around the waist and hauled forward.

Theo was there, reclining inside as if he were waiting to leave, and in an instant, she was perched on his knee, leaning heavily against his chest.

“You took your time, my dear,” he murmured, reaching up to pinch her chin.

She swallowed hard, desire drying her mouth. “Well, here I am. As summoned.”

His expression darkened. “You know, you are not obliged to go through with this. You needn’t have my touch or my kiss, not if you don’t wish for it. I have no taste for forcing myself on unwilling females.”

She swallowed hard. His fingers trailed down her chin, dancing across her throat and down to the daringly low neckline of her gown. They lingered at the neckline, teasing, as if at any time they might dip below and trace the outline of her breasts.

“But I do wish for it,” she heard herself say, her voice embarrassingly strangled. The thump of desire was back, coiling in her gut and pulsing between her legs like a heartbeat. “I want it. I want you , you wretched man.”

Even in the dark carriage, she could see his eyes flare with lust.

“You look beautiful today,” he said, his voice so low that she almost couldn’t make out the words. “I found myself thinking of our little interlude in the library. Do you ever recall that incident?”

She swallowed again. “O-Occasionally.”

Cool fingers closed around the nape of her neck, pulling her down into a firm, unyielding kiss that made her heart flutter.

His lips were everywhere, his hands everywhere, moving and shifting her around as if she weighed no more than a bag of flour. Hands firmly gripped her hips, shifting her so that she straddled his lap, and she could feel a hard, hot thing pressing against the inside of her thigh.

When he began to tug at the laces that fastened the front of her bodice, Anna’s eyes flew open. When had she tied them?

“Don’t! I won’t be able to lace myself up again.”

“Do you really think,” Theo murmured, his lips darting across her collarbone, “that I will allow you to go back into the theater after this? I don’t intend for you to be in any fit state to converse with anybody.”

She shivered, letting her hands drift across the expanse of his shoulders. He was hot like a furnace.

He did leave her laces alone, though, his hands sliding lower, pushing under her skirts. Anna drew in a sharp breath when she felt his fingers on her thighs again, drawing circles and spirals on her sensitive skin. As before, his hand slid to the apex of her thighs, but this time only his knuckles brushed against her.

Pressing her forehead into his shoulder, Anna tentatively rolled her hips forward, trying to push against him, against something , but he only chuckled in her ear and held her hips firmly, keeping her still.

“Not this time, my dear,” he said, his voice low and hoarse. “I have something else in mind.”

“Then why don’t you get on with it?”

He laughed aloud at that, and she felt his hand cup the back of her head, pressing her against him.

She heard him fumble with his trousers, and her heart pounded faster and harder than ever. Part of her longed to pull back, to yank her skirts aside and have a good look at it, but she found herself frozen in place.

“Take a deep breath,” Theo said, his lips brushing her ear. “It’s a strange sensation at first, I’m told, but you will quickly get accustomed to it.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut, allowing Theo to guide her hips as she sank down onto him, a long slow slide that was indeed one of the strangest sensations she had ever experienced.

Certainly not the worst, though.

She kept her arms around his shoulders, holding on tight. At first, he only shifted slightly, allowing her the chance to get used to the intrusion. The heartbeat was back between her legs, more intense and deeper than ever, and Anna found herself trying to move, pushing herself up and sliding back in an attempt to get him to move faster.

He chuckled in her ear, a sure sign that he knew exactly what she was doing. Abruptly, he sped up his thrusts, bouncing Anna up and down on his lap with such vigor that her head might as well have hit the roof if he hadn’t been gripping her hips so tightly, pinning her down.

Heat bubbled inside her, a sort of need , although now Anna knew exactly what it was that she needed. The intrusion had long since stopped feeling uncomfortable—it was all she could think of, and she had the strangest feeling that if Theo stopped moving, she would die.

It took her a moment to realize that the squeaks, half-gasps, and moans that filled the carriage were coming from her. Her climax, when it came, was faster and more powerful than the one she’d enjoyed in the library, leaving her with shaking legs and a spotty vision, clinging to Theo’s shoulders as if her life depended on it.

He held her tight, pressing her against him, his movements becoming quick and erratic. His hips stuttered, and he crushed her against him with a ragged growl, pressing them tight together.

For a few long moments, they just slumped against each other, both breathing hard. Anna felt wrung out, but somehow also simmering with energy.

I had no idea it would be like this . I do wish Mama had warned me.

After another moment, she sat back a little shakily and ran her hands over her hair, patting a few loose locks back into place. Theo was silent, his expression closed off and unreadable in the darkness.

“I suppose we should—” he began, but was interrupted by Anna as she darted forward to kiss him.

“That,” she said with finality, “was marvelous.”

He broke into a smile, shaking his head. “I wish I had abandoned our silly games earlier.”

“So do I. We could have been doing this for weeks, Theo! Weeks!”

He raised a hand to her cheek, his fingers trailing down her skin. “You’re a remarkable woman,” he said, half to himself, half to her. “I really am luckier than I could have hoped. To think that our marriage was nothing but chance. A coincidence.”

“Mama says that coincidences are rarer than people think,” Anna heard herself say.

“Perhaps she is right. Now, do you want to watch the rest of the opera, or shall we go home?”

Anna stared at him. She was not sure her legs would support her.

He let out a guffaw at her expression. “Very well, very well! Home it is then, wife.”