8. Tea Begets a Tumble

“How do you take your tea?” Marian asked.

“A bit of milk is all,” David answered, joining her in front of the fireplace. He set down the plate he’d been holding next to the tea tray and helped himself to a lemon biscuit. Finishing it off in two bites, he went for another as Marian offered him a cup of tea. “Thank you,” he said. His gaze landed on the mantel clock when it began to chime.

Five o’clock.

By the time dinner was brought up at seven, he would be a thoroughly ruined man. But then, Marian would be a thoroughly ruined woman. There would be no choice for her but to marry him.

That last thought didn’t provide the sort of comfort he was seeking just then. That they were doing the right thing.

But she didn’t seem the least bit concerned with her new future. If anything, she seemed more committed to their marriage than she had any right to be.

Did betrothals always cause this sort of double-guessing? Questioning what was right versus what was best? Was a marriage to him Marian’s best option? Was she his best option?

Well, she was his only option. Now that they had kissed one another so many times, David couldn’t imagine doing so with anyone else. As for what they were about to do, they were on equal footing. Both virgins. Both about to give themselves to one another in an ancient act that had seen to the survival of mankind for thousands of years. He’d be damned if he didn’t do his part.

Besides, he needed an heir.

David ate the second biscuit and then drained his tea in two swallows.

Noting his anxiousness, Marian finished her first cup of tea and stood. “You looked terribly fierce just then,” she said, her voice suggesting she was impressed.

His resolve faltering, David dipped his head. “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said.

Moving to stand in front of him, she offered a hand to help him stand. “Oh, I’m not frightened,” she replied. “But I am intrigued by what thoughts caused it.”

David stared at her bare hand for a moment before his eyes widened. “I didn’t give you a ring,” he said, coming to his feet.

Before Marian could say anything in response, he made his way to the tall dresser on the long wall. Opening a walnut jewel box, he plucked a gold band from its velvet lining and held it up in the dim light. Apparently not satisfied, he used a finger to push around the other items inside the box before extracting another ring. “Ah, finally,” he said with relief as he regarded the jeweled ring in the palm of his hand.

Marian glanced over his shoulder. “It’s very beautiful,” she murmured.

He turned and captured her right hand in his. “I’m glad you like it, because this one is your betrothal ring,” he said as he slid the gold and gemstone ring onto her fourth finger. “And this one,” he retrieved the gold ring from the top of the dresser, “is your wedding band.” He slid it onto her left ring finger.

When he glanced up, he found Marian staring at her hands in awe. “They’re gorgeous,” she whispered. “Truly. How is it you have them?”

David felt relief. “Well, this one was my grandmother’s,” he said as he pointed to the ruby ring. “And this was my great-grandmother’s,” he added as he held up her left hand. “I suppose I should propose, don’t you suppose?”

Marian blinked. “I suppose,” she replied on a titter.

“Will you marry me?”

Marian blinked. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you,” she replied happily before she lifted her face to kiss him.

As their lips met, her fingers went to work on the fastenings of his topcoat, undoing the three jet buttons. Before they had finished the next kiss, she had his waistcoat open. She was in the middle of undoing the buttons on the placket of his breeches when he covered her hand with his.

“Boots first,” he whispered as he struggled to catch his breath. He cursed himself for wearing boots instead of shoes that day, but he was reminded that he had started this rainy day traveling in a coach.

Had that been only this morning?

He doffed his topcoat and waistcoat as Marian undid the knot of his cravat. “You make an excellent valet,” he remarked.

“Why, thank you, sir,” she replied. Marian stepped back and turned around. “Now we’ll see how you do as a lady’s maid,” she teased.

David froze. “What... what do I do?” he stammered.

Turning her head so her chin rested on her shoulder, she said, “You can start by undoing the buttons down my back,” she instructed.

His fingers fumbling for a moment, David did her bidding until the bodice of the yellow gown separated and fell forward.

“Uh...”

“Now untie the stays,” she said quietly.

“Uh... there are a number of ties back here,” he mumbled.

“Undo them all.”

“All?”

She tittered as she once again rested her chin on her shoulder. “Just pull the tie of each bow and use your fingers to loosen the strings.” She felt his fingers touch the bare skin above her chemise, and she shivered. “That tickles,” she whispered.

Emboldened, David leaned down and placed a kiss on the same spot. Marian inhaled softly and closed her eyes when he turned and placed his lips on her cheek. “I’ll have to redo all these ties later, won’t I?” he asked.

She shrugged, which had the bodice falling completely from her torso and the sleeves from her arms. Wiggling her hips, the gown dropped to the floor. “Not until the morning,” she replied.

His fingers once again pressed into her underclothes. “We’re not going back to the Soho Club tonight, are we?”

Marian turned around. “I certainly hope not,” she replied. “Unless you prefer being surrounded by pink.” When she saw his look of confusion, she said, “My room there? Yours is located next to the viscount’s, and I shouldn’t wish for him to hear us whilst we’re in the... in the throes of passion.”

David blinked and swallowed. “Oh, I should hope not. He’s already sore with me over our betrothal. I would hate to make him jealous, too.”

Grinning, Marian turned so her back was once again facing the baron.

He swallowed. “Won’t your uncle be expecting us, though?”

“Possibly, but... we did leave to acquire a license,” she reminded him. “He’ll think we’ve married and are spending the night here. You did mention you were going to show me the townhouse.”

“I did,” David remembered, relaxing somewhat. For a moment, he had imagined Bow Street Runners combing the city for them, believing he had kidnapped the young lady. “I did,” he said more forcefully as he plucked all the ties before him.

Two petticoats and a set of stays fell to the floor.

“Oh, my,” he whispered when he realized she was left wearing only her short chemise and stockings.

“My turn,” she said as she faced him and began unwrapping the ends of the silk cravat from around his neck. She carefully folded it in half and draped it over the back of a chair. Grasping handfuls of his shirt, she pulled it up and over his head.

For a moment, time seemed to stop. As if she couldn’t decide whether or not to stare at the expanse of his bare chest or his arms or concentrate on his face.

Once again emboldened, David lifted a hand to her jaw and held her head as he bestowed a kiss on her lips. “I’m going to remove my boots now,” he said.

She swallowed. “I’ll see to turning down the bed linens,” she said before she turned and headed for the bed.

Leaning against one of the chairs so he could remove his boots, David watched as she leaned over the edge of the bed and saw to folding back the counterpane and linens to the end of the mattress. The entire time, her bare bottom was on display, her upturned quim peeking out from between the tops of her thighs as if in invitation.

Gulping, David pulled first one boot and then the other from his feet, his attention on Marian’s bottom the entire time. As he watched, his cock lengthened and hardened, straining against his breeches until he was forced to push them down along with his smalls. He had his stockings off only the moment before she completed her task and turned to face him.

This time she didn’t avoid staring, a small smile finally appearing before she moved closer to him. She reached out with a hand and touched the dark hairs that dusted his chest near a nipple.

He flinched at her touch, but didn’t pull away. Instead, he placed his hands at her hips, more to steady himself as he pushed away from the chair to stand straighter.

“Will you help me with my stockings?” she asked as she trailed her fingertips down the front of his body until her forefinger slid through the dark curls above his manhood.

“Of course,” he said as he watched two of her fingers trace a vein along his erection. He struggled to breathe. “But if you keep that up, I shan’t have anything left for you.”

“Oh,” she said as she jerked her hand away.

David immediately regretted his words. “I like the way you touch me,” he whispered, lifting her hand so he could kiss her fingertips. His other hand slid around her hip to the globe of her bottom, smoothing over the silken skin to pull her against him until his manhood was pressed into her belly.

“Perhaps we can leave my stockings on for now,” she whispered, crossing her arms to grab the fabric of her chemise until she had it over her head and off of her body. She tossed the garment onto the pool of fabric that had already been formed by her gown and underthings.

David swallowed at briefly seeing her bare breasts before they were pressed against his chest. Kissing her hard, he groaned as he used both hands to lift her by her bottom. “Hold on,” he managed to say before he carried her to the bed.

Marian wrapped her legs around his thighs for the quick trip, suppressing a yelp when he managed to get both her and him onto the bed.

“How do I pleasure you?” he asked when he had her positioned beneath him, his attention on her breasts.

“I’m not exactly... Oh!” she responded at the same moment his mouth descended on one nipple. She inhaled sharply as he suckled. Inhaled again when a hand cupped the other breast, molding it in the palm of his hand. “Like that, I suppose,” she said as she exhaled on a half-giggle.

He moved his mouth to her other breast and slid a hand down the front of her body and over her mound. He gave up his hold on her breast, his lips trailing down her chest and belly while the tip of his middle finger slid through the folds protecting her womanhood. “Will you spread your legs for me, my sweet?” he whispered.

She did so, lifting a knee slightly. He felt her damps curls, felt the honeyed folds, and gently pressed where he thought her opening might be. When she bucked beneath him, her soft cry startling him, he froze. “Did I hurt you?” he asked in confusion.

“Hardly,” she breathed. “Do it again if you’d like.”

Intrigued, he circled the area that had her reacting before, his finger drenched with her ambrosia as he sought what he hoped was the source of her pleasure. He added his forefinger to the quest, relieved to hear her soft cries of ‘yes’ over and over again until one of her hands covered his. “I’m ready for you,” she whispered.

Lifting his body over hers, David felt relief when her hand gripped his cock and placed it at her opening. Although he would have liked a bit more direction, he understood when the tip of his manhood disappeared.

Marian lifted her knees higher. “Push harder, my dearest,” she whispered.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he argued, but all at once, his cock seemed to find its bearings and bury itself into her. He growled at the sudden sensation of warmth and tightness that surrounded his manhood. At the feeling of the silk of her stockings sliding along his thighs as Marian pinned him with her knees. At the tickle of her nipples against his chest. At the pricks of her fingernails leaving half-moon dents in his back as she gripped him.

He stared down at her, surprised by her serene expression. “I think I have died and gone to heaven,” he whispered.

She grinned. “Not yet, you haven’t,” she murmured.

“Are you... all right?”

Nodding her head in the pillow, she seemed to think on his query a moment before she said, “It feels as if you’ve filled me up and there is no more room inside.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Not anymore. You can... you can move now.”

David furrowed a brow before he realized what she meant. “Of course.” He pulled himself nearly all the way out of her before he pushed again, grinning when he felt her quim lift to meet his gentle thrust. From there, he understood what to do, pulling out and thrusting into her over and over until he knew his climax was imminent. Stars danced before his eyes as intense pleasure took him from the here and now and left him suspended over her, his arms taut and his neck straining as his head lifted, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

He might have remained like that for a few seconds or a few minutes, but it was Marian who finally pulled him back to reality. To the pillow next to her head. Wrapping her arms around his back in an effort to keep him from falling off of her body. Kissing the space between his brows as he sighed.

“I do believe this is the very best betrothal I could ever hope for,” David murmured. He buried his head into the pillow above her shoulder, his nose pressed into the space behind her ear.

Marian slowly lowered her knees along his thighs even as she tightened her hold on him with her arms. When her toes touched the mattress, she took first one experimental breath and then another. With his chest pressed onto hers, she could feel his heartbeats warring with her own until they seemed to merge into one as he dozed.

He had filled her first with his manhood and then with a warmth that seemed to permeate throughout her entire body. The little darts of pleasures still danced about beneath her skin. Prickles of heat where their bodies were joined had her clenching on him, each contraction eliciting tremors in his body and a matching inhalation of breath she could clearly hear as well as feel.

One of his hands smoothed over her shoulder and down the side of her torso, a thumb pressing into the side of her breast where it was mounded against his chest.

The sensation might have been merely a tickle, but Marian inhaled sharply as his touch set off a series of frissons beneath her skin. She clenched on him again as a grin touched her lips. Her eyes rounded. “Are you all right?” she asked in a worried whisper.

He chuckled. “I am far better than all right,” he murmured, lifting his head enough to kiss the corner of her mouth. “In fact, I can hardly wait to do that again.”

She grinned.

“How long must I wait?” His eyes widened. “Oh, that’s terribly selfish of me,” he said. “Are you hurt? Are you sore? Are you ready to throw me out of the bed?”

“Hardly,” she replied, grinning.

When his brows furrowed, she regarded him with worry. “What is it?”

“Are you all right? Did I hurt you?” he asked again, moving to support himself on one elbow.

“I am fine,” she replied. “I felt nothing more than a pinch,” she added when he didn’t look convinced. “Although I do feel as if I’m not all here,” she whispered, lifting her chin so her head was forced deeper into the pillow.

“Oh, you’re here,” he murmured happily. “I’ve got you. But I think I know what you mean,” he added in a faraway voice. “You’re in bits and pieces and floating about.” His fingers lifted to wiggle in the air above her shoulder.

She gave a start. “Yes, that’s it,” she whispered. “You feel like that, too?”

He kissed the space behind her ear. “Since the moment I met you.” At the sound of her scoff, he added, “But more so in these last few minutes.” He raised his head from the pillow to place a series of kisses along her jaw and then onto her lips. “And here I am practically suffocating you,” he said as he attempted to move more of his body off of hers.

“I look forward to when we can do it again, but I think perhaps we should wait until after dinner. You’ll need your strength,” she teased.

He chuckled. “I like the way you think,” he said before he kissed the top of her breast and attempted to roll off her body.

Marian held onto him, her arms tightening around his back. “Don’t go,” she said.

He relaxed back into her hold. “If you’re sure. It’s just... I’m suddenly feeling very tired. I fear I’m going to fall asleep.”

Tittering, Marian inhaled and let the breath out on a sigh of satisfaction. “Then do so,” she replied. “I’m not going anywhere.” Reaching for the counterpane, she lifted the edge up and over him. “But I rather imagine your backside is growing cold.”

“I wouldn’t notice if it was,” he whispered. “But thank you,” he said before he fell asleep.

Marian’s lips lifted in a grin as she wondered how he could be so sleepy when her entire body seemed more alive than she could ever remember. Before she could think too long on it, she too was sound asleep.

They didn’t awaken until the mantel clock chimed seven times.