Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

W hat am I to do with you?

Gerard shoved house invoices from in front of him, shaking his head. He took a moment to contemplate the week's bills, noting that they were mainly for food items, wages, stabling the horse and other miscellaneous expenses. Seraphina had purchased one new gown in addition to the perfumer's bill he'd received a day earlier.

Am I tightfisted or simply fiscally wise?

He had never thought to question himself before but now he was beginning to wonder if his expectations of his wife were unrealistic.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in."

He looked up as Uncle Erasmus swept into the room, and then slammed a gossip rag on the table. "Have you seen this?"

Gerard looked down at the rag and then up at his uncle, rolling his eyes. "Surely Uncle, I am disappointed. Is there a bigger waste of time than reading on dits ?"

His uncle poked violently at the page. "Read," he growled.

With a long put-upon sigh, Gerard picked up the gossip rag.

A garden party for the ages.

Lord and Lady Simmer held a garden party at their London Estate. It was very well attended and not without some peccadilloes. It was whispered in my ear that the Duchess of Irondale had cast her eye on the Earl of Ruebridge, while her sister, Miss Tessa Pennington and the earl's brother, Mr. Larson, were openly courting. It seems it will be a family affair, what with the reclusive duke nowhere to be seen.

Gerard thrust the paper aside, grinding his jaw in anger. He looked up to meet his uncle's triumphant eyes.

"Did I not say so?" the earl said.

Gerard shot to his feet. "Not now, Uncle," he snapped before marching out of the room, gossip rag in hand.

Seraphina turned in her bed, eyes closed, and a damp cloth on her forehead. Having spent so much of the previous day out in the sun, she had developed a bit of sunstroke. She had been glad to return to the cool of her chambers to recover.

After a late morning and early afternoon spent writing letters to her father's creditors, she was exhausted.

All of a sudden, the door flew open, and she shot up to a sitting position, mouth agape.

Gerard marched over to her and thrust a paper in her face.

"What is this?"

She grabbed it, unfurling the paper and seeing that it was a gossip rag. She gave Gerard a sidelong glance. "I did not know how you read these."

"I don't. My uncle so graciously showed it to me."

"Oh, your uncle…" she rolled her eyes and flicked the paper away.

He reached over her to grab at it and then thrust it in her face again. "Read it!" he snapped.

She made a production of straightening it out, and then began to read with a loud sigh. Her brow furrowed as she read about the garden party, eyes widening further as she came upon the paragraph claiming she had intentions towards the Earl of Ruebridge.

She could not help but laugh.

"You…find that funny?" he said incredulously.

She looked up at him, still smiling. "Don't you?"

"No. Your Grace. I do not find it funny," he bit out.

"Well…" she shrugged, "That is too bad, because this is clearly ridiculous."

"Is it?" he hissed, leaning in towards her. "What of the talk we had when you asked me if I meant to break my vows? You said you had not broken yours, but not that you never intended to."

Her eyebrows rose almost to her hair. "Are you accusing me of something?" she asked in disbelief.

"Is what they say true?" he countered.

She got off the bed and stood in front of him, looking deep into his eyes.

"Hear me and hear me well. I will not tolerate you besmirching my name in a jealous fit. I will not be treated like rubbish. Do you hear me?" she hissed.

He looked taken aback. "I beg your pardon. When have I?—"

"You allow your uncle to say whatever he wants about me with no censure. He showed you this poppycock, did he not?"

Gerard had the grace to look shamefaced. "I…" he said.

"What? Are you going to justify him?"

He shook his head like a wet dog. "That is neither here nor there. You are changing the subject to avoid answering me."

"If you think me so dishonorable then why don't you go ahead and disavow me?" she lifted her chin defiantly, staring at him angrily.

He grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him. Then his nostrils flared as he breathed her in.

"What is that scent you're wearing?" he asked before swooping down to bury his nose in her neck.

She squeaked in surprise. When she had arrived home from the garden party the night before, she'd been too tired to do anything but lie down. She supposed her hair and neck were still imbued with her sister's perfume.

That would explain why Gerard was snuffling at her skin like a hungry animal. She pushed him away as hard as she could, and he seemed surprised.

"We were talking," she reminded him.

"You were talking nonsense," he countered.

"Nonsense? I see. So, if something has adversely affected me, it is nonsense but if you see a frivolous bit of gossip about me, it is worth making accusations over?"

He sighed tiredly. "That is not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

He took a deep fortifying breath. "Perhaps I was…hasty in my accusations. I did not take the time to think about what I was reading and who wrote it. I apologize for any offence I may have caused."

Seraphina's shoulders dropped and she sighed in relief. "Thank you."

He reached out slowly and took her hand. "Now, come here. There is more than one unfinished conversation we have pending."

Her breaths came faster and faster as he pulled her close and breathed her in.

"Mmm, I need to touch you everywhere," he murmured into her skin.

She made an inarticulate sound and arched her back so that her breasts were brushing against his chest. She could feel her nipples peak in reaction and shivered in anticipation.

"May I?" He put his hand on her laces, and she nodded in inarticulate confusion.

He hadn't asked for permission before, so she had to wonder, why now? That was until he pulled at her laces, causing her corset to tear, before he unceremoniously pulled it off her shoulders.

"Ooh," she squealed, jumping in surprise as he flung the corset behind him and then reached for her skirt. It was the work of a moment to unlace it and then he was pulling it down and off of her. She was breathless at the speed with which he had undressed her.

She stood in front of him wearing nothing but stockings and a slip while he was fully clothed.

He stepped back, looking her up and down. Then he nodded.

"Lie down." he said.

She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant to do but then just closed it again and lay down on the bed. She squirmed trying to make herself comfortable, and simultaneously display herself in the best light. He seemed to approve, as his eyes did not leave her body.

"Shall I take off my petticoat?" she asked.

He shook his head slowly. "No. Stay still."

Seraphina could feel her breasts reacting to his words, to the command of his tone. She felt an almost unbearable desire to have his lips suckling on them.

He reached down and pinched her nipple hard. She gasped and squirmed, torn between pleasure and pain. He bent down over her his mouth closing over her left breast, and then he bit down with his teeth, nipping at her nipple.

She gasped out loud and arched her back involuntarily. Cupping his head, she urged him closer, wordlessly asking for more. He pulled away from her, then picked up her left leg and placed it on his shoulder. Using that as leverage, he reached down and began to pull up her stockings, trailing them slowly up her leg until he reached the ankle.

His finally pulled the stocking off.

He exchanged one leg with the other and gave it the same treatment. Since he lifted her leg from the bed, her petticoat slipped downward, bunching around her waist, and leaving her intimate parts exposed to his gaze.

She could see the desire burning in his eyes and thought that he would take her right away. Instead, he began to massage the flesh of her legs, tracing patterns along her thighs, and awakening her senses.

She moaned pitifully, tired of waiting for consummation. He paid her no mind, simply continued to map her body with his hands and his mouth. He traced a pattern along her inner thigh, his fingers so light, that it was ticklish. She squirmed and giggled, and then jumped as he slapped her in the same place where his fingers had passed moments before.

It stung in the best way possible, and she moaned, opening her legs wider and giving him greater access. Her mind flashed back to the book she'd been reading about the pirate and the kidnapped Princess.

"Tie me up," she murmured putting her hands on the headboard.

He loomed over her looking deep into her eyes and shook his head. "You naughty little vixen," he grinned at her. "You should know that I stole your little book and read it. Would you like to pretend that I am a pirate, and you are a hapless princess?"

She nodded emphatically.

"Would you like me to do everything," he winked, "that the pirate did to her, to you?"

Again, she nodded her mouth to dry for her to speak. She was quite sure he could see how affected she was by his words by how her bosom was heaving, her mouth half open as she panted, her lips shiny with saliva.

He stared hungrily at her as if she were a buffet and he was a man who'd just been rescued from a desert.

"Perhaps next time. Tonight, I shall be your husband. And you shall be mine. Completely," he said and bent down took her left nipple between his teeth, and bit down gently.

She gasped, arching her back, asking silently for more. He sat back on his knees, and flung off his shirt, before unfastening his breeches. He got off the bed so as to be able to pull them and his stockings off. His member stood straight, swollen with arousal.

She bit her bottom lip wondering if he would even fit. "Will it hurt a lot?"

She had of course read a lot of books where the heroine chronicled her first time. While there was some admitting to pain, it was always depicted as fleeting and unimportant.

"It will hurt at first," he said with a nod, "I will try my best to make sure the pain is minimized."

He swooped down, so quickly she was startled, bending her legs at the knee and then pushing them up so that her knees were almost level with her shoulders. His head bent on her exposed center.

She gasped, craning her neck trying to see what he was doing, and then tensed as she felt something slick and wet licking at her.

She uttered a little scream. " What are you doing ?"

He made no answer, simply continued to lick and suck, his tongue tickling her delicate wet flesh, causing sparks to come alive under her skin, making her want to jerk her hips and push herself deeper into his mouth. She wanted to squirm and scream, the sensation a little too much for her.

She had never felt like this before. Her own explorations seemed amateurish and bumbling in comparison.

"What are you doing to me?" she cried out head thrown back, the veins in her neck standing out her body hot and flushed, trembling with feeling.

She lost all sense of place and time.

"It's too much. It's too much," she protested even as she pushed her groin at him, wordlessly asking for more.

He continued to ravish her, while his dark hair swung down to cover his face. The dark locks brushed against her skin in a tickling sensation that just added to the overwhelming assault on her senses.

His tongue flicked up and down against her rapidly swelling sensitive nub. Her body began to undulate, and she cried out, her eyes scrunched closed, hands fisted, trying to contain the tsunami of feeling suffusing her. She shook and shuddered, her insides melting and leaking out of her in a flood.

She collapsed on the bed panting, feeling like she'd transformed into liquid, her mind free of thought, just a haze of content and well-being. She barely noticed as he climbed over her, his body a furnace of wanting, hot breath ghosting against her skin, as he replaced his tongue with his much larger member.

The breath caught in her throat as he slowly pushed his manhood inside her. Her flesh expanded slowly to accommodate him. A painful soreness buzzed in her muscles as they were forced to stretch beyond anything that they had been used to.

But not really pain. Not to the tearing bloodbath I had expected.

He pushed all his length into her, until their hips were touching.

Then he froze, looking into her eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked with a voice hoarse and shaky with lust.

She nodded; her throat closed so she felt that she couldn't speak.

He began to move; slowly at first and then faster and faster, panting.

His hardness pounding into her, awakening each sensitive part of her wherever they touched, resulting in a different kind of pleasure than that she had felt with his mouth—but just as intense.

"You feel so good, Seraphina," he half-panted, half-growled.

Now, she knew what it looked like when his entire body was aroused. The veins standing out at his temples, his skin flushed with effort, as if the pounding into her was a struggle.

And she watched him, she felt her body go wide open, submitting to his. Her flesh soft and yielding, his hard and demanding, and together they created a symphony of sensation that Seraphina could not have dreamed of, or imagined. It was a sensation that could only be experienced to be believed.

Gerard lowered his head and captured her lips once more, his teeth grazing her lower lip at first, then biting harder, which sent more delicious jolts all over her.

"All mine. Made to please me," his words caressed her lips along with his breath, his tongue, his own lips, intensifying the fire building within her.

She could feel that bubble of pleasurable feeling growing and growing with every thrust. For a moment, she felt a tiny fear that she would not be able to contain it. Her body did not hold the multitudes necessary to keep this pleasure in check. It came out of her mouth in moaning cries, her fingers clinging to him digging into his flesh, in an effort to ground herself but instead she could feel herself taking off, as if she could fly.

She screamed, unable contain it any longer, as her body shuddered and shivered again, exploding in pure, raw pleasure.

Gerard threw his head back, grunting and groaning as his hips stuttered and he found his release too. Her body contracted around him hungry, starving, wanting to capture every last drop of it.

"Yes, yes," she moaned, not really even aware of her own words.

She held on to him as they both shook, before collapsing like a house of cards onto the bed and laying prone and replete in silence.