Page 37 of A Virgin for the Cruel Duke

Then Stephen slipped his hand between them, to circle the place he had tormented with his tongue just moments before, and yes, that was it. That wonderful, complete pleasure from before, but more so, magnified, by the feeling and the knowledge of his manhood inside of her. That rush of feeling, those waves of electrifying pleasure, came faster this time, and she cried out with shock at the intense sensations where her body pulsed around her husband’s.

It seemed to shock him too, or at least he cried out near as loud as she had, and it only took a few moments more for him to still atop of her, languid and spent as she.

Instead of leaving her as he had last time, he pulled her closer, into a sleepy and warm embrace and aa Elizabeth settled, feeling safe at last she realized the truth could no longer be denied. She loved him. She loved her husband.

CHAPTER 17

It was a deuced unpleasant thing for a man to wake after a pleasant evening with his wife, the first pleasant evening of hopefully many to come and find her no longer at his side. Stephen had woken slowly, reaching with one hand for the warmth and softness of Elizabeth and his mood had soured as he felt nothing but an empty and cold bed.

Where had she gotten to? Stephen stretched and winced. The exertion of the previous night right after having woken from his illness had left him with sore muscles and feeling tired, but neither had ever stopped him before.

It was a pity he had no clothes in her room, as he had to gather up the clothes from the previous day and put those on, crumpled though they were, before he could go in search of his wayward wife and bring her back to bed where she belonged at least until breakfasting time and perhaps a good while after.

Was this why so many young couples went on a honeymoon after they were wed? All his thoughts were turned upon her,upon how she felt in his arms and how she tasted, how she sounded when he made her feel wild and uncontrolled. How was he meant to deal with his peers or run the estate when she was seared into his mind?

A young woman, Elizabeth’s maid, hurried by and Stephen called to her. “Daisy.”

She paused, her round face anxious and drawn. No doubt the past few days had been hard on the young woman if his brother had considered Elizabeth responsible. “Yes, Your Grace, sir?”

“Where is my wife?”

She glanced over her shoulder, tense with some fear or anxiety that he couldn’t understand. Who was she afraid of here in his house? “I - I don’t -”

“Daisy.”

She blinked up at him and her shoulders slumped a little. “She’s with my sister, Your Grace. She’s in the music room that Miss Diana uses to dance in.”

Stephen frowned. “Why is she in there?”

“She didn’t say, but it seems something terribly serious, sir. I’m really worried. And after everything that happened when you got sick, Your Grace, sir. I don’t think she can be hurt again, begging your pardon. You have to take care of her.”

That said, in a rush that Stephen was a little surprised the frightened girl managed, she squeaked in alarm, glanced around again, curtseyed three times and bolted down the hall.

Whatever was going on?

He could not hear any voices and the door was closed, but something, some old instinct pushed him to open the door silently and step into the doorway. Stephen knew that whatever his wife was discussing with the impertinent, spirited child who had demanded to be allowed to stay at his house, he wanted to hear it and he didn’t want them to know that he was listening.

“I love you,” Elizabeth was saying, her voice strangled as though she was trying to keep it level through threatening tears. “I will protect you, Annie. But I cannot let you stay here, not after everything that has happened.”

“I didn’t -” the child wailed, sobbing into her hands. “I didn’t -”

“I am sure that you were mistaken and that you didn’t mean any harm,” Elizabeth said slowly, her face twisted in grief and pain. “But I cannot do anything more for you. You will have to go home to the Rosenburg Estate as soon as you can get away.”

The crying grew louder, the child almost bent double, arms wrapped around her middle now as though she were trying to hold herself together.

“What is happening?” Stephen asked. It was strange to see his wife who had always been kind and generous to those around her and treated the sisters as though they were more like her family than servants from where she had grown up standing still and stiff while the girl sobbed. “Elizabeth, what is going on?”

Elizabeth turned to him quickly, her face whitening further until her eyes were stark and huge in her small pale face. “Nothing. I want Annie to return to the Rosenburg Estate, to take news to my sister. That’s all.”

It was a choppy, stilted explanation and not one that Stephen believed for a moment. However he would never have called his wife’s honesty into question in front of servants, not even servants that she knew well.

He did not, however, have to pretend to believe Elizabeth as the girl, still crying, with her cheeks wet and her eyes red, stepped forwards.

“I did it, sir. I did it. They said Her Grace did it, but I did it. I poisoned you.”

There was a small cold silence.

Stephen stared at the child, then turned to stare at Elizabeth in turn, taking in the pallor of her skin and the nervous twisting of her hands in her skirts. She was wearing her old gown, not one of the dresses that he had bought her and she looked so miserable that he couldn’t bring his heart to be angry that she was trying to hide this from him.

---