Page 33 of Loving Mister Stratford
His chest swelled watching Odette throw her head back in abandon, as she cried out and clutched his shoulders for purchase—not because she was afraid he would drop her, but because she wanted everything he had to give her. She gladly accepted it all.
His teeth grazed her sweat-slicked throat, savoring the salty tang as it mixed with the decadent flavor of her flesh.
“Simon!”
“That’s it,” he growled, continuing his relentless onslaught of her senses.“Let go.”
All at once, Simon felt every one of Odette’s muscles tense, her nails bit into the skin at the nape of his neck, and she gave a keening cry as her crisis finally broke over her. He rode wave after clenching wave of her orgasm, the strong, rhythmic throb yanking him closer to the edge. She was still trembling around him when he drove himself again and again to the hilt, holding his body as far within her as he could while his climax swelled and crashed with the pounding rush of a tide.
Gradually, Simon floated back down into his body to the sensation of Odette’s fingers lightly scraping his scalp. He took a languid inhalation of her scent and held it for several heartbeats before releasing it. Slowly, he helped Odette lower her legs and stand, then they set about putting themselves to rights. He watched as she shook out her skirts and found that he loved knowing he had been the one to put the color in her cheeks. She caught his eye and the shy smile he received was enough to make his heart skip a beat.
He had to find a way to refocus himself.
He had to.
He had worked far too hard for far too long to allow it all to fall apart this close to the end of his first real project. He’d spent years cultivating professional connections and relationships…and evenheknew how damaging it would be to his reputation if he stumbled now. He’d come up short many times and in many areas deemed important to Society, but this…this was something to which he’d dedicated his life. To lose it meant everything would have been for nothing. All the years of research and work would go to waste—of corresponding with others in his field and getting them to take him seriously as opposed to only viewing him as a spoiled son of an earl who might be fickle in his interests and unworthy of their time. He may have proven his intelligence many times over, but abandoning it all now for this inexplicable obsession he had for this woman…was not an option.
The thoughts still consumed his mind when he accompanied his wife in the carriage to the West End flat she’d once shared with her mother. Odette had said there were typically no performances scheduled that day of the week, so her mother would likely be located there.
Sure enough, Mademoiselle Auclair was in residence, though it took her nearly an hour to prepare herself to receive her daughter and new son-in-law. While they waited, Simon busied himself by working through some mathematical problems in his head, trying to recall where he’d placed one of the books he required, and allowing his eyes to skim over the room.
He’d called upon Odette several times during their stunted courtship, so he had been in this room on several occasions. It was small, but comfortable. The dark furniture with its red-patterned upholstery was of uncommon quality. Vases filled with large arrangements of flowers sat on the mantle as well as each end table. No art was hung on the walls, but the intricately-patterned silk wall papering was a focal point unto itself. The room was opulence of the cultivated kind, where wealth was spent and displayed very intentionally to make the greatest visual impact upon visitors. It was all yet another part Odette’s mother was playing, he thought wryly.
Simon glanced over at his wife beside him. Dressed in her blush-pink gown, she was like a breath of fresh air when compared to the false wealth and cloying facade of the room around them. There was no doubting Mademoiselle Auclair was a popular actress and sought-after in social circles as a woman known for her looks and her interesting history, but this was all tenuous. What must it have been like to grow up in this place—or within that woman’s shadow, for that matter? It was remarkable to Simon that a woman such as the one who finally breezed into the room had given birth to the kind being who his wife had become.
“Ma fille cherie!” Mademoiselle Auclair spoke loudly, dramatically, as if the very room was a stage and her voice was required to carry some distance. Simon supposed the whole world was a long line of performances for a woman such as her.“And now a married woman glowing with joy!” She held her arms open wide to Odette. For her part, his wife was wide-eyed with indecision, as if she was unused to such a show from her mother. After another moment’s hesitation, Simon watched as she walked into her mother’s arms, accepting the French custom of three kisses on her cheeks. It made his skin itch, but Simon allowed Odette’s mother to do the same to him.
“To what do I owe the honor of this visit? And on what should be your honeymoon trip, no less!” She smoothed her ruby-red skirts cut to the highest fashion and trimmed in black lace. The bodice of her gown was scooped almost indecently low and was clearly intended to display her bosom and impossibly narrow waist to their fullest advantage. Not for the first time, Simon looked back and forth from mother to daughter and appreciated just how fortunate it was that Odette had somehow managed to become her own woman despite the powerful force and personality of the woman who gave her life. A less imaginative person might call Odette a watered-down version of her mother; she was shorter, less defined, her hair and eyes less remarkable, she even wore a more muted shade of rose…but Simon knew the truth. Odette was her own person. And every time she didn’t berate him for his wandering mind or look at him askance for an off-topic comment he made, his heart filled and swelled just a little bit more.
“That is part of the reason we dropped by,” Odette began as she unclasped the pink satin reticule looped around her wrist.“We returned to London and this was waiting for us. I wondered if you might be able to shed some light as to the sender’s identity.” She held the folded parchment out to her mother, whose eyes skimmed over the nondescript wax seal with practiced assessment and began unfolding the note.
“I am happy to look, of course, but I don’t know why you might think—” The words abruptly died and, in the months since he’d first met her, Mademoiselle Auclair was speechless. Her wide, bright blue eyes skimmed the words again and again. Still, she remained silent, her full lips parting as she mouthed the words.
“Someone has gifted us with a house,” Odette spoke up when it became clear her mother would not.“The Earl and Countess of Aldborough, though wonderful, generous people, were not the ones who gave us this gift. There is no one else we can think of who might have done such a thing.”
Mademoiselle Auclair merely shook her perfectly coiffured head, her eyes widening to a shocking degree.
“Your daughter is of the mind that perhaps we should not accept such an overly generous gift–”
“Non!” Mademoiselle Auclair’s head whipped up, startling both Simon and Odette with her immediate adamancy.“You cannot decline a gift such as this.”
“That is what the earl’s solicitor said,” Odette replied with a frown knitting her elegant brows.
“You cannot risk offending the giver.”
“We cannot risk offending a party whom we do not know?” Simon tilted his head quizzically. There was something in the way Mademoiselle Auclair didn’t meet his eyes.
“Regardless of the giver’s identity, this is a gift too generous to turn down.” Mademoiselle Auclair took her daughter’s hand in hers, her knuckles whitening.“To have a house such as this, a future such as the one you have secured, is beyond what I could have realistically hoped for you, my child. This is a security and constancy I never knew.” She turned her eyes back to Simon.“And your Mr. Stratford has already shown to be more upstanding than most men of my acquaintance.” Simon didn’t place much stock in his ability to read people, but he almost believed he witnessed a glimmer of apology in the actress’s bright eyes. She turned back to Odette.“My advice is to forget about the who and the why, and simply be appreciative that the sun has chosen to smile upon you and your new marriage.” She slipped the folded note into Simon’s hand.
Chapter Twelve
One distinct benefit of starting new and having very little to their names meant Simon and Odette were able to move into their new home with speed and efficiency. Simon’s parents had given them a wedding present of a rather substantial sum of money, which went a long way toward beginning the furnishing of the house and hiring the most necessary members of a small staff.
After a brief discussion, they began with the largest bed chamber along with the most public and necessary rooms: the front parlor, a desk and seating for the study, and necessities for the kitchens. It would be foolish of them to live outside of their means and fully furnish the large townhouse and fill it with staff the two of them hardly anticipated needing.
With his parents’permission and the blessing of the butler and housekeeper at Aldborough House, they’d borrowed a few of the seasoned maids and footmen to help set up the household and train their future staff. A novice cook was soon hired on a trial basis upon the recommendation of Aldborough's longtime cook. They didn’t anticipate hosting many meals and they had to keep in mind all the while that Simon’s income was structured. They could certainly make do with a cook who was untried in preparing grand, ostentatious meals.
Simon was quite pleased with the home’s large study. There was plenty of shelving for his books, with room to grow. There were tall windows to allow in ample lighting. With the addition of a large desk they found on the floor at a local furniture maker’s shop and a tolerably comfortable chair, Simon was prepared to resume his work.
