Chapter Seven
When Sean had proposed on the way back to Brecon, after they’d helped Freya settle in with Stuart at his vast country estate in the north of Scotland, Bobbie had been surprised, but she had said yes straight away. Now, however, all sorts of uncertainties were popping up, and she didn’t know how she felt about it all.
Bobbie didn’t want to be apart from Sean for even a moment; they’d shared so much together, but she knew the life of a pampered wife wasn’t for her. She had seen enough of her friends getting married to be well aware of how it happened: A chap inevitably fell in love with a young lady for her vivacity and wilder qualities, then he married her, took her to his home, and suddenly it was five years later, she had at least one child hanging onto her skirts, and the last time the poor woman left the house was to go to an aunt’s funeral. Bobbie shuddered. No, that life wasn’t for her. She wanted to continue adventuring for years to come.
Over the next few weeks, Bobbie’s parents made all the cloying, pedantic arrangements for a society wedding. They had agreed to the match readily, despite Sean’s difference in income. Suddenly, Bobbie was surrounded by relatives and attendants who expected her to not only understand which flowers were appropriate for a wedding, but to have formed an opinion regarding which, of that narrow selection, she would prefer.
After the third discussion that day about bunting, during which Bobbie’s mother and Adeline Wolstanton’s mother almost came to blows over the telephone, Bobbie slipped out to the potting shed and tried to breathe carefully.
“Shortage of air in the main house, aye?” Sean’s cheerful Scottish voice made Bobbie’s heart leap. She turned and beamed.
“When did you get here?” Her eyes drank in the handsome Scotsman.
“First train, so, barely an hour ago.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to come until the night before? Not that I’m complaining, mind.” She wanted to take his clothes off and make love to him right here, but the prospect of being caught by Grimes, the gardener was unsavoury to say the least.
“Aye, well, I had this feeling that if I left it until then, I might be minus one bride-to-be.”
Bobbie flushed a furious red as she realized he knew her better than she knew herself. She nodded. “I had half a thought to hop it to Zanzibar until the fuss blew over.”
“I thought as much. Although, the Seychelles would be a better choice.” Sean stepped closer and Bobbie inhaled his masculine scent.
“But fewer ships travel that way,” Bobbie countered, leaning in. All of a sudden, Sean grabbed the back of her hair and his fingers tightened amongst the strands, controlling her head. He drew her face to his and nibbled her lower lip with his teeth, making her gasp, before he kissed her, teasing her mouth with his tongue.
When he broke away, she gasped for air.
“I think we dinnae need all these frifferies, like bunting and a hundred doves. Let’s just head up to Scotland, to my local church, and get married in a simple ceremony.”
Bobbie frowned and shook her head. “Elope? Oh, I couldn’t possibly. It would be like stealing my mother’s only moment of happiness across my entire adult life; the only time my family will ever approve of anything I do.”
“Ye can still invite them… but I think the distance and the short notice will put paid to all their scheming to make you complicit in covering their dining chairs in various styles of fabric in the name of matrimony.”
Sean was, once again, speaking a lot of sense. And if Bobbie even heard the words ‘seat covers’ again that day, she thought she might tear her hair out. She nodded and grinned.
“Do you really think we can get away unnoticed?”
“Aye, it’ll only take us a wee minute.”
When they were in a car and speeding toward the train station, Bobbie frowned and turned to Sean. “I thought you were supposed to stop me from doing anything my parents didn’t like. What changed?”
“Nay, lass, I never wanted that. My job has always been to protect you. And it will continue once we’re married. On this occasion, I decided that protecting you included keeping you safe from being suffocated by your family’s marriage plans.”
Bobbie giggled as she realized the full extent of what Sean was saying.
They reached the train station and disembarked. Sean paid the driver then they queued for tickets.
“I say, you’re not stealing me away to Gretna Green, are you?” Bobbie asked. Sean guffawed loudly at the mention of the town renowned for its eloping couples.
“Not a chance, lassie. We’ll have a respectable pairing in Rosslyn Chapel, and then we can go back to the house I bought a few years back. I haven’t seen the inside of it very much since I’ve been protecting you, so I wonder if my servants will still recognize me!”
Bobbie squealed with delight at the mention of her favourite church in Scotland. Getting married in a place with so much history and such intricate decoration seemed about as unlikely as taking up residence amongst the clouds. She barely believed Sean had organized it.
* * *
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1925
On the day of the wedding, Sean wondered if he had made a terrible mistake. His bride-to-be was incredibly beautiful, in her dove-grey floor-length dress, and she glowed with radiance. But she spent most of the ceremony staring around at the intricate stone carvings of Rosslyn Chapel instead of paying attention to the ceremony.
Once Sean had said his vows, the real trouble started.
“Repeat after me,” the vicar said. Bobbie was staring over at the Mason’s pillar.
“Bobbie!” Sean hissed. She looked at him, smiled, then her eyes returned to the pillar.
“I, Roberta Huntingdon-Smythe, take this man, Sean McClintock,” the vicar began.
Bobbie had lost interest again, and Sean squeezed her hand to try to bring her back down to earth.
“Sorry, what was the question?” Bobbie’s voice was like melodious bells and Sean couldn’t help but be amused. The vicar repeated his words, and Bobbie copied them.
“To have and to hold,” the vicar said.
“Limestone, I’d wager,” Bobbie replied absently, staring at the carvings once more. Sean sighed.
“Lady Roberta Huntingdon-Smythe, will you please pay attention to your marriage vows!” he ordered. Her eyes widened, she stared at him in surprise, and her face flushed, but she managed to finish her vows with no further distractions. However, Sean was still resolute that she was going to get a spanking when they got home. Her father’s face was thunderous. The newspaper reporters at the back of the chapel were making copious notes.
After the rings were exchanged, he guided her to the car, but she shrugged him off and went back to the chapel’s entrance.
“The time it must have taken,” she marvelled.
“Young lady, you are already in trouble for not paying attention to our wedding vows, will you kindly behave with a mote of decorum, please?” Sean’s voice had the desired effect, and Bobbie seemed to manage to rein in her curiosity until they were in the car and speeding toward their new townhouse in South Edinburgh, where Sean’s cook had prepared a delicious spread for their assembled families. He would let her have the day, he decided, but come tonight, she would be thoroughly disciplined.
For the dinner, he mingled with distant and unknown relatives of Bobbie’s, who had turned out in force, and he generally tried to remember how they were all related to one another, but it was a losing battle, and eventually the whisky called to him.
As he made his way to the bathroom, he heard a gentle sobbing from one of the guestrooms. He pushed the door open and found Bobbie face down on a satin bedspread, crying.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” He placed a gentle hand on her back.
“My cousin Verity. She was walking around the house telling us how much better hers was, how her husband had a better income, and I didn’t even care about any of it until she turned around, looked me straight in the eye with a smile on her face, and said, ‘But with all the time Bobbie spends out of doors, we can hardly expect her to know how to make a home habitable.’ And she said it with a smile on her face.”
“Oh, lass, don’t mind her. She’s talking rot.”
“But it’s true! I have no idea which colours should be paired together, or how to arrange the furniture in a sitting room or parlour to make it welcoming to visitors… all I know is how to identify different ancient buildings, interpret arrowheads, that sort of thing. I’m a failure as a woman.”
She buried her face more deeply into the bedspread. Sean’s heart broke for her.
“She’s probably jealous,” Sean said.
“Of what? My terrible housewifery skills?” Bobbie snorted with derision.
“No. Of the fact that your husband loves you. If she’s spending all her time trying to bring you down, don’t you think it might be because she is lacking something very important in her own life?”
Bobbie lifted her head and stared at him.
“I suppose.”
“Clean up your face, lass, and come with me. We’ll talk to her together; we’ll do everything together for the rest of the day. Nobody makes my wife feel like that.”
Bobbie nodded blearily then went to the wash basin. She cleaned her face then went to her dressing room to dust more powder over her skin. It was the most she could bring herself to do when it came to cosmetics. She followed Sean downstairs into the throng of people.
“Oh, look, they’re coming downstairs together!” A woman holding a large glass of wine was swaying more than a little. “We all know what that means!”
Bobbie froze. Sean was surprised at the uncharacteristic behaviour from his new wife. He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“Spot Verity,” she mumbled dryly, nodding in the direction of the drunk woman.
Sean sighed and made his way through the room until he reached Verity.
“Don’t you two lovebirds want some alone time?” Verity asked loudly. “Or were you getting enough of that before the marriage? Is that why you rushed the proceedings? Got a bun in the oven, Bob?”
Sean narrowed his eyes and was about to give the woman a thorough dressing-down when Adeline Wolstanton appeared and clasped Verity’s shoulder.
“Darling! Where is your husband this evening? Come to think of it, when was the last time you saw him? He spends so much time in London these days, doesn’t he?” Adeline said loudly. “Do you know, every time I go to the city with Edward, we see him at The Savoy with Mary Turtenham. They’re such good chums, aren’t they?”
Verity looked at Adeline in horror and opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Adeline, for her part, stood her ground.
Sean stared in amazement as Bobbie rallied magnificently and chimed in with, “Of course, if I were in your situation, I’d want all the friends I could get. Instead of spending my cheating husband’s money on making the carpet match the curtains to accentuate the prominence of my cheating husband’s writing desk.”
Whether the double entendre was lost on her or not, Verity still turned purple, and tears sprang to her eyes. Sean knew it was only as much as she’d hurt Bobbie, however, so he had limited sympathy for her. He squeezed his wife’s hand twice to warn her that if she went any further, they would be having the sort of words that a man could only speak to a woman that was upended over his knee. He didn’t want to remind her that she was already in trouble for her behaviour at the chapel.
She seemed to be done, anyway, for she and Adeline then engaged in a long conversation about Monaco. Sean listened politely, filing away for future use the information that his wife was fond of the city-state at the south of France.
Sean stayed by his wife’s side for the rest of the evening. It was where he belonged. When the other men started talking about golf, he politely declined the invitation to go to a match the next day. Eventually, everyone was ready to retire. A few people were staying in the guestrooms of Sean and Bobbie’s home, but most people were packed off to luxury hotels.
Sean took Bobbie’s hand and gently led her up the stairs to their new room. He pushed the door open and smiled when he saw the roaring fire brightening the room.
“Go into your dressing room and take off all your clothes, even your underwear. Then I want you to only put on your silk dressing gown, and come out to the bed,” Sean told Bobbie. She looked up at him in surprise, then nodded. He wondered if his request would make her nervous. This wasn’t the first time they’d had sex but he still intended to make it memorable for her. First, however, she had a punishment due.
* * *
Bobbie was surprised that they were even having sex on their wedding night, rather than just going to sleep like it was any other day, then consummating when the mood struck them. It was rather chilly tonight and she wasn’t sure it was a good time to be strutting around in the altogether. Still, she had just promised to obey him, between glimpses of the incredible stone carvings at Rosslyn Chapel, and she decided she would go along with things, for now.
She peeled her layers of clothing off, and found her flimsiest dressing gown, which was little protection against the harsh cold. Hopefully in the bedroom, where the fire was blazing, it would be warmer than in the dressing room. Bobbie took her hair down, then went out to offer herself to her new husband.
She smiled as she walked across the bedroom and heard a sharp intake of breath from Sean, who sat on the edge of their large four-poster bed.
“Your nipples could cut glass,” he remarked.
“One of the many ways women are more useful than men. The whole cut-glass industry would fall apart without ladies’ nipples.”
“Not sure it’s especially ladylike,” Sean replied with a wink.
Bobbie grinned. “It would be a strange day at finishing school if the young ladies learned how to decorate decanters with their bosoms.”
“Indeed. So, you followed my first instructions; your next task is to get over my knee.”
“Oh, but why?” Bobbie was shocked. She racked her brain trying to think about why she might be in trouble but nothing came up.
Sean shook his head. “Over my knee, lass.” He indicated his lap.
With a sigh, Bobbie got into the required position.
“When you weren’t paying attention during our wedding vows, how do you think that made me feel?” Sean asked pointedly.
“Oh. Blast.” Her distractedness at the church came flooding back to her. “I suppose… You felt as though you were second-best.”
“Indeed. If it had been any ordinary day, I would have been a lot more understanding, because of course you love that sort of thing, but it was not a normal day.” He paused. “It was our wedding day.”
She was disappointed with her own behaviour. “I’m sorry.”
“A wedding is the one day when a husband and wife pay complete and undivided attention to one another, and declare their intent to remain together for the rest of their lives, before their families, friends, and God. You gave the distinct impression that you were not interested.”
Bobbie gasped. “I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just such a fascinating place! Every time I go there, I find something new that I hadn’t noticed before!”
“Then go there again on another day. I chose it because it was close to our new home and because I knew you’d appreciate the history of the place. I didn’t expect you to appreciate the history of the place at the expense of our wedding vows.”
“I really am sorry.” She felt so contrite that it must have radiated out of her pores.
Sean sighed. “I know, lass, but you’re from quite a well-known family. There were at least five newspaper reporters in the chapel, not to mention the press photographer. You’re marrying a man whose means are beneath your own.”
She frowned and shook her head to make it clear she didn’t care about that. “But I love you!”
“I know. But regardless of how we feel about one another, questions have already been asked before the banns were even read. If your father and mine hadn’t been such good friends, I’m sure your father would have put his foot down. Your behaviour today was exactly the sort of thing that would cause a scandal. I only hope the newspaper articles don’t choose to read too much into why a bride might not be interested in saying her wedding vows.”
Bobbie was so disappointed in herself that she thought she might just shrivel up and disappear. She didn’t want anyone to think she was marrying Sean for any reason other than because she loved him and wanted to spend her life with him.
“You’re right, and I should have thought of all that for myself. Unlike Adeline, I’ve never intentionally courted scandal, you know. It just seems to follow me.” She sighed deeply. “We’re six hours into our marriage and I’m already the worst wife in the country.”
Sean smiled and shook his head. “Not by a long shot. Now, I’m going to use my slipper on your bottom, to ensure that this message takes root. Then I’m going to see if you’ve learned the lesson or not, by testing you.”
She wondered what he meant by testing, but she didn’t have a lot of time to think about it before a smooth leather sole caressed her upturned bottom cheeks. She’d seen his slippers before. They were warm and cosy on the inside, with a flexibility that would make them perfect for this task.
Sean lifted his slipper, and Bobbie knew he was about to begin. He brought it down across her sit spot. She gasped as the solid surface seemed to slam into her bottom. He brought it down again and again, and her legs shook with the effort of trying not to kick as the painful swats kept coming. She tried her best to remain stoic. He brought the slipper down harder and was rewarded with a gasp. She pressed her lips together thereafter, in the hope that she wouldn’t show how much this hurt again.
Beneath her stomach, his cock decided now was a fine time to harden, and she struggled to concentrate as her bottom began to redden. Was this the test he’d mentioned? Probably not; what was there to concentrate on when one was being spanked? When he’d covered her cheeks with soreness, he paused for a moment.
“Hold your cheeks apart, lass,” he growled. She widened her eyes in horror. The idea of anyone punishing her between her cheeks was shameful.
However, she didn’t want to get into more trouble for being disobedient, so she reluctantly lifted her hands off the floor, making her stomach and back muscles take all her upper body weight, then moved her hands behind her bottom, where she parted her cheeks and held them, blushing furiously.
Her clit throbbed, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“Yooooowwwwwwww!” she exclaimed as the slipper landed squarely between her cheeks. She shook from the pain and water went straight to her eyes.
“Will you do anything like that again?” he prompted.
She shook her head. “No! Never! I’m most frightfully sorry!” The words tumbled out in a babble.
“Then you are forgiven, and you may release your bottom.”
She gratefully let go and returned her hands to the floor.
“Now, let’s see about a wee test.”
“Test?” A lump settled in Bobbie’s stomach, but there was liquid emerging from her tunnel and her clit throbbed again.
“Yes. I want you on your knees in front of me, and you’re going to suck my cock.” He helped her stand, and she waited as he removed his trousers, folded them, and put them aside.
“All right.” She knelt before him and eyed his long, thick cock as it twitched slightly, illuminated more on one side than the other in the golden firelight. She opened her mouth and took him in. As she was sucking and stroking his length with her tongue, he reached down and cupped her breasts, then caressed her nipples with his thumbs. She paused, as the sensations flooded her.
“Are you getting distracted?” Sean prompted. Bobbie realized she was, so she hastily got back to sucking his cock, trying to tune out the attention he was lavishing on her breasts. It seemed fine until he suddenly pinched her nipples, hard. She gasped so hard that his cock went down her throat, blocking her airway, as she quivered in response to his fingers. Remembering herself, she pulled away until only his tip was past her lips, then she resumed her task.
“Good lass,” he praised her, and she smiled to herself. He liked what she was doing. Part of her was surprised that she was going along with all of this, but the rest of her threw shoes at that part of her until it shut up.
She bobbed up and down on his cock and got into a steady rhythm, then bit down lightly in surprise as one of his fingers brushed over her clit. First, gently, then with a more insistent pressure and pace, until she was moaning around his cock as his hand elicited incredible, searing tingles from her body.
“Bobbie?” Sean said.
She sighed and redoubled her effort to focus on his cock, even as he swirled his fingers over her clit and around her slick entrance. It was so hard to pay attention when all she wanted to do was to impale her pussy on his cock.
He continued working over her most sensitive area and eventually she got over the distraction. A finger dipped into her pussy briefly, and she paused for a split second, then carried on as it was removed. He seemed to have stopped for the moment. An insistent pressure against her bottom hole made her widen her eyes in shock and pause in her task.
“What are you doing?” she asked fearfully.
“Hush. Your only job is to suck my cock,” he replied. She sighed and took him back into her mouth, as his finger probed her bottom hole. No one had ever been there before, and it felt strange. His finger slid in a little way, and even though she knew how big his finger was, it now felt enormous as it went into her rear tunnel. The strange feelings inside her bottom were bothersome, too. In some ways, this felt like the most unwanted intrusion in the known universe, and like nobody was made to withstand such a strange invasion. But at the same time, there was a tingling, sparkling glow emanating from her rear that made her hope he would continue.
She realized she’d stopped sucking, so she started again.
With his finger still in her ass, she squeaked in surprise as another finger passed over her clit, and suddenly her nether regions seemed to work in harmony to fill her body with unbelievable tingles that were building to an incredible climax.
It was hard to focus on stroking his cock with her tongue, on moving her head up and down his shaft, on squeezing him with her lips, as he distracted her so comprehensively with his hands. Soon, the pressure got too much, and she came apart as he pumped his finger into her ass and caressed her clitty. Waves of intense ecstasy tore through her body and she stilled on his cock as her hips bucked and writhed. It was all she could do to not bite down on his shaft.
When the feeling began to fade, she looked up at him guiltily.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, but it came out muffled around his cock.
“Good girl. Now suck a little harder for me, and move a little faster.”
Bobbie did as she was told, and soon Sean groaned then seized the hair at the back of her head. He controlled her as he thrust deeply into her throat, and when liquid poured out of his cock, she swallowed it hastily, not letting it remain in her mouth for long enough to find out what it tasted like.
“Such a good lass. You did a great job, and tried very hard not to get distracted.”
Bobbie smiled then yawned deeply. The day had left her exhausted.
“I’m just going to have a wash, then I think we should get some sleep, aye?” Sean said. Bobbie nodded wholeheartedly, still speechless from the unbelievable fact she’d just climaxed while his finger was in her rear, of all places. If someone had told her this morning that such a thing were possible, she would never have believed them.
She dragged herself onto the bed, exhausted but very satisfied, and when Sean returned, he drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head, before they both fell asleep.