Chapter 22
“My Lord, the maid found a note on the floor of your study. It had Miss Butterworth’s name on it, but Miss Butterworth is not awake yet. We were not sure if she had given it to you or…”
Robert looked at the little note in Lang’s hand.
“I shall take it, thank you, Lang.” He took the piece of paper from the butler. He knew that reading the note was an invasion of Lucy’s privacy. He knew it was wrong. But he did not care. His head was splitting, his mouth felt as though it was full of cotton and frankly he could have done with the morning in bed. “Bring some coffee to my study.”
As he sat in his chair behind the large oak desk, once the place from where his father had ruled with a rod of iron, he turned the paper over in his fingers. Should he read it? Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Tommy in the parterre gardens with one of the gardeners. The gardener had the boy hard at work, but Tommy seemed to be in his element. The gardener patted him on the head and pointed to something which Tommy pulled at and showed to the servant. The man nodded, and Tommy’s chest puffed out in pride.
Robert sighed. Perhaps Lucy was right. Corporal punishment was not always the best option. And she would be annoyed at him for reading her correspondence.
When the coffee arrived, he sat for a long time drinking it and contemplating the note on the desk. He should work but the note was all he could think about.
Eventually he made his decision He was going to get the truth out of her somehow. He walked out into the large foyer. The tinkling of piano music drifted down the stairs. Lucy was playing music to Eleanor.
“I hear Miss Butterworth is awake, Lang. Can someone fetch the nursemaid and bring her to the music room?”
“Aye, My Lord, of course.”
The wait at the top of the stairs for the nursemaid seemed interminable but eventually the woman appeared with a maid. They both curtseyed, and Robert was as polite as he could be under the circumstances.
“Come with me please.”
They walked into the music room to find Eleanor, hands on the piano, in her bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of the music that Lucy was banging out rather loudly. Robert coughed, and Lucy looked up and pulled her fingers off the keys immediately. Eleanor turned to see why her entertainment had been so abruptly halted. Robert schooled his features.
“Miss Butterworth, we need to talk. The nurse has come to take Eleanor back to the nursery.” He knelt beside the child and smiled. He pointed to the nurse and made a walking motion. Eleanor pointed at him, but he shook his head. Then he held out his arms and the little girl walked into them for a cuddle. When he let go of her, he looked into her eyes. The child held his gaze and smiled.
Eyes so like her mother’s.
“I will let you ride the pony later if you go now.” he said slowly to her. She read his lips and grinned.
Then she launched herself into his embrace again.
“She will be spoiled if you offer her treats like that,” said Lucy tartly.
“She deserves to be spoiled. She has been unwell.”
“So, have some of the boys.”
“And they get to ride too.”
“But you favour Eleanor.”
Robert gritted his teeth and turned to the nursemaid.
“Take her please.”
Once the nurse and Eleanor left he closed and locked the door.
“Why did you lock the door.”
“Because, my love, I want to make love to you and I love this room. It is so bright and airy and frankly I want to see you without the artifice of clothing in this room.
He was already undoing his cravat, then his waistcoat. Before long he was standing naked before her and Lucy had not moved a muscle.
“Lucy, please. I am sorry about last night. I wanted to speak to you. I wanted to discuss things and I may have had a little too much Dutch courage.”
“A little? You were drunk as a lord.”
He gave her a wry smile. “I am a lord.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “You know what I mean, Robert.”
“Yes, I do. And I apologise profusely. It was not well done of me. Please tell me I did not force my attentions on you.”
She shook her head. “You only forced your presence in my bed. Which is fine. You do not make the worst bed companion. Believe me. Eleanor leaves bruises when she is ill and shares my bed.”
He closed the gap and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Then please will you make love to me?”
She pursed her lips. “How can I say no to a naked man?”
“You can say no if you do not wish to. I just… would very much prefer if you would oblige me.”
When she placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled his face down into a desperate kiss, he knew he had won the first round of this battle. It was not going to be an easy won victory and he may be bloodied and bruised by the end of it, but he would have his answers.
∞ ∞ ∞
Lucy supposed she had known his intentions as soon as he had walked into the music room with the nurse in tow. She had known when he had spoken to her thinking she was asleep that morning. But she could keep her secrets. She would reveal nothing to him.
Now he lay atop a chaise--longue and she writhed atop him. His hands seemed to be all over every part of her back and bottom as he urged her to kiss him and rub herself against first his thigh, then his hard length. She was getting quite close to her release, then he would change the position and she would lose it.
Now Robbie was tugging on her hair to extend her neck, so he could kiss down the column of it.
“Lucy, I need to be inside you. Slide onto me.”
“How?”
“You can do it, love. Just take me in hand then ease yourself onto me. Sit up slightly.”
She did, watching him as she did. His breathing was heavy and his eyes dark with lust. He reached out and toyed with her nipple.
“Like this?” She raised up and Robert moved his hand to help her.
“Yes, just like that. Ease down. Oh God, you’re so wet. So ready. So perfect. Now move up and down a few times.”
He was correct. It did feel good and it was nice to feel in control of what was happening.
“So, my love, tell me something…”
“Yes. Anything?”
He reached beneath the chaise-longue and produced a small piece of paper. “What does the note say?”
Her eyes widened. That was one of the blackmail notes. What was Robert doing with it?
“Have you read it?”
“No. Has it got something to do with the six hundred pounds?”
“That is none of your business?”
“It is my business if my money is being used for nefarious purposes. What would you be doing with that kind of money? Are you being blackmailed?”
“You have read it.”
He shook his head and she knew he spoke the truth. Robert had such an air of entitlement. If he had read the note he would have said so. That was the way of aristocrats.
“Lucky guess. So, what would a nice young lady like you be blackmailed about?”
He bent his knees and urged her back.
“Robert. This is none of your business.”
He smirked. “You can climb off me anytime you want. But we both know that you are as intrigued as I am to find out where this conversation will lead and how many of your secrets I have guessed and how much I know.” He rubbed a thumb over the lines on one side of her belly. “I do not recall you ever needing to lose weight, but I have seen marks like these before. Usually on widows. Intriguing little lines, Lucy, are they not? How did you get them?”
“Please Robert.”
He lifted his hands away from her.
“You carried one of those orphans, did you not, Lucy?”
“I hate you.”
“Eleanor is your daughter. Eddie Dick left you with child when he went away to war. Tell me I have the right of it.”
She gave him a mutinous scowl. “Yes, My Lord. You are correct. Now that you know, you can use me and cast me aside like the contents of a chamber pot and leave me to my ruin.”
Robert sighed and tugged at her shoulders. She resisted, but as her eyes filled with tears he felt her resistance crumble.
“Oh, my love, I could never cast you aside. Does the fact I stripped you naked, so you could not run out of the room while we had this conversation not tell you anything? I want you. I need you to stay. You have been so badly treated. It is time for someone to look after you, and Eleanor, and, devil take it, but we’ll look after your orphans too.”
“But Eleanor is a bastard.”
“Eleanor will be the step-daughter of an earl. She can get a good match with a gentleman when she is older. We can make sure of it.”
“But I am ruined.”
“You shall be a countess. Very few people will say anything to your face and you shall be the gossip of the ton for half a season before some other unfortunate debutante is convinced that a gentleman will die if his cock is not buried in her sweet virginal cunny. Unfortunately, my love you are not the first and I doubt you shall be the last to fall for the charms of a rake who tells sweet lies about the frailties of the male of the species. We’re hardier than some of us would have you believe and can manage without sex for quite some time.”
“I feel like such a fool.”
“Never a fool. Young and not given the proper information you needed. Do you mind if I explain to Beattie the general points of the story and seek his counsel on the next steps with regard to Eleanor? He has been in town more recently and visits London more frequently.”
“I should like to be honest with Lord and Lady Beattie.”
“Good. Now can you please move before my poor prick thinks it has been entirely forgotten. I think I should like to make love properly to my wife-to-be.”
“You have not asked me to marry you.”
“Oh! Miss Lucy Butterworth, will you marry me?”
“Oh, right there. Oh, that is nice Robbie. Yes, that is good. Oh umm, yes, yes, I will, I shall marry you. Oh!”