Chapter 22
All right? How could she ever be all right after this? Tears formed in her eyes. She’d had no idea, no inkling, that it could be like this between a man and woman. There was such tender concern in his voice. She laid her head on his chest, his heart beating rapidly, matching the rhythm of her own. “I am in awe,” she whispered.
“As am I,” he replied, his tone husky.
“Did you…”
“Make myself come? Yes. Watching you reach your peak aroused me like never before. It is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
She hugged him. “Oh, Riordan.”
They lay in each other’s arms, and Sabrina was content as never before. Safe. Treasured.
“We had best clean up. Mary will be here before we know it.” She moved to sit up, but Riordan laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Stay, I’ll return in a moment.”
“Could we wait a couple of nights before asking Mary not to see to me in the evening?” His brows furrowed. “I want to savor what happened tonight, before we continue. Perhaps do this again”—she gave him a sultry smile—“for I enjoyed it immensely.”
A smile touched his sensuous lips. “Whatever you desire.”
Sabrina clasped his hand and kissed it. “I desire you, sir.”
Riordan groaned. “Minx.”
Laughing as he left the room, Sabrina burrowed into the blankets, a contented smile firmly in place. Was it always like this? The pleasure they had given each other from touching…what would actual sex bring? She wanted to know, but wanted to learn in a deliberate manner. Riordan would agree. Some men wouldn’t. They would simply take…as Pepperdon… No. She dismissed him outright. Rot in hell. Stay there. Never enter my thoughts again.
How many minutes passed, she’d no idea. Riordan entered the room carrying a small basin and a flannel cloth. “I placed the soup on the stove. We will eat once we put ourselves to rights.”
He made room for the basin on the small table, sat on the bed, dipped the cloth in the water, and placed it between her legs. The warmth of the flannel caressed her folds. He’d heated water for her. How thoughtful. She sighed with pleasure as he stroked her between the slit in her drawers. He leaned in and kissed her. Deeply. Stirring the passion between them. But before it galloped out of control, he ended it.
When he assisted her to stand, Sabrina was surprised to find her legs still shook. Leisurely, and with great care, he dressed her, leaving off the petticoats. As she reached for the hairpins, Riordan shook his head. “Leave it down. Please.”
“Mary will know….”
“Let her.” He winked.
They were sitting at the table eating when Mary knocked and entered. “Good evening. My, you’re having supper late, what—” Stopping in her tracks, she looked back and forth between them. She smiled, and Sabrina could not stop the blush from spreading across her cheeks.
What Riordan had read to her about Miss Featherstone’s seduction on the balcony had just happened to her not an hour before. Last night she’d read that the ex-soldier hero also…kissed her there. Between her legs. “Feasted,” the book said. How deeply intimate. Would she enjoy it as Miss Featherstone did? She glanced at Riordan, and he winked once again. Oh, yes. Without a doubt.
“Join us, Mary. Have a cup of tea and a buttermilk biscuit,” Riordan said.
“Oh no, sir. I couldn’t.”
“Mary, please?” Sabrina asked. She wanted her friend and Riordan to know each other better.
“Very well.” Mary removed her cloak and sat at the table, making herself at home. She poured a cup of tea, and refreshed theirs. Once she finished, she spread apple jelly on her biscuit.
“I’ve asked Mary to call me by my first name. We have moved past the lady and maid roles into a far more satisfying bond. I’m also leaving behind the ‘lady’ designation permanently. It belongs in my past. For now, I am Sabrina Black.”
“By law, you can call yourself Lady Pepperdon for the rest of your life,” Riordan said.
“I could.” She sipped her tea. “I choose not to.”
“And what of your future?” Riordan asked.
She stilled. Both Riordan and Mary stared at her, waiting for her response. Why would he bring this up here? “I’m not sure yet.” Before she could stop the words, she blurted, “Tell me what your salary is?”
Mary took a sharp inhale of breath; no doubt sorry she’d sat at the table. Yes, Sabrina was being unconscionably rude.
“I’m university educated, as I told you, and my yearly salary reflects such. The board is paying me forty-six pounds per annum. About the salary of a clerk at a prestigious firm. I have this cottage rent-free. Also the use of a part-time housekeeper-cook, Mrs. Ingersoll, free of charge. It’s an ideal situation for a middle class lad such as myself.” His words were clipped, his expression annoyed.
“How tactless of me. But I’m curious about you. Your past. You’ve told me next to nothing even though I have asked before this.”
“There isn’t much to tell.” He shrugged. “There is time yet to consider all options.”
She met his gaze. “What options?” She shouldn’t have started this discussion on his salary, but blast it, she was tired of him revealing next to nothing about himself. Also, she longed for him to mention staying married as he’d done at the registrar’s. Say it, please.
Riordan reached for another biscuit. “It’s your future, Sabrina. Your choice. The end of the three month period may be a better time to discuss it.”
How embarrassing. She’d made a fool of herself. Biting her lower lip to stem any tremor in her voice, she tossed her napkin on the table and rose to her feet. “I believe I’ll retire.” She hurried from the room. Mary followed right on her heels and closed the door behind her.
“Oh, Mary. I feel entirely stupid.” She sat on the edge of the bed.
“What happened between you?” Mary asked gently as she sat next to Sabrina.
“Something wondrous. I’m caught up in emotions that are carrying me in four different directions. I love him. I’m beginning to believe he does not feel the same. Not completely. There are secrets, I know it.”
Mary took her trembling hand. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Even tonight, when I first entered the room. If it’s not love, it is very close to it.” Mary sighed. “Let me explain an important fact about men: for the most part, they are confused by their emotions, reluctant to acknowledge them, as if doing so would make them weak and vulnerable. I’m not sure such is the case with Mr. Black, for he appears all confidence in most situations.”
Mary slipped her arm about Sabrina’s shoulder. “Perhaps he is simply allowing you to come to your own decision. You’ve been through so much. Why not allow things to unfold naturally? Do not worry for the future. I’m positive he will tell you all you wish to know soon. Let’s say you wish to stay married. With his income and your settlement, you can both live comfortably enough.”
“What about you?”
“My dear, your late husband was a complete rotter, but he did pay his servants well. I’ve saved a pretty penny the past decade. A cottage by the sea for the two of us? Good. Staying with the fine looking schoolmaster? Even better. How thrilling to actually have a choice. Know that I’m with you whatever you decide. For that is my preference. My choice.”
The tears came. Sabrina could not stop them. Mary held her close, rocking her, humming a quiet tune.
As a loving mother would.
* * * *
For two days, Riordan admonished himself for his curt reply at supper. Sabrina asking about his salary had caught him unawares. And in front of Mary. Forty-six pounds was mere pocket change to him. The truth of it was, most people got by on much less. A farmer or laborer would be lucky to earn nineteen pounds per annum.
Referring to himself as a “middle class lad” wasn’t a complete lie, for he was such at this point in his life, since he lived within the means of his teaching salary. The more intimacies he and Sabrina shared, the more questions she would ask. Riordan could keep his distance, but after observing her come apart in his arms, he could no more stay away from her than not draw his next breath.
They sat at supper, barely speaking. Riordan pushed the sausage about on his plate, for he had little appetite tonight.
“The pork sausage not to your liking?” Sabrina asked.
He looked up. “No, it’s tasty enough.” He cut a piece, placed it in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
“I…I asked Mary not to come tonight,” she stated shyly.
He stopped cutting the meat. His heart slammed against his ribs. “You wish to continue with…”
“Making love? Yes, I do.” She paused. “Are we moving too quickly? Am I being too bold?”
“Please, be bold,” he croaked.
“In your best, sensual, schoolmaster voice, explain what you’re going to do to me. And with me.” Her eyelashes batted coquettishly and he grew hard.
Damn, he did like it when she acted audacious; he would as well. Placing his utensils across his plate, he gave her his full attention. “We will remove every last piece of clothing from each other. Touch and caress, lie on the bed, and continue to explore. Taste, kiss, lick every inch of skin. Then I will prepare you.”
Sabrina smiled. “Prepare…how?”
“As I did last night. Suckle your luscious breasts, stroke your folds until you’re soaking. Next I will grasp my…” God, he was aroused beyond all imaging. Hard as oak. Sabrina’s lips parted, her cheeks flushed, and her breathing came in short bursts the same as his. His emotions were raw, exposed. As will his words be. “Grasp my cock, place it at your heated center, stretch you wide, fill you….” Swiftly vaulting from his chair, it fell to the floor. Scooping her up in his arms, he marched the few steps to the bedroom.
“Enough talk,” he growled. He’d planned to bring her along slowly—those plans had been ground to dust. Once in the room he lowered her, clasped either side of her head, and kissed her savagely. Hungrily. Sabrina returned every stroke of his tongue. Without needing to vocalize it, their hands started to tear at each other’s buttons as they continued to kiss. Frenzied movements. He must slow this down, a least by a notch or two.
Breaking the kiss, he pulled away, far enough to capture her gaze. Never had he seen such heated desire in a woman’s eyes. Without breaking eye contact, they peeled the layers away, kicking aside petticoats, skirts, shirts, and trousers, until they were completely nude. Sliding his gaze downward, he drank in her curves, her plump breasts, the curve of her hips, her long legs. “You’re beautiful. Every part of you.”
Sabrina smiled. How readily she did it now. Boldly, she drank him in, her gaze lingering on his erect cock. “As is every part of you. Is this where I ask shyly if that will fit inside me? Because surely it cannot.” She gave him a wink and a deep-throated laugh. “Miss Featherstone said the same to Sebastian.”
“You’ve become such a tease. A vixen. And I love it.” He fisted his prick. “This is yours. To bring you pleasure. Never to hurt or humiliate. I mean it, my darling.”
She stepped forward, laid her hand on top of his and gave him a squeeze. “My darling.”
He kissed her again as they both stroked him, inching closer to the narrow bed. One day, if all worked out according to his deepest hopes and desires, he would have her in his large bed at Wollstonecraft Hall.
They lay upon the bed, kissing, caressing, and stirring the passion to full boil. One of his hands slid between her legs. Wet. Damn it all, he couldn’t wait. He rolled on top of her, raising himself up by his arms, and gazed down at her. Skin against skin. Heat. Fire.
First, he wanted her to come. Cry out, writhe under his ministrations. Riordan began at the curve of her hip, laying kisses up her torso until his mouth locked onto her erect nipple. His other hand caressed her inner thigh, moving ever closer to the heart of her. Inserting two fingers, then three, he stroked, rubbing her nub while suckling madly at her breast.
Already she moaned, her face flushed. He pulled his mouth away far enough to say, “Do not suppress it, Sabrina. Demand I give you more.” He returned his attention to her breast, his tongue flicking the nipple and he stroked her faster.
Sabrina groaned, her hips rising off the bed. “More. Faster.”
That she vocalized her demands nearly made him come. He liked to talk during sex, always had. Perhaps it was the teacher in him. Describing and explaining what he wanted. What he would do to her. Then to follow through with a thorough demonstration.
With a widening of her eyes, she cried out, gasping for breath. “Oh, God, Riordan…” Her feminine core tightened and spasmed, her entire body shuddering with her release. Removing his fingers, he grasped his shaft and teased her entrance, then thrust in. Filling her as she still trembled with her release was damned astonishing. Her climax vibrated through him, to his very soul.
Starting with a slow pull and push motion, he increased the speed of his thrusts. Leaning forward, he wished to give her swollen nub the friction it needed to make her fly apart once more. The sounds and smells of sex filled his senses. The air fairly crackled with life and vibrancy. Colors swam in his vision.
With a moan, Sabrina trailed her hands down his arms, reached behind him, and grabbed his rear, pulling him in deeper. They moved together in perfect rhythm. Faster, until she cried out his name over and over, shuddering once again.
He was damned close. He was about to pull out, but Sabrina clutched him tight, holding him in place. “Don’t leave me. Stay.”
“If I do, we must stay married, do you understand?” Her father had crudely claimed she was barren, but he didn’t care one way or the other. But in case she wasn’t, he would not take the chance of getting her with child without the promise of his name and protection.
Leaning up, she bit his shoulder. “I understand. Come inside me.”
With a hoarse cry, he did, giving her all he was and ever hoped to be. Every muscle in his body contracted as the powerful force of his release made his heart pound. Gasping for air, he fell to her side, pulling her close into his embrace. He still shook and shuddered, completely awed by the experience. Completely in love with her.
They didn’t speak; they merely held each other until they both drifted off into a blissful sleep. When Riordan awoke, he gently positioned himself between her legs, bringing her awake with gentle kisses to her inner thighs.
“Riordan, what are you…oh!”
He licked her, then spread her folds. “If you do not like it, I will stop.”
“Is…is this the feasting?”
He laughed. “Let me guess. Sebastian did this to Miss Featherstone.” Sabrina nodded. “It most certainly is, my darling vixen.” He pushed his tongue inside her and she gasped. With a contented sigh, Sabrina grasped a handful of his hair, her hips rising with each stroke of his tongue. She was close; he recognized the signs. He rose to his knees and plunged inside her as she screamed his name over and over. Again he rode the waves of her pleasure, which fueled his to fiery heights.
He lost all control. Pounding fiercely, an animal growl escaped his throat as he reached his peak. Riordan collapsed next to her, taking great gulps of air.
“Is it always like that?” she asked.
“No. Only with you.”
Sabrina lay partly on top of him, stroking his damp chest. “Stay with me tonight. Sleep with me. I’ve never slept with a man before.”
Good. He would be the first to hold her through the night. A fleeting thought of the dead earl crossed his mind. Glad he’s dead. How dare he misuse and abuse this glorious woman? No one would ever harm her again. And if he had his way, they would spend every night lying in each other’s arms. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear.