Chapter Ten
Landon didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was already mid-morning. His first thought was that he must have fallen asleep under the bed and dreamt that Opal came to his room, and from there, they had consummated their marriage. But when he felt the mattress beneath his body and the blankets wrapped around him, he realized he hadn’t been dreaming at all. The entire thing had really happened. Excited, he opened his eyes and turned to where she’d been the night before, expecting to see her sleeping next to him. Except she wasn’t. The bed was empty.
Disappointed, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. She had been in here, hadn’t she? He knew he had a good imagination, but it wasn’t that good. In his imagination, a lady wouldn’t coax him out from under the bed and then make love to him. Even now, he could feel the curve of her breasts in his hands and the way she’d felt as he slid into her. Warmth flooded to his loins, and his penis let him know that it wanted to be with her again.
Well, it was going to have to wait. Married couples probably didn’t do it during the day, and besides, she wasn’t even in the room. He got out of bed, washed up, shaved, and got dressed. Ordinarily, he would have called for a bath, but he was much too excited by the prospect of seeing her to do so.
From the chiming of the clock in the hallway, he realized it was already ten. He’d known it’d been late, but he hadn’t realized it was that late. The stress of the day before must have caught up to him. No wonder she hadn’t waited for him to wake up before getting out of bed.
He started toward the door connecting their bedchambers, but then he thought she’d probably been up for hours already. She was most likely downstairs. So he went to the drawing room, and sure enough, she was at the desk. Her chin was resting in one hand, and she was holding a quill with her other hand. Though a parchment was in front of her, she wasn’t looking at it. No. Her attention seemed to be focused on the wall in front of her.
He walked over to her, and upon reaching her, he saw that she had only written Iris’ name down.
“I can write well,” he spoke, breaking the silence. “Would you like me to write that letter for you?”
Opal jerked and turned to him.
“I apologize,” he said, offering her a smile. “I didn’t mean to...” He paused. He didn’t want to say startle or scare. “I didn’t mean to alarm you.”
She relaxed and laughed. “The floors are so quiet. They squeak in my brother’s townhouse. You can always tell when someone is coming.”
He hadn’t noticed how soft his footsteps had been. Glancing around the room, he noticed the rugs that were spread out across the floor.
“I was thinking of writing to Iris, but I think I’ll visit her instead,” she said.
“When will you go?”
“Today.”
“Today?” He hid his disappointment. He had hoped she’d want to spend the day with him.
“I have something I need to ask her. It’s something that’s best kept between ladies.”
He debated whether or not he should ask her about it. He couldn’t even begin to guess what ladies discussed that were so private that gentlemen couldn’t be in the room.
She put the quill back in the inkwell, folded the parchment, and put it in the drawer. “I’ll save this in case I need to write her in the future. I don’t like to waste things.” She stood up and gave him a reassuring smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I came down here without you.”
“No,” he said. “I figured you got tired of waiting for me to wake up.”
Smiling, she took his hands in hers. “I wake up at dawn on most days. It’s been a habit since I was a little girl. If I stay in the bedchamber too long, I get restless.”
He relaxed. Good. It was only a restless spirit that had compelled her to leave the bed that morning. He hadn’t said or done something to make her wish she hadn’t been forced to marry him. Which meant whatever she had to discuss with Iris, it didn’t have anything to do with him.
“You’re free to go wherever you want to at any time.” Then, because the next thing he had to say was private, he lowered his voice and added, “What we did in bed…” Making eye contact with her, he struggled to find the right words. “Nothing that wonderful ever happened to me before.” Still holding her hands, he brought them to his chest and squeezed them. “Thank you.”
He lowered his head to hers and kissed her. She leaned into him and returned the kiss. If it were possible, he would have flown across the room from the sheer bliss of sharing something as wonderful as a kiss with her. This must be what being in love was like. He’d only heard his brother describe such feelings when he’d met Virginia. At the time, Landon had no idea just how uplifting such an experience could be, nor did he think he’d ever have something like it happen to him. But here he was on the day after his wedding, and now he knew why Guy had been so happy after meeting Virginia.
When their kiss ended, he noted the pink tint in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. Maybe, just maybe, she was experiencing the same thing he was. He would ask her if he was certain her answer would be yes. But he wasn’t sure. And that being the case, he decided he’d rather think she was falling in love with him. At least that way, he got to remain in this state of bliss for a while longer.
“Have you eaten anything yet?” he whispered.
“No. I was waiting for you,” she replied, her voice just as soft as his.
“Good. Then we can eat together.” Slipping his arm around her waist, he led her out of the room.
***
Opal waited until the afternoon before she went to her brother’s townhouse. The twins were usually napping during this time of day, so she figured it would be the best time to talk to Iris without any interruptions.
She chose to walk there, thinking that by doing so, it would help her think over the kinds of questions she should ask Iris. She knew it was only a matter of time before she and Landon would be intimate again. There was no denying he had received pleasure from lovemaking, and he was much too sweet for her to ever deny him access to her body.
She hoped that Iris would assure her that her next time with Landon wouldn’t be painful. She’d hate to think she’d end up having to go through that particular experience every time they came together.
When she reached the townhouse, she knocked on the door. How strange it was to be knocking when she used to live here. But her new home was with Landon now, so she would have to get used to it.
The footman answered the door and greeted her. She returned the greeting, said she wished to speak with Iris, and then went to the drawing room. Shortly after she sat on the settee, the butler brought in tea and a bowl of fruit, her personal favorite to nibble on during the day. She smiled her thanks for his thoughtfulness and ate some fruit while she waited for Iris.
Ten minutes passed before she saw Iris. “Would you close the doors?” she asked as Iris passed through the doorway.
With a nod, Iris did as she wished then sat beside her on the settee. “I’m sorry I took so long. I was putting Stuart down for his nap when I heard you were here. Danielle was already asleep.”
“You weren’t long at all,” Opal hurried to reassure her.
Iris picked up the teapot and poured tea into their cups. “What’s troubling you?”
Opal glanced at the doors to make sure they were still closed. All morning, she’d been thinking of little else but talking to her sister-in-law, and now that she was here, it was hard to decide how to proceed.
“Are you unhappy with Landon?” Iris pressed, her voice laced with concern.
“No, that’s not it.” She accepted the cup Iris offered her. “Landon’s wonderful. I’ve never come across anyone so thoughtful or kind or gentle before. Well, maybe except for my brother.”
“Then what’s troubling you?”
After a long moment of staring at the tea in her cup, Opal finally blurted out, “Does it hurt when you’re with my brother? In bed, I mean.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Hurt?”
“Yes, between your legs. There’s this thing gentlemen have. It’s long and sticks out between their legs. Then they put it between a lady’s legs, and it hurts.”
“Oh,” Iris replied, her face growing pink. “Oh! Your first time hurt.”
“We didn’t do it more than once. To be honest, I was afraid to. I got out of bed before Landon woke up this morning and made sure I was fully dressed when he saw me.”
It was the only way she could think of to hold off on lovemaking until later. And since he hadn’t asked her to join him in bed, the technique had worked. But it was only a temporary reprieve. She wouldn’t be able to do this forever. Nor would she want to do something like that to someone as sweet as him.
“I should have told you what to expect,” Iris said as she set her cup back on the tray. “I debated whether or not to, but it’s such a personal topic that I wasn’t sure if I should.”
“Should I have expected it to hurt?”
“Since you were a virgin, yes. But now that you’re not a virgin anymore, it shouldn’t.”
“Why did it have to hurt at all?”
“The first time your body needs to…adjust to his penis. The penis is the long thing that sticks out. It isn’t always like that. Most of the time, it’s soft and hangs between a gentleman’s legs. It’s only when a gentleman is thinking of lovemaking that it grows.”
“Really?”
Iris smiled at her. “Really. Actually, you should take it as a compliment when Landon has an erection. It means he finds you very attractive.”
So that explained why his penis was sticking up under the blanket. He had referred to how little she’d been wearing, but she hadn’t realized he’d gotten erect because he’d found her attractive in her chemise.
“When you two make love again, it shouldn’t hurt,” Iris assured her.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that.” She took a drink of her tea then smiled at her. “I hoped you would say it, but then, I worried you wouldn’t.”
“The act is meant to be pleasurable. It’s the ultimate expression of love between a husband and wife. You shouldn’t have anything to worry about next time. I wish I had discussed this with you before you married him.”
“I understand why you didn’t. Like you said, it is a private matter.”
“So, that aside, how are things between you and Landon? I worried about things after he ran off during the wedding, and I didn’t get a chance to see either one of you after Guy said you found him in the attic.”
“Things are going well. This morning, I didn’t have to look for him. In fact, he came looking for me.”
“Did he?”
Smiling, Opal ate some berries then said, “He’s mindful of my wishes, and he gave me the most wonderful kiss this morning.”
“He seems like he’ll make a good husband. Warren says he’s one of the few honorable gentlemen in London. Warren will be happy when I tell him how well things are going for you. He did worry that with everything happening so quickly that you would regret not having your full Season. He had this vision of you struggling to pick which one of the many lovesick suitors would be your husband.”
Opal chuckled. “I would have had a terrible time making a decision if they were all like Landon. It’s probably just as well that things happened the way they did.”
“Probably. But Warren is sorry the scandal took place at all, not that he blames either you or Landon for it. He blames Lord Asheley for getting involved in something that was none of his business.” Iris took a sip of her tea. “After you spent most of your life being a prisoner in the country, I think Warren wanted you to have all the freedoms and excitement a Season provides. He hasn’t said it in so many words, but I think he feels guilty for not bringing you to London sooner.”
“He didn’t know how things were between me, my mother, and Byron. I was never able to send out a missive, and I know none of them ever told him what was happening. I’m just glad all of that is behind me.”
“It is. Your mother and Byron will never hurt you again.”
“Sometimes I wonder if it’s wrong for me not to mourn their passing. I mean, they were my mother and my brother. I should feel something for them, shouldn’t I?”
“I suspect that given how much they hurt you, you mourned the loss of them long before they died.”
“You’re probably right.”
A moment passed and then Iris laughed. “Look at us! You just told me all about how wonderful Landon’s turned out to be, and we’re dwelling on the past. We ought to be celebrating the fact that you could very well have a love match.”
“Yes, we should.”
Feeling better by the change in topic, Opal gathered a strawberry and a couple of grapes before she started telling her sister-in-law about the possible items she and Landon were thinking of buying to make the townhouse they were renting more like home.