Chapter 5
The only light in the master suite came from the blazing fire in the hearth, creating shadows that danced on the walls. Liam remained standing by the door, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. He looked toward the bed and saw Felicity propped up against the pillows. She held the bed coverings up to her neck. He didn’t recall his bed being so big. Now it seemed to dwarf the rest of the furniture in the room. He swallowed as a sudden attack of nerves made his stomach roll. Being nervous was not going to help his bride.
An anxious smile played about her mouth, and Liam could tell she was doing her best to try to relax, and failing miserably. Carefully he sat down next to her on the edge of the bed and gently managed to pry open her fingers, releasing the fierce grip she had on the sheet. He held her hand, turning it over so he could gently stroke her palm with his fingers. A woman like Felicity could not be rushed in such a sensitive matter. Like a high-strung thoroughbred, she needed to be coaxed into following his lead. And with his concentration focused solely on his bride, his own nervousness evaporated.
Liam was pleased to see that a light supper, along with an excellent bottle of wine, had thoughtfully been provided. He poured a glass for Felicity before joining her with his own glass and a plate of food. He saw the hesitation and curiosity in his wife’s eyes as he began to remove his elegantly embroidered wedding coat and shoes, able to hide his smile as the look turned to disappointment when she realized that was all he was removing. Still clad in his fine linen shirt, waistcoat, breeches and silk stockings, he lay down on top of the bed next to his wife. The invitation to get beneath the covers must come from her.
He chose to seduce his wife with conversation.
Liam reflected on the day’s events, talking about all that had happened, and watched as Felicity began to relax. She sipped her wine and nibbled on the light delicacies he fed her, laughing out loud at some of Liam’s anecdotes regarding their wedding guests. None were directed at her closest relatives, and Liam was clever enough to weave outrageous fabrications with enough truth to make the stories sound believable. He wondered how many men spent their wedding night thus, concocting fantastic tales in order to calm an anxious bride. He didn’t mind. The stories were having the desired effect.
At one point Felicity laughed so hard she reached for his hand, clinging to it as she fought to recover from a fit of the giggles. Liam simply stared back at her, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Candlelight, coupled with the glow from the fire, bathed her skin with a soft warmth, and sparks of light filled her eyes. Light that he was confident would soon be replaced by the blaze of passion. He reached forward and stroked his fingers lightly down the column of her neck, sliding inside the open neckline of her nightgown to trace a path across her collar bone. Felicity’s breath quickened at his touch, but it was with anticipation not fear. Leaning forward, Liam kissed her softly on the mouth, feeling her momentarily tense as his tongue pushed against her closed lips, seeking entrance to the warmth beyond. She opened for him as she had before, moving her hand to his arm, and clutching tightly as she savored the feel and taste of him.
Liam released his lips and smiled at the look of astonished wonderment filling Felicity’s face. Although he had kissed her like this once before, it felt different now. Apparently his wife thought the same. Wanting to repeat the experience, she greedily searched for his lips with her own, and in response to his coaxing, found herself kissing him ardently, not wanting the moment to end.
With a laugh Liam pulled away. “Patience, little mouse,” he whispered as he tapped her gently on the nose with his forefinger. She gestured impatiently, reaching for him, and making a small, frustrated mewling sound. It was the invitation he’d been waiting for. He rolled off the bed, got to his feet and undressed quickly. Felicity shyly turned her head away. She had never seen a man naked before, and her face was on fire.
“Felicity.” Liam’s voice was gentle, coaxing, and the absence of rustling material said he had removed all his wedding finery. His wife however, kept her gaze averted. “Felicity, look at me.” Now the tone was firmer, and years of obedience made her automatically yield to the underlying authority she heard. “Open your eyes, love.”
He watched her throat move once, twice, and then a third time before she was able to do as he asked, and when she did, the look on her face told him he was neither ugly nor repellant in her eyes. Indeed, Felicity gazed at the lean lines of his body with its well-muscled frame with a hunger that was positively covetous. Liam could practically feel the heat rushing through her, making her skin flush, and causing a faint tremble in her limbs.
“I promise I shall try not to hurt you, darling.”
His wife nodded, her trust in him absolute as she watched him pull back the covers and slide in beside her. Somehow the bed didn’t seem quite so big.
Liam ran his hand down Felicity’s arm, feeling the soft material bunching beneath his fingertips. The nightgown was lace, and as befitted her status, virginal white. But though it covered her completely from neck to ankles, it revealed more of her shapely figure than it hid as the delicate fabric clung seductively to every curve of her body. Now it was Liam’s turn to stare. Unbeknownst to him a temptress had been hiding within Felicity’s corset and layers of petticoats. A familiar stirring in his loins now increased in intensity as he ran his eyes over her, pulling her to him and kissing her slightly swollen lips once more.
With a mounting passion he carefully pulled up the lacy garment until he could slip his hand beneath the material and feel the smooth skin beneath. Felicity gasped at his electrifying touch, and as he moved his lips over her cheek, her closed eyelids, and the corners of her mouth, his restless hand continued to stroke the inside of her thigh. His lips moved down her neck, his tongue pausing at the dip in the base of her throat, tasting the drop of sweat pooling there. He moved his head, wanting to stroke his tongue across her collar bone, but the delicate lace became a barrier denying him access. Without saying a word, Felicity removed his hand from her thigh and pressed her own against his chest, motioning him to wait. She slid out of the bed, making him miss her already. Quickly she slipped the small pearl buttons free until her nightgown fell from her shoulders to the floor.
Liam’s breath caught in his throat. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, extending his hand and helping her back into bed.
Felicity’s body was compact, and sensuously curved. Small, perfectly round breasts sat high on her ribcage with pink nipples that begged for his touch. He leaned toward one, his tongue flicking across the taut bud before he took it between his lips and suckled, gently pulling her flesh inside his mouth as she gasped at the sensation. Then he gave the same attention to the other, and Felicity trembled as waves of pleasure ran through her.
Liam continued to nibble and suck hungrily on his wife’s flesh. Exploring all her secret places with his fingers and his tongue while she held onto him tightly. With her fingers caught in his thick hair, she unconsciously guided him, riding the crest of one rippling sensation after another. Each one more exquisitely glorious than its predecessor. She stopped thinking, responding only to the physical wants and needs of her body.
Gently stroking the soft skin of her inner thigh, Liam could feel his own hunger rising as the heat from Felicity’s body began to envelop him. His hand moved closer to her core, parting the delicate folds of skin as he eased a finger inside her body. Though her desire pulsed in waves like molten lava, he knew she was far from ready to receive him. She was still too dry, and penetration would be painful, so he began to suckle her breasts again, teasing the hard, swollen buds with his tongue.
Felicity moaned, and answering a need deep within her, she surged against him. Again and again she rolled her pelvic bone against the heel of his hand until the hot wetness flowing from her told him she was ready. Liam’s own body was more than willing, his erection hard and jutting and growing increasingly impatient to find release.
Kissing her once more, full and hard on the mouth, he nudged her thighs open with his legs and then positioned himself between them. His voice was thick with emotion, and husky from his own wanting. “Darling, this may hurt, but it will be just for a moment, I promise you.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him, and for a moment all Liam saw was fear, but then the all-consuming hunger raging through her smothered that emotion. Closing her eyes once more, Felicity nodded. “Do it,” she whispered.
With one thrust Liam was inside her, stopping when he felt himself tear through the membrane that was her gift to him. His body trembled as he braced his weight on his forearms, but he gave his wife the time she needed to adjust to the feel of him, and recognize the aching throb inside her. He watched as a single tear slipped from beneath her closed eyelids and he thought his heart would break, understanding fully the reason a woman’s virginity was so highly valued.
For what seemed an eternity Liam held himself suspended above his bride, not daring to move, his cock twitching inside her, desperate to complete the act that had been initiated. They were close, and yet still worlds apart. Slowly he eased himself down until, without realizing it, Felicity bore the weight of his body on her own slender frame. He felt the tremor in her arms and legs as she opened her eyes.
“Darling? If it’s too painful for you—if I’m too heavy—”
She shook her head and the struggle within her concluded as she reached a decision. His presence inside her was an unfamiliar invasion that strained her muscles and bruised her body, but even though it hurt, she would not have changed a single thing about what was happening.
“Liam, stay just as you are,” she told him in a low rasp that still managed to sound shy and hesitant.
To his surprise Felicity raised her legs, taking him farther inside her body, and coating him with her slick heat. She began breathing a little quicker, and he saw her eyes widen as he filled her. And then suddenly she rewarded his patience by pushing against him. Her movements were awkward and unskilled, until Liam placed a hand on her hip, encouraging her to move with him in an easy rhythm.
Feeling an uncontrollable desire sweep through her, Felicity abandoned all reason, all sense of self, and rode the wave as it quickened, going faster and faster until finally, in an explosion of silken fire, they fell together, their passion sated.
* * * *
It was well past the witching hour when Rian quietly entered the townhouse. He had thoroughly enjoyed himself once he received word that the most recent Mr. and Mrs. Connor had arrived safely at the same destination some hours earlier. In the meantime, Isabel had apparently grown bored and departed without saying a word to anyone. He was certain that none of the other guests noticed anything different about her behavior, but Rian could sense something was amiss. He did not know what exactly, but he felt certain she was still smarting from her encounter with Catherine.
Slipping quietly into the library, he was about to pour himself a nightcap when he spied a glass, its contents untouched, on the mantel. There was no sense in wasting perfectly good brandy. Raising the glass to the ceiling, Rian silently toasted the happy couple before tossing the contents down his throat. Welcoming the smooth burn that suffused him, he sat down on the nearest chair and pulled off his boots. He did not want to risk waking anyone as he made his way upstairs.
The door to his room creaked as he pushed it open, but he was confident the noise would not be noted by the occupants of the master bedroom. Still, he couldn’t help wincing as another round of protesting hinges came with the door’s closure. Placing his boots by the chair, he removed his coat and laid it on the seat. The waistcoat followed, and he was pulling the fine linen shirt free of his breeches when a sound made the hair on the nape of his neck rise. Turning his head, Rian saw he was not alone.
Pale moonlight spilled through the window, giving him enough light to pad softly toward the bed and find a naked Isabel fast asleep there, her dark luxurious hair spread out across the pillow. Rian sighed. In repose she looked as beautiful as anything painted by one of the Masters, but then he felt his brows pull together, wondering how she had managed to get into the house, and more particularly his room. Without Mrs. Hatch knowing. There was no excuse she could have fabricated that would have made the housekeeper offer her a bed on this of all nights, so he was certain the housekeeper had no idea there was an extra guest sleeping beneath their roof.
Isabel murmured as she dreamed, and then, kicking the sheet down, she rolled over so Rian could admire the length of her back and the soft roundness of her buttocks. He stared at her, knowing how easy it would be to simply slip between the sheets alongside her. And then, almost before the thought had time to fully develop, that odd feeling of guilt washed over him. With steely resolve he told himself, not this time, not tonight, and most certainly not in this house.
Looking down at the creamy body that was both a temptation and an invitation, Rian told himself it was over. He had no intention of being intimate with Isabel again, and was surprised that he felt no remorse or regret at his decision. Still, his body had betrayed him once before and he saw no need to test his resolution. Almost as if a weight had been lifted, he felt a sense of relief that was quite liberating. Moving stealthily he retraced his steps back to the door. Tonight he would sleep in the adjacent bedroom.
It was not until he was settled in the other bed and about to drift off to sleep that he remembered he had not brought his coat and boots with him. Isabel would surely see them when she awoke, and know he had seen her, and had left. It would be interesting to hear what excuse she came up with to explain her presence.