Chapter 25 #2
Mantheria couldn’t help but think of her first wedding night and how she’d asked for darkness so that Alexander wouldn’t see how terrified she was.
Or the fact that she had closed her eyes and tried to remember Miss Cluess’s advice for how a proper young lady behaved in the marriage bed: lie still and think of something else until it is over, and do not make any untoward noises or words of complaint, even if it hurts.
And it hurt. The pain had been excruciating.
Mantheria had bit down on her lower lip to keep in her tears.
The following nights had been a blur of discomfort and feeling like she was not in her own body.
The last time she’d been intimate with a man was twelve years ago.
“Can I help you take off your pelisse and bonnet?” Sunny asked.
Glancing over her shoulder, Mantheria saw that they were alone in the private parlor. Her pulse quickened, and she couldn’t help but think that Sunny was already trying to undress her. Swallowing, she shook her head. “I can manage.”
Her fingers trembled as she untied the bow of her bonnet and removed her pelisse. Sunny reverently hung them on the hat rack.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I should like to wash up before supper,” Sunny said, pointing to the door on the left of the room. “My bedchamber is here, and yours is there. If you’d like to freshen up, too.”
Sunny had reserved Mantheria her own room. He would not be pushing for his “husbandly rights” or for any intimacies that she was not yet ready to give. Her pulse slowed down to the normal rate, and she was able to go into her well-aired bedchamber and wash her hands and face.
Mantheria returned to the private parlor just as the innkeeper and his wife were laying out the meal on the table.
Sunny thanked the pair and then escorted them to the door.
Mantheria sat down at the table and discovered that she was ravenous.
Her breakfast had been hours before. She took the lids off the tureens and dished herself up a hearty plate of meat and potatoes.
Sunny took a seat by her and did the same.
They ate in companionable silence. Mantheria chewed each bite slowly so as to make the meal last for as long as possible.
After they finished eating, what were they supposed to do in a small village?
Go on a walk? Read a sermon on their wedding night?
She pictured Sunny holding a book of Fordyce’s Sermons, and she couldn’t help but giggle.
His warm brown eyes were on her face. “What’s so funny, my love?”
“I was wondering if you brought a book of sermons to read aloud, should the evening grow long.”
Sunny laughed loudly, and Mantheria chuckled until she could no longer breathe, and her eyes began to water. Her new husband’s face was quite red from all his mirth, and the tension in the room seemed to dissipate.
“I’m afraid that I forgot to pack any books for our wedding trip.”
Mantheria dabbed at her wet eyes with her napkin. “Oh dear.”
“Oh my dearest, we don’t have to be intimate on our wedding night, but I should very much like to hold you, if that is agreeable. If it is not, I shall content myself with looking upon your lovely face.”
Being in his arms did sound rather nice and not at all terrifying. “Do you mind if I change into my nightgown first?”
“Not at all,” Sunny said and took a sip of his wine. “Shall I call for your lady’s maid?”
Mantheria had forgotten all about her.
No, she did not wish to see any other face this day but Sunny’s. She shook her head and got to her feet. “I’ll go and get comfortable.”
“And I shall do the same.”
Mantheria walked slowly to the door of her bedchamber and closed it rather loudly behind her, causing herself to jump.
She took a deep breath and pulled the pins out of her hair, letting the curls fall loosely down her back.
Then she carefully removed her wedding dress, stays, and even her chemisette.
She laid them out on the bed and noticed that there was a mirror in her room.
Mantheria wasn’t in the habit of looking at herself unclothed.
It would be unseemly! But she couldn’t help but notice how much her body had changed in the last twelve years.
Her breasts and hips were fuller. Her arms and legs had become more defined from all her exercise with Andrew.
There were birthing lines on her belly and scars on her legs from her adventures.
She was not the same scared seventeen-year-old girl that she had been on her wedding night.
She was a woman with a powerful and beautiful body.
Mantheria had nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of.
With one last glance at her reflection, Mantheria turned to find her trunk, only to realize that the servants had not brought it up yet.
It was barely past five o’clock in the evening, and perhaps her maid and Sunny’s valet had waited to be called before entering the bridal suite.
She went to the bed and picked up the chemise to put it back on, but then decided that she didn’t need it.
Or want it.
Taking a breath like she was about to go to battle, Mantheria opened the door of her bedchamber that led back to the private parlor.
Sunny was standing by the fire in his shirtsleeves and stocking-clad feet, but otherwise fully clothed.
For a moment, her courage failed her until she saw the expression on Sunny’s face: sheer wonderment.
His eyebrows were raised, his eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open as if unable to speak.
Slowly, she walked toward him with her head up and her long hair tickling her bare back.
She did not falter, nor did she slow down her pace until she reached his side.
His eyes never once left hers. Her sexuality wasn’t something to hide from or be ashamed of, but feelings to embrace and to share with the man she loved.
She took his hand in hers and led him to her bedroom, where they performed the marriage act.
It felt natural, beautiful, and completely indescribable.
Afterward, she rubbed her face against his bare chest. He made a hissing sound of pleasure that made her giggle. His hand moved gently through her hair.
Mantheria tilted her chin and whispered, “Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered.”
She felt his laughter rumble in his chest before his hot breath caressed her ear. “So you did, my love. So you did.”