Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next day, Lisbeth sat with Thomas in a small stone cottage on a beautiful property outside of London. Benson, her guard, had dropped them off there with two horses and would return later in the evening.
The land was adorned with a gorgeous lake, fields of flowers, spectacular manor ruins, and plants just starting to bloom. Lisbeth had been shocked when they arrived at the stone cottage that already had a roaring fire and food laid out for them.
She glanced around and smiled. “Did you have Morrison and Benson help you out with this?”
Thomas grinned. “I did. You said you wanted to be alone, so here we are.”
Nerves flared in Lisbeth’s stomach. She wasn’t sure why; they’d been intimate before. Thomas laid out bedding, creating a makeshift bed in front of the fireplace. He removed his jacket, cravat, and shoes. Warmth shot through Lisbeth.
He sat and held out his hand. “Join me, Lizzie.”
She blushed and removed her shoes before sitting. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against his chest. Lisbeth snuggled into him. Thomas kissed the top of her head and asked, “Two weeks together. How do we think it is going?”
She smiled impishly. “Fine, besides your many admirers.”
“It makes me wish I hadn’t agreed to work with Anderson all those years ago.”
Lisbeth shook her head. “Don’t. It made you wealthy and also sparked people’s curiosity about antiquities. There are dozens of boys and girls out there who want to be the next Thomas Easton.”
He slid her off his chest, so she was lying on her back, and he was staring down at her. Thomas frowned. “Still, I’m worried about that letter you received.”
Lisbeth sighed. “You can’t control the actions of someone else. I’m sure it was an angry young fan. They will move on.”
One of his hands glided down her front, and Lisbeth sucked in a breath. Their eyes connected, and desire crackled between them. “Did you bring me here to seduce me, Mr. Easton?”
She hoped so. He smirked. “And if I did, Mrs. Easton?”
Her heart pounded, and a rightness coursed through her. Lisbeth teasingly said, “Well, you denied me in the carriage. Perhaps I’m not interested now.”
Disbelief flicked across his face. “I could never deny you anything. We both wanted to wait. Had you pushed me on it, I would have gladly hiked your skirts up and filled you with my cock.”
Her core clenched. Thomas frowned. “The last time we were together, we were so angry, but saying I didn’t enjoy it would be a lie. Still, I wanted our next time to be more than that. I wanted it to be an opportunity for us to discover each other with love and care.
Lisbeth blinked back tears. His words reverberated with sincerity.
A million hurts existed between her and Thomas, and he still loved her.
She could see it on his face. He leaned down and ran kisses up her neck, and as if to lighten the mood, he murmured, “Now, going forward, I promise to tup you in the carriage anytime you request.”
She giggled. “I may demand it quite often.”
He grinned wickedly at her. “I would like nothing more.”
Lisbeth was done with all the games and the coyness of when they would be intimate. She grabbed his hand and raised it to her lips. “Thomas, make love to me, please.”
He groaned and shot to his feet, startling her, before holding out his hand. She smiled. “What are you doing?”
“Benson won’t be back to pick us up for hours. I need to see you out of all those clothes. A man could suffocate in all the clothing women have to wear in the West.”
She laughed loudly and took his hand. He pulled her up and spun her around so her back was facing him.
His fingers made quick work of the buttons of her dress, petticoats, chemise, and drawers.
He turned her to face him, and Lisbeth lifted a brow.
“How did I end up completely bare, but you are still dressed?”
Thomas didn’t respond but let his eyes roam over her form. Lisbeth blushed, feeling suddenly shy even though he’d seen her this way in Syria. “You are so beautiful. It dazes me every time I look upon you.”
“I’m not as young—”
He interrupted her. “No, don’t say it. Every curve of your body is a work of perfection. It causes a hunger in me that leaves me breathless.”
Thomas pulled her to him, lifting her slightly off the ground.
He kissed her as her body slid down his.
She whimpered as his hard shaft slid against her feminine folds before pressing against her belly.
His lips pressed against hers, as his tongue demanded entry into her mouth.
She didn’t fight him, wanting to spar with him.
Their tongues pushed and stroked against one another until they both pulled away breathless.
Lisbeth began to unbutton his shirt as he pulled the fabric from his pants. It fell to the floor, and she ran a hand along his firm, broad chest. Her hand drifted down to his flat stomach, tense from her touch. She unclasped his pants, and they fell around his ankles before he stepped out of them.
His large shaft stood at attention, demanding to be touched. She ran one finger down its length, and Thomas hissed. “Do you know how empowering it is to know how much you desire me, Thomas?”
“There is nothing I want more,” he moaned as her hand stroked him. His hips began to rock.
Lisbeth squeezed her thighs together in anticipation of having him buried so deep in her. “What do you want, Thomas?”
He groaned. She leaned up and kissed his jaw and then his lips. “I want to please you.”
Her hand swirled over his taut stomach. “Do you want me on my knees?”
Thomas looked down at her ravenously. Lisbeth bit her lip, drawing his eyes to her mouth. Finally, he hoarsely muttered, “Christ, I think I may combust, but yes.”
Lisbeth dropped to her knees and slid the length of him into her mouth.
She delighted in the taste of him at the tip.
He wrapped his fingers in her hair. Pins went flying everywhere as her hair tumbled about her shoulders.
She looked up at him, and their eyes connected.
The ache in her core intensified as she took him in and out of her mouth.
With every thrust, he groaned or whimpered.
His pace increased, and Lisbeth could tell he was close.
The hold on her hair tightened, and with one last thrust, he spent in her mouth. He moaned as she drank him down. She pulled back, sitting on her heels and smirked up at him. Thomas leaned down and rubbed his thumb across her lips. “My temptress. My Layla. My everything.”
He joined Lisbeth on the bedding. She rolled onto her back and wantonly splayed her legs. He lay on his side, looking down at her form. Minutes passed as they enjoyed the comfortable silence between them. It had always been like this with them, comfortable and easy.
Thomas’s hand slid down her body until he reached her quim.
She tilted her head back and moaned, needing his touch.
He teasingly stroked her at first, but it wasn’t enough.
Lisbeth wanted his fingers in her. She needed to ride them.
His fingers penetrated her, and she gasped.
He slid them in and out of her as she bucked and moaned.
His eyes grew hungry, and he brushed a kiss across her mouth.
Thomas positioned his hard shaft at her entrance. Her eyes flew to his face, and he said, “Once will never be enough with you.”
Lisbeth pulled him to her, and he thrusted into her deeply. She let out a whimper, reveling in how he stretched her. He slid in and out of her, taking his time. The movements were driving her mad. She wanted more of him and deeper.
She urged him on by wrapping her legs around him and demanding more. He chuckled darkly. “My ravenous temptress. Tell me what you want?”
Lisbeth demanded, “Harder and deeper, Thomas.”
He kissed her neck. “As you wish.”
His next thrust was exactly as she requested, and so was the one after that.
She moaned. Lisbeth took all he offered, needing him more with every joining of their bodies.
He slid into her again and then this time swiveled his hips as he was buried in her.
Her feminine nub throbbed, and she let out a strangled moan.
As his movements continued, he murmured in her ear, “Is that what my Lizzie likes? A good pounding?”
She moaned. He pulled out and thrust again, rotating his hips. The ache in her core was so intense that she could barely utter a comprehensible word.
“Does my cock please you, love?” he asked, the breath of his words against her skin sending shivers down her body.
“Yes,” she finally gasped out.
He thrusted and swiveled over and over again until the ache in her lower body exploded.
She whimpered, and he cupped her bottom, pounding into her, chasing his own release.
Thomas continued with his relentless thrusting.
She clung to him, and then he plunged into her one more time before sliding out and spending onto a cloth.
He fell down on the bedding next to her, breathing heavily.
Their hands found each other, and they intertwined their fingers, both staring at the ceiling. He’d pulled out. Lisbeth whined, “You didn’t finish in me.”
Thomas rolled to his side and looked down at her. “I didn’t want to presume anything.”
She smiled at him. “Why are you such a decent man, Thomas Easton?”
He leaned down and kissed her. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to slide myself between those lovely thighs of yours a few more times before Benson appears.”
Lisbeth wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. “I would hope not.”
*
Thomas and Lisbeth grinned at each other as the carriage door shut. Benson and the driver had returned to retrieve them, though Thomas now wished they’d spent the night. He had a surprise for Lisbeth and was nervous about how she would take it.
Still, she’d seemed to love their alone time today. “I have a surprise for you.”
Lisbeth lifted a brow. Thomas had the urge to kiss her again.
She still had the look of a flushed, sated lover.
He continued, “I bought the land I showed you today. I was hoping that we could build a house and live there when we don’t have events in London.
It is only a half-hour train ride or a one-hour carriage ride from the townhouse in Mayfair. ”
He had hoped for excitement, but she looked back at him, blinking and stunned. Hurt flared in Thomas. “I’m sensing you are not as excited as I thought you would be.”
“It is very thoughtful, but we have a townhouse in London and a country estate,” she explained calmly.
“The dukedom does,” he said, trying to reason with her.
“I don’t want to add stress to Alice and Jeremy’s lives.”
“Change is good sometimes,” he said. It didn’t escape him that the anger he thought he’d buried deep enough never to flare was bubbling and demanding to erupt.
Lisbeth bit her lip as if she wasn’t sure what to say.
He was choosing to step into another man’s life.
A life that should have been Thomas’s to begin with.
The anger erupted. “Will I be denied everything? First you, then my child, and now I can’t build anything for our family.
It all should have been mine. You should never have left Tuscany. ”
The moment he said the words, he knew he shouldn’t have. The color drained from Lisbeth’s face. “I’m sorry. Blame me. It is all my fault.”
“I blame the expectations of society, I blame your father and brother, and yes, I blame both of us for thinking it was wise for the daughter of an earl and a housekeeper’s son to fall in love.”
Thomas needed to calm down. He was being irrational. Somehow, this conversation had morphed from discussing whether to buy an estate to addressing all their problems. Her eyes watered. “It was a foolish decision to fall in love, but one I couldn’t have stopped, nor do I regret it.”
He gulped and looked away. She leaned forward and placed her hand on his. “I knew these feelings still lingered and I don’t blame you, but we must be honest with each other for this to work. My only concern about your purchase of the estate is Alice and Jeremy.”
“I want this life with you, Alice, and Jeremy, but I can’t only exist in the duke’s spaces. I need a place that is just ours.”
She smiled sadly at him. “Let’s take some time to think about this. This has become too heated. I just need you to understand that a new estate won’t make the past disappear.”
Lisbeth was likely right about needing time. The anger snapping and sparking in him would not soften. “It seems we both have plenty to think about. I don’t think it is too much to ask for you to build something with me.”
She remained silent.
The next day, Thomas watched as Alice and Jeremy played in the garden with Miss Ashby.
They were comfortable in this space, and it was because they’d grown up here.
This was their home. He was still hurt that Lisbeth wouldn’t consider the estate at all.
Thomas had thought the nearby property was a perfect compromise.
Still, she’d been right. He was the only one who could decide whether he could live in London with them. Hell, right now he was staying in a guest chamber of this house because he couldn’t fathom sleeping in Lisbeth’s deceased husband’s bed. Fuck. Everything was a bloody mess.
Yet, he knew with all certainty that he loved Lisbeth. He glanced at Alice and Jeremy, and his heart ached even at the thought of leaving them. He never wanted to blow up on Lisbeth again. She’d been hurt and shocked.
He would make this work, he told himself. What other option did he have? To live the rest of his life incomplete? Without Lisbeth and the children, that is what it would be. Thomas walked down the terrace stairs, and Alice and Jeremy smiled at him. This was his family, and he wouldn’t give it up.