Chapter 20
The bath water had grown tepid, but Evelina remained in the tub, her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes fixed on the clothing draped over the chair a few feet away.
Gooseflesh raised along her arms. There was something strange and intimate about him having procured clothing for her.
She had dismissed her lady’s maid for the night.
Evelina was alone. Her heart raced madly, and a dull ache throbbed in her head.
This whole situation felt wrong in a way that she was ill-equipped to define.
She forced down the lump that rose in her throat and tried to determine the source of the wrongness.
Perhaps it was because she knew to anticipate her husband.
This entire evening after the wedding was like a drama, every behavior of the actors and actresses already planned.
Any moment, her husband would enter her bedchamber for one reason. He would find her in her bath and wish to consummate their marriage. Evelina’s breath caught in her chest.
Control yourself, Evelina! He is prepared to give you what you want.
It was an impossible situation to be in. She wanted a child, but there was no desire to perform the act which might give her a child. Evelina ran her hands through her damp hair, frustration burning like fire inside her.
She had let him show her some pleasure before, and this would be no different. On the contrary, this time, there would be no impropriety involved. Evelina ought to be pleased by this development. If she had enjoyed his attention then, she could certainly enjoy it once they were wed. Wasn’t that so?
Still, she hesitated. Previously, everything had been exciting and sudden.
Evelina had surrendered to her passion in an instant, and there had been no waiting and worrying about what might transpire.
There had not been time to think about what might happen if she could not perform her wifely duties or any fears about how badly it might hurt, as she had heard it whispered that sometimes consummation could be injurious.
The door creaked open, and Evelina inhaled sharply in a desperate attempt to fill her lungs with air. Somehow, there did not seem to be enough in the world to satisfy her.
Footsteps followed, and Evelina’s chest grew so tight that she could scarcely draw breath. At last, she turned her head and saw him, the Duke of Rothbury. Her husband.
“My lovely wife,” he said.
She couldn’t decipher his tone. Was he pleased with what he saw before him, or was he merely offering some courteous greeting before he fulfilled the task he had come to do?
Heat flooded Evelina’s face, and she curled up tighter, extending one arm to the clothes in an instinctive attempt to cover herself.
“There is no need for that,” His Grace said, his tone deep and pleasant. “I will only have to remove them if you dress.”
She swallowed hard and gazed at him with wide eyes. “Oh,” she breathed.
It was suddenly difficult to find any words at all, even though she felt that she ought to have some.
Her husband reached into the water, bringing one strong arm beneath her legs and the other at her upper back.
He drew her effortlessly from the bath waters, a motion accompanied by the sound of water droplets falling around them.
The duke pressed her against his chest, and the pressure building inside Evelina finally burst. “You are getting your clothes wet!” she exclaimed.
He laughed, the sound rumbling in his chest. “Perhaps I should remove them.”
Evelina’s heart was in her throat as he set her gently down. As her feet touched the ground, she pressed her legs together and raised her hands, trying to cover her breasts without seeming obvious about it. His Grace retrieved a white cloth and looked at her with a sly, joyful gleam in his eyes.
“I can dry myself,” Evelina said.
“Nonsense. I am going to touch you tonight anyway. Why delay any longer?”
He brought the cloth over her arms and shoulders.
Evelina shivered, fighting to stand still and remain dignified.
He brought the cloth over her right breast, slowly drying her.
Evelina swallowed. She felt the warmth and shape of his hand through the cloth, and his thumb brushed across her nipple in a manner that suggested intentionality.
Her breath shuddered as the duke coaxed her nipple into a hard peak.
Then, he did the same to her other breast. Evelina’s face was so hot that she felt as though she had lowered herself into a fire.
Her blood roared in her ears as he dried beneath her breasts and crouched to dry her stomach. At last, he reached her thighs, coaxing them apart with his hands. “Now, I must dry you,” he said. “Are you this shy with your lady’s maid?”
Her core ached, and she was struck by the sharp fear that he might know her body reacted to his touch. When he brought the cloth to her sex, her hips jolted forwards. Evelina stifled a groan, her face growing impossibly hotter.
“Shall we?” His Grace asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he swept Evelina off her feet and carried her to the bed. He laid her down on the mattress, and cool air swept over her naked body. His Grace stood over her, his eyes dark and pleased.
“Your Grace—”
“I rather think it ought to be Stephan,” he said. “Don’t you?”
She nodded mutely. Evelina’s mind scrambled for a reply, but when he began to unbutton his jacket, anything she might have said vanished in a haze of awareness that he was about to undress.
She had never seen a man without his clothing before, and she watched, transfixed as he shrugged the jacket from his shoulders and tossed the garment carelessly to the floor.
His waistcoat soon followed. Then, he removed his shirt, and Evelina’s gaze landed on his bare torso.
His chest and stomach were strong and well-muscled, and with a fluttering sensation, Evelina thought that her husband—the Duke of Rothbury, Stephan—had a body that sculptors probably admired and longed to immortalize in marble.
Stephan might not be Odysseus, but he was certainly built like the man’s statue. He removed his boots and stockings in quick succession, revealing long legs and muscled thighs. Then, his deft fingers went to the buttons that held his trousers fastened closed.
Evelina scarcely dared to breathe, as he cast her a wicked smirk.
Stephan undid the fastenings of his trousers and let them fall.
Evelina didn’t see where the trousers went—if he had kicked them away or still had them around his ankles—because her eyes remained fixed only on his revealed manhood.
She shivered, her mouth dry. Evelina had some notion of what to expect.
She had seen a man’s member on statues and in some manuals on child-bearing before, but seeing artistic depictions was quite another matter from seeing her husband’s manhood in person.
“Oh,” she said.
How could he possibly sheath himself inside her?
He looked large, massive even. Evelina curled her fingers tightly into the bed linens as he joined her on the bed.
He went onto his knees and elbows, looming over her, and bent his head to kiss her.
It was a soft, warm kiss that shattered Evelina’s nerves.
Stephan’s manhood prodded her stomach, and Evelina gasped for air.
Would he just—just impale her while they were kissing? Had it already happened?
“Wait,” she whispered against his lips.
He tipped his head back and gazed down at her. Stephan’s body trembled, as if it took considerable effort to restrain himself, but he did. “Is something wrong?”
Evelina licked her lips, trying to gather the courage to tell him that she had no notion of what to expect.
He would have assumed that she knew what to expect on her wedding night.
Any man would have. Even if Evelina did not know what to expect, she ought to be ready.
She was not some young, innocent miss anymore.
Evelina was nearly thirty years old; she ought to be able to accept her wedding night with grace and dignity.
“I am a virgin!” she blurted out.
Stephan furrowed his brow. “A virgin?” he echoed. “But you were married.”
“I know,” she croaked. “I know, but he never—he never touched me. Ever.”
An incredulous look crossed his face, and his eyes swept over her body with a wondering expression. “How did he resist?” he asked, as if to himself.
“He preferred the company of other women,” Evelina explained, her eyes darting to his manhood. “I—I am sorry, but I do not think I can—can endure—”
Stephan cut her words off with a heavy sigh. “I do not like the thought of you enduring me,” he said. “It has been a long day for us both, so perhaps another night is best.”
Stephan shifted back and climbed off the bed, considering her for a long moment.
His absence sent a wash of cold sweeping over her, except for her core, which ached hotly between her thighs.
A faint, damp smell rose in the air, and Evelina suspected it was the evidence of her body’s desire.
Could he smell it, and did he know the significance of it? She imagined he probably did.
“Perhaps, a parting gift,” he said. “If we are to have an heir, maybe it is best to let you experience something like a wedding night.”
Her throat was tight. “I do not know if I can take you.”
Stephan’s face softened. He looked at her more kindly than he ever had before. “You do not need to do that tonight.”
He leaned over the bed, his hands curling over her thighs.
Evelina watched him as he lowered his head towards her sex.
For a heartbeat, she had the horrid thought that he might bite her, which confusingly made her inner walls clench.
Then, he dipped his head lower, and his tongue swept between her folds.
Evelina tossed her head back, a groan tearing from her. She clung to the bedlinens as though her very life depended on it, as he licked between her folds and at the top of her sex.
“Oh!” she exclaimed.
She had thought it impossible, but the burning need inside her grew, as if Stephan’s every movement stoked the flames of her desire.
How was it possible to bear such a sensation for so long?
A sharp, whining sound tore from her throat as she jolted against his mouth, desperate to achieve some end to her torment and unable to find it.
Her muscles went taut, her body seeming to move without any conscious thought.
Evelina observed her own body as if from a distance, equally fascinated and desirous.
She had not read about this before, and the desire inside her curled tighter and tighter.
Evelina hissed between her teeth. “Oh, Stephan!”
He did not answer with words, but his clever tongue flicked against the top of her folds. Evelina gasped, as pure pleasure swept over her.
She bucked her hips against him, as her body tensed and reacted wildly.
Evelina felt that familiar sensation of tightening, and her thoughts moved in a quick, persistent rhythm.
She was nearly there, so very close that Evelina must find her release.
If she did not, she thought she might very well go mad.
Stephan seemed content to oblige her. His breath was hot against her core, and his lips surprisingly soft.
He swept his tongue over her sex once more, and Evelina twisted.
A ragged moan tore from between her lips, as she tried to coax him into working faster, into giving her just that little push over the edge.
More, more, more—
The tension inside her burst apart, and she gasped at the weight of pleasure sweeping through her body.
It was so delightful and intense that tears sprang to her eyes.
Evelina cried out and heaved for air, as she lay in the aftermath of her release.
Her body was boneless and sated, and she remained still, listening to the sound of her quickened breaths.
After a heartbeat, Stephan removed himself from the bed and stood. She gazed wonderingly at him. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted to.”
Evelina pressed her thighs together and groaned again. She felt well-used and pleasantly tired, as if she had just completed some vigorous exercise.
“I shall see you tomorrow, Evelina.”
Her husband bowed, a gesture that managed to be playful and mocking all at once. Then, he was gone. Evelina let out a breath of air and laughed, her eyelashes fluttering.
Stephan was right. It had been a trying day.