Chapter Eight #2
Goodness. Surely a man as honorable as her husband would find her wanton behavior distasteful, but he only seemed excited by it, for in the next minute he was hovering over her.
With a swiftness she hadn’t expected, he wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his back.
Louisa was limp in his hands as he reached for her right leg.
Placing his fingers beneath her knee, he positioned her to a straddle position.
Louisa wanted to melt into him, but she was also unsure what he wanted her to do.
“Move down,” he commanded, his hands going to her hips once more as he gently guided her. Louisa did as she was told, and gasped when she felt him push into her.
Her hands went wide against his chest.
“Easy,” he said, his own fingers digging into her backside as he began to move beneath her, like waves surging up before crashing on the shore.
Louisa compared it to horseback riding, though that had always been jolty. This was far smoother, and to her wanton horror, she felt herself begin to grind against him, both working together.
However, that proved too much for Rhys, who suddenly became rigid, his fingers undoubtedly leaving dark bruises around her hips. The thought of those tiny marks caused her to bite her bottom lip as another orgasm broke over her.
Louisa bent forward as Rhys captured her mouth in a kiss and continued to drive upward until he met his own satisfaction before gently enveloping her in his arms. After what felt like hours, Rhys’s mouth found her ear.
“I think I should feed you now.”
“Feed me?” she asked dreamily. “You speak as if I’m one of your pets that need taking care of.”
“But I do intend to take care of you,” he said as he nibbled her earlobe. “What should you wish to eat this morning?”
Louisa was about to answer when a knock sounded at the door. She and Rhys stared at one another, confused as to who would be in their home at this hour.
“Lieutenant? I think you should dress,” Mrs. Crawford’s voice sounded on the other side of the solid wood. “There are visitors.”
“Visitors? At this hour?” Louisa whispered. “Who would come so early in the day?”
“I don’t know,” he said, himself confused as he called out, “Very good, Mrs. Crawford. I’ll be down momentarily.”
“Yes sir.”
The gentle pitter patter of footsteps drifted away. Rhys was on his feet in an instant, while Louisa scrambled out of bed as well.
“I wonder who it could be,” she murmured as she wrapped herself in her husband’s nightrobe. All her clothes were in the main bedroom. “Perhaps it’s a neighbor?”
“Doubtful,” Rhys said as he buttoned his shirt. “Everyone of standing in these parts is still in London.”
“Maybe it’s a farmer? Mr. Trench mentioned that he had spoken to a few men in the village regarding the work being done on the tenant buildings. Perhaps he inspired one or two of the men to come look for themselves?”
“It’s possible,” he said as he sat to pull on his boots. “I’ll go down and greet whoever’s here.” He stood up and went to her. “Go get dressed. I’ll have breakfast waiting for you.”
The gentle reminder that he was still focused on feeding her made Louisa’s heart thump. She nodded as he kissed her deeply, leaving her a little breathless before breaking from her and disappearing into the hallway.
Louisa was quick to change into a pleasant violet gown with a green satin sash across the waist. With her hair brushed, parted, and twisted up in a humble fashion, she was quick to put on her most impractical slippers and hurried towards the staircase.
Slowing herself as she reached the middle of the steps, she rolled her shoulders back and tried to appear as regal as she could, despite several obvious construction spots along the foyer.
Taking a deep breath, as she was worried one of Rhys’s army companions had come to call, Louisa set her eyes on—
Her sister?
“Kitty?” she said coming fully into the drawing room. A tall man with blond hair and an air of superiority caused Louisa to stall. “Oh, hello.”
“Louisa,” her sister said, coming towards her. She hugged her sister before turning. “May I introduce Lord Dawson.”
Louisa curtsied.
“How do you do, my lord.”
“Come, none of that ‘my lord’ talk. Unless we’re in proper company,” he said with a laugh, though what was amusing about his statement, Louisa did not know. “After all, we are to be kin.”
“Kin?” Louisa repeated, her gaze falling on Rhys who appeared perfectly blank.
“Yes. Lord Dawson has just informed me that he and Miss Kitty are on their way to Gretna Green.”
Louisa’s eyes widened.
“An elopement?” she asked. “But Uncle—”
“He’s perfectly pleased with the arrangement, I assure you,” Kitty said quickly as she gathered her sister’s hands in hers and all but dragged her to the settee. “In fact, it was nearly his doing.”
“He’s supporting an elopement?”
“Well, he introduced us,” she said, gazing adoringly at the blond man.
“You see, when your wedding to the lieutenant was announced in the papers, there was a great to do about it at Uncle Malcom’s club.
He said he was questioned relentlessly that evening.
Everyone wanted to know how he had managed to marry one of his nieces off to the war hero, Lieutenant Carlyle. ”
Rhys shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Oh,” Louisa said, herself somewhat nervous to ask her next question. “And what did he tell them?”
“Uncle Malcom told them all exactly what you said. That the two of you have been corresponding via letter for several months before deciding to wed. But several gentlemen couldn’t comprehend it.”
Louisa frowned.
“What couldn’t they comprehend?”
“Why a war hero would marry an impoverished person,” Rhys stated plainly. “Is that correct, Lord Dawson?”
“Well, yes, to be perfectly honest. Quite a few gentlemen continued to hound your poor uncle,” he said with a self-deprecating smile, though Louisa didn’t quite believe it.
“But upon listening to your uncle’s story, he revealed that his other niece, Miss Kitty Babcock, wouldn’t have any trouble marrying, considering the dowry the lieutenant set up for her. ”
Ah. So, there it was.
“Naturally, a number of impoverished peers began to pester the old man, which is why I offered him my carriage to escape.”
“Escape?”
“Yes. He returned it the next day, thanking me and had brought along Miss Kitty. I was at once smitten with her,” he said looking lovingly at Louisa’s sister. “I invited them in for tea and well, one thing led to another, and we found ourselves quite taken with one another.”
“Yes, quite.”
An uneasy feeling crept up Louisa’s spine as she watched her sister and Lord Dawson, though she could hardly complain. She had married Rhys with little more than a promise from a stranger. In truth, she didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Just then, Mr. Trench appeared.
“I was just looking over the plans for the one tenant house along the western property line and er…” He instantly stopped talking as he surveyed the room. “My apologies, I didn’t realize that you had company.”
“It’s quite all right,” Rhys said standing up. “Mr. Trench, may I introduce Lord Dawson and Miss Kitty Babcock.”
“How do you… do?” Mr. Trench stalled, his eyes on Louisa’s sister.
He blinked, then swallowed, entranced by the shy, smiling Kitty.
“Very well,” Lord Dawson said, while Kitty only nodded, her eyes downcast as if trying not to gaze at the professional man.
“Mr. Trench is our architect. He’s helped me fix the roof here at Fenwick Park and is also renovating the tenant houses.”
Lord Dawson nodded, and a long, awkward silence followed. Louisa noticed that Mr. Trench hadn’t taken his eyes off Kitty when Rhys cleared his throat.
“Well, I’m sure you both are hungry, having traveled all night from London.”
“Yes, come. Let’s have some breakfast. Mr. Trench, I’m sure you haven’t eaten yet.”
“Thank you, but I actually wanted to get a bit of a head start today and ate earlier. If you’ll excuse me,” he said with a bow, before glancing at Rhys. “I’ll meet you at the tenant house later this morning?”
“Of course,” Rhys said as Mr. Trench quickly left the room. “Shall we then?”
Louisa stood, grateful to have something else to focus on and perhaps have some time alone with her sister. “Kitty? I’ll need your help.”
“Help?” Lord Dawson repeated, appearing confused.
“Yes. We don’t have any staff yet and we—”
“Mrs. Crawford can handle it,” Rhys said suddenly.
Louisa turned to her husband and saw a shuttered expression on his face.
There was something curious in his dark eyes, as if he were willing her not to argue.
Then it dawned on her. Though they had been quite happy living together in the weeks since coming to Fenwick Park, Louisa knew that their arrangement was less than suitable.
Without servants, she, Rhys, and the Crawfords had been working an entire estate by themselves, and it would be unthinkable to ask their guests to help prepare a meal, regardless of whether they were prepared to host or not.
But there was something else in her husband’s dark gaze that pinched at her heart.
Nodded silently at her husband, Louisa took Kitty’s arm, and they made their way into the dining room.
Louisa was surprised to see that the table had been set.
A bouquet of sweet peas and pale pink roses had been arranged in the center of the table in a crystal vase.
Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford entered through the servants’ door, carrying two large silver trays.
“I hope you won’t mind a buffet style breakfast,” Rhys spoke as they took their seats. “We hadn’t anticipated guests.”
“Of course,” Lord Dawson said, though his one brow was raised in what could only be construed as judgment. “Tell me, lieutenant, how did you come to own Fenwick Park?”
Louisa and Kitty made their way to the buffet table on the side of the room while Rhys explained how Fenwick Park had been gifted to him from the Crown after the war.
Grateful to have a quiet moment with her sister, Louisa offered Kitty a plate before taking one for herself.
As Kitty loaded her plate with the humble meal of toast, jams, and sausages, Louisa spoke.
“How sudden this has all happened for you, Kitty,” Louisa whispered, peering over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being eavesdropped on. “Uncle Malcom truly supported this? An elopement to Gretna Green?”
“Oh yes,” Kitty said swiftly, her tone an octave higher.
“Kitty…”
“Louisa, please,” Kitty retorted in hushed voice.
Louisa gazed at her sister, noting her flushed cheeks. She wouldn’t look up and it suddenly dawned on Louisa that her sister was lying. Oh no.
“Oh, Kitty… Tell me you haven’t run away?” She didn’t answer. “Kitty, how could you?”
“Do not try and dissuade me when you up and married a stranger.” Kitty plopped a sausage on her plate. “And don’t try and tell me you were corresponding beforehand. You would have told me if you were sending letters to someone, so don’t try and convince me otherwise.”
Louisa bit her lips. It was true that she had married a stranger, but her situation had been completely different. Rhys knew that she didn’t have any money and married her regardless. To be frank, Louisa was still stunned by her marriage to Rhys.
“But Kitty—”
“Have you told your sister about our plans for the Continent?” Lord Dawson asked, coming up behind them as Louisa and Kitty finished fixing their plates. “We’ll be traveling for three months.”
“The Continent? Surely you don’t mean to go to France?”
“Of course. The war is officially over, or it will be come this summer. I don’t see a reason not to visit.”
A stolen glance at Rhys made Louisa note that he certainly seemed aware of a dozen reasons not to visit, but then Lord Dawson hadn’t fought in the war.
Breakfast was a tense affair, if only for half of the company.
While Lord Dawson and Kitty seemed immune to questioning, Louisa and Rhys were almost too aware of the inconsistencies in their romance.
For instance, Lord Dawson stated that he had never felt the way he did when he first saw Kitty a year prior at the Houghtons’ ball.
Kitty hadn’t attended, however, and when corrected, he stated that the woman only looked very similar to Kitty. It left a bad taste in Louisa’s mouth.
When the meal finished, Rhys offered to take Lord Dawson around the property, but the man was too tired from the carriage ride and opted to rest instead. Louisa was about to clear the table when Rhys’s hand stopped her.
She glanced at him, perplexed.
“Take Kitty into the village and hire a proper cook, two house maids, and a scullery maid.”
“But—”
“Please.”
Having rarely heard a please from Rhys, Louisa closed her mouth and nodded. She supposed that while they had been enjoying their empty house, it was time to hire proper servants, particularly since the upstairs had finally finished renovations.
“Where are you going?”
“Mr. Trench and I are to inspect the roofs on the tenant houses. If they’re satisfactory, we should be able to hire tenant farmers by the end of the month.”
Rhys kissed her on the cheek in front of Kitty and while it was chaste, Louisa felt herself blush. Once he left, she turned to Kitty, who was smiling from ear to ear.
“He seems to really be taken with you.”
“Oh, no,” Louisa said, shaking her head. “We’re just, very good partners, that’s all.”
“As husband and wife.”
“No. Well, yes, but… Rhys and I are different in many ways. Of course, we’re similar too.”
Kitty’s brows cinched together.
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.”
“Just that, well… Rhys and I are compatible. Surprisingly, considering how we met and all.”
Kitty nodded.
“Yes. I find that Lord Dawson and I often seem to be thinking the exact same thing at all times.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, he’ll ask me my opinion on something and usually always agrees.
For instance, when we were in London and he first mentioned wanting to marry me, I said I shouldn’t wish to wait a very long time and he agreed instantly.
It was his idea to flee the city.” She sighed, her eyes glazed over in a lovestruck way. “Isn’t it terribly romantic?”
No, not at all, but Louisa couldn’t tell Kitty that. So, instead she swallowed her discomfort and merely nodded.
“Well then,” Louisa said. “Shall we to town?”