Chapter 11
18 th July 1815
Georgiana shot straight up from a deep sleep. Was that a bang? She blinked and glanced about the room blearily. Where was she? Had there truly been a loud noise or had she been dreaming?
A repeat of the banging made her startle once again. Oh, yes, after staying with Amelia and Sir Anthony for a week, they had journeyed from Dereham Hall in Nottinghamshire, and now she was sleeping at an inn near southern Yorkshire. She swayed and rubbed her eyes as the booming continued. Who was at her door? That was when the further commotion of voices and yelling filtered into her room, or perhaps she had not been awake enough to notice before.
“ Georgie, open the door!” She flinched at Charles’s voice carrying over the din. Even in his flat tone, he was significantly louder than was his wont.
She rushed from the bed and let him inside. No sooner had he entered than he slammed the door behind him and locked it with haste. Though he wore a deep burgundy dressing gown and boasted of bare feet, he held a pistol with an unwavering grip. Why would he need a weapon? She lifted her hands to ask what was happening, but before she could sign one word, he pushed her behind him as he backed away from the door, the pistol held with a steady aim at the only entrance to the room.
The pounding of someone running filtered in from the passage before more yelling erupted and a shot rang out. Her entire body jolted at the sound, and the blood rushing through her veins began to race at breakneck speed.
“ Georgie, I need you to tell me if someone is trying to enter the room. ” He turned his head to face her while he spoke aloud, which did nothing to help her mounting nervous energy. “ Promise me. Yank on my sleeve or some other sign. Do you understand? ”
She nodded while whatever was occurring in the rest of the inn continued to create enough noise to wake the dead. She must have slept through the beginnings of it for Charles’s banging to wake her so suddenly. How had she been so oblivious to it all?
She shifted from his arm to the side and waved a hand to draw his attention. “What has happened?”
“ My valet awakened me after a fight broke out in the tavern below. I had given him a few coins and told him to enjoy an ale before he retired. He is a loyal servant, and he has done a great deal between learning to sign and helping me since…well, since. ”
She nodded. “I understand.”
“ The fight broke out after a man was accused of cheating at cards. Jennings hastened from the room as soon as the fracas began and hurried to my bedchamber. When we peered down the stairs, the brawl had expanded into the front room, and someone was thrown over the innkeeper’s counter. Just after, another man ran by with a pistol, so we rushed back, woke Henry and Jane, then I retrieved my own weapon before waking you. ”
Footsteps ran down the passage once more, making her head whip around towards the sound. They did not stop, but continued on before the footsteps dissipated. How was she to understand what was happening outside with the odd mix of sounds?
“ What is it? ” He had used his voice more in the past few minutes than she had ever witnessed. Signing would take longer and require him to lower the pistol. Surely that was the reason.
“Someone running.”
A clicking made her pause. Then the sound stopped. Then the same occurred closer. Someone was going to try to enter. She pressed her hand to his shoulder. “Someone is trying the latches of the other rooms on this floor.”
He stiffened, wrapped his arm around her, and drew her behind him once more. When the jangling of the latch on her door filled the room, she yanked on the sleeve of his dressing gown without mercy.
She trembled and shook as whoever it was continued to work at the locked door. At a loud thud, she pulled Charles’s arm away and stepped out from behind him. The thud occurred again, making her flinch. The door had rattled with that one.
“They are trying to break it down,” she signed. Charles’s eyes stared straight ahead, but he signed his acknowledgement with one hand before attempting to secure her behind him again. Were they to wait while whomever was at the door broke inside for whatever nefarious purpose? She could not take it! She would not take it!
With a pivot, she rushed back around Charles and faced where whomever it was tried to enter. “My husband is armed and pointing his pistol at the door,” she cried. “If you force your way into this room, you will be shot!” While she yelled, she also signed, so Charles would not be unaware of what she was saying.
The movement of the latch stopped, another thud made the door shift, and a crack came from some part of it.
“ My wife does not lie. Go about your business for you will die if you make it inside this room .” His voice rang out clearer than she had heard of late. How had he managed it?
This time, the footsteps made their way down the passage and away from them.
“They are gone.”
The arm that held the pistol lowered to his side, and his body let go of some of the stiffness he had held. When he sagged to lean against the bed, he scrubbed his face with his free hand. Another shot rang out downstairs, which made her flinch, but the overall noise level seemed to be subsiding. Charles raked his fingers through his hair and dropped the hand holding the pistol to his side. His locks stood up on end in places, and his dressing gown was haphazardly tied. His appearance was typically so fastidious, his current dishabille was a far cry from his usual look.
His entire body almost sagged before he pulled her into his embrace. One arm wrapped around her as his temple pressed to hers. His warm breath fanned against her neck and shoulder, penetrating her thin summer nightgown. Without pause, she welcomed the safety of his arms.
He brushed a kiss where his temple had been, then to her cheek. She drew back just enough for their gazes to meet and hold. Her insides would not cease their trembling as she rose to her tiptoes and sought out his lips. In moments, their tongues sought a connexion, and Charles groaned when she nipped at his jaw.
“ Georgie, ” he said. “ We should —”
Whatever protest he was to make ceased when she took possession of his mouth once more. She pressed into him as they continued, forcing him to step back until they came to a halt at the side of the bed.
With care, her knuckles trailed down the arm to the revolver by his leg. He startled when she lifted the weapon, but he said naught as she removed it from his grip and set it on the bedside table.
His head made to shake, but before she could consider it further, she reached down and lifted her gown over her head. Charles’s eyes widened, and he dropped to sit on the mattress. His hand lifted to her collarbone, his fingers tracing the ridge and down until they circled her breast.
After some incomprehensible sound, he leaned forward and took her nipple into his mouth. The searing heat of his tongue upon the sensitive peak was a shock at first, but acted like kindling to the rest of her body. She ignited from within, pressing closer and wrapping her arms around his head, holding him to her.
Her heart began to pound, and she could not breathe through the sensations he evoked, nor did she want to. Instead, she held onto him for dear life so her knees would not collapse beneath her. He now commanded every inch of her, and she would not fight him to wrest back control. She was his, whether he could accept her or not.
Just when she could take no more, he nipped the side of her other breast and bestowed the same attention upon it. Her hands clenched at his hair, surely tugging in a way that was painful, yet he did not complain. In fact, he drew her into his lap to straddle his thighs.
The longer he continued, the more his palms explored the flesh beneath them, caressing and squeezing until that place between her legs throbbed as it had never done before.
Somehow, her fingers managed to release the tie of his dressing gown and with frantic movements, made to shove it from his shoulders. He let go of her just long enough to free himself from the restriction before one hand shifted between her legs. The moment he touched between her folds, she gasped.
He drew her head down to kiss him while he teased that ache to build and build. One finger entered her but did not alleviate the urgency threatening to overwhelm her. How did such a simple touch evoke such shattering reactions?
Her hips moved of their own accord with his ministrations, seeking whatever was eluding her. With a shift of his finger inside of her, she cried out into his mouth. As he doubled his efforts, he held her to him and continued to kiss her without pause, swallowing greedily every sound that flew from her lips. When the burning he created within spread and enveloped her, she could not move—she could do naught but succumb to the wave pulling her under.
While her forehead rested upon his shoulder, he pressed his cheek to hers. “Georgie, if we do not stop now—”
“I do not want to stop,” she said. “I want to be yours.” They could have been killed if matters earlier had gone differently. She no longer wished to wait for him to come to terms with himself. She wanted to be his now. Then there was the possibility he would never fully accept his hearing loss and also never accept their attachment. No, she wanted this with him; whatever was to come of it would come. She would not deny herself his embrace one moment longer, no matter the outcome.
He shifted back on the mattress, then drew his nightshirt over his head. Her breath caught in her chest as she took in the beauty of him. His body was lean and taut from fencing with his brother as well as the hours he spent riding. Her fingertips grazed along his chest and down his stomach to the part of him that protruded and pointed towards her. When her hand wrapped around him, he ceased his ministrations and wrapped her arm around his shoulders while his other arm lifted her hips until that part of him was poised just under the unbearable aching between her legs. What she had wanted more than anything was to be his—to be joined with him, so as he was guiding her down to take him, she shifted and pressed further to welcome him as far into her body as she could manage. She winced at the sharp tearing sensation that accompanied the intrusion.
His head dropped back, his jaw tense and his eyes hooded. As he lifted her by the waist, he held her gaze in a way that made her breath hitch. When he lowered her back down to settle fully onto him, he groaned.
“ My God, Georgie.”
She pressed herself against him and breathed through the stinging that remained, but the stillness caused a restlessness that made her tremble. Holding still as she was would render her mad. All of her screamed for more. She lifted some. Maybe an adjustment would be of aid. Before she could try, one of his arms enfolded her and guided her into a steady rhythm, rising and falling upon his erection.
The stinging ebbed and was replaced with a fire similar to the one she experienced before. Her eyes burned, and a sob stuck in her throat as she pressed as close to him as possible and assisted his movements with her own. He was so perfect, and they fit as though they were made to be together like this.
She sought his lips and kissed him. Emotion ruled every last bit of her. But could she convey all she was feeling with a simple kiss? Regardless, she made the attempt and prayed he was experiencing exactly what she was at this moment. How could he feel anything but bliss?
At one point, he penetrated deeper and touched something that sent a shot of pleasure through her. She gasped into his mouth, her eyes flying open. Their eyes met, and his lips curved as he angled her to touch her so with every single thrust.
What began as her whimpers grew into cries that he again swallowed as he kissed her. She was lost. Her mind exhibited no control whatsoever over her body while her instinct ruled. She climbed higher and higher until she soared into the heavens then plummeted back to earth.
Charles crushed her mouth to his in a bruising kiss that muffled any sound she made. No sooner had she returned from her peak, than her lover’s movements became erratic. He would have as shattering a release as she had experienced. She would ensure it.
One hand threaded into his locks while the other clung to his shoulder as she attempted to lever herself upon him once again. Both of his arms wrapped tight around her until he buried his face between her breasts and bellowed.
His shoulders heaved as he drew in great gulps of air, the quick beat of his pulse thrummed against her palm on his neck, and he tightened his embrace.
When he drew back, he frowned and touched her cheek. “ You are crying ,” he said. “ Did I hurt you? ”
She shook her head. “No, you were wonderful.”
With a slight lean towards him, they kissed in languid movements as he lay back upon the mattress, still buried within her. She would have him remain there forever if she could. She had no wish to put an end to this peaceful lassitude that had settled over them. What followed was just as intimate as the act itself, if not more so.
She pressed a kiss to the centre of his chest before resting her ear against his breast once again. Meanwhile, his fingers lazily trailed up and down her spine, sending shivers through her with every long pass.
Charles blinked and frowned before the events of the night came rushing back. He reached to his side and touched the pistol, still where Georgie had moved it.
As they had recuperated from their earlier exertions, his body had not remained sated for long. He had stirred, and Georgie had certainly noticed. No sooner had she begun to move upon him than he had rolled her under him and loved her again. Now, he was curled around Georgie, his arm around her waist and her back pressed flush to his chest, his stomach, and his morning erection pressed snugly between the globes of her behind.
He gritted his teeth. This was an exquisite torture. God, how he wanted her again! Now that he had allowed himself to love her body and soul, he would never have enough of her. She was cool water to his parched tongue. He would never drink his fill.
With careful movements, he rolled away. No sooner had he sat up, than Georgie’s slender arms wrapped around his shoulders, her bare breasts pressed flush to his back. This was not helping his current state in the least!
“Do not go yet,” she signed in front of him.
“ You know I must. We are to make an early start this morning .”
Her entire body stiffened, so he turned to face her. “Someone is at the door,” she signed.
His hand reached for the pistol while Georgie stepped out of the bed and grabbed her dressing gown. Once she slid her arms inside, she tied it at the waist. She startled again and pointed to the door. “’Tis your brother.”
He rose and set down the weapon long enough to put on his nightshirt and cover it with his dressing gown. After he tied the robe, he yanked the bedclothes to tidy them some, lest Henry discern what they had done.
Out of an abundance of caution, he brought the pistol with him and cracked the door before opening it further to allow Henry inside. Charles then leaned against the dresser as far from Georgie as possible. It would not do to make Henry any more suspicious of them than he already was.
“I have sent a man down to the public rooms,” said Henry, “and all seems to be in order this morning. The innkeeper apologised for the fray last night and will have breakfast served in a private dining room in an hour. I assume you are both well?”
Charles, who had been biting his thumbnail, nodded when Henry glanced to him for a response.
“The innkeeper may want to ensure the latch on the door is sound,” said Georgie. “Someone tried to break down the door during the commotion.”
Henry glanced over his shoulder with a frown. “These doors are solid oak. I would wager the addle-pate who attempted that will have a sore shoulder for the next week.” When he sobered, he looked between them before settling upon Charles. “You stayed in here last night?”
He did his best not to visibly go rigid. He could give away nothing. He would never embarrass Georgie so. “ I stayed in the chair while Miss Darcy slept. Even though the commotion had died down, I took no chances with her safety .”
Their gazes held while Charles breathed in an even cadence. He did not let his eyes waver in the slightest lest his brother comprehend more than he should.
“I am certain I would have done the same were I in your position. According to Sutton, Miss Darcy’s maid should be up soon. I shall see you both at breakfast in an hour.”
As soon as the door closed, Charles dropped his head back and shook himself. Henry’s warning was clear. He needed to depart before Ambrose came to tend to her mistress.
“Do you think he knows?” signed Georgie. Her mouth did not move. She, no doubt, did not want Henry to hear if he was still outside—not that Henry was one to eavesdrop.
“I do not know. He has warned me to be certain of myself where you are concerned, but he would never question me until I am alone with him.” He pushed himself from the dresser when he finished signing. “We should talk, but I need to return to my room before your maid finds me here. Should you require anything at all, send Ambrose to notify Jennings.”
After she nodded, he turned his back to her and departed without a glance over his shoulder. He could not lest he drag her back to bed and keep her there for the rest of the day.