Chapter 17
Charles inhaled deeply as his eyes fluttered open. A sliver of light filtered through the small gap in the draperies, and he blinked as he stretched his legs towards the foot of the bed. Through that same gap, water droplets could be discerned trailing down the window. He closed his eyes once more. No one but the servants would be up and about so early this morning, and he had no desire to rise and pry himself away from Georgie just yet.
She nestled further into him, and he slid the hand upon her back down to the curve at the small of her waist. As much as he had fought this from the beginning, then again after the happenings at the inn, he was lost without her. How had a slip of a young lady crept into his heart so indelibly? She was so interwoven into his very soul at this point that he could not remove her without permanent and ruinous damage to himself.
He brushed her long locks from her face with his fingers. She appeared so peaceful and innocent in repose, when in truth, she had turned his world upside down.
His morning erection was made painful by her position sprawled atop him, her breasts were crushed against his chest, and her leg was thrown over his waist. It was an exquisite torture.
Her fingers flexed before curling into his shoulder. Her back rose with her own deep inhale as she turned so her lips brushed against the centre of his chest before wandering across and nipping at his nipple.
He struggled to keep from grabbing her and taking her mouth with a fierceness that was new to him. Last night, he had been rougher than was his wont. The reality of her in his arms and of being inside of her had been his undoing. She had not complained or seemed averse to his attentions, yet he had no wish to hurt her.
When her lips finally reached his, he welcomed them and the rest of her when she straddled him, the heat of her core against the length of him that was so desperate to be inside of her once more.
Their lips tangled and their tongues met and caressed each other. A jolt of pleasure ripped through him when her hips began to grind down upon him. His head dropped back. She would drive him to madness with little effort if she continued.
She licked and grazed her teeth against his earlobe. He gritted his teeth. Somehow, he needed to restrain himself. As much as he longed to adjust and bury himself in her, her innocent exploration of him was worth the delay. He would not deny himself or her the experience. His fingers dug into her hips and lifted his own to meet her in an effort to aid in her endeavour.
As her body spiralled towards her peak, she paused in her ministrations and rose enough to quicken her movements against him. Her fingernails dug into the muscles of his chest, her head was tilted back and her mouth gaped open, chasing her release. The sight of her so uninhibited was a wondrous thing. She took his breath away.
He met her with each and every stroke until her eyes rolled, and she froze over him. With a quick shift, he slid inside of her easily and sat up so he could wrap her in his embrace.
He supported her head so he would watch every expression upon her countenance. As she was, she was the most incredible sight he had ever seen, her pleasure writ upon her face. He would never tire of it!
His arms lifted her and drew her back down on him over and over while she struggled to regain her wits. He desired her this way—so overcome by him. She was beautiful, and she was his.
Somehow, she managed to draw slightly back from him. “More,” she signed.
“ I do not want to hurt you.” He had been holding off his release, so he could not be sure how clear his words had been.
She shook her head. “You cannot.”
He was bereft of her when he disengaged and guided her to lay on her stomach. He put a pillow under her hips, then covered her with his own body as he loved her once more.
His lips kissed every bit of her neck and shoulder while he buried himself to the hilt. Her chest made an abrupt lift, so he rose just enough to see her face while he loved her.
“ Are you well?”
Her free hand reached around to grasp his hip and attempted to prevent his withdrawal. At her unspoken plea, he plunged deep and held nothing back. No distress appeared upon her countenance. Instead, her expression matched her earlier peak—her mouth opened and her eyelids squeezed shut. Her hand interwoven with his squeezed his while her fingers dug into his hip without mercy.
He could not take it! She tightened around him until he thought he would expire from the pleasure, then she went rigid, her passage mercilessly attempting to milk his release from him. In the end, he could not hold off his peak and followed her over that precarious edge, burying his face against her shoulder as he attempted to muffle whatever sound he was making.
When he returned to the moment at hand, his entire weight was upon her while they both breathed heavily. No part of him wanted to move. Her every delicious curve was pressed against him, and he was still snuggled deep inside of her. Unfortunately, he had to be crushing her.
No sooner had he disengaged than she rolled over and moved into his embrace.
He kissed her, though with a gentle touch. They needed to rise. It would not do to get caught up in each other again. They would be late to breakfast. While he would marry Georgie without question, he would not see her embarrassed or humiliated by Jane and Henry discovering that they had broken with propriety.
After one last press of his lips to her forehead, he drew back. “ We need to rise and dress. I would not want to be caught thus by my brother. ”
She pulled back. “I do not want to leave.” She then nestled back against him.
As much as his own wishes matched hers, they would both be disappointed it seemed.
He rolled to the window side of the bed and rose. He put on his dressing gown and picked up Georgie’s still damp nightgown, hanging it near the fireplace. Unless a fire was lit, the garment would never dry.
When he turned, he frowned at Georgie frantically trying to wrap herself in the sheet. “ What is it? ”
“Ambrose knocked on my dressing room door. She never knocks.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “ She knows I am here .”
Georgie nodded. “I am certain of it.” She bustled towards the door and cracked it. Once or twice, she glanced at him while she spoke.
“Ambrose said the servants are up and about. She took the liberty of fetching your valet. He awaits you in the servants’ passage to ensure you reach your bedchamber without being seen.
After nodding, he drew her into his embrace and kissed her forehead. “ I shall pen a letter to your brother today, requesting his consent for us to wed. I wish to do so as soon as can be arranged .”
“I would marry you tomorrow if we had the license and Fitzwilliam present.”
He kissed her once more, then made his way to the servants’ passage where his man indeed awaited him. They were required at one point to wait while the housekeeper passed on her way back down to the kitchens, but otherwise, he had an uneventful return.
Charles dressed and hastened down to the breakfast room where Henry was already seated, a footman stationed to the side of the room.
“The weather is still dreadful,” said Henry. “If the rain continues as it has, I fear we may need to contend with flooding by the river.”
“The bank is rather high, though I suppose we have had a lot of wet weather of late.” As soon as Charles stopped signing, Henry returned his attention to the newspaper before him, so Charles rapped on the table. “I intend to pen a letter to Darcy today. I shall request his permission to marry Miss Darcy.”
His brother grinned, stood, and before Charles could fully stand, embraced him. When he pushed him to arm’s length, Henry shook his head. “You were being so stubborn. I suppose she finally wore you down, but I am glad of it. You deserve every happiness, and Georgiana’s love for you is obvious in how she looks at you.”
“I still worry I shall fail her.”
“Whether we have hearing or not, we all stand to fail our wives somehow. I feel I failed to protect Jane when she was taken by Simon. She is too good and has reassured me that I am not at fault, but a part of me still believes I am responsible.”
“Simon would have found a way, even if it meant somehow killing you, Jane, Emmeline, and Juliana to gain the dukedom and the wealth he so coveted. When we were at the inn, I could not hear the person at the door. Georgiana had to tell me he was there and rattling the latch.”
“But I am certain you had your pistol aimed at the door in the event he entered, did you not?” Henry levelled a direct gaze at him.
“I did, and Georgiana insists I would have protected her if they had gained access, but that she had to warn me of what was happening was madness.”
After nodding, his brother relaxed into his chair. “I can imagine how frustrating it must have been, but it makes you no less capable.”
“She has said it does not.”
“Then maybe you should believe the lady,” said Henry. “I heard how she helped you settle the dispute between Harold Grigg and John Morris. Now that you have a steward who can speak to you, you should not require her aid in that quarter.”
“No, although I do not believe I would mind her assistance.” He could not help one corner of his mouth from twitching upwards.
Jane entered with Clarissa in her arms. The child chewed on her chubby little fist, her fingers shiny from her slobber. “Ah, Charles, your niece was enquiring of you this morning. You have not held her in some time, you know?” She barely managed to sign with the babe still on her arm before she held the child out to him.
He took Clarissa and set her in his lap while Jane dropped into the closest chair and poured herself a cup of tea. “She has not wished to be put down for the past four hours. Lizzy had said teething could be a trial, but I confess I did not believe her.”
Clarissa looked up at him with wide eyes. He gave a little wave, and the child gave a wide grin.
He looked closer. “ Jane, ” he said. “ I think I see the tooth .”
Jane’s and Henry’s chairs scraped along the floor and they hastened to where he sat.
With gentle hands, Henry tipped his daughter’s chin up.
“Where?” asked Jane. Charles took Jane’s finger and ran it along the babe’s bottom gum.
Jane gasped. “I feel it. Look, Henry, there.” She pointed to the faint white spots where the first parts of the tooth were emerging.
His brother lifted Clarissa and held her over his head as his mouth moved. Henry’s countenance boasted of a wide grin while he, no doubt, cooed over his daughter.
“He has told her ‘Well done’ as though she pierced her own tooth through her gums,” Jane signed while smiling.
After nestling Clarissa back into his arms, Henry kissed Jane’s cheek as Georgie appeared at the end of the table, her eyebrows raised.
“I seem to have missed some momentous occasion.”
“Clarissa’s first tooth has come,” signed Charles.
“Oh, I am so glad we have no need to worry over fevers any longer.” Georgie hastened forward so Henry could show her his daughter’s most impressive tooth. Once she had made a fuss over the babe, Henry placed Clarissa back in Charles’s lap.
“I understand my recalcitrant brother has finally proposed marriage.”
Jane’s countenance was such that she surely gasped. “Why did you not say so sooner?” She backhanded Charles’s arm, making him flinch.
“Why does that require you to hit me?”
She gave a dismissive wave. “I did not hurt you.”
Georgie glanced at them each in turn. “Charles has not yet requested Fitzwilliam’s blessing—”
“Which he will give, or he would not have allowed you to come,” said Jane.
“We shall never persuade an express rider to journey to Pemberley in this weather.” Georgie looked to the windows with her lips pressed together.
“Has your brother written anything new of the colonel?”
“His leg seems to be improving, yet the physician believes he will always have a limp. Of course, no one can know with any certainty until Richard is able to walk on it again. Fitzwilliam regrets moving him to Pemberley so soon, but with the disease spreading in Seven Dials and St. Giles, he feared Richard taking ill should they have remained in London.”
“At least the colonel did not lose the leg,” said Henry.
“I do not believe he would have lived if he had.” Georgiana shook her head. “He has been a useful sort for his entire life. He would not do well confined or requiring a crutch to get around.”
Henry clasped his hands and rubbed them together. “Well, as soon as we get the two of you wed, Jane, Emme, Jules, and I shall return to Clitheroe. I am certain you will be anxious to be rid of us anyhow.”
Charles’s gaze caught that of a pink-cheeked Georgie’s. Henry’s words were never truer than in that moment, yet Charles would be pleased if they were already wed so he would bear no shame in whisking her away to his bedchamber.