28. Chapter 28 #2
Insides twisting with need—like he hadn’t had a woman in months instead of twice in a matter of hours—his hands coursed over her softness as she kicked the coverlet aside and pressed closer, rising onto her toes, squirming against him, effectively driving him out of his ever-loving mind.
Fool that he was, he’d thought he was in control. He hadn’t counted on her clinging to him, arching against him, untying the sash of his robe, and spreading the lapels wide to rain kisses over his chest.
He closed his eyes, breath rasping in his lungs as her silken hands slid around his waist and up over his back, her soft belly bumping and grazing the underside of his cock. Helpless to resist, he scooped her in his arms and carried her back to the bed.
He was shaking with need as he placed her on the mattress and shrugged out of his useless robe. “Annabelle,” he choked. “My God. The way you make me want you.”
She gazed up at him through passion-glazed eyes, lips parted, legs bent and spread in invitation.
He kneed his way over to her, guided his cock to her entrance, then hissed in a breath.
She was wet and slick and hot, and as he pushed inside, so deliciously tight. He thrust into her again, and again, and again, as his insides clenched, as his release threatened to take him under with the speed of an oncoming train.
And then she was shuddering and crying out as her own release crashed through her, her hot walls squeezing him in the most exquisite torture he’d ever known. She was a siren, a seductress, a magical enchantress who turned the blood in his veins to liquid fire.
“Annabelle,” he shouted hoarsely as the most powerful climax of his life exploded through him.
Afterward, as he lay atop her, gasping for breath, it occurred to him that he and his wife were on equal footing.
He’d thought no one had prepared her for marriage.
As it happened, he was as unprepared as she.
He’d never known anything like this—this wanting that built and built and built.
This insatiable need, to protect her, to possess her—to know her, for God’s sake.
Surely this was an anomaly. Surely it would lessen with time. It had to.
***
A week later, sitting on the sofa in the parlor, legs curled under her and toes tucked under her skirts, she sipped a warm cup of hot cocoa—a staple, recently added to the daily tea service at her husband’s suggestion—and through the window, watched snow flurries sparkle in the afternoon sun.
Across from her, Caroline worked on a needlepoint design she’d begun several days ago, depicting what appeared to be the head of a large black horse.
Annabelle sighed in contentment. As far as she was concerned, they could remain in Stoneford Castle forever. She, her husband, her new sister…
They wouldn’t, however. Sterling had announced only this morning over breakfast that his steward would arrive in two days, at which time, he and her husband would begin the process of closing up the castle for the Season.
Sterling was currently at the kilns, overseeing the task of sealing them properly.
She sipped, considered the glistening landscape outside, and imagined her reunion with her parents.
They would be back from their holiday by then, if they weren’t already. Wherever they were, surely they’d received the news of her marriage by now. Unless…
“Caroline, Sterling did send word to my parents of our impending wedding, did he not?”
“Indeed,” her sister by marriage said, stabbing her needle through the mounting board. “He wired a message the day before your ceremony, while we were occupied with preparations. But, of course, that is why…” She stopped speaking and eyed Annabelle. “Have you not heard from them?”
She shook her head. “Not a peep.”
“Mm,” Caroline murmured.
Annabelle’s thoughts exactly.
Why had they not responded? Because they were miffed by her unexpected wedding? Because the last she’d seen them, Annabelle had all but accused Sterling of complicity in Gaston’s death. Or was it because of some other reason?
So many unknowns awaited her in London. She had no notion how her marriage would proceed once they’d left the fairy tale bubble she currently inhabited.
Would Sterling be attentive? Interested in what she thought and said and felt?
Or, once surrounded by the rest of his family, his many friends, his many responsibilities, would he relegate her to the periphery of his existence as so many so-called gentlemen did with their wives?
She glanced at Caroline. “Caroline, where will you live, once we return? Sterling said something about you residing at his home on Hanover Square.”
She set her needlepoint on her lap and regarded Annabelle. “I don’t need to live with you. I can always move to Worley Park with my parents—and of course I shall, and give the two of you time alone to get better acquainted.”
Annabelle sat up straight, planting her feet on the ground so fast, she nearly sloshed chocolate on her skirts. “Oh, no, you mustn’t do that.”
Caroline’s taken aback expression told Annabelle her outburst had been a touch over exuberant. Gaston had often chastised her for her excessive neediness.
She cleared her throat. “That is, it will be the height of the Season.”
Caroline cocked her head.
“Sterling did mention that he…that you might be interested in…” Oh, dear, this was exceedingly awkward. “He mentioned he wanted to have a hand in choosing your husband.” This time around hung unspoken in the air around them.
The dark-haired woman gave a little laugh. “Yes, he would.”
“Is that something you want? To become engaged again?”
“I suppose so,” she replied, drawing out the words. “That is, I wouldn't want to find myself a spinster, and I do want children. Though to be honest, I would be much more cautious after…what occurred.”
“Cautious?”
She ducked her head. “It was all very distressing.”
Annabelle mentally kicked herself. “Of course. I fear I’ve been terribly insensitive, broaching the matter.”
“Not at all.” Caroline sent Annabelle a reassuring smile. “And after all, he was your brother. You must miss him very much.”
“Yes,” she murmured. But did she? The truth was complicated. He could be so charming. So wickedly funny. Drawing everyone to him so they practically fawned. But when they did not, he was decidedly less charming, and his humor turned cutting rather than clever.
She gestured towards the needlepoint in Caroline's lap. "What is that you're working on? It looks to be a horse. Is that Sterling's horse, Zeus?”
“Actually, yes.” She gave a self-conscious laugh.
“It is meant to be Zeus. It's a birthday present for Sterling.
It's a long-standing joke between the two of us, for me to gift him with a needlepoint because he thinks them a terrible waste of human effort and because I'm so dreadful at it. He’s amassed a substantial collection over the years.”
Annabelle was delighted by this admission. It was so unlike anything between her and her brother or anything that would have taken place in her family.
And then the significance of what her sister-in-law had just revealed struck her. "Are you telling me Sterling has a birthday coming up?”
“Yes. Tomorrow, as a matter of fact.”
“But I had no idea.”
“I am not at all surprised by that. My brother is not one who likes to be fussed over. He's more in the way of taking care of everyone else, but try to do something for him.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s impossible that way.”
Oddly, that sounded exactly right. "Has he always been like that?”
“Always?” She screwed up her face, seeming to consider. “Being the older brother, he tended to be the one left in charge. And then, around my sixth birthday, our mother contracted an illness of the spine. Even with a governess, it made it hard for her to mind three children, two of them under ten.
“Naturally, our father became distracted, preoccupied as he was with getting her the best treatment money could buy.
Without being asked, Sterling donned the mantle of being the ‘in charge’, and I'm afraid our parents went along with it for far too long, so that it became something of an ingrained habit. And then what happened to his friend Dillon seemed to cement the role.”
"Oh yes, he told me about that. Dreadful.”
Caroline looked up in evident surprise. “He told you about that? That is unusual. It is not something he usually discusses.” She sent Annabelle a brilliant smile. "You are good for him.”
Warmth suffused her.
“Annabelle, am I right in assuming you are content with the way things turned out?”
“He has proven to be…rather accommodating.” She eyed the needlepoint and grinned. It really wasn’t the best she’d seen, which only made her like it, and the woman making it even more.
“Caroline, I would like to give him something for his birthday. Some small token or perhaps…I can see that a special dish is prepared? If you do not mind helping me, that is.” In truth, she did not know the first thing about what comprised his favorite dishes, or what he collected, other than books on astronomy—and his sister’s artwork.
"I think that would be lovely." Caroline glanced out the window. “It is not yet late, and the weather does seem to be quite fine despite a few snow flurries.” She turned back to Annabelle. “Have you been into town? Aside from the old abbey, there’s not much to see. But there are a few shops. Perhaps we should head down and see what we can find. If we leave now, we’ll get back before Sterling even knows we’ve gone. ”