23
Jo was gone when Robert woke up the next morning in the grey light. Or more accurately, she was in the dressing room, bossing around what sounded like several people with a nervous edge to her voice.
Robert stretched underneath the comfortable covers. The bed was slightly smaller than his. Both in length and width. Clearly it was not meant for a man of his size to be sleeping in it, only to visit it.
He should not have stayed. He had woken up some time during the night with Jo curled against his side and had tried to extricate himself, even though he was hard again.
Jo had held onto him, and it had been much more enticing to curl around her.
To kiss her and find her lush breasts underneath the covers.
Her hands had started roaming his body. They had been feverish in their attempt to pleasure each other again and had ended up with their hands between each other’s legs as they climaxed almost at the same time yet again.
Part of him wished Jo had still been in bed so that they could have pleasured each other yet again.
A larger part was grateful that she was not.
It would complicate matters unnecessarily if she was there.
He should not stay in her bed overnight the next time.
Even if it allowed him the chance to draw another climax out of her.
Robert hurriedly rose from the bed and looked for his clothes that were scattered on the floor.
He had pulled his small clothes off after their first encounter.
They had been sodden with his seed. He had felt like a cad for pulling them off beside the sleeping Jo, but he knew, and he knew she knew that it meant nothing whether his small clothes were on or not.
He would not touch her against her wishes either way.
He had thought briefly of going to his own bed at that point, but her bed had been warm and soft, and since he did not know whether the connecting door to his room was locked or not, it seemed safer to stay. He did not want to venture into the hallway at a time when the staff was not in bed yet.
Jo tiptoed into the room, already dressed, as Robert found his shirt in a corner of the room. She stared at his naked body for several long seconds, and Robert felt his already half-hard morning cock rise to the attention.
“Oh, I am so sorry,” Jo blurted and turned from him.
Robert stabbed his arms through his shirt and drew it over his head. It was long enough that it covered his groin, which was lucky since they had made a mess of both his breeches and his small clothes.
“I’ll just…” he mumbled and gestured to the door, even though Jo was standing with her back to him now.
“Yes, right, I will see you at the carriage,” she told him in a high-pitched voice.
Robert tried the door, which was thankfully unlocked, and disappeared into his own room.
They busied themselves with eating the first hour or so on the journey. The silence was not exactly comfortable, but Robert was tired enough that he could use that as an excuse for not talking.
After they had finished their meal, Jo found a book in her reticule and started reading. Robert looked at her, trying to gauge whether she was tired as well, or if there was something else that was the matter.
He would hate it if she regretted what happened between them last night.
He had been careful always to seek her consent but also knew that you might get caught up in the act.
He needed to make certain that nothing was the matter, but not when they had a whole day of driving in close confinement ahead of them.
Across from him, Jo was starting to doze off. She gently slid further and further against the side of the carriage, then violently tipped forward, when there was a hole in the road. Robert caught her by the shoulders and gently maneuvered her to sit beside him.
“Here,” he mumbled and tucked her against his side, an arm resting around her shoulders.
Jo looked up at him with a confused look and started to pull away.
“Go back to sleep. I’ll make certain you won’t fall,” Robert told her, which made Jo close her eyes again.
Soon after, he felt her relax against his side. He was not certain she was sleeping, her breath remained too light, but he supposed she needed time to fall back asleep.
It was easiest this way, he told himself.
It was easiest for both of them if Jo was asleep, so they did not have to speak.
And the best way for Jo to remain asleep was if she was tucked against his side.
There was nothing more to it than that. It was a normal physical reaction that he liked the weight and warmth of her body against his side.
Robert had brought a newspaper and the account books, thinking he could look them over on the journey.
It was not an option with only one arm available though.
He closed his eyes, but the feeling of Jo’s warm body and the thought of what the two of them could do if she was not sleeping kept him awake.
Even if he knew they should wait until tonight at least before they touched each other again.
And especially not until he had made certain Jo was fine with it.
She had seemed a little withdrawn this morning.
He looked out the window, but it did not make it better. His mind was still conjuring all the acrobatic ways he and Jo could take advantage of the two seats in the carriage.
Perhaps it would have been better if he had found someone at the Thistleworth ball to take to bed as Thornston had suggested. A summer and autumn of plenty of shagging might have finally driven Lucretia from his mind and he would have been ready to find a wife next season.
But the thought felt exhausting. Both finding multiple women to sleep with over the next months and then a woman to court in this hypothetical future.
He looked at Jo’s sleeping face. She had finally fallen properly asleep against him and her face was at peace. She looked vulnerable with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted.
Jo had been the right choice, he told himself as he looked away from her again. It was only that they needed to settle into the marriage. It was still new. It would take more time.
If Xavier or Thornston had married and complained that it was difficult after a fortnight of marriage to a stranger, he would have told them in a slightly mocking tone to give it time.
Yes, he needed to give it time. He and Jo wanted the same thing. Eventually they would settle into a comfortable routine of taking care of their different chores during the day and then coming together for amazing sex during the night.
His cock stirred at the thought, and he looked out the window again as he tried to force his mind away from the feel of Jo against him.
He needed something to distract himself, Robert decided.
His gaze landed on Jo’s discarded book on the opposite seat.
He carefully reached for it while trying not to disturb Jo.
Nevertheless, she stirred against him and he gently shushed her.
“I am just going to borrow your book,” he whispered.
He was surprised to learn she had been reading a novel called The Orphan’s Ordeal.
It was not an author he knew and he started skimming without much thought and soon found himself gripped by the story of an orphaned young girl who had been reconciled with her distant relatives, only to be drawn into a game of loyalty and money.
Robert had read most of the book, only missing the ending and was taken aback and a little annoyed when the carriage jolted to a halt. They had arrived at the inn where they would stop for luncheon, he realized as he looked out the window.
Jo was slowly awakening beside him, and Robert absentmindedly rubbed her back as he finished the paragraph, then realized what he was doing and how it might be perceived and abruptly stopped the motion of his hand on her back.
Only to think that it might come across as a bit cold…
so he started rubbing her back again, but slower and slower until he could stop.
Fuck, he could not wait until he knew exactly how to treat her.
He memorized the page number, closed the book and turned to Jo as he moved his arm from around her shoulders.
She was rumpled but beautiful in the bright light that shone through the carriage window, and Robert had the urge to lean forward and kiss her.
Luckily, he was able to curve it, and they looked at each other for an awkward moment before the door was opened by their footman.
“Thank heavens that we are already here. I am famished,” Jo told him in a voice that was still hoarse from sleep.
His oversensitive and lustful body could not tell the difference though and Robert’s mind was once again flooded with images of drawing her into the carriage and lifting her skirts. Not caring that the whole inn heard her moans when he pounded into her.
Blast it, he was losing his mind.
They settled into a private room at the inn that Robert’s mother had booked in advance. She had also made certain that fresh horses waited for them, so that they would be able to make it to Brighton in one day.
He and Jo ate in silence for the first ten minutes or so, while Jo avoided his eyes.
When Robert mentioned that he had borrowed her book and was almost finished, they discussed the first half since Jo had not read the second yet.
Jo became more animated as their conversation progressed, and by the time they had finished the meal, both visited the outhouse and were back in the carriage, everything felt normal between them and Robert thought he might have imagined that something was the matter with her.
Jo immediately grabbed her book and settled in the seat opposite Robert.
He picked up the newspaper, then the account books, trying to focus on either.
He kept glancing at Jo who was reading. He desperately wanted to know how the book ended.
He had not brought a book himself; he rarely had time to read for pleasure, and it seemed more efficient to catch up on current events and settle the accounts.
But both were too dull to take his mind off all the things he wanted to do to Jo.
At least the book had been exciting enough to do so.
He could not wait to know whether the young woman would end up marrying her uncle to secure the family fortune or elope with her friend who had been loyal to her as a child and now very conveniently come back exceedingly rich.
He suspected the latter, but some books would have her marry the uncle just to make a moral point.
Robert’s mind was spinning out of control by having nothing but the thought of Jo’s naked body to occupy itself with.
He had been abstinent for months before, when Lucretia and he had not been able to meet, and everything had been fine before he knew what her perfect breasts felt like when he buried his face between them and how Jo sounded when she climaxed.
Thornston would probably say that he needed to fuck it out of his system, but that was not an option now.
Robert needed to wait. Another two weeks and then he could finally sleep with Jo.
Perhaps sooner… it had not been part of her plan that they were giving each other orgasm after two weeks. He might be able to persuade her…
No, he needed to be patient, he told himself as he sighed heavily.
Jo looked up from her book with a questioning frown.
“Just the heat,” he mumbled and picked up the newspaper to give it another try.
It felt heaven-sent when the carriage halted for their second stop.
They had a light meal in another private room.
Jo had finished the book, and they discussed the second half, minus the ending, since Robert refused to let her tell him anything about it.
He was relieved when he made her smile as he covered his ears when she started to tell too much; it felt like the friendship he had hoped would grow between them.
Jo handed him the novel when they were back in the carriage and Robert voraciously started reading, glad to finally have something to occupy his mind with.
He thought he caught her looking at him from time to time, but whenever he briefly looked up, she was looking out the window or studying her hands.
On their third stop they encountered, Thornston who was alighting from his horse.
Jo brightened when she saw him and greeted him warmly, which Robert felt an annoying prickle over that he then immediately tried to shove away.
He was the one who had slept in Jo’s bed last night and given her three orgasms for Pete’s sake.
Jo was only being amicable toward his friend.
Yet the thought that Thornston would definitely have been able to navigate this situation much better than Robert nagged him through the meal, as he watched Jo and Thornston discuss The Orphan’s Ordeal animatedly.
Robert chimed in from time to time, but the two were so enthusiastic that he almost had to interrupt one of them to make a point. Which annoyed him further.
It was nothing he told himself. He was weary from the long day of travel and longed to reach their destination.
When they said goodbye to Thornston and climbed into the carriage, Robert could not help but send his friend an envious look.
It was much faster to ride than to travel by carriage and with the many confusing feelings he had toward Jo, it might be easier.
Jo was of course instantly able to pick up on this and asked in what he could only describe as a hopeful tone of voice:
“Would you rather ride?”
Robert sighed as he thought of what to say. He did not want to go through the bother of renting a horse, and probably not a particularly good one at that, since he had not written beforehand to reserve one. Not least to say what it would signal to Jo if he said yes.
“No,” he told her steadily as he closed the carriage door behind him, then rapped the roof to signal to the driver that they were ready to depart. “I would rather be in here.”
His last words made Jo gulp dryly, before she abruptly turned her head to the window and animatedly started talking about how different the landscape was here. Robert sat back and listened to her with half an ear, all the while wondering what was happening between them.