Page 20 of A Lady’s Guide to Murder

CHAPTER 19

An Unexpected Endearment

The village of Millford held nothing but negative connotations to Theo.

Odd that it should be the place where he would at last release his long-repressed desire for the Duchess of Severn. That such an action would eventually hurt him, and likely only make Millford an even more heartbreaking memory, troubled him little for now . Henrietta lay sprawled across the sagging bed in her thin chemise, her long hair like spun gold falling over the faded quilt, and he desired her with every fibre of his being.

Releasing his anger that she might be using him for stud without even being honest about it, he focused on her wonderful qualities – her bravery, her confidence, her sense of fun, her headstrong determination, and her love for and loyalty to her late husband.

She was acting upon a misguided sense of loyalty and duty now, he suspected. One in which – at best – she thought the state of her virginity wasn’t a choice she got to make for herself, but one she must make for the sake of her husband’s reputation. At worst, she’d determined that she owed her husband and the Dukedom of Severn her body for breeding.

Well, Theo would show her that her body was her own, a means by which she could receive pleasure without owing anyone anything. He’d whet her appetite and curiosity for more, but he wasn’t about to give her everything she asked. He’d hold back that thing . It wasn’t that he didn’t want to give her the vigorous fuck she definitely needed, but he wouldn’t give himself fully until she was honest about the will – and until she wanted to shed her virginity for her sake, not her husband’s. At the pond, he’d impulsively considered it, but not any more. Not now that he knew the extent of her inexperience. Not now that they’d shared companionable laughter in the taproom, two partners against an antagonistic crowd. Not after he’d tenderly rubbed ointment over the wounds on her freshly bathed calves and wrapped them in bandages, just before washing himself. Not while her big blue eyes caused his heart to flip every damned time they met his.

Still, he’d enjoy the physical pleasure he’d derive from worshipping every square inch of her luscious body, and, with that goal in mind, he knelt by the side of the bed.

She gasped as he caught her foot in his hand and kissed the arch, her scent filling him. He kissed and sucked each beautiful toe until her body, stiff and hesitant at first, began first to soften, and then to writhe and twist, her breath increasing, her fingers tangling with the bedcovers and her hips instinctively rocking. His lips travelled up the right leg and he slid onto the mattress as he progressed. Above her knees, he began to inch up the hem of her chemise as he worked one thigh.

She whimpered.

He smiled against her leg. ‘Feels good, does it?’

‘No.’ She shook her head, her eyes tightly closed. ‘Or, yes, but also no. It feels good where your lips are, but everywhere else aches .’

‘Aches how, darling?’

She touched her thighs. ‘Here from riding.’ Her hands moved to her bottom, which she lifted slightly. ‘And here as well. I’m not accustomed to riding astride. But here …’ She tentatively touched her chemise between her legs. ‘This aches the most and that has nothing to do with riding at all.’

Theo’s lips twitched. ‘Let me see what I can do.’

He kneaded the muscles of her thighs with firm strokes while she whimpered that his fingers were exquisite torment. Then he flipped her over and worked her beautiful bottom with his hands and his kisses.

He tugged at her chemise. ‘Take this off, darling.’ His voice emerged husky and raw. ‘I need you naked.’

She twisted to face him as she slid the garment over her head and tossed it aside, and he feasted on the sight before him. Magnificent breasts, nipples perky and rosy. Below them, a slim waist that curved into generous hips.

And then … the exposed tuft of dark blonde hair at the apex of her legs, which she parted slightly, a knowing glint in her eyes. His cock throbbed violently and he doubted his resolve. With her pretty cunny glistening, he wanted to rip open his fall and thrust until his bollocks hit her arse.

But he steeled himself. Lord, he was a man and not an animal. He could control himself, consider every facet of this interaction rather than succumb to pure lust. Besides, there were other parts of her body he’d secretly coveted for five years and this might be his only chance to explore them.

He dragged his gaze back to her face. ‘You are beautiful.’

Her pretty lips softened into a smile. ‘So are you.’

He leant over her until she fell back against the mattress. ‘Indeed?’ he asked, prodding his knees between hers until she spread wider. He pinned her forearms above her head, his hard cock pressed between her legs, only the leather of his breeches barring him from thrusting. ‘Just how beautiful am I, darling?’

Her eyes travelled from his face to his torso and back again. ‘Magnificent. Hard where I am soft, and when you rock your hips like that, and … and your hardness rubs against me, it feels simply marvellous.’

His grinding was bringing her so much pleasure her eyes rolled up before her lids fluttered closed over them, and he considered giving her a dry bob to her completion, but dismissed the notion out of worry his breeches would chafe her. There were sweeter, gentler ways to satisfy a virgin.

He smothered kisses along her jaw, her fine neck; he slid his body and lips down until he came to her breasts. Breasts which – fuck him – he’d thought of far too often, ever since he’d first rejected her advances years ago. Many times, his eyes had traced their shape in her bosom-baring evening gowns, and on more than one occasion he’d imagined what they’d look like free from the constraints of her undergarments.

He now realised his imagination had fallen short, for their beauty surpassed his expectations.

And that’s when the magnitude of what was happening sank in. The woman of his dreams was naked beneath him and moaning to his administrations, and the feelings he had for her were far more than mere lust or desire. They were sentiments so powerful they were searing his heart, leaving impressions he’d never eradicate. She had the power to destroy his contentment for ever, he realised. He should stop. Step away from this.

He didn’t want to.

He applied himself properly to her breasts instead, possessing one with his hand and the other with kisses. As he licked around her nipple, she cried out, threading her fingers into his hair and pushing him closer. ‘More.’

Oh, yes, he’d give her more. He’d spike her own desire, to supply her a sample of what she was doing to him. His fingers trailed her torso, slipped between her legs and glided into her slick folds.

‘Oh!’ She gasped. ‘Oh,’ she said again as he rubbed, his fingers deftly exploring the places he knew would be most pleasurable. She was dripping with readiness. ‘That feels so much better than when I do it.’

Theo licked the hard tip of her nipple. ‘You rub this sweet cunny, do you?’

She hitched her hips, grinding herself on his finger. ‘I try.’

‘And do you achieve fulfilment?’

She squirmed, twisted, released a sharp cry. ‘Some pleasure.’ Her voice was straining now, as if she found it difficult to speak through the sensations. ‘A release. It never feels like enough.’

Theo thrilled, confident enough of his skills to suspect he could improve upon her solitary explorations. He rounded her nub with the pad of his thumb; at the same moment, he suckled her breast until she filled his mouth. She cried out, and loudly, and he relished it, not giving a damn who overheard. Let everyone know he was driving a goddess to distraction. He wanted her to scream with pleasure he’d incited, to writhe and shriek, for her exertions to thump the bed, rattling the floorboards while the unpleasant men downstairs were forced to listen.

His cock was painfully erect, a heavy weight between his legs, on the verge of exploding in his breeches; meanwhile, his hand was slick with her excitement. The time had come to give them both some satisfaction. On his part, he had five years of desire to release. He didn’t know how long she had similarly wanted him, but he knew she’d been wanting sexual satisfaction for at least the same amount of time.

He kissed down her abdomen, slipping off the mattress to kneel on the floor. None too gently, he hefted her bottom to the edge of the bed and spread her legs to expose the coral shimmer of her engorged folds, her clitoris standing erect like a pink pearl, and he realised anew the shocking fact that the Duchess of Severn was offering him her virginity.

No doubt he’d regret his refusal for the rest of his life.

He slid a hand under her arse and lifted her to his mouth, drawing in her sweet smell. Starting with her enticing entrance, he raked his tongue through her slit until he found the centre of her pleasure.

Then she gasped and shuddered. ‘More there, Theodore. Please, more.’

He buried his nose in her soft hair and took her fully into his mouth, the taste of her intensely, carnally satisfying, sending spirals of hot lust from his loins. She called out and tensed her abdomen, gripping his hair with both her hands, so he applied himself vigorously to his task. He sucked and licked as she squirmed, and when her cries grew more feverish, he teased her opening with the tip of his thumb. At first, her tightness barred his entrance, but he persisted gently. She was wet. So wet from her own essence and from his mouth, and at last he breached her with the upper joint of his thumb. She closed like a vice around him. God, but she was tight. He nudged forward until he found the aphrodisiacal area just inside and stroked that firmly, while still feasting.

She bucked her hips high.

Then she came.

Hard.

Her pulses were intense, squeezing his thumb, reverberating against his mouth. She cried out, grabbing his hair; he continued to suck and lick, the taste and smell of her so heady he wanted to draw it into himself. When he could tolerate no more torture, he reached under his waistband and he took his cock in hand, his throbbing, intense erection unbearable, and he gripped it so damn hard, tossing himself off with no quarter as he imagined taking her, having her, claiming her with repeated thrusts, until he came with such an explosive orgasm it tore a primal yell from his throat and he pumped his breeches full of his seed.

Then he slumped against the side of the bed, his head resting on her wet thigh.

She stroked gentle fingers though his hair. ‘Why did you yell?’

‘Because you destroy me.’ He extracted his hand from his breeches, and, after bestowing a last kiss between her legs, stood and walked to the other side of the room where the water from their baths still sat in the copper basin. He unbuttoned his breeches and let them drop to the floor.

‘What are you doing?’ Her voice came from just behind him.

He looked over his shoulder. She was leaning against the wall, stark naked, and he dragged his eyes over her body. Her long legs, her full hips, and her breasts with those lush nipples, soft and pink now, begging for his tongue to make them hard again.

And he desired her as much as he ever had.

Nay, more.

As if the explosive release that had nearly torn his body in two hadn’t even happened.

‘Cleaning myself.’ His voice was slurred.

She blinked. ‘Are we … finished?’

If his cock could have spoken, it would have screamed in the negative. It wasn’t even a little bit soft. The truth was, Theo could have made love to her all night. Come a dozen times. He’d wanted her so long … she was everything he yearned for, everything he desired … and he knew he couldn’t have her for ever, that she could never be his for more than a fleeting few moments and then she would be gone back to her own world, and he would be left to wish her well only from a distance, one of the admiring crowds and nothing more. Desire and logic both told him to have her repeatedly while he could. If only his cock and brain were making the decision, he’d carry her back to the bed.

But there was also his heart to consider. If he let himself get too close emotionally, if he joined his body with hers intimately, if he took the virginity she offered him, if she climaxed around his cock, breathing his name, he feared he’d fall irrevocably in love with this woman.

‘Aye, we’re finished for tonight, Henrietta.’

And before he could change his mind, he extracted the clean breeches from his satchel.

She watched him keenly as he tugged them on. ‘But don’t you have to go inside me to finish the deed?’

He tucked his hard cock into his fall and buttoned his waistband. ‘To take your virginity, yes. But for us both to feel pleasure, no.’

She looked concerned. ‘Did you feel pleasure from what we did?’

‘Every moment,’ he said honestly.

A furrow formed between her brows. ‘But you don’t … want to be in me?’

Theo rubbed his hand through his hair. He’d have to explain. Give her some reason. Something truthful, but that didn’t expose the vulnerability of his heart. ‘Henrietta, I wanted to be inside you more than I’ve ever wanted anything. But I was so aroused, so hot to fuck you, I would’ve spilled my seed the moment my cock touched your cunny. That or accidentally thrust in you too hard, too forcibly. Neither would have been good. Not for your first time. Not … never mind.’

Not if he wasn’t going to permit himself to finish in her.

But she didn’t let it go. ‘Not what, Theo? Tell me.’

He decided to lay his cards on the table and see what she would admit. ‘Not without taking the risk I might get you with child, which you can’t possibly want.’

‘Ah.’ She pressed her lips together, hesitating, and Theo’s hopes rose. He doubted he’d ever agree to father a child she likely didn’t intend to let him raise, but he craved her honesty. If she’d simply ask, it would demonstrate that she respected him. Or at least that she recognised he was a person, with feelings. That she didn’t simply view him as a means to achieving her goals.

But she disappointed him again. ‘Just as well you stopped, because I’m tired anyway.’

He heard dissatisfaction in her voice. Ah, so neither of them reached a true fulfilment, in body or sentiment. The realisation depressed his spirits rather solidly. ‘I shall sleep on the floor.’

‘Please don’t,’ she said softly, sincerely. ‘Please, lie beside me instead. I won’t tempt you. Edmund shared my bed often, yet I never sought his touch. Since his death, my nights have been haunted by terrible dreams. Please, Theo. I … I need a friend.’

His anger melted away. She’d suffered greatly in the last fortnight, and she was vulnerable and in peril.

‘I can do better than lie beside you,’ he said tenderly. ‘I will hold you. Keep you safe and warm. Chase those dreams away, if they dare to come.’

Her blue eyes filled with tears and that was all the thanks he needed.

He led her to the bed and settled her on the side by the wall, where she’d be more secure. The bed creaked under his weight as he lay beside her. Taking her in his arms, he held her against his chest so that her bottom nestled into his groin and her legs curved around his.

He pinched the bedside candle’s flame, extinguishing all light but the glow of the fire, and laid his head on the pillow. Her soap-fresh hair tickled his nose, her bare back was warm silk against his bare chest. It was heaven to lie beside her, though with his cock still a rod in his breeches, it would be a long time before he’d sleep.

‘Good night, my l …’ Theo caught himself, mortified that he’d almost revealed how deeply he was beginning to care for her. ‘Darling.’

But Henrietta was already asleep, her breathing soft and rhythmic.

He released a heavy breath. He felt burdened with his complicated feelings not just for her, but for this part of Surrey, and the memories he’d rehashed earlier in the day talking about his past. How would Henrietta react if she knew about his father? Would her heart be moved with tenderness? Would she be appalled? Or would she simply not care, because Theo was nothing to her but a temporarily useful tool?

He held her more securely and her rhythmic breathing didn’t alter. ‘I’m sorry for all you’ve been through,’ he whispered, because he knew she slept and couldn’t hear. ‘But I can’t be sorry that you are in my arms tonight, love. I don’t want to want you – I don’t want to want your heart – but I do.’ He kissed the back of her shoulder, yet she didn’t stir, and he gathered his emotions to say something he’d never revealed to anyone. ‘This area was the home of my paternal ancestors – my father drowned not a mile up the river from here several months before I was born. I thought I hated this place, but I can’t hate it or you or anything about our situation when I am holding you.’

There was still no response from the sleeping duchess and Theo now found himself somewhat disappointed she hadn’t awakened when he was baring his soul. But it was best that way.

He drifted into a light sleep. Sometime in the depth of night, when the fire had dwindled and the rain subsided, she cried out in distress, as she had done the previous night in the hay. Then, he’d covered her in his coat, and she’d instinctively sought comfort by clinging to his arm, nuzzling her cheek against his hand.

Tonight, he held her close, kissing her hair until her sobs subsided. ‘There now, Henrietta, all will be well. I’m here.’

She turned her face, brushing her damp cheek against his nose. ‘I thought you’d left me, sweetheart, and I couldn’t bear it.’

She was mistaking him for her late husband. A pang of sorrow hit Theo, both at the heaviness of her grief and – selfishly – that he would never be to her what the duke had been. She might still be half asleep, but it was no kindness to let her continue in her misconception that Edmund was alive, for she’d have to face the truth again at some point.

Brushing her tears away with his thumb, he corrected her. ‘Henrietta, I’m not Edmund.’

‘You’re Theo.’ She sounded mollified, relaxed. Almost fully asleep again. ‘And you’re here after all. You never left me.’

‘You dreamt you’d lost me ?’ He must have misunderstood. He couldn’t let his hopes rise.

Yet unbelievably, she murmured her assent. ‘Just a bad dream, because you are here.’

His heart thudded against his chest wall so hard she surely must feel it as well. ‘Yes.’ He hastened to assure her. ‘A bad dream and nothing more, darling. I’m here. I’m here with you.’

‘Please don’t leave me?’

‘I wouldn’t.’ He reeled with sudden realisation. With this small exchange, he’d become a hopeless cause, destined for heartbreak. ‘I couldn’t if I tried, darling. For as long as you need or want me, I shall stay.’

‘So good to me,’ she muttered, her words slurred with sleep. ‘My Theo.’

‘Your Theo, yes.’ Oh, how his vulnerable heart soared, yet a question pressed there, too. ‘Darling Henrietta, did you intend to call me sweetheart? Am I that to you?’

But she didn’t answer, for she was fast asleep once more.