Page 65 of Alessandra (Chisholm Manor #1)

After settling into what would be their home for the week, Alessandra and Edward immediately ventured into the central part of Bath, while their parents moved off toward the Roman Baths.

In a moment of sadness, Alessandra thought back to the last time she had been there.

That had been when Tom had approached her again, and the first time she had met his wife, Katherine.

Edward looked at his wife and immediately understood why she was quiet.

When Alessandra sensed him looking at her, she turned to him and smiled. It was an effort to try to at least temporarily forget the man from her past who had changed her life so much.

"Do not feel bad for thinking about him, Alessandra.

He made an impact on you, and now with you being able to provide a home to your brother at Missinger Estate, Tom will always be in our memory," Edward said softly to her, holding her gaze even as they moved forward.

"Certainly I cannot fault the man for wanting you to love him.

He did not act with decorum or sense, but I certainly can understand why he loved you so."

Alessandra felt a tear come to her eye, thinking about her young friend dying so early on in his life.

"I do not think that he did love me, Edward.

I believe he just got lost in his thinking somehow, but you are right - we cannot forget him.

It would be disrespectful to do so.

There are also other aspects of our being in Bath before that did not involve him, and I would much prefer to think of those while we are here," she said with the suggestive tone that he knew so well by now. Watching his face as they continued to walk - seeing him also remember the entire day they had spent completely alone in their room - she saw that he, too, could visualise the joy of having had that time together.

Edward looked deeply at her and blushed.

It was something that did not happen often, but on occasion, she took delight in encouraging in him.

"My beautiful wife, you are once again trying to make it so that I have no choice but to stop right here," he said, holding her arm firmly and halting them in their walking.

"Put my arms around you, and hold you close so that other people cannot see what you are doing to me," he continued, smiling at her in humour.

"Now I am going to kiss you," he said and did so.

"And hold you ... and I am not at all going to think about you and I doing such things," he continued light heartedly whilst attempting to sound stern.

Alessandra could feel his hardness against her.

It served as proof that although he was making light of the conversation, he only seemed to become more aroused with the more he spoke.

It made Alessandra begin to giggle excessively.

Seeing Alessandra giggling and so carefree fuelled Edward, but he determined to concentrate on anything else.

Eventually, he felt his body relax and able to begin walking again, but not before giving her another stern word, spoken in fondness.

"You know not to speak to me in such a manner in public, Alessandra.

Do not do it!" he said, making her giggle even more.

Over dinner in their new surroundings, all family came back together once more, and Alessandra was overwhelmed by the difference in her father.

"And did you know..." he kept saying with great excitement, sharing every small piece of history he had learned about the location.

Alessandra heard less of what he was saying in words, than what she saw he was expressing in his mannerisms.

Upon watching him, she found herself relieved of some of the stress she had held unknowingly deep in previous weeks.

She realised then the depth of concern she'd had, worried that he was going to give up on life and leave her also.

After dinner, Margaret brought the children in, who their grandparents fought over for cuddles and smiles with.

Edward watched everyone in the room, happily studying the combinations of each child with each grandparent.

He wondered how his life had become so full, with so many people around him, after his isolation as a child himself.

As he looked at Alessandra, he saw her smile at him. At that moment, he silently wondered if she was yet eager to become pregnant once again. Sensing in his body the thought of that affecting him, he immediately dismissed the idea, but not before his wife saw it on his face.

"Yes," Edward heard his wife whisper to him as they lay naked together, already satisfied from the touch of each other's hands and lips.

Lying on his back with her cuddling into his shoulder, he moved so that he could look at her face directly, and smiled at her.

"Yes ... what, my lovely wife?" he asked, knowing something was churning around in her mind.

He saw her look at him in a particular way that made his body immediately reactive once more.

"Yes, I want you inside me again, Edward.

I want us to make another child.

It is time."

"Are you sure, Alessandra?" he asked and saw her look at him with so much love he could feel his heart pound heavily.

"Yes," Alessandra replied.

"I am rested, and I love Elizabeth and Isabella, but I do want us to have more children, Edward.

Do you have any objection?"

Edward kissed her deeply and then pulled away, revealing his desire in his eyes as he began to manoeuvre himself on top of her.

Finding himself stopped, he looked at her in surprise, but then his desire moved to another level as he found himself pushed back onto the bed, and his wife moving onto him, down on him.

He then felt nothing except the sensations she produced in him from her movements.