Page 36 of His Illegitimate Duchess

E lizabeth had no idea how long she’d slept. Her eyes were still closed, but she was now aware of the jostling of the carriage, the daylight entering it through the windows despite the drawn curtains, and a warm body she'd apparently been sleeping on. She scrambled to sit up.?

“Good morning, Your Grace,” her husband said with a smile she couldn’t quite decipher.

“Good morning,” Elizabeth replied in a hoarse voice as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “How long was I asleep?”

“It’s almost noon,” he said after glancing at his pocket watch. “You’ve slept for about three hours. We even stopped to bait the horses half an hour ago, and you didn’t even stir. Who’d have thought that married life was this uneventful,” he said wryly.

Elizabeth worried that he might be serious in his criticism and felt guilty.

“Are you hungry?” Talbot asked when she remained silent. “Perhaps we should have had a wedding breakfast before leaving.”

Elizabeth shook her head vehemently, “There was no way I could have stomached anything this morning.”

“Is the idea of being married to me so offensive to you?” he asked quietly.

Elizabeth was horrified. “No! It was… I…” She struggled with her answer.

“It’s just… You cried for the duration of the ceremony,” Talbot said with his jaw clenched tight.

“The way it all came about, you see…” Elizabeth tried again. “My nerves. I haven’t slept a wink last night.”

They were both silent for a while.

Then Elizabeth mustered up all her courage and asked, “Is the idea, perhaps, offensive to you ? I know you didn’t want to sully the Talbot name through…”

She kept her gaze on her slippers as she apprehensively awaited his response.

She felt him take her hand in his. His skin was soft and warm.

Her breath caught in surprise, and she looked up at him.

Colin was staring at her hand in his, pensive.

With the index finger of his other hand, he traced the veins on it.

“You’re my wife now, Lady Elizabeth. My duchess. I don’t want to hear any more such talk.”

She nodded wordlessly.

“Now, let’s see what your cook has put in this basket for us, shall we?”

They ate and drank and talked about things that were of very little consequence, and when they stopped to change horses some two hours later, Elizabeth felt much better.

“Norwich sounds wonderful,” she said dreamily after he’d told her a little bit about it. “The only two estates I’ve ever been to are Ashbury and Winchester.”

“You shall quickly realise that Norwich is far superior to both of those,” Talbot said matter-of-factly. “When we arrive tomorrow, you’ll meet the permanent staff who live there. My cook and valet are travelling together with your lady’s maid and her husband; they should arrive late tonight.”

“Thank you again for allowing my maid’s husband to join her. I imagine it would be very difficult for them to be apart.”

“I’m sure Mr Baker, my butler, will find something for Mr Ward to do,” Talbot said with a wave of his hand, dismissing her gratitude. “You’re awfully concerned with your maid’s marriage; not to mention how odd it is that someone in the service is married in the first place,” he added.

“Mary is my oldest friend,” Elizabeth explained, “we used to live and work together before,” without having to specify what before was.

Talbot nodded, his lips tightening in disapproval.

“Mind, you’re a duchess now. I’d advise against being too familiar with the servants.”

“Of course,” Elizabeth nodded, torn between the shame of having betrayed her friend by nodding so eagerly and the shame of being someone who needed to be instructed on proper conduct with the servants.

She decided she might as well get all the embarrassing things done right away.

“I wanted to ask you for something,” she said.

Talbot was sitting on the bench opposite her now, his long legs stretched in front of him, his interlaced fingers comfortably resting on his stomach.

“Yes?”

“I was wondering if I could invite Lady Burnham to stay with us at Norwich as my companion? She used to instruct me in all matters regarding etiquette, and I think I shall need her help as I adjust to my new duties.”

“Is that General Burnham’s widow?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. You may write to invite her once we’re settled at the manor.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said happily.

Not only did she need Lady Burnham’s help, but she also knew she’d crave her calming, kind presence as she attempted to navigate her ever-changing life.

She wondered whether her mother would be welcome at Norwich.

Elizabeth was still uncertain about so many things in her new life. Would that ever change?

Talbot’s lips curved into a small, soft smile.

“I’m glad to be able to do this for you,” he said, surprising her by leaning over and taking hold of her hand again.

Elizabeth’s heart swelled with confusing affection.

Talbot stared into her eyes for a while. She swallowed. He let go of her hand and leaned back into his previous position.

“What do men talk about when they retire after dinner?” Elizabeth asked, eager to break the new, unfamiliar tension that now filled the carriage.

“Pardon?” he frowned.

“I’ve always wondered. When men retire after dinner, or at a ball, what do they talk about that they cannot say in front of women?” she asked, then leaned in and whispered, “Is it bawdy?”

Talbot threw his head back and laughed like she’d never seen him do before.

“Good Heavens, no!” he still laughed, and Lizzie found herself grinning from ear to ear at his joy. “Why on Earth would you think that?”

“I don’t know! What I heard when I was eavesdropping was horrible; it’s not too outrageous to imagine it getting even worse.”

Talbot suddenly sobered, probably remembering his words that night and their aftermath.

“We discuss business, politics, maybe someone tells a bawdy joke occasionally, I admit,” he tried steering them both back to the happy mood they had been in a moment ago. “The main thing, I think, is using the chamberpot while others are in the room with you.”

“No!” Elizabeth covered her mouth with her hand. “You’re surely jesting!”

Talbot just shook his head. She wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not.

“Fine, the chamberpot use I can perhaps understand. But why not discuss business and politics when women are present?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“Talk of money and business can be both impolite and tedious. As for politics, ladies have a weaker constitution. Hearing about atrocities, unrest, and bloodshed would upset them unnecessarily.”

Elizabeth frowned.

“Perhaps it depends on the lady. I’ve read about Peterloo when it happened, you know. And I did get upset, but not in the way you imagine. I got angry.”

“Where on Earth have you read about it?” her husband appeared outraged.

“I read the papers,” she said haughtily, trying to mask the apprehension she suddenly felt under his gaze, “and my carriage driver once brought a pamphlet home.”

Talbot’s eyes darkened.

“A lady has no business reading such libel!”

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“It was merely an eyewitness account of that horrific day.”

Talbot tried reasoning with her in a different tone.

“I’m sure you were very upset with those traitors, but that still doesn’t-”

“I wasn’t upset with those people ,” Elizabeth interrupted him incredulously, “I was angry at the horsemen charging into the crowd and perpetuating such senseless violence.”

Talbot stared at her darkly.

“Mind your words, wife. You’re perilously close to sedition right now.”

Elizabeth ran her tongue over her teeth.

“Either I have a weak constitution, or I am inciting sedition, Your Grace. Surely both statements cannot be true at the same time,” she said angrily.

Her husband leaned over to where she had already drawn nearer to him, lifted a hand to the back of her neck as he looked between her mouth and her eyes, and kissed her.

For a moment, she was stunned. But when her mind translated the sensation of his full, soft mouth on hers into pleasure, she closed her eyes and sighed into the kiss.

It’s… delicious , Elizabeth thought, not finding a better word. He smells so good, she noted like she always did whenever she caught a whiff of his undoubtedly expensive perfume.

The kiss was a question at first – soft and hesitant, and Talbot occasionally pulled away a little to look into her eyes, which were heavy-lidded and darkened with arousal. Elizabeth was unsure of what she was supposed to be doing, but her lips effortlessly followed Talbot’s lead.

The next time he pulled away, she involuntarily emitted a sound of protest, which caused him to fall to his knees in front of her bench and wedge his much bigger body in between her legs before kissing her more ardently than before.

His hot, wet mouth was opening into hers now, and he occasionally licked her tongue, which she liked a lot, so she reciprocated.

His hands, which had simply been holding her waist when he first knelt between her legs, had started travelling all over the thin silk of the wedding dress that had been ordered with another husband in mind, a man whose name she was currently unable to recall, and the motion of Colin's hands repeatedly stroking her thighs pulled the dress further and further upwards.

Through no decision of her own, Elizabeth found her thighs tightening around Talbot’s hips, and her upper body arching into him.

She felt like she wanted to weld them together, to press herself against him with such force that they would become one body.

She’d never felt that way before, so utterly at the mercy of what her body wanted her to do.

And her body did want . Elizabeth kept squirming on the bench and trying in vain to achieve some more of that satisfying friction that helped with the ache she now felt all over her breasts and sex, and in her desperation, she bit Talbot’s lower lip to unload some of her frustration.

He hissed, and she pulled away immediately.