Page 38 of His Illegitimate Duchess

He nodded, and it seemed to her that the hand that gave her back the brush was trembling slightly.

Elizabeth quickly manoeuvred her long hair into a plait and secured it at the end with a small ribbon, to prevent it from getting too tangled as she slept.

With her arms raised to plait, she suddenly felt aware of how thin her nightgown actually was, and she shivered despite the fire that was blazing.

Mary had packed a bed cap, a dressing gown, and stockings, as well, but Elizabeth disliked wearing all of those items, so she ignored them.

They both got into the large bed without saying anything, and they each blew out the candles on their respective sides.

“Good night,” Lizzie said in a small voice.

“Good night, wife,” Talbot replied, and it sounded like he was smiling.

Elizabeth’s exhausted body was quickly pulled into a deep sleep.

When she woke up, the room was shrouded in darkness, and the fire had died down to embers. Her legs were tangled with Colin’s, and their bodies were pressed to each other. He was stroking her waist.

“Are you awake?” she asked in a hoarse voice.

“Yes,” he responded, sounding like he hadn’t slept at all.

She laid a palm on his chest and moved it mindlessly, mirroring his movements on her waist. She could see his face turning toward her, despite the darkness. She pressed herself further into his body, craving the closeness.

His other hand cradled her head, and he started kissing her, not as wildly as he had in the carriage, but softly, like he was telling her a secret in the dark.

Any reserve Elizabeth might normally have felt was weighed down by the aftermath of sleep, so she grabbed his nightshirt with both hands and licked the inside of his mouth like he had done to her in the carriage.

“By God, Lizzie,” he moaned into her mouth and grabbed her behind with the hand that used to be on her waist, pulling her onto him.

She spread her legs to make it easier for him, and soon she was positioned on top of him, straddling him as they kissed.

“You feel so soft, and so wonderful,” Colin said, and something in her chest bloomed and warned her entire ribcage.

His hands were no longer on her, but she felt them move near her face. Suddenly, her hair was out of her braid, and he was spreading it over her shoulders.

Her nightgown was already lifted above her knees, and he deftly undid the lacing at its front and pulled it over her head, before divesting himself of his own.

She felt scorched by the heat of his naked skin, and she gasped.

“Are you cold?” he mumbled against her lips, and she shook her head as she continued to explore his mouth.

She found herself holding his face and gripping his hair like she was trying to hold him in place or prevent him from leaving her. It was the headiest feeling she’d ever experienced, and she never wanted it to end.

Talbot’s hands travelled all over her body as he now kissed her neck and she went limp - he stroked the thighs that held him captive, the waist that trembled, his hands palmed her breasts and tugged on her nipples until Elizabeth had to put her forehead on his and just breathe through the sensations.

Then he was cupping her bottom, kneading it, spreading it, and Elizabeth moaned helplessly, but it was a plea, a prayer, a beseeching, which he immediately obliged by touching her exactly where she didn’t know she needed him to.

She could hear him touching her there .

“Talbot,” she breathed as he stroked her inside and out, “oh Lord, just, oh,” she rocked back and forth on his hand, thinking that she would die if he stopped and die if he didn’t.

“Call me Colin when I’m inside you like this, sweet, you have to call me Colin,” he groaned into her mouth as he removed his fingers and touched her with something both softer and infinitely harder.

“Colin,” she gasped at the unfamiliar sensation as he started entering her, and he froze immediately.

Elizabeth only felt his heat, and hardness, and some stretching, so she wiggled her hips further down what she now realised was his cock, delighting in his hissing and moaning.

She did so slowly and carefully, both afraid of the possible pain and unfamiliar with the motions.

She felt his cock burning her insides, but it was a pain she somehow craved.

What's wrong with me? she thought briefly.

When she reached the end of him, she sat up. All of him was inside her. It felt full and slightly uncomfortable and right .

But what now?

Colin’s hands were still roaming her waist and breasts and all parts of her he could reach, but it was leisurely and proprietary. He was gazing at her from below, and she saw his eyes glitter like embers in the darkness.

“You feel so good, wife,” he said in a soft, gentle voice she’d never heard from him before. “Better than I dreamed of. Come here, kitten,” he urged as he pulled her into a kiss and then flipped them over so that he was on top of her without giving her his entire weight.

Elizabeth found herself wanting it, though. She wanted to be crushed by her lover’s body, so she arched into him while pulling his hips further into her.

“Colin,” she urged.

“You are the most surprising person I’ve ever encountered,” her husband said, but she had already started moving her hips below him.

She was mindless with pleasure. The coarse hair on his chest felt so good when she dragged her nipples over it, so she kept doing it.

“You are really enjoying this,” Colin breathed as he kissed her eyes and her face, his voice full of wonder, “I cannot look away from you.”

“Yes, Colin, God, yes,” she moaned as she turned her head from side to side and quickened her movements.

Colin soon matched her speed, and she experienced true rapture for the first time in her life.

It was bliss. So many of her body parts were pulsing and tingling and contracting that she was almost oblivious to her husband’s primal scream of pleasure against her neck as he sealed the consummation of their marriage with his own release.

She did get almost all of his weight then. She wrapped her arms around him, pressed her cheek against his damp shoulder and closed her eyes. She listened to the crackling of the embers, his heavy breathing, and the loud beating of both of their hearts.

Neither said anything. After he softened and fell out of her, followed by a gush of his seed (the feeling of which gave her a wicked thrill of pleasure), Colin turned Elizabeth’s body towards the fire, pressed his body against her back, and, surrounded by warmth on both sides of her body even though she was still naked, she quickly succumbed to sleep.

*

“Wake up, wife,” she heard a rumbling voice close to her ear.

As she waded through the moors of sleep, the events of the previous day (and night!) became clear in her mind. She sat up with a gasp, only for her naked body to be assaulted by the cold morning air. She pulled the coverlet up to her shoulders as she felt around herself for her nightdress.

Talbot was lying next to her with his hands behind his head, his strong, hairy chest on display despite the cold, as he observed her with his usual dry smile.

“May I help you with something?”

“Where is my nightgown?” Lizzie snapped impatiently, still not awake enough to rein in her temper.

Colin lifted an eyebrow at her. He then yanked the covers off her body.

“No! It's freezing!” she screamed as she jumped to her knees and hugged herself.

“You made it sound like your missing nightgown was a matter of life and death,” he said, and she knew he was paying her back for her rude tone.

“I know you-” she started teasing him back, but was stopped by the look on his face.

She looked down at her body to see what had elicited it, and she saw that her thighs were smeared with a mixture of blood and his release.

Colin’s jaw was tense, and he looked angry, but his movements were gentle as he wrapped her in the covers.

“Pull the bed curtains closed,” he ordered her as he jumped out of bed, grabbing both of their night dresses from under his pillow and throwing her one.

She got a full view of his naked body (and his behind!) as he pulled on his shirt and breeches, donned his dressing gown and rang for the maid. Lizzie quickly closed the bed curtains and listened to him order a bath, and for some food to be brought up afterwards.

When the maid started listing the foods they had available, he impatiently instructed her to just bring up a bit of everything. She once again marvelled at the ability of these people to simply order things without ascertaining the price or worrying about it in any way.

After everyone who helped prepare the bath left and the fire was blazing, he opened the bed curtains again.

“Your bath is ready.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said and gingerly got out of bed.

Her legs felt shaky and sore from having been wrapped around her husband’s body the night before.

Her insides felt tender as well, so she walked slowly and carefully to the copper tub, where her lavender soap was already waiting for her.

Colin watched her like a hawk the entire time, turning away only to let her disrobe and step into the tub.

“I’ve heard that some discomfort is to be expected the first time,” he said after what felt like twenty minutes. “But I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Not at all.” Lizzie smiled at him, wanting to say something else, but not having the words.

“Good,” he smiled back.

When Lizzie was done with her bath, Talbot left the room to allow her to dress and perform her toilette in peace. She had just finished using the chamberpot and decided to straighten the bed when she saw the state their sheets were in.

When her husband came back, she was pacing the room with the bundled-up sheets in her hand, mortified.

He laughed when she told him about the problem.

“Bloody wedding night sheets used to be displayed once upon a time, I don't think we should be ashamed of anything. Let them see,” he grinned.

Elizabeth felt her lips go cold.

“Is that why you did this?”

“Did what, exactly?” Talbot frowned.

“Consummated our marriage here, so you would have witnesses that I was untouched?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“Good Lord, no! How can you even accuse me of that?” It was Talbot’s turn to be horrified.

“How can I not? I know what everyone must be saying about me and my character now,” Elizabeth sniffled, the tears running down her face freely now.

Talbot was pressing his lips together, his face pale.

“Are you truly so worried about that?”

“Of course!” she threw her hands up. “All this time, I’ve been trying to prove to everyone I was not like my mother, only to be caught in a compromising situation with a man who was then forced to marry me!”

Talbot’s face darkened dangerously. He grabbed the sheets from her hand and threw them into the fire. They both stared wordlessly as the room filled with black smoke. Elizabeth went to open a window, but Colin took her by the elbow, so she turned back to him.

“You are the Duchess of Norwich now. No one shall dare say anything about your reputation.”

“ I no longer have a reputation,” Elizabeth said sadly, and, for the first time since their wedding, her husband began to understand just how much his actions had affected his wif e.