Page 50 of His Illegitimate Duchess

“We’re in someone else’s cabin in the middle of the forest. What if someone comes in?”

“I locked the door. Elizabeth, you’ll catch a cold,” he urged again, more sternly this time, so, with a sigh, she wrapped herself in one of the blankets and started disrobing and handing him her clothes layer by layer so he could arrange them on the chairs he’d pulled closer to the fire.

He then turned his back to her and took his own clothes off, wrapping a blanket around his hips when he was done.

He pulled the animal skin closer to the fireplace, then sat down with his back pressed against the wall, and motioned for Lizzie to come sit in his lap.

She sat down more or less like she had on Miss Judy earlier, and he manoeuvred her legs towards the fire.

He absentmindedly stroked her hair and back through the thick, warm blanket.

“Have you warmed up a bit?” He asked softly.

She nodded. The hand that had been on her back now travelled up, all the way to her nape, which he then squeezed and massaged thoroughly.

Elizabeth squirmed and unintentionally rubbed her naked behind against the coarse hair on his thighs.

She glanced at him after she did it, and his eyes sent her a look that her mind interpreted as danger.

Talbot straightened, then turned her towards himself and rearranged her legs so she was sitting astride him. Lizzie felt shy all of a sudden and made to get up, but he held on to her thighs and said, “It's time for your second lesson.”

She was confused.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to learn to ride like this?” Her husband asked as he dragged his palms up and down her thighs.

She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself but didn’t say anything.

Colin leaned in and caressed her neck with his tongue, then moved it down to her shoulder.

Her hold on the blanket loosened as she gave herself over to the sensation, and soon the tops of her breasts were exposed.

Colin licked and kissed them thoroughly.

She let go of the blanket and clutched his shoulders instead.

“Your breasts are so beautiful,” he said, and their peaks felt painfully hard at his words.

She started rubbing her sex against his without thinking. He gasped like he was in pain. She stopped, scared.

“Please, go on, please, kitten,” he grabbed her buttocks and started dragging her up and down against himself again.

Elizabeth pressed her palms against his chest for support. She felt so powerful as she looked down at his half-open mouth and his helpless expression. It looked like he was at her mercy, like she was the mistress of his entire existence. She let her fingers and mouth enjoy his soft, naked skin.

Soon, she felt herself being stretched by his cock and was reminded of their first time together.

Only that had happened under the soft, warm cover of darkness.

This was happening in clear daylight, and Elizabeth didn’t know what to do with herself.

Her blanket was long gone. She looked down and saw Colin lick her nipple.

She gasped, not only at the physical sensation, but at the thrilling imagery of it.

“You are a vision,” he whispered, and Elizabeth closed her eyes against the awe in his voice.

With his hands on her behind helping her along, she slowly rose up until most of him was outside her, then paused, and slid back down. Over and over, she rose and dropped, her confidence and tempo improving with each motion.

Colin sounded like he was struggling to breathe, and his forehead was beaded with sweat.

He then also started thrusting from under her, and she could hear wet slapping sounds that spurred her passion on even more.

Due to the way their bodies were positioned, she rubbed against the coarse hair at the base of his shaft each other each time he was completely buried inside her.

She trailed his torso with her hands, feeling like all of him belonged to her, wanting to bite him to prove it in some twisted way, and that’s when it hit her.

“Oh God, oh God… Colin”, she gasped and then sagged as she felt her nether parts continue to pulse and contract and release, and Colin wrapped his arms around her to hold her up as he shuddered and groaned as well.

His lips were in her hair, and he kept muttering something intelligible. He then bestowed the most tender kisses on her shoulders, neck, cheeks, lips, and eyelids, as he stroked her naked back and her arms.

When she pulled away to look at him, he smiled as he gazed into her eyes as if to ascertain that she was well. She sleepily smiled back, feeling happier than she’d ever been.

When they finally arrived back at the manor, they were both tired, muddy, and dishevelled.

“I don’t think Mary will be able to get the musty wet smell out of this dress,” Lizzie wrinkled her nose.

“Have her ask Stevenson for advice. I’ve never encountered a wardrobe issue he was unable to solve.”

“Let's hope this won't be the first. Luckily, it’s almost dinner time, I am so hungry,” Lizzie sighed, then straightened and looked at her husband, who simply smiled at her unladylike words.

“In that case, let us hurry up and order baths so we can be at dinner as soon as humanly possible,” he said teasingly.

A hot bath was the right thing for Elizabeth’s stiff and aching body. For some reason, even her lower back hurt. But it was no wonder – after all, hadn’t she tried two new activities today? She thought about the second one, and the water in the tub felt even hotter.

As she was drying off, she noticed that her courses had started, so she called out to Mary, who was in the dressing room, frowning at her ruined clothes.

“I need the belt, please.”

Mary nodded knowingly and went to prepare the contraption.

“So the darker dress for dinner, then?”

“Mhm.”

“Your riding boots smell hopeless,” Mary said later as she laced her dress up.

“Oh, Colin said to talk to his valet, he’ll know what to do.”

“Oh, did Colin say so?” Mary teased in a sing-song tone.

“Shut up, Mary. I remember how you used to be. I’d be talking about my ingrown toenail, and you’d find a way to mention Robert.”

“So it’s like that with you two? Like me and Robert?” Mary looked up and met her eyes in the mirror, no longer teasing but genuinely curious.

“I don’t know. I don’t think it will ever be as pure and absolute as you two, but I feel we’re getting closer. I don’t know,” Lizzie sighed.

Mary stroked her shoulders before starting to work on her hair.

“Have you discussed what you overheard him say about you since you got married? Or what happened in that cloak room?”

“No,” Elizabeth replied curtly.

“Lizzie,” Mary said reproachfully.

“I know,” Elizabeth interrupted her. “I just… What is the point of mentioning that now? We’re wed, it’s done, and things have been good with us.”

“I think you are scared of what he might say.”

“And if I am? Should I expose myself to further humiliation or heartbreak for no reason?”

“It’s not exactly for no reason!” Mary protested. “But I will leave it be for now because I see you are not ready for that conversation.”

Lizzie’s throat felt tight. “Thank you.”

Neither said anything for a while.

Elizabeth then asked, doing her best to sound conciliatory, “How is Robert liking Norwich? I feel like I haven’t properly seen him since our arrival.”

“He likes it a lot; he even started talking about moving to the country. But you know me, I’m a city girl.”

“Never say never,” Lizzie said.

Dinner was delicious and the company pleasant. Lizzie told Lady Burnham all about Miss Judy and all the things they’d seen and how they got caught in the rain. Talbot hid his smile in his glass when she described the cabin, and Lizzie wished she could pinch him without the other woman noticing.

When it was time for dessert, the servants brought out baked custard, and Lizzie sat up, her delight evident on her face.

“Incredible,” her husband said.

“What is?” she looked around.

“You. You’re happier upon seeing the baked custard than you were at being gifted a beautiful mare with a very distinguished pedigree.”

“It’s... baked custard. You know it’s my favourite,” Lizzie replied helplessly, looking at Lady Burnham, who was pressing her lips together in a futile effort to remain unaffected by their ridiculous conversation.

“You truly care little for my title and my wealth, don’t you, wife?”

“I... don’t know what you want me to say,” Lizzie decided on honesty, and her husband laughed.

“It’s alright, darling. Eat your custard.”

Lady Burnham smiled maternally at both of them, and Lizzie, with a shrug, turned to her beloved dish.

*

“That Stevenson is a remarkable worker,” Mary announced when she entered Lizzie’s dressing room after dinner.

“What makes you say that?” Lizzie replied without looking away from her reflection in the looking glass.

“I went to ask him about your boots, and we talked for over an hour. He is insanely dedicated to his duties! He takes such good care of the Duke’s things.

He showed me how he cleans and maintains his wardrobe, every detail is meticulously organised – the hats are wiped on the inside with a clean handkerchief, but on the outside he brushes them with a soft brush, the clothes in the wardrobe are covered with linen wrappers to protect them from dust, and so on.

When I came to see him, he was rubbing the Duke’s wet clothes with a sponge before hanging them by the fire, because, in his words, later he might be unable to remove the roughness.

It actually made me feel bad about myself. ”

Elizabeth turned to face her friend. “Why would you feel bad about that?”

Mary sat down with a sigh. “I don’t think I’ve been a good lady’s maid to you.”

When she saw Lizzie shake her head, Mary held her palm up. “I’m serious. Stevenson made me realise that I’ve been acting more like your friend or sister instead of someone with a job to do.”

“I don’t see what more you could do for me. Perhaps you could follow me around and fix my hair the way Stevenson is always fixing Colin’s cravat,” Lizzie laughed, but Mary didn’t.

“I am now a duchess’s lady’s maid, I’m not just doing my friend’s hair for a ball. I never want to be the reason you embarrass yourself, so I am going to work closer with Stevenson to make sure that never happens.”

“Thank you,” Lizzie said, touched, and the two friends shared a long hug.

“I always feel like I’m embarrassing myself, and it has nothing to do with how you care for my clothes,” Elizabeth said as she broke the hug. “My clothes are perhaps the only thing I don’t worry about.”

“Why would you feel that way?” Mary frowned.

“The tenants and the townsfolk are always staring at me and whispering,” Lizzie admitted.

“You are their new mistress, of course they are staring,” Mary said matter-of-factly, but Elizabeth shook her head.

“I don’t know. There have been things in the papers, and there is always gossip, -”

“But there are always rumours, even when absolutely nothing has happened,” Mary interrupted her. “Put it out of your mind.”

“I wish I could.” Elizabeth sighed.

*

“Come here, wife,” Colin lifted the coverlet as she approached his bed.

“I’ve started my courses,” she said somewhat sullenly as she climbed in.

“So?” he lifted an eyebrow at her as he pulled her into his arms.

“I’m simply warning you, in case you get any ideas. Besides, my whole body hurts and my legs are sore from riding,” she mumbled against his chest.

“Here?” he asked as he put his large palm on the outside of her thigh and started rubbing it in slow, methodical movements.

“Everywhere,” she moaned as she relaxed slightly.

“Do they hurt terribly? Your courses,” he added when she looked up at him in confusion.

“Not typically. The second day is usually the worst one.”

They remained silent for a while as Colin kneaded her thighs.

“Where else?” Colin asked when he finished.

“My lower back.”

Colin flipped her onto her stomach and straddled her behind, which gave her a naughty thrill of pleasure, despite all her previous complaints.

She felt like she might have imagined the discomfort, since, at the moment, she was in heaven.

She couldn’t resist lifting her behind to slightly press into him.

He stopped the soothing movements of his hands on her lower back.

“Careful, wife, you don’t want to entice me more than you already do,” he warned and she was briefly tempted to do exactly that, but decided she’d rather die than let him see her menstrual belt so she remained still as he thoroughly massaged her back, her thighs, and her arse (a little more than was necessary, she was sure, but who was she to say no to a good thing) until she felt sated and warm and relaxed enough to sleep.

“Thank you, Colin,” she mumbled sleepily, still on her stomach, looking at his smiling face next to her.

“You’re welcome, Lizzie,” he said and, after gently kissing her temple, blew the candle out.