Page 88 of His Illegitimate Duchess

The rest of the afternoon was spent rather enjoyably: everyone laughed a lot as they searched for the thimble over and over again, and afterwards they were so tired that they decided that the men ought to sit for the women to paint them, which resulted in even more laughter, since some of the paintings didn’t even resemble humans, let alone the men in question.

After dinner, they reconvened in the Blue Room again. Louisa was at the piano, while Lady Genevieve turned the pages for her. Charlotte and Sinclair were playing cards with Isabella and Frederick. Cousin Andrew was reading a book in the corner.

Elizabeth and Elinor were listening to Talbot, the Baron, and Stone discuss the upcoming coronation, while Pratt had gone into the smaller parlour for some reason. When Louisa had finished playing, she and Lady Genevieve joined their group.

“What have you been reading?” Elizabeth called out to Andrew when she noticed that he had closed the book and was staring into the fire.

“Prometheus Unbound,” he replied. “It is a lyrical drama based on Greek mythology. I’m sure you remember how much I enjoy those stories.”

“I remember too well,” Lizzie laughed.

“Can you read us a portion?” Elinor asked, and Andrew agreed.

Soon, a silence settled over the room, and everyone abandoned what they were doing in favour of listening to Andrew’s clear voice.

Even Pratt emerged from the smaller parlour to rejoin them.

Just as Prometheus promised that he wished for no living being to suffer pain, Andrew stopped reading.

Exclamations of protest were heard around the room.

“I do apologise, but my voice is starting to feel the strain. Someone else can continue, if you’d all like to hear more of the story.”

“I’d rather like to hear the Duchess read to us,” Lady Genevieve said. “Seeing as you two are cousins, she might possess a voice as clear as yours.”

“Cousin Elizabeth, would you like to read?” Andrew asked hopefully.

Elizabeth hated that everyone was looking at her now. She was about to decline when she felt Talbot’s thigh pressing against hers in silent encouragement.

“I would, thank you,” she said, emboldened by the small gesture. “You select the page, please.”

“You can read this poem that was published together with the drama, hold on.”

Andrew found the page and handed her the book. Elizabeth delicately cleared her throat and started reading, “To a Skylark…”

When she was done reading, she looked up and saw Talbot's proud smile. She smiled back.

“That is such a wonderful poem,” Amelia was the first to break the silence.

“It’s a poem about a bird,” Pratt said with a frown. “How wonderful can it be?”

“It is not just about a bird, ” Amelia countered.

“The bird and its song are but a medium for the exploration of nature and the human struggle! Don’t you see?

Thou of death must deem / Things more true and deep / Than we mortals dream.

Being human has so many limitations, whereas the bird is perfect, and it is free. ”

When she was finished speaking, Amelia seemed to remember who she was and where she was, and her entire body deflated. Oliver’s face seemed to Elizabeth as proud as Colin’s had been moments ago. The Corporal smiled at Amelia, and even the roots of her hair blushed.

“That was… unexpected,” Colin whispered to Elizabeth and his perfume called out to her.

“For you, maybe,” she whispered back.

Lady Genevieve’s irritating voice interrupted their intimate moment, “Wonderful reading, Your Grace. You seem like quite the accomplished young lady. I hope we shall also hear you play for us while we’re here.”

Elizabeth’s whole body tensed. Although she was no longer ashamed of her lack of musical talent and education, she wasn’t keen on giving Lady Genevieve the opportunity to witness it. Talbot coldly replied, “I’m afraid my wife plays only for me.”

Elizabeth allowed herself to look at Lady Genevieve. She sat artfully posed in one of the soft armchairs, her dark hair styled in a way that almost made it seem like it was down. Elizabeth hated that her skin looked soft and inviting.

“Don’t concern yourself with her,” Mary had told her as she was helping her dress for dinner, and Lizzie had recounted Genevieve’s numerous provocations from earlier in the day.

“You are putting on one of the dresses your husband had made for you because he didn’t like that other men had touched your other clothes.

He wants to annihilate the trace of any other man from your life.

I think it’s safe to say he’s not thinking about anyone else, and it must be torture for her. ”

He did annihilate the trace of all other men from my life and heart, Lizzie thought.

“Jealousy and possessiveness are so unbecoming, wouldn’t you agree?” Lady Genevieve addressed the rest of the room before returning her hungry gaze on Talbot. “Weren’t you once at the forefront of those mocking the young swain husbands who were following their wives around like lovesick puppies?”

Talbot calmly listened to her, all the while keeping his left hand next to his wife’s knee, as if even the smallest touch was invigorating for him.

“Haven’t you heard the story of how I tricked my wife into marrying me?

Or that I duelled a man who dared speak ill of her?

Jealous?” Talbot laughed to himself while shaking his head slowly.

“Lady Sinclair, the scope of that word is too narrow to encompass how I feel about my wife and the lengths I’m willing to go to keep her at my side, as unfashionable as you and your ilk may find it. ”

“Lady Louisa, speaking of music,” Charlotte spoke up, visibly anxious at the mention of duelling and the direction the conversation was heading in. “Why don’t you play something for us again?”

That night, Elizabeth tossed and turned in her bed, unable to calm both her body and her mind. Finally, some time after midnight, she threw off the covers and got up. For once, she appreciated the wastefulness of having an excessively illuminated corridor as she sneaked to her husband’s room.

She knocked and died several times as she waited for him to open the door, which he soon did, dishevelled and confused in his nightshirt.

“Lizzie?” he asked, looking sleepy at first, then suddenly worried. “Is aught amiss?”

Elizabeth couldn’t speak, so she just entered his room without being asked to and closed the door.

Colin had stepped back to let her in and now stood at the foot of his bed, his body tense and seemingly ready to attack someone if need be.

Something on her face must have betrayed her intentions, for his body suddenly completely changed its stance, and he asked in a much darker voice, “Why are you here, wife?”

Elizabeth was certain the hunger in Colin’s eyes was but a reflection of hers.

She walked over to him and kissed him on the mouth as they embraced each other.

She arched into him in order to touch as much of his body as possible and enjoyed how hard he already was, but then she gasped and stepped back.

“Your arm,” she gestured helplessly.

“It’s all right, it doesn’t hurt, I just don’t have my strength back. We’re going to have to use your knowledge from our riding lessons tonight,” he said mischievously.

He pulled her back to him with his left hand and slowly unlaced the front of her nightdress with his right.

He softly bit her neck and kissed down her collarbone as she impatiently pulled on his clothes.

Elizabeth managed to take off his nightshirt as carefully as possible despite the urgency she felt, and then threw hers off.

Colin sat down on the bed and looked up at her naked body in awe. She stepped closer to him. He ran the back of his hand across her stomach, and it contracted and trembled under his touch. She inhaled sharply as she felt a corresponding tremble between her legs.

His hand travelled lower and lower, until she had to hold onto his shoulders and set one knee on the bed in order to enjoy everything that it was doing to her. Her release came almost embarrassingly quickly.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Colin whispered as she still pulsed around his fingers.

“Me too,” she managed to say before leaning down to kiss him some more.

“Wait,” he said after a while and moved to the head of the bed, where he could lean his back on the frame.

Elizabeth crawled over to him, and he looked entranced.

“My kitten,” he murmured affectionately, and she smiled at the familiar nickname.

She straddled him, and he helped guide his tip inside her. A moan escaped them both at the sensation.

“Colin,” she said into his mouth, ever increasing the urgency of their kisses, until she was biting and sucking more than she was kissing as she moved up and down on him.

Elizabeth was overwhelmed by being one with him again. In the warm, soft light of her newfound knowledge that Colin loved her, their union felt more significant and rewarding than ever before.

She held on to the drapes around the bed to facilitate her movements but also to avoid putting pressure on his injured arm, while he held onto her behind with both hands.

At one point, she gasped in delight, which broke the kiss, and Colin leaned forward to take one of her breasts into his hot, eager mouth, which, together with the inevitable change in their positions, ultimately pushed her into another bout of ecstasy.

She hadn’t even been aware he’d followed her there. Her ears were filled with sounds similar to rushing water, and her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest. She slumped onto Colin’s torso and hugged his neck as their sweaty skin started to cool.

After a while, she attempted to move away, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Stay like this, please, it feels so right,” he implored.

She pulled away slightly to look at his face. The tenderness and love in it were disarming.

“All right, for a little while. I don’t want to hurt your arm.”

“All right. A little while.”