Page 41 of The Virgin Duchess (Unwanted Brides #2)
C harlotte exited the kitchen, having checked on the menu for the meal at least ten times now. She was certain that the cook was becoming irritated with her, but everything needed to be perfect.
It had been a wonderful day spent in the estate, out in the gardens and talking in front of the fireplace, but Frederick was finally healthy enough to be permitted for all strenuous activities, and they were owed a seventh night together.
He was up in their room, Charlotte having moved into the space since she was in there so regularly while he was healing, and anticipation bubbled through her at the thought of their private dinner. She had planned for them to dine in their room and then enjoy a bit of after-supper entertainment.
Being each other, of course.
It had been several days, nearly three weeks, and Frederick was finally able to join her in bed once more. She would be lying if she said that she had not been missing it. They had done what they could up until now, but it didn’t replace the connection she had felt with him when they were able to be truly intimate.
And they both deserved to feel that way once more.
All is well at hand, Charlotte. You can relax. Just breathe.
She knew that she was a bundle of nerves. It had been such a protracted time that it nearly felt as if this would be their first time again. They had only had intercourse the one time before this, and Charlotte had to admit that she still felt so new at it.
It is Frederick. It will fall into place naturally.
As she ascended the stairs, Charlotte smiled, so very ready for their wonderful evening together—and whatever else the future held.
“Ugh! That was incredible. I shall be full for a week.” Frederick smiled, his hand going to his stomach, and Charlotte laughed.
“The cook truly outdid herself. I am so glad that you enjoyed it. I’ve been planning this for?—”
“Two weeks,” Frederick interjected. “Yes, you have told me.”
Charlotte felt herself blush, rolling her lips between her teeth as she fought a grin. It was true, however. She had been going on about this evening for some time. She was just glad that it had not been a disappointment, living up to her expectations to the last.
At least so far. There was still the final part of this “seventh evening” together ahead of them.
“Well, I am still quite glad that I did. Personally, I think it was a stroke of genius to have our evening entirely conducted at the estate.”
Charlotte tipped her chin up as she spoke, putting out the air of being so very pleased with herself. It only lasted a moment before she couldn’t contain her laughter.
Frederick chuckled along with her, eyeing Charlotte playfully. “And you are certain that it had nothing to do with you still being nervous about my injuries?”
She blushed all the harder—the tiny facet of her true motivations called out into the open.
“It was only a part of it.”
Frederick—true partner that he was—simply looked upon her with a striking grin, pulling Charlotte across the small table between them to press his lips to hers. Her mind swam, sinking into the depths of their connection from the sensations, and a tiny moan slipped free.
In so quick a time, Charlotte found herself wound up so tightly by the maneuvers her husband was doing, plying her with kisses and caresses, playfully nibbling at her bottom lip. She grinned against his mouth before pulling herself back to catch her breath.
“Please tell me, dearest, that dinner was not all you had planned for this evening.”
Frederick met her eyes with such intensity and desire that it made Charlotte’s pulse quicken, her thighs pressing together beneath her dress.
“Hardly.” She stood up from her seat, taking Frederick by the hand and dragging him toward their bed. “Though, I am afraid that a change in attire is required.”
His brow cocked up as he smirked, and Frederick held her close as the backs of his legs met the bed.
“Oh, and what would that be?”
Charlotte smiled, lost in the gorgeous, alluring grey of Frederick’s eyes.
“Nothing.”
A rumble left Frederick’s throat, and he hauled her against his chest, crashing his lips down on hers. They danced together in an exquisite tumble of fingers and lips and tongues, and then Frederick slipped back, smiling down at her.
“First things first,” Frederick whispered, then flew away to lock the bedroom door so that they would not be disturbed before returning to her side.
“Now,” he grinned, running his hands along her body, “allow me to assist you with that, darling.”
Charlotte chuckled as Frederick took the sleeves of her dress and guided them down her arms. Together, they worked to slip the uppermost layer of her clothing down her body, leaving Charlotte in her chemise and stays. Frederick began to work the stays free, unlacing and winding fabric from her body.
The chilled air around her skin was such a difference from the heat that had been trapped in her clothing, and she was grateful for the fire in the hearth that kept the room a soothing temperature. Before Frederick could reach for the hem of her chemise, she glided her hands across his chest and unfastened his waistcoat.
“You need to catch up to me, husband.” Charlotte grinned, and the look Frederick returned made her heart patter against her chest. “Though, perhaps you wish to begin with your trousers?”
Frederick cocked a brow, eyeing Charlotte with a deviousness that she had come to love so fondly. And he held her against him, hovering his lips over hers, and he breathed out. The warmth of his breath dusted over her, and Charlotte felt her core clamp down in anticipation.
“I could, dearest,” Frederick mused, brushing his lips to her in a ghost of a kiss, “or you could do it for me.”
Charlotte grinned reaching for the fall of his trousers that concealed the fasteners that held them up. She was gentle and slow about removing the pants from Frederick’s body. As she did, he freed himself of his shirt, pulling it over his head and throwing it somewhere in the room.
“Now, it is you who must catch up.” The words were such a tease, and Frederick wasted no time in gathering up her chemise and bunching the skirt around her hips.
Just as she had Frederick’s trousers undone, Frederick had made it so that all that needed to be done to render her naked was to pull the chemise up over her head. They each did their part, revealing themselves to each other in tandem.
Her sweet husband was quick to take her breast in his hand, bringing her hardening nipple to his mouth and nibbling playfully. Charlotte moaned, her head falling back as she held onto Frederick to prevent herself from tumbling over.
“Mmm,” he whispered against her skin, “you are so much more sweet than the finest fruit, so much more intoxicating than the strongest wine.”
“Frederick…” It came out on a moan. “I have thought of you so often. Worrying about your injuries…I’ve been desperate for this moment.”
“That makes two of us, my love.”
Frederick swept Charlotte up into his arms and settled her on the bed. Guiding her down with his hands, her husband plied her with kisses that wandered down her body. She squirmed beneath him, the sensations both overwhelming and not enough. When he reached the crook of her hip, Frederick eased her thighs apart, then slid his hand up to her breast once more, playing with her as his caresses worked ever closer to her center.
“Oh, God,” she mumbled, her eyes rolling closed. “Yes…please…”
It was a lightning bolt that struck through her when Frederick’s tongue made contact with her. He toyed with her painfully aroused nipple as he explored her thoroughly, dragging the wet, strong muscle between her folds. As he found that sensitive bud at her tip, Frederick closed his lips around it, sucking diligently.
“Ugh!”
Charlotte bucked against him, the intensity already enough to get her right to the edge of climax. Frederick continued his delightful assault, claiming her breast with his fingers as he claimed her center with his mouth. She rocked against his lips, unable to keep her hips still. When Frederick pulled back ever so slightly, she whimpered.
“Already so worked up, dearest. Shall I release you?” He kissed her seam—gently and not enough. “Or shall I have you enduring the build-up?”
“Frederick, you terrible tease.” Charlotte glared down playfully at him, tangling her fingers in his hair and encouraging him to return to her. “You cannot leave me on edge like this.”
He released a charming, if devilish, chuckle, and Charlotte squirmed, desperate for more from him. Extending her lower lip in a pout was enough to get him moving again, and Frederick returned his impressive skills to her core.
Charlotte’s eyes rolled back almost immediately, and she was right there at the cusp of release in moments. The way her husband swirled his tongue through her was enough to get her toes curling. Then his fingers joined the work, slipping inside and calling out the orgasm that was right on the brink of detonation.
“Yes! Please!”
Frederick didn’t pull back this time, his ministrations ticking up to a greater speed as he worked every angle she possessed with his wicked talent. It was only seconds, and then Charlotte was careening off that cliff and soaring into the sky as she fell apart. She writhed beneath Frederick’s tongue, and he took her through every burst of sensation until she was a puddle of herself.
“That’s my sweet darling.” Frederick kissed the inside of her thigh before beginning his slow climb up her body. “So gorgeous as she breathes so very hard for me. So…pink.”
The heat in Charlotte’s cheeks doubled, and she knew that she was blushing as bright as ever. Her husband only smiled, pressing his lips to hers as he shuffled her around the bed. Charlotte was unsure what Frederick was doing until he had her up against the headboard, her hands spread wide against the wall.
With his hands on her hips, Frederick pulled her so that her backside pressed out, taking two firm handfuls of her.
“Are you ready, my love?” The blunt head of his erection notched at her entrance.
Charlotte moaned, the tease riling her right back up. “Yes…Oh, God, yes.”
Frederick pressed in, sheathing himself as deeply as possible until they were completely joined. Charlotte squeezed down around his shaft, her mind malfunctioning as he sank himself in so very deep and held it there before starting a maddeningly slow rhythm.
She could feel him rub and slide against every inch of her walls, the feelings going straight to her head. That sensitive bud tingled, practically burned, and she groaned as Frederick, at last, slid all the way free only to plunge back into her with more force.
It was an incredible dance between them, one she had missed so fervently since he’d been injured. Having her husband back like this, knowing that it would be the first of many reunions they would experience over the years, was so impactful. She had heard him say that he loved her, knew it in her bones, and now Charlotte could feel it with every pointed stroke that scrambled her mind.
“Frederick…”
The plea was so soft, so feather-light, but Charlotte could tell he heard it when his grip on her hips tightened, his thumb stroking over her skin.
“I am right here, dearest. I will always be right here.” He slid in and out, so painfully slow but so purposeful—so perfectly. “I promise.”
Charlotte lost herself to the sensations then, allowing everything else to drop away as she rode out the waves of pleasure delivered by the man whom she’d fallen in love with. It had seemed so unlikely, so impractical, but becoming Frederick’s wife had been the best decision of her life.
Even if she did not realize it at the time.
“My precious Charlotte.” Her husband pressed all the way inside her, rolling his hips in a circle that made him light up all her nerves—neglected and overstimulated equally. “I love you endlessly, and I want to feel you climax. Come undone for me, precious. I have so missed the way you feel.”
Without needing to increase his speed, Frederick delivered powerful thrusts, each one hitting as far into Charlotte as was possible. It only took seconds for her to tip over the edge and gratefully fall into bliss. She clenched around his erection, sparks flickering behind her tightly closed lids.
“That’s it, precious.” Frederick squeezed her flesh so tight. “Ugh, that’s it.”
Frederick kicked inside her; the delightful twitches followed by incredible warmth that suffused her very soul. Charlotte tumbled through another release, spurred on by the way her husband utterly emptied into her. It was heat and connection and slick bliss that bloomed between them.
And she could have lived in that moment for all eternity.
Charlotte felt the energy of the room ease down. After a moment, when he was at last truly finished, Frederick guided them down to the bed, lying on their sides as he remained tucked inside her, joining them still.
“You are so incredible, Charlotte. You have allowed me to find my bravery, and I will be forever grateful.”
“I love you, sweet husband.” Charlotte reached over her shoulder, pulling Frederick toward her for a brief kiss. “And, fortunately, we have all evening to make up for lost time.”
Frederick chuckled, wrapping his arm around her waist and snuggling into her.
“We have our entire lives, darling. From now until I expire, I am yours.”
Charlotte grinned, her eyes closed and exhaustion creeping up at the edges. She was content to fall asleep just like this and wake to repeat the endeavor as many times as they could before tomorrow when their responsibilities would be waiting for them.
“And I am yours, my Frederick. Always.”
The End?