The Virtuous Widow

by Anne Gracie

  Over the building a painted wooden star gleamed. Inside the stable stood a woman in a blue painted robe, a woman with a serene expression and kind eyes. Beside her stood a tall dark-haired man smiling down at a child not his own, with love in his eyes and his heart.

  Like the man at Ellie’s side.

  offered hight="0em" width="1em" align="justify">Amy stared at the diorama in fascination. She was too small to remember it from the previous Christmas. “The vicar’s dolls’house has a family, too—a mama and a papa and a baby, just like us, only I’m not a baby any more.” Ellie glanced up at the tall man by her side, looking at Amy as if he’d just received the most wonderful of gifts. She said huskily, “That’s right, darling. It’s a very special family. That’s Mary and that’s Joseph and that’s little Baby Jesus.”

  “It’s lovely.” Amy was entranced.

  Daniel’s arm tightened around Ellie and he drew her forward as the vicar began.

  “Dearly beloved…”

  Daniel and Ellie returned to the cottage alone, their footsteps crunching on the cold ground, anticipation their only companion. Daniel lit a fire downstairs, then went upstairs to light another one in the bedroom, while Ellie laid out some supper. They ate almost in silence, eating slowly, barely touching the wine and the game pie that Daniel had brought.

  He laid down his knife and fork and said with a wry smile, “I can’t think of a word to say or take in a mouthful of food, love, for wanting you. Shall we go upstairs?”

  Tremulously she nodded.

  They walked up the stairs with arms wrapped tight around each other. Ellie recalled that first frightful battle to get him up the stairs, his dogged courage as he took each step, and felt a fresh surge of love. How far they had come in such a short time…

  When they reached the bedroom, she hesitated, suddenly realising she should have gone up ahead of him and changed into her nightgown. She glanced at the curtains across the sleeping alcove and wondered if she should go behind them to change. It would be a little awkward. There was not much room.

  She glanced up at Daniel and the questions in her mind dissipated like smoke as his mouth came down over hers in a tender kiss. She leaned into him, returning the kiss with all her heart. Her hands curled into his hair, loving the feel of hard bone beneath crisp short waves. She could feel the place where he had been injured, where she had cut his hair away.

  Daniel felt her trembling against him. He wanted her so much, wanted to dive on to the bed with her and make her his in one bold passionate glorious movement. She was his! His beloved. The woman of his heart. Ellie. Pressing small moist kisses over his face. So soft, so warm, so giving. He felt proud, primitive, possessive.

  But she was trembling. And it was not simply desire.

  He recalled her shock when he’d touched her intimately, all those mornings ago, her surprise and bemusement at the pleasure his hands had given her. He deepened the kiss, feeling a jolt like lightning surge through him at her enthusiastic, yet endearingly inexpert return of his caresses. She was a married woman, a mother, and a widow, his little Ellie, but of the pleasures between a man and woman she seemed almost as ignorant as any new bride.

  Daniel reined of his desires and set himself to introduce his love to the joys between a man and woman. He rained her soft, smooth skin with kisses, running his hands over her, soothing her anxieties wordlessly, caressing her, warming, knowing her.

  The cream of the silk gown looked heavy and lifeless against the vibrant delicacy of Ellie’s skin. He unbuttoned the gown, pearl button by pearl button, revealing more and more of her soft, silken skin. He slipped the gown off her shoulders and she flushed shyly under his gaze, all the way down to her pink-tipped breasts. It was the most beautiful flush he had ever seen. He bent to kiss her and when his mouth closed over one nipple she arched against him, crying out with a small muffled groan and clasping his head to her breast.

  He glanced up at her and his body pounded with heat and need as he saw her head flung back, her eyes blind with passion. Mastering his own needs, he moved his attention to her other breast, and was rewarded by a long shuddery moan.

  Daniel slowly divested her of her clothing, piece by piece, for once not feeling impatient with the quantity and complexity of the underclothes women wore, because as he slid each garment over her skin, she blushed most deliciously and shuddered sensually under the warmth of his hands as they pushed the soft cotton slowly over her skin. He hazily made a note to get her silk underclothes. A few minutes later he changed his mind. It would be better if she wore no underclothes at all…

  Finally she was naked, soft and peachy in the flames of the fire he had built. Blushing, she glanced at the bedclothes and then back at him and he realised she would want to cover herself while he disrobed. She was shy and modest, his little Ellie.

  She surprised him. “My turn, I think.” Eager hands made short work of his neckcloth and shirt buttons. She hesitated when it came to the fastenings of his breeches, then reached for him. He gritted his teeth, fighting for control as she fumbled with the buttons, frowning with concentration, her hands brushing against his arousal, her breasts swaying softly.

  She unfastened the breeches and slowly pushed them down his legs. And stared. It was almost as if she had never seen a naked man before, the way she stared, enthralled. And then she reached out and touched him and he could hold back no longer. He tumbled her back on the bed, and, with none of the finesse he prided himself on, entered her in one long powerful thrust. She was hot and moist and ready for him and she arched against him, her body pulling him in, closing in, welcoming him…and as his body claimed her, totally out of his control, she stiffened, her eyes suddenly wide with shock.

  “Daniel,” she panted. “What is happen—?” She arched all around him and her body began to shudder uncontrollably.

  “Let yourself go, love. I am here,” he gritted out, himself on the brink of climax.

  “Oh, Daniel, Daniel. I love you!” And she shattered around him, sending him over the edge of bliss into oblivion…

  He had never known it could be like that. Daniel gazed at his beautiful, rumpled sleeping new bride with bemused wonder. He had thought he would be the one to initiate Ellie into a new world of lovemaking between a man and woman. But if he had shown her a new world, she had shown him one too, a world he’d never even dreamed existed The world of making love with the woman you adored. Physical pleasures, he’d realised, were shallow ephemeral moments, compared with how it had been with Ellie. The moment when she’d come to climax—her first ever…

  Would he, could he, ever forget that look in her eyes as she gazed into his, shouting that she loved him…as she shattered with pleasure, sending him into oblivion with her?

  It was like looking at a painting all your life and not knowing there was a living breathing whole new dimension waiting on the other side of the canvas. Like eating all your life and not knowing there was such a thing as salt…

  No, there were no poetical images to describe making love with Ellie. All Daniel knew was that he wanted to live to a very ripe old age so he could love her every day of his life.

  He leaned down and began to wake her with his mouth, smiling as she squirmed with sleepy pleasure, reaching for him even before she was awake…

  At mid-morning, a coach arrived to take them to Rothbury. It bore a crest on the side panel. Ellie glanced at Daniel in surprise. It seemed rather a grand coach for a farmer.

  He grinned at her. “It belongs to the Dowager Viscountess, Lady Rothbury, my love. When I told her I was bringing a bride to Rothbury, she insisted I use her carriage.”

  “She must be a very kind-hearted lady.”

  “You might say that,” agreed Daniel wryly. “I put it down to a managing disposition, myself. The woman has made my life a misery since she lost her husband and her eldest son.”

  “Oh, the poor lady. She must be lonely, Daniel.”

  He nodded. “Yes, she has not enough to do. However, she i
s expecting her first grandchild any day now and I am hopeful that the child will keep her out of my hair in future.” He picked up a bundle of Ellie’s possessions and winked. “At any rate, having no conveyance of my own as yet, I wasn’t about to look her gift-carriage in the mouth.”

  “I should think not.” Ellie frowned thoughtfully as she hurried to collect her things. It was clear that Daniel was a little irritated by his employer’s managing ways. She hoped she could smooth the way between them.

  Because of their imminent eviction, Ellie was already packed. She left her chickens for Ned to take, as Daniel said he already had plenty. There was nothing else. In a few minutes, their meagre possessions were placed in the boot of the coach and they’d picked up Amy and the sergeant and were heading north.

  The trip to Rothbury was long, but not tedious. They passed the time with songs and games forAmy’s entertainment. And with small secret glances and touches, which recalled in Ellie the magic and the splendour of her wedding night and morning and raised in her body the shivery, delightful expectation of nights and mornings yet to come.

  Ellie thought of how she had told Daniel weeks before that they had already “made love,” without having joined, flesh with flesh. She remembered the look on his face as she’d said it, a little quizzical, a little knowing…indulgent.

  How naïve she’d been. She hadn’t understood that the act of making love with Daniel would bring another dimension to that love, a deep, powerful intimacy that was not merely physical…though it was intensely physical. She would never forget that first, almost terrifying intimacy, the intensity as she’d exploded into helpless, splintering waves of pleasure under his eyes.

  She’d assumed that because the physical act had been unimportant in her marriage to Hart, it would be the same with Daniel. She’d believed it was, by its nature, crude, furtive and only necessary for the procreation of an heir. Because that’s how Hart had seen it.

  But nothing was the same with Daniel. With Daniel it was…a joyous celebration. A glorious, elemental claiming, in which they united in a way that she had never imagined. It was not a mere fleshly joining—it was…everything. Body, mind, soul. She shivered with remembrance. And pleasure. With Daniel it had been an act of reverence as well as earthy delight. They had made love so many times and the echo of it was with her still. It was as if in one night their bodies had become forever joined, with invisible, unbreakable threads.

  The coach swayed along. Awareness shimmered between them, recalling moments of shattering delight. She did not simply love Daniel, she was part of him. And he of her.

  With tender eyes she watched him, playing a children’s clapping game with Amy, pretending bearish clumsiness with his big, calloused hands. She felt a ripple, deep within her body, as she watched. There was nothing clumsy about those big, beautiful hands. They had taught her body how to sing; it was singing still, within her, deep and silent.

  He had transformed her in the night, murmuring endearments, caressing her in places never before caressed, creating sensations she’d never known…nor even imagined. It was as if he knew her body better than she did herself.

  Ellie caught his eye, and saw the lurking wolf-smile in it. His gaze sharpened, as if he knew what she’d been thinking, and she felt herself blush as his look turned suddenly intense and hungry. He wanted her. In the course of a single night he’d loved every part of her with hands and mouth and eyes, bringing her alive as she’d never known was possible. And she’d gloried in it so that the wonder still spilled from her…

  She couldn’t wait for the night to come. Last night she had been the novice, reduced to a blissful jelly by his loving attentions, but it hadn’t escaped her that he seemed to enjoy being touched the same way she did. Tonight it would be her turn to explore him. She felt herself smile, a small, secret triumphant feminine smile, and then she caught his eye again, and blushed scarlet as if he’d read her mind.

  Passion. She’d never understood it before. An incendiary mix of primitive power…and sublime pleasure. Explosive. Ready to reignite at a look, a touch, a thought…

  Though it was only afternoon, dark was falling by the time they turned in at two large stone gateposts, topped by lions. They received their first sight of Rothbury House a few moments later.

  It was ablaze with light. The house was huge with dozens of windows. In every window there were cand burning. As they drew closer, Ellie could see they were red candles. Christmas candles.

  “Remember how you told me about your wishing candle?” Daniel addressed Amy. “Those are wishing candles for us, to bring us all home safe and sound.”

  Amy’s eyes shone. Ellie lifted his hand and held it against her cheek. It wasn’t true—it was probably a tradition of the Big House, but it was a lovely thought, to make a little girl feel welcomed. Daniel put his arm around Ellie and smiled.

  The coach pulled up at a flight of steps. “The front door?” whispered Ellie, surprised.

  Daniel shrugged. “I’m under orders to present you to the Dowager without delay. She prides herself on knowing everyone on the estate. And it is her carriage, don’t forget.”

  “Oh, dear!” Ellie nervously ran a hand over her hair and tried to smooth her travel-crushed clothing. She hoped the Dowager would not be too demanding an employer.

  In the magnificent hallway, an elegant lady awaited them. Silver-haired, she was the epitome of elegance, dressed in the first stare of fashion in a black gown, a black shawl in Norwich silk dangling negligently from her elbows.

  “Ellie, I’d like you to meet the Dowager Viscountess, Lady Rothbury,” said Daniel.

  Ellie curtsied to her new employer.

  “Mother, this is my wife, Elinor, the new Viscountess of Rothbury.”

  Ellie, still curtsying, nearly fell over. Daniel bent down and helped her up.

  “But I thought I was to be the new housekeeper!” gasped Ellie. “You mean, you’re, you’re—”

  He bowed. “Viscount Rothbury, at your service, my dear.” His blue, blue eyes twinkled wickedly as he kissed her hand in a way that made Ellie blush.

  “My son is tiresomely reticent about some things,” the lady said sympathetically. “He told me he was bringing home a cottage wench, but you are as beautiful and elegant as any of the suitable young ladies I have been flinging so uselessly at his head this age.”

  “Much more beautiful,” growled Daniel’s deep voice and he grinned down at Ellie, who looked flustered and adoring at the same time.

  The Dowager Viscountess gave a small, satisfied nod. She moved forward and drew Ellie into a warm, scented embrace. “Welcome to the family, my dear girl. I think you will do very nicely indeed for my scapegrace son.”

  “The scapegrace son agrees with you, Mother.”

  Lady Rothbury’s eyes dropped to whereAmy was loitering in the shadows of her mother’s skirts, a little overwhelmed by everything that had happened. “And who have we here?” she said softly. “Can this be my beautiful new granddaughter? My son promised me I would love her instantly.”

  Ellie’s chest was suddenly ght. Such welcome as this she had never dared to dream of. Her daughter would be loved in this house.

  Amy examined the older lady with wide, candid eyes. “Are you really Mr. Bruin’s mama?”

  “Mr. Bruin? Is that what you call my son? Yes, I am his mama. May I ask why you call him Mr. Bruin?”

  “That’s ‘cause he looked just like a bear when he came to me and Mama. He was all prickly.”

  Lady Rothbury laughed. “A most perspicacious young lady. A prickly bear is exactly how I would describe my son at times.” She smiled down at Amy.

  Amy looked thoughtful. “I haven’t got a grandmother,” the little girl said shyly.

  The Dowager Viscountess held out her hand and said softly, “You have one now.” Amy glanced at her mother for permission, then, beaming, took the older lady’s hand.

  Lady Rothbury smiled at Ellie through tear-blurred eyes. “Thank you, my dear. You h
ave made my son and me happier than I would have believed possible.”

  Ellie couldn’t say a word. She was blinking away her own tears.

  “Now,” continued the older lady, “I have something for my beautiful new granddaughter—a welcome home present which I hope she will enjoy. It isn’t new, I’m afraid—it was mine when I was a little girl. I kept it for my daughters, but I was never blessed with any, so it has remained untouched in the attic these many years. When Daniel told me about his Ellie and her Amy, I had it brought down and cleaned up and I must say, it looks almost as good as it did when I was a child.”

  Ellie looked quizzically at Daniel. He shrugged and murmured, “No idea.”

  “Come along, Amy.” The little girl’s hand held fast in hers, Lady Rothbury swept down the hall.

  Grinning, Daniel called, “She’s a princess, Mother. You have to call her Princess Amy.”

  His mother turned, regally. “Of course she’s a princess. She’s my granddaughter.”

  “Come on, I want to see, too,” said Ellie. But his arm restrained her.

  “In a moment, love. You don’t mind if I call you love, now, do you?”

  Ellie shook her head, barely able to talk for the happiness that swelled within her.

  “Before we see what my mother has up her sleeve for Princess Amy, you have your first duty as Lady Rothbury to perform.”

  “Oh, yes, of course,” said Ellie, suddenly apprehensive. “What must I do?”

  He tugged her half a dozen steps to the left and then stopped. And waited.

  “What is it?”

  His eyes drifted upwards. Her gaze followed. A branch twisted wth mistletoe.

  “Ohh,” whispered Ellie. “A kissing bough. That duty I can see is going to be very arduous. I might need help.” And, standing on tiptoe, she reached up and pulled his mouth down to hers.

  After a moment, they separated reluctantly. “You have a choice, my love—we go into the drawing room, or straight up to the bedroom.”