A Scandal In the Making

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  Cassandra felt the air in the room change when Evan entered. Or perhaps it was not so much of a change in the air as it was a change of awareness within her. She could smell him, that odd mixture of beeswax and sandalwood that was unique to Evan. From the very first, that scent had clung to him, and back when they were still arguing, she had become accustomed to sniffing for the scent in order to know when she needed to disappear or risk another shouting match with him.

  Now, the scent sent shivers racing up her spine in anticipation of what came next. She was still afraid - at least a little - of lying with him, but the idea of him touching her and caressing her no longer made her want to flee into the wilds of Somerset. He was here in her chambers and he was going to take her, pleasure her, teach her the ways she could pleasure him, and that thought brought a true dampness between her thighs that she had never known before.

  Outside, the rain still fell, streaking the windows with rivulets of water cascading down and blurring the image of herself reflected back at her. Behind her, she could see the shadows move as Evan came deeper into the room, the silence stretching out around them like a palpable thing. Firelight flickered and mixed with that of the candles she had placed about the room, giving a warm glow to the gray light of the afternoon - her preferred illumination mixing with his to create something that was uniquely them. Shadow and light, just as they were.

  She heard the rustle of fabric and saw a flash of burgundy behind her, likely Evan's dressing gown being discarded. Then nothing more. Meaning that he was as naked as she beneath the simple garment, all the rest of his finery stripped away leaving just the man behind. A man with a body made of flesh and bone just as hers was and yet...more somehow. She could not explain herself any better than that.

  For one moment, Cassandra wished that she could see herself through Evan's eyes. She had dressed once more in her wedding night chemise after her bath, but forgone her wrapper. Her back to him, she knew that her bare flesh was visible to him, and once more, it was as if she could feel the weight of his stare on her body. Another whisper, one just barely loud enough to be heard, told her that he had taken another step in her direction.

  In fact, he was all that she could hear, save for the soft splatter of rain against the window.

  Did he still want her? Logic dictated that he did. However, there was precious little about Evan Haddington that had ever been logical. What if he had changed his mind? She thought she detected the faintest swish of fabric, as if a butterfly was beating its wings against the air. Then...nothing more.

  In the rest of the manor beyond her chambers nothing moved, as if they were the only two people present at Brambly Fields. In her room nothing moved either, the very essence of time itself seeming to stand still as she waited for him to take the next step - whatever it was.

  "You bathed." When Evan spoke, he was right behind her, his deep baritone soft and, dare she say it, a bit seductive. That she had not heard him approach at all indicated that she was correct and he had dropped his robe. Was that the feather soft sound she had heard? Likely so.

  "I smelled of horse." She kept her own voice just as quiet as his.

  Cassandra felt the lightest brush of masculine fingers over the bare flesh of her back. "Soon you will smell of fucking." Then there was a brush of firm male lips where the fingers had just been. At least she assumed that it was Evan's lips. Given that their reflections muted and blurred in the windows, she could not be certain.

  "And that is a good thing?" Another brush of his lips, this time over the nape of her neck, and Cassandra shivered.

  "It is to me." She heard the smile in his voice, heard the teasing tone that was uniquely Evan.

  She felt his hands then as they skimmed the sides of her ribcage, up and down ever so slowly until they came forward to encircle her waist for a moment before reaching down and tugging up the edge of her silken chemise. Instinctively she lifted her arms and allowed him to remove the thin garment that kept her body hidden from his sight.

  Cassandra felt the heat from Evan's body then, the silken glide of his chest barely brushing over her bare back. She felt the tips of his taut male nipples as he moved over her, shifting her in his arms so that she was presenting her back to him more fully, her front nearly pressed against the cool window, their distorted reflections glowing dimly in the afternoon light.

  "So lovely," he breathed and she felt his fingertips trace the line of her spine - up and down, over and over, just as he had done to her sides. "So perfect. My Cassie."

  "Evan," she breathed and turned to reach for him but he pressed her forward once more, using his hard, hot body to very nearly pin her against the window. She shivered at the cool press of glass against her quickly heating flesh, in particular her already aching breasts, but the heat from him seeped through her and into her very bones, almost burning her from the inside out.

  He nuzzled her neck, the trace of his tongue so delicate and soft that she wasn't even certain she felt it. "Let me worship you, Cassandra. We will only have one first time and you need to know how very much I burn for you."

  "As you like." Those three words were so softly spoken that she wasn't even certain that he heard them at first, but when she felt his hands snake down her back once more to cup her derriere, she knew that he had. "I am yours, dragon. Take me as you please."

  He could have no way of knowing how deeply she meant those words in that moment but she did. This was not love and she was not so foolish as to believe that it was. But this was raw and powerful desire. He had been right when he had said that the very passion that flared between them when they argued would flare between them now as they were about to fuck for the first time.

  Rising, he pulled her with him, pressing her naked body more fully against the rain-streaked window. Anyone outside who bothered to look up could see them. Or at least they could see her, her naked breasts and bare nipples pressed to the window, but Cassandra didn't care. All she cared about was the heated glide of Evan's hands over her skin, the way he cupped her breasts and teased her nipples into hard, tight points as he nibbled and nipped at the sensitive flesh of her shoulder.

  She cared about the hard press of his cock into the soft, fleshy globes of her arse and the way he straddled her with his big, hard body, pressing her in place. She cared about the way he tugged her hands up and over her head, pressing her palms to the window as he continued to explore the curve of her hip and the little dip at the small of her back.

  She felt the air around them heat and she could hear the heavy panting of his breath as he worked to hold himself in check. She could feel the liquid seeping from the tip of his cock as he pinned her in place against the window, worshiping her skin with his hands and his mouth, no place on her body that he seemed unwilling to touch, kiss and caress. He was surrounding her and she was drowning in him and she would have it no other way.

  "I need to see you," he rasped, his voice like gravel.

  Cassandra could have resisted. She did not have to go along with his demands, the way he was seducing both her mind and body at the same time. But why ever would she wish to deny him, especially when he made her feel truly alive for the first time in her life?

  She felt relaxed and languid now, his caresses turning her body to mush and dissolving her bones until she felt as if she was floating. Her fear was gone, as if it had never been. He hadn't touched her, at least not in the way she had anticipated yet, but it did not matter. She felt completely undone and she understood why Aunt Mimsy had warned her away from the lusts and desires of men. If all men could make women feel this wanton, then it was little wonder that women were warned away from them.

  Or, if not all men, then just this one. For Cassandra now knew that the gossips had been right and her husband was indeed talented in the art of lovemaking. And he had yet to even be inside of her.

  Slowly, coming back to herself, Cassandra turned in Evan's embrace, moving away from the window and looking up at him only to find him staring back at he
r with slumberous eyes full of passion and desire. Desire for her above all others.

  "Ah, queen," he sighed, sinking to the floor in front of her, pushing her back further into the window nook once more where she sat down, surprised that he wanted her in that position. "You are even better than I had imagined. So soft and lush. Perfect."

  His eyes flared with desire and Cassandra understood that Evan meant every word that he said. She knew a moment of fear when he sank to his knees and gently pushed her legs apart, but he shushed her and with slow, deliberate movements, leaned in to taste her intimately.

  At the first brush of his lips and tongue over her most private of areas, Cassandra gasped but she did not pull away. It felt too good to do more than allow her head to fall back against the glass and she spread her legs wider until she was bared to him, offering him whatever he wished to take. And take he did, lapping at her and teasing her swollen pearl of pleasure with his teeth.

  Cassandra knew about self-pleasure. After all, she was seven and twenty and Ellie had been her aunt. However, nothing could have ever prepared her for how sinfully delicious Evan's mouth on her felt or how strong and powerful she felt in this moment. For she had quite literally brought Evan to his knees and she reveled in that almost as much as she reveled in the sensations he was creating in her body.

  When he slid first one finger and then another inside of her, she gasped, but he held her in place with one hand and, in truth, she had no desire to be anywhere other than precisely where she was. For with each stroke, Evan pushed at something growing and spiraling inside of her. He made her legs shake and her body twitch until she was grasping his head, clutching her to him and silently begging him to never stop even as she prayed that soon she would reach whatever peak she was striving for.

  These sensations were wonderful and maddening and powerful all at the same time, and they were pushing her closer and closer to something she could not name but desired with a raw desperation that was unlike her.

  "Come for me, my queen," Eva urged softly, his lilting voice the only sound she could hear save for the steady beat of the rain on the window that matched the thunderous beat of her own heart. The storm outside was increasing now much like the storm that swirled through her, threatening to break free of the bonds she had placed upon it. "I need you wet and ready for me, Cassie. I want you. I desire you. Now."

  His breath tickled her intimately and she clutched him closer until she felt as if she would split apart. His fingers worked inside of her and his tongue danced over that tight bud. His hands reached up and caressed her breasts, rolling her nipples between his fingers until she whimpered. Never in her life could she have imagined a man making her feel this good.

  "I want you, Cassandra Haddington," he said again, his words echoing through her silent chamber. "You. I want you, my wife, and no one else." Then he thrust again hard with his fingers just as his tongue pressed on that pearl of pleasure and she shattered, her body flying apart with a strangled cry.

  Evan was there to catch her when she came undone. She did not think he would, but he was there, holding her and kissing her and telling her that she was everything he had dreamed of and more, that she was lovely and perfect and...his. His wife. His lover. His desire.

  Then, before she knew it, he was scooping her up and into his arms and crossing the room to lie her down gently on her bed. At first, Cassandra thought Evan meant to leave her and she whimpered again, this time with the anticipation of loss, but he chuckled, a low, rusty sound as if he did not laugh often enough.

  "Ah, there is the passionate woman I knew lurked within you, queen." He stood beside the bed for a moment, simply gazing down at her. There was a raw, untamed heat in his eyes she had never seen before, not even when he spoke of his mistresses. "See what you do to me, my Cassie." Then he took a step back. "Look for yourself and see."

  So she did.

  He was aroused, likely almost painfully so given the way his sac was swollen. A few days ago, she hadn't known much about male anatomy, but with each naughty suggestion he whispered in her ear when they met during the day, she then scurried off to the library where she knew a collection of erotic books was located. And she learned. She learned what would please a man and how to take him in her mouth. She learned that there were various ways to fuck and different parts of the body that could be stimulated to bring a person pleasure.

  And she wanted to try them all.

  From the look on Evan's face just then, he likely shared the same desires.

  Rising up on her elbows, Cassandra allowed her gaze to roam freely over his body, feeling none of the shame she thought that she might. This was...freeing. It was not shameful. It was beautiful.

  "I want you, dragon," she whispered as she reached for him. "Now. Please."

  The smile on his face was nothing short of wicked. "You are a demanding wife. Thankfully, I do like demanding."

  This was a side of Evan that Cassandra had never seen. In the months since she had arrived at the front steps of Berkshire, they had gone from fighting each other tooth and nail to an uneasy truce that bordered on friendship. Though never had they completely let their guards down around one another, and while some of his defenses were still in place, at the moment most were not. This was a laughing, teasing side of Evan, one that she thought she might be able to love very much. And that was the single thought that terrified her.

  For Evan did not believe in love - and especially not with her.

  Yet at the same time, something deep within her heart cracked and broke, and Cassandra feared that she was on the verge of committing one of the worst sins a Society wife could ever commit. She was in danger of falling in love with her husband. And in her situation, especially, that would never do.

  Pushing the disturbing thought away, she reached out her hand again and brushed her fingers against his. "Fuck me, Evan. You know you want to."

  And that was all it took for that odd smile to be wiped from his face and for him to join her in the bed once more.

  Fuck me, Evan.

  What man in his right mind could resist his virgin wife when she demanded such a thing? If there was such a man alive, Evan did not know him, and he certainly was not strong enough to do such a foolish thing. Especially when he had a wife that looked and moved like his Cassandra.

  The slow seduction of his wife this afternoon had nearly killed him, his cock aching more and more with each glide of his hand over her silken flesh. She was perfect, his Cassandra, even though she likely did not realize it. He knew she thought herself a little plain and uninteresting, having lived in the shadow of her glamorous aunt for so long.

  However, in Evan's opinion, no woman could compare to Cassandra and once more, he had to tamp down the more tender feelings that threatened to overwhelm him. That was not part of their agreement and could never be. Love was for others, not him. But desire? Oh, yes, desire was very much a part of his world and always would be.

  Settling himself over her, he pinned Cassandra's hands to the bed, grinding his hips hard into hers, his swollen cock brushing over the small swell of her tummy. "Are you ready for me, pet?" he asked roughly. When she whimpered in response, he chuckled. "I would say that you are ready."

  "I need you, Evan," she all but demanded, flexing her hips. She had been a quick learner from the first day they met and he was pleased to see that in this activity, too, she was no different.

  Keeping her hands pinned to the bed, he leaned down and took one nipple into his mouth, sighing in pleasure as he finally suckled her. There would be many more days and nights like this if he had his way. But today, with the gray light softening the room? Today this was perfect. It was just as he had imagined it.

  "Evan!" she cried out as he bit down on the sensitive bud, making her squirm beneath him. "Please!" Her fingers clawed at the air and he released her hands, not surprised when she scraped her nails down the length of his back, feeling his skin and muscles as he had felt hers. "I need you."

  "The
n you shall have me," he whispered in her ear, unable to hold himself back any longer. He had hoped to wait, to tease out this moment for as long as possible, but with Cassandra writhing beneath him, her hips bucking hard against his cock, he found that he could not wait any longer.

  With his hips he spread her legs apart and then settled himself between her creamy thighs, allowing his blunt tip to press at her entrance. She whimpered again and he saw a flash of fear in her eyes but it was gone as she gave herself over to the moment once more.

  Then he was pushing inside of her, his cock moving through her tight, slick channel as if he was meant to be the only man ever to claim her. It was a powerful thought and when she wiggled again, he thrust deep. He felt the tear of her maidenhead and he felt her tighten around him so hard that he nearly spilled himself then and there. Somehow he managed to hold himself steady, however, giving her time to adjust to his body's invasion of hers.

  "Oh, Evan. Yes." Her words floated up to him and he could not help himself. He withdrew and then thrust hard into her again, causing her to cry out. Within moments he set up a pounding, driving rhythm that, given her cries of passion, she seemed to enjoy just as much as he did.

  When she wrapped her legs around his waist, he lifted her hips, driving in harder, faster and deeper until he could feel nothing but her around him. She was perfection and when her body tensed, on the edge of another release, he reached down and stroked her swollen nub again, sending her over the edge and into pure bliss. It was only then when he felt her release that Evan let go as well, spilling himself inside of her and marking Cassandra as his. His wife. His possession. His everything.

  Evan wasn't aware of how long they slept, tangled together in the sheets of Cassandra's bed. Though after today, it would not be her bed any longer for she would be moving into his chambers on the 'morrow. He refused to have a separate bed from his wife.

  When he awoke, the gray light was fading to purple, the rain still beating on the windowpanes and the manor house still as silent as it had been when he entered. He thought he might hear the sounds of a servant lighting the wall sconces down the hall but even that small sound was gone before he could be certain. Beside him, Cassandra slept the sleep of the contented. Her hair spilled out across her pillow and she looked well and truly tumbled, her lips still swollen from his kisses.