They made themselves comfortable on the divan and began.
"I’m guessing you’re hungry for chocolate," he said after a while.
She grinned. "Yes, but that’s probably true all the time."
"I’m guessing you’d like me to kiss you," she said.
"Not my most immediate thought, but you’re close."
She leaned forward and kissed him.
"I’m guessing you’re thinking how much you admire my breasts."
"You get a prize for that one." He kissed her again.
"You’re thinking that you’d like me to give you another yoni massage."
"Is that you reading my mind, or simply making a suggestion?" she said with a smile.
"Well, would you?"
She nodded. "I think so, yes."
"Did it hurt last time?" he asked in a worried tone. "I mean, I’ve done it twice now. I’m still not sure if I've removed your most tender virginal barrier. I hope I have in a way, to ease the loving between us when the time comes. But I can’t be sure."
"No, it didn’t hurt at all. It’s just that it was so powerful I fell straight to sleep afterwards and spoiled things."
"My darling, you could never spoil things. I love watching you be so pleasured."
"I want to do it to you, though."
He shook his head and popped a grape into his mouth. When he had finished chewing and swallowing, he said, "I enjoy the slow sizzle myself. I love this constant awareness of you as woman singing through me, the way you smell, taste, feel. Why don’t we massage each other? Starting with the hands."
"And a bit of honey?"
"Yes, please."
Ellen soared through the rest of her first two weeks of marriage in a cloud of euphoria. She thought she would find it strange to be away from her family, only see Ash, be with him.
But their parents respected the young couple’s privacy, and no one came to call, not even the nosy and envious Georgina.
Nelly’s only signs of interference were the meals she left at the top of the stairs three times a day.
At the end of the two weeks, Ash suggested they go visit her family, if only to let them see for themselves that they were both fine, happy, and that married life did indeed suit them both.
They spent a half an hour with Martin and Eswara first, then headed off to see her parents.
On the way back from Jerome Manor, Ellen asked if Ash minded very much her checking in on baby Jo at Stone Court.
"No, of course not, love."
He set the horse’s head for Henry Stone’s home. As they were heading up the drive, however, he saw a flurry of white and blue fabric, and a horse cropping grass nearby.
He immediately drew up and leapt out of the carriage.
He ran over to the prone woman and turned her over. "Your Grace! Mrs. Eltham? Charlotte? Can you hear me?"
But there was no reply.
Ash looked to his wife, who was already out of the carriage offering to help.
"What shall we do, Ash?" she asked, wide eyed with alarm.
"I need to get her back to the house so Mother can tend her. Can you take her mount and ride on ahead and make sure there’s plenty of hot water, bricks and linens?"
She nodded. "What do you think happened?"
Ash examined her hastily. "She’s staining. Might have a miscarriage if I can’t stop it. I can’t tell if she fell off the horse and that caused it, or she fell off the horse because of the pain. I’m going to try to stop the bleeding, but she’ll need careful handling.
"Shouldn't we take her home?"
He shook his head.. "The Castle is too far away, and I can only pray Mother is home. Or Blake. Damn, why didn’t I bring my bag."
"Don’t worry. I’ll take her horse. I’ll go home and ready things, and if they aren't there, I'll send word to them through Nelly. Don't worry, they'll know what to do. I’ll send a note to the Castle as well saying she had a tumble from her horse."
He nodded, then lowered her skirts, and asked for her help in settling her in the seat of their carriage. She helped him settle her in, and told him she would meet them back at the house.
She went over to where Charlotte’s gelding stood patiently cropping grass, tugged the back of her skirt through to the front, and with a flurry of petticoats, hauled herself into the saddle.
Ellen wished she could be of more help as she rode back to their home as quickly as she could manage on the strange horse in order to do her husband’s bidding.
When she got in, only Nelly was there, and her brother Jim the errand boy. Ellen enlisted her aid in getting the items ready which Ash had requested. She also had her pen a note to the Duke, and sent Jim off to Brimley with it. Then she asked Nelly to go run to see if Blake was home.
She waited for what seemed a eternity, boiling water, preparing linens, food, hot water bottles, until Ash arrived back in the gig with Charlotte half-prone on the seat beside him, her legs in his lap.
Ellen fought back the irrational jealousy provoked by the sight of the dishevelled skirts twined with her husband’s long limbs. They had been friends for some years—Ash had always admired older women….
But Charlotte was ill, and a decent respectable married lady, not some bit of muslin. It was silly to be jealous of Charlotte or Bryony Avenel, whom he also spoke of very warmly. They were friends, part of Ash’s past, but she was his future.
"Can you carry her legs? I don’t want to jolt her too much. She’s still bleeding badly."
Ellen moved to do as he asked, glad to be of assistance, however small.
"Has she regained consciousness?"
"Not yet. I don’t think she hit her head, but it’s hard to tell. Come, help me get these clothes off her. You can fetch some of mother’s things—"
"She can borrow mine. I don’t mind at all." She offered the warm red flannel robe she had brought from upstairs just in case.
"I take it no one else is here?" he sighed.
"No. Your mother is out on call, Nelly is looking for Blake. Peter and Leela took the children to Randall’s for a birthday party."
Ash sighed heavily. "It’s all up to me, then. I hate having to deal with this by myself. I have so little experience compared with Mother."
"You’ll do fine," she reassured her husband with a warm kiss.
Ellen helped remove the rest of Charlotte’s clothes, then drew the dressing gown over her top half whilst Ash struggled to stop her bleeding. Charlotte groaned at one point, but did not open her eyes.
"Drat, I don’t like the look of this."
"What can we do?"
"Hot water bottles, something to stop the contractions, and elevating the womb. We’re going to need to put her somewhere quiet with toilet facilities," he said, thinking aloud.
"Our room. Our special one," she clarified.
"Dash it. In the middle of our honeymoon?" he sighed.
"Your parents’ house is still full with your cousins and friends from London visiting for the wedding, and there’s no upstairs bathroom on that side of the house. And there’s no bedroom down here unless we put her in the music room or drawing room, and I doubt she would want to be so, er, public."
"You're right, of course."
Charlotte groaned then and opened her eyes. "Oh, thank God. I don’t know how long I lay there praying for someone to find me."
"Did you fall from the horse?"
"No, I climbed down. The pain was so bad. I should never have sat astride."
"Thomas will be here soon."
"Please don’t tell him what’s happened. He will worry so."
Ash shook his head. "How on earth could we explain—"
"Tell them it was a fall only, and that I hurt my back."
He urged her, "You have to tell him. For one thing you can’t risk conjugal relations if the pregnancy continues. Surely he is going to wonder if —"
She blushed. "Indeed, for we have never been separated like that except when he has been away or the boys were born
. What can I do?"
"A lie only begets other lies. You need to tell him," Ash said in a firm tone.
But her blue eyes were shadowy with unspoken fears. "Please, for now let’s just say I fell from the horse. If we manage to save the baby, then we can think about what to tell him. But if I lose it, well, it won’t matter much anyway. Will you and your mother let me stay for a few days until the baby is out of danger?"
"I have no objection, nor does my wife. And I am sure my parents will be happy to help. But I still think honesty is always the best policy."
"Let me think on it," Charlotte said, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.
Ash relented at once. "Yes, of course. You are not to have any upset or distress. I’m going to take you up to our room now, and get some bricks to prop up the divan. We will do our best for you and your child, do you understand? Just try not to distress yourself."
Ellen tried to give her most encouraging smile, and nodded. "You're here with friends. We all just want to help. It'll be fine. You'll see."
Charlotte began to weep anew.
He patted her shoulder. "It’ll be all right, I promise, Your Grace. The Duke will be here soon. Can we get you anything? Tea, chocolate?"
"Whatever you think I am allowed," she said with a sniff.
Ellen met her husband's gaze and smiled. "Chocolate. It can’t make you feel any worse at this point."
Chapter Twenty-six
An half an hour later, Ash came down to look for his wife. "I took your suggestion and put her in our formal bedroom in the end. I didn’t know what else to do. She needs a bed and the bathroom and—"
She hugged him down to her bosom, which he nuzzled devotedly for several moments.
"It’s all right. We have our other more private rooms too. I don’t blame you. It was the only practical solution. I’ll just go up and see if she needs anything else."
He pecked her on the forehead. "I wanted it to be private, a special honeymoon, but-"
"Please, darling, don’t blame yourself. It will be special no matter what. We can share the downstairs bathroom with your family easily, and I’m not ashamed of our bower of bliss. They might look askance at it, but I don’t care. The main thing is that the Duchess is going to have to rest. I can’t think of a better or more private place. The children are lovely, but they might disturb her even if we were to shuffle all of your relatives out."
He nodded. "True."
"The only thing I’m really worried about is her refusal to tell her husband the truth. He needs to know, but she’s sworn us to secrecy. I hate lying about it. I know he would be most solicitous if he knew she was in danger."
She blushed slightly. "And well, it’s not as if she is going to be well again in a few days. She’s going to have to continue being careful, isn’t she? That’s going to be very difficult if she has a very, er, demonstrative husband."
"We can talk to her about other things she can do besides—"
"We?" she echoed. "I’m only just beginning to learn."
He gave her a warm smile. "I might as well teach you both at the same time, from the purely academic standpoint, of course."
"I’m glad to hear there won’t be any hands on-experience," she said, feeling her cheeks flame with embarrassment and anger.
"I’m not so sure about that."
Ellen gave him a long look and headed upstairs to check on her guest.
She was horrified when her husband emerged from the bathroom a half an hour later with a plaster cast molding and life-sized wax model.
"How on earth—" She clamped her mouth shut and said through gritted teeth, "No, I don’t want to know, really."
"All in the name of scientific inquiry. But I can tell you one thing, I’m never ever going to do that again. And we won’t be able to have intercourse for a week for sure. Even shaving my hair off, I shredded myself. Though they do say being hairless really adds to the sensations. I shall have to see."
She shook her head. "Oh, Ash, you do take things too far sometimes for the sake of scientific inquiry."
"But it’s not as bad as leeches, now is it?" he rejoined with a grin.
She smiled and felt the hot colour flood her cheeks. "Not bad at all, I have to confess."
"You have to admit it’s a perfect anatomical replica. I won’t tell if you won’t."
"But did you have to make it so, so huge?" she said plaintively.
He flashed her the cheekiest of grins. "I think God made it. Just lucky, I guess. Both of us."
She crimsoned prettily. "You know what I mean. The er, whole thing?’
"Sorry. It’s a teaching aid. After all, you won’t find too many of these in specimen jars."
"Very good. Put it away for now," she said primly.
"Where?"
They both giggled.
"I know," he said. "The mirrored room. No one is going to go in there."
"Do drape it with a cloth or something. I wouldn’t want Nelly to find it when she’s dusting."
"Actually, would you mind awfully if I did one of you?"
"I would. Ash, are you mad!"
"You’re right. It was bad enough doing the cast on me. I don’t dare do it on your delicate flesh. A drawing perhaps."
"Oh, no, really, I can’t-"
"A series of drawings to explain the different parts and-"
She rolled her eyes heavenward. "I am beginning to regret ever marrying a doctor."
"I’m sorry, love. I don’t mean to shock and embarrass you."
She gave him a reassuring kiss. "You don’t, not really. It’s just well, not everyone is as exuberant about the human body as you are."
"Can we do a hand and foot then, to show all sorts of accupressure points?"
"All right, that could be fun. But I'll refuse the sketch for now, until I can get used to the idea."
"You mean you’ll think about it?" he said, his eyes glowing warmly.
"So long as you never, ever tell anyone where you got it."
He kissed her. "As if I would. But would you mind awfully a whole sketch of you in the nude as long as we’re on the subject?
"More anatomy?" she asked with a sigh.
He shook his head, and his golden eyes glowed. "No, just ogling my lovely bride. I desire you so much my heart hammers in my chest every time I think of you. The curve of your ear, the lovely sweep of your neck. I can’t tell you how much—"
Ellen reached up for a kiss. "You just have. You always do with your eyes."
She stepped into the circle of his arms and then pulled away. "We need to check on Charlotte again. Thomas will be here from the Castle at any minute. We need to have everything tidied away so he doesn’t suspect what’s really going on here."
"He’s going to want to move her."
"I know."
"She isn’t well enough. So we have to say her back is very bad. And we’re going to need her to stay put. That means entertaining her, stopping her from getting upset and fractious."
"We need to let Charlotte decide for herself and support her," Ellen said, hugging him close. "Are you going to tell your mother and Martin?"
"I think I really have to, don’t you?"
"Yes, for certain."
"Mother is the expert after all. And I wouldn’t want to run the risk of anything-"
"Nothing is going to go wrong because of you. Do you hear me?"
"One problem. Dealing with Thomas. He’s going to suspect, especially if he sees her with her legs up in the air. He will no doubt insist on staying too, you know, on the divan, or on a trundle bed."
"So we lie."
"More lies." He shook his head.
"We can try to convince her to tell him the truth."
He shook his head. "She won’t. She hates the thought of disappointing him."
"In sickness and in health," she said softly.
"We’ll try to get her back to health as quickly as possible. Will you help me, Ellen?"
She smiled up at him tenderly. "
Of course, darling. I know I’ve never been much of a nurse. I never helped my mother as I should until I met you. But yes, all you have to do is ask. I love you and I want to help with your career, your friends. Charlotte is my friend too, and Thomas. I’ll do what I can."
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 5 Page 61
