Philip's Rules (Bridal Discipline Book 1)

by Golden Angel

Laughing, Cordelia pulled her fingers from his, shaking her head. "You're a rogue, sirrah. In fact, I'm beginning to think your entire family is made up of rogues."

  "No, no, Thomas is the serious one," Felix said, jostling his brother's side playfully. "Just ask Walter. He and I are the fun ones."

  "I can be a rogue if I want to," Thomas said indignantly.

  Philip shook his head as the two brothers began to bicker. Leaning down, he whispered in Cordelia's ear. "Be glad Walter isn't here to add to discussion, we'd never hear the end of it."

  He was glad of Cordelia's laughter. Things had been a little tense between them this week. He knew she missed the excitement of sneaking off during the balls, but he'd been too on edge, especially with Felix's absence. Although the others were very helpful, at this point he truly only trusted Felix to take the lead on keeping watch over Gabrielle. If the others were put in a situation where they had to choose between their wives and Gabrielle, they would rightly choose their wives. Which could be all too easily arranged, making it easy for Gabrielle to slip away.

  The little temptress had made things difficult on him as well. The jade green gown she was wearing tonight was barely decent, the neckline low enough that he was constantly looking to make sure her nipples were still covered. The reddish highlights in her hair shone in contrast to the gown, and he'd noted the little flecks of green in her eyes that stood out now that she was wearing a color which enhanced them. Now that Felix was here, he was finally going to be able bring the fantasies dancing about his head to life.

  ******

  An excited thrill buzzed through Cordelia's body as Philip shut the door behind them, locking it. She didn't even have time to speak before he was on her, pulling her into his arms and devouring her mouth with a kiss. The muted sounds of the ballroom seemed so very far away and yet so dangerously close. Her nipples pebbled and her core throbbed as Philip's tongue delved her mouth, his hands sliding over the gossamer fabric of her ball gown.

  She was overjoyed to find Philip had missed their naughty interludes as much as she had - the hunger of his mouth and hands on her body left her no doubt about that. As had the caveman-like way he'd practically dragged her from the ballroom, with none of the smooth suaveness he usually employed.

  Cordelia moaned as he backed her against the wall near the window, giving her something to lean against as his hands gripped and caressed the curves of her body. The dress she was wearing was low cut enough that it was easy for Philip to lift her breasts free of the fabric, her pink, turgid nipples hardening even further as his thumbs rubbed over them.

  "Oh yes," she said, gasping with pleasure as his lips moved down her neck, heading towards her breasts, which he was kneading with firm, almost rough, fingers. Her own hands slid along his shoulders and into his hair, and she whimpered when he lifted his head, ending the burning trail of kisses that he'd been leaving.

  "Put your hands behind your back, Cordelia."

  In the moonlight, she could see his hazel eyes glittering, dark with passion. She pouted.

  "Hands behind your back, sweetheart." Emphasizing his words, he gave her right nipple a sharp pinch, squeezing the bud tightly between two of his fingers and she cried out as her back arched towards him, trying to find relief for the little bud.

  It hurt, throbbing in his grip, and yet her pussy throbbed simultaneously with the pain, becoming even wetter. She put her hands behind her back, gripping her elbows, which thrust her breasts at him.

  "Good girl."

  Lowering his head, he sucked the nipple he'd been tormenting into his mouth, soothing the tortured bud with his lips and tongue. Cordelia moaned as pleasure flashed through her, all the more heady because the sensitive nubbin still ached from the abuse. His other hand squeezed her opposite breast, beginning to pinch and roll that nipple.

  She whimpered, loving the helpless feeling that came from having her hands behind her back, even though she'd placed them there by choice. Following Philip's orders aroused her greatly. Having useless hands made her feel intensely vulnerable and completely under his command.

  Philip feasted on her breasts, making her legs tremble as he focused entirely on them. If it wasn't for the wall behind her, she would have surely fallen as he licked, nibbled, pinched and squeezed her sensitive mounds, until she felt as though she was going mad from the need for him to touch her between her legs. Her arousal was growing higher and higher as her nipples turned into hard, little, aching points, so raw and sensitive from his attentions it was almost painful.

  Her breasts felt as though they'd swollen to twice their normal size, her nipples like they were four times larger than usual. With her head leaning back against the wall, her eyes closed, it was all she could do to muffle her gasps and sobs.

  "Please... Philip... please, no more," she begged, for the umpteenth time, being as quiet as possible. "I need you inside me... please..."

  This time, he straightened up, his hands still on her breasts, squeezing and rubbing the mounds, her hard nipples pressing into his warm palms. Staring directly into her eyes, despite the dim lighting, he spoke in a low, measured voice.

  "Will you do exactly as I tell you to?"

  "Yes!" she practically cried out, before quickly lowering her voice. "Yes, please... Philip. Anything."

  "Turn around and face the window. Put your hands on the sides."

  Trembling with need, Cordelia moved as he stepped away to give her room. Her breasts hung free as she placed one hand on one side of the window and then reached for the other. She gasped as her nipples pressed against the cool glass. Immediately she tried to move away, but in order to touch both sides of the window, she couldn't help it.

  Her nipples were so sensitive that the cool glass felt like ice, and she whimpered, a few tears stinging her eyes, but the heat between her legs was so demanding that she did it anyway. Trembling, her breasts pressed against the window, her nipples aching, she gasped as her eyes focused. They were overlooking the gardens!

  "Philip! There are people out there!"

  "The room is dark," he whispered reassuringly in her ear as he stepped up behind her, his hard, hot body pressing her against the glass even more firmly. "They won't be able to see anything but our silhouettes, if they even look up. They won't know it's you, with your breasts exposed to them, your skirts lifted up about your hips," her skirts began to move with his words," your husband fucking you from behind."

  Cordelia moaned at the erotic and perverse description he gave. This was so, so wrong, and yet she'd never been more excited.

  His cock slid into her easily from behind, filling her with one thrust, without the slightest hesitation, because she was so slick and receptive. She cried out, her fingers digging into the wooden pane of the window, trying to keep herself in place. Philip had her trapped between himself and the glass, between the people in the gardens and the people in the ballroom. They could be seen. Someone could try the door. Someone could have the key.

  And in that moment, none of that mattered.

  Her legs trembled and nearly gave out as pleasure wracked her. Her front was cold against the glass, her back hot against Philip's chest, her insides churning with the mix of sensations. Everything was chaotically mingled, the warmth and the chill, the pleasure and the pain. Philip's strong arms held her up as he thrust into her forcefully, rocking her against the glass while she exploded around him.

  Fingers pressed against her lips, muffling her cries as he fucked her hard, ravishing her completely.

  Both of them buckled, leaning against the glass as Philip groaned, and she felt him swell inside of her. Hot liquid filled her, leaving her panting, her eyes unfocused as she sagged between her husband and the window, completely fulfilled.

  ******

  The grasping heat of Cordelia's cunt had proved Philip's undoing. He'd wanted to move her to the desk before he came, to take her harder than was possible against the window, but she'd been more slickly wet, more submissively enchanting than he'd been pre
pared for. The fantasy of being watched, the possibility someone had seen their coitus, had completely undone both of them.

  Her tight muscles milked every last jet of seed from his cock, leaving him feeling weak-kneed.

  With his last bit of strength, he pulled them over to the desk he'd intended to use initially. Pulling out a handkerchief, he cleaned them both up as best he could before sitting in the chair and pulling his wife into his lap. She came willingly, her movements a bit jerky and awkward, as if she was in a daze. Perhaps she was.

  Gently he fondled her breasts, much more tenderly than he had before. Her poor, tormented, little nipples were still quite sensitive, as she hissed under her breath when he first rolled a bud between his fingers, but she didn't protest either. Cordelia always let him touch her however he wanted to.

  "You are perfect," he murmured against her skin, pressing kisses to her hairline. "I never dreamed I could be so happy in marriage until I found you."

  She leaned into him, one hand pressing delicately against his chest as he fondled her, the rest of her body totally open to him. "Me neither. I didn't know that marriage could be happy. I'm so grateful for you, Philip. Not because you rescued me from the Baron, although of course that as well, but for the man you are. For the way you are with me."

  "I promised you that I would cherish you. That I would always bring you pleasure."

  "And you do," she said, her fingers stroking him, finding the opening between buttons in his shirt and playing with his chest hair through it. Philip cradled her closer. "You can't imagine what that means to me."

  "I haven't said it before, sweetheart, but I hope you know how much I love you."

  "You do?" The honest surprise in her voice nearly made him curse. She sat straight up in his arms, turning her head to look him in the eyes as if trying to determine the truth of his statement.

  "Of course I do!" he said gruffly, a bit taken aback that she was so shocked.

  "Well you never said." There was a bit of huffiness in her tone, not quite scolding, but just on the edge of.

  His lips tilted into a smile as he reached up to cup the back of her neck, squeezing very gently. "I just did. Don't you have anything you'd like to say back to me?"

  Deliberately, he gave her a pouting, little boy's look. Despite the darkness of the room, she was able to see his expression well enough to giggle.

  Cupping his face in her hands, she leaned forward and brushed her lips over his. "I love you, Philip."

  Chapter 16

  Cordelia had never seen two people so determined to pretend the other didn't exist. Wrapped up in her own happy bubble, although of course she'd still been watching over Gabrielle, it had taken her a few days to notice all was not right with her stepdaughter and Felix. Philip's best friend had taken up guard duty again, but he no longer inserted himself into Gabrielle's court. He no longer put forth an effort to charm her. He mostly stood with Philip and Cordelia, near Gabrielle's circle but not a part of it, or whomever was watching over Gabrielle and Arabella at the moment.

  Apparently feeling guilty over their sister's involvement in Gabrielle's sneaking off, Arabella's brothers had been making their presence known as well, and were quickly becoming good friends with Philip, Cordelia, and Felix. The Duke, in particular, got along very well with Felix's eldest brother, Thomas, who had begun to appear more and more at the balls. Unlike Felix, however, Thomas was more than willing to insert himself into Gabrielle and Arabella's circle, where he proved to be quite as witty and charming as his brother. Inserting himself into the ladies' pool of suitors seemed fairly effective at keeping other young debutantes away. Gabrielle and Arabella were both highly attractive and popular and not many mamas wanted their daughters to be set beside them, only to pale in comparison. Cordelia was amused at Thomas' shrewdness, although Felix seemed less so whenever Thomas asked Gabrielle to dance.

  She leaned into Felix's side, capturing his attention from where he'd been pretending not to watch Gabrielle and Thomas spinning on the dance floor. "Why don't you ask her to dance anymore?"

  "She didn't seem to particularly enjoy it when I did," Felix said, his tone indifferent, but Cordelia had come to know him well enough to know that, with Felix, indifference usually hid deep emotion.

  She made a face at him, eliciting a chuckle. "Who wouldn't enjoy dancing with you? Did you step on her feet? Check your breath for garlic? Bore her with your conversation?"

  "Of course not, I never eat garlic before a ball and my conversation is scintillating," he said severely, mock-glaring down at her. Laughing up at him, Cordelia happened to catch a glimpse of Gabrielle's face as her stepdaughter looked over at her and Felix talking. It was not an entirely happy expression. "I can't understand why she prefers the company of those other toadies to mine."

  "Perhaps she doesn't," Cordelia said slowly, her mind churning. She'd been so focused on herself and Philip that she'd barely given Gabrielle's suitors a thought, knowing Philip would take care of everything. At one point, she'd practically been an expert at interpreting Gabrielle's actions, which sometimes seemed incomprehensible to others, but lately she hadn't even tried figuring out what was going through the girl's head. "Perhaps it's easier to accept their attentions because she doesn't prefer them."

  Felix went silent for a moment, obviously thinking over Cordelia's words. "You mean, because she does actually care what I think, she prefers their company because it's easier?"

  "Well... yes. She's spent most of her life attempting to get the attention of the man she cared most about in the world," Cordelia said, thinking it through out loud. "By and large, unsuccessfully. Now in London, she's surrounded by attention, and she certainly enjoys it. She's quite hot and cold with Philip. Sometimes it seems like she wants his approval, sometimes it's as though she's doing everything she can to make him angry. I think, even though he's not her father, she's begun to look up to him in that manner, and she's afraid of being rejected by him as well, so she tries to force it rather than waiting for it to happen on its own. The same could be applied to you."

  "She sees me as a father?" Felix looked horrified, startling a gurgling laugh from Cordelia.

  "No, no, I mean that she actually wants your attention and approval, and that frightens her, so she does her best to get your disapproval instead. That way, if you stop paying attention to her, the two of you were at odds anyway, so it won't hurt as much."

  "That's very deep, Cordelia."

  "Gabrielle isn't shallow, she just acts that way sometimes," Cordelia said stubbornly. She'd always thought that Felix saw Gabrielle more clearly than Philip did.

  He proved her right as he smiled down at her. "I know."

  ******

  "She's always disappearing at balls, you know, for half an hour or so, sometimes more. I'd say she already has a lover."

  "Look at the way Mr. Hood is dancing attendance on her, do you think it's him?"

  "Who's to say, my dear? Won't Dunbury be disappointed when he discovers his 'love-match' is just as untrue as the rest of us?"

  The triumphantly malicious tones of the speaker nearly had Philip barking a laugh.

  Gossiping fools.

  He was tempted to let the two ladies know he'd overheard them, but he decided to let it go. After all, anyone with two eyes who was keeping track of Cordelia's movements would know that when she was absent from the ballroom, so was her husband, while Felix watched over their ward. As the ladies moved away, he recognized one as Lady March, a particularly tenacious woman who had a hard time believing that every man didn't want her, despite constant rebuffs from Philip and his entire group of friends. Apparently she'd been Brooke's mistress at one point and hadn't taken her conge well. He felt a bit sorry for her, in truth, because she obviously wanted everyone to be as miserable as she was.

  Of course, a few months ago, he would have verbally torn her to shreds for daring to gossip about him so wrongly and maliciously. Cordelia's soft heart was certainly having an effect on him.


  Picking up the glass of sherry his wife had requested, he took a glass of champagne for himself and began to make his way back to his wife's side like the besotted husband he was. Moving across the room, he could understand why the gossips might try to pair her and Felix together. She was certainly more comfortable and relaxed with him than she was with any of the other gentlemen she spoke with. Excepting himself, of course. And Felix was quite fond of her.

  If Philip wasn't so assured of Cordelia's emotions and her faithfulness, if they'd had the typical ton marriage, perhaps he'd be suspicious as well. As it was, all he could see was the sisterly pat that his wife gave Felix's cheek and the brotherly way Felix smiled down at her. Then the way Cordelia's eyes lit up when she turned away and saw Philip coming closer, the flush that filled her cheeks, and how her body straightened in anticipation of his presence.

  Truthfully, he wasn't sure how anyone with eyes could miss seeing the difference.

  "Sweetheart," he said, presenting her with the glass of sherry.

  "Thank you," she said, eyes shining as she looked up at him like he was her whole world, not bothering to hide her love behind a mask. Philip knew he was returning her look in kind.

  No wonder there were those who were spitting with jealousy.

  When he finally looked up from his wife, he could see even Felix looked envious.

  It wasn't the last time that he heard Felix's name linked with Cordelia's, an inevitability since Philip and Felix took turns watching over both her and Gabrielle. Especially since Cordelia and Felix were obviously quite close. Although he considered helping quell some of the gossip by not sneaking away with Cordelia, since obviously a few of her absences had been noted, he ultimately decided he didn't care. The envious could say what they wanted, most of the gossips had noted he was still doting on his wife and that she returned his regard. They were being lumped together with the other happy love matches that seemed to run in his family and their friends.

  Philip didn't consider who else might be hearing the envious gossip until he was escorting Gabrielle from the dance floor a few days later, after a quadrille, and she stumbled. Because she was usually so graceful, he was surprised, until he realized she was distracted and staring at something across the room.