The Lady's Chocolatier: a Victorian-era romance novella

by Sandra Sookoo

  “I cannot imagine that it will.” Jasper stole a light bite of his own. “Continuing this conversation upstairs is just the ticket.” He assumed control of the embrace and fit her snugly between his body and the glass counter. Her lips, as soft and plush as he remembered, cradled his. Every dip and curve of her body fit to his planes and angles—truly interlocking pieces of a puzzle. She matched him kiss for kiss, and when she made those soft little sounds at the back of her throat that pulled at the threads of his sanity, his hold on decorum slipped. He wrenched away, his labored breath mirroring hers. “Unless you’d rather have relations on this cold floor, I suggest we retire to my rooms.”

  For she would be his this night. The location didn’t matter.

  “Intriguing concept.” She glanced at the darkened plate glass windows at the front of the shop at the drawn shades. One of them had slipped back up. “Perhaps another time.” Evangeline squirmed from his hold and headed toward the staircase. “I wonder which one of us would lose our nerve first knowing any person walking by could peer in?”

  Jasper’s jaw dropped. Where had this daring side of her been hiding? He shook his head to clear it. “Hold onto that thought. I just might have enough cheek to do it.” Quickly, before she could surprise him yet again, he reached across the counter to a tiny, crystal pedestal. Beneath a glass dome rested one solitary chocolate bonbon—the one where he’d hidden the engagement ring. He procured the dish and then followed her up the wooden stairs.

  Every swish of her wet skirting that clung to her generous curves, each sway of her rounded hips, he lost himself even deeper into the joy she represented. Unable or wait a second longer to ask the question that had haunted him for five years, he halted her progress at the doorway leading to the drawing room.

  “Evangeline, wait.” His hand shook and the glass dome on the crystal plate rattled. He removed the dome and stowed it on a small occasional table in the hall. “After everything we said to each other on the street, after everything we’ve shared—not only the last few days but a lifetime ago—there is something I would ask you.”

  She turned. Anticipation lit her expression, but when her gaze fell on the single-serve pedestal in his hand, she frowned. “You’re presenting me with a chocolate confection?”

  “Yes.” He quelled the wont to laugh at the ridiculous picture he no doubt made. “No. For effect, yes.”

  One of her blonde eyebrows arched. “Don’t you think there are other, more satisfying things we can be doing instead of indulging in confections?”

  His shaft twitched to life as he thought of all the different ways he could incorporate chocolate into bed sport. “Evie, please.” An exasperated sigh left him and he offered the bonbon. “Please, for the love of God, accept the sweet and taste it.” Would that she never lost her spirit. Where many men would have wished for biddable wives, he wanted the challenged she represented. It was good for a man to remain tested.

  “Fine.” She removed the bonbon from the glass, held it between her thumb and forefinger as if to inspect it and then she daintily bit into the thin chocolate shell. Pale purple cream oozed out from the break. The faint floral scent of violets permeated the air. “This is lovely.”

  It should be indeed. He’d infused the violet syrup into marzipan mixed with cream.

  Tears filled her eyes and made them luminous in the dim light. “You never forgot the violets after all this time.”

  “Those flowers were a part of what I adored about you. Of course I wouldn’t forget.” He forced a swallow into his suddenly tight throat. “Sample more. There’s a special addition to this.” After setting the crystal plate onto the table with the dome, he moved closer to her, and when she didn’t take another bite, he appropriated the chocolate confection from her. “Look.” Gently breaking the sweet in half, he offered her the piece that contained the ring while popping the rest into his mouth.

  Rich chocolate, nutty almond and sweet sugar melted on his tongue. When he finished it, the subtle floral taste from the violets lingered with a hint of their essence.

  Perfection, much like the woman before him.

  Evangeline nibbled at the treat and when she discovered the ring, she made short work of the confection. “Clever and darling.” She spent a few long, heart-stopping seconds licking the sticky cream from the bauble until it was more or less clean. “I never thought I’d see this ring again.” Emotion rendered her voice soft and raspy, and caused havoc with his already hard shaft. “I never thought I would have a second chance with you.” A tear fell to her cheek and mixed with occasional droplets of water still seeping from her drenched tresses.

  Jasper caught the tear with a finger. “I never thought I’d have cause to bring it out of storage.”

  The tendons of her neck worked as she stared at the ring. “As before, I am unsure of what to say.”

  “Allow me.” He took the piece of jewelry from her and then grabbed her left hand. “Evangeline Jane Bradenwilde, you vex me beyond reason and bring me immeasurable joy.” He smiled. It was as simple as that. She was everything he needed or had ever wanted in a mate. “I want to walk beside you for the rest of my life. I wish to support you and push you to greater heights. I look forward to growing old in wisdom and humor with you. After all these years, will you marry me?”

  There was every chance she would refuse him after all, and his muscles strained for the inevitable.

  Her hand trembled in his. She glanced at the ring and then into his face. Hope and happiness swirled in the depths of her peacock gaze. “We’ve wasted so much time,” she whispered, her chin wobbling.

  “I wouldn’t call it wasted, per say. Consider it more like gaining knowledge, so what when we came back together, we were both in the correct mindset.” He squeezed her fingers. “And that wasn’t an answer, Evie.”

  The smile she offered him gave her a radiant air that belied her wet, bedraggled appearance. “My answer is yes.” Another tear fell, and this time, Jasper kissed away the moisture. “In my pursuit of independence, somewhere along the way I realized I could never have exactly that when you’ve been the keeper of my heart this whole time.” She uttered a half-sob, half-laugh as he slipped the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand. “Silly me. I should have come looking for you sooner, for I wasn’t whole.” She threw her arms around his neck and layered herself against his body. “The best part of me was always wrapped up in you. Like a chocolate confection!”

  “Ah, Evangeline.” He pressed a kiss into her wet hair, then pulled away enough to drop another onto her forehead. “You make me better too, so that must mean together, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

  She giggled and once more hugged him. “Perhaps we should post a notice so at least London can prepare.”

  “I concur.” Jasper framed her face with his hands as he held her gaze. “I shall do my level best by you, and I hope our life together will make you proud.”

  “There is no doubt it will.” She moistened her lips. “Is it a horrible thing I cannot wait to start?”

  “Not at all.” He moved his fingers into her hair and, one by one, he plucked out the pins. As the bits of metal pinged softly on the hardwood, her heavy tresses tumbled about her shoulders and back. “I feel the same.” Then he claimed her lips in a kiss that had awareness of her prickling his skin. He slanted his mouth more firmly over hers and when she opened for him on the heels of a moan, he slipped his tongue inside to duel with hers.

  He was completely and utterly lost.

  “Jasper…” Evangeline broke the embrace in an effort to remove him from his jacket. This time she succeeded and the garment slipped unheeded to the floor. “Will you send me flying?” She manipulated the buttons on his vest and they fell to her nimble fingers.

  “Do you promise you won’t run away?” The tiny row of buttons at the back of her gown captured his attention, and as quickly as he could, he worked them from their holes.

  “Absolutely.” She shoved the vest from his body
. It joined his jacket at their feet. “My days of fleeing from you are over. I’ve been well and truly caught.”

  “Sweeter words were never spoken.” He grunted when her gown gaped and he easily tugged it down her arms. Another yank sent it along her torso and he encouraged the heavy, wet fabric over her hips until it hit the floor with nary a whisper.

  “So says the confectioner,” she whispered, and with the pull of her hand, she guided him toward the stairs leading up to his bedroom. “I wonder how I will compete?”

  “Who says you need to?” He caught her at the landing, and pressing her back against the wall, he plied her with kisses as he unbuckled the belt holding her bustle into place. When it fell, he methodically unbuttoned both of her petticoats and shoved them down her hips. Snowy, lace-trimmed fabric dropped at their feet. “I’d rather enjoy you as I do all of my treats.”

  “You, sir, are quite the expert at flirtation.” Two tugs had his cravat loosened and discarded. “But how are you at the chase?” Without another warning, Evangeline ducked beneath his arm and took to the stairs at a run.

  Jasper couldn’t help his grin. She would add much needed fun and excitement to his life. “If we are to be truthful, I could say I’ve been chasing you in some form or fashion for five years.” He pelted up the stairs after her, and the passageway echoed with the sound of their shoes on the wooden treads. By the time he gained his bedroom, he’d shed his cuffs and collar.

  She stood in the middle of the room, already undoing the tiny hooks at the front of her corset, the same pink sateen one she’d modeled for him the night before. Her beaded, heeled slippers lay abandoned nearby. An oil lamp on the bedside table flickered in its lowest setting. Shadows jumped and lengthened along the walls. “Was I worth the pursuit?” When the corset gaped open, she yanked it off and then dropped it to the floor where it fell like a bizarre sort of butterfly. “I mean, I broke your heart and still you loved me.” When she propped her hands upon her hips, the thin cotton of her camisole pulled taut across her breasts. The hardened tips of her nipples thrust against the fabric, calling to him.

  “A heart will always mend in the right hands.” He slipped off his suspenders and pulled his shirttails from his trousers. Another two jerks had the garment up and over his head. As he threw it from him, he advanced on her. “I would have searched the ends of the Earth had fate not intervened.” He toed off his shoes as he went. “I have waited too long for this day.”

  She held out her arms and he gladly walked into her embrace. “I hope the dreams are as wondrous as the reality might be.”

  “Let’s find out.” Scooping her up into his arms, he ferried her over to the bed and then laid her gently down.

  Soft moans and gasps broke the silence and melded with the steady drumming of the rain against the windows as he removed her lace-and-ribbon bedecked camisole and then slid the matching drawers down her legs. Stockings were carefully eased along her satiny skin until she reclined naked on his bed. The strawberry-blonde mass of her hair a puddle of molten gold beneath her.

  “So gorgeous,” he breathed, not quite sure what else to say. His shaft pressed insistently against the front of his trousers as he devoured her with his gaze. Generous breasts and hips, the nip of her slim waist, the slight tremble of her creamy thighs, the way she sought modesty as she covered the thatch of red-gold curls at the apex of those delectable thighs with her hand where his ring twinkled all worked to render him nearly speechless. “I knew you would be.”

  And suddenly he didn’t feel worthy of her.

  “Love me, Jasper,” she said in a breathless whisper, her eyes wide and round, expectation and apprehension clouding the depths.

  His confidence returned in a rush of heat. “As my lady wishes.” It took mere seconds to shuck out of his trousers and small pants, and then he stood, naked for her perusal, except for the socks and garters he wore to keep them on his calves. Would she enjoy the look of him? He divested himself of them too while he pondered. When she levered herself up on an elbow and her attention lingered on his erect and throbbing manhood, he thought he might die a thousand deaths as he waited for her verdict.

  What the devil did a man do with his hands while the love of his life visually inspected his prick for the first time?

  In the end it didn’t matter, for she smiled and beckoned him over with the veriest crook of her index finger. He complied with a smirk and a victorious laugh, and then she was in his arms and he applied himself to the task of kissing every inch of her silken skin.

  Even during intimacy, Evangeline wasn’t meek or mild. She explored him as much as he did her, and the glide of her fingers along his body, the scrape of her fingernails over his skin, turned his blood into lava. Her lips along his shoulders, the nip of her teeth over his torso, had him gasping for breath and fighting for control.

  He palmed her breasts and delighted in the way their fullness fit his hands. The pebbled texture of her nipples against his tongue would forever remain in his memories. When she arched her back and gave him greater access to those charms, he gladly began his sensual torture all over again, until she slid a hand between their bodies and wrapped her fingers around his rampant length.

  “Ah, damnation. Careful with the goods, Evie, else I’ll come without you.” The insistent pressure she gave, the gentle squeezing motion she teased him with, sent him closer to the brink. “I want your first time to be memorable, not rushed.” Apparently, she didn’t care, for she continued with her exploration by cupping his stones and treating them to the same tender care. His shaft tightened almost painfully and he rocked against her.

  A throaty chuckle escaped her. “And I wish for my first time to leave me wanting more.” She drew her fingers back up his length and then glanced her fingertips over his tip. A moan rasped from him and she laughed again. “I have a feeling you and I will spend many hours employed thusly.”

  The point of no return drew near. “One second.” Jasper rolled away from her and then left the bed altogether. At her sound of protest, he grinned as he availed himself of a flat, rectangular box that rested on his washstand, procured soon after Evangeline came back into his life, for just this sort of eventuality. “There are precautions, my dear.” Once he’d drawn out a sheath from the box’s interior, he carefully slid the thin material over his erect member and secured it just under his stones. When he returned to the bed, Evangeline frowned.

  “Is that necessary?” She eyed his skin-covered member with speculation.

  “At this moment, yes.” He inserted a knee between her thighs and encouraged them to part. “I refuse to put you in a predicament we haven’t talked about or you are not certain you want.” As she spread her legs wider, he came down over her and fit his tip to her slippery opening. “I love you, Evangeline, and don’t wish to do anything that will compromise your future options.”

  “You are one of the last true gentlemen.” She looped her arms around his shoulders, and with a bump of her hips, he slid a tiny bit inside. “Is it any wonder I fell for you?”

  He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he kissed her deeply, tangling his tongue with hers, and at the same time slid through the tight fit of her passage. When he broke through the thin wall of her resistance and she gasped against his lips, he paused and let her adjust to the feel and size of him. “Is it too painful to continue?” If she cried off, he would oblige, but he needed to know soon.

  “It was a sharp pain, but…” She wriggled her hips, which sent him a jot deeper and pulled an involuntary groan from him. “It is not uncomfortable.” Again, she flexed and moved beneath him until she found a position that worked. “In fact, it is quite marvelous.”

  Jasper rested his forehead against hers. He withdrew and at her budding protest, he grinned as he thrust home, burying himself to the root. Sensation tingled through his tallywags and up his shaft. “I apologize in advance. Despite my best efforts, this will be a rushed affair.”

  And he began to move in and out of her hon
eyed heat. With each pass, the friction mounted and the need for control withered.

  “Then we shall have to have an encore performance in the morning,” Evangeline said between delighted gasps. She gripped the meaty part of his shoulder with one hand while the other curled into the bedding. Every time he stroked downward, he guided her into what she should do in order to gain greater satisfaction, and she lifted her hips until they came together in a frantic rhythm that left them both breathing heavily and sharing sounds of pleasure.

  His lady was a natural with intimacy and the enjoyment therein.

  The more urgent his thrusts grew, the more thoughts swirled about his mind of future bouts of lovemaking. His control snapped. He bit out a curse as he braced himself on his elbows. “I’m done, love.” Knowing it was her first time and she probably wouldn’t find bliss from coitus alone, he slipped a hand between them and easily found her center. He strummed his fingers over her slippery nubbin, rubbing the swollen bud harder and harder. “Come with me, Evie. Fall over the edge.”

  Sweat broke out on his forehead and back. He drove into her faster and with greater force, continuing to torment that all-important bundles of nerves. Finally, her body went rigid beneath him. Shocked wonder lined her face. Her eyes fluttered closed. A keening cry broke her lips. Her inner muscles contracted around his shaft and pulled him into his own release.

  Jasper sighed as the hot tension raced through his length and tightened his stones. That energy exploded and his member jerked as his seed emptied into the sheath. He ground his pelvis into hers to prolong the sensations for both of them. Finally, exhausted, he collapsed on top of her, burying his nose into the crook of her shoulder.