He buried his face in her hair, inhaled her scent, and let his fingers gently run up and down her spine.
“I love you, Sarah,” he breathed.
“I love you too, Henry.”
He let his hand slide down along her back, her waist and her hips, then he began to pull up her nightgown. He took it off and tucked at the hem of her knickers. He slowly pulled them down and undressed Sarah completely, exposing her bare legs and thighs, until she lay naked in front of him. She shyly covered her breasts and her shame with her hands, but Henry clasped her wrists and gently tore her arms away from her body.
“Donʼt hide your beauty, Sarah,” he whispered and buried his face between her breasts, kissing her soft skin while his fingers were fumbling with the buttons of his shirt. He kept caressing her breasts until she began to sigh, until she grew restless, until he got the feeling that she wanted more.
And he gave her more. He caressed her body all over, with his fingers and with his mouth, until she whimpered, until she begged for something of which she didnʼt quite know what it was.
Eventually, Henry laid on top of her and carefully spread her legs, and when he did so, he sensed that Sarah grew tense again. Still, she seemed willing to go all the way with him. Her craving body didnʼt leave her any other choice.
The next moment, he ever so carefully slipped inside of her. He forced himself not to come on too strong, knowing that he needed to give her the time to get used to the new sensations, knowing that he needed to take it slow if he wanted to deflower her without causing her pain.
He kissed her again, tenderly and playfully, and all the while his fingers were caressing the little sensitive spot between her legs until her breathing got heavy again, until she began to utter sounds of pleasure that filled his ears like the sweetest music, urging him to go on. Then, with the utmost caution, he broke through her barrier.
Sarah let out a little cry.
“Shh, itʼs over... relax...” he said softly, stroking her cheek, until she gradually calmed down.
Henry himself, however, was far from being calm. His heart performed somersaults in his chest and his mind began to drift off into other realms. Being inside of Sarah was exhilarating. It was a sensation which was so much more intense than he had imagined in his wildest dreams; and he had had a lot of these dreams lately. He was surprised to find that reality was still able to surpass all of his fantasies.
He slightly raised his head and looked at Sarah. She had closed her eyes, and a tiny blissful smile played around her lips. After a while that he had moved steadily inside of her, little cries of pleasure escaped her mouth, and Henry guessed that it wouldnʼt be long now until she came—and he too. He closed his eyes and waited for that blissful moment to arrive when suddenly Sarah began to become entirely out of control. She was pushing her abdomen hard against his and pressed her fingers into his flesh as she clang to him. Her screams were becoming louder and more demanding. She was inevitably on her way to climax.
He was pushing much faster and harder into her now and could feel this all too familiar tingling sensation build up and creep through his body, making him shiver and shake with delight. Heavy spasms of pleasure were taking him over as he came along with Sarah, her fragile little body convulsing underneath him as if she was suffering from a fever.
Now, now…
With a moan, Henry quickly pulled out before he could explode in her. It was a horrible disruption, but he tried to be grateful for the pleasure he had been granted. He collapsed on top of Sarah with a sigh and felt how she trembled underneath him. She was panting heavily and her skin was covered all over with sweat. Henry loved the way it smelled as it mingled with her sweet vanilla scent.
Exhausted, he rolled off her and lay next to her, clutching her hand and holding it tight, listening to her excited breathing.
“Sarah...?” he asked, exhausted. But she didnʼt answer. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be half asleep.
Smiling to himself, Henry covered her with the blanket, wrapped his arms around her and held her tight until they both fell into a sweet slumber, which they would not wake from before dawn.
Chapter 10 – Awakening
“Sarah...”
Henry woke up to the sound of his own voice as he mumbled Sarahʼs name in his sleep.
He hardly dared to open his eyes. He worried that he might find himself in his bed alone and that all that had happened the previous night had only been a creation of his vivid imagination.
But then there she was, the girl of his forbidden dreams, right next to him, her fragile body curled up in his arms, her head resting on his chest, her breath feeling warm on his skin. He let his fingers run through her tousled hair and relished at the memory of how passionate she had been only a couple of hours ago.
A happy smile spread across his face. Then he noticed that Sarah was not sleeping anymore as he felt her slightly stir in his arms.
“Sarah,” he said softly, “you are already awake?”
“For quite a while, yes,” he heard her whisper. “Emily usually wakes me up at this time.”
To his horror, Henry noticed that he had been so carried away by their love-making the night before that he had entirely forgotten that someone of the staff, Heather, Ada or even Thelma, could come upstairs to make the wake-up call and detect them. But then again he remembered that on the weekends, the servants tended to let him and the lordship sleep a little bit longer. Taking a glance at his pocket watch, he realized that it was still quite early. So they werenʼt in a rush.
He let his fingers run up and down Sarahʼs back, tenderly caressed her skin, and after a while began to wonder why she did not make any effort to return his affections. He tried to lift her chin with his hand so that he could look into her eyes, but before he had a chance to do so, she suddenly slipped out of his embrace and sat up.
“I must go, Henry,” she said matter-of-factly, a rather unemotional and somewhat hurried tone to her voice. She quickly covered her naked body with the sheet and climbed out of bed, in search of her nightgown and knickers which were lying scattered on the floor.
“Are we in such a hurry? It is only six oʼclock,” he asked, slightly puzzled.
“The sun will rise shortly,” Sarah mumbled, picking up her clothes from the ground. “Ada or Heather will soon come to serve me breakfast in my room. I must be back upstairs by then. You surely understand that, donʼt you?”
Henry wanted to remark that breakfast would only be served in about an hour, but instead he just nodded quietly and watched Sarah as she put on her nightgown, knickers and cardigan.
“Sarah, are you alright...?” he asked her uncertainly. Never in his life had he felt more confused by the behavior of a woman.
Sarah smiled at him nervously.
“I am, Henry. I am perfectly fine.”
She rushed over to him and planted a hasty kiss on his cheek. Henry wanted to pull her close in order to embrace her one last time before she left, but she had already rushed to the door and was on her way out.
“Sarah, please wait...!” Henry quickly called after her. “When will I see you again?”
“After breakfast, you must accompany Thelma and me to church. Please, be ready by then,” she said curtly.
Before Henry knew what had happened, she was out of the door and gone.
* * *
Henry didnʼt see Sarah during breakfast because she had it in her room this morning. This wasnʼt in any way unusual because she had her breakfast in her room every day, just as he had breakfast downstairs in the kitchen. Still, Henry couldnʼt get rid of the strange feeling that Sarah welcomed the fact that he wasnʼt around.
It was raining when Angus drove them to mass. Sarahʼs gaze was fixated on the trees which were drifting by as the coach was jolting over the bumpy road. She hardly ever looked at Henry; something which he didnʼt really expect, though, with Thelma sitting at her side and keeping a watchful eye on her. Again, nothing truly unusual, as he found.
After church they went back home to the mansion. Thelma marched downstairs to the kitchen to go after her duties with daily routine setting in again—even though it was Sunday. After all, the Partridges would be back in the early evening hours, and before that there was a lot of work to do.
Henry and Sarah silently went upstairs. When they arrived at the floor where his room was, he somehow expected her to stop for a moment and have a little chat with him about their plans for the day, about how they could possibly sneak out again and spend some time together alone. But without uttering a single word, Sarah quickly rushed up to her room in a more than obvious attempt to escape him.
By now, Henry was sure that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
He quickly hurried after her and grabbed her by the arm before she could close the door to her room in his face.
“Sarah, would you please talk to me?” he asked insistently, not letting go of her.
“It is too dangerous,” Sarah whispered. “It is not like yesterday when we were unobserved. They are all in the house today. And Jeremy... well, you know how obtrusive he was. He might suspect something and-”
“Donʼt be foolish, Sarah,” Henry cut her off. He had become quite irritated. “Do you really think I do not see that you are not yourself at all today? And I am sure it is not because of the others. You did not really mind them yesterday, did you? What is going on? I need to know!”
“It is nothing, Henry,” Sarah replied, sounding rather meek now. “I mean, it has nothing to do with you.”
Henry was positive that it had exclusively to do with him. A worried expression on his face, he took her hand and squeezed it gently.
“Sarah, please tell me, did I hurt you last night? I truly thought that you enjoyed it,” he asked more softly now.
“No, Henry, you must believe me, you did not hurt me at all,” Sarah whispered. Henry noticed to his relief that her words sounded truly sincere. He also noticed that her eyes were slightly moist. She raised her hand and soothingly stroked his cheek; the first gentle touch that he received from her ever since they had woken up together. It made him shiver, and he felt his passion for her being fueled again.
“Then what is it?” he asked.
“I will tell you later, Henry. I am going for a ride now. I need to get out of this house. I feel like suffocating in here today. As if these walls want to kill me…”
“I am not supposed to let you go anywhere on your own,” Henry retorted. “I am coming with you.”
Sarah nodded quietly.
“If you wish…”
Henry rushed back to his room in order to change his clothes. He tried to find something which was more suitable for riding, but his wardrobe hardly consisted of anything appropriate. Apart from that, he shivered at the thought of sitting on a horse. It was true that he loved horses in general, but he had not touched one, let alone ridden one, ever since his brotherʼs tenth birthday when their father had taken them to a cattle market in town. He had been seven at that time, and still vividly remembered that one of the horses had accidentally stepped on his foot, leaving his big toe all red and swollen for almost a month. Therefore, as much as he liked horses, he wasnʼt too keen on getting near them or ride them. Still, he was determined to go into the trouble for the sake of being with Sarah and finally having a chance to talk to her. And so he put on the most casual and hard-wearing trousers that he could find and followed Sarah outside on her way to the stables.
Jeremy already awaited them. He handed Sarah the reins of her white stallion whom he had bridled and saddled and whose name was Silver as Henry could see from the name plate at the box. Then the stable boy opened the door to one of the other horse boxes and let Henry peer inside. The next moment, Henry was standing face to face with the most monstruous horse that he had ever seen in his life. It was pitch-black, had a massive skull and was ogling him suspiciously with a pair of devilish-appearing eyes. Only when Henry dared to take a step closer, he realized that the animal wasnʼt in any way a devilish, ill-humored monster ready to crush him, but rather a sleepy, worn-out hack that had seen better days.
“This one is for you. Itʼs called Orion,” Jeremy said, a smug grin plastered all over his face. “Donʼt worry. Orion might be big, but it is also the lamest and oldest horse in the whole of County Surrey, maybe even in the whole of England. It is only here because Miss Sarah pleaded for it to be saved from the slaughterhouse.”
Slaughterhouse... Henry thought bitterly. Thatʼs probably where Iʼll end up if this affair is ever discovered...
Jeremy slowly led the horse out its box. Momentarily, Orion stared at Henry with bleary eyes. Then it farted.
Jeremy was hardly able to suppress a chuckle. Henry, who was still angry at the turn this morning had taken so far, would have loved to hit Jeremy in the face. He was just in the right mood for it. But there was no time, as Sarah was already sitting on her stallion, trotting out of the stable.
Henry set his foot into the stirrup and lifted himself up on the horseʼs back. To his surprise, he didnʼt have any problems with it at all and even caused Jeremy to mockingly remark that Henry had obviously been riding for quite a while because he did so well. Then Henry began to spure the horse, but no matter how much he tried to drive the animal on, it wouldnʼt go faster than a slug. He believed to hear Jeremy slightly chuckle again behind his back as Henry made Orion slowly shuffle out of the stable and into the open where Sarah was already waiting for him.
“Will you be alright?” she asked him, appearing a little worried.
“I have had better moments in my life, but I suppose I will manage,” Henry answered, concentrating hard on keeping the horse on track as it had the tendency to go where it wanted, entirely irrespective of Henryʼs commands.
“I thought that Orion would be just right for you,” Sarah said, an unexpected soft tone to her voice. “It is one of the gentlest and most loving creatures in the world. Just like you.”
Before Henry could respond, Sarah spurred her horse and trotted away.
“Come on, Orion, come!” she called, and then Orion finally began to move a little faster, stupidly following Sarahʼs white stallion across the lawn and out of the garden.
* * *
They were riding to the boathouse, not taking the way through the forest, though, but following a path which was leading around the whole of the lake from the other direction. Henry guessed that this was the route Sarah had taken when they had secretly met the other day.
Sarah had gathered speed and was now galloping ahead of him, every now and then slowing down and waiting for him; otherwise Henry would have never been able to keep up with her as Orion had the tendency to occasionally stop in order to nibble at the purple corn flowers. Henry believed to see a faint sympathetic smile on Sarahʼs lips as she watched him in his efforts to make the horse move.
It took them more than an hour until they had surrounded the lake and Henry finally spotted the boathouse in the distance. Having arrived there, Sarah stopped the horse and dismounted it. Then she tied it to a willow tree.
Henry got off his horse as well but didnʼt bother to tie it to any tree as it immediately froze where he had left it, stupidly glaring at him and not showing any real inclination to stir for the next century.
Sarah slowly strolled over to the lakeside, her pensive gaze lost in the distance. Hesitantly, Henry followed her, and when he had reached her he put his arms around her and pressed her body against his.
“God, Sarah,” Henry whispered despairingly, “would you please tell me what is going on? I just can not bear the way you are torturing me...”
He found that he would have gladly suf
fered having his head showered with dung, or having a dead rat thrown through his window. He wouldnʼt even have minded Sarah riding him over with her horse. All this was nothing against the agony that she was putting him through with her strange silences.
Sarahʼs voice broke when she finally began to speak.
“I seriously do not mean to torture you at all, Henry. I am so tortured myself...” she said. Then she began to weep. She was shaking like a little leaf blown around by a thunderstorm, and so Henry quickly led her to the safety of the boathouse, afraid that they might be seen or heard. He opened the creaking door, ushered Sarah inside, and made her sit on the bench where he took her in his arms again, trying to comfort her, trying to soothe her pain.
“Sarah,” he whispered and handed her a crinkled handkerchief, “is it because it was too soon? Maybe we shouldnʼt have—”
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