Finding Bliss (29 page)

The moment the fire caught it consumed her throughout. She
moaned an incoherent sound, and then her breath was suddenly gone as she felt
the heat channel through her limbs in a slow, jagged path. Bliss shuddered and
whispered a sound of surprise as the feeling escaped and ran across her skin
like rain down a pane of glass.

As she watched, she could feel every path as each nerve
connected to the nearest one in surges. And at once her mouth was open and the
joy of experiencing the true pleasure of completeness escaped her in
affirmation. Eric continued to give her fuel to keep the fire moving, changing.

When her nerves could take no more of him, Bliss sat upright,
pulling his body upward by the shoulders. Eric eased onto her and kissed her as
she fell back against the pillows, devouring him and the taste of her own
pleasure as she did.

She felt the movement of his hands as he fumbled with the
buttons on the placard of his trousers. Her hands moved of their own accord to
help him as they lowered his remaining garment away and at last he was naked
against her.

“Bliss, I have to stop now and ask you a question.” Eric
said through his heavy breaths.

“What more can I tell you,” Bliss replied.

“No, love, it’s not that kind of question. I need to know
what you understand about the physical act of making love. What do you know
about the first time?” Eric asked still placing kisses against her cheeks, her
chin, her nose.

“Nothing. That’s why I wanted to solve the mystery, dear,”
she said with a hint of amusement. But Eric’s eyes sought hers in a painful
awareness.

“Well there’s a part that you might not like. Only on the
first time, though. It’s about your virginity. Your maidenhead. When you make
love with a man for the first time, he has to break through the barrier. It can
be … it is a little uncomfortable. It can even be painful. And there is usually
blood. I can stop now if you’re not ready,” Eric said, still struggling to keep
his voice level and his breathing even.

“Oh, I didn’t know,” Bliss said coloring. “Was anyone
supposed to tell me? I wonder if Mama thought I’d already know?”

When she spoke the last words, she began to giggle. Eric
looked heartily confused. Bliss ran her hands down the hard plane of his spine
and patted him on his naked bottom.

“It’ll be alright, Eric. I know you wouldn’t do anything to
hurt me on purpose. If this is how it has to be, then this is what we’ll have
to do.”

“I would never hurt any part of you intentionally except in this
singular moment. And if it’s too much just say the word, and I’ll stop.” Eric
promised. Bliss nodded.

Her eyes burned into his face with tentative courage. Eric
moved to align his body with hers. Kissing her on the lips, he whispered an
apology as he pulled his hips upward and entered her in a quick, even thrust. Bliss’s
eyes opened in shock for a moment, and then she smiled a little and shrugged
her shoulders.

“That wasn’t as bad as you made it sound, you scoundrel!” she
scolded as she molded her body against his and wrapped her arms around his
waist. Eric groaned.

“Have mercy on me, then. I nearly lost control just feeling
you! My god, Bliss you are extraordinary!” Eric declared quietly as he began to
move inside her.

Bliss enjoyed the easy way their bodies fit. She widened her
thighs to accept his hips as he pressed into her with full, firm strokes. Her
skin dampened with the effort of meeting his hips with her own on each downward
movement.

Eric gave a throaty groan of pleasure as her curious hands
drifted across the cheeks of his buttocks, her hands gripping and pulling him
tighter against her. They moved in a rhythm that needed no instruction.

Eric’s breathing grew labored as he felt her body’s response
to his. Bliss marveled at how easy she could feel everything inside her. The
rush of her blood to the point where they were connected seemed to sing in her
veins. Her response was quickened as Eric changed the pace. His body glistened
in the dim light.

Instinctively Bliss used her tongue to taste the flavor of
his body’s response where she could see the pulse in his neck. Eric whispered
that he loved everything she did, begged her to do whatever she wanted. His
pleas for her exploration were like an invitation.

Bliss let her hands move across the moistness of his skin,
touching his body down to the soft curls of hair below his navel, and moving up
to frame the edges of his muscular chest. Eric braced his body and arched his
back until he was buried deep within her. Her tongue tested the flesh of his
nipples and found the neat buds forming with the teasing of her mouth.

Eric made a sound of urgency as her body responded to the
primal excitement she had elicited from him. Bliss felt her sex as it seemed to
grip his in trembling beats, her senses rocked against his.

The culmination of their first intimate dance spiraled
upward in celebration. Eric’s body tensed and flexed like green wood, bowed
without breaking as his own pleasure spilled from him. He called out to her,
the words on his lips as he kissed her and growled the tortured sounds of a man
letting go, filling the space between them with the force of his climax.

It lasted only a few dozen heartbeats, but the impression
was etched on her soul forever. Eric’s breath came in short pants as he milked
the last moments with gentle movements.

Not wanting to smother her with his weight, Eric leaned to
his left and rolled off her, taking his warmth and his body from hers. Bliss
sighed in protest, but her smile gave her away. In her mind the visions of
their future, the physical relationship that would follow their marriage came
in stunning waves.

“OH! Oh, my, I was totally wrong!” she said in surprised
wonder.

“About what?” Eric asked, not completely in control of his
breath.

“About our wedding night, the next night and the next
morning, I was completely and utterly mistaken on the details! I never should
have doubted it for a moment! What I couldn’t see before was in no way
represented by the passage of time! There were many things hidden within the hours
that passed!” This caused them both to laugh heartily in the afterglow of their
first love making.

“You are an amazing man, Eric Benchley!” Bliss exclaimed
with a happy sigh. “If I’d known how well you would do, I could have waited, I
suppose. But I confess I am an impatient person! But you have much more to
teach me. I cannot wait!”

“Someday, my love, you’ll learn that in some things you
should never doubt
me
, either!” Eric laughed.

The Penwood Manor Estate, Family,
Staff, Guests, the Vicar, Cardiff, Late April 1811

Lord and Lady Penwood spared no
expense on the first marriage of one of their children. Bliss pulled her father
aside the day before the wedding to remind him about how to break the news of
her dowry to Eric.

“Make sure you do it somewhere outside, preferably in soft
grass. And remind him that the family properties are ours to use if we ask. I
want to make sure we can spend a week or two in Brighton come July. And make
sure to tell him that you really wouldn’t have murdered him. I think he’s still
a bit wary of your blessing,” Bliss said with a smirk.

Ollie gave her a crushing hug and wiped a tear away on his
sleeve, thinking she wouldn’t know he was happily sad that his little girl was
grown up. He jokingly offered her any sailor on any of his ships if she changed
her mind before the morning and wanted to be a shore bride to live at home. Bliss
shook her head in good-natured refusal.

The wedding was a grand soiree. More
people attended than anyone expected. With the vicar’s tolerance for their
peculiar family’s tastes, the added vow never to doubt one another was spoken
by the bride and the groom just before he pronounced them as husband and wife.

Eric and Bliss were joined at last, and the family
celebrated in grand extravagance all the way down to the stable yard. Bliss was
soon dancing with her new husband on the veranda and discussing what their
future held.

“Do you want to live in Bristol? I know you’re happy
practicing medicine there, but whenever you’re willing to discuss it I’d like
to talk about moving to your father’s house. I wouldn’t mind our children
growing up in the place we know and love.”

“I think it won’t be long. Bristol is fine if you’re a
bachelor. But I think I agree with you. Children need a place where they can
explore and roam. And besides, their grandparents will be here!” Eric smiled
down into the face of his lovely bride. Then a curious expression creased his
face.

“What?” Bliss asked, already knowing he would ask.

“How many children will we have? You don’t have to be exact,
really. A rounded figure will do,” asked Eric with a quirked brow.

“Less than my mother and more than Aunt Pen,” Bliss teased.

“You aren’t going to tell me, are you?” Eric asked almost
incredulously.

“And spoil all the fun? Never,” Bliss giggled.

“Will you at least let me know if I’ll have a son who’ll
want to follow in my footsteps?” Eric pleaded in mock surrender.

“I promise to tell you that as soon as I know. For now, I
only see small things about them. The number, of course. The genders, oh, and
which ones will look more like me and which ones will look like their papa! Their
futures will not be determined until they learn and grow a little. But if
they’re anything like your family or my family, they’re bound to be brilliant!”

“I thought mine were just simple doctor-folk, and yours is
the most accomplished,” Eric teased.

“No, that’s selling us all much too short, dear! We can already
claim two brilliant surgeons, two world-class sailors, an artist, a few shy romantics,
an adventurer, a musician, and two as yet undetermined females with wit and
genius untapped!

“Oh, and a woman who is more aware than she has a right to
be, but uses her talents only for the service of her loved ones! And those are
just the ones who’ve already been born. Wait until we discover what’s to come!”
Bliss smiled triumphantly.

“Well that’s quite a lot already! I can’t wait to meet
them!” Eric laughed heartily.

“But you already know them! They’ve just not shown their
fullest potential yet. But stay with me, and everything will eventually be
seen. Take my word for it!”

The Benchley’s, Cardiff, Early
March 1814

“Hurry up, dear. Mama is expecting
us to arrive early so she can have some time with Percy and Persephone,” Bliss
urged her husband of three years. Her dress bulged large from her second
pregnancy making it cumbersome to do much of anything.

“Are you sure it’s safe for you to be so active, darling? I
don’t want to have to deliver any babies while we’re celebrating at a ball. I’ve
done that once, and it isn’t a regular habit I’m hoping to continue,” Eric said
with worry creasing his forehead.

“Relax, Eric. I’ve already told you. I’m not going to have
the baby until next month. I promise I wouldn’t lie just to get to attend my
family’s St. Patrick’s Day Ball. But I know I need to be there. There are some
people I need to speak with. It’s too important an opportunity to miss.” Bliss
told him.

Eric wrestled the two-year old twins up into his arms with
relative ease and stared at his very pregnant wife with misgiving.

“I have your word before a vicar that you wouldn’t ever
doubt me, sweetheart. Need I always remind you?” Bliss teased.

“Of course not, my darling, I’m just having a little trouble
when I see how ready you look, from a medical opinion, of course. But if you’re
certain, then I suppose I should have Darren load the trunks in the carriage. Just
promise me you won’t pick up either of the twins while we’re away and that
you’ll only dance with me for the first and last sets,” Eric requested.

“If it will make you more at ease, we’ll dance only once,
and I promise not to lift anything larger than a pasty,” Bliss agreed.

“Then we’re off, and God help us,” Eric said in an
exasperated sigh.

End of book one.

As always, I would like to thank my
family for their unwavering support of my “paper kids” and their successes.
It’s a great life when you get to do what you really love and have the people
you love support you in doing it!

A big thanks again to all of my
proof-readers! I wouldn’t put one word out there for the public to enjoy if I
didn’t have you all toiling through the process with me. You guys are the best!

To my growing group of readers,
thank you again for reading my novels! I appreciate the support, through
purchases and reviews you write! Never be afraid to tell me how you feel about
my work. I’m not writing these stories just because I love to write, I’m
writing because I want you all to love
reading
what I write!

And lastly, thank you to the
Amazon.com/Kindle Direct Publishing family. All of you make doing what I love
that much more rewarding. Thank you!

The next
book in The Penwood Legacy focuses on the eldest brother, Russ.

Having gotten a reputation
among his Navy cohorts, Lord Commander Russell Varenne, Count of Varenne and future
Duke of Penwood, is more widely known as Lord Lazarus due to his ability to
rise again and again. But it’s not from the dead that he’s always rising! Russ
is quite the ladies’ man.

On a particularly ordinary
shore leave home for his mother’s usual St. Patrick’s Day Ball, Russ takes one
too many chances. He ends up compromising a woman who never intended to get
herself in the hot seat. Now he’s forced to be a husband to the one woman in
the world who would rather run him up the yard arm than kiss him.