Lady Jane (11 page)

Jane was now more waking than sleeping and the caressing fingertips, so blissful at first in their slow travelling up and down her back, began to seem too agonizingly slow in their movement, too neglectful of other areas which began to long for touching also. She slowly turned her body so that the fingertips trailed over her ribs. He hesitated only an instant and then began the operation there, allowing his fingers to touch, as though unknowingly, the side of her breast. This became such exquisite torment that without even thinking of it she sat up, pulled the gown over her head, and tossed it away and lay back expectantly—on her back now, willing him to continue.

Sebastian froze in shock for a moment at her movement, then it seemed that every vein in his body was leaping and boiling with blood. He swiftly ripped off his own gown and lay down again, subduing his impulse to throw himself upon her, knowing instinctively that the wisest course was to continue what he had been doing with so much success until now.

He passed his hand over her breasts, experiencing a frisson of pleasure all the way to his toes when he found her nipples hard and taut with desire. Deliberately he moved his hand away, down over the delicious incurving of her waist, across the smoothness of her stomach and up the other side, exploring slowly, rhythmically, each time a little more of the silky skin, finally touching delicately the undersides of her full, young breasts. She gasped and then made a tiny sound of disappointment when his fingers moved away and down to the rounded satin of her thighs and the silky triangle that lay between them. He continued to tease her in this way while time lost all meaning. They had both floated off into a trance of pleasure, hypnotized by the slow movement of his hand, when of itself, it began to linger more and more over her breasts, finally to gently roll her nipples between his fingers. She moaned, arching her back until her breast seemed to swell into his hand. He eased his body gently onto her, took her breasts in both hands and lowered his mouth to them reverently, wonderingly. She abandoned herself completely to total sensation, her body quivering and melting with desire for more and more.

No coming together of a man and a woman for sexual pleasure could have happened more naturally, without any consciousness on either of their parts of his physical shortcomings or her fear, so patient had he been in his preparation of her to receive him, to finally insist upon the ultimate end. For it was at her urging that he slowly, as teasingly slow as his entire lovemaking had been, penetrated the warm pulsing center of her.

She gasped, locking her legs around him in an effort to force him to go farther and faster to relieve the exquisite ache within her. The long torture could not withstand any more and they each swiftly climaxed and lay gasping and shaken as their bodies pulsed together.

He raised himself finally until he could look into her face, and then he kissed her eyelids and her mouth lingeringly, gratefully. She took his head into her hands and held it there to her lips. Without releasing her he rolled to the side and they lay, still mouth to mouth, bodies still joined until they drifted into sleep.

11

The Dowager Lady
Payton looked up eagerly at the sound of a soft tap on her door, which was followed at once by the entrance of her daughter-in-law bearing a cup of chocolate on a small silver tray. The older woman eyed the younger with appreciation, and indeed Jane was as beautiful as a picture in her high-waisted, sprigged dimity of yellow flowers on sheer white. Her riotous dark curls were loose on her shoulders, held back by a yellow satin riband, her amber eyes were sparkling and her cheeks and lips glowing with rich pink. Lady Payton held out her arms hungrily, eager to touch the healthy youth of this girl, as though to absorb some of her vigour into her own weak and aging body.

Jane put down the tray and flung her arms about her mother-in-law. She always looked forward to this morning greeting and would not relinquish the task of bringing the elder Lady Payton her morning chocolate even to Dorrie, the new young maid Lady Payton had brought back with her from London. The approval and acceptance implicit in this loving embrace were still as necessary as ever to Jane, in spite of fifteen months of marriage; months of such glorious happiness as she had never expected to be hers in life. I’m sure to wake from this dream sometime, she often thought.

Not that she lazed about on silken cushions and ate sweets all day. That had never been a dream of hers in any case. But being treated with respect as a human being had been, and she was given that here. Both Sebastian and his mother took it for granted that she was capable of intellectual accomplishment, and that, to Jane, showed real respect.

Sometimes even the long country days seemed too short to hold all the things she wanted to do. Sebastian had decreed two hours of study each morning and two each afternoon. And then, when the Dowager had returned from London, another hour was added for Jane to be coached in all the social niceties. She submitted without demur, although secretly convinced they would never be called into use, for she never intended to leave Sebastian’s side and he would not receive visitors nor go into company. She was, however, determined never to behave in any way that would cause embarrassment to her mother-in-law, so she plunged into the study of how a lady conducts herself with the same seriousness with which she approached her other studies, even though with less interest.

Sebastian had evolved a method of teaching her whereby he simply let her read aloud to him, correcting her grammar and accent as they went along, and the books they read—poetry, religion, geography, history—were so fascinating that each paragraph or stanza seemed to provoke discussions of their contents, giving her an ever-expanding general education in the process.

She never ceased to wonder at all the things there were in the world she had never dreamed of, and at all the ideas that could be conceived of by the human mind. But most of all she was amazed at how many of her hopes and fears and dreams had been shared by people of genius all over the world and throughout the centuries. There was infinite comfort for her in the realization of the universality and timelessness of human emotions. She felt more in touch with the world around her and with the people in it.

Heretofore, she had had a basic mistrust of the rest of mankind, and had never confided fully in anyone besides her mother. With her mother’s death she had felt that she stood alone in a world inhabited, for the most part, by enemies out to take advantage of her unless she kept her wits about her. She had become a wary, pugnacious young girl with a pert tongue, all senses alert in her own defense, intent on working her way into the rarefied strata of upper servants. Her great ambition was to become some grand lady’s dresser and be addressed by the other servants as “Miss Coombes” and take her dinner in the housekeeper’s room in the exclusive company of the butler and the gentleman’s valet of the household for which she worked.

Her life now was so far removed from that ambition it seemed impossible to believe it had ever been. Now her sole ambition was to make Sebastian happy and his mother proud of her, which was the only way she knew of to in some measure repay them for their patience and loving kindness to her. The giving, she felt, had all been on their part.

The one gift she longed to give them had been denied so far. For the past month, however, she had begun to suspect that it might be possible to fulfill this dream after all—which made her breathless each time she thought of it.

The thought now caused her to squeeze Lady Payton hard and sit back with a radiant smile. “There now, the day can properly begin, dearest Mother Payton. Dorrie is lurking in the hallway, if you are ready to dress.”

“In a moment, darling. I’ll just have my chocolate, though I mustn’t dawdle, of course, or Caroline will catch me out. You remember she will be here today?”

“As though I could forget! Darling Aunt Stanier! You see, I’m wearing the gown I had made up from the dress length she sent me two months ago.”

The substitution of the honorifics for the more intimate titles of “Mother” and “Aunt” had been one of the most difficult changes for Jane to learn, but were ineffably dear to her for the kinship thus conferred. That those two exalted ladies should request, even insist, that she address them so had seemed difficult to believe at first. Jane had wondered often how it was possible for them to accept a mere maid-servant so unreservedly into their family. But the answer, when she came to it, was quite simple really: They were truly good and loving women, and their sole object was to give Sebastian any measure of happiness within their power. That he should love and marry at all had been beyond their wildest imaginings. When this miracle had come about, the brides social standing had no relevance for them at all. Naturally, if the girl had been sluttish or obviously motivated by a greed for money or title they would have felt bound to protest. But Sebastian’s refined and delicate sensibilities would never have permitted him to make such a choice, so the problem did not arise.

Jane leaned forward to plant a kiss on Lady Payton’s cheek and then rose. ”I’ll leave you in peace and send Dorrie in. Besides, Sebastian frets if I’m not at the breakfast table when he gets there.”

She waved from the doorway, motioned the hovering Dorrie forward, and sped off down the stairs and across the hall to “their” side of the house. She checked abruptly at the door of their tiny dining room when she saw her husband sitting, arms folded, at the table.

He gave her a mock scowl. “Ah ha! Late again! Nattering away with my mama, I suppose, like two old hens and leaving your husband to starve for want of his breakfast Well madam, speak up! What have you to say for yourself?”

“Forgive me, m’lord,” she said, casting her eyes down demurely as she slid into her seat.

Crews, waiting at the sideboard, came forward to serve her buttered eggs and thin slices of York ham, her favourite breakfast, and then went away at once to leave them alone as they preferred to be. Sebastian watched approvingly as she attacked her meal, thinking it a fine thing for her to have such a good appetite, though he only took tea and toast in the mornings.

“I see a good night’s sleep has made you monstrously sharp-set this morning,” he teased.

“Oh no, sire, ’twas the exercise before sleep that caused it. I’m a great believer in exercise,” she declared virtuously.

“Sauce!” he replied severely.

She met his eye and instantly they both began to laugh at her naughtiness, delighted with one another. After fifteen months they felt entirely comfortable together, filling each day with studies and long walks, Wellington romping around them demanding that sticks be thrown for him, and their nights with lovemaking, which sometimes involved only cuddling and falling asleep in the special tangled position they had evolved for sleeping together.

On very rare occasions Sebastian came to her bed in a more urgent, demanding mood, never brutal or hurtful to her, but definitely with more roughness than was in his usual exquisitely slow and tender approach. Because she trusted him absolutely this didn’t frighten her, not even the first time. On the contrary, she found, she was immensely aroused by this touch of savagery in him that seemed to demand complete submission. He would brusquely flip her over to bite what in more playful moments he termed her “saucy backside,” kneading her flesh as though his hands could not get their fill of it Then, still without words, his face intent, he would flip her onto her back and starting with the tender flesh on the inside of her thighs would nip and kiss every inch of her body up to her breasts, where the pain was so deliciously exquisite she would feel her bones melting and cry out for him. At the sound he would plunge himself into her ruthlessly, causing her to climax almost instantly. Then he would go on tirelessly as she avidly demanded more and more, climaxing again and again until she was so spent she could only lie there helplessly, unable to assist in her own pleasure but unwilling for him to stop producing it in her. When, at last, he allowed himself release it was a deliberate decision. He would pause for a moment as though to change the direction of his impulses from her to himself, then drive himself to an explosive finish that beat and throbbed so wildly inside of her that it produced a final burst of pleasure for herself.

These sessions were so shattering for both of them that they invariably fell asleep just as they were, he sprawled limply atop her body.

The next day they would continuously seek out each other’s eyes, to exchange a little smile in acknowledgment of this rapturous secret between them, and it was to such a night that Jane had just referred.

“You are shameless and must work extra hard this morning to make up for it,” he grinned.

“No, no, my love. Have you forgotten? Aunt Stanier comes today. In fact, she will be arriving any moment, so you must not distract me or—”

“—you will not get to finish every last bite of your breakfast,” he finished for her.

“I must keep up my strength if I am to—er—be a good wife,” she said primly, which set them both off again. They were still laughing when Crews entered to announce the arrival of Lady Stanier. Jane rose at once with a glad cry and rushed around the table.

“Do come quickly, Sebastian. I want you to see me meet her and tell me if I have done it properly,” she urged, bending to drop a kiss on the top of his head as she passed. But he reached out and pulled her back to him. She stood looking down into his eyes for a moment, then they smiled their secret-sharing smile and she bent to kiss him lingeringly, and amazingly felt the sweet stir of desire again. Goodness, she thought, I am really insatiable! I wonder if that is wicked of me? I must ask Sebastian—tonight, she promised herself with a delicious little shiver of anticipation.

“Now sir, for shame to hold me here in this way when your dear aunt is being kept waiting,” she scolded.

“I’m sure she won’t mind if she knows why. Very understanding woman,” he answered, but he rose to accompany her. When they reached the hall they found Lady Stanier and Lady Payton hand in hand, both of them talking excitedly, and at once. Lady Stanier as always was a picture of
a la modalit
é
in a loose Spanish-brown three-quarter length pelisse of sarcenet, wrists and edges trimmed with a narrow band of swansdown, worn over a round gown of French cambric in the palest coral. Her smart straw bonnet was tied beneath the chin with wide taffeta ribands of the same coral shade.

Jane forced herself to a stop, then walked sedately forward with a smooth gliding step, dropped an extremely pretty curtsy, and then rose to kiss the lady’s cheek.

“Dearest Aunt Stanier, how kind of you to give us all so much pleasure by honouring us with a visit. We hope you plan to
m
a
k
e a very long stay or we shall all be devastated.”

This was delivered in her best “drawing-room drawl” as she termed it, and Lady Stanier was smiling appreciatively by the end of it She flung her arms around Jane and hugged her warmly.

“Minx! You’ve got that perfectly, though I’m not sure you’re not making fun of us!”

Sebastian came forward to kiss Lady Stanier’s hand. “Well, Aunt, as always you are the picture of fashion. I vow, the
ton
must tear their hair with envy when you make an appearance.”

“My dearest Sebastian, how good to see you! I shall take your comments as a compliment, though you didn’t exactly say that
you
liked my costume.”

“I like it excessively,” he replied promptly, in a parrot like way. “When you were a boy you were sent to your room for such pertness,” she replied tartly, but then, with a surprisingly youthful giggle, she added, “and that is no doubt exactly what you would like now.”

“Not at all, dear Aunt, I am at your service for the length of your stay,” he replied gallantly. “What is your pleasure?”

“Do you know, I should like to go for a ramble in the Park. I saw the dearest little wildflowers as I drove along, and though I longed to stop and pick them I was too eager to get here to take the time.”

So, after changing her costume for a dress more suitable for a walk in the country, she was taken out and returned happily with a large basketful of pale pink wild roses, honeysuckles, and harbells which she handed over to Crews with instructions for them to be made into an arrangement and put beside her bed where she could enjoy their scent all night.

They were all very merry at the elaborate dinner prepared by Mrs. McKirk, which consisted of two full courses with at least five removes in each, and it was late before they had reached the end of it At last Lady Stanier pushed aside the
Gateau Mellilfleur,
declaring that
not even
to keep in Mrs. McKirk’s good graces could she force in another bite.