Love Is Blind (25 page)

stop them, tried to regain enough control to end the sounds. As if aware of her struggles and determined to ensure they failed, Adrian slid one hand back up her body to knead and squeeze one breast, and Clarissa gave up the
batde
, allowing the small sounds freedom to become louder.

She began to thrash under his ministrations, her head twisting wildly on the bed, her hands tearing at the linens, her heels alternating between digging into the mattress and then pressing into his sides. And just when Clarissa thought she couldn't bear it another moment, Adrian slid a finger into her and upped the pressure, so that she gave up her hold on the linens and grabbed for the headboard above her. Clarissa pulled at it so that she was almost dragging herself up away from him, even as her hips pushed up off the bed into his caresses.

Eyes squeezed closed, body in an agony of excitement, Clarissa didn't even notice when Adrian shifted his position and rose up over her. When his mouth covered hers in a kiss, she automatically kissed back, sucking at his tongue for all she was worth. And in the next moment Clarissa was crying out in shock as something large and hard pressed into her.

Both of them froze and remained completely still. Then Adrian slowly lifted his mouth from hers and she could see him clearly as he peered down at her with

worry.

"Are you all right?" His voice was harsh with strain.

Clarissa swallowed, then shifted her lower body tentatively, only to realize that they were fully joined. He had put the key in the lock. "Y-you smashed my pie?"

It was a question. She thought that might be what had happened, but had felt hardly a pinch of pain,

and wasn't at all sure. And while her excitement had died an abrupt death from surprise at the intrusion, it certainly hadn't been anything like Lydia described.

Adrian rolled his eyes, but his voice was solemn. 'Yes. I smashed your pie." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then said, "I am sorry; I thought it best to get it out of the way. Are you okay?"

Clarissa nodded slowly, taking in his tense expression. Of the two of them, he seemed to be in more pain. At least, that was how it looked. It certainly wasn't pleasure on his face at the moment and she asked, "Are
you
all right?"

"Yes." The word wasn't very convincing, coming through his gritted teeth as it was. "Does it still hurt?"

Clarissa shook her head and admitted, "In truth, my lord, it did not hurt much at all to begin with."

"But you cried out."

"It startled me," she admitted.

Adrian hesitated, then asked, "How does it feel?"

"Odd," Clarissa said honestly. She offered a wry smile. "And a bit disappointing."

Adrian's eyebrows rose. "Disappointing?"

"Well, I was ..." Blushing, Clarissa lowered her eyes to his chest and admitted, "I was enjoying what you were doing, my lord. And would have liked to have experienced the ...
er
.. . completion of it, as I did that time during the fire. But now I just feel— What are you— Oh!" Clarissa gasped with surprise as he shifted his weight to one arm and slid his hand between them to touch her.

"You ... Oh, that is ... Oh, husband," Clarissa breathed. Her hips began to move of their own volition as he caressed her, and her previous excitement leaped back to life.

"That is . .. that is ... that is ...
Ohhhhh
." She moaned, her hands catching at his upper arms and clenching
tighdy
.

Adrian chuckled, and when he bent his head to kiss her, Clarissa murmured her pleasure into his mouth. She gasped as he removed his hand and withdrew
slighdy
from her body. But before she could complain, he slid back into her at an angle, allowing his body to rub against the spot he'd previously caressed.

Clarissa groaned deep in her throat, her hips and legs shifting instinctively to increase the caress of his body. Her nails dug into his back to urge him on, and he withdrew once more, to plunge forward.

This, then, she thought with wonder, was the truncheon and the pie, the lock and the key, the man and the woman. His body was filling and pleasuring hers even as it pleasured itself—or at least, she hoped he was experiencing pleasure. It was hard to tell; Adrian was not expressing himself as she was; he wasn't making the soft sounds in his throat that Clarissa couldn't seem to hold back.

She suddenly realized that, while he'd caressed and kissed and touched her, she had yet to do more than clutch at him as if he were a life raft in rough waters. She spent a moment trying to think of a way to make things more enjoyable for him, wondering if she should kiss and caress Adrian's nipples as he had hers, but then the excitement was back at fever pitch and it was difficult for her to think
coherendy
. In the end, Clarissa put the thoughts away for later consideration and simply held on to Adrian as the anchor he was, the only thing keeping her body and soul together as he drove them both to the edge of the world and pushed them off.

*
    
*
    
* "Here you are!"

Clarissa snatched the spectacles off her nose and stuck them into the pocket inside her skirts, then turned quickly toward her husband's voice as he crossed the library to her side.

"I woke up and you had gone," he growled just before claiming her mouth in a swift kiss.

Clarissa sighed with pleasure into his mouth, and snuggled against him as her arms slipped up around his neck. She'd woken at dawn and slid from his bed to return to her own room to dress. Joan had not been there yet, and she had been too impatient to wait, so she had dressed herself. Clarissa had a project she wished to attend to before the whole household was up and about.

She had wanted to search the library and see if there was not some book of instruction on how a wife could please a husband. Donning her clothes, she had grabbed her spectacles, slipped from the room, and made her way below to the library undiscovered. She'd spent the last hour on the hunt.

Unfortunately, Clarissa had not come up with a single volume on the subject. Most books seemed more inclined to suggest that she could please her husband best by running a smooth household and budgeting well. Such advice wasn't at all what Clarissa had in mind.

Her thoughts scattered as Adrian suddenly scooped her into his arms and turned toward the door. Clarissa gasped into his mouth.

"Husband, you are not dressed," she broke their kiss to say, surprised to feel nothing beneath the soft silk cloth of his robe.

"And neither should you be at the moment," he an-

nounced
. Carrying her back across the room to the door, he added, "We have just got married. We are not expected to leave the bedchamber for at least a week." "We are not?" she replied.

"Nay. It is a law—or should be," Adrian added with a grin. He started up the hall toward the stairs.

"Nonsense! How could we visit the happy couple if they decided to stay in bed?" a new voice said.

Adrian stopped abruptly, and both he and Clarissa glanced toward the speaker. Reginald
Greville
stood in the main entry with Adrian's butler, Jessop. Both men appeared to be smiling, and Clarissa was suddenly quite glad that she, at least, was dressed.

When she kicked her feet, Adrian frowned, but he understood the silent message and set her down. Clarissa kissed him on the cheek to soften her defection, then turned to smile at her husband's cousin.

"You are the first guest in my new home," she announced with a smile, moving up the hall to greet him. "The first of many, I am sure," Reginald said lightly. "In fact, I know. Aunt Isabel and Mary intend to drop around later today. And no doubt your father shall come around to see how you are faring. In fact, I am sure half of the
ton
will drop by, determined to look you over after your first night as a wife."

Clarissa glanced over her shoulder toward Adrian, who gave a growl. She fully understood his reaction. She too would be happy to avoid such a throng of visitors so soon after their wedding, for it suddenly occurred to her that the people would know exactly what she and Adrian had been doing until the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps not all the
hows
and whys, but certainly they would know the wedding had been con-

summated. The idea of so many people knowing something so personal was daunting.

"Jessop," Adrian snapped.

"Yes, my lord?" The butler seemed to stand a little straighter under the verbal lash.

"Arrange for both carriages to be prepared and brought around. Then send Joan and my manservant to us. We leave for
Mowbray
within the hour."

Clarissa's eyes widened as her husband moved purposely forward and caught her hand to tug her toward the stairway.

"But what about Lord
Greville
?" she asked as he pulled her up the steps. "He has come to visit. We cannot just leave him here and—"

"He did not come to visit," Adrian assured her calmly.

"Did he not?" she asked. Uncertainly she glanced back to the door and at the blurred figure standing there.

"Nay. My cousin is never up this early. He is on his way home to bed, and was good enough to stop in along the way to warn us that if we stayed here, we would be bombarded with guests."

"He was?" Clarissa said with amazement.

'Yes. He was," Adrian assured her, and then called over his shoulder, "Thank you, Reg. Good-bye."

'Yes, thank you, Lord
Greville
," Clarissa called.

"You are most welcome, cousins!" Reginald
Greville
laughed, then turned to let himself out of the house. Adrian and Clarissa reached the landing and headed down the hall toward their rooms.

Now that he knew that guests intended to descend on them, Adrian was galvanized into action.
 
He led

Clarissa to her room, and he pushed her gently inside with the order to write a letter to her father explaining that they had decided to travel to
Mowbray
to relax after the wedding. Adrian liked her father, and he had no wish to make the man worry at the unexpected

departure.

That being the case, he also suggested Clarissa invite Lord
Crambray
to visit on his trip home from London, which he knew was supposed to take place in a week or so. Adrian was hoping that he would have had enough of his little wife by then, and that he wouldn't mind the intrusion on their time together. He also hoped—quite fervently—that the man would be returning home alone, without Clarissa's stepmother. The woman was a menace, and one whose neck Adrian wouldn't mind wringing. He wanted to avoid her at all costs.

"Yes,
  
husband,"
  
Clarissa
  
murmured.
  
Then
  
she asked, "What should I have Joan pack?" "Everything," Adrian replied quickly. Her eyes widened with surprise. "Everything?" she asked with amazement.

He frowned. Adrian himself hated London, and hoped not to return for a good long while. However, he had a wife now, and he had to take her wants into consideration.

"Did you wish to stay in London for the season?" he asked uncertainly.

"Oh, no," she said so quickly that Adrian knew she wasn't just saying it to please him. He felt himself relax. She added, "I fear I am like my mother, and do not have much taste for polite society."

"Very good." Adrian smiled and then kissed her for being so perfect, before straightening and reiterating, "Have her pack everything, then."

Nodding, Clarissa turned into her room, nearly tripping over the leg of a chair beside the door. Adrian frowned, catching her and drawing her away from it. It occurred to him that they hadn't made arrangements to get her new spectacles, and he briefly considered delaying their departure to do so ... but then he let the thought drift away. They could arrange for spectacles in the village at
Mowbray
, maybe. He was still reluctant for her to be able to see him so
sqon
. Last night had been a good start to the marriage, but Adrian would like just a couple more weeks to solidify their relationship before she saw his scar.

Troubled by his own selfishness, Adrian frowned and pulled her door closed, then moved on to his own room. Really, he acknowledged to himself, Clarissa's life would be made much easier by having spectacles. Not to mention safer. As it was, she was in constant danger of tumbling down stairs or setting herself afire. But he was so afraid of her reacting badly to his scar . ..

Adrian's hand ran absently over the mark in question as he entered his bedchamber. Just a couple more weeks, he promised himself. Then he'd be sure to get Clarissa her spectacles so that she could read and move about safely. In the meantime, he would read to her so that she wouldn't miss it. Adrian didn't care if she spilled food on her clothes, so that wouldn't be a problem; and he would ensure that every member of the staff at
Mowbray
was apprised of the matter and kept an eye out to maintaining their mistress's safety. He would even make it the main priority.

Satisfied with his decision, Adrian tossed his robe on the bed and moved to the wardrobe to begin pulling out clothes. He was half-dressed when his manservant,
Keighley
, entered the room. The man
im
-