The Theft of a Dukedom (15 page)

‘Please sit down.’ She indicated a chair beside
the fireplace. ‘This isn’t my first bereavement. It was
difficult when Robert died, not because it wasn’t such a
shock, but the title had to pass to a boy. Edward was
only five when his father died, but he remembers it and
today in the Chapel I could see the terror in his face, as
he recalled that day. Yes, I will shed a great many more
tears for Thomas, because I truly loved him, but I’m in
control now.’ She smiled wanly. ‘I think you should see
Kitty, she is distraught.’ Richard nodded and stood. ‘I’ve
invited Sir Francis for dinner as well as the magistrate. I
think we should all hear what he has to say.’ She looked
calmly at Richard. ‘See if you can sober Charles up,
because we need him here, not in his cups.’
‘Yes, Your Grace.’ He said and left smartly. Just
down the corridor he could hear Kitty crying. He tapped
on her door and it was opened by her maid Mary.
‘She’s distressed, My Lord.’ Mary said softly. ‘I
can’t get her to stop crying long enough to change her
clothes.’
‘Let me see if I can help.’ And as he stepped into
the room Kitty ran into his arms with a fresh heave of
her shoulders. Mary had managed to get her jacket off
and the skirt.
‘Have you heard?’ she gulped out in between
sobs.
‘Yes.’ He said calmly. ‘I’m sorry, Kitty.’ She tried
to burrow into his chest and again found one of his
wounds as she tried to hug him. He groaned loudly and
staggered sideways.
‘Richard!’ she called and tried desperately to
keep him on his feet. But his knees gave way and all
Kitty could do was stop his head from hitting the floor
as he blacked out. ‘Mary?!’ she called and the maid
appeared in the doorway. ‘Fetch me some cold water
and a flannel and ask a couple of footmen to help me
get him on the bed.’ Mary bustled away and was back in
no time. Kitty constantly stroked his hair, murmuring to
him and hadn’t even realised that she’d stopped crying.
Mary squeezed out the flannel and Kitty wiped it over
his face.
‘What’s the matter with him, Lady Amelia?’
Deacon asked from the doorway as he hustled the
footmen in.
‘I think it’s his wounds from Badajoz. He said
they were aching this afternoon.’ She looked at the men
around her. ‘Help me get his jacket and shirt off and
then we can lay him on his face on the bed.’
It didn’t take three men long to get his upper
body bare and all three sucked in sharply as his scarring
was revealed. ‘That’s fine. You can leave now.’ Kitty said
firmly after he was on his face on her bed. ‘Mary? I’ll
need a large cold compress, if you could ask Mrs. Tate
to make one. No make that three.’ She ordered and
Mary hustled away. Carefully she pulled Richard’s boots
off and spread the eiderdown over his legs. She sat on
the edge of the bed and just looked at the ridged
destruction on his back. There were five distinct scars
from what looked like bullets and a ridged burn in the
centre of his back. The skin in the burn was puckered
and shiny. It looked red and angry and when Mary
returned with an armful of hand towels and a bucket of
cold water from the well, Kitty dunked the first towel in
the bucket, squeezed it out and folded it in half, before
laying it on his back. He moaned. ‘Mary? Go and fetch
some brandy. He’ll probably need some when he wakes
up.’ She remembered just how he drank the brandy in
the conservatory and hoped he wouldn’t just upend the
decanter today. She soaked the next towel in the bucket
and twisted the water out, before she switched it with
the warm one, making him moan again.
‘It’s alright, darling.’ She murmured. ‘Everything
is just fine.’
Mary delivered the brandy. ‘Is there anything
else?’ Kitty just shook her head as she sat on the edge of
the bed. ‘Are you sure? I could prepare a bath for you?’
Mary insisted. Kitty nodded vaguely. ‘Very good, my
Lady.’ Mary withdrew, quietly closing the door behind
her.
Every time she changed the towel, Richard
moaned and eventually she couldn’t resist him any
longer and slowly she traced her fingers delicately over
the round blobs of his wounds. He had two in each of
his shoulders, one above the scapula and one below.
There was one lower down, near his right kidney. She
had studied a little anatomy when Charles left for the
Peninsular, just in case he was killed and she would
know how he died. Now she’d stopped crying she
wondered where the bullet had hit her father and was
so distracted by it that she traced her lips over the ridge
of the burn, making Richard groan, but not in pain. He
suddenly rolled over and grabbed her, pulling her onto
his chest. ‘You should sleep.’ He murmured. Kitty was
startled, but too fascinated to move, as her gaze
travelled over his muscular chest. Delicately she circled
one of his nipples with her fingertip provoking a chuckle
from him. ‘If you do that I shall have to do the same.’ He
mumbled.
‘Is that a promise?’ she whispered.
‘You can count on it!’ he said more firmly and
rolled her on her back. He was almost awake as his lips
found hers and he was just thinking about opening her
shirt when he realised he was naked from the waist up
and they were on a bed.
‘Kitty!?’ he exclaimed suddenly. ‘What the hell
am I doing in your bedroom?’
‘You damned well passed out!’ she spoke
hoarsely, as he had ignited the fire that Victoria had
spoken about that afternoon. She thrust her fingers into
his hair and pulled his head down for more kisses and
Richard was astonished that her body was thrumming.
He scooped his hand around her waist onto her back
and pulled her against him and gasped as her hips rose
in supplication.
Kitty was aware that her body wanted
something, but she wasn’t at all sure what, until Richard
twitched her shirt out from her britches. His hand was
calloused and warm as it stroked her waist, then her
ribs and finally settled on her breast, making the nipple
pucker in arousal. Richard swallowed her gasp as he
took her lips in a soul shattering kiss. The supple weight
of her breast filling his hand, the point a hard button in
his palm.
‘Oh! God!’ he murmured as his fingers slowly
opened the buttons on her shirt. ‘You have to tell me to
stop, Kitty, because I’ve lost all control now.’ He
muttered as he peeled the shirt over her shoulder and
kissed her collarbone gently.
She’s perfect.
He thought
as his lips traversed her upper breast.
Her breasts are
just the right size for my hand.
He slid his hand over and
cupped the breast, circling his thumb around the hard
crest until his mouth got there and he slowly engulfed
her nipple in his mouth.
She moaned and clutched his hair as she felt him
suckle on her breast. It sent spirals of desire down her
body to the juncture of her thighs and she felt her sex
throb. She didn’t notice that he had deftly opened the
buttons on her britches, until his fingers touched her
pubic hair. In a thoroughly wanton display, Kitty opened
her legs for him. Richard gasped as he slid his fingers
over her labia, stroking the cleft softly as he persuaded
admittance, instead of burrowing in like a beast. ‘Oh!
Richard.’ She gasped as his fingers found the way in and
stroked her satiny core. He lifted his head and looked
down into her face, seeing the flush of desire on her
skin as well as a blush of embarrassment on her cheeks.
The proof of her arousal was weeping from her and
Richard didn’t want to waste it. His finger lazily traced a
course from her opening back up to her pure and
untouched clitoris. He needed her naked and suddenly
he was stripping off her boots and the britches. He ran
to the door and locked it before he came back to the
bed undoing his britches and discarding them on the
floor.
‘Kitty my love.’ He murmured in her ear. ‘I want
you now.’ He laid his hand flat on her stomach and felt
her muscles ripple with desire.
‘Yes, Richard. Now would be fine.’ She
murmured as her fingers closed around his penis,
making him groan as all the blood in his body arrived in
his groin, making it throb and pulse in time with his
thudding heart.
‘I want to taste you.’ he said as his lips suckled
her nipple again.
‘Can I taste you, too?’ she asked innocently and
Richard groaned as he again imagined her silky lips
sliding over the head of his manhood.
Could I ask her to
suck my cock?
He asked himself and then forgot about it
as he traced his tongue down her belly, circling her
navel a few times, before continuing on it’s journey to
paradise.
Kitty was astonished when his mouth touched
her most intimate place. Her eyes flew open as she
inhaled sharply, but a moan escaped with her breath as
his tongue flicked across her clitoris before he plunged it
into her vagina. She instinctively lifted her hips for him
and he cupped her firm buttocks in his palms as he
coaxed the first orgasm from her untutored body. Kitty
opened her legs wider, without even realising she was
doing it and as her body started to tremble on the
verge, her hands flew into his hair as if she would push
him away or pull him closer. Richard felt the first throb
of her contracting passage as he heard her cry out and
he kept her coming for as long as he could.
Kitty was overwhelmed by the sensations and
emotions roiling inside her body, she was so self
absorbed, that she didn’t notice Richard had moved
until she felt the pressure as his penis nudged her
opening.
‘Stay relaxed, beautiful. This should only sting for
a second or two.’
‘Why?’ she asked dreamily.
‘Because I have to break your maidenhead.’ He
whispered and stroked his fingers over her cheek. ‘It’s
necessary, I’m afraid.’
‘I know.’ She whispered as she felt him push
steadily in, stretching her impossibly wide, filling her to
bursting point and making her gasp. He didn’t stop at
her hymen either, but pushed straight through making
her jerk and gasp again, as her fingers dug into his
biceps.
‘There. I’m in, now you should relax.’
‘I don’t know whether I can.’ She panted.
‘Your body will adjust.’ He muttered as a light
sheen of sweat broke out over his body from holding
himself in check. He kissed her gently. ‘I love you, Kitty.’
He murmured as he slowly pulled back. ‘Oh God! I love
you so much!’ burst from him as he thrust into her again
and she lifted her hips for him, quickly picking up the
rhythm of his passion.
Again she was overwhelmed by the sensations
bombarding her, the slick friction inside as he moved
forcing her to strive for a pinnacle she couldn’t imagine
or even see.
Richard was stunned as he felt her body start to
demand, as untutored as it was, he could feel her
orgasm building and slipped his hand between them so
that he could put just the right amount of pressure and
friction on her dainty clitoris. It galvanised her body,
making her moan and he increased the pace. ‘Come for
me, Kitty.’ He begged softly in her ear. ‘I need you to
come now!’
‘Oh!...Oh!’ she gasped as he felt the muscles in
her vagina ripple and milch him. ‘Oh! God I’m coming!’
she said in wonder as her body convulsed beneath him.
He felt his testicles cramp and the first burst of his
ejaculation as he pushed in to the hilt, shuddering with
the force of his orgasm, every muscle in his body held
rigid in the rapture of the moment.

Louise opened the door to the study cautiously.
Deacon had assured her that Charles was in there and
as the door swung open, she could see him asleep at
the desk. She closed the door carefully behind her and
moved silently across the room, sitting demurely in the
chair Richard had vacated. She watched Charles sleep as
he twitched and jerked in whatever nightmare he was
dreaming about. She noticed the empty decanter and
knew that’s why he was asleep.

Louise would never admit to anybody that she
had been in love with Charles Stafford since the first
time Kitty took them all to Mickleton Hall while they
were still girls. That first summer, there was Millicent,
her sister Anne and Emily Blunt, who was no longer
considered a friend. Thomas had called them the Frilly
Five, but Charles hadn’t really taken any notice of them.
Robin had been interested in Emily, because she was
flirtatious by nature and, of course, her beauty was
incomparable even at thirteen, but Louise didn’t really
like him and was very glad that Thomas wouldn’t
arrange a marriage for his son. She became very
embarrassed by her father, constantly badgering for
Robin to marry her, but to hers and Robin’s relief,
Thomas wouldn’t hear of it.

Charles had caught her eye that first summer.
She thought he was so handsome, but in comparison to
now, he’d been a gawky teenage boy. She admired his
resemblance to his father, Robin hadn’t looked at all like
Thomas, but he did resemble the portrait of his mother
that used to hang in the formal drawing room at their
Grosvenor Square mansion.

‘Charles.’ She said evenly. ‘You should wake up
now.’ He jumped, but didn’t wake up. She sighed and
tried another tactic. ‘Captain Stafford.’ She said loudly.
‘Captain, wake up!’ she said as she slapped her palm on
the desk top.

Charles jerked, sat up and washed his hands over
his face. ‘Louise.’ He said softly. ‘What are you doing
here?’

‘I’m visiting.’ She said unhelpfully. ‘May I enquire
why your bed isn’t good enough for an intoxicated nap?’
she asked looking pointedly at the empty decanter.

‘You weren’t in it.’ He muttered under his
breath, or so he thought.
‘I could be, if you were willing to just take me
there.’ She said evenly, looking demurely at her hands.
‘I got the impression that you didn’t want to upset your
father.’
‘I don’t want to.’ Charles said without thinking
and then realised what he’d said. He looked up at Louise
sharply. ‘He’s dead, isn’t he.’
‘Yes, Charles. He’s dead and you are the new
Duke of Durham. I know you don’t want the title, but
unless Victoria is already pregnant, you have no choice.’
‘Victoria being pregnant won’t change a thing.’
He muttered darkly. ‘I’m the Duke and I’m stuck with it.’
Her heart turned over at how depressed he sounded.
‘Maybe we can learn together.’ She murmured.
‘That is if you still want to marry me?’ she asked and
Charles was struck by the desolation in her face.
He lurched out of his chair and swung around
the desk. ‘Of course I still want to marry you,’ he said as
he reached for her hands and pulled her to her feet.
‘You are so beautiful.’ He said as he stroked his fingers
across her cheek to cup the back of her head and
crushed his lips over hers. He was so astonished, when
she rested her palm on his throbbing erection, that he
snatched his mouth away from hers and audibly gasped.
‘Don’t.’ He mumbled as he stepped back. ‘Please? I
don’t trust myself.’
‘In what way don’t you trust yourself, Charles?’
she asked provocatively as she moved forward.
Jesus! I’m in over my head!
He thought,
recognising the light in her eyes as he stepped back
again and collided with the edge of the desk across his
buttocks. ‘I don’t trust myself not to tear your clothes
off and make love to you on the rug in front of the fire!’
he gabbled, his voice not sounding like his at all. He
tried to clear his throat as she smiled wickedly.
‘That sounds delightful.’ She murmured, turned
abruptly around and walked towards the door. Charles
sighed deeply in relief, but it was short lived as she
asked ‘Do you love me?’
‘What kind of question is that?’ he demanded
rather more harshly than he intended.
She stood facing the closed door. ‘I just
wondered whether you knew yet.’
‘You fascinate me.’ Charles admitted grudgingly,
slowly relaxing against the desk and shoving his fingers
through his hair in exasperation. ‘Do you love me?’ he
asked deliberately.
‘Yes. But then I have from the first day I saw
you.’ she said and looked at him over her shoulder, her
golden eyes blazing like fire. Suddenly she turned the
key in the lock on the door and walked back to the desk.
‘I think you should indulge yourself, Your Grace.’ She
said as she snaked her arms around his neck and invited
him to kiss her again.
It was too much for him and he crushed his
mouth over hers as he wrapped his arms around her
body, pulling it firmly against him. He moaned as his
fingers undid the back of her dress and he shook his
head in denial as his hands forced the dress off her
shoulders. He was utterly astounded to find her naked
underneath her dress and suddenly she stood before
him in all her glory, the late evening sun making golden
blocks on her body. Her nipples were erect.
They are the
same colour as her blushes,
he decided in awe. She
smiled as she reached up for the pins in her hair and
suddenly it was flashing in the sun too, like the flames in
a blaze. She shook her head, making her hair tumble
about her body and leaned forward to drop the pins on
the desk. ‘You have a good deal too many clothes on.’
She said huskily and reached for his silk cravat, pulling
the end slowly until the bow burst open. Charles was
galvanised into action and he wrenched his jacket off,
flicked open the first few buttons on his shirt, before he
yanked the whole thing over his head and started on
the buttons of his britches.
Louise was mesmerised by the bulge in his
trousers. Her chat with Victoria in the morning had
primarily discussed the differences between men and
how you never really know just how big it was going to
be. Thomas was well endowed, Victoria assured her, so
it stood to reason Charles would be his father’s son, in
the same department. But nothing prepared her for
seeing a fully erect male sex organ. She was fascinated
that the veins stood out and the whole thing throbbed
in time with his heart beat. She could see it pulsing.
‘Touch it.’ He murmured and she looked up into
his knowing and experienced eyes. She gently reached
out with her right hand and wrapped her fingers around
the girth. She gasped as she felt it throb against her
palm and Charles groaned at the delicacy of her touch.
‘Do you want me to lick it as well?’ she asked
innocently.
‘Not tonight.’ He murmured as he pushed his
britches down his hips and stepped out of them leaving
just his boots on. He pulled her body against his chest
and kissed her more passionately and less harshly.
This
is your wife to be! Don’t just fuck her!
He admonished
himself as the urge to throw her facedown over the
desk and screw her from behind flashed through his
mind. Instead, he swept her up in his arms and laid her
carefully on the rug in front of the fire.
She’s a virgin.
Treat her gently.
He instructed himself and kept himself
under harsh restraint, even as she bucked with the
magic in his fingers producing her first ever orgasm. He
looked down on the expression of wonder and smiled
happily.
Jesus! She is so beautiful.
He said to himself yet
again and felt his own wonder as her mouth opened in
an unadulterated O of pleasure. She closed her eyes in
ecstasy and Charles shifted between her thighs, he took
his penis in his hand and guided it gently into the
entrance to her female passage. It was slick with her
sexual discharge. ‘Relax.’ He murmured as he slowly
pushed in until he came up against the resistance of her
maidenhead.
Fuck! She’s so tight!
He thought. ‘This
might sting a little or even a lot. Every woman is
different.’ He muttered and forced himself harshly
through the barrier, fully sheathing himself inside her.
She gasped and her eyes flew open. ‘All done.’ He
murmured and kissed her face all over, from her chin to
her forehead. Fluttering little butterfly kisses, to distract
her attention as well as soothe her fears.
‘Is it normal for it to hurt?’ she asked innocently.
‘Yes, but it usually doesn’t last very long.’ He
mumbled against her neck. ‘Not that I’ve deflowered a
lot of virgins, but most women will talk about their first
time.’
For Louise, it was an overwhelming sensation of
being invaded and stretched. But something was
missing and she felt an urge to move. She became
aware of how his body trembled with need and without
realising what she was doing, instinctively her hips
moved up, allowing him a deeper access to her body. He
moaned and slowly pulled back almost to the point of
withdrawal and then he rushed in again. He kept up this
uneven rhythm, pulling out slowly and pushing in
quickly until he felt her body start to tremble, when he
evened out the rhythm as he gathered speed.
‘Oh!’ Louise uttered. ‘It’s so.....’ she was unable
to finish the sentence as he kissed her deeply, delving as
deep as his tongue could go without choking her.
Oh! God!
He thought,
how sublime can it get,
with my tongue in her mouth and my cock in to the hilt.
All I need now is her to orgasm for me.
‘Come for me
Lulu?’ he murmured and ran his tongue over her cheek,
down her neck and across her collarbone. He could hear
her panting with the physical exertion and gently he
slipped his hand between them, feeling for her clitoris.
‘God! You’re so wet.’ He murmured as her fluids
flooded his fingers and enabled him to slide his fingertip
over that pleasure gland with ease.
‘Uh!’ burst from her throat as her body reacted
and suddenly her back was arching and an “Uh” burst
with every breath. He felt the first ripple of her internal
muscles and almost cried as he murmured. ‘You’re
coming! Can you feel it?’
But Louise was incapable of rational thought, as
her orgasm exploded through her body like a torrent,
washing from her toes to burst inside her cranium like a
firework. She clenched her fists in Charles’s hair in
ecstasy and he was astonished to feel her body continue
to writhe as he shuddered and emptied his sperm into
her explosively. He felt every throb of her passage, as
she milched him, his hips cradled by her thighs and his
back arched with the strength of his orgasm.
‘My God!’ Louise gasped in wonder. ‘I had no
idea it was so good.’ She looked at Charles with her
golden eyes. ‘No wonder you men like to keep it to
yourselves.’
‘Thank you.’ Charles murmured as he slowly
disengaged their bodies, rolled off her and lay spreadeagled on the carpet, his chest heaving as he panted
from the exertion.
She rolled on her side, wiped the sperm from her
thigh and inspected it. She sighed deeply and looked
down the length of his fine body, with it’s chiselled
musculature and dense springy body hair. ‘Next time
you should take your boots off.’ She said softly.
He laughed easily. ‘Next time I hope its in a bed!’
He pulled his jacket towards him and removed his large
linen handkerchief. Graciously he offered it to Louise.
‘What do I need that for?’ she asked innocently.
‘Do you wish to remain sticky for the rest of the
night?’ he asked impertinently.
She smiled cockily, rolled on her back, opened
her legs and said. ‘Would you mind?’
‘Not at all!’ Charles said and rolled on his side to
wipe the linen around her sex and thighs. ‘But I
shouldn’t really bother.’ He murmured as he buried his
mouth in her vagina and insistently brought her to more
orgasms, his arms under her thighs and his fingers
tormenting her nipples as he kept her coming over and
over again.
‘No more.’ She begged before he would stop,
‘Please? No more!’ He rested his cheek on her lower
abdomen and just sniffed the aroma of her arousal. It
was intoxicating, making his manhood swell and throb.
He hefted himself up on his elbows and shuffled over
her lax body until his throbbing manhood was poised for
re-entry. Lifting her legs, one at a time, he pulled them
out and placed her feet flat on the rug. Slowly he
penetrated her, feeling her vagina palpitate and the
mouth of her womb quivered as he became fully
embedded.
‘We should get dressed.’ He murmured. ‘Victoria
will have organised dinner.’ He lifted his head and
stared in her golden eyes as he slowly withdrew making
her whimper.
‘No.’ she gasped in a whisper, believing that he
was pulling out completely. ‘Please?’
He smiled lasciviously. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
He whispered as he forced his manhood back in to the
hilt. Louise lifted her hips to accept his carnal pleasure
and as he seated himself fully again he uttered an
imprecation. ‘Fuck! I couldn’t leave now if my life
depended on it!’
Charles was stunned at the response of his bride
to be. It appeared that he was fortunate to have chosen
a sensual and passionate partner to share his life and
title. Slowly he brought her to the pinnacle of ecstasy
and as she plunged over the precipice, she started to cry
as she gasped and moaned. He could feel all the tiny
muscles in her slick passage ripple and milch him as he
forced himself in and his body shook in rapture as a
deluge of his seed spurted into her womb.
As his muscles relaxed, he looked down on her
face and gently kissed the tears from her cheeks.
‘I love you, Charles.’ She mumbled as she buried
her face in his shoulder. She slid her hands across his
shoulders and down his back, pulling his body against
her, making him suck in a sharp breath.
‘Please, be careful?’ he asked and looked at her
imploringly. Louise frowned and flattened her hands on
his back. She opened her mouth in surprise as she felt
the ridged skin under her palms. Charles slowly
disengaged from her, feeling her throb as he finally slid
out and he shuffled down her body, before he relaxed
and rested his face between her breasts. ‘That was
beautiful. Thank you.’ He whispered. They were quiet
for a few minutes as Charles thought about the murder
of his father. ‘I hope Kitty will be alright.’ He said as his
eyes lost focus and he recalled how distressed his sister
was earlier.
‘Don’t worry about Kitty. I understand from
Mary that Richard passed out in her room and she had
him undressed and laid in her bed. So I would imagine
they are engaged in the same activity as us.’
Charles knew she was right. Richard had looked
pale for most of the afternoon and he knew that sooner
or later he would black out. Richard wouldn’t be able to
resist Kitty, anymore than he’d been able to resist
Louise. He smiled softly and picked up the linen
handkerchief, pushed himself up onto his knees and
wiped it around Louise’s privates. He quickly stood,
thrusting his legs into his britches, quickly buttoning
them as he picked up his shirt. He looked down on
Louise as she lay on the carpet. ‘Hey! Shake a leg.’ He
said and crouched down to shake her shoulder. ‘You
can’t sleep now. If I come to your room tonight I can
make love to you until you fall asleep.’ He murmured
and helped her sit up.
‘I ache.’ She said in surprise.
‘You would.’ He said and snorted in amusement.
‘You have just used muscles that have never been used
before.’ He helped her to her feet. ‘You’ll be sore as
well.’ He picked up her gown and held it as she stepped
into it. She forced her arms in the sleeves and turned for
him to do up the back. She twisted her hair around and
used the pins to secure it in a passably ordered state.
‘How do I look?’ she asked him.
‘Beautiful, as always.’ He said and kissed her
softly, ‘desirable,’ he kissed her again, ‘alluring,’ he
murmured, as he traced his lips down her throat,
‘fascinating,’ he rested his lips against the hollow in her
throat ‘and so delightfully available.’
‘And you need to finish dressing.’ She said firmly,
‘before you take my dress off again.’