Birching His Bride (Domestic Discipline 1) (4 page)

With a show of
willpower that Edwin considered nothing less than heroic, he released Eleanor’s
soft, curvy body, reluctantly letting go of her luscious bottom.  While it
was possible she had gasped because she was shocked at the liberties he’d taken
by touching her so intimately, Edwin was sure he’d heard some pain in her
voice, meaning that she certainly had at least been spanked before he came
over. The idea inflamed him. Spanked the day before being wedded to him and
soon he’d have the right to put his hands all over her lovely body. To
administer that discipline.

For her part, Eleanor
stared at him, very much like an awed child as her body trembled now that he
was no longer holding her up. What on earth had just happened? Why had she
responded to him like that?

The man was more
dangerous than she’d realized. While she’d heard about the effect a rake could
have on an innocent young woman, she had never experienced it for herself and
had no idea that it was so overwhelming!  A man like this wouldn’t be
controlled by her. There was no way she could marry him.

“Ah, is everything
alright in here?” her mother said, appearing in the doorway to see them standing
and staring at each other.

“Quite,” said Lord
Edwin with a smile as he turned to face her, taking Eleanor’s hand in
his.  “I have asked the Lady Eleanor to be my wife and she has accepted my
proposal.”

“Oh how wonderful!”
exclaimed Lady Harrington, as if the news was unexpected. “I am thrilled to be
the first to wish you happy.”

Eleanor gave her
mother a sickly smile, the best she could do under the circumstances. Oh… how
was she going to get out of this?

*********

Married. The slim
gold band around her finger seemed more like a shackle, chaining her to the
charming, handsome man at her side who was smiling as if he’d just won a
fortune at White’s. Somehow, despite the short notice, her parents had managed
to round up a small assembly of guests, including one young lady that she
suspected was included for her brother’s benefit. Miss Irene Chandler was the
daughter of Baron Standish.  It was well known that Miss Chandler's family
wasn't very flush and her dowry didn't have any money, but was a bit of land
that abutted directly next to some of Lord Harrington's.  If Hugh and Miss
Chandler were to marry then that land would become part of the Harrington
estate, something that Eleanor knew her father wanted.   

Miss
Chandler was quite beautiful, with strawberry-blonde hair and shining emerald
eyes.  In her third Season she had a number of suitors, but none so far
who were quite willing to propose marriage, knowing that doing so would mean
taking on the financial burdens of her family.  It was a well-known fact
that she would need a wealthy husband and that none of her suitors came close
to the wealth or status that Hugh did.  Despite the fact that it would be
an arranged marriage, Hugh showed every sign of being a bit smitten with the
young lady, dancing his attendance on her all through Eleanor and Edwin's
wedding breakfast.  He’d always had a much more romantic nature than his
sister.

The wedding breakfast
was coming to a close and soon Eleanor would be off to her new husband’s town
home.  Anxiety roiled in her stomach. So many changes!

“Eleanor are you
alright?” The concern in her father’s voice sparked tears in her eyes.

“Yes Father… I
just….” She paused, not wanting to insult her new husband. Not in front of him
at least. “Everything’s changing.”

“Ah,” her father said
smiling before turning to her new husband. “Edwin, might I have a moment with
my daughter?”

“Of course, sir,”
Edwin said, giving her hand a squeeze before he walked across the room to speak
to Hugh, pausing a few times to receive the well wishes of the other
guests.  Eleanor watched him, her heart in her throat.  Every little
touch that he gave her seemed to have that effect on her but she knew that she
must keep him out of her bed.  Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to annul the
marriage.

Her father put his
hand on her upper arm, drawing her attention back to him. The expression on his
face was gentle.

“We’ll miss having
you in the house, Nell, but we’ll be close by. And I chose a good man for you.
He’ll provide the kind of environment you need.”

“Yes Papa,” she said,
a lump forming in her throat. “I’ll miss you too.”

“Just be a good,
obedient wife to him,” her father said, grinning broadly.  “He’ll take
good care of you. “

“I’ll try, Papa,” she
said, mentally forgiving herself the lie. She would be good and obedient as
much as she could for as long as she could, but she didn’t consider this a real
marriage anyway.  Why, they hadn't even had a real wedding - she wasn't
wearing a special dress, she didn't have a special bouquet and there hadn't
been rows and rows of guests filling a church to see her in all her
splendor.  And despite the elegance of this wedding breakfast, it was far
too small.  This barely counted as a wedding at all!

"See that you
do." 

On the other side of
the room, her brother Hugh and Edwin were having their own conversation about
Miss Chandler.

“Quite the beauty,”
Edwin said, although truthfully he preferred Eleanor’s fair looks and lush
hair.  Miss Chandler was certainly beautiful however; quite slim with a
porcelain complexion pleasing features and young, high breasts, small but
perfectly formed. Her hair was a light reddish color and she had stunning
emerald eyes.  Looking the perfect little queen, she sat and chatted with
Lady Harrington, showing that her manners were as good as anyone else’s despite
her father’s lower status and her family’s financial situation.

“Isn’t she?” Hugh
said, looking rather starry eyed as he glanced over at the lady in question. “I
wasn't sure I wanted to fall in line when my father told me about her, but if
we can get that bit of land then we'll be able to expand the wool
manufacturing, and as soon as I saw her I lost any objections.  She’s sweet,
demure, quiet… everything Nell isn’t.”

They both chuckled. 

“I think she’ll be
the perfect wife,” Hugh said with a definitive nod.

“Does she hold you in
affection?”

“She seems to,” said
Hugh, although there was a bit of doubt in his voice. He shrugged. “At least,
she seems to have no objections to the marriage and she certainly appreciates
my attentions. There’s no reason we won’t fall in love, I’m certainly more than
halfway there.” He grinned suddenly. “I always did want a marriage like my
parents’.”

"When will you
propose?" Edwin asked. 

"Probably
soon," Hugh said amiably.  "I'd rather get this wedding business
over with as soon as possible. Mother wasn't pleased that Father insisted on
such a quick, quiet wedding for Eleanor. Means she'll probably go overboard to
make up for it planning mine."

"Do you think Wesley
might be home in time?"

"I hope so,
although he’ll still be in mourning."  They looked at each other, the
thought of the third member of their trio dimming their happiness slightly.
Wesley's adventurous feet had taken him to India soon after they’d watched
Eleanor’s birching.  Unfortunately six months ago his father had been
killed in a carriage accident and Wesley had been called home to do his duties.
No one was quite sure when he would finally arrive, but they knew that he was
on his way.  It had taken awhile to locate him with the news and then he'd
had to wrap up whatever he was doing in India - some kind of business venture
although that wasn't common knowledge.  Gentlemen weren't supposed to
sully their hands with business, but Wesley had been making a fortune and most
of the 
ton
 wouldn't care too much where the money came from as
long as he had it.

"Well at least
wait until Eleanor and I return home from our honeymoon."

Hugh chuckled.
"You think I'd allow you to miss it? Besides, my mother will want at least
three months to get everything together, there's no chance of it going off
before you come home."

Nodding, Edwin’s gaze
returned to his bride. Eleanor was looking quite lovely in a silver and gold
wedding dress that was quite modest.  It wasn't quite the wedding he'd
pictured either, but the important thing was that he was married, to the only
women he'd ever thought about marrying. He wondered if she still wore the old
fashioned kind of drawers that had no seam, making for easy access to a woman’s
body. The thought stirred him in a way that he needed to avoid while still in
company.

“Alright chap, I
think it’s time for me to focus my attentions on my bride.”

“Careful there,
that’s my sister,” Hugh said.

“I’ll take care of
her.”

“I know. Just don’t
let her get too out of hand. It’s easier to curb her behavior right away, if
you let her get away with even a little thing, she’ll run with it.” Hugh sighed
and then send a wistful and approving glance at Miss Chandler.  Chuckling,
Edwin shook his head. He’d much rather have a spirited and passionate bride
than the quiet dutiful type, but he supposed that after living with Eleanor,
Miss Chandler must seem rather restful to Hugh.

The men shook hands
and Edwin returned to his bride so that they could take their leave of the
company and return to his house.  His parents rode in the carriage with
them, making light conversation before dropping them at his town home where
Edwin promptly introduced her to the household staff before she pleaded her
tiredness and was allowed to retreat upstairs to her chamber for a refreshing
nap.

*********

Dinner was an
uncomfortable affair for Eleanor.  Her husband’s hungry gaze made her
quite nervous, despite the fact that she was wearing one of the demure gowns
her father approved of. She was quite sure that she could feel Edwin’s eyes
lingering on the swell of her bosom.  And he spent most of dinner
explaining what he expected from her in terms of running the household. There
was quite a bit of it and while Eleanor knew that her mother took care of many
of the small details of their household, it wasn't something she'd ever had to
personally do and she knew very well that Edwin had a housekeeper that had been
taking care of it before he had a bride.  Why could that not continue? But
she didn't want to argue with him.  At least not yet; she was quite sure
the argument would come later when he wanted to bed her. 

To begin her excuses,
as soon as dinner was over she pleaded exhaustion and said she needed more
rest.  Fortunately Edwin didn't seem at all suspicious, he even offered to
walk her to her chambers.  Relieved at his agreeableness Eleanor smiled
and accepted.  She was rather torn between the suspicion that Edwin was
much more dictatorial then he was currently showing and this new charming
affability of her husband. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad arrangement after
all, but she'd rather wait a few days and see. After all, Edwin had been chosen
by her father and she'd wanted to be married in order to get away from her
father's strictures.

Walking to her room
they chatted amiably and Eleanor found herself wondering if she was bucking the
idea of marriage to him because she was so used to wanting to defy her father.
So far Edwin didn't seem a bad sort of husband at all. 

Pushing open the door
to her room she turned to wish him a good night, and then he was on her, just
as when he'd proposed. Eleanor found herself stumbling back into her room,
Edwin's strong arms supporting her body and the door closing behind them. His
lips were demanding, seductive, and she opened her mouth without thinking to
accept his tongue. While her body reacted to his touch, his heat, her mind
hastened to catch up. But it was so hard to think! He was so large and
overwhelming, his hands hot on her neck as he pulled pins from her
hair.  

When he pulled his
mouth from hers she was left gasping, her lips swollen from his kisses, as he
began to lick and nibble his way down her sensitive neck. Dear God! The small
touches made the insides of her body tighten.  

She'd always
dismissed romantic novels that other girls read as silly twiddle twaddle, all
those women who became wrapped up in a man's arms and immediately forgot
everything was obviously an exaggeration. Now she was discovering that she'd
been ignorant and overconfident. Her inexperienced body had never felt
sensations like these before, she had no defenses to handle the hot wash of
need that surged through her.  The area between her legs ached unbearably
and when Edwin put his hands on her rear and pulled that part of her into his
body, his thigh thrusting between her legs so that she rubbed up against him,
she realized that he held the key to the hunger that was growing inside of
her. 

"Edwin...
please..." she said, not entirely sure what she was asking for. She knew
she needed to stop him, yet she couldn't formulate the words through her
gasping breaths as he rocked his leg between hers. 

"Lovely, lovely
Eleanor," he said into her ear, nibbling on the lobe in a way that made
her want to melt. "So clever, claiming tiredness after you had such a long
nap. If I'd known you were so eager I would have joined you earlier."

Dimly it occurred to
Eleanor that her new husband had mistaken her intentions, but before she could
tell him so, his hand slipped into the top of her gown and palmed her breast,
tweaking her nipple between his fingers.  Pleasure surged and she found
herself going weak in the knees.  Somehow, she wasn't entirely sure how,
Edwin got her undressed much faster than any maid she'd ever had, seducing and
bewildering her senses with caresses and nibbles as he did so.