Birching His Bride (Domestic Discipline 1) Page 15

  Eleanor's feet were moving before she could think, running, taking her to the refuge of her chambers, although she couldn't outrun the fact that her greatest fear was coming true: she was turning into her mother.

  ********

  In his study, Edwin poured three glasses of port and handed on to Wesley, keeping one in hand and settling the third on the table next to the empty armchair for Hugh once he joined them.

  "To happy reunions," he said grinning as he raised his glass. Wesley laughed and raised his hand as well before taking a sip of the port.

  "Very nice," said Wesley approvingly with a sigh as he settled back into his chair. "You'd be amazed how hard it can be to get a glass of good port in India."

  "What was it like?" Edwin asked, curious. There were many changes in his friend, not the least of which was a seriousness to him that Edwin had never seen before. He wondered if the changes came from Wesley's travels or from the burden of his new title as the Earl of Spencer.

  As Wesley told him of the dry dusty land, the monsoon season and the colorful fabrics and people, Hugh joined them and settled down to his own glass of port, looking rather content. Edwin was a little curious about what Hugh and Eleanor had spoken of, but he was too enthralled by the tale that Wesley was weaving around them to divert the conversation just yet. He spoke of the hard-eyed, brown-skinned swordsmen, the sharp division of the classes, the elephants and monkeys, and the very strangeness of the culture in comparison to their own.

  "And the women..." Wesley said, a sudden grin flashing across his face as his eyes unfocused in a rather nostalgic expression. "You wouldn't believe the attention the Indians put into their amorous pursuits."

  "Oh really?" asked Hugh, leaning forward with interest. Edwin only smiled. He was quite happy with his own amorous pursuits and didn't particularly feel the need for embellishment. For a moment he let his mind wander back to Paris, where Eleanor had allowed him to spank her for pleasure several more times; once he'd even turned her bottom a hot cherry red as she'd whimpered and even cried a little, but hadn't asked him to stop. In fact their love making had been even more intensely passionate than ever. Not that she would admit that she liked being spanked, and he certainly didn't indulge every time, but the occasional one allowed him to get the itch out of his hand.

  Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, Edwin pushed his mind back to the conversation at hand where Wesley describing some of the sexual positions that the Indians had invented and their various drawbacks and rewards. As well as some of "extras" they used.

  "In fact," said Wesley with a twinkle in his eye. "I brought home presents." He turned to Edwin. "I brought yours and handed it over to Banks in case we didn't see you today."

  "And where's mine?" Hugh demanded in mock indignation.

  "It will be your wedding present," retorted Wesley as Edwin rang for Banks. "I missed Edwin's wedding so he gets his now." It was only a few minutes before the butler returned with the package that Wesley had brought, a box tied neatly in packing and filled with straw to cushion its contents.

  "What is all this?" Edwin asked curiously as Wesley pulled out several bottles.

  "This one," Wesley held up a large green bottle with a black stopper, "is massage oil. It enhances the experience admirably." He held up another bottle. "This one is for ah... lubrication."

  "I'm not sure I need that one." Edwin grinned wickedly.

  "I didn't hear that," Hugh muttered as he picked up the massage oil to examine it, a thoughtful look on his face.

  "It might not be what you think it's for," countered Wesley, grinning wickedly. Edwin raised an eyebrow at him as Hugh looked up, confused. "Gentlemen, there's a whole world of pleasure out there that we have missed out on. Things that are acceptable in other cities would require us going to some of the worst, most degenerate dens of iniquity in this city."

  "Such as?"

  "Have you ever enjoyed a woman's bumhole?"

  Edwin shook his head and Hugh just laughed.

  "Are you saying some woman actually let you put your cock in her arse?" asked Hugh, still laughing. "You actually expect us to believe that?"

  The white flashing grin on Wesley's face said that he didn't care whether they did or not. "And she enjoyed it. The lubrication helps. As do these." He pulled out a smaller box and opened it, revealing four objects of increasing size.

  "Those are dilators," said Edwin, reaching out to touch one of the hard rubber things. "I saw an advertisement for them in the paper, they're to relieve constipation."

  "Which I'm sure they do, but they're also quite useful for stretching a woman's rosebud to a point where she can accommodate a man. They're all the rage in ah... certain places."

  Edwin ran his finger over the hard rubber of the smallest dilator, it wasn't much thicker than his finger and he had a sudden vision of Eleanor on her hands and knees, bottom in the air as he pushed this strange thing inside of that forbidden orifice. The image caused a wave of lust that nearly brought him to his knees and he eyed the box with new interest. Although he was quite content with things as they had become while he and Eleanor were in Paris, there could certainly be no harm in exploring new vistas of sensuality.

  "And if the woman doesn't like it, and happens to be a willful spoiled brat, they're rather useful for discipline." Wesley eyed Edwin, but out of respect for Hugh (who grimaced) didn't go further into specifics. The image in Edwin's mind changed to an Eleanor with bright red buns and a plugged anus and he coughed a little as he tried to get a control of his wayward libido.

  "What are these?" he asked, hastily opening another little box in order to change the focus of the conversation. Inside were what looked like earrings, but with the kind of screw clamps that he'd seen used by carpenters, only in miniature.

  "These beauties are to adorn a woman's nipples," said Wesley, taking them from Edwin and deftly demonstrating how to adjust the tension of the prongs with the tiny screws. Both Hugh and Edwin were utterly fascinated, both imagining them on very different feminine forms. "They will pinch, and the tighter they are the more they pinch and the less time you can leave them on." Edwin had to squash the urge to run upstairs and try them out immediately on his wife. Considering how much she enjoyed being spanked, even if she never admitted it and claimed only to be doing so because it was his fantasy, he was sure that adding a little bite to another sensitive part of her body would result in the same kind of passion.

  "What's in this?" asked Hugh, picking up the smallest, and last, bottle in the box.

  "That, my friend, is a very powerful aphrodisiac. Three drops with your wine in the evening and make sure you have the entire night to indulge yourself or you'll regret it."

  Both Edwin and Hugh studied their friend, to see if he was joking, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of mirth on Wesley's face. A little bit of ruefulness and a hint of nostalgia, but it was obvious that he wasn't having one over on them.

  The last thing in the box was a book, which Wesley said was called the Kamasutra and contained over a hundred sexual positions, all with their own name. Edwin decided that he would look at it later, in private or with Eleanor, and the men returned to their seats.

  "I'm surprised you're in London, actually, although I'm glad to see you," said Edwin to Wesley. "But I thought you would be out at Hammersby." Hammersby was Wesley's main estate now, the seat of his earldom and where the rest of his family spent most of their time.

  Wesley shuddered. "I was there long enough to get things in order, but believe me, an escape back to London was necessary."

  "Your mother?" Edwin guessed, thinking that Lady Spencer had probably taken immediate advantage of her son's presence to begin encouraging him to do his duty as Earl - which to a mother's mind always involved marriage.

  "Shockingly no," Wesley said. "Mother is in Bath with my father's, well I suppose she’s my ward now. My brothers on the other hand are both at Hammersby and they are pestering the daylights out of me. Matthew wants me to buy him a commiss
ion, he's gone completely army mad, and Vincent wants me to send him to some school in Italy where he can study art of all things." Wesley tossed back the rest of his port in exasperation as both Hugh and Edwin chuckled and Edwin refilled the glass. "Of course Father had turned them down and Mother is completely against Matthew going into the army. Vincent claims she was coming around on his desire to travel, if not his choice of studies. But they want me to give them permission and funds to pursue their 'dreams' while she's away dealing with Cynthia, leaving me to face the music when she finally returns and finds out what I've done."

  Both Hugh and Edwin burst out laughing at the look of resigned consternation on Wesley's face. They knew that he would do exactly that in the end, and his brothers probably did too. Considering that he had traveled his own path, managing to travel as he pleased through his own ingenuity and in defiance of his father's wishes, he would not stifle his brothers now that they were of a similar age as to when he'd set off. But he obviously didn't want to be left alone to deal with his mother's recriminations either.

  "Cynthia's your ward?" Hugh asked.

  "Yes, I haven't actually met her yet. Mother took her to Bath to slowly introduce her into Society." He hesitated. "Matthew said that she's very pretty but a little wild... apparently Mother thought she might do better away from the influence of my brothers and in the company of other young ladies."

  "I can only imagine what trouble your brothers might have encouraged her to get into," said Edwin, grinning. "Can you remember how often we talked Eleanor into doing things that we were too scared to?"

  Hugh laughed. "Like the time she stole the chocolate tarts that we were supposed to have for dessert that night? She would have gotten away with it too if she hadn't gone back for seconds."

  "Which she only did because Edwin wanted another one," Wesley teased, a smile creeping over his face as they fell into reminiscing rather than talking about his current difficulties.

  "And she never told on us either," Edwin said shaking his head, thinking ruefully about Eleanor's somewhat misplaced loyalties towards the three of them when they were younger. She'd always been tagging along behind them wanting to join in with whatever they were doing. Perhaps Wesley's ward was experiencing something similar with his brothers. "How old is your ward?"

  "Cynthia? Ah..."

  "He doesn't know!" Hugh chortled. "What a terrible guardian you are!"

  "I've had a rather lot on my mind," Wesley said in exasperation. "My mother mentioned it to me but there have been more pressing matters to remember than some schoolgirl chit's age. She's close to coming out."

  "So she must be nearing seventeen or eighteen," mused Hugh. "I wonder if your mother wasn't worried about a completely different kind of trouble from your brothers. Matthew's what, twenty two? And Vincent is nineteen? And Matthew said she was pretty."

  Wesley frowned, considering, and Edwin felt a little pang for his friend. Two years ago Wesley would have found that kind of situation to be something of a joke, he would have preferred to think that his brothers were enamored rather than just leading a young miss into trouble and would have been the first to place wagers on which of his brothers would steal a kiss from the chit first, or if his mother would be a stalwart enough chaperon to keep them at bay. Either the responsibilities of his position or lessons learned when he traveled had obviously steadied him and given him a more serious outlook on life; he was obviously taking the responsibility of a ward more seriously than Edwin would have guessed. He and Hugh exchanged glances, but Hugh just shrugged and smiled a little, as if to say that this new more pensive side of Wesley was something he'd already become acquainted with and was no longer unexpected to him.

  "I suppose I'll have to check into that too," Wesley muttered. He sighed and rubbed at his forehead.

  Out of the three of them, Edwin knew that Wesley had been the least prepared to take up the reigns of the Earldom. Hugh's father had begun handing over certain responsibilities to Hugh when he was only twenty four, making sure that he was familiar with every inch of the estate and the duties that came with it. Because Edwin's parents abhorred the city, his father had begun sending Edwin in to take care of business as soon as it became feasible, knowing that Edwin rather enjoyed time in London. In contrast, Wesley's father had been a rather overbearing man who had difficulty giving up any kind of control, basically demanding that Wesley learn the knowledge without every taking an actual hand in running things. For someone of Wesley's active nature that had been paramount to torture and he'd left rather than stayed and learn under his father's looming tutelage.

  "Your mother seems to have it well enough in hand, if she's taken the chit to Bath," Edwin said consolingly. "And it might not be the case anyhow."

  "I hope not. Matthew didn't seem as though he was pining for her and neither did Vincent." Wesley mused a bit more and then relaxed, his familiar grin spreading across his face as he looked back at Edwin. "Enough about me. How's married life? I have to admit, I always thought Hugh would be wearing the ball and chain before either of us."

  Hugh sputtered a little and shot Wesley a look, but there wasn't much he could say in his defense. He had been the first of them to start noticing girls as something more than a nuisance and he'd certainly been the most romantically inclined. Neither Edwin nor Wesley had ever been inclined to remember things like a girl's birthday or her favorite color, and although they'd certainly used flowers and such as gifts neither had taken any particular notice of what kind or color of flowers they were sending. In fact the only woman that Edwin had ever paid such attention to was Eleanor and that was because... well because she was Eleanor. She'd always been a breed apart to him.

  "Ha, look at that smile," laughed Wesley and Edwin started a bit with surprise, realizing that he hadn't actually answered his friend. "You look like a cat that got into the cream."

  "No details please," muttered Hugh. Lounging in the armchair like a blonde Adonis, nothing in his manner gave away any discomfort that they were discussing his sister and Edwin's relations with her, but that didn't mean that he would remain so amiable if Edwin started spouting off things he didn't want to hear.

  "Well then that should answer your question," Edwin retorted. "Married life is quite agreeing with me at the moment, although at first I'd had my doubts."

  "Hugh said Eleanor wasn't exactly thrilled with the arrangements at the beginning." Wesley chuckled, but his tone was questioning. As it should be, they'd all known Eleanor long enough to know that she didn't like anyone arranging her life.

  "I think she's settled down now," said Edwin. He grinned suddenly. "A few spankings and a trip to Paris did wonders for her attitude. We had a marvelous time. I think she's realized that being married to me isn't so bad after all." Although he hadn't quite meant to his voice took on a rather salacious and masculinely smug tone that any other rake would recognize, much less his friends.

  “You spank her?”

  “Of course,” said Edwin. “I had to birch her before we left for Paris… she held a dinner and purposefully chose a menu that practically ensured I didn’t want to eat a bite of it.”

  Wesley burst out laughing. “God, who would have thought she’d do something like that? Ingenious, although I can barely imagine Nell doing such a thing. I’m sorry I missed that.”

  “I wish I had.” Edwin was smiling though, he was no longer angry over the incident and he could certainly see the humor in it. Even admire her ingenuity a little now that it was past and she’d been duly disciplined for it. He knew that she ended up truly regretting it. “After that I decided we should go on our honeymoon immediately, take some time to get to know each other again. I haven’t had to spank her since. Although,” his tone dropped conspiritally, “that doesn’t mean that I haven’t.”

  “No details,” Hugh muttered again.

  "I can't believe little Nell is all grown up and married," Wesley said shaking his head, ignoring Hugh. "It seems like just yesterday she was tagging along behind us, de
manding that we join her tea party." He sent Edwin a sidelong glance. "Although she always had been more interested in your company than mine or Hugh's."

  "Was she?" Edwin couldn't hide the surprise in his voice.

  "Of course," Hugh said rolling his eyes. "Growing up it was Edwin this and Edwin that."

  "You never told me that."

  "You never noticed all the times that we left you to entertain her and made our escape?" Hugh and Wesley exchanged grins as Edwin frowned, casting his mind back.

  He supposed he had noticed, sort of. But he'd never felt as though he'd been ditched by his friends, on the contrary he'd often been quite content to share in Eleanor's adventures. Not having any siblings of his own it had been a wonderful new experience to indulge a little girl on occasion - and since he wasn't her real brother he hadn't felt any of the frustration with her that Hugh often had.

  "Worked out well for me," he said rather smugly, thinking of how she'd turned into a beautiful, passionate young woman. He eyed the box that Wesley had brought for him. Hugh looked at it, but rather than following Edwin's thoughts to his sister, Hugh's thoughts obviously went to his own bride and he let out an impatient little sigh. Edwin grinned. "Only a week to go Hugh and then you'll have your own bride well in hand."

  "It can't come soon enough," said Hugh rather morosely, shifting in his seat. The movements of a man who hadn't been with a woman since he'd begun seriously courting.

  "That was definitely one advantage of a quick wedding," Edwin muttered, and then raised his voice as Hugh shot him a look. Wesley covered his smile with a quick sip of port. "How is Miss Chandler?"

  "Quite well," Hugh smiled as his eyes unfocused, the lines of his face softening and Wesley and Edwin exchanged amused glances.

  “Have you met her?” Edwin asked Wesley.

  “Very briefly. She seems like a well-bred kind of lady,” said Wesley. His tone wasn’t condemning exactly, but it didn’t seem entirely approving either and Hugh scowled at him.

  “Exactly the kind of lady I want,” said Hugh. “No matter how much Edwin might enjoy spanking my sister I certainly don’t want to spend all my time disciplining my wife.” He shook his head at his friend. “I don’t see the appeal at all. I’d much rather have a sweet, loving wife that doesn’t cause me any trouble.”