Lisette (20 page)

She knew they would approve the match, but
she was worried about Elisha.

Lisette didn’t get her curiosity satisfied
until Pamela had retired and She was in her bedchamber—her father
and Drew and Marston were still in that study. Her mother came in
as she was combing her damp hair, fresh from a bath and in her gown
and robe.

Coming over, the duchess leaned down and
kissed her brow, and when the maid left, walked over to the bed and
pat it for Lisette to join her.

“Well?” Lisette scarcely breathed, searching
her mother’s face.

Cupping Lisette’s face the duchess looked
into her eyes. “Do you love him?”

“Yes. Yes. I do.”

The woman smiled. “I will admit it was a
difficult thing to sit through. So painful that it took all of my
years of training to hide my tears at times. Your father, it shook
him. However, all of them, Marston, and dear, dear Pamela, Smith—er
Drew, they were holding up better than we were.”

She dropped her hands and took one of
Lisette’s. “Of course I always felt there was something behind
Marston’s aloofness. To think it was this terrible thing. In truth,
Lisette I wanted to hug him and hold him and comfort him.”

Lisette smiled back. “Yes. There is that side
of him. When the story was told to me, that is what I ached for.
However, it is very important to him, how others see him, who know.
And he is… ah, a very passionate man.”

Her mother’s brow rose. “Passionate indeed.
When he came to the point of stating his intent to marry you, his
love for you, it transformed his whole face. There was no doubt in
either the duke or I that the depth of his love for you is
endless.”

Chewing her lip a moment Lisette asked, “And
Papa gave his blessing?”

“Oh, yes. They are tonight working out
details. Your dowry is substantial. Marston of course is very
wealthy in his own right, so I did not hang about for that. I felt
the need to spend a quiet moment with Pamela. I gather Marston
wants you the sooner the better, thus we’ll speak to the local
vicar and have it done by week’s end.”

“Oh, famous.” Lisette grinned.

“You’ve come quite a ways since I first
introduced him.”

Lisette shrugged, “You were right. We are
perfect for each other. I feel, everything I should when I with him
and more. Though he is a complex man, when it counts, he is my
lover in every way I imagined. I know that our lives will be filled
with wonderful things, and that there is much more to share with
him, show him, just as he will teach me more about understanding
him.”

“Yes, well. There will be a ceremony and then
he suggests us, the entire family gathers here later in the year
for a celebration and party. I have coaxed Pamela into coming to
London with me…”

“You have!”

“Yes. Not for the social season. But I think
being around the girls and the pets, and she said you had told her
I would help her decorate a suite in Marston’s townhouse.”

“You have lovely taste mother.

“Thank you. She needs a bit of mothering, and
I hope that as her brother will be my son in law, she will come to
realize she is part of the Wimberly clan now too.”

Lisette gazed at her. “You are a wonderful
woman.”

“As are you, Lisette. She feels very close to
you.”

The duchess arose. “Now then, we have much to
do in a short time, even if the nuptials are to be brief and local.
I am sure your father will also speak with you after breakfast in
the morning. He won’t be comfortable speaking of men things, but
he’ll want to assure you his feelings about Marston.”

They stood and for some time Lisette was in
her mother’s embrace. Feeling that comforting hand on her hair, she
murmured, “Thank you for trusting your instincts and bringing him
into my life.”

“You’re welcome. But it was you who opened
your heart to him.” Before leaving she said, “There are times you
will have to go after him, my dear. Times you will have to lead him
back into the sunlight. However, your love will be deeper for it.
He will love you with his dying breath.”

“I know. It feels…amazing, to know that. But
deep in my heart, I do. I shall never forget it.”

The duchess left and though Lisette slept, it
was not until the deep hours.

She saw her father after breakfast. They rode
together when Marston and Drew departed to the local church to
speak to the vicar.

The only sign she had gotten from Elisha was
a rather roguish wink, which she enjoyed immensely.

Her father said, “I can see you are happy, my
girl, and I am happy for you. I look forward to having Marston as a
son in law. I am most happy with gaining more family, you know. It
gives your mother and I hope we will have many grandchildren to
dote on.”

“I’m glad you approve of him, Papa.”

“My dear, there was never any doubt of that.
Even before our talk. He looks like a hard and aloof man to some,
but he always seemed a hurting one to me.”

“Perhaps I’m more like you than I
thought.”

“You are the best of your mother and I,
Lisette. I am very proud of what you have undertaken. Your love is
true when you can care for everyone the man you love does. You’ve
grown up, and come into your own.”

After the ride, he hugged her and held her in
his embrace. “You are my own darling, Lisette, and I will be most
proud to give you to a good man.”

“No one is as wonderful as you.”

He laughed a bit unsteady and when they
pulled apart, smiling, his eyes were damp. “Go prepare for the
wedding.”

She went, letting him have his time
alone.

* * * *

The Wedding Day…

At the quaint church, Lisette’s breath was
stolen anew by the darkly handsome man who waited for her in
formalwear; Elisha seemed taller, larger, but perfect. She had
chosen a silver and sapphire gown, and had her hair piled up with a
crown of diamonds and sapphires on it, and curls flowing down her
back. The way those eyes watched her approach, and how he looked at
her when she reached Elisha, melted her bones and her heart.

When they were kneeling, Elisha found her
hand and held it tightly, and when they kissed—ah—the world faded
away for the both of them.

Before they walked back out, and past Drew,
Pamela, the duke and duchess’s beaming faces—Elisha cupped her
cheeks and said quite clearly whilst looking into her eyes, “I will
never take your love for granted, Lisette. You may have to tutor me
in how to be the husband and partner you desire, but you know, I am
most eager to learn. I love you.”

The second kiss turned a few cheeks red. They
laughed upon parting, eyes smiling into eyes. Her arm slid into his
and they walked back down the aisle.

Lisette caught her mother’s wink. She also
saw her father nod to Marston with a wink of his own.

At the manor, Marston swept her up into his
arms and carried her across the threshold, much to the joy and
amassment of the staff, who had worked hard to make the house
cheerful and prepare a celebratory meal.

A gay and happy luncheon commenced. Changed
into more comfortable clothing, Lisette, Pamela, and the duchess,
spent a few hours talking afterwards. Pamela’s wardrobe was
outdated so it was decided she would buy new in London, under the
duchess’s guidance. Lisette could tell, as could Marston, that the
duchess had taken Pamela under her wing and into her heart, and
there was a deep bond forming already.

Pamela was the first to retire in order to
rest for the trip. Her mother, Drew and the duke were quietly
chatting in the study when her husband took Lisette’s hand and she
was led out of the room.

At the bottom of the shadowy stairs, he
looked down and husked, “For the next lifetime, we will ascend
these stairs as husband and wife.”

“Yes.”

He caressed her cheek and then back under the
curls that though down were tied at her nape. Elisha then picked
her up off her feet and carried her to the master chambers.

Arms around his neck, cheek against his
shoulder, Lisette sighed at the romantic gesture. Yes, he knew her
very well.

The chambers were lit by a low fire in the
grate, and warm lighting from candles in their globes. Setting her
on her feet by the bed, Elisha stepped back and began removing his
clothing, his eyes seldom leaving hers.

When he stood there, warm, nude, so
masculine, she looked over his body and husked, “I will never tire
of looking at you.”

He grinned. “You will have plenty of
opportunity to see it.” He began divesting her of her gown, the
chemise, and then knelt down to pull off her slippers and
stockings. Hands on her waist, her lifted her to sit on the edge of
his high bed. “Once everyone departs in the morning, I intend to
spend the rest of the week making love to you.”

Her body responding, flooding with need and
desire. She took his deep sensual kiss and let her hands feel his
warm muscled flesh. He liked being touched—he needed physical
touching and lovemaking.

One hand found her breast. The other nudged
her legs apart for him, and falling back onto the mattress, she
murmured, “I want to feel and taste and kiss, every part of you,
darling.’

“Mmm.” His gaze was heavy when he moved his
hand away from her slick heat and the crown of his cock was
positioned at her entry. “This time, I need to be inside you. I
ache for it. But the next….” He was filling her by inches, and
reached to hold her hands above her head before surging all the
way. “Ah, the next, my beautiful wife, I am going to kiss you
between your pretty thighs until you beg me to stop.”

Gasping at the feel of him, the fullness, she
managed, “I can hardly wait.”

Elisha thrust several times, and her knees
went higher, wider, and their breath got louder, terser. Her neck
arched, she rasped, “How can this feel so exquisite and fill me so,
that there is no other sense but you, inside of me. And yet I want
to scream more…more.”

Face tense, his arse flexing with the glide
out and harder thrust in, Elisha husked, “For the same reason, your
sex around mine feels exquisite and hot, and tests my control, but
I want more and more.”

They gave themselves up to the erotic
emotions and feelings. Her silken limbs held him. Her hips arched,
and he drove into her welcome heat, taking them both to a place of
almost mindless hungers. His climax was as glorious to her as the
act itself. Lisette decided there was nothing more sexual on earth
than Marston when he came.

Later after washing, she was treated not only
to those sweet kisses between her thighs, but Marston did it by
rolling to his back and sliding down in the bed, driving her daft
in every erotic way. He suckled, laved, and told her he liked her
flavor, the feel of her soft skin there, and her climax was
amazing. What made it more so was the masculine chuckle he offered
up to her string of moaned praises at his skill.

“I’ll need more practice.” He rolled his
lips, eyes twinkling as they looked into hers. “All the ways my
mouth and hands can pleasure you. All the places and positions we
can join our bodies.”

Her husband was going to be quite the
adventurer in the bedroom.

They had to rise at dawn to see everyone off,
but after he had doused the candles and they were lying nude in
each other’s arms, Lisette simply laid there, absorbing the sated
feel of her body, and the strength of his that surrounded her. His
hand cupped her breast.

From above her head, she heard him confess
hoarsely, “I want you again.”

“And I you.” After a moment, she added,
“Pamela will be fine, I think. Mother has taken to her.”

“Yes. I—I don’t know how I got so lucky in my
new family.”

“Oh, well, there’s a few who will think you
have gone bloody daft to wed a Wimberly.”

His lips touched her hair. That hand then
went over her ribs. It left chills and tingles behind. He said,
“There will never be a doubt in the eyes of anyone who knows me how
much I love you, Lisette. “

She sighed and covered his hand. “I love you
too. I think I shall fall in love with you quite often in the years
to come.”

His sex was hard against her buttock. She was
not all that surprised when he lifted his muscled frame and after
rolling her to her side facing him, then drew her leg over his hip,
his cock nudging her damp sex.

“I can’t wait until tomorrow.” His dark gaze
was both begging and apologizing.

Nevertheless, her eyes showed her desire for
him, and she whispered, “Neither can I wait for you. Take me, now,
my lover. Take all of me you need.”

He did, and one more time, with Lisette on
her stomach, so long and hot, she felt her blood burning, her bones
melting. He would drag his hand up her back, grasp her hair and
pull out slow, go in fast and hard, and Lisette begged a little.
She lost herself, lost everything but the feel of her husband
taking his pleasure inside of her.

On a last long thrust, he husked, “I don’t
think we will sleep tonight after all.” He climaxed with a
groan.

Of course, he was right. Lisette had to repay
him in kind, and she brought him to edge with her mouth and hands,
her body, finding all the sensitive places that aroused him, and
then bathing with him, finally hearing his half laugh, half shout,
when he came so hard his strong legs were trembling.

“I love you. I love you.” He said a dozen
times afterwards.

She hid her tears in the embraces she gave
him, falling in love, deeper, by the hour.

They were up too late for breakfast—and took
theirs on a tray—while laughing, scrambling and trying to dress, in
order to see everyone off.

Eventually they stood outside the manor,
holding hands, when the duke and duchess departed—Pamela with the
couple, and Drew, who would complete the finalities on the London
house. He had told them he was looking for a small cottage to do
his writing in, and the duke had just such a property, so after
London, they would go to Wimberly.