MAIL ORDER BRIDE: ARISTOCRAT: The Duke’s Engagement (Historical Victorian Duke Romance) (New Adult Romance Short Stories) (35 page)

Chapter Ten:

Molly walked into Thaddeus’s room and nearly skidded in the puddle of water. He was facing the window and she thought that he might be asleep, but then he turned to look at her. His face was flushed with fever and his eyes were bright with it.

She stepped forward and placed her hand on his forehead. He was burning up. He turned his head, avoiding her touch.

“How do you feel?” she asked, straightening his blankets.

“Fine,” he said roughly. “Isn’t there someone else worse off than me that needs your attention?”

“What?” She had never heard his voice sound so lifeless. That was one of the things she liked best about him. If he was angry, you knew it. If he was happy, you knew that too. Now he sounded...flat.

“It’s just a leg that I’m losing,” he said. “You might get lucky and find a man on the edge of death. I hear that those are your favorites.” His head was aching again and his leg felt like it was on fire.

“Thaddeus, I don’t understand what’s wrong,” she began and then she realized what she’d said. “Who told you about your leg?”

“Are you angry that someone stole your big moment?”

She stared at him. “Who told you?” she demanded again, her voice going slightly shrill.

“I don’t remember his name,” Thad answered. “He had cold eyes.”

“Was it Charles Silas?” Molly’s hands began to shake and she thrust them into the pockets of her white apron.

“That sounds right,” Thad answered dully, looking back out of the window. “Run on. Maybe you’ll get lucky with someone else.”

Molly drew herself upright and raised her chin, determined not to cry in front of him. “That’s fine. I’ll get Nell to check and see when you’re going into surgery.”

She walked out and down the hall to look at the schedule. It would be soon, but she didn’t know the exact time. She saw his name in a timeslot 30 minutes from the current time in Charles’ broad scrawl. Fury with him...with both of them...made her start to shake again.

Molly stomped down the canteen and poured a cup of coffee. Who did Thaddeus Bennett think he was anyway? Did he really think that she’d only been interested in him because of his injury? What kind of stories had Charles told while she was trying to find a gentle way to tell Thaddeus that he was going to lose his leg? Why had he believed the stories?

She realized that they hadn’t known each other that long. They didn’t even know each other that well. Molly finished the rest of her coffee and pulled her apron off. She was off duty. Which was good, because what she was about to do just might get her fired.

She stomped back up the hall and into Thad’s room. He turned to her, but before he could speak, she held up one hand.

“Just a moment,” Molly said. “You had your say, and I know that Charles had his.”

“Charles?” Thad asked blankly. “You mean, Doctor--”

“Yes. Doctor Charles Silas. He called for me several times. I decided not to see him anymore so he decided to tell you that I’m some kind of horrible ghoul, lurking around hospital corridors hoping for a man with one foot in the grave. I know that you don’t know me that well, but if you don’t know me better than that, you’re an idiot. I stay here so much because I’m attracted to you, not because you’re about to lose a leg.”

He stared at her for a long moment and she thought that she’d probably lost him for good. She hadn’t exactly meant to call him an idiot. Suddenly he laughed. There was a slightly hysterical tone to it, but she understood that he was terrified of what was about to happen. He opened his arms and Molly went into them without hesitation.

“I’m afraid that I won’t wake up,” he said roughly, speaking into her hair.

Molly pressed her face to his over-heated chest and said, “You’re not too terribly sick. We caught the infection in time.”

“Will you really be attracted to...to half a man?”

“Half a man?” she drew back and frowned at him. “Your math is faulty, sir. In any case, I’d be attracted to you no matter how many legs you had.”

He laughed again. But before he could speak, they heard footsteps in the hall. The other staff would be taking him to surgery. Thad cupped her face. His hands were large and rough and she shivered in pleasure.

“You’re right,” he said quickly. “We don’t know each other very well. But...I’d like to. Molly...if I wake up...may I come calling on you?”

“When you wake up,” she whispered. “Of course you may.”

Just before the door to the room opened, Thaddeus pulled her close and kissed her. It was a rushed kiss, too hot and slightly painful because he didn’t know his own strength. The painkillers were making him clumsy.

“I’m in love with you anyway,” he said feverishly. “I’m in love with you.”

And then he was gone, wheeled down the hall into surgery. Molly dropped down into the chair by his bed and dropped her face into her hands. She could still feel his lips against hers. Despite what she’d said, it was a gamble. It always was.

I’m in love with him. Oh, God, let him come back.

Chapter Eleven:

Six Months Later

“Molly!” Hannah called. “Wait, wait!”

“What?” Molly asked impatiently.

“Your flowers!” Hannah thrust the small bouquet into Molly’s hands and then studied her dress. “I can’t believe you aren’t wearing white. Everyone wears white now!”

“Queen Victoria can wear what she likes to get married,” Molly retorted. “And I plan to do the same.”

Hannah smiled. “You do look lovely in green.”

Molly smoothed the dress. It was her Sunday best. “Thank you.”

She was glad that her family hadn’t pushed for a larger wedding. Thad was still a little unsteady on his prosthetic leg and he wasn’t up for a long ceremony. For two reasons, one of which he’d confided to her at the door last night when he’d kissed her good night. She felt her whole body heat up at the memory of it.

He’d come out of the surgery and recovered fairly well. He attributed it to her care, but she knew that his determination had more to do with it. The second Boer War might have claimed his lower right leg, but it hadn’t broken his spirit.

And now she was going to marry him. Her hands shook as she clutched the flowers a little too tightly. The music began and she took her father’s arm.

Thad tried not to shift uncomfortably as he waited. The doors opened and Molly walked toward him, gorgeous in her pale green dress. Her brother Paul, who was best man, put his hand under Thad’s elbow when he swayed slightly.

“Attention, soldier,” he whispered with a grin.

Thad grinned back, but only for a moment. It was too hard to take his eyes off of the woman who would be his wife in the space of half an hour. When she arrived in front of him, he took her hands, wanting to kiss her already. They’d decided to wait for their honeymoon night, mainly because of the recovery time for his leg. She hadn’t wanted to chance anything. He didn’t want to disappoint her, so he’d been happy to wait until he felt fit again.

The vows were simple and the kiss was chaste. The look in his eyes must not have been, because Molly’s cheekbones tinted pink when she met his eyes. They managed to make it through the wedding breakfast and through talking with the friends and family that had come to see them marry.

They weren’t taking a honeymoon trip. Molly couldn’t be away from work that long with the war going on and Thaddeus knew that, while he might do well around the house, he wasn’t up for traveling. As soon as they could do so decently, they slipped out and walked down to the house they’d chosen.

Molly gasped in surprise when he swept her up and carried her over the threshold. “Thaddeus! Put me down!”

He did, but only after she was over the threshold. He grinned at her and traced the curve of her cheek with his thumb. “Did you think that I would drop you?”

“No,” she stammered. “It’s just...I’m too heavy.”

He grinned and kissed her. “I know I shouldn’t have,” he said. “Not since you’ve been so careful to help me with my therapy. But when will I ever have another chance to carry my new bride across the threshold into our new home?”

She threw her arms around him so suddenly that he almost stumbled. He wrapped his arms around her trim waist.

“I’m your wife,” Molly said as if she’d just realized it. “I’m Mrs. Thaddeus Bennett!”

He ducked his head and pressed a kiss to her full lips. This was the first time he’d kissed her without someone in the next room and he enjoyed it to the hilt. He cupped her face in his hands when she moved to pull away and coaxed her to part her lips for him.

“You taste so good,” he told her.

Molly again tried to pull back. “Thaddeus...”

He kissed her cheek and then pressed kisses down her neck. “What?” he asked, his hands light but firm on her waist.

“We can’t,” she began. “Not yet!”

“Why not?” He kissed his way back up from the collar of the dress, nuzzling a spot just under her ear lobe.

“It’s...it’s the middle of the day!”

“Not quite.” He pulled her even closer, so that her body was pressed fully against his. “It’s not even noon.”

Molly put her hands on his chest and pushed back. “We can’t...not in the daylight!”

Thaddeus laughed. “Why not?” he repeated.

She looked down, embarrassed, confused, and becoming more and more aroused by his big hands on her small waist. He was holding her so close that she could feel him starting to press against her. Plainly, he had no trouble with the idea of taking her to bed before noon. “I...I don’t know...”

Thad tilted Molly’s chin up. “If you really don’t want to, we won’t,” he said sincerely. “I can wait until nightfall.”

“Kiss me again,” she said, a little shyly. “Maybe...in the bedroom?”

He took her hand and they walked to their bedroom. It had been set up and ready for about a week now. She stopped beside the bed, looking up at him. He bent his head and kissed her again, lifting her up this time. She was more than a foot shorter than him and he loved the difference in their height. She tightened her arms around him as he kissed her breathless.

When he dropped her to the bed, she was ready and willing. It took both of them some time to figure out all of the buttons and hooks and snaps for each other’s clothes, but the first time he cupped her breasts in his hands and she gasped, he knew he was going to be able to please her. When her hands skimmed over his chest and down, he caught his breath as well. The first time she brushed him, he closed his eyes.

“Am I...is this right?” she asked. He’d grown bigger than he had that day in the hospital and she understood now that he’d been holding back as best he could.

“Close your fingers around it,” he said roughly. “And then move up.”

Molly did, feeling his rigid shaft pulse in her hand when she got to the crown. Thaddeus buried his face in her hair.

“Now, back down,” he said. “Ah, God, that feels so good.”

She stroked her thumb across the head when she pumped her fist back up and he went tense. When she pulled back to look at him, his eyes were closed and his brows were drawn. Almost as if he was in pain, but she knew that wasn’t the case.

She leaned forward and began kissing his chest as she stroked his shaft. His hands swept down her back to cup her hips. She teased him, playing, learning the right way to touch him, until he groaned raggedly.

“Molly, this is torture.”

He’d never been with anyone; he’d told her that. Neither had she and now she found that she was nervous. With his leg as it was, she’d have to straddle him. The idea of being that exposed to him made her feel self conscious. Molly realized that she wasn’t quite ready yet. Especially seeing how well endowed her new husband was.

Thaddeus pulled her close and kissed her, his tongue dancing with hers as his hands moved up her stomach lazily. He pinched her nipple and she nearly arched off of the bed, squealing against his mouth.

“Was that too hard?” he asked. “I’m--”

“No, please, do it again!” she gasped. Arousal like electric shock had flooded her at that simple squeeze of his fingertips.

Thad ducked his head, rolling one of her eager nipples between his fingers while he sucked the other between his lips using his tongue to tease it until she cried out. He watched her clap her hand to her mouth to muffle the sound, but he tugged it away.

“I want to hear you,” he said. “I’ve waited so long to give you pleasure, Molly.”

She moaned as one of his hands slid down between her legs, sending tingles through every nerve in her body on the way down. When he cupped her, she froze up.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said, propping up on his elbow and looking at her. “Do you trust me?”

Molly nodded, her blonde hair spilling across the pillow as he slowly began to rub her, tracing the lips of her pussy, pushing the tip of one finger just inside her. She felt herself growing wet. It would be much easier to take him now.

Then a bolt of pleasure hit her and she arched up off of the bed. His rough thumb had found her clitoris and he’d begun rubbing in a tight circle. As he rubbed, he watched her breasts. Her nipples were still stiff, still damp from his mouth and he pointed up as she pressed her body down against his hand. He slowly began sliding his finger back into her channel as he rubbed her clit. She was so tight that he had no idea how he was going to get inside her without hurting her.

This seemed like a good idea. She was steadily getting wetter and wetter. Her head tossed on the pillow, causing those lovely breasts to bounce and he felt himself jerk, beginning to throb, so hard that it was painful. When he’d managed to work one finger all the way inside her, he knew that he couldn’t wait any longer.

Thad rolled over onto his back and pulled Molly on top of him. By this point, she was too aroused to care that she was fully exposed to him. He loved the shape of her body, her small, firm breasts and the flare of her hips from her trim waist. He gripped the base of his shaft with one hand and her hip with the other. His chest was covered in a fine sheen of sweat and he was nearly panting.

“I need you, Molly.”

She needed him too. Molly carefully lowered herself onto him, feeling him breech her. She bit her lower lip when he strained her body to its limits. Thaddeus choked back a groan when she stopped, getting used to him. His fists clenched on the sheets and he closed his eyes again, his brows drawn once more.

Molly looked down at him, then looked at his straining shaft, buried half inside her now. He was an astoundingly sexy man with those broad shoulders and his flat stomach. Every part of him was mouthwateringly attractive. And he wanted her!

His hands flew back to her hips when she flexed them, taking him an inch deeper. Then another inch, and another, and another. Finally, he was seated deep within her.

His melted chocolate eyes met her wide hazel ones. His firm jaw was clenched with the effort not to move.

“How does it feel?” he asked tightly.

She flexed her hips, wringing a groan from him. “I think it’s going to be perfect. What about you? How does it feel for you?”

He moved her up a few inches and then back down. “Like heaven,” he grated out. “Ah, Molly, you have to know that you’re perfect.”

She smiled and braced her hands on his muscular chest, riding him slowly at first and then with more confidence. It didn’t hurt anymore. Rather, the opposite. She was getting closer and closer to a sensation she’d only had by herself before.

If the expression on his face was any indication, he was getting closer too. So Molly rode him faster, feeling him thrust up to meet her, the two of them moving so hard that the bed creaked.

“Harder,” she gasped, desperate to ease the tension that had built insider. “Harder, Thaddeus, please!”

He tightened his grip on her hips and slammed her down onto him again and again. Suddenly her eyes flew open and met his. She looked shocked.

“Oh!” she cried. “Oh, Thaddeus, yes!”

He felt her get even tighter around him, clenching, clenching, as she called his name. That was all he could take. He’d never imagined anything like the tight, wet, heat that she’d shown him and he’d been at the edge of an orgasm since the first time she’d flexed her hips.

He groaned as he began to spill inside her. She gasped and moved even faster.

“I can feel you,” she said in amazement. “I can feel it. Oh, you feel so good!”

Another wave of pleasure drowned the first and he groaned helplessly as she rode out both of their orgasms. This was nothing like spilling over his on fingers. Even heaven wasn’t the right word for the sensations she wrung from him.

When she finally stopped, they were both panting. Her sweat slicked skin slid against his as she curled up against his side. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on top of the head.

“I love you,” he murmured.

“I love you too” she whispered, pulling the blankets over them as her eyes began to close in exhaustion.

“Good night, Mrs. Bennett,” he said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

“I believe that you mean good day,” Molly corrected with a tired grin.

He kissed the top of her head. “It has been that. And it’s only going to get better from here.”

The war had taken half his leg, but it had given him a full heart for the first time in his twenty five years. Thaddeus pulled his wife a little closer, kissed her once more on her crown of fair hair, and considered it a fair trade.

*** THE END ***

Rich Love

By: Stephanie Hunt

Chapter One:

“I thought I asked you to plant those last week.”

Aiden listened to his mother’s voice transition from pleasant to a dangerous drawl that really brought out her Charleston accent. He couldn’t see her; she was in the front room and he was in the library, but he could imagine her face. The same one he’d seen when his grades weren’t A’s or when he’d let his tie hang a little askew. He straightened it reflexively as the gardener spoke.