Two Notorious Dukes (18 page)

I will be in London before the end of the week!
Keep that blackguard away from Elizabeth or I will not
be responsible for my actions!

The letter was dated four days previously and
even Argyll knew in this rain that it would only take four
days at the most for Robbie to get here. He stood up
and went to find Elizabeth.

The three ladies were in a heated discussion
with a modiste, with bolts of lace and silks spread
around the room.

‘Ladies.’ He said calmly as he opened the door.
‘I’m sorry to disturb you....’ to which Sarah was already
on her feet protesting.

‘You can’t come in!’ she said and hustled him
straight out of the door, with her palm on his chest.
Once out in the hallway he looked at the flush
on her face and smiled. He stroked a finger over her
cheek and said. ‘I suppose you were choosing your
chemise and petticoats?’
She blushed even more. ‘John Argyll, you’re not
supposed to know about such things.’
‘Very well, but I like thinking about it.’ He gave
her a chaste kiss on the cheek. ‘I actually need to see
Elizabeth for a minute?’
‘You stay there, I’ll fetch her.’ She ordered him
and he smiled softly at her embarrassment as she went
back into the dressing room.
Elizabeth appeared and laughed. ‘She is so
innocent at times.’ She said and shook her head. ‘Yes,
John?’
‘I’ve had a letter from Robbie. He should be here
today.’
Her heart skipped a beat, but she still frowned at
him. ‘He’s early. Did you tell him?’
‘Yes. I wrote to him right after I ejected
Craanford and told him. He wouldn’t thank me for not
doing so either.’
‘I understand. Thank you for informing me.’ She
sighed. ‘I’ll have to get ready, the first thing he’ll do is
come straight here.’
‘Will he be able to see me tonight?’ he asked
smiling wickedly.
She smiled wickedly back and shook her head.

Robert was soaked again and there was still a
river running off his hat as he turned into the rear mews
behind the tall edifices of Grosvenor Square. He made
his way carefully to the stables and his groom suddenly
appeared. ‘Your Grace!’ He said startled as he helped
Robert off the horse. ‘You must be soaked, Your Grace.’
The young man said.

‘You could say that!’ Robert managed to get out
through his chattering teeth. ‘Frozen stiff, too!’ he said
and stumbled into the warm stable block.

‘You ‘ave a little sit down by the stove, ’ere and
I’ll get you some tea.’ The groom said as he helped
Robert to the little brazier. He held his shaking hands
over the glowing coals and really appreciated that he
was a generous employer. The groom gave him a
chipped tin mug full of steaming tea. Anyone else would
look at the state of the mug and feel uncomfortable, but
not Robert. Being in the army gives you a strong
constitution for most things.
I’m glad I was in the army.
He thought as he looked at the mug.
I won’t turn my
nose up at a tin mug, not after India.
And he recollected
eating horse steaks, fried in axle grease in the breast
plate off a French Cavalry Officer, which he’d picked up
after the battle and dropped it over the fire. And tea
was drunk out of anything you had to hand. The tea was
brewed in a cooking pot over the fire and the mugs
were dipped in it to fill them.
No teapots in the army
.
He’d forgone a lot of the finer things in life when he was
in the army, it tended to close the distance between the
conscripted soldiers and the titled officers.
If you
flaunted your wealth, the soldiers didn’t appreciate you,
no matter how good a soldier you were.
He mused.
Unlike some officers, he’d never used his title
particularly. He should have been addressed as Captain
the Lord Bosworth, but he never bothered and always
announced himself as Captain Bosworth.

After five minutes, he’d thawed out enough to
move. He thanked the groom for the tea and strode out
into the early dusk. He paced back to Grosvenor Square
and turned for Argyll’s porch.

Rogers smiled happily. ‘Good evening, Your
Grace. I must say you look a little wet, Sir.’ He observed
and held out his hand for Robert’s cloak.

‘That I am. It’s raining cats and dogs out there.’
He said jovially handing over his cloak and hat, then
stripping off his gloves and dropping them inside the
hat.

‘His Grace is in the study, Your Grace.’ Rogers
said.
‘I only want to know where Lady Elizabeth is.’
‘She is running down the hallway now, Sir.’
Rogers said and turned away as Robert spun around to
see beautiful, petit Elizabeth sprinting from the bottom
of the stairs.
‘Elizabeth!’ he shouted in exaltation.
She called his name, but it was muffled through
the tears streaming down her face. He swept her up in
his arms and crushed her to his chest.
‘Oh! My love, my love!’ he murmured into her
hair. ‘Tell me he didn’t hurt you.’ But she couldn’t tell
him anything as she was crying too much. He
manoeuvred her about until he could carry her to the
stairs and they went up to the main drawing room.
Surprisingly there was no one in there, so he sat down
on a hard chair and rocked her in his arms until she
stopped weeping.
Eventually she was quiet, both of them content
just to be with the other. She became aware that her
bottom was getting wet.
‘Robert.’ He moved his face out of her hair and
looked down at her. ‘Have you changed?’
He shook his head. ‘No. I came straight from the
stable.’ She sat up straight and felt his coat, squeezed
some of the water out of the cuff. ‘Good God! You’re
soaking wet!’ she said and was off his lap like a fury.
And he sat there watching the love of his life order
servants around until he’d been provided with a hot
bath, a change of clothes and a hot meal.
She grabbed his hand and dragged him up to the
Green Room where she helped him out of his wet
clothes, as Carter got the footmen filling the Duke’s
bath. He twitched a towel around his midriff for
decencies sake, in front of the servants and waited until
they were gone before he plunged his body into the hot
water. She knelt beside the tub and swished water over
his shoulders and chest.
She looked at him coyly. ‘I’m going to say
something I didn’t think I would ever say to a man.’ She
whispered. ‘I love you, Robert Bosworth.’ He leaned
forward and kissed her softly.
‘I love you too, Elizabeth Audley.’ He said as he
sat back and dunked his shoulder under the hot water.
‘Is that aching again?’ He nodded, so she pushed
up the sleeves of her gown, picked up the soap,
lathered her hands and proceeded to stroke them over
his shoulder, front and back. Unlike Burke, Elizabeth
even smoothed her fingers over the actual scar, rubbing
delicately over the damaged muscles and bone. He
sighed and moaned while she did it. ‘I have some news
for you.’ she said softly, so as not to disturb the relaxed
mood. Robert huh hummed. ‘I’m going to have a baby.’
He jerked his eyes open and looked at her in
shock. ‘A baby?’ he asked. She caught her lower lip in
her teeth and nodded her head. His heart turned over at
the look of trepidation on her face. He forced his body
upright, reached out of the tub and grabbed her
shoulders. ‘A baby!’ he shouted as he hauled her fully
clothed into the tub with him. She squealed in protest,
but soon stopped when his lips crushed down over hers
and he kissed her with such passion her heart melted.
Slowly he removed his lips and rubbed her cheek with
his nose.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked softly.
‘No doubt about it.’ She said.
‘I’d say that entitles us to a celebration.’ He said
softly as he kissed her neck.
‘What kind of celebration were you thinking of?’
she whispered.
‘Well, first I was thinking about taking your
clothes off and then I was going to take you to bed, to
show you just how much I love you.’
‘Can’t you show me here and now.’ She asked
distractedly as she lifted her chin for his face.
‘In this bath?’ he asked laughingly. ‘It’s a bit
small.’
‘Luckily I’m not too big.’ She said and pulled
herself out of the bath, she stood and looked down on
him and slowly removed the pins from her hair. She
smiled coyly as she walked across the room to lock the
door, walked back as she kicked her slippers off and
blatantly stood in front of Robert and slowly turned her
back to him, knelt down and lifted her hair forward.
‘Would you like to help?’ she asked provocatively. He
reached over and slowly undid the back of her dress,
she stood and slowly let the dress go. Robert’s erection
was enormous and she tried not to giggle as she saw its
head pop out of the bath water. ‘Have you got a snake
in there?’ she asked, looking over her shoulder as she
dropped her dress on the carpet. As she turned back to
undo the ribbons on her petticoat he shook his head
vigorously. ‘I thought it was a snake.’ She smiled
mischievously as the petticoat fluttered to join her
dress. She slowly undid the laces of her stays and
propped her foot on the edge of the bath so that Robert
could take off her stockings and garters and eventually
all she had left was her chemise. She carefully stepped
into the bath, Robert held her hands to make sure she
didn’t over balance. He moved his legs first one way and
then the other until she was standing astride him and
she slowly sat down on his lap. ‘I think you should finish
undressing me now.’ She whispered huskily and held
out the ribbon of her chemise for him.
His heart was pounding as he pulled on the
ribbon and his daydream came true as her breasts fell
into his hands. He gently caressed each breast and then
slowly he lifted the chemise to take it over her head,
making her lift her arms and as the flimsy undergarment
skimmed to join the rest of her clothes, Robert kissed
her nipples. Using the flannel he swished water over her
breasts and she sat proudly as he inspected them with
his tongue. ‘They’re different.’ He murmured.
‘Of course. I’m pregnant.’ She lifted his face and
looked down at him. ‘By late spring our baby will be
feeding off them.’
‘They’ll be different again, then.’ He murmured.
‘Enough talk, my love.’ She whispered in his ear.
‘Show me how much you love me.’ And dropped her
hand onto his excessively throbbing manhood.
‘Whatever you say, my Lady.’ He murmured
against her lips before he took them in a searing kiss as
she manoeuvred him into her entrance. Slowly they
made love, trying not to cause a tidal wave and
overflow the bath and at the pinnacle she shoved the
flannel in her mouth to smother her scream.
Afterwards they sat and stared at each other. His
swollen manhood still engulfed in her tight passage.
‘Can you move?’ he whispered and she shook
her head.
‘Not yet, my love. Just give me a few minutes.’
He laughed. ‘This is going to be embarrassing.
How will we explain this to Mary tomorrow morning?’
‘Kiss me.’ She whispered. ‘Like you did before.’
He smiled and gently kissed her and she shook
her head. ‘No idiot. Hot and passionate, if you please?’
He gave her another searing kiss and probed deeply into
her mouth. Suddenly her passage spasmed and she
released him with a sigh.
He sighed in relief and then they laughed. ‘I love
you.’ he whispered. ‘Do you have a nickname or
something?’
‘My mother called me Lizzie, but you can only
use it when we are alone.’ She said and swished more
water over his shoulders before she picked up the soap
and started to wash his chest in slow lazy sweeps of her
hands. ‘Did you have a nickname?’ she asked brightly.
He took the soap off her and lathered her breasts and
lost himself in the eroticism of stroking her breasts.
‘There’s more to my body than those, you know?’ she
said and put her hand under his chin. ‘Nickname?’
‘Robbie. That’s what my Grandmother always
calls me. Robbie.’ He stroked his hands over her flanks
and pulling her to his chest he smoothed his hands over
her back. Gradually they washed every inch of each
others body, by the end of the bath there were no
secrets between them. She saw the various scars on his
body so he explained what they were and where he got
them. She was surprised just how long the sword scar
was right down the side of his right thigh.
‘It got infected. It was an Indian sword, rather
than a french one and they tend to wipe things on the
blade to make them dangerous. I saw more than one
soldier die from a piffling little cut, because the blade
had been contaminated with something and they didn’t
get it treated straight away. I was particular with my
company. They had to report all cuts, no matter how
small and explain how they got it.’
‘Is that when you delivered Mrs. Black’s baby?’
she asked innocently just as he stood up in the water
again. He looked down at her in surprise as she traced
her fingertip down the white cicatrice on his thigh.
‘Argyll told you about it?’ he asked as he flicked
the flannel over his body to remove most of the water.
She nodded. ‘Yes, I have delivered a couple of babies,
you can’t be in the army without seeing babies being
conceived or born. There is no privacy for the ordinary
soldier.’ He stepped out of the bath, swished a towel
around his waist and went to the door. ‘Carter?
Have......’ he stopped as Carter brought in two huge jugs
of steaming water for each of them and withdrew
without saying a word.
‘How do they know?’ he asked in amazement.
‘Because there are no secrets in a house of this
size.’ She smiled coyly. ‘Just like in the army.’
‘It was alright for us officers, we had tents and
cots! The soldiers would have to have sex on the ground
by a tree or under a hedge. Sometimes there wasn’t
even a blade of grass between the couple copulating
and the next man.’ He hefted one of the jugs and
poured a little over her breasts, making her giggle.
Quickly he rinsed her off and helped her out of the bath.
‘Do you want to wash your hair?’ he asked.
‘No. I did it this morning, but it will need a rinse.’
And she pulled the wet hair over the bath and he rinsed
it with the rest of the second jug. She wrung it out like a
dish cloth and then wrapped it in a towel. Robert
jumped back in the water and then rinsed himself off
properly.
They sat wrapped in towels in front of the fire,
while Carter and the servants emptied and removed the
bath.
‘So my love? Where are we getting married? And
when?’ he asked softly as he nibbled her ear.
‘John booked a double wedding for us all. All you
need is a licence.’ She rested her head on his shoulder.
He kissed the top of her head. ‘Do you know, I’ve
never made love to a pregnant woman before.’ He
murmured.
‘What about Abigail Beresford?’ she asked
indignantly.
‘I’ll believe she’s pregnant when she drops her
baby!’ he said rather harshly.
‘So you don’t trust her?’
‘No. She wanted my money and my title.’ He
said coldly. ‘I wasn’t the only man tupping her. Let’s not
talk about her, it only makes me angry.’
‘Do you feel any remorse?’ she asked.
‘Remorse about what?’ he asked and looked at
her with a frown.
‘Remorse about tupping somebody else’s wife.’
‘I didn’t, until I started contemplating marriage,
now I do. I feel very guilty, but I have to remember that
she’s a harlot anyway and has no morals.’
‘Isn’t that what a rake is, a male harlot?’
‘Are you going to try and make me argue with
you?’ he asked with a smile.
‘No. I was just curious, that’s all.’
Rogers arrived with hot food for them both and
they sat at the table to eat, even though they were only
wrapped in towels.
‘I feel we should be downstairs with everyone
else.’ Robert said as the maid cleared the table.
Elizabeth sipped the last of her wine and smiled.
‘Don’t. I told John we would be up here all night!’
‘Well! In that case?’ he stood up, picked
Elizabeth up and carried her to the bed. He stood her on
the mattress and slowly removed her towel. He laid her
on the sheets whipped off his own towel and climbed in
beside her. ‘Does it hurt?’ he murmured as he kissed
the hollow in her throat.
‘What?’ she asked hoarsely.
‘Making love when you’re pregnant?’
‘No, my love. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t feel any
different from the last time. But in six months time it
will be a different story.’
His lips traced down to her breasts and this time
he sucked and licked them as he climbed between her
thighs. He slowly traced his lips down her body until he
could bury his face in her sex. He kissed, licked and
sucked as Elizabeth writhed. He brought her to her first
orgasm and she bucked and moaned as her internal
muscles throbbed and he moved up her body and
slowly pushed his manhood in to the hilt and as he
moved back she orgasmed again, but he didn’t stop. He
made love to her with long sure strokes, unhurried and
languorous as she moved voluptuously beneath him and
eventually she orgasmed again and she almost heaved
him off the bed as her hips lifted to meet him as he
pushed in as deep as he could and filled her with his
seed. He was rigid, every muscled tensed like a wire as
his member pulsed within her. She opened her eyes and
was surprised to see his head thrown back, all the
sinews in his neck standing out and almost a rictus on
his face, with the strength of his orgasm. The breath
burst out of him as his muscles released, he collapsed
on her body and his shoulders started to heave as he let
go of the tension that had been within him since he’d
left Boscombe Manor in the first place.