Page 37 of An Accidental Elopement

“Hester gave it to me,” she answered truthfully and looked at the second glove as she tried to slide it on. She wished that she could say that the movement was elegant, but she accidentally poked her thumb into the hole for her index finger and had to take it off again and start over.

“My sister gave you this?” Archie asked and Cecilia could feel him draw closer.

“Yes,” she said as she struggled with the glove. “Your mother gave it to her before her debut.”

Even though the glove was now on flawlessly, she kept fussing with it in order not to have to meet his eyes.

“Well, I do not need to know any more about that. On the other hand, I am very curious as to why you would want one.” He was looming over her, and Cecilia felt his gaze burn on her skin, but she could not bring herself to look up.

“Is it not obvious?” she muttered.

“No,” was the only answer that Archie gave her.

Cecilia squirmed in her chair as she tried to think of a plausible explanation for why she had the pamphlet.

“I... I wanted to know how we could...” She waved a hand between the two of them, now looking at the carpet. “Well...” she could not bring herself to say the words.

“Sleep together,” Archie muttered in a hoarse voice.

“Yes.” Cecilia offered his midsection a grateful smile, still not confident enough to meet his eyes. “How we could... sleep together without risking being hurt.”

“I thought you were not afraid of the pain the first time.” His voice had gone even hoarser these few seconds. Her gaze darted to his face for a moment to determine whether he was angry, but his face held a look of wonder, and his eyes shone in a peculiar way that she had not seen before.

“Not hurt in the physical sense,” she muttered and quickly lowered her gaze to the carpet again, clutching her hands in her lap. Her shoulders were slowly rising towards her ears as if she were a turtle that was able to hide inside its shell.

“You are afraid I will hurt you emotionally?” Archie asked after more than a moment in a slow voice as if he wanted her to contradict him.

“Yes,” Cecilia stated. “I am afraid that I will become too attached to you if we...” She gulped before she was able to say the words again. “Sleep together.” She paused for a heartbeat or two. “But there is nothing in there that gives any indication as to how it can be done.”

“Cecilia.” Her name was little more than an exhalation as he knelt in front of her. His hands encapsulated hers that were still clasped together in a tight knot. “Why would you wish not to become attached to me? I am your husband.”

Cecilia raised her gaze to one of his broad shoulders in the impeccable black suit. He was so handsome it was ridiculous, which was part of the problem, was it not?

“You will tire of me eventually. And then I do not want to be left with a broken heart when you take a mistress,” she murmured.

“Cecilia,” he breathed again, and she could see from the corner of her eye that he lowered his head a little to be able to look into her eyes. She glanced at him briefly; his expression was one of concern mixed with – if she was not mistaken – compassion. The last emotion made her look at him fully to be certain that it was actually what she saw, and she found herself captured by his dark blue eyes.

“I will not tire of you, and I will not break your heart. It seems inconceivable that I would ever want to be with another woman again.” As she looked into his eyes, Cecilia felt certain that he believed them himself although she could not fathom why. Everything that he had previously been suggested that he would not be a faithful husband. “You are my wife. I will not simply tire of you. I want to build a life with you. I want us to be friends like we were before. To be lovers. To be each other’s partners and to draw strength from each other when we need to. I want you to help me make the Cottage prosper and I want us to have children.”

His voice faltered on the last words and Cecilia felt her bottom lip quiver.

“I want that too,” she whispered.

There was no need to say anything else. Archie’s hands came to cup her face and his mouth descended on hers. At first, a test of sorts, then hungry and eager. Cecilia quickly pulled her gloves off and threw them on the floor. She needed to be able to feel Archie’s skin underneath her fingers. She traced the line of his jaw then let her hands brush over his face and bury in his blond hair to keep his face pressed against hers.

Archie’s hand slid from her face down her front to her waist to pull her firmly against him. He was kneeling between her legs, although the dress made it difficult for them to be pressed together as tightly as Cecilia wished.

“I want you,” Archie breathed. “But I want you to want me too.”

“I do,” Cecilia breathed and started tugging on his cravat.

Evening attire quickly scattered around them. Cecilia had enough sense to place the necklace and the earrings on the dressing table. The rest was simply discarded on the floor. Archie was down to his trousers, and he had unbuttoned her dress in the back. He helped her stand as he gently tucked the dress down and let it pool around her feet.

For a moment he simply looked at her with the same shimmering look that had been in his eyes before, one that she was starting to suspect showed that he wanted to bed her. He quickly stepped back to her and started undoing her petticoats and corset until she was only in her chemise and stockings. Cecilia had wrenched her slippers off long ago. He stepped back again as if to admire her once more. Cecilia tried to bear it but felt too self-conscious to allow him to look at her like this for more than a brief second. Instead, she stepped close to him and tiptoed to be able to kiss him again. His arms came around her immediately and hugged him tightly. It was even more exhilarating now that she could feel his warmth through the thin layers of her chemise.

His hands slid down her back to cup her bottom and Cecilia reveled in being so closely pressed against him. But even though all of it was enjoyable, she could not help but feel that they should be moving towards the bed and not still be standing in the middle of the room.

The pamphlet had said that it could be helpful that the woman touched the man’s... Cecilia was not certain what word to use. Manhood, she supposed. But the pamphlet had also stated that the woman touching the man could speed the process up too much and thus make the man climax either before he had entered the woman or shortly after, thus not allowing for the woman to receive much satisfaction from that part of the act.