Beauty Meets her Beast Ch. 02

"I was afraid," I stammered.

"You should be," he responded, and then he was kissing me again, more urgently than before, his mouth grinding down on mine, his hands pulling my body close. My knees felt week, and I was lightheaded. I thought I might collapse. Before I could sink to the floor, Lord August pushed me onto the bed behind me. He was on top of me in a moment, his hands roaming down my bodice as he fumbled at the laces in the back. In a minute he was lifting my top over my head and my breasts were bared. He cupped them in his hands, squeezing and kneading them, and then lowered his head to them. His mouth was on my nipple, warm and wet as he sucked, and a tingle of pleasure shot through me. His hand quested downwards until he reached between my legs, his fingers feeling me through the skirt, and I gasped at the feeling. I should push him away, but my nether regions suddenly felt hollow and I had a strange yearning to press against him, to explore his scarred body with my own hands, or my mouth. He lifted his head and stared at me, the glaze of lust unmistakable in his eyes even to me.

Abruptly I found myself clear headed again, and I pushed him away, weakly and ineffectively, but the action seemed to bring him back to himself. He rose up, and my body felt cold without his warm weight pressing down on me. For a moment he said nothing, just stared down at me. I groped about for the shirt he had cast off, trying to cover my chest with my other arm.

"You seem to have an ill effect on me, Belle," he said, then he was gone. I found the shirt and dressed myself, wondering why I felt a little bit sorry that he had stopped.

*

In the morning I was awakened by Mrs. Delvers rummaging through the wardrobe. She was muttering angrily to herself, but I couldn't catch what she was saying. She must have heard me stirring, for she turned to face me, frowning. She had several of my dresses slung over her arm.

"Master says you're to have these hemmed. Her ladyship's fine gowns, made over to suit you! A nobody!"

"Please, I'm sure it's not necessary. I won't be here so long, after all."

"It was Lord August's orders. Her ladyship must be turning in her grave!" she spit out her words like arrows. "She was a proper lady of fine breeding, not some noveau riche gone to seed." I flushed with shame, though why it should matter what Mrs. Delvers thought of me I did not know. She stalked from the room, still grumbling. I wondered if his lordship meant the hemmed gowns as an apology for last night. After selecting a dress for the day I went downstairs for breakfast. To my surprise, Lord August was also there, at his end of the table. He greeted me with a good morning, then returned his attention to his food. I took my usual place and began my own breakfast, waiting to take my cue from him on how we were to act after last night.

"Will you ride with me again this afternoon?" he asked.

"Of course, my lord," I agreed before I had time to think about it. My brain caught up with my mouth and I wondered what I had agreed to. Would he force himself on me again? And why was that thought exciting?

I met him in the stables, Jasper saddled and ready for me. Lord August was already mounted on Blitz, and he made sure to maintain a suitable distance from me. Presently I was up on Jasper again, and we set off for our ride. Why was I drawn to this brute of a man? Despite his rough nature, I was curious to know more. Perhaps underneath his gruff exterior he was actually a gentle man. After all, he had stopped himself from taking me completely, and I obviously was no match for him physically.

"What was your wife like?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't anger him.

"She was... very beautiful. She was loved and admired by all who knew her. Her taste in clothing was lauded by the other fashionable ladies." He seemed hesitant to say too much.

"You must miss her terribly," I said. He gave me a look I couldn't interpret, then spurred Blitz forward and away from me. I urged Jasper forward as well, but Blitz and Lord August were long gone. I should have known to hold my tongue. I couldn't help but be curious about his late wife, and how he had acted toward her, but Lord August would of course be overcome with grief at me bringing her up. I wondered briefly if he compared me to her when he saw me in her clothing, or atop a horse. How far short I must fall from his last female companion. I rode Jasper about aimlessly for another quarter of an hour. I might as well let the poor beast get some exercise; it certainly wasn't his fault his master was a man of such moodiness. We eventually made our way back to the stables. Blitz wasn't in his stall, so it was safe to assume Lord August hadn't come back yet.

I made my way inside and back to my room, where I read for a time before changing for dinner. Would Lord August be there tonight, or had my questions pushed him away as surely as my hands had done the previous night?To my surprise, and relief, he was sitting in his usual spot, drinking wine. So he wasn't angry enough to stay away, after all. We exchanged pleasantries, and over dinner he brought up books again, a safe enough subject that I latched on to greedily. I hadn't realized how much I would miss my dinner companion until threatened with losing him. After dinner, he escorted me to my room, as was our custom.

"I would ask of you not to bring up my wife again," He said on our walk upstairs. "The subject is not a pleasant one for me." Mortified, I agreed. "You're so different from her. You could never understand a woman like that." I flushed, silently thinking that he was right. Even in the city, I'd never bothered much with the niceties of clothing and dancing, much preferring my books and little garden. Had I really thought he would be comparing the two of us? There was no comparison. I would always fall short. I silently prayed he'd never guess I had even thought there might be one. At the door of my room, he paused, and I wondered, half nervously, half excitedly, if he planned to come in. He leaned his face toward mine and my heart began to pound, but he only brought up my hand and planted a chaste kiss on the back of it. "Good night, Belle," he said, and then he left. I went inside and laid upon my bed, slightly disappointed, and largely ashamed of myself for feeling so.

In the morning, Mrs. Delvers appeared with a few of the gowns she'd taken yesterday, and a new one, a beautiful, frothy thing of creamy lace that appeared to dance by itself even though there was no breeze. It seemed better suited to a ball than to the quiet life I led here, but I admired it nonetheless. She sourly insisted I try the dresses on to make sure the hemming was suitable, and I complied. They fit perfectly now. They might have been made for me, and I smiled with pleasure at the freedom to take steps without fear of tripping. Mrs. Delvers looked on with a frown.

"Thank you, Mrs. Delvers," I said, hoping to appeal to her better nature. "I very much appreciate it." She sniffed in derision, but I pressed on. "I know you must miss her ladyship. I am sorry for your loss, however it must be some consolation that at least her things won't go to waste."

"Go to waste?" There was fire in her eyes. "Go to waste?! I've kept her things pristine, just as she left them. I care for them as if they were my own. The Lady Regina's things should be revered, not parceled out to commoners. Even her room I keep just the same. His lordship never goes in there. Too painful for him, but I clean it and honor her memory." Her voice grew thick and syrupy as she leaned in closer to me. "Would you like to see it? Her ladyship's room is the finest in the castle. She had the most impeccable taste, she picked it all out herself." I sensed a trap in her sudden gesture of seeming goodwill, but didn't know how to reject it.

"Well, yes, I suppose so," I said reluctantly. "If you think Lord August won't mind." She smiled a cold little smile.

"Not at all. Follow me." She led the way from my room to a wing of the castle I'd never explored before. Behind a set of intricately carved double doors was Lady Regina's room. The windows were large and expansively covered most of the outer wall, save for where another set of double doors opened onto a small balcony, bathed in the morning sun. The enormous four-poster bed put even the magnificent one in my room to shame, the cover, embroidered with red roses and shining golden stems. I wondered if the thread was in fact gold, so brightly did it twinkle from behind the crimson roses. The closet was massive, and I realized that not even a quarter of her ladyship's gowns had made their way to my room. They were all beautiful, as was the furniture in the large room, a true testament to the lady's taste which had been so admired. Her dressing table was carved from what appeared to be the same dark wood as the bed frame in my room, and I admired the intricate designs. On the table lay a gilded mirror and a lady's comb and brush. Upon closer inspection, I realized there were still a few strands of hair caught in the bristles of the brush. Mrs. Delvers smiled when she saw me noticing.

"I keep everything - everything- exactly as she left it." Feeling unnerved, I turned to the door and made to leave. Mrs. Delvers stayed behind, pulling imaginary wrinkles out of the folds of the bed cover, still smiling and humming softly to herself.