A Regency Romp Ch. 02

Author's Note: The story continues and more characters are introduced. Best if the chapters are read in order, I think. There's a little more story-setting in this chapter, but things should start getting spicier in the next ones.

Although Violet and Juliet didn't recognize Alice, she had of course recognized the young ladies of Segrave Manor. Theirs was a small parish, and Alice had seen the two sisters in church on Sundays. She thought them very elegant, and they were obviously very kind. Not high in the instep like other ladies she'd heard of. Servants' gossip always ran unrestrained through the neighborhood and although it was well-known that Lady Parks was a fretful, whiny, difficult sort of woman, her daughters were lauded as practical, thoughtful, and best of all, not spoiled in the least. The lady's maid that they shared, Susie, was known to rhapsodize about her two ladies with an almost unholy fervor. The fact that Susie was often garbed in the lovely cast-off dresses they gave her was proof that they were generous as well as kind.

Juliet's engagement to Mr. Clifford was of course known throughout the countryside, as was the fact that Violet had come out last year and had had a successful season in London, courted and admired. Everyone was pleased for her, and perhaps a little surprised, considering what a tomboy she had been just a few years ago. She had really grown up to be so well-mannered and so beautiful, with her burnished red hair, green eyes, and porcelain complexion.

Less well-known in the village was the fact that young Violet had worshiped Kit Olmdale when they were children, and had followed him around like a devoted puppy until he had left for the army. This little tidbit of fact was saved only for the servants of The Oaks. "They're all saying as 'ow they played together, the two lords and ladies, like 'eathens sometimes! Running and yelling their 'eads off," Alice confided to Tom as she adjusted her bodice.

"Yes, I know," said Tom, a little distracted as he watched her round tits jiggle enticingly. "Kit used to tell me of the trouble they'd kick up. He says it's a damn shame Matthew had to go off and marry such a dried-up prune."

"Oh, her!" Alice said, with a little pout of disgust on her plump lips. "Lady Barrell can just... go hang!"

Tom laughed as he held out his arm to escort Alice back to the main house. He had been only a little more than a week at The Oaks now, but he already knew that not one servant in the household liked Lady Barrell, neé Claudia Trewbridge, the daughter of a lowly but rich baronet. Her lady's maid, the tall, angular Miss Cooper, who had been nurse to an infant Miss Claudia, kept a stiff upper lip and never complained, but her pronounced silence and lack of defense was noted by all when below-stairs gossip turned to the sadly all too frequent pastime of complaining about the lady of the manor.

Luckily for almost everyone involved, the Dowager Viscountess Barrell was still in residence, and although Claudia shrieked at and turned out at least one servant every fortnight, her mother-in-law, the stately Olivia, always calmly hired them back. The futility of Claudia's actions were not lost on the young mistress, however, and it caused her to rage even more.

These were the unhappy state of affairs at The Oaks, and Kit and Tom had already begun to find them very displeasing to everyday life. Kit had even approached his mother with a complaint after Claudia had given an unrepentant Tom a dressing-down in the main foyer after that cheeky servant had "mistakenly" called her Mrs. Olmdale instead of Lady Barrell.

Olivia had sighed. "Yes, I know she is horrible, but what can we do? She's like a cat without claws, spiteful and hissing. The best Matthew can do is to try to make her happy."

"Whatever he's doing now isn't working. He should try and spank her instead," said Kit.

"Kit!" his mother gasped. She giggled, an endearing sound in a woman her age, but then sighed again. "Oh dear, it's quite hopeless. And poor Matthew is beside himself. He hates that she's so cruel to the servants, but he cannot bring himself to be stern with her. You know he has always had difficulty with even disciplining his horse!"

"Ah well, mamma," Kit said, throwing an arm around his mother's shoulders and giving her an affectionate kiss. "I guess we'll have to see what we can do about it."

"Oh Kit!" she said with returned fondness, hugging him back. "If only you could do something!"

Kit wasn't at all sure, but by God, he would try. He couldn't live in the stifled atmosphere of the house for much longer. Something had to change.

********

That night, Violet was being very bad. She knew it, but she couldn't help herself. She had spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in a state of suppressed excitement. As soon as she could, she had taken herself off to bed, hurriedly changed into her nightgown and dismissed Susie with a distracted wave of her hand. For the first time in her life, she locked her door, the heavy bolt creaking as it slid home.

Violet trembled as she crawled into bed. She had thought about nothing else since she and Juliet had returned to Segrave Manor, but now that she was finally alone, with just her thin linen nightgown on, she found it hard to even know where to begin. She decided to start with massaging her breasts over her nightgown, which felt slightly less naughty than what she was planning on doing later. Her nipples instantly hardened as she squeezed her perky tits. They were a good handful, and she found she loved the feeling of them being squeezed. She massaged them for a few minutes before she found one of her nipples with her fingers. Remembering what she had seen the man, Tom, do to the girl, she twisted it and gasped when she felt as if a bolt of lightning had traveled from that aching tip straight to her moistening pussy.

She focused on pulling and pinching and rubbing her nipples, feeling them grow into hard nubs and almost unconsciously, her hips started to shift restlessly on the bed, her thighs widening of their own accord. After several minutes, she couldn't wait any longer. She must touch that secret place that was so forbidden.

Violet pulled her nightgown up and struggled out of it, flinging it to the side. She circled her areola with one finger and marveled at how different the sensation was on her bare flesh instead of through cotton. She daringly moved her other hand down to her mound and cupped herself, feeling the moist heat. Experimentally, she traced her puffy lips, spreading her moisture all around. Another electric shock went through her when her finger brushed against the growing bud at the top of her slit.

"Ohhhh," she breathed out. She began to rub that delicious spot, first gently, then with increasing firmness. She stopped to gather more moisture from her core every now and then, spreading it with her fingers until she was slippery and sopping wet. Her other hand kept squeezing her breasts, rolling each nipple for a few minutes before going back to the other one. If only she had more hands!

Biting her lip, Violet tried to suppress a moan. She was trying to be quiet, but the little grunts and groans kept slipping out. The thought of her family, slumbering quietly just across the hallway, made another shot of lust run through her and she whimpered. She was being so bad, but she had also never felt so good!

She was rubbing her nub furiously now, her hips thrusting on the sheets where a wet spot was starting to form. Something was building in her lower back, a fire being stoked higher and higher. She curled up, and in the dim firelight saw the erotic image of her hand working between her spread thighs. It felt as if she was climbing towards some unknown destination, reaching, reaching. She tweaked her nipple almost violently, and suddenly, the storm broke and she came hard. Shuddering, gasping, moaning, she trapped her hand against her pussy as she squeezed her legs together and writhed on the bed.

Violet rode out her orgasm for a long minute before she fell limp, feeling as if all of her bones had melted. She panted, slowly coming back to herself. "Oh my," she whispered over and over. She slid her hand away from her vagina, brushing against her clit. Her whole body jolted at the contact and she gasped again. Languorously, she ran her hands over the round swells of her body and sighed in rapture. Lifting her arms above her head, she stretched and let out a tremendous yawn. What had just happened to her?

The house was silent and still, and Violet began to drift off to sleep. It would have shocked her to know that a few rooms down, her sister, Juliet, also lay naked in the dark on her bed, her fingers sticky and musky with her pussy juices, dazed and out of breath as she came down from her own discovery of what an orgasm was.

********

Viscount Barrell was not having such a pleasant evening. He was closeted in his study with his brother, Kit, and a bottle of brandy. They were seated on opposite sides of the large oak desk that sat near the French windows, candlelight from the wall sconces flickering over their faces. Although they were brothers and had inherited the handsome features of both their parents, Matthew's hair was a dark brown to the more sandy color of Kit's. He also had brown eyes, though, which he now rubbed tiredly before saying, "It's not so simple, Kit. She's fragile, she's young, she's--"

"A right bitch," Kit interrupted coolly.

Matthew opened his mouth to protest, but could only shut it again in resignation. His wife really was a bitch... at the moment. "But she was so different when we were courting," he said, bewildered, thinking back to the heady days when he had wooed Claudia, not so very long ago. "I wouldn't say she was warm, but she was not so... emotional."

Kit had not known Claudia Trewbridge as was, who had met and married Viscount Barrell after a whirlwind courtship during her first season. The gossip rags reported it a love match and many a matchmaking mama had lamented the loss of another eligible peer after the vows had been exchanged in a Grosvenor Square church. The young couple had retired immediately following the marriage to The Oaks and had been in residence for just four months.

"She was like a beautiful porcelain doll," continued Matthew. "So dainty and ladylike. I--I couldn't take my eyes off her the first time I saw her."

Kit laughed with the comfort of a man who had yet to be ensnared in a woman's web. "Well, she's certainly changed now, at least in personality. Why?" He slouched down in his chair and rolled his glass between his hands, his extended legs, encased in skintight breeches and shining Hessians, crossed at the ankles.

Matthew colored and looked down. He cleared his throat and looked up. Kit raised his eyebrow and said, "Ah, so something did happen?"

"Oh God," said Matthew, taking a large swallow of his brandy before squaring his shoulders to tell his tale. "Our wedding night was--well, it was horrific, Kit. She cried and screamed, there was blood..." he trailed off with a shudder. "I tried, I really did. I tried everything, being gentle, coaxing. It wasn't like I was a brute! Sometimes when I kissed her, she seemed to enjoy it, but as soon as I..." his speech failed him again.

"I don't understand," said Kit with a frown. "Is the marriage even consummated?"

"Yes, of course!" said Matthew, affronted. Then his shoulders slumped. "I've spent my seed inside her, but I didn't feel any pleasure, and I don't think she did either. Just several endless minutes shagging her lifeless body under the covers. I couldn't do it anymore after the first few times."

Kit was baffled. He knew his brother had had many conquests in university and afterwards. They had even gone to a few bawdy houses together before Kit had shipped out, and Kit was sure there had been no complaints. Quite the opposite, in fact, if he remembered correctly. They sat in contemplative silence and sipped their brandy.

Kit suddenly broke the silence and asked, "Has she any other siblings?"

"What?" Matthew looked up from morose contemplation of his empty glass. He splashed more brandy into it and said, "No, no siblings. Her mother died in childbirth. She's had that starched up lady's maid, Miss Cooper, with her her whole life. And I hear her father doted on her. He gave her that enormous dowry, of course."

Kit nodded, sipping his brandy with a thoughtful air before setting the glass down on the desk with a decided clink.

"Let's ask this Miss Cooper!" he said. "She's known Claudia since she was a babe. She must know the best way to handle her."

Matthew balked. "Are you crazy, Kit? She's a servant. It would be all over the household the next day."

Kit leaned forward. "Listen, Matthew. I think this might work. I had Tom try and weasel some information out of our Miss Cooper, but he said she flatly refused to discuss Claudia at all, even though he hinted strongly at a monetary reward. Shut him down with some preachy words about servant loyalty. She might be starchy, but I'd lay a monkey she's discreet."

Despite the late hour, the ladies were still up in the sitting room, which meant that Miss Cooper would of course also still be awake, waiting to help her mistress get ready for bed. She was thus summoned and found herself in the study, confronted with her lord and master and his handsome brother.

"I'm not sure I understand the question," Miss Cooper said stiffly as she sat in the chair that Kit had occupied earlier.

"It's very simple," said Kit, now standing beside Matthew. "We just need to know why Lady Barrell has changed so much since she has come to The Oaks. And we know," he added, when he saw her bristle, "that she has changed a great deal."

Miss Cooper folded her hands in her lap primly. She was a stalwart servant and had served Claudia for all of the girl's life. It had been a severe trial for her to watch her young charge devolve from a rather pampered and ignorant young lady into a spoiled, bratty viper. She made a decision to put her trust and faith in the two young men before her.

"I believe she is unhappy," she said.

Matthew groaned and raked his hands through his hair. "With me? I knew I was too rough with her, I knew I--"

Miss Cooper hurriedly cut in before he could say any more and embarrass them both. "No, sir. Not with you, exactly. I believe she does love you. She has just never lived in the country and she has never run a household by herself. Having the Dowager still in residence here has made her self-conscious and uneasy. She does not know how to conduct herself and she feels... alone," she finished.

Kit scoffed with derision and Miss Cooper glared at him before she said with the aloof certainty that only a retainer of long-standing could project, "She is but 18 years old. She can learn, but she needs guidance and perhaps discipline. Her father indulged her, and I have often thought..." She cleared her throat. "I have often thought she would respond well to a firm hand. A very firm hand." Her face turned red and she looked down at her lap and waited in the charged silence that followed.

Matthew finally said in a slightly strangled voice, "You may go, Miss Cooper."

When the door closed behind her, Kit turned to his brother with a mischievous grin. "Well, brother! I'd guess you need to stop treating little Claudia like a porcelain doll and more like a filly that needs to be broken in! With a firm hand!" He clapped Matthew on the shoulder and dissolved into laughter. Matthew, in response, only groaned, his face in his hands.

********

There was a suppressed air of excitement in the village. Young ladies fluttered about their bedrooms in a frenzy of dresses and ribbons and slippers. Young men were nervously tying cravats and hoping their shirt points didn't wilt in the June warmth. Older folks were looking forward to what was sure to be an enjoyable evening with friends. After all, there was to be a ball tonight!

Kit had spent a pleasant day riding around the estate with Matthew. Although he aimed a few playful jabs at his brother about last night's revelations in the study, he left him mostly to himself. Matthew had a lot to think about.

Then followed a very enjoyable interlude with Alice and her wonderful mouth in his dressing room as Tom watched with heated eyes and a knowing smirk, complacently laying out Kit's evening clothes. Valet duties over, Tom had then knelt behind Alice, and with his oiled cock, slowly entered her arsehole. Alice had made that adorable face of cross-eyed pleasure that she got when she was stuffed full of cock from both ends. Kit had cum hard down her throat and began dressing as Tom buggered Alice into a squirming, squealing heap on the Turkish rug. He was tempted to say to hell with the ball and continue the threesome, but he knew his mother wanted him to attend, so he bid the lovers a good evening and left them to enjoy their activities without him.

It had been some time since Kit had attended a ball in England, but he had no doubt of the dashing figure he cut as he climbed down from the carriage at the Assembly Rooms. Tom took a lot of pride in his duties as valet, and Kit had dressed to suit the current fashion with a tightly-fitted navy coat, black waistcoat, and black trousers. His sandy brown hair waved away from his forehead and his cocoa-colored eyes sparkled. His strong shoulders and boyish grin caused many a young lady to sigh in longing as he strode through the ballroom.

He found his mother seated with the other older ladies in a corner and enquired if she needed anything. As he sat next to her among the tittering mothers and old maids, his eyes were suddenly caught by something in the middle of the ballroom--a riotous mass of red curls, swept up from the most delectable creamy neck. He had always, for some reason, been a fan of titian-haired women, and this one was no exception, even though he could only see her from behind. The girl wore a light sea-green gown that hugged her enticing curves and was talking to a lucky young man who seemed rather overwhelmed in her presence.

"Ahem," said the Dowager Lady Barrell demurely. They had been in the middle of an admittedly banal conversation when she had noticed her son was paying no attention at all to what she was saying, completely riveted by the sight of the girl in green. Kit returned his attention to his mother and gave her a charming smile, the one he knew always worked to disarm her annoyance. She rolled her eyes at him good-naturedly.

"Are you acquainted with that red-headed girl?" he asked, discreetly nodding his head in the girl's direction. "Will you introduce me to her?"

"Well, my dear, as to that," Lady Barrell said, just as the girl turned around and he saw her face, "an introduction is quite unnecessary."

"Kit!" said Violet with a beaming smile as he walked up to her as if in a trance and took her hand. He squeezed it tightly as he stood in front of her, slightly breathless. This was Violet? That scrawny, sunburnt chit of his youth who dogged his footsteps? She had become a goddess with green eyes and silky skin and flaming tresses, and yet, he could still see the well-known features of his memory. They had simply matured into womanly beauty.

"Violet!" he said stupidly. He knew he should let go of her hand. He knew he should, but he didn't.

Violet was blushing from his intense scrutiny. She used her free hand to rap him on the arm with her fan. "And why have you not come to see us?" she chided. "Your dear old friends of youth." She shifted slightly and he vaguely noticed that her sister, Juliet, was standing just beside her. He nodded absently at her, but he only had eyes for one woman at the moment.