A Wedding in Wottfordshire

I thanked him as we stepped out through the little wicker gate and then Stephen was leading me out on the dance floor that had been laid out on the green.

We danced with Stephen looking at me with open lust and me trying to keep from looking at him too much to avoid doing the same.

Instead, much as I'd done throughout the week, I glanced over to see Susannah and Wilfred, always staying nearby while also looking at each man I saw and evaluating whether he was yet another candidate to be Rob. Intermixed with that were frequent glances and little smiles at Stephen to hide my intentions. However, by this point in the week, I'd eliminated most everyone at the events as a possibility except for Stephen and Nigel, and I honestly didn't think Nigel would have done what Rob had, essentially eliminating him too.

Tired of searching the sea of faces and becoming more and more convinced that Stephen had to be Rob, I gave up and focused solely on him. His eyes matched perfectly according to my recollection, and his size and his kisses seemed right as well.

Perhaps my look wasn't quite as hungry for him as I expected since he said, "You look thirsty, my dear. Fetch you a glass of wine, perhaps?"

"I think that would be nice, but if you don't mind, I'm going to sit down for a moment and rest my feet while you get it."

I took a seat where I could watch the lovebirds on the dance floor and was resting for a moment when a voice cleared beside me.

"Good evening, Lady Catherine. Are you having a nice time? May I get you anything?"

Geoffrey, looking as nice as I'd ever seen him, smiled as he gave me a little bow on getting my attention. I raised a hand out to him and he took it to help me rise, where I stood right in front of him, looking him in those brown eyes like Rob's. He was the right size and shape, too, but had been entirely too shy to be Rob. Standing close in front of him, I held his hand not letting go as I looked into his eyes.

"I—"

The word was still on my lips when wine splashed on his face, he was pushed back, and his hand slipped out of my grip.

"Unhand her, knave!" growled Stephen, "or I'll beat you and make you regret the day you were born."

Geoffrey's hands were fists but I stepped in and put my hands up in front of Stephen, warding him off. "Stop! He's a friend and did nothing but help me, in my tired state, rise to my feet. Please, Stephen, leave him be."

"I would challenge him for giving you that look if circumstances were different, but as they are and considering his state, I wouldn't dirty my hands on him."

Using a kerchief, Geoffrey had wiped the wine from his face and was drying his hands with it as Stephen finished. Looking at him, Geoffrey said, "Then use that as your excuse to avoid the public humiliation you'd receive at my hand."

"Oh, stop it, both of you," I hissed, hoping no one else had seen what had happened.

"As you wish, milady," agreed Stephen, but he turned back toward Geoffrey. "However, if your hand so much as touches me, ever, servant, I'll see to it that you never work in this country again. In fact, after the authorities are through with you, perhaps you'll find work in New Holland?"

"Stephen, stop!" I demanded again, determined that he wasn't going to press Geoffrey into doing something he'd regret. I'd read that convicts were being sent to our colonies in New Holland, sometimes referred to as Terra Australis or even Australia, but that it was a strange and dangerous place, particularly for someone who'd done nothing to deserve it.

I took Stephen's arm and led him away, but couldn't help noticing that he looked back over his shoulder at the stableman who'd merely been trying to help me.

With the sun now completely set and the twilight having faded, I maneuvered Stephen close to one of the many lanterns that lit the area so I could look down at my dress. As I suspected, the splash of the glasses of wine had gone well beyond Geoffrey.

"Stephen, I have to go clean this quickly or my dress will be ruined."

"I'm so sorry, Catherine. I didn't mean to make a mess or get you, only to protect you. I'll accompany you and help," he said, leading me away.

I stopped one of the servers to have her let Aunt Eliza know that I'd had an accident and had to step away for a while so she could keep an eye on Suzie and Wilfred. I didn't mention Stephen accompanying me and didn't even consider how it might look until we'd entered the manor and started toward my room.

"Stephen, I—"

"Shh, Cat. I said I'll help and I will. We'll wait until after that to see what if anything else might happen."

I allowed him in my room behind me and quickly closed and locked the door behind us.

"Stephen, can you help me remove this dress so I can treat it?"

"Oh, Cat, I can't tell you how much I've been dreaming of doing this. Except, I guess, not under these circumstances." He laughed as he steered me beside the dressing screen and helped me loosen the ties. As the bindings got looser and close to the point they needed to be for me to remove it, he added, "I'm closing my eyes now."

Turned with my back to him as I was, I was already biting my lip in anticipation of what could happen if I didn't mind sacrificing my dress to the wine stains. My voice almost trembled as I replied, "Stephen, I asked you to help. I didn't ask you to close your eyes."

His lips grazed my shoulder and then up the side of my neck as he gave a quiet little moan. "In that case, I'll thank God and leave them open."

I grinned but kept my back to him as he helped me out of the dress. I stepped behind the screen, giving him a good look of my naked back and causing him to groan in appreciation.

"Catherine, it's said that no one is perfect, but I suspect God forgot that when he made you."

"Flatterer."

"No, not this time," he replied with a chuckle.

I threw on a robe and took my dress down to the kitchen where one of the cooks directed me to towels, milk, and a wash basin. Stephen stepped out while I waited for the treatment to work and returned with two glasses of white wine just minutes later.

"Not taking a chance of another spill like this one," he joked.

With a glass in hand and hearing music in the distance, we sat in the prep area in the kitchen and talked for a long while, getting to know each other better. He seemed genuinely sorry for the mistake with Geoffrey, and was so nice, even helping me agitate the dress in the basin and change the water when the time came to rinse out the wine residue and the milk.

With him on one side and me on the other, we were looking into each other's eyes as the agitation ceased and we leaned toward each other to kiss, long and hungrily, over the bowl.

"Oh, Cat," he panted when we parted. "I've never wanted..." He shook his head before looking back into my eyes. "Let's finish this so I can walk you back to your room. We have a long day tomorrow."

With it rinsed, the stains appeared to be gone; I only hoped that they really were and wouldn't reappear when the dress was dry since it was one of only two dresses that I'd ever ordered from London.

When we got to my room, Stephen was such a gentleman, giving me a small kiss and saying goodnight. He released me and started turning to go when I pulled him back and wrapped my arms around him, pressing my mound against the hardness he'd tried hard to hide.

Turning the knob, I pushed my door open and pulled him inside, hoping that no one saw.

"Oh, Catherine," he moaned as I kissed him, my hands running over him and undoing his clothes as I went.

I pushed him back against the side table and removed his pants and underwear, much as I'd done with his brother a few nights before. This time, though, it wasn't for Susannah, this was for Stephen.

And for me.

His rod was a tiny bit shorter and a little bit broader than Wilfred's when I knelt before him and held him in my hands, but he was, I glad to see, still in possession of both of his nuts, unlike his brother, and such nice examples they appeared to be as I ran my hand around them, touching and hefting them before giving a little squeeze and switching to his big gun.

I massaged him a few times, much as I had his brother, but then I did something new, something only conveyed in the quietest of whispers by Lady Cherry, one of the female guests from one of those cities far to the south earlier in the day during the tea. She'd supposedly learned of it in a trip to Paris or somewhere on the Continent and said that her husband had become a huge fan when she started occasionally practicing it on him.

Most of the listeners claimed at once that she was making it all up, but I suspected that everyone who heard had secretly decided to try it to see if it was something their man liked. When I kissed Stephen's knob and started licking it as she'd suggested, he groaned and gripped the table with both hands to keep his knees from buckling.

Yes, the man likes it, I decided.

I did the prescribed kissing and licking for a while before switching to what she described as the 'coup de grâce' (another reason I suspect she'd learned it in Paris), which made her husband gush at once. I sucked the head of his cock into my mouth and started moving up and down it, my tongue and lips worshiping his hot ridges and the bulb at the end.

It quickly became apparent that either I wasn't doing it right or that Stephen had better stamina than Lord Cherry for his seed didn't flood out as I expected. Since the feedback I was getting appeared to be quite positive, I didn't give up, continuing to work him for several more minutes, listening to his moans and groans and watching the expressions of outright pleasure mixed with what almost looked like incredible torture on his face.

It had all been so much for him that he'd had his eyes screwed tightly shut throughout much of my experiment, but when he finally opened them, he saw my eyes looking straight into his. He smiled at me and then gave a long, low groan as I felt his cock swell just a moment before my mouth was filled with his hot seed.

Pumping as Lady Cherry had suggested, I think I emptied him before I swallowed, and let his knob pop out of my lips.

"Oooh, my sweet Cat," he moaned once again, only this time it sounded like a "thank you."

While I wanted to do more, it was getting late and we were both tired. "As much as I hate it, you'd better go, Stephen. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I so look forward to that, my love," he replied as he quickly pulled up his pants. Pulling me close, he kissed the base of my neck, my cheek, and my earlobe before glancing out and then slipping out the door.

***

Chapter 9: Day 5—Susannah's Wedding Day

The tapping in my head wouldn't end as I opened my eyes, closed them tightly, and then tried opening them again. A look at the heavy curtain over the window showed just enough glow around the edges for me to know that it was daylight outside but any idea of the time was beyond me.

The tapping continued, not within my head, I finally realized, but on the door to my chamber so I clambered out of bed and threw the lock.

"Oh, milady!" cried Hilary softly as she entered and threw her arms around me. I wasn't certain but it looked like she'd been crying...or was about to do so.

"What's wrong, Hillie? Are you hurt?"

She gave a short, fast shake of her head. "Nothing's wrong."

Tears gushed and she couldn't continue so I tried to prompt her. "Hillie, dear, last night? You did it? With Renald?"

Her head bobbed. "We'd decided to wait because we weren't ready but then...you know the old saying about changing her mind being a woman's privilege, right? Well, I changed my mind..."

She continued on telling me far more than I'd intended before I was finally able to stop her.

"Sweetie, it doesn't matter. The main thing is, do you love each other?"

"Yes. Very much."

"Good. Has he asked you to marry him?"

Renald was about twenty years of age, a little over a year younger than me and almost a year older than Hilary. He'd grown up in Humden and had become one of our retainers about five years before so I'd observed his work and knew him to be honest and hardworking despite being a bit on the shy side until events with Hilary, courtesy of Rob's knots, had yanked him from his shell.

"Yes," she whispered again.

"Wonderful! Then everything's fine. You have my permission, of course, and my father will have no objections either, I'm sure."

"Thank you, Cat. So can I go see him again tonight?"

I gave her a hug and a smile. "Hilary, dear, from now on, you don't need to ask my permission, ever again. That's entirely up to you."

***

Preparations began immediately after the midmorning brunch; by half past twelve, Susannah was dressed and prepared and the rest of the wedding party were all as ready as we could be. Uncle John, Aunt Eliza, Susannah, and I rode in their carriage for the procession to the church. There were locals along the streets smiling, waving, clapping, and calling out best wishes, but we had the blinds closed so no one would see the bride before the ceremony. Wilfred and the men went in a different coach and waved along the entire route.

The wedding went exactly as expected, being sweet and beautiful throughout, interesting in some parts, and utterly boring in others. As I stood there wondering when it would ever end, I decided that I would be speaking to the priest about the possibility of a much shorter ceremony if I ever married.

The carriage, covered with flowers and bells, had the blinds up so the newly married couple could wave to the crowd along the entire route on the way back to the manor for the wedding banquet and what was to follow.

***

Dinner was an even larger version of the two nights before, with course after course, toast after toast, and poor Susannah and Wilfred looking as if they'd have slipped out hours before if they'd had their choice. As the newly married honorees, they sat in the center of the front table with Uncle John and Aunt Eliza next to Susannah and me sitting next to my aunt. Wilfred's father and stepmother were on the far side next to him, with Stephen next to his mother, so it was even worse than the evening before, with me whispering with my aunt and one of Wilfred's cousins who'd been invited to participate as a bridesmaid.

Once again, I noticed Geoffrey helping with the service and saw Nigel at a table near the back of the hall. Geoffrey appeared so busy I never caught his eye but Nigel and I locked eyes once. He smiled at me and raised his wineglass to me. I smiled back with a nod.

Most of all, though, was when I glanced over at Stephen to see him leaning forward trying to catch a glimpse of me. He looked so frustrated, trapped where he was with me so far away, that I could only give him a smile and a look of commiseration in sharing his plight.

He mouthed what looked to me like "Later" at some point and I nodded, looking forward to it as much as he was.

However, 'later' can be tough, particularly in our area where tradition is that the married couple are dismissed from the wedding feast only after the sun sets and darkness covers the land. This supposedly gives the bride and groom a sense of privacy as they settle into the wedding chamber for their connubial activities.

Unfortunately, the sun sets quite late in early summer in our part of the realm so they both appeared practically exhausted by the time Uncle John gave the final blessing and toast for their long, happy, and fruitful union. At that point, Susannah and Wilfred said their goodbyes to family and guests in the main hall and made their way upstairs with Stephen and I escorting them one last time, only this time not as chaperones but as assistants.

We split up along the way, with me escorting Susannah to the room that her mother had designated as the wedding chamber and Stephen walking with Wilfred up to the newly married groom's former room on the third floor for any final preparations including changing clothes and collecting any of his belongings that he might need for the night.

In the wedding chamber, I helped Susannah out of her dress and undergarments, loosening the laces and peeling off the layers to reveal her snowy white skin. She'd been fine through the wedding and the feast, but now, standing completely naked before me, she looked nervous as I poured the water in the basin and soaped the towel in preparation for cleaning her for her coming appointment with her new husband.

"Cat, what if he doesn't like me?"

Smiling, I replied, "You have a case of nerves and are being silly, Suzie. The man loves you and is completely smitten with you. Of course he'll like you."

"But he's already told me that he can't wait to see me, all of me, like this, so I'll have to undress in front of him."

She looked at her nude form in the tinned glass mirror and shook her head. "I'm scared, cousin."

"No, you're not scared, Suzie. Silly is the correct word for it," I said, barely stifling a laugh. "Your husband loves you, dear. Even if you were as plain as a barn door, he'd still love you and the way you look. However, you're not and you know it. You're beautiful, inside and out, girl, so you have nothing to fear."

She huffed obstinately. "But what if he doesn't? What will I do?"

I couldn't prevent a chuckle this time. "Susannah, in that case, you'll do whatever it takes to change his mind." Slipping my arms around her nude form, I hugged her back against me and sat my chin on her shoulder before giving her cheek a kiss. "Suzie, you know what to do and you'll do your best to give him the love he deserves and pleasure like he's never before experienced."

She was biting her lip as she leaned her face against mine and placed her arms over mine. "I don't know, Cat. What if I don't measure up to...to the women in his past?"

That, I realized, was the crux of the matter, with Susannah concerned that she wouldn't be as good as his past lovers. While she'd been playing with Wilfred and stretching my chaperoning to near the limits, she was still a virgin and unsure of her ability to please him.

I let go of her with one hand and reached back and smacked her round rump, thinking how much nicer it was than my own all-too-small backside.

"Ouch!" she yelped. "What was that for?"

"Susannah, we spoke of this yesterday, so I'll spell it out in plain terms this time. Believe me, no man can resist this," I said, squeezing her backside. Besides," I added as I reached back around to slide my hands up her ribs and cup her tits, pushing them up and giving a squeeze, "you've always got these beauties as backups."

She giggled this time as I pinched her nipples, hopefully getting them ready for Wilfred's attentions in a little while.

"They're not as nice as yours," she said with a bit of her old jealousy.

"Maybe not quite as big but they're every bit as nice in their own way. Now, you need to relax and let me finish washing you so you can be ready to welcome your man."

She turned toward me in my arms and slipped hers around me as she pressed those pert little titties against me. "Thanks, Cat. I love you, cousin," she said as she hugged me.

"Love you, too, cuz," I said, returning the hug before we shared a brief peck on the lips. "Now, are you going to let me do this or not?"

She giggled and turned where I could continue.

A short time later, washed, dried, and coiffed, I helped her into her wedding-night gown.

"You're perfect, cuz. Love him with all your heart and he'll do the same with you. Now, I'll go fetch him. You stay here in the dressing room until after he arrives, and then you can come out. When you do, come out, turn in a slow circle so he can see you, and then you can pull the string and let it fall—"