A Wedding in Wottfordshire

"Yes, I understand that part," she laughed. "Do it for the drama or let him undress me for the thrill. The ladies at the tea seemed split on which was better so I'm still not sure."

"Don't look at me for advice, cuz. I'm not the one that's married," I chuckled.

Leaving, I pushed the dressing room door almost closed so she'd be able to peek out to see him before emerging and maybe even help her make up her mind.

Unlocking the chamber's entry door, I saw Wilfred and Stephen down the hall awaiting my summons. I silently closed it back and looked over the chamber one last time. Since Wilfred had indicated that he wanted to see his bride in all her glory, I added a few more candles and then stepped down the hall to see them.

"My lord, the wedding chamber is prepared and your sweet bride awaits."

He smiled and shook hands with his brother before following me back into the room. He entered behind me and I indicated for him to close the door before stepping close to him and whispering, "Wilfred, Susannah is nervous, so please be gentle, kind, and patient. Teach her what you like and share your desires with her, but listen to her wants and needs, too. Most of all, and this is from the bottom of my heart, love each other and have a long and happy life together. I love you both," I said before brushing his cheek with my lips. "Good night."

I stepped out in the hall to see Stephen waiting for me. Being a gentleman and offering me the crook of his arm rather than taking mine as he had on the beach, he escorted me back to the ballroom and invited me to dance.

***

It was midnight when the music ended and the ballroom emptied of all but those few who'd collapsed from their drink to grace the floor or who'd tipped forward onto their table. Stephen had been a gentleman throughout the evening while regaling me with his interest, though of that I had no doubt from dancing close with him and feeling his bulging manhood saluting and exciting me. In fact, as the evening continued, I became more and more certain that he had to be Rob, the man of my dreams, and that we were destined to be together.

"May I escort you to your room, milady?"

"I would be honored, sir," I replied, taking the arm he offered. When we arrived, we stopped short to let someone clear the hall and then moved quickly to enter and close the door behind us without being seen going in.

Once in, Stephen trapped me against the wall with his kisses as I hugged him tight against me, loving the feel of his manhood straining against my mound. I arched and thrust, rubbing against him and sending little sparks through my body.

"Oh, Catherine, I want you," he said, loosening my dress again, but this time with his arm wrapped around behind me. I covered his lips with mine to shut him up and our tongues were soon tangling together in a close dance similar to what we'd done all evening.

It wasn't long before his hand was inside the back of my dress, peeling it away and then off me, revealing my nakedness before him. My underthings followed in rapid succession, leaving me wearing my earrings and my mother's gold locket hanging in the valley between my tits.

Fully exposed, my back arched slightly, lifting my nipples even higher than normal as I crossed my left leg slightly in front of my right to preserve one last shred of modesty for some few final seconds before I opened myself up to him.

"Cat, you are divine, an absolute goddess," he said, slipping one arm around me and the other under my breast, pushing it up and sucking a hardened nipple into his mouth.

I moaned in response and forgot all about hiding myself, wanting him to take me, to take everything and make it his own. My head rolled back as he kissed my tits and then down when he lowered me down on my bed and separated my knees.

The coolness of the evening flooded into my heat that had been threatening to burn me all evening, and then his kisses were there, at the base of my belly, in my mound, and then—

"MMMM!" I moaned as his lips caressed my nubbin and he used his tongue to flick it again and again. My legs spread as wide as they would go as he assaulted my clitoris over and over, causing little gasps as I ran my fingers into his hair and grabbed a handful on each side to hold him in place, to never let him escape.

"Oh, Rob," I groaned, "please don't stop. Oh, please, please."

He didn't stop, pushing me onward, and I soon felt the buildup coming, growing larger by the second like an unstoppable wave at the beach, before it finally washed over me, leading me to moan as I tried to snap my knees closed so I could experience it for as long as I could.

Stephen wasn't done through, dipping lower into my slit and then I felt his fingers push inside. I was wetter than I imagined possible as he twisted them around and twitched them against my front wall, setting off another groan from deep within me while his mouth recaptured my clit, this time sucking it over and over.

I could take no more, and the words slipped out, saying what I'd wanted for the entire week since he'd done it the first time. "Oh, make love to me, Rob. In me now, please."

His big head dipped in, sweeping through my nethers two or three times before he thrust forward, splitting me.

"AHHH!" I cried, trying to keep from announcing our activity to everyone on the floor. In he pushed, onward, until I felt him tight against me. "Make love to me, please."

He withdrew, long and slow only to thrust hard, fast, and oh-so deep, before doing it all again. I pushed back against him, loving the feel of his cock within me, his pubis pushing against mine, and his thighs and balls slapping against me each time.

He was moaning into my neck, one hand behind holding me up partially off the bed and the other holding my tit, pinching hard on my nipple in time with his thrusts. It wasn't long before he drove me over the edge again as he thrust and slapped and kissed and pinched and did all he could to love me and make me know it.

I could tell that he was getting close so I said, "Pull out before you come and spray your seed on my tummy. I think it's safe but I want to see you shoot it on my tummy and tits." While I hadn't seen it, the thought of how he'd done it in the coach had stayed with me all week and I wanted to watch it this time.

Stephen slammed into me again, harder than ever, but this time he didn't withdraw, and I felt him pulsing inside me. In my lovely stupor, it took me a moment to realize what had happened.

"Stephen! You didn't pull out," I said, not believing that he hadn't listened to me.

"Catherine, you're so beautiful and you have the most incredible pussy imaginable. Why the fuck would I want to pull out when I can come deep inside you? Besides, I've bedded over a hundred women in my life and I've never pulled out once, not one single time. While Wilfred is probably upstairs fucking Susannah unmercifully trying to give my parents a grandchild, they may already have fifty or more they'll never know of scattered around ports and manors all over the world. And if you're wrong about being safe, maybe you'll give them one, too, though they'll never get to claim it."

"Stephen, I thought..."

"That's another thing. When we were fucking, you called me Rob again. Who the hell is Rob anyway?"

I'd pulled the sheet over myself, trying desperately to hide my nakedness that I'd so reveled in minutes earlier but of which I was now so ashamed. "I...I thought..."

I paused, unable to go on as I finally realized that I really hadn't thought at all. No, I'd only hoped and dreamed. I'd hungered and wished, imagining all the time that Stephen was Rob when I only now realized that he obviously wasn't.

No, Stephen didn't know who Rob was. If he'd been my Rob, he would have known and he'd have claimed the moment.

He had claimed to have never pulled out to spray on a woman's belly, but Rob had definitely done that in the coach. Finally, and probably most importantly, he'd ignored my request about it when I fully believed that Rob would have complied and done what I asked.

"Stephen, I..."

I was going to tell him I thought we had something, something good, but to claim that now only showed my naivety. Whereas I'd claimed that Susannah and Hilary were being silly, I was the silly one. No, more than that, I was outright stupid.

"Please, it doesn't matter. Just go."

"After just once? Shame. That Matilda, the serving wench, was good for two times night before last. Maybe she'll have one more in her tonight if I can track her down again." He grinned. "One more me, even. Goodnight love, sorry it didn't work out between us, but then again, I never really expected it to go beyond tonight anyway."

***

After pushing Stephen out and locking the door to my room, I fought tears, angry at myself for my stupidity and letting my desire get away from me while he'd only wanted me for my body and his moment of pleasure. I'd missed him two nights before when I spoke with Nigel, but I'd never dreamed he'd be off...cavorting...with another.

As I thought about it, silently cursing myself, it was too much, with the walls of my room feeling as if they were closing in on me.

How could I have been so stupid? I liked him, true, but how much of that was because I'd convinced myself that he was Rob? The question kept trampling through my mind like a herd of thundering horses so I had to get out the room and get some fresh air and let the tears flow. Therefore, I quickly put on a simple dress and left my room to go up to the roof to the terrace that overlooked the courtyard.

It had long been one of my favorite places at Susannah's house, with the two of us going up often during my summer visits to look at the stars, to pick out constellations, and to tell each other stories we'd made up of the giant characters interacting, as if it was a giant Punch and Judy show covering the sky.

I stepped out and looked out to see it was late and the constellation Leo had already slipped below the horizon. I couldn't see it now, but I still wished that the lion would eat me and put me out of my misery. Then again, even with tears streaming down my cheeks, I smiled, my thoughts changing from my missing lion in the sky eating me to eating Stephen and putting him out of my misery instead.

I dried my tears, telling myself that I was stronger than I was acting, that some ass like Stephen wasn't going to get the better of me.

A sound startled me and I turned to see the open door with someone framed in the light.

"Hello, sweetheart," came my father's deep voice as he stepped out and closed the door. "One of the servants told me they'd seen you come up here. May I join you?"

I nodded and let him pull me into his comforting arms. While my tears had stopped flowing, my sniffle gave me away.

"Do you have a problem, Catty?"

I nodded, trying to fight off a resurgence of tears. "I did something stupid, Father. It was a mistake. A bad one."

Still holding me, he pulled his head back a bit so he could see me in the almost full moonlight before pinching my arm.

"Ouch. What was that for?"

"You're solid and still warm so you're not a ghost, which tells me you're still alive. That means your mistake wasn't that serious and that you can still learn from it, if you will."

"Oh, Father. It was bad. It...it was a mistake with a man."

Pulling me back against his chest, he patted my back. "The young man you were dancing with this evening. I feared that might be the case."

"What?"

"I remember his type from my youth, sweetheart, full of themselves and needing to sow their oats, no matter who it hurts."

"Wait, you thought he was like that and you didn't tell me?"

"Yes, I did, and you know full well that I didn't. You're a head-strong one, girlie, like your mother before you, and if I'd warned you, you'd have most likely tried to prove me wrong and probably done just what I feared in the process. I know it probably hurts now, but this way, you made your own choice without me pushing you into it. I'm sorry, Catty, but it was for the best."

I thought about what he'd said and nodded against his chest. "You're probably right, Father. This way, there's no one to blame but myself."

"No, I didn't say that. True, you made the decision, but I share part of that blame. If I'd been a better father, particularly after Sarah died, you'd have been married for years by now and would have probably have given me a grandchild to coddle, maybe even two.

"As it is, you're almost twenty-two, well into the age where you have such feelings, needs even. Despite me being about twice her age, Sarah was younger than you when we married and she had those same strong needs. I knew that but didn't talk to you about them, to try to temper them or to tell you that it was all right. That's part of it but the other is that I wasn't the man I should have been so you could move forward on your own, with your Mister Andrews or whomever you chose, instead of staying in Humden taking care of me."

I was surprised, not realizing that he'd even known about my mixed, early feelings for Nigel, but he obviously had and even seemed to be willing to accept him. My sniffles were gone by this point so Father patted my back a few more times before letting me go.

With Leo already gone for the night, I looked up in the summer sky to see the Great Bear in the north. Raising my hand up in front of its head, I snapped my curled fingers down against my thumb.

"Imagining Ursa biting your man?"

"He's not mine, Father, but yes, right on his selfish, pompous ass. It would serve him right."

"Yes, perhaps it would," he laughed, but then turned more serious. "Cat, I said it was your choice, so I'll ask this. Do you think there is a chance you might be with child?"

Dealing with breeding in horses, I knew their cycles and had long before studied what was known of the human cycle and the relationship between the two. Therefore, I knew that, unless my cycle was messed up for some reason, I was still safe for a couple more days prior to the start of my menses and the days of that period. "I don't think so, Father. If the risk had been higher, perhaps it would have made me think more clearly and might have helped me avoid something stupid."

"Perhaps, but history shows that knowing the risk often isn't enough to overcome the desire of the moment and babies are born every single day as a result. Count your lucky stars, Catty."

Clouds were starting to cover some of the stars, so he added, "Though now probably wouldn't be a good time to do that. Storm's coming, so ready to head in? I'll walk you to your room, sweetheart, but then this old man needs to get to bed. I have a long and probably muddy ride home ahead of me in the morning."

***

Chapter 10: The Sixth Day

The following morning, I was up early to assist Susannah with her preparations and her dressing before she and her husband departed. Due to their planned departure time, we spoke as we worked, with me washing and brushing and grinning the whole time at the whispered terms she used.

Gentle.

Kind.

Loving.

Ravenous.

Insatiable.

Surprisingly and most happily sore.

Her words, her attitude, and her bright smile gave me much hope for a long and successful marriage for them, but considering her state prior to the wedding, it was all I could do to keep teasing her about how nervous she'd been for nothing. I loved her so much and was so happy for her though, I let it pass and let her revel in her happiness.

However, I filed it away in my mind, determined to remember it all so I'd be able to remind her someday, sometime in the future during some private conversation when she needed the memory and perhaps a good laugh. Maybe when her sixth—no, her eighth—kid was driving her crazy. I grinned at the thought and the potential for such a great bounty for them.

When she was ready, I assisted her out of the wedding chamber and delivered her downstairs to her husband who'd dressed earlier and gone to breakfast while giving her time to prepare herself.

A short time later, there were lots of hugs and kisses and many well-wishes before, holding hands, they ran across the cobblestones of the still wet courtyard to their waiting coach, with the guests who were present raining them with grains of wheat to symbolize that bounty with which we hoped their union would be blessed.

Eight, I thought again with a smile.

Then came the final goodbyes and blown kisses before the coachman cracked the whip and took them on their way, with two of Uncle John's armed retainers following along to see them safely to their destination.

Seeing this and the man beside the driver armed with a coach gun and a pair of pistols, I hoped that Rob would choose to stay far away from them. Having eliminated all of my possible candidates, I had come to the conclusion that Rob might not be from either Wottfordshire or Humden. Perhaps he was a common highwayman who roamed the hills and byways of our land, rarely staying in the same spot twice, and even now lay somewhere in wait for his next victim.

I closed my eyes and said a short, silent prayer to the Almighty that he and others of his kind would leave my dear cousin and her new husband in peace and safety.

For all of their sakes.

As everyone turned to walk back into the manor, I saw my father across the courtyard so I went over to greet him and kiss him good morning.

"Catty, Suzie must be thanking those lucky stars we discussed last evening that she has such a devoted cousin as you who would help make her wedding so successful." He leaned in and added in a whisper, "Though she may not have appreciated how your beauty outshone her own."

"Father!"

He chuckled, "Of course, that's coming from a proud papa who just might be somewhat biased. Though I really don't think so." He winked at me before throwing his arms around me again and pulled me in so he could kiss my forehead like he had when I was a little girl.

Or like last night when I needed it.

"Sweetheart, I'll be returning home in a few minutes, but I wanted to speak with you first. I'm planning to leave Lewis here with a coach gun and a pair of pistols so he can accompany you home tomorrow. I heard rumors of a couple of people robbed on the road south of here recently, but you never know when bandits might try picking off a traveler on our road to the north."

My heart was racing; having Lewis on the seat with Renald could ruin everything and might end with Rob...or Renald...or even Lewis getting hurt or worse.

"No father, please. Leave the gun and the brace with Renald and we'll be fine. We don't need an escort."

He gave me an intense stare before saying, "Cat, if I don't insist and something were to happen to you, I don't think I could live with myself."

"Father, nothing is going to happen."

In the end, I agreed to leave quite early, shortly after sun up, since the reported robberies to date had occurred in the afternoon. I wasn't sure if that would make any difference versus the highwayman, but I hoped my Rob would be out early enough to greet me.

Twenty minutes later, Father mounted Daedalus, his stallion and one of our best horses, and was joined by Lewis and Gallagher, two of our men, to head for home. I waved and threw kisses as they wheeled around and said a little prayer for their safe journey as they rode away.

***

It was a short time later when I was going up the stairs that I saw Stephen coming down looking as if he was dressed for departure.

"Cat, you're not still angry with me, surely?"

I huffed. "Angry? Maybe a little, but more disappointed than anything. You see, I thought you were a nice man and that you respected me, but what you did makes me question the first and realize you really didn't on the other."