Page 50 of The Baroness of Sin
“Do you really think so?” she asked James. “I never believed I was naturally inclined to motherhood, given the circumstance, and was worried I wouldn’t make a fitting one. Do not misunderstand, I am so happy to finally have the title. I just want to be certain that it is fitting.”
“I think it makes sense that you would be a good mother,” James remarked as he looked over their clothes that had been set aside for the trip.
“Why is that?” she laughed.
“Besides the fact that you are a considerate and thoughtful lady? Well, you wanted children? Despite being unable to have them?” James inquired.
“Yes, something that always felt rather cruel to me,” she admitted with a touch of bitterness.
“Well, I would understand that. I have spent no small amount of my life cursing the unfairness of life. But I was thinking... you would be drawn to children. It is only natural that you would eventually find a child in need of a mother. Therefore, you must have known, perhaps someplace deep down, that you would be a kind and loving mother.”
“Perhaps,” Martha mused. She didn’t completely agree with James, but she felt the sentiment warm her heart, and that was what counted for her. “Would you, perhaps, be willing to again recount your plans for our honeymoon once more?”
James' pleasant smile became a grin. “You seem so enthralled, my dear. I keep telling you not to get your hopes up, that it is only what I managed to arrange on short notice.”
“Oh, but it sounds so terribly exciting. I certainly think my sisters will be absolutely green with envy when I recount the tales upon my return,” she said eagerly and with a small measure of pride.
“Far be it from me to encourage you to compete with your sisters, especially when I have yet to meet your Harriet and her husband, but I suppose if it would please you to review our itinerary, then I won’t deny you.” James strolled over to a small desk he kept in the bedroom, a miniature of the one in his study, and pulled out a leather folder. He unwrapped it and opened it up. “The exporter I invested in, Killan & Company, recently purchased the latest innovation in shipping technology, a ship powered by a steam engine. They want to stress test it first and gauge the cost and liability of such a vessel along our usual French route. Since the ship will only have a bare running crew, I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to see the coastal cities of France.”
“And you promised this is not an excuse to do work on our honeymoon?” She smiled at him and he laughed and shook his head.
“No, I only thought of it because one of my associates, a Mr. Page, suggested the idea. I believe he said ‘it would be more than a might bit romantic’ if I recall correctly.”
Martha all but giggled with delight, “And, dear husband, please remind me how long we will be gone?”
“Well,” he looked over the itinerary thoroughly. He knew the answer to her question. They both did, but he wanted to play up the answer for her. “The exact timing is a little uncertain, seeing as we don’t know exactly how the ship will perform. But if we leave from Hastings, cross the channel, and stop at Dieppe, Le Havre, and then a long stop at Port Guillaume before we turn around and head back. Including travel time to and from the coast, it is most probable that we will return in a month's time.”
“A whole month in France on my honeymoon,” Martha sighed with delight. “If you had told me when I was a little girl that this would ever happen to me, I wouldn’t have believed you for a moment.”
“You must have been a very incredulous child,” James teased.
Martha hushed him before planting a kiss on his lips. She felt his hand slide from her hip to her thigh and push the hem of her skirt a bit higher to touch her bare flesh.
“Mm, you still need to finish packing, my husband,” Martha cooed and ran her fingertips over his vest, toying with the buttons.
“Vickers always packs for me,” James admitted. “What do you say we make use of the time in a different way?” The hand squeezing her thigh pushed the hem of her skirt higher and squeezed her buttock.
Martha let out a little yelp but not a discouraging one. “Lord Barristen! Here I thought I had married a tender gentleman not some sort of snorting stud, and now I find you pawing the earth outside my paddock.”
James laughed at her and leaned in to drag his lips along her neck. He relished the small needful gasp his kiss elicited and whispered in her ear, “Are you turning me away?”
“No,” she said breathily. “I’m telling you to go lock the door.”
James strode across the room and securely locked the door. By the time he turned back around, Martha had unfastened her skirt and let it slide to the floor. James returned to her in a bolt, kissing her voraciously, wanting all of her. It amazed him how much he wanted her. Not that he had any doubt in her beauty or the pleasure she gave him, but he was surprised at how quickly she could reignite him.
He pressed her to the wall, kissing and touching her roughly. James had never felt he was a rough person, especially not in the bedroom, but something in Martha conjured it in him. He didn’t hesitate as he might have before, her moans and tiny cries of pleasure encouraged him and told him that this was what she wanted from him.
The time it would take to get her into the bed was too long. He had to have her now.
He picked her up by her waist, her little yelp turning from surprise to excitement as she gripped his shoulders to support herself. His grip shifted from her waist to beneath her hips to her thighs, and he rested her on the wall behind her.
They moved together like that, him supporting her and using the weight and momentum to drive them closer together, harder each time. His need for her pushing reason farther and farther from his mind as he devoured her.
“Oh James, Oh!” she gasped and writhed against him. “No one has ever made me feel like this. I feel like you are driving me crazy!” She cried out and pulled herself against him, letting him have all of her and trusting him to protect her even in his abandon. That was the trust they shared and because that trust was there, they could indulge and drink deeply from the well of passion that lay deep beneath the surface.
They both reached the peak of pleasure within moments of one another, leaving them weak and panting against the wall. James summoned the last of his strength and carried his wife over to the bed and laid her down gently to recover.
“I don’t want that to ever feel any different. It is just so perfect every time,” she confided in him between light little gasps as she caught her breath.
