Fic : Downton Abbey : Hat in Hand part 4
Hat in Hand
Chapter 4
As she tried to again kiss him, knowing where her mouth had been - knowing everywhere her mouth had been, he refused. Instead, he kissed her brow as Her Majesty had at her debut - an honor unheard of for the daughter of a Baronet.
Seemingly undeterred, she moved her mouth to the lobe of his ear. “My Lord, I wanted to taste you. Are you not the least bit curious what I -”
“-No!” To no avail she had been attempting to coax him into that for some time now.
Moving her mouth down his neck, she offered. “I thought you might prefer it since you are not desirous of more children.”
“They are such nasty little beggars always attempting to take your attention from me. I want you, not children of you.” He agreed.
She sounded slightly exasperated as she pointed out. “My Lord, surely you realized having the first would have the consequence of the second.”
“For nearly six years I did quite well at avoiding consequences before Lord Hepworth took it upon himself to attempt to educate you on the birds and the bees. The audacity of that man! Telling you, my wife, how he might bed you to not leave you with child!”
“The audacity of my husband - that he would bed me in a way that would not leave me with child and not tell me.” Lady Grantham countered as she slid his jacket from his shoulders and began upon his shirt buttons.
“There are advantages to taking as a wife a young girl whose mother had passed before telling her of the ways of the world. You were such a good little girl running right to me to tell me what he said to you.”
Stopping in her undressing of him, she looked up to meet his eyes. “My Lord, you give me too much credit or rather not enough. I waited until we three were alone in a field and you were both armed to tell you.”
“Ah but you knew I was a quicker draw and a better shot.”
Parting the halves of his shirt and running her fingers along his scar, she disputed his words. “A better shot perhaps, but not quite as quick as you needed to be.”
Nipping at her ear, he admonished her. “Afterward you took advantage of me in my weakened state. Like Lilith, you stole from me in the night.”
“We are married, my Lord. How can it have been stealing? A husband has rights to his wife. Does not a wife have rights to her husband?”
A point of pride, he felt compelled to point out. “Yes, I admit I have lied and I have connived, but I have never forced my way into your bed.”
“Nor I yours. As I recall, my Lord, you were quite willing and eager when I came to the bed in your dressing room.”
“Too eager.” He fumed at the hazy recollection. In his weakened state, with his wife in the unorthodox, but highly enjoyable position of being astride him, he hadn't lasted long and armed with her newfound knowledge, she hadn't allowed him to shift to expend himself safely outside her. “You tricked me.”
Sounding not at all remorseful, she agreed. “Indeed, I did and because of it we have Robert.”
Sounding far less pleased than her, he repeated her words. “Yes, and now we have Robert.”
In response to her displeased raising of an eyebrow, he pointed out. “You knew how I felt about children when you married me.”
“And you knew that I expected a houseful of children when I married you.”
Her hands splayed across his chest. “I want children.”
“You have children. The bird in the hand, my lovely.” His arms wrapped around her tightly now not in desire, but dread. “You have your two little birdies. I have my one. Don't be greedy.”
He pleaded with her. “No more little would-be-assassins, I beg of you. You have provided me an heir and you have your sweet, pretty little thing to cuddle.”
“We have only one of each. We have no spares for either.”
He was as untroubled by that as he had been at having no children. “If something happens to Robert let my brother inherit. I am not so hateful as you. I do not detest my brother and his wife as you do. I would not cut off my nose to spite my face as you would.”
A hand to her cheek, he promised her. “Should something happen to Rosamund I will steal you some other woman's labor that you might still have a pretty little thing to cuddle.”
“How can you not like our children? I realize you feared for my life while I carried them, but why continue to dislike them once I was safely delivered?”
“Because if I were kind to them or showed them any affection you would deliberately misconstrue it to mean I liked them and wanted more - and more sensibly, why would I like them? They are my competition for your time and your affection.”
“My Lord, how is it possible that you are jealous of our own children?”
“They are nasty little beggars.” Lord Grantham repeated. “And such liars to boot. Always complaining of some ailment that they might be taken out of the nursery to spend the night in your bed. Why should they get rewarded for frightening you with their tall tales of being ill by being allowed to spend the night in your bed and your arms while I get cast out as soon as you are done using me for your wicked desires?”
“Tell me, my Lord, if I let you sleep in my bed tonight would you let me keep Charlie?”
“Back to that again, are we?”
Her lips turned down but a moment before she was moving along with her bargaining. “If you are so adamant against more children, there are other things we could do for each other that are equally as pleasurable and don't have the potential for consequences.”
And they were back to that again.
He brought their conversation a step back.
He again warned her. “No more of your tricking me into giving you children. If anything happens to you, I won't leave Robert and Rosamund to Nanny. I will give them to my brother's wife to raise.”
It was a new variation on an old threat. The one he had made to her after bullying his way past the doctor, two midwives, and her lady's maid and into her bedroom during Rosamund's delivery. Having entered her second day of labor even her young Scot who had earlier so assuredly tried to dismiss Lord Grantham's concerns had begun to look worried.
The doctor knew she had suckled Robert herself. It wasn't Lord Grantham's first time to the fair. He knew what stalled labor was and he knew what it meant when he overheard the doctor sending to the village for a wet nurse in the unlikely event one would actually be needed.
His proud and beautiful wife had been horrified to be seen by him exhausted, sweaty and ragged looking. Knowing that begging and pleading with sweet words of endearment would not sway his wife, he had threatened her.
He had promised to give Robert and the wretched new one to his mother - a woman Lady Violet so despised that as a condition of their marriage she had required the Dower Countess be moved to the Crawley House in the village so that the two Countesses would not have to share the Dower House should he predecease his mother.
It had worked. It had rallied her from her exhaustion and within an hour Rosamund had been delivered.
“That awful, awful woman! You wouldn't dare! I would haunt you ever after!”
“Is that supposed to deter me? I would want nothing more than to be haunted by you every day and night.”
Momentarily forgetting, he let himself be drawn back to her mouth. Almost as if with a mind of their own, his hands migrated back to her breasts.
When the kiss ended, he went back to working her nipples with his mouth and one hand. The hand that was displaced found its way back between her legs.
With a moan, she informed him. “I am ready for you.”
Again his lips found her ear and he skimmed his hand along her exposed skin to make her tremble. “Now tell me. Are you still claiming to champion your young man or are you ready to admit that you are merely wicked?”
tbc