AN: This one is set during the hunt in episode 3 of series 1. Cobert remain at home during this hunt, and I wondered how that turned out for them. I hope you enjoy it, and please do leave a review. I apologise for any mistakes, I have only very quickly read it through.
P.s. important AN at the bottom.
She feels his hand nudge the base of her back the second the last horse turns away from the house. She'd anticipated this, right from the moment he has told her two days ago that he wasn't going to be riding in the hunt she knew he had something planned other than the 'paperwork' he had cited as his excuse.
"Do you not worry about her, riding out with a group of strangers?" They turn to walk into the library and she finds that rather than his body moving further away from hers as she had turned to speak to him, that he's slipped even closer.
"Mary is the most capable horsewoman I know." His hand slips a little lower on her back and she has to suck in a breath to stop herself from gasping. She searches her head for another snippet of conversation, she is not going to let him rule her so easily, not when they have guests staying in the house that could come back from the hunt at any time.
"Not something she gets from her mama." She lowers herself onto the settee and is not at all surprised when Robert decides to sit beside her.
"Cora, I've told you before, there is nothing wrong with not particularly enjoying riding."
"That is not what your mother thinks. I'm a Countess, I should be an excellent horsewoman. Isn't that what she says?"
"But it is not what I, or anyone else that knows you at all thinks. Besides, you do ride, it's just not often." She chuckles softly, he really can be very sweet sometimes. It doesn't stop her mind flickering to the events from over thirteen years ago that had left her with such an aversion to riding.
"It's hardly at all these days." She feels Robert stiffen beside her as she whispers the words. Her hand reflexively fingering her dress where it covers her stomach.
"Cora-" there's a warning in his voice. A hesitance that suggests he really doesn't want to discuss this. Not now, not today.
"I remember you teaching me to ride before you proposed. How you walked alongside me to begin with always being positive about how I was doing. And then the times when we would go out together around the estate. I do miss that but somehow I just can't-" Her voice cracks awkwardly and when she tries to carry on speaking no words come.
"Cora nobody expects you to. What happened was something that every woman-"
"Not every woman though Robert. Women don't miscarry because they are stupid enough to go out riding in ghastly weather when they're pregnant. That's only me." She looks up from her lap as she sighs very heavily, his eyes are full of concern. Once, a long time ago that would have been very soothing. But now, somehow it just makes her more upset about what they had lost that day.
"Cora, the circumstances...you weren't thinking straight. Everyone does silly things when they're upset."
"Silly maybe, but not selfish. I was selfish that day. So selfish I took away our baby's life."
"Cora, you shouldn't talk like that. You're not at all selfish, you never have been and you certainly weren't that day. Accidents happen."
"But-"
"No 'buts' Cora. You thought I was dead and you acted rashly and ended up having an accident, that is all. Now, what would you like to do while the house is empty?"
"But if it had been a little boy."
"So that's what's brought all this on, the belief that you should have given me an heir. Cora I've told you time and time again, it doesn't matter." He kisses the side of her face and she can't help but be comforted by his reassurance. But it doesn't change the fact that Matthew is now living in the village and none of it would have happened if she had produced a little boy to look after her daughter's rather then relying on them marrying strangers. "How about we read some Shakespeare together? Antony and Cleopatra perhaps?" She nods her head slowly as he squeezes her hand and gets up to locate their copy of the play on one of the shelves. Returning he hands her the book before kneeling down on the floor. "Lets take your shoes off so you can curl your feet onto the settee." His hand reaches beneath the hem of her skirt as he speaks. Ten minutes ago Cora would have been worried that he was going to make a pass at her, but not now, she knows he only wants to make her comfortable. She lets him unbuckle both her shoes as she finds the first page of the play and begins to read the stage directions aloud. She wonders at him having fetched the leather bound book, they both know the first page by heart.
She hooks her feet up beneath her as Robert sits back down beside her. He wraps his arm around her waist and tugs her backwards to rest against his side. His lips graze the side of her forehead as she settles in his embrace.
They read softly for some time, enjoying the words that they had always found soothing. They had a shared love for Egypt, something that in the early months of their marriage had offered her more solace than anything else. Somehow regardless of what was going on around them they could always discuss Egyptology.
"'Age cannot wither her not custom stale her infinite variety, other women cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies.'" Robert's voice drifts over Shakespeare's words, his favourite ones of the whole play. Cora cannot believe they have sat and read for so long that they are now well into the second act. She knows he's going to pause before he does, his hand tightening a little on her waist. "That's true you know. You have the ability to make me hungry all the time." His voice is warm and husky against her neck. She blushes immediately, however often he might have whispered that to her as they have read this play, it never fails to make her blush. If anything, as she has matured she has found it more gratifying to know that he did still enjoy the more intimate parts of marriage. She swallows to maintain her composure before she answers him.
"I'm sorry if I've rather ruined what plans you had for this morning. I will make it up to you I promise." His hand covers hers on the edge of the book, he eases it away from the pages and interlocks his fingers with hers.
"My intentions may have been different Cora. But sitting here, reading together is perfectly enjoyable, particularly when you blush so prettily." He turns their joined hands over so her wrist is facing upward and he trails a line of kisses over her pulse beneath the lacey cuff of her sleeve. She feels her cheeks redden again and she lets her head fall back to lie in the crook of his neck.
"Robert...?"
"Um?" He tilts his head towards hers and she shifts her body a little so she can keep her head resting on his shoulder while looking squarely into his eyes.
"Kiss me." She can see his initial shock, the trepidation that is clouded behind his eyes – it is not a demand she makes outside of the confines of their bedroom – not often anyway, and no doubt since breaking down earlier he is even more weary.
She knows when he's made his decision because the hand he has wrapped around her back loosens it's hold on her hip so she can turn more suitably towards him.
His nose touches hers before his lips drop a featherlight touch against her own. She can sense him deliberating whether to pull away so she lifts her chin a little higher so their lips meet once more. It isn't often they have an empty house and she wasn't going to let the opportunity pass her by. A few stolen kisses in the library won't hurt.
She knows he has no intention of trying anything more daring, not in the library, not after their conversation from earlier.
"Cora?" He whispers her name between two kisses. "We've got the rest of this play to read."
"And here I was thinking you were going to try and seduce me this morning." He chuckles softly before turning back to the play that he has already begun to read softly into her ear.
When she is reading her parts he presses kisses to her neck, and every so often she allows him the luxury of sealing her lips with his. Infrequently the play is forgotten and they discuss something else for a while. Robert also takes it upon himself to tickle her at one point which results in her almost falling off the settee.
They eventually get to the final act of the play only for the sound of horses hooves on the gravel outside to alert them to the time - the hunters are back.
She sits up, stretching her legs out from underneath her and rotating her neck a little to try and dislodge the slight stiffness on one side.
"I better get my shoes back on." Robert shifts forward on the seat, abandoning the play on the little table.
"I'll do it." He lowers himself to the ground and rearranges the position of her shoes by her feet, allowing her to just slide her feet into them. He places his thumb at the back, like a shoe horn, to stop her misshaping the leather back by getting it caught beneath her foot.
He buckles them up next and Cora can't help but squirm a little as he runs his fingers over her feet, making sure the leather strap is flat and not too tight. Not only does it tickle but it makes her feel like she's in the shop having her shoes fitted and the thought of Robert being any kind of assistant in a shop serving women makes her smile.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. It was just a silly image of you being a shop assistant." He chuckles softly and stands. He kisses the top of her head before helping her to her feet.
"Come on, we better go meet these riders." She keeps hold of the hand he had offered her, stretching her fingers into their position between his.
"Thank you for sitting with me Robert. I'm sure you had things to do and – "
"You're my wife Cora, no thanks are ever required and it was certainly more enjoyable than all the things I had to do." He kisses her knuckles as he opens the library door with his free hand. The sound of the returning riders echoes in the saloon. They drop their joined hands as she steps through the doorway ahead of him. Cora the wife was now gone, in her place stands the Countess her mother-in-law had trained her to be.
AN: Okay, first off, I hope you enjoyed that, and please leave a review if you did.
Secondly, I kind of just posted this little drabble (although there will be more) because I wanted to give those of you that keep messaging me about my new pre-canon story an update in one place (because that's easier for me!).
It is progressing but my summer holiday turned out to be a lot more crowded than I thought and without the routine of university I struggled to fit in writing. I am back now and already I have written half of another chapter. But because of the lack of progress over the summer I think my posting date of October/November is a little out! I am hoping, and praying that I can have it all wrapped up by January! I am sorry for the delay but in the mean time I will post as many of these drabbles as I can AND I am reading everyone's stories even if I don't always review...for which I apologise (reading late at night on my phone is not best for remembering to review!). God bless you all.