Author's note: This is part of the Cobert Holiday (Smut) Fanfiction Exchange - and very late, so I apologize profusely and hope my story makes up for it. There will be two chapters, so stay tuned...
Christmas Eve, 1920
It was Christmas Eve, and Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, was extremely proud of himself. He had, for the first time, gotten a special Christmas gift for each of the women in his life all on his own, with no help from his wife or daughters or sister. Most of the gifts were wrapped – something he had also done for the first time himself – and waiting for their recipients under the big tree downstairs. However, two gifts had only finally arrived earlier that day, having come from Paris, and he still needed to wrap them. He stood alone in his dressing room, looking down on the two identical boxes resting on his bed. He had ordered the items from the same famous Parisian boutique, but the contents could not be more different.
Robert opened one of the boxes and lifted out an exquisite royal blue evening shawl of tissue-fine silk, embroidered with an intricate pattern of leaves and flowers in a slightly darker shade of blue. He had seen the shawl in the boutique catalogue and thought that the color would look particularly fine on his darling Mary, that it would cause her brown eyes to stand out in even richer contrast. Carefully, he replaced the shawl, making sure that the tissue paper covered it fully. Then he sat down at his writing table and wrote out a special card, as he had done with each of the gifts, and told his eldest daughter how much he loved her and how proud of her he was. He signed it with a flourish, "Love, Papa." Then he placed the card on top of the tissue paper before putting the lid on the box and, somewhat clumsily, wrapping it and setting it to the side.
The second gift caused him much more excitement. This box contained the very special gift for Cora, and Robert hoped it was as lovely as the picture had been. As he opened the box and pushed aside the tissue paper, he was pleased to note that it was actually even lovelier than he could have imagined. He picked up the garment, and examined it with a wide grin. It was a chemise of soft peach, beribboned and with several bows tying the lacy front together. The hem, which would reach not quite to the knee, had a wide peach satin band around it, with tiny ribbon rosettes. Even better, and what made Robert's blood quicken: the fabric was utterly sheer.
Robert stood with the chemise held up in front of him and imagined how this diaphanous garment would look on his lovely wife. He could see quite clearly in his mind's eye the drape of it over each of her delicate, slender curves, and he thought of how it would be to watch her walk across the bedroom to him with nothing but that garment on, with her lips curved in that saucy smile of hers. He imagined touching her, of molding her breasts with his hands and being able to see her nipples harden through the fabric. And he couldn't wait to untie each of those bows in the front and slide the chemise off her shoulders and watch it drop to the floor….
Shaking himself, he realized his thoughts had had an affect on his body. He grinned and put the chemise back into the box, again making sure the tissue paper covered the fabric completely, and sat at his writing table once more. This note took him considerably longer than Mary's had, and read: "My dearest, loveliest Cora. I wanted to give you something as beautiful as you are, but nothing I've found comes close. However, I think this might give you pleasure – will most likely give us both pleasure. Perhaps for Christmas, you can give me you, wrapped in this, and I will tell you, show you, slowly and with utmost appreciation, just how beautiful you are, and how much I love you – by untying these bows and 'unwrapping' you. I cannot wait to feel you against me, your creamy, silky soft skin against mine…. Your gift to me, the gift that keeps giving, one that excites and thrills me every day, my darling one. All my love for you, Robert."
Reading the card through again, Robert smiled and walked over to complete the wrapping ritual one last time, trying to take a bit more care with this most special gift, but finding he still had no finesse with the Christmas paper, especially as he was still thinking extremely salacious thoughts, which were causing an acute physical reaction. He chuckled and reminded himself that he needed to label the outsides of these boxes as well. But before he could, he heard a knock at the door that joined dressing room and bedroom, quickly grabbed both gifts, and pushed them underneath the bed, just in time. The door opened to reveal a smiling Cora.
"And what might you be doing in here, my darling, all alone on Christmas Eve?" she asked.
"Nothing, Cora." He knew he sounded guilty, but tried to cover it with a grin and a version of the truth. "Just thinking of you."
"You were?" She blushed slightly before giggling and walking over to press herself against him, and whisper in his ear. "I can tell." Cora brushed a hand against the front of his trousers, where his arousal was evident. "Might you tell me what thoughts brought you to this state?" she whispered teasingly.
Robert ran his lips over her jawline gently and his hands over her shoulders and then down her back. "Perhaps I'll simply show you. If you have no objections, that is…." His voice had already adopted a husky tone, particularly because her hand was still brushing against his trouser front. His hands dropped lower to cup her bottom gently, just as his mouth dipped down to her collar bone.
"Oh God, Robert…." she breathed, pressing her hand harder against him and using the other hand to open one button on his shirt, so she could lightly brush her fingers against a nipple. To her great pleasure, his arousal stiffened even more and his nipple hardened at her touch.
He pulled his lips from her collarbone and placed them on hers, pushing his tongue into her mouth, setting up a rhythm with it that he meant to be a foreshadowing of the rhythm he would set with their bodies in a matter of minutes. Cora removed her hands from him, eliciting a deep groan from her husband, to be replaced by an even deeper groan of pleasure as she reached around and slipped her hands under the fabric of his trousers and undergarments to squeeze his bare bottom, guiding him even closer to her, pressing his arousal into her hip. With this, he moved his hands slightly lower and lifted her up just enough to walk the several steps to the dressing room bed, and lay her down upon it, still kissing her.
Squeezing his bottom once more, she removed her hands and started to unbutton his shirt and then his trousers, her fingers deft and fleet from years of practice. Then she wrapped a hand around him, moving it up and down, causing him to moan with pleasure. His lips left a trail of kisses to her neck, where he used mouth and tongue in a way that made her sigh and pant. Robert ran his hands up her legs, pulling her skirt up with it, and, reaching her waist, pulled down undergarments, grazing his hands against her hips as he worked to bare as much of her skin to him as possible.
Just as he was about to move his hands up to unbutton her blouse, she began squirming beneath him. His eyes sought hers, and, when they met, she sighed one word: "Please." Robert knew, after over thirty years of their love-making, that Cora could wait no longer, and he leaned down closer to her and kept his eyes on hers as he placed his hands on her hips. She wrapped her legs around his waist, as he finally joined their bodies together, beginning a slow rhythm. A low trilling noise escaped Cora's throat, a noise that encouraged Robert to thrust deeper and faster, to bend down and cover her mouth with his. Her tongued darted into his mouth, imitating the cadence of their bodies. Soon her hips were arching up to meet him, and she became too breathless to kiss him any longer. Pulling his head to her shoulder, she panted and moaned and sighed as she neared the point of release.
Hearing her make these noises of desire increased Robert's own excitement. His fingers glided in a slow, light trail over her hips and down the back of her legs, setting up a contrast with the steady, quick rhythm he had set up, causing her to shudder underneath him. Knowing how close she was, he removed his hands from her legs and cupped her breasts in the same second that he pressed his lips to her throat, his tongue warm and wet against her skin. It was too much for her, and she let out a cry of pure pleasure, her hands sliding down to squeeze his bottom.
"Cora…" Robert moaned against her throat, wrapping his arms around her. Within moments, he thrust into her one final time, breathing her name again just before he became still.
They lay there together, both trying to catch their breaths, Cora tracing lazy patterns up and down Robert's back, he holding her tightly against him. She could feel his heartbeat returning to normal against her breast, and she put a hand on the back of his head, stroking his hair. After a few minutes, he lifted his head and gazed at her face, a slow smile crossing his own. The corners of her mouth twitched and then turned up as well, her expression mirroring his.
Cora spoke first. "Darling?"
"Yes, my beloved," he responded, pulling one hand out from under her to caress her face gently.
She leaned up, her lips close to his ear, speaking in a low voice. "I do hope we can repeat that later on this evening. In the spirit of giving and receiving, you understand."
Robert watched her face take on an expression of mischief and knew that his own must have lit up at this. Then he chuckled. "That sounds a very Christmas-y thing to do, my dear."