Of all the dinner parties Cora had attended at Downton up to this day, this one was clearly the grandest yet. She had never seen so many elegant people scattered across the rooms, some in conversation, some playing cards or other games, others were even dancing to the soft music, the string quartet was providing so very exquisitely.
It was the perfect evening for her little plan.
She had been thinking about it for weeks now, ever since she had been sure that the gardener hadn't told anyone about their little escapade in the barn.
Now the day had finally arrived to set things in motion again and let one of her more exotic fantasies come true.
The first step had already been a success. She had bought a new dress and had put on the jewelry Robert had given her on the day he had confessed his love for her. She looked stunning and she knew it. She had seen it in Robert's eyes, in the way he had looked at her and in the way he had swallowed a few times until he had felt secure enough to compliment her on her appearance.
Throughout dinner and afterwards when the men had rejoined the ladies, she had tried to catch his eye a few times more often than usual and to her satisfaction it had always worked. Now she was sure that she had had the effect she needed before she could continue with her little scheme.
With a quick look across the room, Cora realized Robert had to talk to Lord Darlington at the moment, whom, she knew, he deemed dull.
Perfect.
Cora didn't have to stare for long for somehow he always felt her gaze lingering on him, whenever she looked for more than a second. When their eyes met again, Cora put on her most radiant smile. And then she winked.
Something was going on with his wife tonight. Robert just couldn't quite fathom what it was exactly. First the dress and the jewels, then all those looks during the evening, the soft, very short and very improper brush over his behind, when the men had entered the drawing room and now she had even winked at him. It was as if she was trying to seduce him amidst all those people. Well, if she was actually trying to do that, she was pretty successful and they were only half-way through the evening. His self-control was wearing thin already. As was his patience with Lord Darlington who told him for the hundredth time the story of his dog, which had gotten lost last week.
Robert excused himself as politely as he could and endeavored to find out what it was that his wife was up to. For he was certain that she was up to something.
"Cora, my dear, is everything alright?" He asked as nonchalantly as he dared.
"Robert, yes, everything is just fine. Such a grand evening. Even your parents seem to be enjoying themselves," she said with a slight smirk.
"And are you enjoying yourself?" Robert smiled with a twinkle in his eye.
"I do. Immensely. And if I'm right I'm going to enjoy myself even more very soon," she whispered into his ear. "If you will excuse me for a moment, I've got to go and powder my nose."
Well, that must have been one of the most remarkable conversations Robert had ever had with his wife. What did she mean? How on earth was she going to enjoy herself "even more" on the loo? Was there something about women he had missed again?
She was wearing the perfume he liked the most, that he hadn't missed, and that she somehow had walked even more 'graceful' than usual out of the room he hadn't missed either. Neither had his body.
'God, Robert, get a grip,' he scolded himself and realized suddenly that he had a little piece of paper in his hand. Cora must have put it there without him, or anyone else for that matter, noticing.
My dearest love! Meet me in the abandoned room down the hall in 10 minutes. I'll be ready for you. She had signed it with her lips.
Good lord, his wife had gone mad. He stared at the note in disbelief. She actually wanted to... he didn't even dare to think it. How long had she been gone already? He wasn't seriously considering this, was he? When Robert looked around the room, nobody seemed to take notice of the rather flushed future Earl who was standing alone near the door holding a little piece of paper in his hands and before Robert realized what he was doing, his feet had started to move and he took of through the hall.
After he had made sure that no one was looking, Robert slipped through the door and there she was, already approaching him.
"Cora! What has gotten into you?" He whispered forcefully. "Good Lord, we have guests!"
"Don't worry, we'll be there to see them off. There are so many of them, no one is going to miss us for a few minutes," she whispered just before she crushed her lips eagerly onto his and grabbing his well-formed behind with determination.
"Cora... good God... this... is... so... very... very... inappropriate...," Robert panted between hurried, needy kisses. He had started to push her backwards into the general direction of an unused sideboard. The room was full of presently unused furniture.
"But... also... very... very... exciting...," and with the last word, he heaved his moaning wife onto the commode. Her legs closed almost immediately around his waist while her deft fingers had already opened his fly.
Meanwhile, Charles Carson, one of the footmen, was on his way from the kitchen to the drawing room, a fresh load of champagne on his tray. When he approached the door of the room they used to store the unused furniture in, he became aware of a rather rhythmic thumping noise. He wasn't about to give it much thought for he had a task to attend to, until the cry of a woman made him stop in his tracks. But before he could decide whether he should rush into the room to safe a lady in distress and the house from scandal, he heard the rather breathless voice of the young master.
"Shhhh, Cora, good God, you know how thin the walls are around here!"
Carson stopped dead in his tracks again. No one needed rescuing here, he realized. A little too briskly for the elegant flutes full of champagne he walked on to the drawing room. Thankfully no one seemed to notice the clinking of the glass his shaking hand produced, as he served the drinks. It was only Lord Darlington who wondered for a moment why the face of the usually so serene footman had suddenly turned crimson.
And it was only Lord Darlington who, when he took his leave a few hours later, wondered why the Viscount and his wife looked somehow different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but if he didn't know it better, he would have said, their hair looked tousled.
