Chapter 12
A/N: Rating rises to M here as Edith & Anthony finally get to consummate their long simmering passion.
Isobel made breakfast for her and Edith the next morning.
"Are you ready Edith dear?"
"I've been ready for this day for a long time cousin Isobel,"
"I know."
"Well, I don't need the talk about what to expect tonight although I would have done two years ago," Edith sighed, "The trouble is that it was never about making love when I was with Michael because I didn't love him but it will be tonight because it will be about a lot more than sex with Anthony,"
"Just let your natural instincts take hold," Isobel said.
Edith bathed and washed her coppery hair before dressing in the charcoal grey dress with pearl buttons that she had chosen. She had packed some clothes and toiletries in a small bag for she and Anthony were to spend their wedding night at the Savoy hotel.
OO
Frazer was dressing Anthony in his morning suit and pinning a carnation into his master's button hole.
"Tha will be fine, Sir," Frazer said.
"It is the day I have waited so long for."
"Tha deserves every happiness, Sir."
OO
They met at City Hall. Edith waited outside with Isobel until they were called in. Anthony looked totally heart stopping gorgeous in his morning suit and his eyes appeared bluer than ever. Edith felt her heart pound as she stood by his side and looked up at him.
"We are here today to join Sir Anthony and Lady Edith in matrimony,"
They repeated their views, never taking their eyes off each other. Their voices rang out clearly every word infused with their love for each other.
Frazer held Edith's hand up to enable Anthony to slip on the ring as Anthony's injury prevented him from doing both.
"I now pronounce you man and wife," the registrar said.
Edith & Anthony duly signed the marriage register and Isobel and Frazer signed as witnesses.
Anthony drew his wife close to him.
"I wish I could give you the wedding day you deserve my darling,"
"Anthony, we have made our vows so everything else is a bonus because finally I can call myself Lady Strallan," she kissed him on the lips.
Isobel and Frazer left and Anthony and Edith ate a long leisurely lunch with a couple of glasses of wine apiece before taking a walk along the serpentine.
They went to a concert in Hyde Park and had dinner before finally arriving at the Savoy.
The room they had been given was very sumptuous and elaborate with rich dark wood and crimson soft furnishings. The four poster bed was resplendent with duck down pillows, spotless white sheets, and a thick cream blanket and elaborate red- tussled throw.
They stood near the bed and Anthony drew his wife to him with his good arm. The fingertips of his left hand caressed the length of her spine. She melted against him fully aware that every nerve ending in her body tingled in a way that Gregson's touch had never made her feel. She realised he was trembling too.
"Anthony darling, you're trembling," she whispered, "are you alright?"
"I'm more than alright, Lady Strallan," he said, "In fact I feel rather jolly marvellous and so alive."
Anthony Strallan was aware that every functioning nerve ending in his body tingled as he bent his head and claimed her mouth with his. She closed her eyes as she responded to the deep warm passion of his kiss. Her lips caressed his throat and moved up to nibble his earlobe. He was fully aroused by her; his need for her and his desire to claim her back from the man who had so cruelly used her and made her nothing in the eyes of society.
She melted against him, her fingertips caressing his spine, as the kiss intensified as they explored each other with wanton desire finally able to give free rein to their long thwarted passions. When the kiss broke they were looking into each other's eyes.
"Anthony, I have never been kissed like that," she gasped.
"Nor have I," he murmured, "I want to claim you back from him; make you all mine."
"Your kiss has already done that because I have always been yours. I never loved him and all I have ever wanted is to be yours. My heart always has been,"
"Edith," he murmured softly.
They kissed again, holding nothing back as they clung to each other knowing that nothing in this world could part them again.
Her fingers deftly removed his cravat and unbuttoned his shirt. She gently supported his injured arm as she removed his sling and gently slid his shirt from his body. She pressed against him as her mouth caressed his shoulder and the hollow of his neck, her warm breath made him shiver and her loving touch brought tears to his eyes. She felt shivers go through her body as well as her sensual mouth lingered on his throat and the hollow of his neck.
"Oh god Edith," his voice was hoarse, "have you any idea how beautifully erotic that feels."
"Not until you told me no,"
Sex with Gregson had always been functional, lacking imagination and sensual exploration, but this was to be different, this was to be the tender night of sensual exploration and lovemaking they had so long been denied.
Her hands roamed across his naked back as she stood on tiptoe to whisper into his ear, blowing warm air into it as she spoke the words.
"Let me see your scars my love, I have no fear of them and I love you because they are part of you."
Hesitantly he turned his back; he had long dreaded this moment yet anticipated it at the same time. She slipped her arms around his waist as her eyes took in the dark marks against his pale flesh.
"I know you probably can't feel it but all the same I am going to kiss and caress you there," she whispered, "every part of you is mine and every part of me belongs to you in turn."
Her warm lips caressed his scars, licking and loving him gently.
"Oh god I wish I could feel it," he sighed, his voice choked with tears.
"You truly are the most gorgeous man I have ever set eyes on," she murmured. She was fully aware of her erect nipples straining against her dress. She pressed against his back her hands roaming across his chest whilst her mouth continued to caress the scars.
"Oh Lady Strallan, I really do love you," he breathed.
She moved back in front of him and her tongue began to tease his erect nipples. Edith was well aware of his desire, how deliciously hard he was and how she wanted him inside her. Their first kiss had stirred her into lather and she was deliciously ready.
She removed the rest of his clothing gasping at the size of his arousal.
"Anthony," she murmured, "I want you to take me, claim me back from him and make me all yours. I am so wet with desire for you I cannot wait much longer. I want you to rip my dress from my body throw me across the bed and ravish me. We can do the soft and gentle later but right now I need the rough and hard man in you to claim me,"
He took her breasts in his mouth in turn and began to tease her erect nipples with his hungry mouth.
His good hand tore the flimsy dress from her body and he pushed her bodily back on the bed with his strong left arm. Both naked now he fell onto her and took her hard. Her hands caressed his back and she wrapped her legs around him as she pushed against his thrust. Their breathing was ragged and moments later they were slicked with sweat and panting like thirsty dogs as they made love with a desperate urgency fuelled by years of denial.
"Anthony," she screamed, "Oh god Anthony I love you so much and I have always been yours. He took my body but he never took my soul or spirit because that has always been yours."
"Edith," she was aware of the violent trembling of his body as release gripped him and he filled her with himself. Moments later a series of orgasms ripped through her and he was aroused by her trembling beneath him.
They lay together, not speaking for a time as they recovered their breath as they descended from the plane beyond the physical to which they had ascended at the apex of their desire. She nestled in the crook of his good arm with tears in her eyes.
"I am all yours darling Anthony," she whispered, "You have claimed me for your own and the wait, oh god it was more than worth the agony and the torture of separation."
"Oh my beautiful darling Lady Strallan," he murmured as tears filled his eyes, "Thank you for making all my dreams come true and bringing me to life."
She went to work once more on the hollow of his neck with her sensual mouth.
"Oh god you have truly found my Achilles heel," he moaned.
His mouth went to work on her sex, parting her labia with his tongue as he began to tease and suck her. He drank from her sex and she moaned loudly as her body shook with violent climaxes as he pleasured her continually, He showed no mercy for she wanted none as she threw back her head and moaned from the back of her throat. A smile spread across his face as her honey sweetness gushed into his mouth tasting like the finest brandy he had ever tasted. He had no doubt he had found her Achilles heel too.
They spent the night alternatively resting and making love. Finally as the grey light of dawn penetrated the room they collapsed in a tangle of limbs totally sated.
"Oh Anthony," she murmured, "Thank you for saving me from myself and from him. Thank you for giving me back my life and self respect."
He drew her to him with his good arm as her head rested on his chest as she breathed in his musky post coital aroma.
"You are more than welcome, Lady Strallan," he murmured, "Everything I have and everything I am is yours and always has been. Thank you for giving me hope; your love and forgiveness truly is everything to me,"
Anthony had taken the honeymoon suite at the Savoy for three days so they drifted off to sleep their bodies entwined. At last they were together and they had come together to express the love thwarted by painful separation and family interference. They were both fully sated and content and right now nothing and no one else mattered to them apart from each other.
