Ok, so as you may have guessed, over the next few chapters things are about to get intimate. It is their wedding night after all! Rest assured, I am not about to go Fifty Shades on you, this has been done as tastefully as possible while still fulfilling that correct level of fluff needed. I hope. 😉
Chapter Twenty One
If the servants were scandalised by their new Masters requests for supper to be served in the Mistress' chambers instead of the dining room, they did not show it. Everything was prepared, delivered and served as proper as ever. All the while Anne had remained out of sight sat on the chair in her dressing room, her arms still inside her unfastened dress.
Once they had left, Frederick stoked the fire and the Wentworth's enjoyed their first meal alone together. Chatting about inconsequential things and important decisions concerning their home, helped them pass another hour blissfully. When the servants returned to remove the dinner plates, Mrs Forbes asked the Captain if they should require any assistance that evening.
Anne was rather hoping Frederick would want her to continue what they had begun earlier. Not only did she enjoy Fredericks help and his reaction to hers, she did not want to have to face a relative stranger tonight. She would rather get on alone if needs be. It seemed however her husband was of a similar mind and dismissed the household for the rest of the night, informing Mrs Forbes he would call for them when he awoke in the morning. He glanced at Anne for confirmation he had behaved correctly and on behalf of the two of them. He was rewarded with another heart filled warm smile.
This time when they were alone again it seemed tenser than earlier. There was no more later; later was now. In just a short while Anne would be a woman, and a wife, in every sense of the word. Frederick was stood facing the newly stoked fire removing his waistcoat he had replace earlier. His clean dry shirt soon went the same way as his boots and stockings.
Anne couldn't help but marvel at the specimen of man she was married to. He stood facing her suddenly, lost in his own insecurities to know what to do next. Anne sat herself on the edge of her bed and removed her slippers just as before, it was the one item of clothing she did not require help with. However with everything else she would need her husband. "Can you help me please Frederick?"
The sound of his Christian name falling from her lips at that point, meant he would have given her anything. She stood slowly and turned her back to him silently explaining she needed help with her dress once more. He began the decent of the remaining buttons. This time she made no show of trying to hold it up. She stood calmly while he gently tugged at the garment allowing it to come free of her body and fall to the floor. She stood before him in just her undergarments. Her hands moved to the ties of her chemisette so that she may be free of it and her many other layers. "Don't. Let me." He was half asking half hoping.
Anne nodded once and let her hands fall to her sides. He stood before her inches from her face. His bare chest bathed in the candle light as he leaned in closer to examine the fastening, she could breathe him in and appreciate the all-male scent. She closed her eyes committing that smell to memory. She felt his hand brush her chest as he sought to undo the bow at the middle of her collarbone and her eyes flew open. The flimsy bit of material slid down her arms and she shed it on to the floor alongside her gown. She bent down as gracefully as possible and pulled her petticoat from her body.
Although her legs were not completely bare, the fine silk of her stockings did nothing to prevent the cool air surrounding her heated skin. Her chemise did little to cover her and they were both aware she was close to being completely rid of everything that separated them. He gazed at her stays as if he could see through it and she felt herself shudder. He took her by the shoulders and manoeuvred her so she was in front of him, as he sat on the edge of the bed, so he was at the correct height. He gently pushed her to the right so that the light shone on the laces on her back.
She froze awaiting the feel of his hands on her near naked skin, when unexpectedly he reached up into her hair and retrieved the last few hair pins which remained, her hair tumbled down. She had had to pin it up herself and had done so poorly. Her hands had been trembling at the time in anticipation, it was no great feat for her tresses to be freed. He reached over to a nearby table and dropped the pins one by one on its surface. When he had completed his task, he ran his fingers through it. She shivered and he wrapped his arms about her both to warm and soothe her. He knew she was nervous and he dared not admit he was also. When they both appeared calmer and more ready to proceed, he slowly began to unlace her, allowing the ribbon to slide through his fingers and feeling her warm skin touching his hand brought everything back to an even more heightened level.
He was desperate to lay with her like this, to look over her body, to cover it with kisses and be all that she deserved. With the stay fastening open, the loosened garment fell from her body and slid down to the floor unobstructed by Anne who did little else than concentrate on her ever increasing breathing and watching the item fall to the floor at her feet.
With all but her chemise removed, Frederick was able to fully appreciate her natural form. And womanly curves. His hands, which had been hovering at her lower back, embraced her waist and hips, turning her around to face him, they slid up her sides to her shoulders and back down. His eyes shut and he dared not open them again less this all be a dream, for it is was, if wished to never awaken from it. He was at a loss as to how he would be able to finish his task, as such a view would surely render him not only speechless, but motionless as well. Instead he transfixed his now open eyes on the pile of clothing at their feet.
Anne, wanting in no way to hinder the night's proceedings, next addressed her stockings. Undoing her garters and peeling them down her legs in the same matter she would should she be alone, the same way in which she did every other day. To her husband however, the sight of her removing the silken garments from her shapely calves in such a manner was most erotic and had captured his otherwise distracted attention. Whereas before he found it difficult to look at his new bride, he now found it almost impossible not to look at her.
She was mesmerising.
He inwardly chastised himself once again for wasted years gone by. They could have been married for seven or eight years now, with babes in the nursery. He smiled to himself that the effect she was having on him now, would be the same none the less. Never would she fail to draw such a response from deep within him. He loved her ardently and passionately. As much today as he had nine years previously and that would never ever change.
Bothered by his silence and having now completed her part of the task, Anne stood bewildered as to what she should do next. Should she get into bed or await his instruction to do so? In the end neither it seemed was rendered necessary, as her husband cleared the small space between them hastily and wrapped her up in such a tight embrace it literally stole her breath from her lungs.
Frederick was experiencing something similar. The feeling of his wife in his arms with only a thin piece of linen between them, was almost his undoing. His arousal was becoming uncontrollable. He knew she was surely aware of its presence between them and nervously awaited her curiosity to get the better of her. Is she did feel it –or him- she didn't say.
She was too busy enduring her own body's reaction at having her husband's pressed against hers. Her heartbeat was already beating rapidly and her pulse throbbed in her ear so loud she was sure he would hear it too. She had a new feeling deep down in her belly; a want and need so powerful she was sure if she was ever sated, she should burst. It was a feeling that had been building steadily in occurrence and strength over the past few weeks their intimacy had grown; as if leading up to this night. She was now wound so tightly, she wanted to scream. Although she knew not what exactly she sought, she was sure above all things Frederick had the key to unlocking this pent up emotion she could only shamefully admit to calling desire.