Hello! The reviews have been inspiring, thank you, Godiva truffles for all. Thanks Barb for the beta work (most of it) so if there are boo boos they're mine. Enjoy this chapter and know that it is rated R for randy.
-Leesainthesky
CH 88 The honeymoon
A peaceful elation kept me from nodding off on the jaunt out to DuPuis Manor. The French countryside, not yet littered with electric lights, was shrouded in darkness. A light mist hovered over the grass sending an earthy bouquet through the open curtains of the coach.
I pulled a wool blanket over my lap and cuddled against Erik. We made the thirty minute ride from the station to the manor in silence. I wondered what thoughts occupied my husbands mind.
Before we'd departed for the manor, I'd noticed the train station's immense brass clock read ten thirty five—not exactly the witching hour, but late for a woman six months pregnant. After the days tempest of activity, I should have been incapacitated with fatigue.
I touched Erik's hand and looked up at him. "We're here aren't we?" I said. I recognized the pattern; the horses would canter along for twenty minutes or so, and then slow to a trot when they neared the long drivewayleading to DuPuis Manor.
"A tiring journey indeed, but yes, my bride, we are home. I see it pleases you."
"Very much so, how could you tell?"
"You manner is bright with felicity when you should be drooping like a hot-house flower."
"It's so good to be home. Thanks for not giving up on us."
"My pleasure, Madame DuPuis." His full lips offered me a twist of a smile,
Our hired carriage made a graceful swing onto the narrow lane, passing through the Gothic iron gates of DuPuis Manor. Normally locked at night, I assumed Erik had sent word to Henri to keep them open for our late arrival.
On the side of the manor house, twin coach lamps released a sphere of warm light into the glooming. A breeze played around us and I breathed in the scent of pine and cherry blossom trees.
Erik unlocked the side entranceand ushered me inside. Not a whisper or a rattle was audible inside. The Rouxs must be sleeping even though I imagined Henri did his best to stay awake for us. I'd missed his cheerful kindness and wisdom. Perhaps if I'd stayed around to talk over the letter business with him, I would have never found the need to leave.
I slogged up the swirl of stairs to the master bedroom; Erik took up the rear in case I faltered.
"Shall we retire, darling?" Erik deposited our bags next to his armoire and turned to me.
"I'm ready," I answered hoping that he meant to leave the unpacking until tomorrow.
I pulled out a gown and some toiletries from one of my bags and made my way to the bathroom. Wanting to look appealing for my husband, I brushed out my hair, cleaned my face,dabbed on moisturizer and a swipe of soft pink lips gloss.
Familiar with the path back to the master suite, I strolled along the darkened hallway. Suddenly, I collided with a body in the dark. I shrieked, the creature shrieked and Erik came running out into the hall with a candle in his hand.
"Gabrielle, what's wrong?" Erik was poised for battle.
I massaged my aching noggin and gaped at the young girl before me. She sat on her behind, rubbing the knot forming on herown forehead.
"Gabrielle, are you hurt, my darling?" Erik took hold of my arm and eyeballed me with concern. Satisfied that I was unharmed, he glared down at the girl. "I see you've met Mademoiselle Caruso, although why in the blazes she's about this time of night I've no idea."
"We only met with our heads, Erik. Please see if she's okay, the girl isn't speaking."
"I—I am all right, Madame. Forgive my carelessness." She leaned her hand against the wall, stood on wobbly legs andcurtsied deeply.
In the candle light, I could see she was of average height and weight for the typical nineteenth century Mademoiselle. A spray of freckles dotted her small nose and round, dark eyesset off by unruly black eyebrows, stared up at me.
"Please, Mademoiselle Caruso, release yourself," I said.Groveling servants made me uncomfortable.
"Mademoiselle, what in the devil's name are you doing creeping about at this hour? Should you not be sleeping in the far wing in the servant's quarters?" Erik questioned sternly.
She shrunk against the wall. Erik had that effect on some people.
"I—um…"
"Cease your chattering and speak."
"Erik, you're scaring her," I said quietly.
"Am not." he shot me a brief scowl.
"Speak, child." This time his tone was softer.
"The servant's quarters are closer to the woods and I heard howling—wolves, I think. It is deadly quiet in my quarters and with the manor being vacant, Madame Roux suggested I move, temporarily of course, to this wing. It is closer to her cottage and not so frightening." Her tone petitioned for mercy.
"Very well," Erik slashed his hand through the air dismissively. "Remember to be more mindful of your surroundings, Mademoiselle. I am the only one allowed the privilege of sneaking about."
She nodded enthusiastically, unsure of how to take Erik's final statement. I didn't know whether to laugh or smack him.
"Which bed chamber do you occupy?"
"The third from on the right, the yellow room, shall I remove myself from it tonight Master DuPuis?"
"No, tomorrow will do. Off with you now. Madame DuPuis and I are exhausted and do not wish hear another peek from you until you serve our breakfast, which we will expect at ten thirty and no sooner. And bring it to the master suite, if you would."
"Yes, Monsieur." She curtsied again."
"Thank you," Erik added and I smiled at her hoping to quell her nervousness.
"Simple stupendous, the girl is across the hall from our suite. Incidentally, Gabrielle, I was not scaring her."
"Yeah you were. Bully."
"I endeavor to be pleasant and restrained in my dealings with the nonsense of others, therefore, I rather resent your implications."
"You used to do the same thing to me, but I knew that beneath the polished arrogance was the heart of a big French stuffed bear."
"Really, Madame, a stuffed bear?"
Erik opened the bedroom door. His essence drifted out gentle waves. Redolent of spice, cedar, and his own unique pheromones the scent both relaxed and excited me.
In an instant, I heard the soft click of the door latch behind me. Erik encircled my wrists with his slender fingers and I found myself captured against his body.
"At last, I have you all to myself," he whispered. "If I were not the sort of man thoughtful of a woman's passions, you'd find your gown torn off and I'd be sheathed inside of you, riding you fiercely." Even in diminished flame from the bedroom's lamps, I could see bright passion in his eyes.
Erik's gruff manner excited me and I wanted him to take me. We tangled our arms around each other like two vine weeds and, with mouths locked, danced sideways toward the bed, falling onto it. I slid my hands beneath Erik's silky robe, taking pleasure in his sleek body.
Years of navigating the layers of the Paris Opera House had sculpted his physique. Constant horseback riding, and the manual labor of keeping up the manor's grounds, had kept Erik in fine shape. I massaged his buttocks and teased the delicate skin of his inner thighs. He opened his legs to me, a silent invitation for more. I complied by trailing my fingertips across his swollen balls.
Erik shivered and hissed, "Merde." In an instant, I was on my back in a pile of pillows.
"Enough of these clothes, I want to see you." He jerked at the ribbons on my gown.
I laughed. "My, aren't you the insistent groom tonight."
"I have been a patient man with the interruptions—no more," he growled and brushed back the halves of my gown. Warm ravenous hands devoured my nakedness.
"My lovely, lovely, Gabrielle." Erik traced delicate circles around my distended nipples and down to the fullest curve of my breasts.
His robe gaped open to reveal a generous hard-on. I reached for it like a child reaching for a lollipop and ran my fingers around the glistening mushroom tip.
Like a crouching tiger, Erik crept between my legs. Keeping his gaze locked on mine, he took the whole of me into his mouth and sucked while slowly flicking his warm tongue around my lips, creating in me, a most maddening pleasure. "Ma pêch, so ripe, so juicy," he moaned and breached my opening, darting his tongue in and out deeply before finally sliding up to the part of me that begged for the most attention. My legs shook when he licked at my tumescent bud. Erik was making me blissfully crazy.
"Erik—Erik, dear, please stop. Now," I begged.
"Tell me why, Gabrielle." His smile was wicked.
"Because I want you to—"
"What does my wife want?"
"She wants you."
He sat on his haunches and smiled down at me. His cock twitched and rose as he breathed.
"Wants me to do what?" This time he was more demanding.
"Mercy, Erik—your wife wants, no, need for you to fuck her... Comprenez?"
"All you had to do was ask," he said, his voice silky and thick.
"You!" I pushed at him with my feet and scrambled to sit upright. Erik let his robe slide from his shoulders. The lamplight glowed golden on his skin. I reached over and gently plucked the mask from his face, retiring it to the table on his side of the bed.
Erik's breathing increased and I watched his chest rise and fall in anticipation. "Erik, sweetheart, I'm getting too large for the bottom. I hope you don't mind making love an alternative way," I said.
"Hurting you is the last thing on my mind, Gabrielle. Would the 'Hirana' position suit your needs, my lover?" he asked, referring to a favored position from his cherished Karma Sutra.
"I think it a wise and pleasurable choice," I responded.
"Then on all fours, my impassioned doe—in front of the mirror; you know I adore watching. The way your long hair spills over your shoulders when you toss back your head and expel your pleasure noises. And when I pump into you, your breasts sway to and fro—simply breathtaking. If I do not cease my commentary I will come this instant."
My Erik, at once eloquent and rousingly dirty—unraveling me with a word and a look.
"You're not coming without me, mister." I flashed a seductive smile and knelt at the end of our enormous bed. Erik ran his hands over my backside appreciatively and I stretched out like a feline, exposing myself to him.
"My little wife, I love you; you are at once sweet and kind and an absolute putain in the boudoir."
"Every man's dream—a virgin of virtue by day and a saucy whore by night. Men."
"It is not an insult. You simply amaze me. And to think that you are my real, living wife." Erik shook his head.
"And to think, you called me 'little'—big points for you, buster. Now come—let's consummate our nuptials," I purred and wiggled my behind at him.
When Erik filled me, I whimpered with pleasure. Determined not to rush, he clenched his jaw in concentration, but soon animalistic need took over and he began thrusting enthusiastically, chuffing and panting and staring at out images in the mirror.
We had become one in body and soul—a connection so overwhelming it seemed we were hovering over the bed in a projection of passion and love.
Who knew one could feel such things?
I reached back to cuddled Erik's balls.
"Oh! Gabrielle—I— love—you, he breathed between thrusts. His orgasm thundered into me, triggering my release. Delectable convulsions claimed my body and I arched back and cried out.
Erik uttered soft encouragements as he kissed the length of my spine, stopping to nibble on my neck, both of us covered in a sheen of sweat. The smell of sex mingled with the spice of previously burnt incense and candles, granting an exotic musk to the air. He squatted on his heels and fell onto his back. I rolled to one side and crawled up to where he lay on the pillows.
"Come here, my dear wife," he said, opening his arms and gathering me to him.
"Thank you, my dear husband. You were absolutely fabulous, as always," I said with a kiss.
"A monumental pleasure to serve you, Madame DuPuis. I believe married sex may be better than unmarried sex. That was a substantial release you had, Gabrielle." Erik could not hold back a self-satisfied smile.
"When your husband is Le maestro du pénis, I am left craving more. Do you think we disturbed the maid?" I traced his soft trail of chest hair with my forefinger and laughed affectionately.
He smoothed some errant strands of hair from my eyes and stroked my face. "I certainly hope we did. That's what she gets for being underfoot. I'll wager ten francs that Mademoiselle Caruso turns red as a poppy when we see her tomorrow." Erik's hilarity shook the bed.
Soon the power of exhaustion sucked us into slumber. We hadn't even time to freshen up.
"Monsieur DuPuis, rise; it is nearly noon." Madame Roux was barking at us from the other side of the bedroom door.
"What in Napoleon's name is up with that?" I grumbled from somewhere beneath the sheets.
"That is my dear housekeeper pushing her virtue on us. No sane person sleeps beyond noon in her opinion."
"It's our honeymoon," I whined.
"Something of which she cannot know for certain, and if she did, she would remind us that we have already taken advantage of its fruits many times over."
"Monsieur, I have your food for you and Gabrielle; make yourselves decent so I can enter, please."
"She's coming in here?" I hissed.
"Good god." Erik hastily reached for his gown and handed me mine, which had been hanging over his desk chair where he'd tossed it last night.
We threw on our coverings and Erik bid her to enter. "No use in resisting, she'll enter anyway—the woman has the master key."
I found it strange that he would grant Madame Roux that sort of power, but I supposed she was trustworthy.
"You may enter, Madame," said Erik.
The tall oak door inched open and a silver tray laden with food and coffee appeared in the withered hands of Marie Roux.
"Good morning, dears, well it is not hardly morning anymore now, is it. Gabrielle, I have prayed endlessly for your safe return and here you are! Are you well?"
"Very much so, Madame Roux." I smiled at the older woman.
"I trust that you are properly married now?" She glared disapprovingly at us.
"Indeed, Madame. We were wed yesterday in Le Havre." Erik said.
"Wonderful news!" she clasped her hands together. I thought I saw her tear up.
"It is about time. Gabrielle, are you truly with child?"
I folded back the covers to reveal my belly for her inspection.
"Over six months and feeling healthy, Marie."
"A baby, in this house, such a blessed event. Congratulations to you both, Monsieur and Madame DuPuis," she curtsied.
"Thank you for your generous wishes, Madame Roux," Erik reciprocated. "What happened to Mademoiselle Caruso? I instructed her to bring our breakfast."
Madame Roux's expression turned quizzical. "It seems something spooked her late last night, Monsieur; you know how timid the girl is. I cannot believe she was born of theatrical stock. The girl begged off her morning duties by claiming that she was up all night with a sour stomach."
Erik stifled a giggle. "I'm afraid we had a late night head to head meeting in the darkened hallway," I remarked.
"Oh, that would explain the purple knot on her temple," Marie mused.
Her eyes grew wide. She approached the bed and touched my forehead gingerly. "Gabrielle, were you hurt? We must get Doctor Pence to come here and examine you at once."
"I'm unharmed, fine and dandy, not a bump, not a scratch. You needn't summon Doctor Pence. I have a specialist traveling in from London to look after me soon. So please, Marie, do not worry. I know how to watch out for myself."
"What do you know? You are a young woman with no experience in the matter of babies, a novice. I insist you move to your former bedroom at the end of the hall. There I will have better access to you should you require assistance. In my day I was a much sought after midwife."
"How wonderful," I said, forcing a smile. Erik was bossy enough; all I needed was Marie Roux barking orders at me.
"I'm sure you are aware, Monsieur DuPuis had accepted the offer of my services." A point Marie punctuated by crossing her arms.
"Did you now, darling?" I directed the forced smile at my husband.
"Did I not fill you in on her generous offer?" Erik grinned.
I patted his hand condescendingly. "Why no, my dearest, it must have slipped your mind in all of the excitement of our nuptials."
I was not up for battling the strong-willed Marie Roux. Even with three children of her own, she still did not know what I knew about childbirth.
"Marie, I don't wish to take advantage of your good nature. We well need you to run the household. Let my doctor friend do the birthing." I looked at her and then to my new husband for support.
She waved me away with her bony hands. "I'll not hear of it, and that is that."
"Erik?"
"What do I know?" he mumbled and shrugged.
It was going to be a long three months...
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Please, please review. I shall update soon.
-Leesa