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In their room, Charles and Elsie both quickly tossed away hats and shrugged out of coats. Charles was almost entirely undressed when he noticed that Elsie was having trouble with her buttons.
"Let me help you," he suggested.
Elsie was mildly frustrated. "My hands don't seem to be moving very fast," she grumbled, her teeth chattering.
Charles brushed her hands away from the buttons of her blouse. "It's no wonder," he remarked, taking over the job himself. "They're freezing. We'd better get you warm. I should have tried to get a cab as soon as the rain started." He quickly undressed her and when he went in search of his own dressing gown, she climbed into the bed and crawled under the covers.
Charles walked to the bed and lifted up a corner of the blanket. "Elsie, come out of there."
"Don't you want to climb in and help me get warm?" she flirted.
"I'd love to, dear, but your teeth are still chattering. You don't need a tumble with your husband, you need a hot bath."
"What a shame that I'm too sensible to argue with you," Elsie lamented, sitting up in bed, still wrapped in the blankets.
Charles bent down and kissed her searingly before speaking softly in her ear. "The sooner you have a hot bath, the sooner you'll be fit for that tumble." He walked into the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and returned with a large towel. Elsie slid out of bed and allowed Charles to wrap her in the towel and lead her away.
Once she was in the tub, Charles gently washed her back and her arms, her stomach and her breasts. Elsie's teeth stopped chattering and she sighed as she relaxed into the warmth of the water and her husbands hands.
"Won't you join me, love?" Elsie asked softly.
"You really are a siren," he replied in a low tone. "Seductive, but dangerous."
"Dangerous? How?" she wanted to know.
"There's no way we can both fit safely in that tub. I'd be dashed against the rocks for certain."
Elsie laughed warmly. "Very well, my silly man, but I expect you to - oh!" She gasped in surprise and pleasure to find her husband's fingers suddenly between her thighs, grazing her so lightly she couldn't breathe for a moment. As he continued to caress her, she grasped the sides of the tub and leaned her head back, closing her eyes and biting her lip.
"Does that feel good, my Elsie?"
She only whimpered in reply. Charles continued to move his hand and her breathing grew more erratic. He bent down and kissed her hard; she returned his kiss with fervor and their tongues danced and teased. Elsie broke the kiss and moaned his name. She was getting closer to something. She was almost there.
Charles removed his hand and Elsie sat up, her eyes flying open. "Where? What? No!"
"It's time to get out of the water now, love," he told her, dark mischief dancing in his eyes. He helped her step out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her shoulders. Elsie tried to throw it off, but he was not deterred from slowly drying every inch of her skin.
"Oh, you are teasing me, you wicked, wicked man!" Elsie protested. Charles was resolute, however, so she stopped fighting him and managed to untie the belt of his dressing gown and push it from his shoulders. Because his hands were still occupied with her, it did not fall to the floor, but it did reveal that he was dressed only in his undershorts, which had somehow escaped the rain. Elsie's first inclination was to pull down the shorts, but she thought she might return a little of the torment he was exacting on her. She reached out hesitantly and slid one finger between his skin and the waistband of those shorts. Before she could go any further, however, the towel fell away from her body, Charles's dressing gown dropped to the floor, and he lifted her off of the floor and deposited her on the bed. Elsie was amazed at how quickly he moved; within a few seconds he was naked, had climbed onto the bed, and was looming over her. Charles hovered for a moment, his eyes roaming her face. "You're beautiful," he said hoarsely.
Elsie looked up into his eyes in some wonder and reached up to caress his cheek. She thought and felt more than she could possibly say, so she spoke the words that made all the others superfluous. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Charles kissed her lips softly and ran his hand along her waist and hip.
Elsie pulled his head down to hers; there was a hint of desperation in her kiss. "Don't make me wait any longer," she urged him.
"Doesn't the waiting make it all the sweeter, love?" Charles's words were teasing, but he did not intend to resist her much longer.
She pinned him with a serious look. "We've waited quite long enough for this, don't you think?"
"I do," he replied, rendered momentarily immobile by her piercing gaze.
"Oh, Charles," Elsie whispered, closing her eyes and wrapping her legs around him. "Please."
So he gave her what she wanted, what they both wanted. It wasn't long before they lay tangled up together, their breathing slowly returning to normal, exchanging little affectionate kisses. Charles tugged the covers up over them both and pulled Elsie close. "Do you feel warmer now, love?" he asked her.
"Mmhmm," she sighed. "That was a lovely tumble."
"It certainly was," he agreed, kissing her lightly.
"We've three days left in London?"
"Yes. Why?"
"I was just wondering how many tumbles might be had in three days."
"Well," Charles began seriously. "If the weather continues like this I'm afraid there won't be much sightseeing for us. We may have to spend most of our time indoors, Elsie."
"Oh dear, how dreadful," she replied, but an impish smile belied her lament.
Charles just laughed, then yawned and fell more deeply into his pillow. He drifted off to sleep a few minutes later, Elsie following close behind.
#####
"Do you know what I'll miss, now that we're married?" Charles asked. He and Elsie were in their nightclothes, having a morning cup of tea in bed.
She thought for a moment. "No, I don't."
"Letters."
"Well, have you lost the ability to read and write?" Elsie teased. "Who says we can't write letters?"
Charles set his cup on the bedside table, got out of bed, and began rummaging in his suitcase. Elsie watched with interest, but didn't question him. "I'm glad you feel that way, love, because I've written you a letter already." He came back to the bed with a bundle of letters in his hand, tied with a blue ribbon. He slid the top letter out and handed it to her. It was addressed simply with her first name.
Elsie's interest was caught by the bundle. "Are those all my letters?" she wanted to know. "You saved them?"
"Of course I did," Charles told her. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I didn't know they meant quite that much to you until later in the Season."
"They most certainly did!" he asserted. "I lived in eager anticipation of every one of them."
"Did you?" Elsie smiled.
"Oh yes," he confirmed. "Often to the point of distraction. I did tell you I was half mad without you, Elsie."
She raised her eyebrows. "Where did you get the ribbon?"
"I asked Mrs. Bute to get it from one of the lady's maids. Blue like your eyes, and the sea and the sky. Of course I didn't tell her any of that." Charles pointed to the envelope in her hand. "Aren't you going to read that letter, Elsie?"
"Of course." She opened the letter and read.
Dear Mrs. Carson,
I'll call you Elsie most of the time, but I won't pretend that it won't please me to address you as Mrs. Carson occasionally. It will be a reminder that we belong to each other in every way.
Thank you for holding my hand to steady me as we walked through the water at Brighton. Thank you, also, for unbalancing me again with your lovely letters after you went back to Downton. I didn't know what was happening to me at the time, but I was starting to realize that I cared for you a great deal, so much that my own strange behavior seemed a small price to pay for the novelty of this new style of correspondence. When I returned to Downton after the Season, you continued to steady and unbalance me by turns, until at last we came to an understanding that had been years in the making.
I know you will be always beside me now, to hold my hand when I need to feel steady. I hope you will allow me to steady you as well. I can make any burden of yours lighter, if you will let me. I've wanted to offer you that gift for a long time, but I did not have the right to do so until now. I wish to help with your every hardship and anxiety, not because you are not strong enough to carry a heavy load on your own, but because I love you.
Ever yours, darling of my heart,
Charles
Elsie wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her nightgown. "Charles, I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Charles frowned and moved to gather her into his arms. "Don't cry, love. I didn't mean to reproach you."
"But I should have… I wish I had-"
"Never mind," he said, gently shushing her. "We've each done our share of hiding fears and problems from one another over the years."
"Yes, we have," Elsie admitted.
"It just seems like it would be less painful to carry some of your burden than to watch you carry it alone," Charles suggested quietly.
She took a deep breath. "I hadn't thought of it like that," she murmured. "I love you."
"I love you, too." He kissed her forehead. "Will there be any reply to my letter?"
"Of course," Elsie answered. "Have you got a pen and paper?"
Charles pointed across the room. "In the desk, I think."
Elsie set down her cup, climbed out of bed, and sat down at the desk. She found the pen and paper and glanced over her shoulder at her husband. A hint of a smile appeared on her lips as she wrote. After she had been writing for a minute or so, she looked over her shoulder again, this time with an expression of unconcealed mischief on her face. She worked on the letter for a little while longer and then folded up the paper and returned to the bed. Charles was eager to read this letter, but he waited patiently for Elsie to give it to him.
"Charles, you must promise never to show this to anyone," she directed him.
"I've never had the intention of showing any of your letters to anyone," he replied.
Elsie looked down at the paper in her hand. "I can't believe I've committed these words to paper," she murmured, more to herself than to Charles. "I might do better to throw it on the fire."
"You can't tease me like that, Elsie," he told her. "You really must let me see it now." He held out his hand and Elsie placed the paper in it. She burrowed under the covers and curled up next to him while he read.
Dear Charles,
It pleases me very much to be your wife and, just as you will enjoy addressing me by your name, I will take advantage of every opportunity to call you Charles, after so many years of loving Mr. Carson.
You are quite right that we should share our troubles. There is nothing to be gained by one of us trying to protect the other by concealing pain or distress; after so many years we know each other too well to hide these things completely. Better to weather the storm together. That's just one of the many ways we can love one another.
I was glad to hold your hand, to steady you when you felt uncertain of your footing at the beach. I thank you in turn for keeping me very unsteady when we took our first tumble together, not long ago, and every time since. You seem to know just what to do, love, to keep me trembling, but one day I shall get the better of you and you will be as giddy as I am every time you touch me. It seems a little unfair that I should be so spoilt. Don't you agree, my dear?
Ever yours, my enticing love,
Mrs. Carson
"I think there's been some misunderstanding, Mrs. Carson," Charles stated gravely, indicating the letter.
Elsie looked up at his face. "What do you mean?"
Charles slipped down from a sitting position to lie on his side next to his wife. "It's this bit about your being spoilt," he murmured. "It's simply not true." He tossed aside the letter and let his hand slide under Elsie's nightgown and drift up one of her thighs.
She closed her eyes, breathing heavily. "That's... just what I mean," she panted. "When you... do that with your... fingers. I just… Oh, my…"
Charles leaned down and nibbled on her earlobe. "Do you know what makes me giddy?" he asked softly.
Elsie could only shake her head.
He lowered his voice to a hot whisper against her neck. "That you like it so much."
She moaned and tried to kiss him, but he pulled back, just out of reach of her lips. "The sounds that you make, Mrs. Carson, are the most exquisite music to me."
Elsie tried again and this time succeeded in kissing him, though only on the chin. "You're still winning, Mr. Carson," she sighed. "You're still getting the better of me."
Charles laughed, soft and low. "If you say so, Mrs. Carson."
"I do say so," she breathed. "And I will get the better of you one day."
"I shall look forward to it, my dear."
He didn't have long to wait.
To be continued…
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