This chapter is short. But I hope the content makes up for it ;)
Outside in the courtyard, Anna waited. Her insides ached with disappointment, as for the first time in weeks, there had been no note from John waiting for her. She shivered in the cold air, longing for him to come outside and join her, and explain why.
She reasoned with herself. He might have been busy. Perhaps he hadn't been able to get into that side of the corridor for some reason. Maybe he had been given some errands for Lord Grantham.
Maybe he didn't like the note I gave him.
No.
She wasn't going to think like that.
Behind her, there was a soft sound and a sudden warm presence, and a gentle and beloved voice whispered in her ear.
"Alone at last..."
Anna's knees buckled as his arm slipped around her waist, pulling her back against him, his lips teasing beneath her ear, down the sensitive lines of her jaw, the edge of her throat. She sighed with pleasure, leaning back into his caress, relief and desire washing through her blood like molten metal.
Suddenly, John moved, twisting her so that her back was up against the wall, the shock of the cold sending an elicit thrill straight through her veins. His hands held her firmly at the waist, he pressed close against her, bending his head, his mouth meeting hers.
Anna gasped with delight, her hands clutching at the sleeves of his coat, as his tongue teased against her lips, gently at first, then more insistently. Her lips parted, allowing him to taste her, her body ached with longing as he crushed against her, her back flat against the cold wall, his mouth plundering hers. One hand moved to stroke its way up her side, his fingertips grazing against her breast, teasing along her throat and jaw line.
The kiss broke off suddenly, Anna was left breathless, reeling with desire, gazing into John's eyes, hot with passion, longing for her etched into every line of his face.
"John, what...?"
He cut her question short with another swift, hungry kiss. Anna's stomach churned with pleasure. Oh how she had missed this side of her husband, after such a short and distant taste of his passion on their wedding night.
"That's what I meant." He whispered, hot and insistent, into her ear, his voice rough and urgent, spilling out long held secrets
"What you meant?"
"All those years ago... when I said 'alone at last'. That's what I longed for, wanted to do, ached to do with you."
"Really...?"
"Really. And had I been a younger man, had I been free of my unwise marriage, had I been untarnished by a felon's record and still strong and uninjured, that would have been exactly what I did."
Anna swallowed, her breathing shaky.
"I didn't want you younger," she whispered hoarsely. "I didn't want you any different than you were. I wanted you, exactly as you were. As you are now. I still do, John."
"Oh Anna..."
The next kiss didn't end until Mrs Hughes familiar voice called through the courtyard.
"Locking up now!"
"Wait... here..."
John caught her hand, passing her an envelope. He leaned in and whispered one last time into her ear.
"This is what else I would have done..."
Anna needed an extra second to catch her breath, and straighten her clothes, as her husband gave her one last look which melted her insides and walked inside to go to bed. Her legs trembled all the way up the stairs to her own room, her fingers clutched around the letter, her curiosity running as wild as her desire.