Year of Cobert
October – lightning
rating: M
Duneagle. A heavy storm rolls over the Scottish Highlands and worries Cora. Robert tries to help her relax at night. This chapter is for emma-hahn because part of it is inspired by a wish/request, she shared in a review months ago, and she also helped me with greatly last month's chapter. Thank you!
…
Cora was glad they were all inside the drawing room now and enjoyed their after-dinner drinks. A relieved shiver ran through her as she apprehended the raging storm outside. She had been in a nervous state since the first signs of changing weather. The gentlemen had planned to go out and stalk deer, not open to the light concern Cora and Violet had voiced at the strong breeze that pulled a dark front of clouds further down the far horizon. The ladies had preferred to stay close to the house and all the while Cora had been anxiously kneading her gloves as she observed the growing darkness in the sky. No matter how much she tried to distract herself, she couldn't help but worry about her husband stalking up and down the exposed hills.
Fortunately, it all went well. The gentlemen arrived drenched to the bones but in happy spirits and entirely unscathed. Cora had run into the main hall a bit too excitedly but she had already pictured vivid horror scenarios when the large raindrops had started hitting the windows of Susan's sitting room. As she beheld her wet Robert in the shadowy safety of Duneagle's main hall, a big exhale struggled with relief from her lungs. She had watched as he took off his hat and she smiled when he shook his head and drops of rain flew from his grey curls. When he noticed her watching him at a little distance, her hands clutched in front of her chest, he mirrored her smile. Cora saw how he forgot Shrimpie beside him as he stopped all activity for a few seconds and just acknowledged her. Cora's anxious day was salvaged.
Now she enjoyed the warmth of her armchair in the drawing room and couldn't wait for the men to join them. Susan chattered without pause; only Mama managed to put in a word now and then but Cora wasn't much interested anyway. And she could hardly pretend. Her look always wandered back to the windows and followed the track of the raindrops down the window pane. The storm swished loudly around the castle. She was waiting for Robert; everyone else just bored her today. But she knew waiting could be a long business. The gentlemen could take half an hour or if they wanted all night to smoke their cigars. Shrimpie and Robert hadn't seen each other in a while. They had a lot to catch up on. Oh! But how Cora wished Robert would just put down his cigar and join her right now. With this storm outside she just wanted to huddle up to his warm and comforting side and let herself be held by his strong arms. But the men still smoked.
And the men still smoked half an hour later. Cora looked into the faces around her, illuminated by the warm light of the candles and the blazing flames in the fireplace, stoic and grim like unmoving masks for a masquerade ball. Even though they didn't seem to have the fun of their lives, the others didn't appear too preoccupied by the absence of the gentlemen. Only Cora bobbed her knee impatiently and consulted the grandfather clock often enough to believe the hands stood actually still.
"Did they have a special success on their hunt or what could have them so enraptured in their conversation?" Cora asked in an attempted casual tone.
Susan looked a little bitter to have her monologue interrupted but the younger ladies all looked a trifle relieved to have a change of subject and speaker.
"But, Cora dear, they just went stalking. They didn't actually shoot," Mama corrected her; condescending but good-hearted because, in contrast to Susan, Cora evoked warm and nearly loving feelings in Violet.
"Would you want them to come over now already?" Susan's rebuke was an outcry of shrill appal. She craned her neck to look at the clock. "Well, that would be even better if they would thwart our entire evening from dinner to bedtime."
"I don't think our evening would be thwarted by their company," Cora answered. She usually wouldn't have done so because she knew how delicate the topic of Susan and Shrimpie's marriage was, but tonight she was too much on edge herself to think about sparing the others' – especially Susan's – feelings first. She wanted to have Robert by her side. She couldn't care less about Susan's crankiness. And it wasn't right for Susan to malign Shrimpie so constantly and entirely. He didn't deserve it.
Susan groaned. Before she could continue her hateful tirade, Cora got support from the younger ones.
"I agree with Cousin Cora. I'd rather have the men join us soon. I am sure it wouldn't be boring at all with Cousin Robert and Matthew and Father," Rose said. She lounged floppily on a sofa. In her left hand, she held her drink and swirled the last few drops lazily with a youthful looseness in her wrist.
"It's not at all our business to vote on when the gentlemen should best join us," Mama made clear. "When they join us, they join us and then we'll welcome them with drink and entertainment but the rest of their evening is none of our business."
Cora looked into Rose's disappointed face and she just knew well enough how Rose felt. Cora was transported back in time to when she had first heard Mama's lectures. How strange to hear the exact same words thirty years later directed at young Rose. Rose blew an unruly white blonde curl from her face and was everything but ladylike in her slumpy disappointment.
The topic was dropped for the sake of harmony and propriety, and Cora was back to fully experience her state of impatience. There was a good hour left to midnight when the men finally joined them. Their deep laughter was what met the ladies first as the door opened. Cora sat up straighter and lifted her chin in anticipation of her husband. Each with a tumbler in hand, the gentlemen entered the drawing room and waiting silently, Cora watched Robert still engrossed in his apparently amusing chat with Shrimpie. The seconds felt like hours when Cora waited for him to finally look at her. But actually, it didn't take him long to seek her amidst the others in the room. His gaze swept warmly over her rigid posture of anticipation, and her tension dissipated under his warm attention. He took the shortest route to her armchair and came to stand beside it. As he leaned down for a quick peck on the crown of her head, Cora caught a whiff of his tobacco. She gladly accepted the hand he laid palm-up on the armrest of her chair and their hands interlocked; palms sliding against each other in a familiar twist. Everything was right again.
However, when Shrimpie's look fell onto the happy couple, Robert pulled his hand away again. Cora knew not to take it personally. She rested her hands in her lap again. Robert was probably right and they shouldn't flaunt their marital bliss in every possible way. Shrimpie and Susan had enough on their shoulders as it was.
But Cora was all the happier when Robert excused the two of them and they wished everyone a good night, and finally, they walked hand in hand through the dark castle.
"Finally," Cora whispered.
Robert chuckled and squeezed her hand. He held the candlestick that was to guide them to their rooms in his other hand. The flame threw constantly morphing shadows on the walls. They walked in silence to their rooms. It was a comfortable silence.
"Don't worry," Robert said when they reached Cora's room and she looked at him with slight disappointment in her eyes when he let go of her hand. "I'll be with you in a minute."
They both called their servants. Cora observed the ongoing storm outside while O'Brien made her ready for bed. It seemed to have grown even heavier. Robert also noticed it when he came into her room a little while later. He closed the door behind him and they were finally alone with each other for the night; now really.
"Golly!" he said, his hand still on the doorknob. "That's what I call a storm."
Cora nodded. He joined her in bed. They turned off the lights but the fireplace illuminated the room enough. They sat side by side in bed and looked at the dark windows. The rain attacked the glass mercilessly and Cora was glad for the glimmering glow in the fireplace to spend them at least somewhat a sense of shelter and comfort. Her thoughts went back to the happenings and worries of the day.
"Didn't you think about what could have happened had the storm been like this while you were out?" She brushed her palm over the soft fabric of Robert's nightshirt as she stroked his upper arm.
"I feel that you thought about it enough for the both of us."
"And you still went out."
"Cora. I accompanied very experienced men of the Scottish Highlands and weather. Shrimpie and Nield know well enough what they're doing. Who am I to object to their plans for the hunt just because my wife is overanxious?"
"I'm sorry." She bent her head and dropped her gaze to her lap. She sighed.
A bright lightning illuminated the room for multiple seconds. Cora knew she could have observed Robert to the last wrinkle in the bright light but she kept her head low.
"I don't want to be a nagger and a spoilsport," Cora added. "I actually didn't want to bring the topic up again once you came home safe." She lifted her head and looked to the now dark windows when thunder rumbled aggressively outside. The splatter of the rain against the glass and brick was a constant background noise. Cora's quiet voice was nearly swallowed by the noises. "I just keep imagining what terrible things could have happened with the storm getting heavier and heavier."
"I like that you take so great care of me, my dear."
Cora felt the mattress dip between them when Robert leaned over. In the semi-dark, the back of his fingers touched her cheek and finally, she looked at him. His eyes awaited her with a soft smile.
"I'm sorry," she repeated. She felt utterly silly.
"Don't apologise for being worried about me. You're just doing your job extremely well. I appreciate that."
Cora smiled back at him.
He continued, "Maybe I should appreciate it more." His hand settled on her hip, drawing circles in a rather persistent manner Cora knew quite well.
"Well, I guess you're not planning on doing that by listening to my pleas in the future."
"Oh, I will listen to your pleas. I thought about starting with your nightly pleas." His hand slipped under her blanket.
Cora's cheeks burned instantly. She somehow hadn't expected his quick and saucy reply. She cleared her throat, being a bit staggered.
"What makes you think I will utter any pleas tonight?" She tried to appear as nonchalant as possible. She ignored his wandering hand and looked the other way while she brushed casually over the wrinkles of her blanket. But when his hand settled between her legs she froze. This couldn't be ignored.
Robert leaned even closer to her until his mouth brushed the shell of her ear and his nose buried in her tied-back curls.
"Let me make it up to you. You worried yourself all day because of me and this calls for proper relaxation. Let me give that to you. That's my job, and gladly do it." His whispering voice rumbled deeply through her body. Cora sensed her composure weaken more and more. Robert's warm palm brushed over her drawers and before she could give it another thought Cora turned towards him and slipped into his embrace. She hid her face in his warm and oh-so-familiar-and-intoxicating-smelling neck as she melted more against his body and his caressing hand. The feeling of his lips travelling across her cheekbone and jaw completed the warm comfort.
The next flash of lightning Cora nearly missed entirely in the refuge of her husband's arms. There were still faint traces of the smell of his cigar tobacco clinging to his skin and hair and Cora had to breathe in deeper to catch his own scent when the tobacco hit her nostrils particularly sharply. But oh, she finally had him close! She was in his arms, she held him tight; he was here and wouldn't go.
"My darling," he hummed.
She turned her head to search his lips with her own. Before committing to the kiss, she whispered, "Show me how you would make it up. Show me how you would dispel all my worries."
The moment their lips met, Robert pulled Cora onto his lap, urging her to straddle him. Cora could only think about how lucky she was, how lucky they were. Somewhere in the distance, she remembered Shrimpie and Susan's unhappiness, and Cora resolved to enjoy her luck even more. She had not only a working marriage that was ruled by harmony, she even had a love-filled and passionate one. And this was rare. It had to be cherished accordingly.
Robert's hands ran along her sides. Nice tingles filled Cora from within. Their kisses grew from sweet and loving to desperate snugging. Cora leaned more into the warmth of his body and pressed her chest up against his as she tilted her head to kiss him even deeper. She soon felt him stir beneath her.
"Like this?" he inquired after gasping for air a while into their intimacy.
She nodded, and the movement of her head nudged his temple. "Yes, like this," she breathed. "Do you realise how lucky we are?"
Robert took her hands and brought them up in the narrow space between their bodies until they were pressed between their heaving chests.
"Yes. Extremely lucky. That's what we are." His voice sounded affected, nearly as if clogged with tears, but Cora had no chance to check on it when he pulled her in for another kiss the next second. Once again, she was reminded that there was no better distraction than kissing Robert. She could lose all sense of time and space when Robert's lips were connected to hers. And it worked wonders now as well. All prior thoughts about Robert getting lost in the storm were blown away. Every image her mind had conjured up of him soaked on the ground, the dark storm concealing a horrible accident that tends to result from such weather was gone now. There was only the safety of Robert's arms, the love in his embrace, and the lust of his kisses.
Cora felt a tug at her hair. Their hands had untangled from each other by now and Robert's fingers had crept up on her back. Now he seemed to work on the trickeries of her hair tie. Cora pulled back.
"What are you doing?" She flinched when a certain strand pulled sharply at her scalp.
Robert groaned in frustration. "I'm trying to open your braid but it's giving me a cramp." He shook his hand and Cora silently came to his aid. She flipped the braid over her right shoulder, loosened the tie, and undid the orderly night braid. Robert hummed appreciatively. The glow of the dwindling flames from the fireplace danced on Robert's features and Cora grew warm under his approving look. He seemed to put much importance on her having her hair down.
"Do you like it when I have my hair down and open like this?" She shook her head to toss the dark curls from side to side. She feared it looked less elegant than she'd planned.
"Oh, yes! I do like it!"
"More than when I have it up?"
"It's just different. It's special." He reached for her long curls and ran his fingers slowly through her hair. "Well, it's so… intimate, you know? Your hair, it always looks beautiful but this," he held out a piece of her hair and twirled it around his finger, "this is a beauty only I ever see. And I like that."
Cora grinned. "I like that too."
She shook her hair again, feeling more confident now. When she beheld Robert's admiring look, happiness suffused her and a peal of laughter erupted from her.
"May I?" Robert asked and his hands found their way under Cora's nightgown, beginning to undress her.
"Yes."
A chill ran over her the moment she sat on his lap sans clothing. A sudden flash of light jerked across the walls. The storm was still raging outside. Robert's eyes raked over her hungrily in the bright light and his hands grabbed her hips to ground her more strongly on his lap. When the thunder followed the lightning, Cora couldn't concentrate on anything else but Robert growing harder under her heat. While the roll of thunder still seeped into the building in between the grey bricks, Cora launched into her husband's arms, overpowered by thoughts of what she wanted him to do to her on such a stormy night. She didn't find the storm that bad anymore. She wanted their lovemaking to be just as wild as the weather. Cora kissed him deeply with an urgency that she hoped would convey her needs.
Robert seemed to understand. At least the way he kissed her back, full of cupidity for her love, indicated it. And the way he lifted his hips into her needily grinding body showed he needed her just as she needed him.
"Come, show me, Robert," she rasped against his lips. "Show me how would help me relax. Show me how would make it up to me. Take my worries away."
In response, his head sank between her breasts, and Cora's head rolled back when the sensation of his warm tongue and gentle teeth slid over her skin. She held on to his shoulders and let her heavy breaths be washed away by the patter of the rain. From the outside came the Scottish coldness, but from the inside Cora was pleasantly warmed by the lust Robert stoked in her.
When his head dipped even lower, she grabbed his hair and moaned because that was what the flick of his tongue did to her. She tried to reach down to where she sat to fondle him but the angle didn't allow it.
"Robert, let's…" her voice trailed off because Robert's hand sneaking into her drawers distracted her too much.
"Not too impatient, my dear. I'll show you. Don't worry! I'll show you how I'll take away your worries." He was slightly out of breath. Cora loved it when he spoke to her in these moments and she could instantly tell how affected he was by what they were doing. Robert looked deep into her eyes while his fingers caressed her inside her underwear.
"Alright, alright." She smirked expectantly at him.
Robert removed all barriers between them, and soon Cora felt his warm firmness press between her folds. She curled into his body, kissed his neck, and relished the feeling of him sliding along her sex.
"I want to see you," he rasped into her ear.
She stopped her kisses for a second. "What?"
He gently pulled her back by her shoulders. "I want to see you riding me." His face was flushed hot pink. He cleared his throat to cover the fidgetiness that came with him bluntly requesting sexual acts.
Cora's cheeks grew hot as well.
"Oh?"
Robert was about to add something – probably to soften the vulgarity of his demand – when Cora already sprang into action. She slightly lifted her hips and wrapped her fingers around his hard member. With her other hand, she ran through her hair and flipped it over her shoulder.
"Like this?" she asked and drew the words out in the low lilt that she had observed made his eyelids flicker and his hardness twitch.
Slowly, she lowered herself onto him until she engulfed him and sat on his lap again. She put her hands on his shoulders, leaned back a little and shook her hair as she started to roll her hips a little.
"Hmm," Robert agreed weakly. He encircled her waist with his palms. "Like this."
"Good."
She rode him and delighted in the satisfaction she saw in Robert's face. She loved the angle in which he rubbed up and down her walls and from the noises he made, he seemed to enjoy the angle as well. When he was composed enough after the first pleasure had nearly overwhelmed him, his hands left her waist and travelled all over her skin and into her hair, and Cora was tempted to fall into his arms again.
"Is this right?" Robert asked when his hands had come to settle under her bum and helped her lift and twist it up and down on his standing erection.
Cora only panted her agreement. It was more a hot breath hitting his chin than a "Yes". She quickened her movements and felt the exertion settle in her thighs. She stuck more with the grinding motions of her hips than the bouncing on Robert's lap. After all, this was meant to be relaxation for her.
"Join in!" she urged him.
And then his hips pistoned into her and she eventually melted into his arms which held her closely. His exhales were hot on her neck and his groans loud in her ear. Her nails dug into his shoulder blades and she kept grinding her hips into his. Her sensitive mound brushed against his pubic bone when his strong thrusts made their bodies collide, and Cora chanted her pleasure against Robert's perspiring temple. She planted her lips onto his grey sideburns and inhaled as much of him as possible.
He gave her a good ride because she was soon desperately chasing her high, until with a loud sigh, she fell into bliss with one thought on her mind. They were lucky. Oh, so lucky!
Robert grunted when he stuttered into her a few more times. And then his arms wrapped around her more securely. His face nuzzled into her wild head of hair, and he hummed into her scalp. Cora curled more into him and relished in the peaceful warmth of his broad body. A faraway thunder sounded through the wet window panes, and Robert pulled Cora's blanket to where they were cuddling and put it around their naked bodies.
"Relaxed?" he asked. "Carefree? Satisfied?" His hand cupped the back of her head.
She nodded into his neck. His warm scent enveloped her. Of course, she was relaxed then. She turned her head slightly to the side to speak.
"But you won't give me new reasons to worry tomorrow, will you?"
Robert's fingertips combed her hair and lightly scraped her scalp. The tingles it sent down her spine made Cora drowsy.
"I won't, I promise. No hunting tomorrow. I'll stay with you."
"That would be nice. Your spoilsport of a wife is very happy about that."
"No spoilsport at all," he said with emphasis. "Or did I seem bored to you tonight?"
She laughed. "That's not what I would call it. But you know that that's not how we can spend our days. Susan wouldn't approve if I rode you in broad daylight on one of her pink settees."
"Well, that's because Susan is a spoilsport. You wouldn't object to that, right? That's what makes her a spoilsport and not you."
They both laughed, and Cora thought she had been really silly to have been so worried all day. She was the luckiest woman; there was no need to worry.
