Tryst

A/N: My contribution to the Cobert Winter Fanfic Exchange 2023.

Genre: smut
Prompts: tryst / "I needed this, needed you."

Synopsis: Set somewhere around S1 in the summertime, Robert plans to take Cora out on a special rendezvous while she hopes for more than just a sweet, innocent time together. Somehow they end up in a very improper situation under the stars.

I hope you enjoy it! Please review! It would make my day!

...

It was not planned, and still, Cora had sensed from the start that this outcome had been inevitable. It was just one of the days she needed him more than was reasonable. She needed him, and luckily, he was there for her.

All since tea, Cora had been lured by him with the prospect of watching the stars together. Maybe his flirtatious delivery of his secret thoughts had stirred this desperate need in her. In a voiceless whisper, he had breathed into her ear, Mama just a few steps away from them, "You know what, dear? I just thought I would like to have our next rendezvous under the stars."

An instant heat welled up in her. Just last week, Robert had taken her out to dinner in London, and it had been a lovely rendezvous with an intimate night at Grantham House, which they had had just for themselves. Cora's thoughts ran wild, trying to imagine what Robert might have in mind when he said he wanted to spend the next rendezvous under the stars with her. But their innuendo sweet talk was of course disrupted as soon as it started. They weren't alone; they had a family to take care of and keep together.

"Robert, did you hear what your daughter deemed appropriate to answer her grandmother?" Violet's voice cut in, and Robert was lost to Cora. He once again had to mediate between his mother and his daughters. Violet thought to have serious concerns regarding the girls' manners and the rightness of Robert's parenting decisions. There was no doubt her criticism was at least as much directed at Cora. She was speaking to Robert but the hidden accusation was aimed at the extent of Cora's impact on Robert. Mama didn't like that he listened first to his wife and only second to his mother.

All during tea time, Cora didn't get another chance to quiz Robert about the rendezvous under the stars. Did he already have something planned? Or was he just talking in the spur of the moment? Cora wasn't quite sure but throughout the rest of the day she had Robert's breathy whisper in her ear and she just wished it was night already and she could pull him deep under the covers to make him appease the fire he had kindled in her. But the hours of the day dragged on and there was no chance for Cora to get what she wanted. Either Robert was busy or she was occupied.

Only after dinner they were properly reconnected and Cora enjoyed sitting beside Robert for one final drink in the drawing room. She held on to her sherry glass and tried being patient while Robert was talking with the girls. For once, the three of them had all joined forces and begged Robert to let them ride to Ripon and get new gowns. Cora was surprised at how unanimous they seemed. Even the matter of new dresses had rarely worked in the past to get the girls on one side. But now, without Cora's interference, they had managed to come together peacefully all on their own. It was a small victory but still, Cora was proud.

The sherry ran easily down her throat and her thoughts were miles away, reminiscing times when her daughters didn't reach to her shoulders yet and were vigorously fighting over who deserved to get a new dress first, their shiny curls bouncing as they angrily hurled pillows at each other. Robert's voice broke through her haze of drink and daydreams.

"What do you say, Cora? Do they really need new gowns?"

Cora felt three pairs of pleading eyes on her. Sybil looked at her hopefully, while Edith's pleading look seemed doubtful at its chances at success, and Mary tried to look less bothered than Cora knew her to be.

"Since Granny left after tea and isn't listening at the moment, I can say without hesitation that I'm with the girls on that one," she said, and immediately, Sybil broke into a loud squeal. Cora knew that none of them really needed new gowns to get through the summer but she knew how happy it made them; Sybil's reaction was splendid proof. And Cora herself delighted in the prospect of going to the dressmaker. Provided that her daughters were in a good mood, Cora enjoyed dressing them up in new fabrics. And maybe Robert would be so generous to let her get a new dress for herself as well. After all, he liked it when she looked good for him.

"Alright. Your mother will arrange an appointment tomorrow, and now I want you to be grateful and as good as lambs. I don't want to hear any of you complain or bicker about anything," Robert spoke sternly to the girls. But his stern façade couldn't hide his love for the girls. And not only Cora saw that. Sybil stood up to throw her arms around her father's neck and press her face against his stiff collar, and Mary and Edith followed to breathe a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Papa. We will behave. We promise," Mary said dutifully.

Quickly after the dress topic was settled, the girls were saying their goodnights, having achieved their goal. Cora was glad that this meant she still had an evening with Robert. She put her empty sherry glass down.

"Let us go to bed too."

She didn't need to give him any more explanation. With a warm smile, he followed her. They left the drawing room behind for the servants to clean up. Cora walked past the candle-lit pillars through the main hall. Robert was close behind her and she relied on him to take a candle from the credenza and light it for the way up to their rooms.

But he appeared to have other plans. When Cora was no longer even thinking about it, Robert suddenly made good on his word from earlier that day and escorted her outside. He caught up with her before she reached the stairs and slipped his hand into hers.

"Come." His voice was husky, and Cora stood straighter as a shiver ran down her spine.

Robert pulled her away from the stairs and guided her to the entrance that was hidden in the dark.

"Now we're finally free of the others. Let us just step out for a second and look if we can see the stars," he said in a low voice which intensified the secrecy of it all.

"Oh, Robert. I didn't think you were serious. Not for tonight anyway."

"Why? Am I not a man of my word?"

"Of course, you are. And this is such a sweet idea but I thought it was just sweet talk. I wasn't expecting another rendezvous so soon when you just took me to London last week."

"Well, I try to deliver on all my sweet talk."

The fresh air hit them when Cora followed Robert out of the main entrance into the mild summer night. Robert pulled her hand closer and placed it in the crook of his arm. Cora liked it. They walked down the entrance way but Robert quickly slowed down to tilt his head back and look up at the night sky.

"Oh, we're lucky!"

"Are we?" Cora asked and halted to stand next to him as he looked in awe at the sky.

"It's such a clear night," he said. "I hadn't dared to hope on that. And now it's so clear."

Cora followed his gaze and found the deep blue sky studded with a myriad of bright stars.

"Oh, Robert," she breathed and leaned against him as she took in the beauty of the night, her head tilted all the way back to watch the whole panorama. "This really was a perfect idea," she praised.

"I'm very glad I thought of it and that it worked out so well."

With a content sigh, Robert lowered his head again, squeezed Cora's hand on his arm, and gently urged her to take up their walk.

"What do you think about a small detour into the gardens? Let us make the most of this beautiful night," he said. Cora was quick to agree.

The gardens were dark, so very different from how they usually saw them. The light of the big, waxing moon bathed the night-blue-veiled greenery around them in a silvery gossamer glow. It made Cora wonder why they never took their walks at night. Right now, she couldn't imagine anything nicer.

When they stepped into the shadow of the first tree lining the gravel path, Cora turned around and looked at the big house. It was looming huge and dark before her but it looked friendly with a few of the windows lit in a warm golden light. The wonders of electricity. Cora smiled as she realised how much at home she felt, looking at this large hall of bricks, displaying the gentle life it kept at night. Robert turned around with her.

"It's a very nice home we have," Cora said.

"Of course, we have," he answered matter-of-factly, as if he wondered what a curiously blatant statement she made. But Robert loved Downton all the time exuberantly. A beautiful starry night couldn't change the extent of this feeling when he beheld his estate. It was always the best, most beautiful, and homeliest of places to him. Only Cora wanted to share this with him at the moment, how much she loved Downton too, but words failed her, and she just rested her head on his shoulder and looked up at Sybil's lit bedroom window. It looked warm and safe; just how Cora felt.

"Thank you for this nice rendezvous. I dare say it's even better than our dinner last week in London," she said softly.

"Well, and I paid so much more money for taking you out to that French restaurant. But at least the night we had afterwards makes the last rendezvous superior."

And there it was again. The heat in Cora's belly, the tingles between her legs. Remembering last week's naughty escapades didn't help with the longing she felt for her husband and his body all day. She held her breath to suppress the arousal that washed over her at the images of last week.

"Why are you so still?" Robert asked.

Cora cleared her throat. "Uhm, it's nothing. I… I was just thinking about last week and … what we did."

"Didn't you like it?" he asked surprised.

"Of course, I liked it! A little too much to think clearly now, to be quite honest."

She took his hand and lifted his fingers to her burning cheek. She wasn't sure if Robert could see how the arousal had painted her cheeks pink, so she showed him how it made her burn up. She definitely still felt the heat of last week. One thought about Robert pressing her into the settee at Grantham House was enough. Their mingled calls of desperation still rang in her ears.

"You're hot," he stated. His fingers ran down her cheek to her neck and Cora was burning up more and more.

"And you're using every chance you get to flirt with me."

"No, that's not how I meant… well, of course, you're hot. I just meant your skin." He quickly became flustered and Cora chuckled at her sweet man.

"Are you flirting with me or not?" she asked lowly. Her voice sounded calm but, on the inside, she was nervous, desperate for him to flirt with her because maybe that would lead to touching, and when they were touching each other, the night never ended without culminating in terrific fun. Oh, and Cora needed it!

Robert weighed his words, and Cora grew anxious that he wouldn't catch on. What if he would deny and they would go back inside without a kiss even? That would be terrible.

"Uhm, should I? Should I flirt with you?" he asked, his voice carrying unsurely through the night air.

"Oh, Robert! This is not how flirting works," she sighed.

"I just wasn't sure," he quickly explained.

"Well, Robert, a lady just showed you how aroused your words made her. If that isn't a prompt to flirt with her, I don't know what is," Cora said in slight desperation.

His hands found her hips, and Cora's body was alert in an instant.

"And only with a certain lady, I take it as an invitation. I'm sorry she sometimes has to put me in mind of her obvious prompts." He pulled her closer while he apologised, and Cora quickly sealed his lips with hers. She couldn't help herself.

She put her hands on his shoulders and rose onto her toes to kiss him properly. Her heart sighed with relief that she finally had him to herself in a way she had despairingly longed for. Her kiss was accordingly desperate, heated, and a little sloppy as well. With one hand, Robert cupped the back of Cora's head and this gesture made Cora's insides even weaker. In response, she clawed her hands into his neck and pushed her lips and tongue even harder against him. She still tasted the chocolate mousse they had had for dessert on Robert's tongue mixed with a hint of the few drops of whisky that had been his perfunctory after-dinner drink.

When she entirely forgot herself in the heat of the kiss, Cora pressed her body fully against her husband, seeking the friction and touch her body called for. Robert made agitated noises. And a distant part of Cora's consciousness was glad about his response. But then, Cora inevitably had to pull back to catch her breath. The night air and all its oxygen inspirited her brain again and she realised how immoderate she had behaved and she took a step back. It maybe was the time but not the place for this. They weren't in her bedroom. She should constrain her urges better.

"Sorry," she whispered with her head bent as she combed her hair into place with her fingers and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.

Robert cleared his throat and chuckled. "Now, in hindsight, I do see that you were flirting with me."

When Cora looked up at him again, she saw that he was grinning at her. His arms reached for her and grabbing the fabric of her deep red gown at both sides of her waist, he pulled her closer again. Cora fell gladly back into his arms. Resting her palms and chin on his broad chest, she gazed up at him and the sight of his flushed mouth and nose pleased her. She had done that to him. Her kiss was what made him look so erotically out of order.

"I didn't realise you were that eager to go to bed." Robert's voice was warm and close. His hands slid down her lower back and came to rest on her bum.

"Well, now you've got me all figured out, I guess."

Robert leaned down to kiss her again and their lips reconnected with a happy sigh. Cora was so glad that he simply complied with her sensual demands without hesitation.

In their tight embrace, their second kiss didn't fall short of the first in terms of passion. They were alone and they were desperate for each other, so they didn't hold back, even in the relatively bright light of the countless stars watching. Cora's body was all aflame and she tried to reach for Robert wherever she could, tried chasing his skin, but it was a laborious task with his starched dinner attire still covering the majority of his body.

When their lips parted, she rested her forehead against the side of his face. She breathed heavily against his cheek and felt him shiver.

"Gosh, how I need you, Robert!"

"Well, maybe this also belongs to a rendezvous under the stars." He took her hand and walked with her over the grass to the bench under the tree. "Do you need me now? Here?" he asked as if this was the most normal thing. There was no judgment in his tone.

Cora was incapable of doing anything but nod. His absolute devotion to tending to her needs in an instant both baffled and excited her.

Robert seemed happy about her positive response and pulled her down onto the bench next to him where he peppered her in kisses. His fingers searched the seam of her dress, trying to reach her bare skin. Cora gasped when he found his way into her decolletage and his fingertips grazed the sensitive skin of her breast. She tried to push his jacket off his shoulders while Robert slowly guided them into a position that had been practised so well on various settees. If she wasn't so aroused, the discovery that their muscle memory worked so flawlessly in this new setting on the bench would embarrass her. Now, she was just glad that they were so experienced in sexual activities under unconventional circumstances.

Cora was lying down on the bench with Robert hovering right above her. Their hands were working quickly, searching each other, trying to get under each other's clothes. Cora was still working on his belt when Robert's left hand had slipped successfully under her dress and had found her damp arousal. Cora's head rolled to the side as she melted into his touch. The stroking pressure he applied on her excited womanhood through her drawers was stoking her arousal, and Cora moaned, her hot breath mixing with the fresh night air.

She turned her head towards the sky and with her eyes looking straight up, she noticed that the tree above them was shielding them from the beautiful and bright night sky.

She spoke before the thought was fully formed; her voice heavily affected by the intimate relations they had entertained.

"I can't see the stars."

Robert paused. He looked at her and Cora could see that he was thinking her words over.

"Alright, then come. You can lie on my jacket," he said.

His practical reaction surprised her. She had spoken thoughtlessly, mentioning what had just passed her mind quickly. She didn't expect him to right the discrepancy she had pointed out. Stunned, she got up from the bench and followed him with burning cheeks and a racing heart. How could a man who was so familiar to her, be still so unpredictable to her at times? What a lovely discovery!

"After all, I promised you a night under the stars," Robert said. He halted in quite some distance to the bench. He looked up. "You can see the stars now, I think," he added.

Cora couldn't control her face breaking into a wide smile. "Thank you," she breathed as he put his jacket down on the grass for her.

"Like that?" he asked.

She nodded and got down a little helplessly. She shivered as she lay back on Robert's spread jacket. The ground was cold despite the mild air of this summer night. Cora was glad when the coldness of the soil was contrasted by Robert's warm body on top of her.

At first, it was weird to lay there in the middle of the lawn in her red dinner down, only Robert's jacket separating her from the bare ground, and Robert with his half-opened belt above her. But as soon as his fingers brushed along her hairline and the side of her face and their mouths found each other again, it seemed like the only natural thing for them to do on this night.

When Cora searched for his belt again, her hand brushed his arousal and she felt that he was quite ready as well. Now, she wasn't the only one who was needy and desperate for a physical connection. She stroked him through his trousers before she freed him, and his guttural noises were swallowed by her greedy lips. Robert's hands were quick to roam her body and flip up her dress. Her drawers were off in no time and then, Robert's hard member pressed against her bare centre that was waiting for him, hot and damp. Pulling Robert flush to her, Cora caught his lips and they were snogging heavily. Her body moved against him on its own accord. It stirred Robert up quickly.

"God, you're driving me crazy, Cora!"

Cora reached down and pushed his hard penis to her opening. "How about you try to drive me crazy then?" She nudged his sensitive head slightly into her and Robert groaned. He took her invitation and slowly drove himself into her. Cora looped her legs around his hips so that they stayed snug as he moved in and out of her, brushing along her hot and stimulated walls.

Robert's face dove into her neck, placing wet pecks along the skin of her neck and jaw. His breath hit her now wet skin in the pattern of his staccato breathing. Cora gladly welcomed the familiar yet exciting sensations his body evoked in her as they rocked back and forth together. She slung her arms around his shoulders and looked up into the wide and clear sky. What a uniquely strange experience to have the stars accompany her most intimate activity with Robert. They stood above them, bright and unwavering, and consecrated the union of the two lovers on the lawn. Cora felt utterly special at this moment. She hugged Robert tighter and buried her face in his intoxicatingly smelling hair. All her senses were flooded by him. His fresh and light musky scent filled her nostrils, she still tasted him on her tongue, his sighs swept into her ear, and his full heat filled her core so completely.

The stars became blurry as they rode faster towards their release. With her last coherent strength, Cora pulled his face from her neck towards her lips and kissed him senseless as he kept rocking into her more erratically. Cora snapped quite suddenly. All tension left her as she shuddered around him, and her teeth sank into his lip with a groan. Robert kept pumping into her but he couldn't keep going much longer. With a slurred iteration of her name on his lips, he collapsed onto her and enveloped her with his warmth and weight. Cora felt transcendent.

They kept lying on the cold ground for a little while longer.

"I needed this, needed you," Cora breathed into Robert's ear. He hummed in response.

Then, he said, his voice raspy, "You might not believe it but I noticed that. It was quite evident after you put me in mind of your intentions for tonight."

"Well, it's good that I did then."

"Absolutely. And I'm also very glad you did because only then did I realise how much I needed you too."

Cora grinned into his hair.

After a moment, Robert rolled off her, pulled his trousers up and her dress down. But he stayed lying next to her on the grass and looked with her up at the sky.

"Oh, that's really beautiful," he whispered. He blindly reached for her hand. "I am glad we switched places. I only want the most wonderful experiences for you and I imagine that this view made our sexual escapade tonight even more special."

"I really liked it," Cora agreed and ran her fingertips along the back of his hand. In a whisper, she added, "But I would let you take me anywhere."

Robert overheard the naughty innuendo and instead, helped her up from the hard ground.

"I don't want you to catch a cold," he explained in a concerned tone.

"I wouldn't, though. You're keeping me warm," she gave back, and his responding smile warmed her even more.

Robert picked up his jacket and shook it out before throwing it over his shoulder.

"I really enjoyed our night walk but I think we should hurry to get back inside before Carson closes the front door."

Cora agreed. They walked hand in hand across the lawn towards the main entrance. After a short moment in silence, Cora felt thoughts bubbling up inside her that spoke to her rarely used cheeky tongue. She gave Robert's upper arm which she clung to a gentle smack. She couldn't stop the words pouring from her mouth.

"What a very special rendezvous you took me on! Robert Crawley, if people only knew about the countless, scandalous trysts you've indulged in. You'd quickly turn from the honourable and pious nobleman to the sensualist and sexual paragon."

"Cora!"

"Oh, don't act shocked! You are the one who just took me on the grass under the stars. Your fluid is still trickling down my leg."

"Cora!" His voice rose an octave.

"But don't you worry; I like your sexual side just as much as your honourable one."

She hung coquettishly to his biceps. Robert looked at her, shaking his head in amused disbelief.

Cora chuckled softly. She knew that the euphoria that was still flooding her veins was making her speak so loosely. "Oh, Robert. You just made your wife a very happy woman. Thank you. This was all the dutiful lord that acted tonight."

"You're unbelievable, my dear." Cora could spot a gentle smile tugging at the corner of Robert's mouth. He was happy too, she knew.

The dark house welcomed them quietly and accepted them with their secret into its safe halls. With a candle, Robert guided them up the stairs to their waiting bedroom. Cora knew this was a night she would remember and cling to for years. It would help her through darker times when it would feel like a whole other life that she once received Robert's fiery love under the tableaux of the brightest stars. When their bones would creak with every step they took and they would be dependent on canes for walking, this night would be a distant but cherished memory. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to look at it as a memory from another reality earlier than this. She hoped with all her heart that they would make love under the stars and wherever as long as their bodies physically allowed and that this would be still many, many years.