Markham House
Myles emerged from the Duke of Markham’s study after signing the marriage contracts, a hundred thoughts floating around in his brain at this momentous moment of his life. In just a few short minutes he would be a married man, something he never thought he would be after Amanda’s reconciliation with Warrick.
He’d met Quintin Radbyrne, the other person who would be accompanying them on their voyage to China and recognized him from the night before at the inn. He liked the man and Radbyrne had assisted the Duke by showing Myles where to sign the contracts, after reading them carefully to be sure of their wording. Long years spent with Herrington-Maddox Shipping instilled in Myles to read the contents before penning his name to any contract. It always amazed him what some people tried to sneak into them hoping he would not read them thoroughly before he signed.
He was following the Duke and Radbyrne striding along the long hall toward the drawing room, where soon he would be married to Catherine and become the new Earl of Twynforde. When they entered the ornate gold and ivory drawing room he saw that Amanda, Devlyn and Oliver were already there along with a black-haired woman he had yet to meet and a man in flowing robes. The black-haired woman was introduced to him by the Duke as Lady Beatrice Payne, Catherine’s aunt, the Duke’s only daughter. She, too, he noticed, had the same violet eyes as her niece and the others, but not nearly as beautiful as Catherine’s were.
The bishop, who was to marry them, was none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, a long time family friend of the Landsdowne’s the duke informed him. Myles took a deep breath as he waited for his bride to join them in the drawing room.
“Nervous?” Oliver asked as he came to stand beside Myles.
“No not really,” Myles answered and he wasn’t, he just wanted it over with so that he and Catherine could begin their life together and he needed to be sure everything aboard his ship was ready for them to depart for China in less than three days from now.
“Well, I certainly was,” Devlyn said from Myles other side in a hushed voice. “I didn’t know Amanda anymore than you know Catherine Landsdowne. I made sure not to show that I was though.”
“The difference between my marriage and yours is I want to marry Catherine,” Myles replied with a smile to the duke. “You and Amanda were forced by the fact you compromised your future wife, by mistake.” Myles knew he would probably never let Devlyn Maddox forget how his marriage with Amanda came about.
“Yes, he was,” Amanda came to stand facing the three men. “But see how well ours finally turned out.”
All three men chuckled as Devlyn moved closer to his wife and put an arm around her shoulders. Amanda rolled her eyes at them.
“I think we should take a seat, Devlyn,” she went on to tell her husband. “I believe Lady Payne has gone to inform her niece everyone is present and accounted for. You two,” she looked toward Myles and Oliver, “should go and stand near the Archbishop.”
“Yes, Madame Duchess,” Devlyn said taking his wife’s arm and directing them toward the seats that were arranged for the wedding as Oliver and Myles chuckled once more.
Seeing Amanda with Devlyn and how happy she was now, made him happy for her, for them, Myles thought as he watched the two walked away arm-in-arm smiling at one another.
Myles and Oliver moved to stand near the Archbishop. “Nervous, young man?” the Archbishop asked him.
“Maybe just a little,” Myles admitted with a smile as the few people seated to witness the marriage rose from their chairs when Lady Payne slowly entered followed by the Duke of Markham with Catherine on his arm.
She literally stole his breath away at the sight of her in her ivory wedding gown.
Myles smiled at her and Cat returned his smile. From his look, she knew he liked the gown she selected for their wedding. It was one she’d purchased in Paris not long before her father’s death and never had the opportunity to wear before his died. Even though it was over a year old, it was still at the height of fashion.
It was made of ivory satin, draped with Brussels’ lace with a short train. The skirt trimmed on both sides with small silk ivory roses which ran down the length of the gown, from her waist to the hem. She wore long ivory kid gloves, along with ivory silk stockings and slippers with a small rosette on each one.
On her head was perched a saucy little veiled hat that matched the ivory satin gown with three little rosettes on one side, the veil covered just her eyes. Her hair was piled high on top her head and she wore a pearl and diamond choker with matching earrings her grandfather gave her earlier in the afternoon, as one of his wedding gifts to her, a handsome bank draft to be dispersed to her favorite charities was another. She knew she looked beautiful but more important to Cat was that she felt beautiful, too.
When they arrived to where Myles, Oliver and the Archbishop were standing, her grandfather placed her hand in Myles. “I’m entrusting Catherine to your care, Captain Cameron,” her Grandfather said as he held their two hands together.
“I will do my very best to keep her happy and safe, always,” Myles replied to the duke, His Grace smiled then left to sit in a chair near the couple.
With her hand in his, Cat and Myles turned to face the Archbishop as he began their ceremony.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God, and in the face of friends and family, to join together this man and this woman in holy Matrimony, which is an honorable estate, instituted of God in the time of man’s innocence, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honorable among all men…."
Later Catherine would remember only bits and pieces of the ceremony such as when they exchanged rings. She used the one her grandmother had given her grandfather many years before, her grandfather wanted her to give the ring to Myles. She vowed to love, cherish, and obey until death parted them.
He placed on her finger a beautiful wide gold band inlaid with diamonds the circumference of the ring with one huge diamond rising from the center. He promised with his body he would worship her and with all his worldly goods he would endow.
They were soon pronounced man and wife and Myles was to kiss his bride.
Myles stood facing the new Countess of Twynforde, his wife. He was now the Earl of Twynforde. He gently placed his hands on either side of her beautiful face and leaned down to kiss her. He’d planned on a simple short kiss, but once their lips touched he didn’t want them to part, ever.
He heard the cough of the Archbishop and a snicker he knew was Amanda’s, his lips reluctantly left Catherine’s. He watched as she opened her eyes and smiled at him sifting his world one more time.
God, she was beautiful, he thought, with her dark hair and violet eyes. She was his wife and in a few hours he would truly make her his. The thought overwhelmed him and put a huge knot in his stomach, he wanted to make this night the most perfect one for them both.
One by one, the guests approached the newly married couple offering their best wishes with the Duke of Markham the first. When Amanda and Devlyn approached, he happily introduced Catherine to them and watched as both women accessed each other and Myles was pleased that both seemed to like one another. In fact, Amanda was meeting with his new bride tomorrow morning at ten at Madame Benoit’s to help with outfitting Catherine for the voyage to China.
“I hope you both will be happy,” Quintin Radbyrne said, the last of the guests to approach them and wish them happy, and then asked Myles. “Send me a list of what I should bring with me on this trip.”
“Besides clothing, you may want to bring a few weapons you are familiar with,” Myles informed him. “Some reading material if you want, there could be days you will be stuck inside your cabin because of bad weather. We have a stop I cannot cancel, since the cargo is already loaded on board my ship, in Marseille, France. You will need to bring some evening clothes as well. I plan on at least one night there; I want to show Catherine some of the sights if she’d never been there before.” He looked down at his bride.
“I’ve never been to Marseille,” Cat replied. “I’m looking forward to seeing places I’ve only read about, even though I know our voyage is not really for pleasure but to find Uncle Trey I intend to enjoy as much of it as I can be fore we arrive in China.”
“Once we find Trey and start our return to England we might be able to stop at few more ports for you to see other countries,” Myles told her.
“That really would be nice,” she answered wishing the butterflies in her stomach would stop fluttering around now that the ceremony was over. Every time Myles, she must think of him now as her husband, looked at her with his steel gray eyes, they seemed to grow worse.
* * *
The staff at Markham House had prepared a mouthwatering wedding dinner, but Cat was much too nervous to eat more than a few bites. Soon everyone would leave and she and Myles would retire to her suite of rooms. Doris had laid out her beautiful deep purple peignoir set she purchased in Paris. It was more revealing than any other she’d ever owned and she’d never worn it. Never understood until now just why she’d purchased it. She blushed, thinking about wearing it for her husband and hoped no one else noticed.
She looked up to see Myles smiling at her, she knew that somehow he’d read her thoughts. Her cheeks grew warmer still. It was funny how the men had gravitated toward one end of the table while the lady’s the other.
Myles knew just by her reaction that she must have been thinking of their first night together. He wanted to make it special for her, for both of them and for that reason had slipped Ainsworth a note when he first arrived to be delivered to Catherine’s maid about packing a small portmanteau for an over night trip to the Claridge Hotel, where he reserved a suite for them. His bride thought they were spending their first night here in her suite of rooms. It would be the first surprise among many he would give his lovely wife over their married life together. Myles smiled and raised his glass of wine in a gesture of respect to his new wife, Catherine acknowledge with a nod and one of her brilliant smiles.
Ainsworth was to bring Catherine’s wrap in about fifteen minutes, but Myles knew it would feel more like fifteen hours before the wrap arrived and they departed.
“When I meet you tomorrow at Madame Benoit’s, I will bring a few of my sailing clothes for you to try on. I think she should be able to alter them to fit you and it will give you more to wear on your trip,” Amanda said to Catherine.
“Myles told me I cannot bring a maid along, who sees to your clothes when you’re aboard your ship?” Catherine wanted to know.
“My cabin boy but he was trained to look after my belongings,” Amanda replied with a frown. “Why did Myles tell you couldn’t bring along a maid?”
“He said one woman was enough to look after, he didn’t want to have two women on board his ship,” Cat answered with a smile.
“I’ll speak with him if you want,” Amanda told her. “There is no reason you cannot bring your maid. His new ship has plenty of room for her and his cabin boy would never know how to take care of ladies gowns not to mention your unmentionables.”
Both women snickered with her aunt joining in.
“Don’t speak with him,” Cat told Amanda. “I don’t want to start off our marriage with any problems. We…you know my grandfather arranged it, don’t you?”
Cat was prepared not to like the Duchess of Warrick or the Duchess not to like her but Cat was greatly pleased at how well they got along from the instant they met. They already seemed like old and dear friends. Cat knew it would please Myles greatly.
“Yes,” Amanda told her and patted her hand. “Some day when we have hours to talk I shall tell you all about mine and how it started and stopped after only two weeks, resulting in our son Jamie. Devlyn and I stayed separated for almost twelve years before we came together again and got to know one another. Our triplets, Avery, Anthony, and Geraldine are a result of that. Don’t worry, Catherine, Myles will take excellent care of you. He is a good man. I couldn’t be happier for you both. I think will a little hard work from both of you, you will have a good marriage and grow to care deeply for one another.”
“I told her the same thing,” Aunt Bea said joining into their conversation and Cat wanted to roll her eyes but resisted. “My parent’s marriage was arranged and they both grew to love one another deeply. Father still misses her.”
Cat hoped hers would be one more added to the list of good marriages.
“It’s time to go,” Myles whispered in her ear and startled her since she hadn’t seen him rise from his chair and come toward her. “Ainsworth has your wrap.”
“Wrap? Go?” Surprised Cat wondered why their butler had her wrap.
“I have a surprise for you, Countess,” Myles told her smiling, his eyes glittering with merriment. “Come.”
Cat rose from her chair and after she and Myles thanked everyone for coming and once more received their good wishes for a happy marriage, they left the dinning room to find Ainsworth waiting outside the door with their wraps. Myles helped her on with hers then donned his greatcoat and hat. Taking her arm, he led her down the steps of Markham House to a waiting coach and helped her inside.
Myles followed his wife into the coach then signaled the driver to leave.
“Where are we going?” Cat asked her new husband.
“I thought since we do not have our own house yet, we should spend our first night in splendor and solitude at the Claridge Hotel. I took a suite today for tonight. I wish it could be longer than one night, Catherine, but tomorrow I have to spend it on board my ship seeing to last minute details that always arise before we sail. You can join me the next afternoon and we will spend the night together before we sail early the next morning.”
“This all has happened so fast,” Cat said looking at her husband sitting across the coach from her, “that I’m surprised we even have one night before you had to see about your ship and our sailing.”
“Once we find Trey, maybe we can take a wedding trip to anywhere you’d like to go. Either land or sea,” he said.
“I think by sea,” Cat said smiling. “Some place intriguing. Has there been anywhere you’ve never sailed to?”
“I cannot think of any I’ve missed. The Hawaiian Islands are beautiful and a place you might enjoy visiting as is the West Indies.”
“I may stop at a bookshop tomorrow and find a few books on places that sound interesting to take with me when we sail. I’m sure there will be plenty of times I will be left to my own devices while you captain your ship. I’ll look for one on the islands you just spoke about.”
“You already sound like a good captain’s wife,” Myles replied smiling. “I am afraid I may neglect you at times, but I will try and make it up to you when I do have any free time.”
The coach started to slow then came to a halt, with Myles not waiting for the footman to open their door hopped out then helped her down.
Cat knew all about the Claridge Hotel but other than dinner here on many occasions, she’d never spent a night at the hotel. She’d heard from different friends that the rooms were quite luxurious.
Myles escorted her through the lobby and up the grand staircase to their suite with his footman following with their portmanteaus, which once inside their suite the footman went to deposit them in their bedchamber.
Myles helped her off with her wrap and laid it over a chair then took off his own. Cat scanned their suite as she unpinned her hat from her hair and laid it on a table near one of the bay windows that looked out over Brook Street.
Their suite was beautifully furnished and decorated, she noted, as she undid the buttons on her wrists and slid the long gloves off adding them to the hat on the table as more butterflies seemed to flutter around in the stomach. A few minutes later the footman left and Myles made sure the door of their suite was firmly locked.
He saunter toward her a smile on his face that took her breath away then stopped in front of her. “I’ve wanted you since you walked into the drawing room, hell, I’ve wanted you since I first saw you last night at the Black Horse Inn,” he told her as he reached for her bringing her up against the solid wall of his chest covering her mouth with his.
His intense kiss both frightened and excited her at the same time. Cat had to wrap her arms around his lean waist to keep from melting to the floor. With a sigh, she allowed his tongue entrance sending waves of heat through her body as he explored her mouth and dueled with her own tongue. Laud, she felt she would burst into flames at any moment.
None of her friends’ descriptions of their marriage beds came anywhere close to describing what she was now feeling. Heat, wetness and want began pooling below and Cat soon hated the clothes that separated their bodies. She wanted to touch his skin, she wanted him to touch hers.
Myles felt her hot hands slid up his chest then her fingers started on the buttons of his waistcoat. Things were moving way to fast and he knew he needed to slow them down. Catherine was supposed to be a virgin and until he found out otherwise he needed to proceed slowly. He’d never deflowered a virgin before and he wanted tonight to be special for her…for them both. He’d never wanted to mate with a woman before as much as he wanted to with Cat.
Taking his mouth from hers, he held on to her upper arms then stepped back to put some much needed distance between them. He heard her moan when his lips left hers.
Cat felt bereaved at the loss of Myles’s mouth from hers and unsteady on her feet as her heart pounded and she strived to take a normal breath. Myles was having just as much trouble breathing as she was, she noticed.
“If we continued as we were I’d take you here and now on the floor,” Myles told her, his voice husky with passion. “I want our first time together to be in a comfortable bed, sweetheart.”
Cat couldn’t help but smile at his term of endearment to her.
Taking her arm Myles led her to their bedchamber, a beautifully decorated room with a huge four-posted bed. “I’ll be your maid for tonight,” he informed her.
His hands went first to her hair as he extracted the pins keeping it in place. Before long, her long black hair was streaming down her back past her waist. “Beautiful,” he told her as he ran his fingers through it. “So nice and silky soft. I knew it would feel like this but I had no idea it was this wonderfully long.”
Cat could only smile at the intense look on her husband’s face as his fingers combed through her hair.
Next he turned her around pushing her hair aside he kissed the nape of her neck before he unbuttoned the back of her wedding gown, sending a delicious shiver through Cat’s body. It didn’t go unnoticed how deftly he was able to undo the tiny buttons on her gown. When he finished he slid the gown off her shoulders and let it pool on the floor around her feet and legs. Next he unclasped the pearl choker from her neck once finished he walked around to face her before he helped her step out of the gown. He stooped and picked up the gown and like a good maid draped it over a chair and desposited the choker on the dressing table. Next came her petticoats and her corset, leaving her standing in front of him clad only in her thin silk sift, drawers, hose, garters and shoes.
Cat thought when this moment came, she would be embarrassed and want to hide her body, but Myles’s heated looks made any inhibitions melt away. His eyes telling her he liked what he saw, told her how much he wanted her. The large bulge in the front of his trousers told her even more. It awed her to think that she could do that to him.
Myles seated her on the bed then knelt in front of her. Placing a hand on her heel and ankle he lifted her foot to slide off her satin slipper. Then he slid his hand slowly up the calf of her leg, sending delicious little shivers once more through her body, until he reached her garter. Soon her hose and garters followed the way of her slippers.
“It’s not fair,” she told him as his hands slid down her leg. “You still have all your clothes on.”
Myles chuckled as he stood shrugging out of his jacket first then kicking off his shoes next. Cat stood and nervously helped unbutton his waistcoat and watched as it joined his jacket. Greedily she pulled his shirttails from his trousers then unbuttoned his shirt to expose a furred chest she ran her hands over. The hair was much softer then she expected it would be, as her fingers entwined in its curls. She noticed a few scars here and there on his chest she would try to remember to ask him about them later on.
Her hot hands seemed to brand him as they roamed over his chest. Myles pulled her into his arms and kissed her sending heat once more through her body and his. Her hands reached up to wrap around his neck as she kissed him back and soon her shift and drawers were discarded. Cat stood wondrously naked before him.
“Beautiful,” he told her again when he broke their kiss and stepped back to look at her naked body. Both of them were breathing hard as he reached out and cupped a breast with each hand while his thumbs toyed with her nipples making them as hard as pebbles, sending the most delightful sensations through her body.
Cat’s back arched pressing her breasts firmly against his hands and her moan sounded almost like a purr. Her purr almost undid him. Myles swept her up in his arms and laid her on the bed then striped off the last of his garments before lying beside her.
He nibbled her ear. “Before this night is over I will taste and kiss every inch of your beautiful body,” he told her sending Cat’s temperature up several more notches as his mouth kissed down her neck to her shoulder blade and lower until his lips covered her breast. When he suckled, Cat wanted to leap off the bed causing Myles to chuckle as he licked and suckled first one breast then the other.
Soon his mouth left her breast and rained kisses down her stomach then lower. Her breath caught when he kissed the inside of her thighs before he moving on to her curls and when his tongue stroked her clitoris, her hips wanted to leap off the mattress but Myles held her firmly in place.
“Oh…oh…my,” she moaned as his tongue continued to stroke the little nub as pure hot heat ran through her body and with each stroke she felt as if she were climbing some great mountain. Any minute, she thought, she would fall over the edge into the great unknown.
With head writhing, her hands fisted into the bedcovers, Cat felt the pleasure and the pain as she climbed higher and higher, became warmer and warmer. Her body wanted to buck against Myles’s mouth but he held her firmly in place. She thought she surely would die before this night was over.
“Myles…Myles,” she cried as the first ripple of her climax came sending her over the edge. Myles kept stroking her until no more tumors came before settling himself between her legs and slowly entering her warm, wet velvety sheath until he felt the barrier of her maidenhead.
“This may hurt,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Myles thrust through her maidenhead.
Cat felt the tinge of pain as he thrust into her then Myles held still while her body adjusted to his hard enlarged shaft.
“Are you alright?” Myles gritted out between clenched teeth, thinking how she fit him like a tight new glove and trying not to make short work of their night.
“Yes…yes,” she told him then tried to move.
“Don’t!” her husband ground out his jaw clenched.
Cat froze. “Did I do something wrong,” she asked him.
“No…no, sweetheart,” Myles replied. “I just don’t want this over with too soon.”
“Too soon?” she asked him confused.
“Yes,” he told her then covered her mouth with his. He tasted of her as he slowly withdrew to thrust once more inside her and the feeling of ascending the mountain began all over again. Before long, her nails embedded in his shoulders, as the pleasure built once more.
“My sweet little kitten, I knew you’d have claws,” he whispered to her. “Come for me kitten. I want to hear your screams, little kitten.”
Cat shattered calling his name and her climax caused his. Myles plunged into her, arched his back and roared her name as his seed filled her. He soon collapsed on her trying to keep some of his weight on his elbows marveling at how powerful his orgasm felt. Once his breathing returned to normal he rolled them over and covered them both with the bedcovers.
He looked down to see a smile on Cat’s face.
“You, my sweet little kitten, look as if you just lapped up all the cream,” he teased her.
“Is…is it always like that?” she asked him resting her head on his shoulder her hand toying with the hairs on his chest.
“No,” he honestly answered.
“That…that…was most incredible,” she told him. “Some of my friends tried to tell me what it was like, the marriage bed, but none of their descriptions were anywhere near what it truly felt like. However, it did help prepare me for tonight, somewhat.” She smiled stroking his chest with her fingers.
“What sort of friends do you have that they would discuss what happens between a man and his wife in their bedchamber?” he stroked her long beautiful hair.
She raised her body on one elbow to look at him. “Oh, they are truly good women that I asked a few questions of several years ago. I wanted to know what it was like. I found a book in father’s library, which showed some interesting pictures of men, and women in…in interesting positions. I asked a friend about it since I knew father or Aunt Bea would never answer my questions. Will you answer some questions I have, Myles?”
“It depends on the questions,” Myles replied with his rakish smile and a chuckle.
“You undressed so quickly and I was just a little foggy at the time,” she said then nibbled on her lower lip. “Could…could I look at you?”
Myles chuckled. “I had no idea the sort of woman I was marrying,” he told her and thinking about her looking at him made him as hard as one of the bedposts, he threw back the covers. “There are you happy?”
Cat was up on her knees in a second looking down at him. “Does it hurt when it does that?” she asked pointing at his shaft.
“If it doesn’t get relief,” he replied.
He was so gorgeous laying there nude and fully erect. Much nicer than any paintings or statues she’d ever seen. “I saw in the book where a woman had her mouth on this.” She pointed again at his shaft and he couldn’t help but chuckle again.
“With your inquisitiveness I’m surprised you were still a virgin,” he teased her. “A woman’s mouth is one way to relieve my problem; your hand would be another. What you are pointing at has several names and some people even give it a nick name.”
“It does? They do?” she said then reached out wrapping her hand around his shaft and Myles wanted to leap from the bed, as his shaft grew even larger with her touch. “It feels almost like velvet but it’s ridged and very large. That actually fit inside me?”
“Yes,” his replied and Cat noticed how his breathing seemed labored. “Are you in pain?” she asked.
“A form of pain,” he answered and she removed her hand. “No don’t stop.” He took her hand and replaced it on his shaft then showed her how to work her hand up and down to give him relief.
Myles really wanted to bury his shaft deep in his wife again, but he remembered someone saying that the first time for a virgin would be painful. Since he wasn’t sure, this being his first virgin, he didn’t want to cause his new wife more pain. This would have to do to relieve him for now.
“What do you call it?” she asked as she continued to stroke him as he showed her.
“Shaft, cock, penis,” he answered her, his breathing more of a panting now, which Cat found most interesting that her hand on his shaft could cause his breathing to change.
“What are these?” she asked as her other hand gently felt of his testicles.
“Cat, you’re killing me,” he told her as he held his hand over hers making her stoke him faster. His other hand went to the back of her neck, pulling her mouth down to his for a deep kiss as he bucked against their joined hands, soon he ejaculated. He held onto his wife until his breathing returned to normal.
Covering them both, Myles soon fell asleep with Cat cuddling closer thinking about how wonderful their wedding night had been and how magnificent this man she married was.