Two Notorious Dukes Read online

  The three ladies were in a heated discussion with a modiste, with bolts of lace and silks spread around the room.

  ‘Ladies.’ He said calmly as he opened the door. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you....’ to which Sarah was already on her feet protesting.

  ‘You can’t come in!’ she said and hustled him straight out of the door, with her palm on his chest.

  Once out in the hallway he looked at the flush on her face and smiled. He stroked a finger over her cheek and said. ‘I suppose you were choosing your chemise and petticoats?’

  She blushed even more. ‘John Argyll, you’re not supposed to know about such things.’

  ‘Very well, but I like thinking about it.’ He gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. ‘I actually need to see Elizabeth for a minute?’

  ‘You stay there, I’ll fetch her.’ She ordered him and he smiled softly at her embarrassment as she went back into the dressing room.

  Elizabeth appeared and laughed. ‘She is so innocent at times.’ She said and shook her head. ‘Yes, John?’

  ‘I’ve had a letter from Robbie. He should be here today.’

  Her heart skipped a beat, but she still frowned at him. ‘He’s early. Did you tell him?’

  ‘Yes. I wrote to him right after I ejected Craanford and told him. He wouldn’t thank me for not doing so either.’

  ‘I understand. Thank you for informing me.’ She sighed. ‘I’ll have to get ready, the first thing he’ll do is come straight here.’

  ‘Will he be able to see me tonight?’ he asked smiling wickedly.

  She smiled wickedly back and shook her head.

  Robert was soaked again and there was still a river running off his hat as he turned into the rear mews behind the tall edifices of Grosvenor Square. He made his way carefully to the stables and his groom suddenly appeared. ‘Your Grace!’ He said startled as he helped Robert off the horse. ‘You must be soaked, Your Grace.’ The young man said.

  ‘You could say that!’ Robert managed to get out through his chattering teeth. ‘Frozen stiff, too!’ he said and stumbled into the warm stable block.

  ‘You ‘ave a little sit down by the stove, ’ere and I’ll get you some tea.’ The groom said as he helped Robert to the little brazier. He held his shaking hands over the glowing coals and really appreciated that he was a generous employer. The groom gave him a chipped tin mug full of steaming tea. Anyone else would look at the state of the mug and feel uncomfortable, but not Robert. Being in the army gives you a strong constitution for most things.I’m glad I was in the army. He thought as he looked at the mug.I won’t turn my nose up at a tin mug, not after India.And he recollected eating horse steaks, fried in axle grease in the breast plate off a French Cavalry Officer, which he’d picked up after the battle and dropped it over the fire. And tea was drunk out of anything you had to hand. The tea was brewed in a cooking pot over the fire and the mugs were dipped in it to fill them.No teapots in the army. He’d forgone a lot of the finer things in life when he was in the army, it tended to close the distance between the conscripted soldiers and the titled officers.If you flaunted your wealth, the soldiers didn’t appreciate you, no matter how good a soldier you were.He mused. Unlike some officers, he’d never used his title particularly. He should have been addressed as Captain the Lord Bosworth, but he never bothered and always announced himself as Captain Bosworth.

  After five minutes, he’d thawed out enough to move. He thanked the groom for the tea and strode out into the early dusk. He paced back to Grosvenor Square and turned for Argyll’s porch.

  Rogers smiled happily. ‘Good evening, Your Grace. I must say you look a little wet, Sir.’ He observed and held out his hand for Robert’s cloak.

  ‘That I am. It’s raining cats and dogs out there.’ He said jovially handing over his cloak and hat, then stripping off his gloves and dropping them inside the hat.

  ‘His Grace is in the study, Your Grace.’ Rogers said.

  ‘I only want to know where Lady Elizabeth is.’

  ‘She is running down the hallway now, Sir.’ Rogers said and turned away as Robert spun around to see beautiful, petit Elizabeth sprinting from the bottom of the stairs.

  ‘Elizabeth!’ he shouted in exaltation.

  She called his name, but it was muffled through the tears streaming down her face. He swept her up in his arms and crushed her to his chest.

  ‘Oh! My love, my love!’ he murmured into her hair. ‘Tell me he didn’t hurt you.’ But she couldn’t tell him anything as she was crying too much. He manoeuvred her about until he could carry her to the stairs and they went up to the main drawing room. Surprisingly there was no one in there, so he sat down on a hard chair and rocked her in his arms until she stopped weeping.

  Eventually she was quiet, both of them content just to be with the other. She became aware that her bottom was getting wet.

  ‘Robert.’ He moved his face out of her hair and looked down at her. ‘Have you changed?’

  He shook his head. ‘No. I came straight from the stable.’ She sat up straight and felt his coat, squeezed some of the water out of the cuff. ‘Good God! You’re soaking wet!’ she said and was off his lap like a fury. And he sat there watching the love of his life order servants around until he’d been provided with a hot bath, a change of clothes and a hot meal.

  She grabbed his hand and dragged him up to the Green Room where she helped him out of his wet clothes, as Carter got the footmen filling the Duke’s bath. He twitched a towel around his midriff for decencies sake, in front of the servants and waited until they were gone before he plunged his body into the hot water. She knelt beside the tub and swished water over his shoulders and chest.

  She looked at him coyly. ‘I’m going to say something I didn’t think I would ever say to a man.’ She whispered. ‘I love you, Robert Bosworth.’ He leaned forward and kissed her softly.

  ‘I love you too, Elizabeth Audley.’ He said as he sat back and dunked his shoulder under the hot water.

  ‘Is that aching again?’ He nodded, so she pushed up the sleeves of her gown, picked up the soap, lathered her hands and proceeded to stroke them over his shoulder, front and back. Unlike Burke, Elizabeth even smoothed her fingers over the actual scar, rubbing delicately over the damaged muscles and bone. He sighed and moaned while she did it. ‘I have some news for you.’ she said softly, so as not to disturb the relaxed mood. Robert huh hummed. ‘I’m going to have a baby.’

  He jerked his eyes open and looked at her in shock. ‘A baby?’ he asked. She caught her lower lip in her teeth and nodded her head. His heart turned over at the look of trepidation on her face. He forced his body upright, reached out of the tub and grabbed her shoulders. ‘A baby!’ he shouted as he hauled her fully clothed into the tub with him. She squealed in protest, but soon stopped when his lips crushed down over hers and he kissed her with such passion her heart melted. Slowly he removed his lips and rubbed her cheek with his nose.

  ‘Are you sure?’ he asked softly.

  ‘No doubt about it.’ She said.

  ‘I’d say that entitles us to a celebration.’ He said softly as he kissed her neck.

  ‘What kind of celebration were you thinking of?’ she whispered.

  ‘Well, first I was thinking about taking your clothes off and then I was going to take you to bed, to show you just how much I love you.’

  ‘Can’t you show me here and now.’ She asked distractedly as she lifted her chin for his face.

  ‘In this bath?’ he asked laughingly. ‘It’s a bit small.’

  ‘Luckily I’m not too big.’ She said and pulled herself out of the bath, she stood and looked down on him and slowly removed the pins from her hair. She smiled coyly as she walked across the room to lock the door, walked back as she kicked her slippers off and blatantly stood in front of Robert and slowly turned her back to him, knelt down and lifted her hair forward. ‘Would you like to help?’ she asked provocatively. He reached over and slowly undid the back of her dress, she stood and sl
owly let the dress go. Robert’s erection was enormous and she tried not to giggle as she saw its head pop out of the bath water. ‘Have you got a snake in there?’ she asked, looking over her shoulder as she dropped her dress on the carpet. As she turned back to undo the ribbons on her petticoat he shook his head vigorously. ‘I thought it was a snake.’ She smiled mischievously as the petticoat fluttered to join her dress. She slowly undid the laces of her stays and propped her foot on the edge of the bath so that Robert could take off her stockings and garters and eventually all she had left was her chemise. She carefully stepped into the bath, Robert held her hands to make sure she didn’t over balance. He moved his legs first one way and then the other until she was standing astride him and she slowly sat down on his lap. ‘I think you should finish undressing me now.’ She whispered huskily and held out the ribbon of her chemise for him.

  His heart was pounding as he pulled on the ribbon and his daydream came true as her breasts fell into his hands. He gently caressed each breast and then slowly he lifted the chemise to take it over her head, making her lift her arms and as the flimsy undergarment skimmed to join the rest of her clothes, Robert kissed her nipples. Using the flannel he swished water over her breasts and she sat proudly as he inspected them with his tongue. ‘They’re different.’ He murmured.

  ‘Of course. I’m pregnant.’ She lifted his face and looked down at him. ‘By late spring our baby will be feeding off them.’

  ‘They’ll be different again, then.’ He murmured.

  ‘Enough talk, my love.’ She whispered in his ear. ‘Show me how much you love me.’ And dropped her hand onto his excessively throbbing manhood.

  ‘Whatever you say, my Lady.’ He murmured against her lips before he took them in a searing kiss as she manoeuvred him into her entrance. Slowly they made love, trying not to cause a tidal wave and overflow the bath and at the pinnacle she shoved the flannel in her mouth to smother her scream.

  Afterwards they sat and stared at each other. His swollen manhood still engulfed in her tight passage.

  ‘Can you move?’ he whispered and she shook her head.

  ‘Not yet, my love. Just give me a few minutes.’

  He laughed. ‘This is going to be embarrassing. How will we explain this to Mary tomorrow morning?’

  ‘Kiss me.’ She whispered. ‘Like you did before.’

  He smiled and gently kissed her and she shook her head. ‘No idiot. Hot and passionate, if you please?’ He gave her another searing kiss and probed deeply into her mouth. Suddenly her passage spasmed and she released him with a sigh.

  He sighed in relief and then they laughed. ‘I love you.’ he whispered. ‘Do you have a nickname or something?’

  ‘My mother called me Lizzie, but you can only use it when we are alone.’ She said and swished more water over his shoulders before she picked up the soap and started to wash his chest in slow lazy sweeps of her hands. ‘Did you have a nickname?’ she asked brightly. He took the soap off her and lathered her breasts and lost himself in the eroticism of stroking her breasts. ‘There’s more to my body than those, you know?’ she said and put her hand under his chin. ‘Nickname?’

  ‘Robbie. That’s what my Grandmother always calls me. Robbie.’ He stroked his hands over her flanks and pulling her to his chest he smoothed his hands over her back. Gradually they washed every inch of each others body, by the end of the bath there were no secrets between them. She saw the various scars on his body so he explained what they were and where he got them. She was surprised just how long the sword scar was right down the side of his right thigh.

  ‘It got infected. It was an Indian sword, rather than a french one and they tend to wipe things on the blade to make them dangerous. I saw more than one soldier die from a piffling little cut, because the blade had been contaminated with something and they didn’t get it treated straight away. I was particular with my company. They had to report all cuts, no matter how small and explain how they got it.’

  ‘Is that when you delivered Mrs. Black’s baby?’ she asked innocently just as he stood up in the water again. He looked down at her in surprise as she traced her fingertip down the white cicatrice on his thigh.

  ‘Argyll told you about it?’ he asked as he flicked the flannel over his body to remove most of the water. She nodded. ‘Yes, I have delivered a couple of babies, you can’t be in the army without seeing babies being conceived or born. There is no privacy for the ordinary soldier.’ He stepped out of the bath, swished a towel around his waist and went to the door. ‘Carter? Have......’ he stopped as Carter brought in two huge jugs of steaming water for each of them and withdrew without saying a word.

  ‘How do they know?’ he asked in amazement.

  ‘Because there are no secrets in a house of this size.’ She smiled coyly. ‘Just like in the army.’

  ‘It was alright for us officers, we had tents and cots! The soldiers would have to have sex on the ground by a tree or under a hedge. Sometimes there wasn’t even a blade of grass between the couple copulating and the next man.’ He hefted one of the jugs and poured a little over her breasts, making her giggle. Quickly he rinsed her off and helped her out of the bath. ‘Do you want to wash your hair?’ he asked.

  ‘No. I did it this morning, but it will need a rinse.’ And she pulled the wet hair over the bath and he rinsed it with the rest of the second jug. She wrung it out like a dish cloth and then wrapped it in a towel. Robert jumped back in the water and then rinsed himself off properly.

  They sat wrapped in towels in front of the fire, while Carter and the servants emptied and removed the bath.

  ‘So my love? Where are we getting married? And when?’ he asked softly as he nibbled her ear.

  ‘John booked a double wedding for us all. All you need is a licence.’ She rested her head on his shoulder.

  He kissed the top of her head. ‘Do you know, I’ve never made love to a pregnant woman before.’ He murmured.

  ‘What about Abigail Beresford?’ she asked indignantly.

  ‘I’ll believe she’s pregnant when she drops her baby!’ he said rather harshly.

  ‘So you don’t trust her?’

  ‘No. She wanted my money and my title.’ He said coldly. ‘I wasn’t the only man tupping her. Let’s not talk about her, it only makes me angry.’

  ‘Do you feel any remorse?’ she asked.

  ‘Remorse about what?’ he asked and looked at her with a frown.

  ‘Remorse about tupping somebody else’s wife.’

  ‘I didn’t, until I started contemplating marriage, now I do. I feel very guilty, but I have to remember that she’s a harlot anyway and has no morals.’

  ‘Isn’t that what a rake is, a male harlot?’

  ‘Are you going to try and make me argue with you?’ he asked with a smile.

  ‘No. I was just curious, that’s all.’

  Rogers arrived with hot food for them both and they sat at the table to eat, even though they were only wrapped in towels.

  ‘I feel we should be downstairs with everyone else.’ Robert said as the maid cleared the table.

  Elizabeth sipped the last of her wine and smiled. ‘Don’t. I told John we would be up here all night!’

  ‘Well! In that case?’ he stood up, picked Elizabeth up and carried her to the bed. He stood her on the mattress and slowly removed her towel. He laid her on the sheets whipped off his own towel and climbed in beside her. ‘Does it hurt?’ he murmured as he kissed the hollow in her throat.

  ‘What?’ she asked hoarsely.

  ‘Making love when you’re pregnant?’

  ‘No, my love. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t feel any different from the last time. But in six months time it will be a different story.’

  His lips traced down to her breasts and this time he sucked and licked them as he climbed between her thighs. He slowly traced his lips down her body until he could bury his face in her sex. He kissed, licked and sucked as Elizabeth writhed. He brought her to her first orgasm and sh
e bucked and moaned as her internal muscles throbbed and he moved up her body and slowly pushed his manhood in to the hilt and as he moved back she orgasmed again, but he didn’t stop. He made love to her with long sure strokes, unhurried and languorous as she moved voluptuously beneath him and eventually she orgasmed again and she almost heaved him off the bed as her hips lifted to meet him as he pushed in as deep as he could and filled her with his seed. He was rigid, every muscled tensed like a wire as his member pulsed within her. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see his head thrown back, all the sinews in his neck standing out and almost a rictus on his face, with the strength of his orgasm. The breath burst out of him as his muscles released, he collapsed on her body and his shoulders started to heave as he let go of the tension that had been within him since he’d left Boscombe Manor in the first place.

  He lay and marvelled at her. She was so quiet as she slept. He listened to her even breathing. Her back was pressed against his chest and her bottom was snuggled up against his groin. When she’d turned over, she had forced her bottom back into his lap and nuzzled it there.

  Every time we make love it gets better. He told himself and he thought back to after they’d made love and his cathartic tears.

  ‘Why are you crying my love?’ Elizabeth asked him softly.

  ‘I don’t know.’ He murmured, sniffed and propped himself up on his elbows. He looked down into her face. ‘Probably because you are so beautiful, I love you so much and I’m happy that we will be together for ever.’

  ‘Nothing is forever, Robbie. You know that, better than any one.’ She said rather coldly and it was just the dash of reality he needed.

  ‘For as long as we both shall live, then?’

  ‘That’s better.’ She murmured. He sighed and rolled on his back, taking her with him. She lay with her face on his pectoral muscle. She nestled her face and Umm’d in satisfaction. He was still huge within her.

  ‘You didn’t answer my question when I arrived here.’ Robert said softly. ‘Did he hurt you?’