In Compromise with the Earl by Ava MacAdams

Chapter Twenty-Three

The prickles that raced over Aphrodite’s did not come from the cold London air outside the theater. It came from the possessive look Oswald gave her now and then.

Then again, he was glowering at any man who looked twice at her. With her hair pinned up with pearls that night, and a matching ivory gown stunning against her complexion, she understood why.

Tightening her grip on his arm, she leaned into his ear. “Don’t worry, I only have eyes for you.”

He grunted. “I’d hope so.”

As the entered the lobby, a crowd of theatergoers, mostly women, were gathered, giggling and whispering for the show’s opening. Three gigantic prints of Alaric Hudson, the man who was to play Benedick were being fawned over by the ladies.

The actor was wickedly handsome, with dark hair, piercing green eyes, and the smirk of the devil on his face.

“I do believe they are about to create a cathedral and pray to him,” Oswald said dryly. “I am sure they will give their eyeteeth to have a glance from him.”

Taking out her fan, Aphrodite smiled. “I don’t believe they only want a look from him. Rumor is his talents span far beyond the stage.”

“And how the devil do you know that?” Oswald asked darkly.

She snapped the fan close. “My, my, I do believe you are jealous, my dear husband.”

Resting a hand on the small of her back he led her to the stairs. “Of an actor, surely not.” He led them to their reserved box and stood while she sat. “I do not need such attention from anyone but you.”

She gave him a brilliant smile, “I still think you have a thread of jealousy, but fear not. Hudson might be talented, but he has nothing to compare to you. Besides, I heard that he juggles women like balls and is an honored customer at the Black Rose.”

“The Bawdy House?” Oswald asked, his tone a bit distant.

“One and only,” she replied while dropping her fan and taking up her lorgnette. “Now, hush, its starting.”

The play started and drew constant laughs throughout from the audience with Beatrice and Benedick’s antics. Aphrodite snickered at Beatrice’s scalding insults and laughed at Benedick’s reaction.

Oswald was a bit quiet, but she didn’t mind it much, most men were not fond of such things. He did snort heavily when Borachio and Conrade were arrested while bragging and during the confession about Hero’s innocence.

When the play ended with the couples dancing, Aphrodite turned to him. “You’ve been more pensive than a judge during it all. Are you all right? Is something worrying you?”

“I’m fine,” he replied then sighed and shook his head. “Actually no, I’m not. I keep thinking what is happing back at the Hall and if Mother is going to do what I asked.”

“Oh,” she replied, while the actors and actresses came for final bows on the stage. “I keep torturing myself with asking if she will ever accept me.”

Oswald’s large palms enveloped her hands. “We’ll work through it, I promise.”

“I can only hope so,” she leaned into his touch.

One of his hands parted from hers and formed a tender hold around her face, angling her head for a warm, reassuring kiss. “I give you my word.” Standing, he helped her up. “Let’s go home, but I think we should take the scenic route.”

“Hm,” she tipped on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I wonder why?”

After they descended the staircase and entered the lobby, Duke Strathmore turned to them, his snide gaze so much more cutting. On his arm was a lady from Lady Pandora’s retreat but she couldn’t place her.

“Lady Aphrodite,” his lips curled in a sneer. “I did not think I’d see your face again, and you’re here with him.”

“Your better, yes,” Aphrodite replied lightly. “I see you’ve settled for—”

“Lady Katherine Fairchild” the lady said. “This is a casual outing.”

“Pleased to meet you again,” Aphrodite said. “But be warned, he will never treat you the way you deserve. And by the way, it’s Countess Tennesley to you, Duke. Oswald, dearest, we have another engagement to get to, shall we.”

With a curt nod, Oswald ushered her to the door only to hear the Duke call to his back, “Just make sure she won’t end up like your late wife, Tennesley. All your secrets will be out then.”

Oswald pivoted. “Be assured, there is nothing that you all do not know.”

“Are you sure about that?” the Duke taunted.

Scowling, Oswald said, “Good night, Your Grace.”

They stepped into the chilly night air and after a footman went for the carriage and it arrived, Oswald had a word with the driver, and they were off.

“The nerve of him,” she huffed while nuzzling her cheek contentedly against his chest. “Why would he even say that?”

“I have no inkling,” Oswald said stiffly. “But if he dares to start some other scandal, or I might just demand the dawn appointment that I wanted to have back at Ravenswood Manor.”

He ran his knuckles along her cheek. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight, Sweetling?" he asked.

“Immensely,” she smiled. “Any chance I have to laugh, I’ll take it. Thank you for taking me.”

“You are all that I have ever wanted,” Aphrodite replied, turned to him, pulled his head down and kissed him open mouthed, and hungry.

Immediate, Oswald hauled her onto his lap and her tongue mated with his. Sliding her hands into his hair, Aphrodite could feel his desire for her, and it fanned her own.

The heat of his skin, the seductive fragrance of his cologne, the demand of his lips and tongue stoked fire in her belly. Removing her hands from his hair, she slipped them under the lapels of his jacket and removed it from his broad shoulders and he freed his arms.

Oswald put one hand behind her back and with the other grabbed her plump behind to press her flush against him. Undeterred, Aphrodite tugged free the hem of his shirt, and quickly worked on the buttons. With the shirt free, she ran her palms along the contoured planes of his chest and the jutting ridges of his abdomen.

She felt strong, intimately feeling the mass of steely muscles and firm flesh. The harsh breathing and gruff groans torn from the back of his throat had her smiling into his kiss as she kept on with her explorations.

Emboldened, she shifted a little to slide a hand between his legs. Groaning, he pushed himself into her hands, relishing the delicious friction heating her palm. But he grabbed her hand, and growled. “Unless you plan to couple with me here and now, you’d best stop. I will not spend in my trousers like a greenling.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “You won’t have to.”

As she moved to the floor, Oswald made sure that the curtains were down while she freed the buttons along his trousers placket, watching his face as she did so.

Lacing his hands into her hair, he tilted his head back and lowed his lids to half-mast. She palmed his manhood and daring to look up, met his taut jaw and scorching eyes.

Rubbing her hand over his long, thick, turgid member, she sampled the hard underside of him. His Adams apple bobbed as she licked and nuzzled, making her way up the hard length and closed her lips around him, sucking gently until he groaned.

Wrapping her hand on the root of his thick, veined rod caused him to spurt a little. She rubbed her tongue against the underside again and he swore again, his hips jerking instinctively.

Gripping his shaft more firmly, she relaxed her muscles, taking him in deeper, the stiff, wicked slide of his cock filling her throat.

“God’s bones, Sweetling—” he groaned. “You’re an apt pupil.”

Her head bobbed up and down, the silken strands of hair sliding through his fingers like water as she pleasured him from swollen tip to throbbing sac, before sucking him deep inside again.

Her lips released the clamp while she softened the suction of her mouth, and he slid deeper inside again, nudging against the back of her throat. Panting harshly, he pulled her head away and Aphrodite released him reluctantly and the lick of her lips showed it.

“I won’t spend in your mouth, Sweetling,” Oswald’s voice was corrupted by dark lust.

Quickly he hoisted her to his lap and instinctively looped her arms around his neck. With sure hands, he threw up her skirts and petticoats, palming her naked behind. Why she had left off the undergarments that eve, he was not sure, but did not need to ask.

The thought of her sitting through the play, being so proper and poised while underneath her demure exterior she was bare and wanton made fire lance through his blood.

He reverently caressed the swell of her bottom before sliding his hands over her silken skin.

“Christ,” he uttered, and Aphrodite kissed him with a flirtatious smile.

He slid his fingers over her slick, heated opening and Aphrodite shuddered. The more he played with her, taunted and teased her, her cries grew. Eventually, she hid her face in his neck and muffled her cries as she grew hot under her skin and her core was drenched with longing for him.

Gently, he lifted her and placed her over him, the slick breach so slow and sensitive that every inch of her quaked. Oswald drove his hips forward, his jaw stiffening and nostrils flaring at their joining.

With her hands on his shoulder, he easily moved them, lifting her while thrusting gently at first, but lust took over and his hands dug into her hips. Fueled with want, he began to pump her more vigorously, taking her fiercely, as he drove into her.

Aphrodite had to bite a section of his shoulder to muffle the cries that threatened to leave her as he took possession of her. Reaching between them he found her pearl and rubbed it vigorously, forcing her to gasp over burning lungs.

He drove into her hard until Aphrodite began to tighten around him, but he kept on, steadily pumping inside her, driving her higher and higher to the point of no return. He flexed his hips powerfully, plunging so deep that he brushed her womb and Aphrodite shattered at the seams, biting hard to muffle her scream as an overpowering climax racked her body.

Oswald soon followed and held her close as his tremors faded. “You are mine,” he murmured through his pants. “All mine.”

Kissing his collarbone, she replied, “That’s all I need.”

* * *

The Dowager was curiously absent in the days that followed, and while Oswald was swamped with work, hardly leaving his study from dawn to dusk, Aphrodite was left to entertain herself.

She had begun to wander the halls when it became clear that she could not be out with her horse all day. Playing cards by herself and perusing the books in the extensive library the Hall had, was starting to lose its appeal and Aphrodite found herself at a loss for keeping her mind occupied.

Not to mention how worried she was about Oswald and his mother, the strange silence from her father and the cryptic words Duke Strathmore had said the night of the play.

Unable to keep herself confined in the Hall anymore, she was wandering the garden with a book in hand just in case. The afternoon was calm, with a benign wind fluttering through the trees.

She found a shaded spot with a bench, sat and opened her book. The words were bland to her, since she had read them twice before. There had to be something in the Hall, or outside it, that she could do.

Was this how Claire had lived, in boredom for so long?

“Cousin Aphrodite,” Leo greeted her as he came forward. “I was looking for you.”

Her brows darted up; it had been a few days since she had seen Oswald’s cousin and she felt happy to lay eyes on him. Clad in his unremarkable priest clothing, and his permanent peaceful smile on his face, Leo was one unflappable man to her.

“Hullo Leo, why did you want to see me?” she asked.

“Stay here for a moment,” he said before pivoting. “And close your eyes.”

Surprised, Aphrodite nodded and closed the book over her finger, moments before she let her lids flutter down. She heard nothing but wind whistling through the trees at first then she heard his boots crunching over dried leaves.

“You may look now,” he said.

As she did, her eyes landed on a puppy, a tiny little Pomeranian; its alert foxlike face, thick, soft coat and lolling tongue claimed her heart immediately.

“Good Heavens!” she reached for it. “Where did you get him?”

“A young parishioner is leaving to school, and she cannot keep him in boarding so she asked me if I knew someone who would take care of him,” Leo smiled. “I thought of you.”

The puppy was licking her finger and rubbing at her chin. “Oh, I love him already. What is his name?”

“Dust ball,” Leo teased.

“Liar,” she accused him while letting the pup squirm in her arms.

“Yes, I had, but if you let him run around this place too much that is what you will have,” Leo grinned. “She named him Biscuit. He is housebroken and listens to simple commands.”

“Ah,” Aphrodite smiled. “Biscuit, such a lovely name. Thank you, Leo. I am so happy now.”

He quirked a brow. “Meaning that you were not happy before?”

Rubbing the puppy’s belly, she admitted, “Oswald is working all the time and while we share nights together, he is absent all day and so is his mother. She won’t speak with me, matter of fact, I have not even seen her in the last five days. I’m all alone most days.”

Leo’s face contorted. “It seems that my cousin is falling into his old routines. He used to work all day and Claire grew bored to tears.”

“And we knew how that ended,” Aphrodite replied solemnly while fondling the dog’s ears. “Be assured, no matter how wearied I get, I will not look for entertainment elsewhere.”

“That’s good to hear,” he replied. “But Claire was tired of being alone for many days on end. She was a social person and lived for the attention of other people. My cousin can happily go through months with himself as company. They were not a good fit, but they still married.”

“Eventually, she began to take these solitary trips to London, telling Oswald that she was going shopping, or having tea with other ladies, even visiting her parents, but they were all lies,” Leo said. “When they found her dead in her carriage, they found a peculiar dagger in her heart.”

“What was so peculiar about that dagger?” Aphrodite asked.

“It was ceremonial dagger,” Leo replied. “One of an ancient Jewish make, used for ceremonial sacrifices. When it was found out, we realized it was one of a pair. We searched for the second one but did not find it,” Leo said. “The chase died after a month, and we all are forced to live with the unsolved mystery.”

“Oh, no,” she sighed. “That had to be horrible.”

“I know,” Leo replied, reaching out to pet the dog. “I know it is a sensitive issue, but you might want to talk about Oswald how bored you are so you can make a plan around it. It might help if you peeled my cousin away from his desk now and then.”

Looking into the happy eyes of the pup, Aphrodite smiled. “I will.”

“Wonderful,” Leo brushed his hands over the pup’s muzzle, accidentally bumping into hers then laughed, “Oh, sorry.”

His eyes met hers and something—a hint of warmness—flashed across his eyes. Smiling back, Aphrodite stood thanked him again and with the puppy in her arms and managing to hold her book headed to the Hall.

She entered just as the Dowager was going up the stairs, took one look at her and said, “You will not have that flea-bitten mutt in my home.”

The joy in her heart shriveled to nothing while she held the innocent puppy.

“Aunt, please,” Leo said from behind her. “This Hall is big enough to hold a single lap-dog.”

She sniffed. “Where is my son?”

“In his study,” Leo said. “Where he always is.”

Without another word, she turned and climbed the stairs, taking a corridor and disappearing around a corner. Leo stood in front of her and rested both hands on either shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about it.”

She hung her head while he managed to hug her, even with the puppy between them. “It will be fine, I promise. Just have some faith,” he said quietly before pulling away. “I must leave now, but give my regards to my cousin later this evening.”

As he left, Aphrodite took the stairs and went to her chamber, putting the pup on the floor and closing the door behind her. Weakly, she sank to a chair and watched with a half-smile while the puppy ran around the chamber, sniffing here and there.

When he came back to her, she petted him, “What do we give you to eat, Biscuit?”

“Aphrodite?” Oswald asked as he came into the chamber. She looked up while he came closer. His eyes dipped to the puppy then back to her, “Are you all right?”

“No.”

He rubbed his face. “Neither is Mother, she’s moving to the Dowager House, Sweetling. Seems she cannot live with you around her after all.”