His Spoilt Lady Page 8

  John shook his head. “I would have to disagree with you sir; Lord North is not known to be sympathetic to the colonies’ plight. Providing he can be persuaded that the taxes should be reduced, I can see mutual co-operation and a return of the free trade, such as we enjoyed before England’s war with France. Now that Lord North has introduced the Tea Levy, things could become substantially worse.”

  The conversation wore on, until Linnett tired of dull discussion and turned to the captain with a bright smile. “Do tell me, Captain, what do you make of these rumours, that Lord North is the King’s bastard brother? The resemblance between the two is said to be almost uncanny? One wonders which of his parents was guilty of such an indiscretion!” An uncomfortable silence fell, as one by one the officers seated around the table turned and stared at Linnett. John shook his head, deeply annoyed.

  “I must apologise for my wife’s indelicacy, gentlemen. She has the typical female nose for scandal!” The Captain gave a polite laugh and said softly to John, “Mr Foster, your pretty wife seems quite worn out. Escort her to her cabin, why don’t you sir?”

  John looked thoughtfully at Linnett. Did she not realise the offence she may have caused these good men with her silly, flippant remark? It had been rumoured, certainly, that due to a strong physical likeness, the King and Lord North may be in some way be related. But loyal subjects of King George did not tend to repeat such slander. The captain would hopefully put Linnett’s tactless comments down to her youth and female love of gossip. John thought it best to remove his naive wife from an embarrassing situation.

  He pushed back his chair, bowing slightly to the captain, at once the picture of the concerned husband. “My dear, you are tired,” John said solicitously. Linnett was eager to get back to the cabin and check on John’s ruined shirts, as it was killing her not knowing whether he had discovered them. Surely not, she hoped, since he had been so attentive to her all evening? She said, “Actually, yes, but I should like to retire to my room alone. Please stay here, my dear, and enjoy the gentlemen’s company.”

  “Cabin, my love,” John corrected her irritably. “The rooms on the ship are called cabins, and I insist on accompanying you.”

  Linnett gritted her teeth but said with a saccharine smile, “I quite forgot about cabins, how kind of you to remind me, my dear!”

  John pulled out her chair and helped her to her feet, but Linnett shook his hand away and flounced to the door, furious that John was going to escort her. Amidst an amused chorus of good wishes, they made their leave. On the way to their cabin, John pointed out to his sulky wife the inadvisability of spreading drawing-room gossip while aboard the ship. Linnett simply shrugged disinterestedly; she had only been trying to liven up what, to her, was otherwise a tedious evening.

  John decided to drop the subject for now. He had no wish to upset their tenuous relationship just before they were due to retire. After all, they were on their honeymoon. When they reached the cabin door, Linnett turned and said to John, “I shall be quite alright now, John, thank you. Please return and join the men in their brandy with the Captain.” Linnett wanted to sound airy, as if it were of no consequence to her either way. John hid a smile, not fooled for one moment -- he knew that she wanted him gone.

  “No, my darling, I wouldn’t dream of leaving you alone on our first night aboard ship.”

  He opened the door and went over to seat himself on the bed. Linnett, realising that she was not going to be able to check on the torn shirts that night, resignedly gave up and would wait until the morning. She bustled behind the screen to use the chamber pot and wash. When she had completed her toilet, she called out, requesting that John fetch her night-gown for her. John walked over to the screen and, reaching behind, took a gentle hold of her arm, drawing her out into the room.

  “Come, my dear,” he said, “I will help you disrobe. As you so rightly pointed out earlier this evening, it was I who was remiss in leaving you to cope without a maid’s assistance.”

  Linnett reluctantly allowed him to lead her towards the bed. He turned her to face him and started to undo all the front lacing on the dress. Linnett had chosen the front-faced opening deliberately so that she could manage without assistance. She kept her eyes downcast and watched as his strong fingers deftly loosened the laces. He then pushed the robe off each of her shoulders in turn, so that her bosom lay enticingly exposed. John bent his head and kissed the soft white swell of her breasts. He tilted her head back, and his mouth closed over hers possessively. He kissed her lips apart and flicked his tongue teasingly against hers.

  Linnett tried to pull back. She had no wish for a repeat performance of the previous night, but John slipped his arms around her holding her closely pressed her up against his muscled body leaving her no room for manoeuvre.

  As the kiss progressed, Linnett relaxed into his arms and, somewhere in the centre of her being, warmth began to build. Mounting heat flooded through her veins. John moved his hand down her back in slow sensual strokes until he reached her lovely, womanly buttocks; gently, he squeezed them and pulled her against the length of his body. He lifted his head and gazed into her eyes, which had flown open as he broke away from the kiss. His eyes held hers fast, and she was mesmerised. His compelling gaze darkened with desire, and he traced the shape of her parted lips with a finger. “You are so lovely…. your body is made for love, Linnett, do not fear… I want you so much, and tonight will be different....I promise you.”

  Linnett started to pull back from his embrace, but John held her fast. He stepped back and sat upon the bed, cradling her on his lap. Carefully, he opened the front of her dress and then her shift ribbons. He completely freed her delectable breasts, his hands catching them as they spilled free of the filmy material. Weighing them in his hands, he moved his thumbs over her nipples, making them stand out in rosy peaks. Linnett drew in her breath sharply, feeling strangely warm and languid. She was also nervously aware that she had nowhere to escape to and so she submitted to her husband’s attentions.

  Lowering his head, John kissed his wife long and lingeringly, God, she was lovely, he thought as his hands gently caressed her erect nipples. Her arms crept upwards and wound themselves around his neck. John moved one of his hands down to her lap and pulled her skirts upwards. Linnett watched, breathless, as his hands disappeared beneath the white lace of her petticoat, sliding up her parted inner thighs stroking the velvet skin above her stockings, his fingers tantalisingly brushing against her soft womanly mound hidden beneath her drawers. Linnett was immobilised by the sensations that John was arousing deep within her.

  Then John deftly lifted the silken dress up and over her head and threw it aside; she gasped with surprise, but he quickly he resumed his attentions. John turned his head, nipping Linnett’s neck and rolling her over so that they lay across the bed. She squealed, lying on her back with her legs flung high over his hip, open and at his mercy. John bent his head to her breasts, skilfully biting and sucking at her swollen nipples. He placed his hand above her knee and stroked his way high up her leg until he again reached the soft skin of her inner thighs. He pulled at the ribbon on her pantaloons loosening them and sliding them down from under her hips.

  Heat curled through the centre of her womanhood, unsettling Linnett so that she snapped her legs shut. John parted her with a firm and knowing hand, exploring her, arousing her with gentle, questing fingers, until she was slick and wet with her desire, lost in fathomless delight. John pushed up her shift, his kisses trailing down her body. He held her as she writhed against him and then held her legs firmly apart as he lowered his head between her thighs. His tongue probed the hot pulsing heart of her passion, finding and teasing the small nub of her desire. His searching tongue tantalised her senses, sending her spiralling into a vortex of ecstasy such as she could never have imagined. Her back arched, as wave after wave of delicious pulsing pleasure washed over her. Linnett cried out his name and John marvelled at her sweet surrender. His throat constricted with emotion as he
watched her yield herself to passion for the very first time.

  Afterwards, as she lay bathed in a gleam of perspiration, her white shift screwed up around her waist, legs thrown apart, head flung to one side, he kissed her neck, murmuring his love for her. Her gorgeous hair, a pool of gleaming honey with soft, silken, tendrils trailed over the creamy mounds of her breasts, nipples taut, exposed in the frothy opening of her shift. John ached with the need to mate her; she was irresistible, ravishing. He stood up and peeled off his clothes, turning to face her so that she saw that his manhood pulsed with a life of its own.

  “Yes, look at me, wife,” he commanded. Linnett opened her eyes and gazed at him. Never having seen a man naked, she was fascinated and her eyes went straight to that livid pulsing hardness that testified to his desire for her. How proud it stood beneath his belly, how dark and huge. Were all men made so? she wondered. Her eyes travelled down John’s long powerful legs covered in dark curling hair, his flat hard stomach, his wide and well-muscled chest, covered with the same dark curling hair, his broad shoulders and strong arms. Linnett’s gaze finally travelled to his face, a dark lean face.

  Disconcertingly, he watched her with those hooded inscrutable grey eyes, his stare unwavering. John moved purposefully towards the bed. Shyly, nervously, Linnett moved over to accommodate him. He gathered her into his arms, kissing and caressing her. He began to build her passions once again, his deft fingers soon working their magic. She was quivering, wet and open with desire. John moved above her, and this time she parted her legs willingly, welcoming him as he guided himself to her waiting cleft.

  With vigorous force, he drove into her yielding softness. Linnett raised her hips, meeting thrust for thrust, wanting him, needing him.

  “Now,” he whispered hoarsely, “now... you are mine.”

  Then he plunged himself deep into her, his strokes carrying them both to heights of ecstasy unimagined by Linnett’s virginal mind. She writhed beneath his pounding body, clinging to him, her anchor in a sea of turbulent pleasure, her very consciousness fragmented; she cried out as she hovered deliciously on a crest of indescribable joy, his voice joined with hers as he soared, suspended in the molten heat of his own climax.

  Afterwards, raising himself up on his elbows, John placed his hands either side of her face and pushed the damp hair back from her flushed cheeks. Studying her, he was delighted to have found that she possessed such a great capacity for love. “Your eyes have changed colour, they are a smoky green... just like the ocean depths. Do you know sweeting… that you are made to be loved?”

  Linnett nuzzled his neck. “Is it... always this way between men and women?” she asked him shyly.

  “No, not always.” he replied. “I knew it would be this way with us the first time when . . . ”

  “I remember,” she shuddered, pulling a face as she thought of the previous night.

  “No, I was about to say, when I first kissed you on the balcony.”

  Linnett looked very nonplussed. “But I kicked and punched you after that kiss!” she insisted.

  John grinned. “Yes, you were as surprised as I at your response to that kiss… which made me realise that you were not the wanton that I took you to be. You were as attracted to me as much as I was attracted to you.”

  Linnett nodded. “I was so confused by that kiss, because I disliked you so much... and actually, I think I was a little afraid of you as well.”

  John raised an eyebrow. “Afraid, hmm, was that before or after our...disagreement in the coach?”

  Linnett flushed a deep shade of red. “Before actually….. I hated you afterwards! However,” she added impudently, “I now think perhaps I might have misjudged you slightly. You might be... just a man after all and not the tyrant I thought you to be.”

  “What!” exclaimed John in mock surprise “Can I believe what I am hearing? My wife does not believe me to be a tyrant? Oh, but now I must prove her so very wrong!”

  Linnett giggled and hit him playfully. “I admit,” she told him, “I may have misjudged you, but you did give me just cause, treating me so abominably.”

  John nodded sagely. “Ah yes, the spanking.... you so richly deserved!”

  “I most certainly did not!” squealed Linnett.

  “Oh, but you most certainly did, young lady, and I will admit that I enjoyed the exercise immensely, so much so, I thought it most kind of you to give me cause to indulge once again!

  “So now, Linnett, I propose to repeat the process. Come and lie over my lap, there’s a good girl, and let’s get this over with.”

  John watched, amused, as Linnett’s face flushed bright red and she bit her bottom lip before she began to move surreptitiously away from him towards the edge of the bed. Linnett guiltily recalled the damaged shirts in the chest; oh what on earth had she been thinking of and what was she to do now? Before Linnett could even formulate a plan, John’s hand shot out and gripped Linnett’s wrist firmly.

  “Did you think for one moment that I would let that nasty little prank go unpunished, my dear?” he asked her with one eyebrow raised. When there was no reply, he shook her wrist. “When you threw water over me today, I let your behaviour go without dealing with you because of the shock you experienced, leaving your father and your home. I realise now that was the wrong thing to do. You thought me weak instead of kind, didn’t you? If I had dealt with you as you deserved this afternoon, you wouldn’t have dared to ruin my shirts. And then there was your unladylike behaviour over dinner tonight.”

  Linnett looked up confused. He explained, “Your comments about Lord North, my dear -- I will not have my wife repeating common street gossip. You embarrassed the captain and his officers, Linnett, and I will not tolerate such bad manners. Well now, what have you to say for yourself?” John’s voice was as steely as his arctic grey eyes.

  Linnett gulped and stuttered an inaudible reply; it was difficult to talk, her mouth felt dry, and her stomach curled tightly, she was so nervous. Where was her gentle lover of only minutes before?

  John’s arm suddenly shot out again, grabbing hold of Linnett, and before she realised what he was about he had tipped her across his knee.

  “Linnett, you are my wife now, and you will learn to respect me as your husband. I shall teach you how to behave as my wife. Every time you behave like a child or disobey me in any way, I shall be forced to take you in hand and you will end up as you are now, across my knee, and Linnett believe me, you will soon learn how I wish my wife to behave.”

  John lifted Linnett high over his knee so that she was forced to place both her hands on the cabin floor to support herself. “Please don’t do this, John, not now after we shared so much, I am so...o...o sorry about your shirts, really I am, you just don’t understand how I felt today...,” Linnett sputtered, the air leaving her lungs in shock as John’s hand met her bottom with force.

  At first, Linnett thought it would soon be over, and the spanking would be the same length and severity as the one John had meted out in the coach. But she soon realised her mistake. This hurt so much more! This was a spanking such as she could not have imagined. Linnett thought it could not get more painful but as spank followed spank, the burning on her behind became unbearable. She began to kick in earnest and desperately tried to cover her bottom with her hand, but John smacked it and grabbed her wrist, holding it secure at the small of her back and out of his way. Then he moved his leg and placed it over both of hers so that she was held fast.

  “Oh no, my sweet, you don’t get away with that little trick!” John told her this all the while swatting hard and admiring his handiwork, giving Linnett a lovely rose bottom. John was actually surprised by how much he was enjoying this.

  When he had found his mutilated shirts earlier, he had wanted to throw Linnet over his knee then and there, but after some thought, he decided to use her nervousness about the deed to put her on edge all evening, leaving her to wonder and worry. It served the naughty wench right after such a vindictive act. Remembering h
is shirts again made John decide to carry on with this punishment a bit longer, and he aimed some swats across the tender area above Linnett’s thighs. She let out a screech and struggled furiously until John slapped her harder than ever and she subsided, limply weeping. With a few more smacks to the tops of her legs, which elicited a howl from his young bride, John released her and rubbed her now flaming behind.

  It took Linnett a minute to realise the spanking was over. She lay there trembling across John’s lap a while before dropping off his knee and on to the floor on her bottom, where she instantly leapt up with a yelp. John reached down and pulled her onto his lap, where Linnett struggled until John told her firmly that he would continue the spanking if she didn’t settle down. Linnett wilted and buried her head into his chest and wept. She felt so humiliated and wanted to be alone with her embarrassment, but John was going nowhere.

  In fact he found the sight of his naked wife most enticing, and his erection surged. He was aroused once again. “There now, it is all over, sweeting. Come, lift your face. Linnett, look at me now,” he commanded softly, but when Linnett lowered her head allowing her hair to fall and screen her flushed face, John swept back the errant locks and tilted her chin upwards. Linnett tried to avoid his eyes. “Look at me!” he demanded firmly.

  Linnett lifted swimming green eyes to meet his steely glare. “Your punishment is over, and it need never happen again if you are biddable and behave as my wife should. But if there is a next time, and I tell you to lay across my knee, you will do so willingly, submitting to me as your promise to obey demands of you, and I will go softer on you for your obedience, do you understand me?” Linnett nodded, and John pulled her into his embrace, murmuring endearments and kissing her passionately.

  Linnett was amazed at her body’s traitorous reaction to the kiss and to her husband’s arousing, exploring hands. She was on fire, the heat of her bottom seeming to transfer to her sex, and she felt a wet rush of roiling desire. John rolled her onto her back and took her hard and fast he held her hands above her head and thrust deep, building a tempo that pounded her senses. Linnett exploded with a powerful climax, and John followed with shuddering release. Exhausted, he pulled her to him, and he curled his body around hers, kissing her on her temple and wishing her a goodnight. They both fell into a deep satiated sleep, not moving or waking until morning.