The next afternoon foundLord Sebastian Lyons at his club, studying knots in the wood paneling of a quiet room off the library.
“I thought we wouldn’t see you until next month,” said Lord William Ranlaegh, dropping onto the arm of a chair beside his best friend.
“Needed to make a purchase,” said Sebastian, not fully attending to the conversation.
“A trinket of apology for the bride?” Ranlaegh asked.
Sebastian looked up sharply. “I will not discuss my lady wife with other gentlemen.”
“Easy, my friend. You wouldn’t be the first husband to smooth over wedding night tears and hysterics with a new bracelet for the bride,” said Ranlaegh.
“She was—I am not discussing Jane at the club!” said Sebastian.
“I wouldn’t dream of drawing you into a conversation about your wife here in this den of iniquity,” said Ranlaegh, tapping on the cover of his favorite snuffbox. “I suppose you wouldn’t have similar objections to discussing Mrs. Meers, her chaperone of late?”
“And what do you know of Mrs. Meers, you cad?” asked Sebastian, standing from the leather armchair that had served him well the whole morning.
Lord Ranlaegh threw up his hands in mock surrender. “I know nothing of Angelina beyond the very decorous conversation on the coach ride to your wedding breakfast yesterday!”
“Angelina…you are unbelievable,” said Sebastian. “I didn’t know her Christian name until now, and I just sent a set of jewels to her this morning.”
“I say,” said Ranlaegh, now rising from his perch, “who is the dog now?”
“Easy, William, just providing some small token for a job well done. Too well done,” Sebastian muttered.
“Ahh, no tears then. Jane bore your attentions in the wifely manner to which all brides are instructed?”
“She unmanned me in all of thirty seconds while remaining the most perfect angel,” said Sebastian. “I woke and found that the idea of doing anything other than following her around and, well, debauching my wife in every one of those eighteen rooms in our new townhouse was flavorless as workhouse gruel. I’d be a menace to her, a threat to the peace of our home! And all the while, she was so innocent, so accommodating, so understanding as I lost control after only three pumps. Should matrons come to tea today to giggle over the marriage bed, she’ll have no more experience of ecstasy to divulge than before our wedding!”
“I hardly see a problem, Lyons,” said Ranlaegh, now studying the wood paneling as well to maintain control of his face. A man complaining about the excellence of his wife in the marital bed, imagine! The club walls had likely never heard a conversation such as this!
Lyons stood from his chair, resolute. “She deserves more! Jane deserves everything,” he said. “But I can’t treat my gently bred wife like a…a common woman.”
“Who is to say that you can’t gently breed your lady wife and enjoy the marital bed with her, even if it occurs outside the bedroom?” said William, finding himself drawn to marriage for the first time.
“Indeed,” said Sebastian, tapping out a rhythm with his shoes before he seemed to brace himself for action. “Should Jane find she enjoys my attentions in this direction, who is to say that we are in the wrong?”
“Tell Lady Lyons hello for me, ideally before you test this theory,” said William.
“I am not discussing my wife at the club!” exclaimed Sebastian before stalking off to collect his hat and coat so he could storm home.
Chapter 3
Upon returning home, Sebastiantook the stairs to Jane’s chambers two at a time, hoping that she was recovering from the wedding night abed. She was not, only confirming his suspicions that their coupling had not been as life-altering for her as it had been for him.
He inquired about her whereabouts with the housekeeper and was instructed to find her in a storage room off the kitchen, where she was taking inventory of preserves, flavoring agents, and medicinal herbs.
As he approached the doorway, Sebastian heard her chatelaine clinking as the household keys attached to her waist knocked against each other while she worked. Thinking of Jane nearby at last had the effect of causing his hair to stand slightly on end and his cock to awaken.
He adjusted himself through the superfine breeches that had only gotten tighter on the drive home. He groaned upon catching sight of his love alone in the capacious storeroom, illuminated by two oil lamps.
She turned at the noise, and her face broke into a wide smile. “My lord,” she said, extending both hands forward to take his. Sebastian grasped her ungloved fingers in his own before kissing her fingertips then gently kissing her delectable lips.
“My perfect wife, how do you feel today?” he asked.
“I am quite well,” she said, resting her head against his chest, where it fit just so because of her shorter stature.
“You are suffering no ill effects from the wedding night?” he asked in a low voice.
