‘You have been with me always,’ said Thea looking back. ‘Even when I was uncertain of your feelings, I could never get you out of my mind.’
‘And you never left mine,’ said Martha, as she almost bumped into Thea at the top of the landing. She turned her round, bringing her hand up to Thea’s neck and tracing a line from her ear to her collar bone. ‘How I needed you.’ Martha’s sultry tone made Thea’s insides burn.
Thea leaned forward and placed a single, gentle kiss on Martha’s lips. It was soft – so soft – and she savoured it. The velvet feel of her, the taste and the anticipation. Their lips left one another, but Thea didn’t retreat.
‘Mmph,’ said Martha, resting her forehead on Thea’s and swallowing audibly. ‘Are we going to stay on the landing all night, Your Grace.’ She let the final words drip out like honey and Thea heard the smile in her voice. She couldn’t help the wicked grin that bloomed on her own face. She stepped backwards and hit Martha’s bedroom door. Martha reached around her for the handle and let them in. The fire was lit, flickering its light and warmth over the large sheepskin rug Martha always kept by the fireplace.
‘Looks cozy,’ said Thea, her eyes flicking back to Martha’s as she clicked the door shut behind them. She leaned in and placed another, gentle but inflaming kiss on Martha’s lips.
‘Bed?’ asked Martha, sinking her fingers into Thea’s hair and pulling her forward to kiss her again, now firmer, exploring her insistently.
‘Rug,’ clarified Thea, pushing Martha in the direction of the fire but not breaking contact. Her hands travelled downMartha’s waist, tracing the familiar curves. A moan fled her throat and drew an answering one in return. Martha pulled her down and laid her on the soft rug so that she could feel the warmth on her face and the fleece at her back. Her skirts and hoops stood proud from the floor, so Martha pushed them to one side, the firelight flickering on her strong profile as she framed herself over Thea with her arms. God, how Thea had longed for this. Desire built so quickly within her that she wasn’t sure she could control it. She gasped as Martha kissed down her neck and her breath came quickly as she felt her scarf undone. She thought she might burst as Martha trailed a hand up her side and caressed a breast through her straining stays.
‘May I?’ asked Martha, throatily.
‘Please, yes,’ she heard herself say, and it must have sounded urgent as Martha’s head tilted up. A look of pure hunger resolved in the hazel eyes. Martha shifted her weight and began to tug at the buttons on Thea’s stomacher, but Thea stilled her hand with her own. ‘No time,’ she gasped, gesturing to her gown. ‘Complicated,’ was all she could get out. ‘Please,’ she said again, not caring if she sounded pathetic and desperate.
Martha nodded and placed a kiss on the dress over Thea’s stomach before Thea lost contact with her. She hadn’t accounted for the equal complexity of her hoop skirts. Eventually she felt Martha at the hem, before feeling layers of silk rustling around her legs. Suddenly Martha’s face appeared over the top hoop. ‘You have half a draper’s down here.’ Thea suppressed a laugh, not wanting to ruin the moment.
‘Can you manage?’ she asked, as alluringly as she could muster given the awkward situation.
‘Trying,’ muttered Martha thoughtfully as she tried to unfurl the layers. It caused a strange mixture of amusement and arousal. Once, Thea felt a hand on her calf, but then it left as Martha grasped the top hoop, pulled down the springy cane andpeered over it. ‘Almost there,’ she said. A shudder of amusement threatened to burst out of Thea, but she kept it in, until Martha’s hand slipped as she shifted, the hoop sprang back into shape, and clocked Martha firmly and squarely under her nose.
There was a moment of perfectly still silence as Martha’s face registered the surprise, and then she simply knelt there, staring at the hoop as it and its attached silken deer bobbed smugly in front of her.
‘Good lord,’ she said dryly.
Now Thea struggled to contain the guffaw that threatened to burst out. ‘Are you alright?’ she asked squeakily, proud that she managed to keep the effect on her voice to a slight waver.
Martha checked her nose with the base of her thumb, peering at it in the firelight. ‘Well, there’s no blood,’ she said, ‘so I assume so.’
The look of surprise on her face was now tinged with horror that their eagerly anticipated moment had been interrupted, and a little embarrassment. ‘I’m not going in there again,’ she said, definitely.
That was it. Thea burst out laughing, apologising to Martha with a wave of her hand but the scene had been too much. She saw Martha’s shoulders start to shake, and then full laughter erupt from her as she joined Thea lying on her back in front of the fire. They joined hands and it was such a relief to laugh together after all the tension of the evening. Thea clutched at her ribs when the stays wouldn’t allow her to gasp in the breath she needed and Martha turned and propped herself on an elbow, tears of mirth streaking her face and a tender hand lying on Thea’s stomach.
‘I have missed you so much,’ said Thea, bringing a hand up to stroke Martha’s cheek. ‘How I have longed for this, for you and for everything we have together.’
‘I can’t tell you how much,’ said Martha, the elation now tinged with a tender sincerity. She twined her fingers in Thea’s. ‘Perhaps we should do this properly?’ she asked, standing and helping Thea to her feet. ‘Goodness knows we’ve waited long enough already.’
Around ten minutes later, Thea’s dress, skirts and stomacher were laid over the chair, the offending hoops stood in a corner and a variety of pins made a small pile on the side table. She raised her arms as Martha grasped the hem of her shift and pulled it over her head. Suddenly Thea felt self-conscious – she had given birth to three children since they had done this last, and that certainly hadn’t been without a toll on her body.
‘A little different,’ she whispered shyly as Martha took her in and then closed the distance between them.
‘Everything you are is perfection,’ murmured Martha definitely into her ear. Thea smiled and began to unbutton Martha’s shirt. She had kept it and the waistcoat on her for as long as possible as she liked it, but now it was time for it to go. She slid the silk over Martha’s shoulders and threw the shirt on the chair before unlacing Martha’s stays.
‘Front fastening,’ she observed as she pulled and loosened.
‘For the voyages,’ said Martha slightly breathlessly. ‘Have to be able to… do them myself.’ Thea nodded her understanding as she pulled the garment over Martha’s head and discarded it. Then she stepped in, relishing the silken feel as their bodies touched, the very thing she had been craving for five long years. The way Martha nestled into her neck and pressed close told her she had too. She felt her hot breath exhale against her as they held one another. Thea slid a hand up Martha’s arm and felt an unfamiliar sensation at the shoulder. She pulled back, shocked to see a violent scar radiating from where Martha’s arm met her body. She looked into Martha’s eyes, alarmed.
‘Got shot,’ said Martha dismissively. Thea gripped her tighter, astounded. ‘An accident,’ reassured Martha.
Thea felt her eyes widen again. ‘When? How?’ The horror of what could have been if that shot had been a little to the right.
Martha pulled her back in, so their bodies touched. ‘All in good time,’ she said, her voice low. ‘But not right now.’ Thea gulped and nodded.
Thea allowed Martha’s touch and the fire to lull her back into the moment. ‘I want to know later,’ she muttered as she kissed the scar, almost as if hoping to remove its mark and restore the perfection of the skin she knew so well. Martha shifted away from her, keeping Thea’s hands in hers as she knelt on the sheepskin in front of the fire.
‘Come here,’ she murmured softly, and Thea was powerless to resist. She wrapped her legs around Martha, one either side, and sat in her lap before kissing her soundly. Martha’s strong arms held Thea against her as they deepened the kiss, one of Thea’s hands cupping Martha’s cheek and the other exploring Martha’s breast, making her hiss in pleasure as she tweaked and squeezed.
