Taming the Rakes

17

Lea had been awoken early by Rosemary, who had a message that her mother needed to speak with her. The new bride reluctantly untangled herself from her husband and quickly put on a simple house dress and walked down to the main floor where her mother had an office. After being told to enter by her mother, Lea opened the door and walked in. Her mother was dressed similarly in a simple house dress, sitting behind her desk. “Lea, darling, I am so glad you could come down so early. I am afraid to tell you that your father and I have to return to Aramoor much sooner than we had expected; I know you and Theodore have only been married a month and I promised you I would be here to help with Lucy for at least three months, but one of the tenant farmers has passed away and we have to go deal with the transfer of the contract to his oldest son and assist his widow with the funeral of her dear husband. You remember Mr. Jones, darling? He used to let you and your sisters ride his horses. Unfortunately he took a fall trying to trim one of the apple trees in the grove and never recovered, and he has passed on. Your father and I plan on taking Lucy for the funeral at least, and then sending her home in a few weeks. You do not mind, do you my darling Lea?”

            Lea hugged her mother, feeling emotional over the death of someone she had known for most of her life. “Of course I have no problem with it, Mother. Please tell Mrs. Jones we send our condolences and she is always welcome in Ashborne if she ever feels the desire to travel.”

            Lea chatted a bit more with her mother, and then returned her still sleeping husband. Smiling devilishly, she removed her house dress and climbed into bed, fully naked, pressing her bare chest against his as he slept. Theo wrapped his arms around her waist, still asleep, and groaned in his sleep upon feeling her bare skin against him. Lea kissed his neck, along his collarbone, and up to his ear, where she nibbled on his earlobe and moaned quietly. Theo opened his eyes sleepily, turning his face towards his wife before kissing her passionately. “If you wake me up naked every morning, we are going to have a house positively full of children before we blink,” Theo murmured, pushing Lea down onto the bed and holding her wrists above her head, he wiggled his body between her legs and pressed his body against hers. “I would certainly love that, but I want to spend some time with you before we start populating this house with tiny versions of us,” Theo chuckled, kissing her again.

            Lea wiggled underneath her husband. “I know, but I just love how you feel inside of me…” She whined, looking up at her husband with the most needy eyes she could manage. Theo groaned at her movements and words. “I just want to be close to you all the time,” She whimpered, reaching up and kissing him softly, the kind of soft a woman knows how to do when she wants something. “Also…my parents are leaving today to go to Aramoor…they are taking Lucy for a while…so we will be all alone in the house…” Lea whispered as she moved her hips against her husband. Theo groaned, trying to hold himself back from entering his beautiful bride who was squirming so welcomingly beneath him.

            Theo kissed his wife passionately before rolling off of her and rising out of bed. “I think, then, we should wait until I can make you scream as loud as possible while you beg for more,” her husband teased playfully. Lea whined, crossing her arms over her bare chest in frustration. “I am going to get dressed my love, then I am going to see Mayor Williamson about the trade with Ramshorne, so that we can improve the relations between our two duchies. Then, I have to speak with Davis about the household expenses, I do not understand some of them and I would like to deal with that myself; I know you have explained some things to me but sometimes I do better looking at things on paper in front of me. After that, I wanted to go riding, do a bit of hunting and show you how to use a bow properly so that you can help contribute to the food in the household. Speaking of which, I would like you to speak to Mrs. Jenkins about the garden, I believe we could expand some of it to be vegetables and fruits instead of just your pretty flowers,” Theo teased gently, smiling at his gorgeous wife.

            Lea sighed, nodding in agreement. Theo kissed her once more, and then walked through the water closet towards his room. Nathan was already waiting, ready to help him dress for his meetings.He wore a pair of tweed pants, a dark green shirt, and a tween tie; he skipped the jacket as they were approaching the last nice days of the year before the cold came about. As he was leaving, he heard the soft chime of the bell from Lea’s room that meant she was calling Rosemary to dress her; Theo had not liked his wife’s maid in the beginning, but now that they were getting used to one another, he did not mind the motherly woman who took such good care of his darling. Theo left the house, choosing to walk about town rather than take the Ashborne carriage, and went about his day. 

            Theo arrived at Mayor Williamson's office about ten minutes before their meeting was scheduled, and he took the time to look about the town he now called home; his wife had helped it move more into the future, but Theo planned to help it become a central hub of production, as it should be, and he was sure that, together, he and his wife could make that happen.