Birching His Bride (Domestic Discipline 1) (16 page)

“No details,” Hugh muttered
again.

"I can't believe
little Nell is all grown up and married," Wesley said shaking his head,
ignoring Hugh.  "It seems like just yesterday she was tagging along
behind us, demanding that we join her tea party." He sent Edwin a sidelong
glance. "Although she always had been more interested in your company than
mine or Hugh's."

"Was she?" Edwin
couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. 

"Of course," Hugh
said rolling his eyes. "Growing up it was Edwin this and Edwin that."

"You never told me
that."

"You never noticed all
the times that we left you to entertain her and made our escape?" Hugh and
Wesley exchanged grins as Edwin frowned, casting his mind back.

He supposed he had noticed,
sort of.  But he'd never felt as though he'd been ditched by his friends,
on the contrary he'd often been quite content to share in Eleanor's adventures.
 Not having any siblings of his own it had been a wonderful new experience
to indulge a little girl on occasion - and since he wasn't her real brother he
hadn't felt any of the frustration with her that Hugh often had. 

"Worked out well for
me," he said rather smugly, thinking of how she'd turned into a beautiful,
passionate young woman.  He eyed the box that Wesley had brought for him.
Hugh looked at it, but rather than following Edwin's thoughts to his sister,
Hugh's thoughts obviously went to his own bride and he let out an impatient
little sigh.  Edwin grinned. "Only a week to go Hugh and then you'll
have your own bride well in hand."

"It can't come soon
enough," said Hugh rather morosely, shifting in his seat.  The movements
of a man who hadn't been with a woman since he'd begun seriously
courting. 

"That was definitely
one advantage of a quick wedding," Edwin muttered, and then raised his
voice as Hugh shot him a look. Wesley covered his smile with a quick sip of
port. "How is Miss Chandler?"

"Quite well,"
Hugh smiled as his eyes unfocused, the lines of his face softening and Wesley
and Edwin exchanged amused glances. 

“Have you met her?” Edwin
asked Wesley.

“Very briefly. She seems
like a well-bred kind of lady,” said Wesley.  His tone wasn’t condemning
exactly, but it didn’t seem entirely approving either and Hugh scowled at him.

“
Exactly
the kind of
lady I want,” said Hugh. “No matter how much Edwin might enjoy spanking my
sister I certainly don’t want to spend all my time disciplining my wife.” He
shook his head at his friend. “I don’t see the appeal at all. I’d much rather
have a sweet, loving wife that doesn’t cause me any trouble.”

“Just like your mother?”
teased Wesley.

“Better her than Eleanor,”
Hugh retorted. “I got quite enough practice having to dole out her
punishments.  I’ll do so when needed with my wife, but it’s not something I
want to have to do on a regular basis.”

“It’s a very different
prospect punishing a wife than a sister,” murmured Edwin.

“How would you know, you
don’t have any sisters.”

Wesley raised his hand. “I
have to agree with Edwin. There’s an entirely different element when you’re
spanking a lady that you’re sexually attracted to.  Or birching her.” He grinned
and turned his head towards Edwin. “Have you tried a riding crop?”

“No details!”

“Now that’s an idea.”

“Does that mean you’re
planning on spanking your wife?” Hugh asked Wesley in an obvious ploy to turn
the conversation to something else.

He snorted. “I’ll not be
taking a wife anytime soon.”

“But when you do,” Hugh
persisted.

“Doubtful. That’s not what
wives are for.  I’ll have a wife for the heirs and a mistress for the
spankings,” Wesley said grinning.  “I can’t imagine too many well-bred English
wives actually enjoying a good bottom warming.”  He looked curiously at Edwin
who grinned and winked. Hugh heroically pretended not to see this exchange. Wesley
sighed. “And the only one who might have is already married.”

“Don’t make me pour this on
you,” Hugh said, threatening Wesley with the glass of port in his hand. Edwin
snorted and reflected that he was very glad Wesley was home. Things just hadn’t
been the same without him.

As the other two
exchanged various threats and insults, Edwin let his mind turn to his wife and
he wondered how she was settling into the household upstairs.  In another
quarter of an hour he would join her and see what he could do to help.  Perhaps
they could browse through the book that Wesley had brought.

******

Upstairs on her bed,
Eleanor took deep breaths, slowly calming herself.  When she had first walked
in the door she had been resigned to Hugh and Wesley taking Edwin’s attention
away from her for the first time since they had left on their honeymoon. Now
she was grateful for it.  Who knew what Edwin might have done if he’d seen how
upset she’d become, what he might have guessed.

Staring blindly out
her window, Eleanor told herself that this wasn’t a complete disaster.  After
all, Edwin didn’t know she was in love with him. He had no idea the power he
had over her.  And perhaps he did have deeper feelings for her.

She would just have
to test that and find out.

And if he did not
then she could go back to her original plan and become such an inconvenience
that he wouldn’t want to live in the same household as her.  The very thought
of being separated from him made her feel empty and nauseous, but surely that
was better than losing herself to this chaotic surge of emotions, better than
ending up like her mother.  She would not be shunted off to the country at
Edwin’s whim, she would
choose
to go.

But only if he didn’t
love her.

Drying the tears from
her eyes, Eleanor forced herself to calmness and began to plan how she would discover
her husband’s feelings.

Her hands shook as
she dragged the brush through her hair, a shining gleam of ivory in the
candlelight against the fiery tresses.  Staring at herself in the mirror she
felt as if she were looking at a stranger.

I can’t do this.

It was far past the
time she should have already been in bed and asleep.  Her mother had sent her
to her room hours ago to ensure that she would be well rested for tomorrow’s
events.  Just thinking about it unsteadied her breathing and sent her heart
racing.  At first she’d tried to sleep, she truly had, but after laying in the
darkness with her thoughts surrounding her, unable to diminish her fears, she’d
relit the candles and sat down at her dressing table. What else could a woman
in her position do?

It wasn’t as if she could
shimmy out the window and run away.

Where would she go?
Maybe… No. He wouldn’t be able to help her.  Even if he wanted to.  She had no
money of her own.  Although she’d made friends during her Seasons, none of them
would help her. Not with this.

“Irene?” The
disapproving tones of her mother’s voice made her wince as the bedroom door
opened.  “Why aren’t you sleeping? You’re going to have dark circles under your
eyes on your wedding day!”  The way she said it, dark circles sounded like the
most tragic thing that could happen.

“I can’t sleep,” she
said, setting the brush down and staring at the reflection in the mirror. Her
mother entered behind her, wrapped in a comfortable looking blue robe, the
cotton hem of her nightgown peeking out from the bottom.  Looking at her, Irene
realized that she was slightly chilled, her own thin cotton gown not allowing
much for warmth. “Mother… I… I’m not sure…”

The baroness sighed,
coming to stand behind Irene and meeting her eyes in the mirror.  Hard agate
met pleading emerald without sympathy.  “We’ve talked about this Irene.  You
must marry Viscount Petersham.” Her hand came to rest on Irene’s shoulder,
fingers digging into the soft flesh and Irene flinched. “We have no choice. You
must marry someone who can take care of our debts and the only one willing to
do so with the dowry of your land is the viscount. If you do not marry him we
will be impoverished.  And he seems to have some affection for you.”

“That just makes it
worse!” Irene protested, driven to it despite the hardness of her mother’s
expression and words.  “When it was nothing but a business arrangement… what if
he becomes angry with me for deceiving him?”

Her mother snorted.
“I said he has affection for you, you foolish girl.  That means nothing over
time.  Enough affection and he will get an heir and a spare on you quickly and
then you can do as you please.  He will have his own lovers, perhaps
mistresses. It is the way things are done.”

But what about love?
Irene wanted to ask,
but she didn’t.  She already knew her mother’s views on that subject.  But her
mother could see it in her expression anyway.

Leaning down, her
mother whispered in her ear, her hard, dark eyes trapping Irene’s in the
mirror.  “When you have given him his children, he will have done his duty and
have no more need for your bed. And then you may see if Lord Brooke returns
your… affections. But do not come crying to me if he uses you and your
love
,”
she said the work mockingly, “and then breaks your heart.”

Irene didn’t
respond.  She just sat, staring blankly into the mirror, seeing nothing. 
Regretting the day she’d unburdened her innermost thoughts about marriage and
love to her mother.  Wishing that she were anyone but the daughter of an
impoverished baron.  Hugh was a good man, she was sure of it.  He didn’t
deserve a wife who was in love with someone else.

But what else could
she do?

Look
for the second book in the Domestic Discipline Quartet –
Dealing With
Discipline
– in August 2013.

About me? Right… I’m a writer, I should be able to do
that, right?

I’m a happily married young woman, no kids so far, and I
like tater tots, small fuzzy animals, naming my plants, hiking, reading,
writing, sexy time, naked time, shirtless o’clock, anything sparkly or shiny, and
weirding people out with my OCD food habits.

I believe in Happy Endings. And fairies. And Santa Claus.
Because without a little magic, what’s the point of living?

I write because I must. I live in several different
worlds at any given moment. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

You can follow along with my blog at
http://goldeniangel.blogspot.com/
. I
try to update it regularly.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the
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Stay sassy.