A Wedding in Wottfordshire

***

With more guests having arrived during the day, everyone assembled in the hall and we were invited into the dining hall where each guest or guest couple was announced in turn for all to hear as they paraded up the center aisle and around to the side to watch the next guest in line.

"Milady, may I serve as your escort through the announcement and at dinner?" whispered Stephen who'd stepped up beside me. "My brother is a big boy now and with his attention and his ardor completely focused on Lady Susannah, I'm confident he'll never even miss me."

I smiled and offered my arm, glad that he'd asked since it would allow me a chance to talk to him in semi-privacy prior to sitting down at the table with other guests. We watched as the other guests were announced and did the parade and then followed when our turn came.

At the head table overlooking the guests, the lovebirds in the center huddled together in close conversation as servants began serving the first course, so Stephen leaned in toward me. "Please, tell me all about yourself, Lady Catherine."

"Only if you'll do the same."

He smiled as he reached out and slid the fingers of his right hand over the back of my left, giving me little tingles all the way to fingertips. Once there, he reversed course, sliding each of his fingers between my own until they reached the end, where he curled his tips under my palm and held my hand in his own. I watched as he pulled it up and leaned in to kiss the back of my wrist. "Gladly."

Releasing me reluctantly, we talked as we nibbled on the first course and each that followed, with Stephen taking and holding my hand briefly between courses after our knife and fork were down. I was surprised at his familiarity but as he told me about himself, I found that he was naturally outgoing as well as rather bold. Stephen was actually six years younger than Wilfred and was only his half-brother since Wilfred's mother had died attempting to give birth to Wilfred's first sibling.

"We always got along well, but I must admit to generally having been jealous of his advantages, including his size and strength and him getting first pick. I always had to play smart to win when we competed, and often that still wasn't good enough until I reached my majority and finally equaled him. He served in the army so I decided to do something different, doing a voyage in His Majesty's navy so he wouldn't get all the bragging rights."

I was bemused by the way he termed it, so I said, "That sounds exciting. Did you see action?"

"Don't tell anyone but Mother purchased a commission for me so I wouldn't have to swab decks and eat swill, but being a junior officer on a frigate doing patrols is decidedly not exciting. It was actually long periods of intense boredom in the burning sun followed by brief periods of fear when we got into tangles and somewhat longer periods of extreme terror when we got caught up in storms. There were two spats with French ships and one with a ship from our erstwhile colonies during the American war, but running from storms was worse and actually getting caught in them was far worse still, not knowing if we'd come through or be on the bottom feeding the fishes by morning."

His eyes had a faraway look by the time he finished but then he refocused on mine. "Yes, I must say, if I ever step foot aboard another ship, it will be too soon."

"Surely it wasn't that bad," I countered. "After all, isn't the old saying that sailors have a girl in every port?"

"True to a point, shore leave in ports can be fun, Catherine, but as for what goes on there, perhaps it's better left unsaid in such polite company." He gave a little sigh before adding, "I suppose the difference is that whereas ports are few and far between, soldiers are never far from the next town or village. My brother had the advantage once again."

He was looking at me, quite intently as he finished before a smile creased his face. He leaned in closer so I could feel his breath on my ear as he added in a whisper I barely heard over the hubbub of the gathering. "Yes, I was always jealous of my big brother, even over his service, but this time, milady, I think I've made up serious ground on him."

Confused, I drew back and looked into his twinkling brown eyes that so reminded me of Rob's. "Stephen, what do you mean?"

The corner of his mouth turned up and his cheek dimpled. "Milady, the bride is beautiful and my brother, the groom, is indeed a lucky man, but not lucky enough to have first met her much more beautiful maiden of honor, who just so happens to outshine her like the sun. That he has no chance with you but that I do warms my heart."

Pulling our hands close once again, he turned them so he could kiss my knuckles this time before I could object at his effrontery.

"Be careful, good sir," I warned, pulling my hand away. "The bride is beautiful and she is my cousin, practically a sister to me."

"As the groom is my brother, but the truth, milady, is the truth."

Something about the way he raised his eyebrow made me suppress a smile, but I was a bit miffed at his presumptiveness so I gave a little shake of my head in warning instead. "And be careful assuming that you have a chance with me, Stephen Doyle-Hyde. My father knows that I have a mind of my own and will make my own choice when it comes to such matters."

"Oh, no, milady, not assuming anything, but definitely hoping that you'll give me one."

This time his playful look was too much, causing me to grin just as the next course arrived. I chuckled as I replied, "We'll see, sir. We'll see."

It was about that time that Wilfred and Susannah finally seemed to run out of lovers' eyes to make at each other and realized that there were others present so they joined in the conversation with us and others. I felt relieved in a way since my focus no longer had to be entirely on Stephen, but his occasional familiar touches to my hand, my arm, and even my shoulder never left him far from my mind.

After dinner concluded, Uncle John invited everyone to step down the hall to the ballroom, where a small orchestra all the way from Liverpool were set up to play.

"Why would anyone ever hire a band from a place like Liverpool?" laughed Stephen. "I know it's growing by leaps and bounds, but still? Liverpool? No good musicians ever come from there. Everyone knows the best musicians outside of London are in Manchester."

"Claims the man from Manchester," I said with a laugh.

"Of course! We're actually from a way south of Manchester but still close enough to claim it rather than Liverpool," he said, clearly teasing at this point.

"Get used to them, my lord," I teased back, "especially since they'll be performing nightly through the wedding."

He sighed. "If that's the case, perhaps milady will let me have this first dance to help me along with that?"

I gave a perturbed huff before breaking into a smile and offering my hand. "If you think that would help, then I guess I'll make the sacrifice to assist you."

Stephen smiled and took my hand and we entered the room together to join the growing fray. He knew every dance, including all of the quadrilles and reels, even teaching me a couple that I'd never seen. Every second or third dance was a waltz, and I noticed that he held me closer with each successive dance. We looked into each other's eyes with growing hunger and I felt him hard against my belly as the evening wound down.

To my surprise, I found myself pressing tight against him, rolling my belly across his stiff rod as we danced, which only increased my own desire. In fact, I felt practically afire when the last dance, a slow waltz, was announced.

As I'd been doing all evening, I glanced over to see that Wilfred and Susannah were dancing nearby but this time I melted into Stephen's arms and pushed my mound hard against him, wanting to feel his desire and him to feel my own. I lost track of everything a moment later when he leaned down and captured my lips with his, his tongue playing along, pushing in just a bit before I opened to accept him and to love him back with my own. Burning with desire, I moaned into his mouth, leading him to respond in kind as the music stopped while our bodies still swayed.

It was during that kiss, my passion inflamed, that I came to believe Stephen was my Rob, kissing me the same way, heating me so.

"Oh, Stephen, tell me, you're my dear Rob. You are, aren't you?"

He raised an eyebrow over Rob's twinkling brown eyes and grinned playfully at me as he replied , "Quite possibly so, milady, but I'll never tell."

He kissed me again then and that was when I was sure, wanting him more than anything I'd ever wanted in my life.

"Milady, will you do the honor of allowing me to escort you to your room?" he whispered.

I was about to agree when duty came crashing back into my mind from where I'd expelled it for the past few minutes.

"Susannah," I gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry, but I have to escort her to her room. Please, Stephen, excuse me."

Wilfred was shaking hands with guests as he escorted Susannah from the ballroom, with me cutting through the crowd behind them. By the time they emerged into the corridor, I was only a few paces behind and following along. I heard footsteps behind me then and glanced back only to see Stephen catch up and take my arm.

"I should make sure Wilfred is properly put away for the night too," he said with a grin, "and since he appears to be doing the same with Lady Susannah, I'll walk with you for a way, if you don't mind."

A little nod made his dimples even more prominent and my mind betrayed me, thinking of the things I'd like to be doing with him if the circumstances were right. He was staring back at me, undressing me with his eyes as we walked. Realizing this and blushing a bit, I imagined him naked before me, too, wishing I could have seen him in the carriage, wanting to see him right now, but I suddenly turned my gaze back toward Wilfred and Susannah ahead of us, more fearful of us walking into a wall or over a banister rail than I was of them getting into any real trouble.

They stopped by her door and embraced as they appeared to try to suck air from each other's lungs. I was watching, envious, when Stephen's arm swept around my back and pulled me into him as if we were still dancing and then the kiss we'd shared on the dance floor came back to life as we were doing it all over again.

There was a long, low moan and I started to push him away to make sure Susannah was all right when I realized that it was me, not her, making it. There was Stephen's cock pressed against me, once again as hard as hickory, and then his hand cupped my breast, squeezing, pushing me up, almost out the top of my dress.

His lips left mine only to reach down and kiss the top of my breast, exposed above the low-cut line of my gown and even more plumped up and prominent with his pushing and squeezing. Two fingers slid into the top and pulled down to expose the top of my pink shield before what little modesty I still possessed took hold of me.

"Oh, Stephen, please," I whispered.

"Please what? Please don't stop?" he asked with a laugh, his focus entirely downward on my tits, but his movement stopped at once...except for those two damn fingers down the bodice of my evening gown. It was naughty enough that they were in there at all but to make matters worse, they were in the worst possible spot. As he looked up at me, he squeezed them together and caught my nipple right between, sending a little shock through my body and eliciting another moan, this one guttural, from deep inside me.

Lucifer's grin couldn't have been more devilish, for the bastard knew exactly what he was doing and doing to me. My hand was on his then, pulling up and away, bringing the tip of my nip just above the top of the fabric. His tongue, surprisingly unforked, flicked his lips when his eyes caught it in the second before I could push down and re-secure it in my gown.

"You naughty man," I laughed, trying to be angry with him, but wishing all the while that we were able to continue on. "Oh, Stephen, I'm sorry. Good night, sir."

He tucked his hands behind him like a little boy admonished for having his hand in the cookie jar but then leaned forward and kissed my cheek. Whispering, he said, "I've had such a lovely evening with you, Lady Cat. It seems a shame for it to end. Perhaps if I return in a little while after we get these two—"

I wanted so badly to say yes, but something in the back of my mind told me I shouldn't, that I couldn't. "Good night, sir," I repeated, more firmly this time, knowing that doing anything such as he was about to suggest would cause me to completely lose control. I had to cut it off before that control slipped from my fingertips, so I added, "Pleasant dreams," as I turned to approach Susannah.

"Say good night, cousin," I said as I took her hand and pulled her away from her beloved. A moment later, I pushed her into her chambers and locked the door behind us.

***

Susannah seemed aflame with as much desire as I was feeling but I helped dress her for bed and gave her a little glass of sherry to help calm her. The way she was moving and turning, as if dancing on air, I was concerned that she would accidentally sling it all over the chamber or perhaps on me rather than drinking it.

"Cat, why do we have to wait? Why couldn't we get married tonight instead of making us wait three more days?" she whispered.

"Suzie, if you'd set the wedding for tonight, then you'd have been going through this three days ago! So hush and drink up, and let's get you in bed so we can get you through another day tomorrow."

She frowned at me but drank the sherry before doing her business and climbing in bed. With Susannah tucked in under her cool summer sheet, I kissed her forehead and told her to sleep well before putting out her lamp and exiting through the connecting door to my quarters.

My lamp was lit and my bed turned down, but Hilary was nowhere to be seen, of course; I recalled at once that I'd given her permission to visit Renald again this evening to see what new fires they might stoke of their own, what new skills they might learn, and what new pleasures they might experience together. I breathed a silent prayer that she would take my lecture of earlier in the evening to heart and that they would practice discretion or, if they didn't, at least be careful to avoid their own little fire getting out of control and burning them.

That thought combined with many others set my mind to racing, realizing that I had my own raging wildfire as I struggled to remove my evening gown and prepared for bed. Remembering what had happened with Rob the day before and with Stephen tonight, particularly with me believing him to be Rob and him seemingly to at least insinuate it, caused me to yearn for more, even as I tried to focus on the morrow, to concentrate on my upcoming responsibilities instead. That didn't work and flashes of all the other events of the past two days crowded through my mind.

My completely unexpected, but decidedly enjoyable, time with Rob in my coach. I wish that he'd left me unmasked so I could have seen him and what we were doing, but perhaps the darkness allowed me to focus on the incredible sensations that I'd never before experienced.

Then there was working with Wilfred, holding his hardness in my hands, seeing his body ripple, and being shocked at the result as he proved himself capable. Running my hand across his chest through his chest hair, wishing I could be wrapped in his strong arms, even while feeling bad about having such thoughts, about betraying my sweet cousin who loved him so much.

Watching Wilfred and Susannah by the pond and witnessing the rising heat between them had done so much to heat me, too. Seeing my cousin's passion being raised with him was part of it, but part may have also been my own experience with him just hours earlier when I forced him to prove himself for her. Finally, there was the fact that I was watching them when they weren't aware of it was quite titillating in itself.

There'd been a gentle discussion and an all-too-innocent kiss with Geoffrey. I liked the man despite his great shyness and, at the time, had felt almost disappointed that he wasn't my Rob.

Then there was listening to the whispers of my dear Hilary as she experienced new wonders of her own. Her tales were exciting, heating my passions similar to what they were doing to her.

And finally, there was an all-too-passionate and heated kiss—at least two, actually—with Stephen and the discovery that he was, in all probability, my Rob. There was also what happened afterward, his hands on me, his fingers in my bodice, sending shocks through my body, as if lighting fires throughout me.

It was all too much and it wasn't long before my intense hunger overcame me. I started to slip my nightgown over my head but tossed it to the side, not needing it, before loosening the string tie to let my pantaloons and letting them fall to the floor where I kicked them after my nightgown.

For what I'd be doing, I wouldn't need them.

Lastly, I rechecked the locks to the entry door and connecting door to Susannah's room, making certain they were both locked. They were, so preparations complete, I climbed into my bed and drew my legs up, heels close to my bum, before spreading my thighs wide and my knees wider.

There was a little shock as the now cooler night air hit my heated loins so my eyes closed and I reveled in the moment. In my mind, I saw Rob approaching me, reaching out for me, pulling me into his arms, but when he removed his mask and hood, it was Stephen's face looking at me and I wanted him, my need being so great, and I felt myself give in to my desire.

Knowing there was little time during Susannah and Wilfred's naughty display at the pond earlier in the day, I'd dived directly in and rushed through what I needed, but now, the temporary relief of that moment was long gone and practically forgotten. Now, I needed more, so my fingertips caressed lightly over my tummy while my left hand clasped my tit and kneaded it. Tingles shot through me as I pinched my nipple similar to how Stephen had done it just a short time earlier, and my eyes closed as I imagined it was Stephen, my sweet Rob, doing it to me.

The fingers of my right hand spread, I ran them through my little blonde patch, up and down a few times before my middle finger went a bit too far and I couldn't stop myself from going that extra little bit where it caught my nubbin and stayed, caressing and loving it much as Rob's tongue had done ever-so-briefly, shocking me before he'd kept going.

Yes, as I continued with slow, gentle caresses, it was Rob's, no, Stephen's fingers, in my mind, that rubbed that special spot, my font of delights, the source of the tempestuous fire that burned within me, opening my delicate flower to such feeling. I imagined looking down at my dear Rob only to still see Stephen's face. My fingers constantly in motion, I eased out a quiet moan for what Rob-Stephen was doing to me.

Some moments later, whether a minute or an hour, I don't know, it was Stephen's steel-like rod rather than my fingers that slid into me, his big cock that began plunging in and out of me and slowly bringing me to a state of Elysium.

Slumping back in the bed after reaching that much-welcomed peak, I lay there breathing hard, trying to catch my breath, as the certainty I'd felt only moments before seemed to slip away like sand through my fingers. As long as that delicious feeling lasted, I was sure, but as it started to fade, wisps of reality seemed to seep back into consciousness.

With nothing more than a strong feeling, I'd tossed away all my usual care, skipping all the careful analysis I would typically perform before making important decisions. Yes, Stephen was Rob, I was sure of it, but was I really? When I'd suggested it earlier, he'd practically admitted it, but in thinking about what he said, he hadn't really admitted it at all. No, I had to confront him, to get him to admit it, so I could tell him of my love.