Let Me Count The Ways
By Isadora Rose
Copyright 2011 Isadora Rose
Smashwords Edition
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Lady Amelia Forbes rolled over as she slowly awoke, instinctively reaching out for her husband before she remembered through her haze of sleep that he was not there; the bed was empty, as it had been for the last six months. Undoubtedly, her estranged husband was far away and enjoying himself in another woman’s bed, just as she had instructed him to when they had parted after that final and terrible argument.
Her eyes still closed, she moaned softly, her stomach turning over uncomfortably at the thought of it. She had been so entirely convinced when they parted that it had been the right thing to do; her husband, Lord Henry Forbes, drove her wild, and it seemed that all they had done was argue. The soaring passion that had brought them together had, in the end, forced them apart.
A divorce, of course, was an impossibility; they were both well-known at the court of the Prince Regent, and it would have brought great shame upon both their families had they parted in such an acrimonious way. Instead, Henry – or Harry, as she had always called him – had quietly slipped away to Italy on the pretext of business, leaving her alone in the manor they had shared with the bitter command to do precisely as she liked, so long as she was discreet.
It was strange; perhaps it was because he had been on her mind so often of late, or perhaps it was simply that it was lingering upon the sheets of the bed that they had once shared, but she was convinced that it was Harry’s uniquely masculine scent that was teasing at her senses. Even something as simple as the way that he smelt had always been enough to inflame her raging desire for him, and this smallest of reminders was no different. A sharp twist of lust shot through her body, the likes of which she had not felt since he had left so abruptly.
With a soft, miserable sigh, she kicked the sheets away, for she was suddenly far too hot, despite the open windows of her bedchamber. As she did so, though, a murmured groan carried to her upon the gentle breeze.
Freezing where she lay, too afraid to open her eyes, Amelia groped to the side for the sheets she had just discarded, convinced that she was not alone in the bedchamber, but before she could do so, a sudden weight pressed the mattress down as a pair of lips forcefully descended upon hers in a kiss that was full of a desperate, searing passion.
Rough stubble rubbed against her soft skin, and the scent of Harry that she had been so convinced had been permeating through the room was now masked by the overpowering taste of whiskey upon the tongue that was now thrusting possessively in her mouth; still, though, it was there, and Amelia was certain that it was, impossibly, her estranged husband in her bed kissing her with such ferocity, his arms slipping underneath her body to gather her up against him.
Her eyes finally opened to stare up into the achingly familiar brown eyes of her husband, eyes that were now full of a wild and unrestrained passion as his lips continued to work against hers, coaxing her into a throbbing, insistent arousal that sent a marked shudder through her entire body. ‘M-my lord!’ she gasped, finally gathering the wits to writhe free of his hold and roll to the side.
‘My lady,’ he greeted her with a low, possessive growl, breathing heavily as he seized hold of her wrists, pinning them to the bed. ‘How have you been, Lady Forbes?’
She gazed at him incredulously, barely believing the inanity of such an innocuous question after the way that he had broken into her bedchamber and kissed her as if they had never parted. ‘What are you doing here, my lord?’ she asked, willing her voice not to betray her by wavering and revealing to Harry how desperately she yearned for him to resume the way that he had been kissing her.
Harry inclined his head with a small, grim smile, making no move to release her as he stretched out his long and muscular legs, kicking away his boots and letting them fall to the floor with a heavy thud.
‘What are you doing here?’ Amelia repeated, her voice rising in pitch. ‘Have you grown bored of the bevies of foreign beauties that have been keeping your bed warm for you?’
She winced, for the jealous demand had flown from her lips before she had even realised it had been forming, and Harry seemed to be delighted by her words, for he chuckled and his eyes momentarily softened. ‘I could ask a similar question of you, my lady, for I confess myself surprised to find you alone in our bed,’ he murmured, his low voice sending another shiver through her as they continued to stare at each other.
‘Surprised?’ she echoed unsteadily, her tongue darting out across her lips as she saw his dark eyes flicker towards the sight of her full breasts straining against her nightgown. Harry had always adored her breasts, devoting his attentions to them whenever they made love, and they had done so many, many times over the course of their short marriage. It seemed that the months they had spent apart had not lessened his desire for her; a fact that gave her an intense sense of relief, much to her confusion.
‘Did I not give you permission to bring another man to our marital bed?’ Harry’s words wrenched her attention back, and a rapid flush spread down her face to cover her exposed cleavage.
‘You did – I remember that very clearly, my lord,’ Amelia said bitterly, belatedly trying and failing to wrench her wrists free of his tight hold.
‘Aye, I did. And I hear that you have received a great number of offers of that kind in my absence!’ he snarled, his face reddening furiously. ‘You are, of course, the most beautiful woman in all of the ton; it is why I first fell in love with you, my lady, but still, the speed with which the men I would have once called my friends made their desire for you known infuriates me! Tell me, how many of them have you given yourself to?!’
Amelia’s eyes widened at his display of terrible jealousy, so at odds to the last words they had exchanged. ‘What business is it of yours, my lord?’ she asked coolly. ‘You seem to have forgotten, judging by the way that you are lying in my bed, but we are estranged – I was under the impression that I was allowed to do as I liked, provided that I was discreet. And I am certain that you will have shown no restraint whilst you were abroad, my lord! Why, I do not think that a day ever passed without you taking me to bed whilst we were together; a man of your hunger would not have held back from feasting himself upon all the delights that Italy had to offer!’
Her voice was no longer cool or calm as her imagination tortured her with thoughts of numerous faceless women in her husband’s arms, and she shook violently as, without warning, Harry pushed her onto her back, still pinning her wrists to the mattress above her head as he straddled her body in cruel mimicry of all the times that they had made love.
‘Italy, Spain, France – oh, and Russia!’ he hissed, leaning in close to her face. ‘I roamed through them all, Amelia, and you are quite right; my cock yearned for its satisfaction, and I was offered many, many opportunities to release my pent-up hunger!’
Amelia choked back a low sob, his words hurting her far more than she had ever imagined that they could, but then Harry suddenly released her wrists, winding one of his hands through her loose curls and wrapping the other around her body as he rolled onto his side, pulling her with him. ‘Don’t you want to know how many women I took to my bed, my lady?’ Harry whispered, heat rising off his body in waves.
‘I –’
‘None,’ he said softly. ‘Not even one, Amelia, because of all the hundreds of women who have crossed my path in the last six months, not one has even come close to you; my frustrating, wicked, beautiful little wife! How could I lie with another woman when you have filled my mind so entirely?’
She drew a great, gasping sob, dizzy with relief that he had stayed faithful to her despite the acrimonious way in which they had parted. As he shifted in the bed, she felt for the first time the insistent swelling of his generous cock pushing up against her thighs, and vivid memories of all the physical ecstasies they had shared here in this bed burst into life again. ‘Oh, Harry!’ she moaned, burying her face in his shoulder and breathing in deeply, revelling in being in her husband’s arms once more. ‘You swear to me that that is true?’
‘I swear it, Amelia. Much to my frustration, I have been unable to gain satisfaction since I fled from our tumultuous marriage – it was, I now realise, the greatest mistake that I ever made! And you, my lady? Answer me now – how many men have fucked my wife?’ he demanded, his voice loaded with tormented pain.
‘None,’ she finally confessed quietly, her heart giving a wild leap of ecstasy as Harry crushed her up against his chest. ‘You remain the only man I have ever given myself to in that way; how could I possibly accept any other man, Harry, when you are the only one I have ever wanted?’
With a heavy groan of triumph, he took hold of her buttocks, pulling her hips firmly up against his and grinding his cock against the heat of her arousal. Amelia could feel it twitching with impatience, and the sensation was almost enough alone for her to forget everything else. As Harry leaned down to claim her lips again, though, she shook her head and pulled away from him.
‘Again, my lord, you are forgetting that we are estranged! We agreed that it was for the best – don’t you remember?’ she said, despite the effort that it was costing her not to simply beg him to make love to her once more.
‘Remember?! Amelia, I have replayed every one of our foolish arguments over and over in my mind for every one of the one hundred and eighty seven days that we have been apart –’
‘You have been counting?’ she said faintly, sitting up and swinging her slender legs over the edge of the bed, holding her head in her hands as she felt the movement behind her that told her that Harry, too, had sat up.
‘Evidently, Amelia,’ he replied with a sad smile, kneeling down on the carpet in front of her and taking her hands into his own, pulling them away from her face. ‘Each day has been a fresh torture to me, darling, and I have grown steadily more convinced that allowing our hot-headed stubbornness to push us apart was crazy. Don’t you agree with me? Darling, have you not missed me?’
‘More than I ever knew possible – but Harry, what are you saying?’
‘I am saying, Amelia, that I want my life back. I want to stay in England again, I want my home – and above all else, I want my wife back in my arms and in my bed!’ he said passionately, his eyes burning fiercely with passion and emotion. ‘Are you going to deny your husband and lord, Amelia? We were so good together, darling, when we could only control our tempers!’
‘I don’t think I could ever love anyone else the way that I love you, Harry – but we drove each other wild!’
‘Indeed we did, in every way – and from what I recall, Amelia, making up after our arguments was better than anything else!’
The memories of Harry’s method of resolving arguments took Amelia’s breath away, for he had always been an ardent believer in solving their issues by forcibly taking her to bed, and she had thrilled in the masterful way in which he did so. Taking advantage of her distraction, he reached up to caress her breasts through her gown with a loud groan of pleasure, and as she gasped and arched her back, pressing them into his hands, he suddenly stretched up to kiss her again.
Amelia began to willingly submit to her husband, but then the sharp burn of whiskey against her tongue proved to painfully bring her back to her senses. ‘Oh, Harry, you are drunk!’ she exclaimed as she pulled away from him, tears stinging her eyes. ‘You would not want this – want me – if you were sober!’
‘I am not drunk, Amelia!’ he said furiously, yanking her down from the bed and into his lap, restraining her possessively in his arms. ‘Oh, I have spent a large portion of the past six months drunk in my efforts to forget you, but it has proved to be impossible. Even this evening as I battled with myself, lurking in the gardens of the manor and wondering whether I was a fool for even considering coming back to you I tried to drown the memories of you with whiskey, but it did not work – nothing did.’
‘Harry –’
‘I should have stayed and fought for you, Amelia!’ he continued, ignoring her attempted interruption. ‘Instead of running away and letting my temper get the best of me, I should have silenced your angry words with my mouth and forced you into my bed – darling, what were we even arguing about in the first place?!’
‘Oh, I don’t know!’ she confessed tearfully, finally becoming convinced by his words, and Harry smiled down at her even as his face contorted with pain.
‘Amelia, I have learned my lesson the hard way. Nothing will ever persuade me to be parted from you again, darling, for a life without you is not worth living – and now, I am going to take my wife to bed and claim her for my own all over again,’ he said fiercely. ‘Does she protest?’
‘Harry, when have I ever protested against going to your bed?’
Harry’s face broke out into a relieved, boyish grin that lifted away all of his pain. ‘You realise, Amelia, that nothing will ever convince me to leave you again?’
She nodded urgently, and Harry tore open her nightgown with no regard for the delicate and expensive lace that adorned it, staring hungrily at her breasts as they spilled out of the gown. ‘Damn, but I have missed your tits, Amelia!’ he groaned, pushing her down onto the carpet as he lowered his head. ‘Did I tell you already that no woman I met on my travels was anywhere near as beautiful as my lovely little wife?’
‘I – I think you did,’ she gasped, her hips already rising into the air in her aching need for her husband and everything that he was promising to her. ‘But I will not object if you wish to tell me again, Harry!’
‘Amelia,’ he began before beginning to pinch sharply at one of her pointed nipples as he suckled furiously on the other one, wrenching loud moans of pleasure from her swollen lips, ‘you are,’ he continued, raising his head again to stare at her flushed face, ‘the most beautiful woman that I have ever known! I adore your breasts, perfect little mounds of temptation that they are!’
Amelia threw her head back, surrendering to him entirely as he propped himself up on one elbow, reaching up with his other hand to trace the contours of her face. ‘I love the colour of your eyes, such a vivid and passionate green, my darling,’ Harry murmured, wiping away the last traces of her tears. ‘I love your hair and the way it curls around your shoulders when you leave it loose. I love the way that your lips pout in such a perfect rosebud when you are cross, Amelia,’ he said, kissing her lips tenderly as she stared at him in wonder.
‘Anything else?’ she whispered as he pushed her hair away to expose her throat.
‘I have barely begun! I love the way that you writhe underneath me when I kiss you just...there,’ he exclaimed with a smug smile, kissing the pulse point of her throat in the way that always driven her crazy with desire for him, and this time was no different. With a throaty gasp, her legs parted instinctively to wrap around his waist and pull his cock down towards her, but Harry shook his head and pushed them away.
‘Harry, please!’ she begged, heated blood rushing through her veins, almost intoxicating her with the strength of her arousal alone.
‘Such impatience, my Amelia! Now, where was I?’ Harry said softly, his eyes darkened and consumed by his lust for her. ‘Ah, yes. I was about to continue telling you of all many ways in which I adore you, but firstly I find that I must devote a little more of my time to your wonderful tits, darling – I fear that they have missed me greatly in my absence.’
‘I – I think that they have,’ she agreed breathlessly. ‘You really should apologise to them, Harry.’
He laughed delightedly. ‘Aye, I think that I should, my wicked wife.’ Wrenching her gown open further so that they were completely bare and exposed, Harry took it in turns to fondle one, then the other, brushing his thumbs with torturous delicacy across the nipples that stiffened instantly under his touch. Amelia could not control herself, for six months of restrained longing for her husband was now being unleashed, and loud cries of pleasure were streaming forth from her lips even before he began to cover her breasts in kisses, ensuring that every last inch of delicate skin had received his attention before he moved to suckle on her nipples again, wrapping his tongue around them and teasing her into such a heightened state of arousal that she was perilously near to climaxing already.
Just as she felt that she must explode if her climax did not arrive, Harry lifted his head again, panting for breath as Amelia shuddered beneath him, her lips parted and low, desperate moans still erupting from her very core. ‘Oh, God, Harry, don’t stop!’ she pleaded, and he reached up again to caress her face with a shaking hand.
‘Stop, Amelia? I have no intention of stopping!’ Kneeling up between her legs, he tore the gown in two, easily flipping her slender body over so that she was laid on her stomach. Pulling the remnants of the gown away to leave her entirely naked in front of him, he tossed it up onto the bed before slowly running his hands along the length of her legs. ‘Amelia,’ he continued hoarsely, ‘there is so much more that I adore about you, but my cock grows impatient, and we have the rest of our lives in which I can tell you of all the little ways you have made me fall in love with you so inescapably.
‘For now, though,’ Harry murmured, ‘I shall restrain myself to speaking of only your physical traits that I love. For example, this spot here on the inside of your thigh, darling,’ he said as his fingers traced out a pattern against it, leading Amelia’s hips to rise from the carpet again as she bucked against him, ‘I think it is utterly wonderful how sensitive it is to my touch!’ he finished smugly.
‘Harry, please!’ she whimpered, lifting herself up so that she was on her hands and knees and pushing her buttocks back so that they rubbed temptingly against his throbbing cock.
‘I know, darling, I know, and I can barely stand to wait any longer myself,’ Harry said soothingly. Gently slapping her buttocks with one hand as he reached around to fondle her breasts again with the other, he leaned forwards to plant a soft kiss in the small of her back. ‘But what I love most of all, Amelia, is how your body so clearly craves mine. It never ceases to thrill me that you desire me just as much as I desire you, and I swear to never throw that blessing aside again. Now, my wife, we return to our marital bed, for we have much lost time to make good. Firstly, though...’
‘What now, Harry?! Please, my husband, you are tormenting me!’ Amelia whispered brokenly, slumping back against him with an impatient sob.
‘Aye, you are very clearly ready for me, aren’t you?’ he remarked as he stood up and pulled her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her stomach and bending down to kiss at her throat again. ‘However, Amelia, I am still dressed. I want my wife to undress me,’ Harry commanded firmly, turning her around to face him.
Amelia stared up at him. Harry towered over her, his muscular body far taller than her own, and she had always loved that fact, for it seemed to increase the ease with which he commanded her in their bedchamber. Yearning greedily for the sight of her husband unclad again, she stretched up for the top button of his shirt, tearing them apart one by one and revelling in the way that he was gazing so intently at everything she was doing.
‘Harry, never leave again, my love,’ she begged, laying her head on his bare chest as he finally shrugged his shirt away. Amelia could feel his heart racing inside his chest, and its pace increased yet further when she moved her hands over the well-defined muscles before allowing her fingers to follow the trail of dark curls down its centre that snaked down towards the waistband of his breeches.
‘I shall not make that mistake twice, darling!’ Harry groaned softly, thrusting his hips forwards as her fingers worked underneath his breeches, caressing the skin that was stretched tautly across his slender hips before she tugged the breeches away, falling to her knees as they slid down his long legs and he stepped out of them, rendering him completely naked.
His cock was now at her eye-level, and Amelia was filled with the compulsion to prove her love to Harry, just as he had to her. Parting her full lips, she tilted her head back as he realised what she was about to do. His groans rapidly increasing in volume, he wound his hands through her hair and leaned back against the bedpost to support himself as she slowly drew her husband’s cock into her mouth.
Amelia had not forgotten in the months that they had spent apart the little ways that Harry loved to be pleasured, and as she moved her mouth back and forth over his cock, wrapping her tongue around the shaft and devouring the salty drops of moisture upon the tip, she reached up with one hand to gently cup his balls.
Harry cursed loudly and collapsed back onto the bed, pulling his cock out of her mouth and shaking his head as he seized hold of Amelia’s arm to pull her down on top of him. ‘Ah, angel, you may torment me like that for every night of my life if you so desire, but had I allowed you to continue for even a moment longer, then your sinfully blissful touch would have brought me to climax already! And now I cannot wait for even another minute, Amelia; lie down on top of the sheets, now!’ he suddenly barked,
Scrambling to obey him, Amelia watched with wide eyes as Harry tore two long strips of fabric from her ruined nightgown, knotting one to each of the posts at the head of their bed. ‘What are you doing, Harry?’ she asked.
‘I cannot risk my darling little wife escaping my grasp until I have at least had my pleasure from her, can I?’ he replied with a teasing smile, tying the ends of the bonds to each of her wrists before she was even aware of what it was that he was doing. ‘Try to free yourself, Amelia?’ Harry requested, staring down at her hungrily as she obediently fought against the bonds, finding them impossible to break free of.
‘It seems that I am entirely at your mercy, Harry,’ Amelia whispered, her legs parting of their own accord as Harry lowered himself so that he was lying on top of her body, crushing her against the mattress, but instead of protesting she simply relished the virile masculinity of the movement and all that it promised.
‘That you are, Amelia, that you are – and it is my inclination to never again free you from the marriage vows that we took,’ Harry swore, and with those words he thrust his cock into her willing body with all the force that he could muster.
Amelia screamed out in ecstasy, her entire body coming alive once more as her husband moved within her, and with just a few more strokes of his cock she already felt her climax nearing. ‘Harry!’ she moaned urgently, thrashing against her bonds in her desperation to drive herself towards the peak of her pleasure. ‘Harry, please – it is so near!’
To her deep frustration, though, he instantly stilled his movements, despite the effort it was so obviously costing him, a thin sheen of perspiration covering his brow. ‘Do you want me to give you your climax, darling?’ he crooned softly, leaning down to gently kiss her lips.
She simply moaned into his mouth, rocking her hips insistently against his cock as the burning, clenching need in her core threatened to consume her entirely if it was not satisfied that very instant.
‘Then tell me, Amelia, tell me that you love me!’ Harry begged, his voice little more than a low, desperate growl.
‘You know that I love you –’
‘Tell me!’
‘I love you, Henry Isaac James Forbes!’ she burst out, tears streaming down her face. ‘I love you with all that I am, Harry, and I know now that I can never be happy unless I am in your arms!’
With a loud, triumphant exclamation, Harry slammed into her again and Amelia’s climax exploded within her with enough force to take her breath away entirely. Bound as she was, she was helpless to do anything but slump into the mattress as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her body.
Harry continued to desperately thrust into her as he lowered his head to frantically kiss her tears away, murmuring garbled foreign declarations of love into Amelia’s ears as she shuddered against him. ‘Ti amo, darling!’ she managed to distinguish between the loud moans that she was still making. ‘Ti amo!’
‘I love you, Harry!’ she exclaimed as her breath slowly returned to her. ‘Oh God, how I love you, Harry! Won’t you release my hands, Harry, please?’
‘R-release you?’ he echoed, groaning heavily as he slowed the pace of his thrusts, the flush of his pale skin betraying how close he, too, was to climaxing already. ‘Why would I do that, darling?’
‘Because I need to touch my husband!’ Amelia moaned. ‘I need to touch you, Harry, and reassure myself that all this isn’t just some wonderful dream that is going to fade away come the morning! Having you back, being in your arms again – it is too good to be true!’
‘No, it isn’t, Amelia, for I am here! I swear to you upon all that is holy that I am here, and you are mine, and nothing will ever come between us again! I am not going to release your hands, for it thrills me far too much to have you bound beneath me and entirely at the mercy of my cock,’ Harry said softly as he slowly moved in and out of her. ‘But if you must reassure yourself, darling, then kiss me – my lips are entirely yours, as is the rest of me forever more.’
Eager to accept what he offered, Amelia strained against the restraints and stretched her head up, parting her lips invitingly. To her astonishment, as Harry lowered his head to meet the proffered kiss, she felt another climax begin to build even as the final throes of the last one were still throbbing throughout her body. Their lips touched again and fiery arousal took hold of all of her senses, possessing her completely and leaving her as nothing more than a slave to all that she felt.
Groaning desperately into her mouth as they both poured all of the passion they had been keeping restrained for so long into the kiss they were sharing, Harry began to drive his cock into his wife with such passion and ferocity that she was moving up the bed. Caring nothing for the bruises that she knew she would have in the morning, Amelia wrapped her legs around Harry’s waist to draw him in ever deeper, aching for the release of another climax.
Clearly sensing her need, Harry obliged her by reaching down, slipping one hand between their bodies in search of the one spot that they both knew could bring her almost instantly to her climax. Instantly finding what he sought, he moved his fingers against her clitoris with the skill of a man who knew his lover’s body better than he even knew his own.
His touch was enough to bring her to her climax just as his own arrived. Harry collapsed on top of Amelia as his hot seed spurted into her body, filling her as her soaring physical ecstasy was matched by a feeling of completeness and rightness that had been so lacking since they had been parted.
Harry took Amelia’s head in his hands as he raised himself up on shaking arms. ‘Darling?’ he murmured hoarsely, his voice wavering under the weight of his emotion. ‘I think I have one more thing that I must add to the list of reasons that I love you before I give into my exhaustion and sleep with you in my arms again; for I do not think that I have slept well for even one night since I left you.’
Utterly exhausted, she stared up at him, her face full of unguarded love. ‘And what is that, Harry?’ Amelia asked softly.
‘I love you most of all, Amelia Charlotte Forbes, because you love me in return,’ Harry said with unerring confidence. ‘And never again will either of us allow anything to force us to forget that.’
‘Never again, Harry. Never again.’
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Isadora Rose is a nom de plume for a romance author to unleash some of her darker tales upon the users of Smashwords.
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