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Edmund prised the fan from her hand and before she could protest again, he swiped it against her bottom. It barely registered through the layers of clothing.
“Why are you spanking me?” said Alice astonished at the turn of events.
Edmund didn’t answer, but continued to rain down swats with the fragile fan.
“You will break it!” She could hear the delicate ivory sticks rattling together and knew they would not survive his spanking.
“I can afford to buy you another,” he chuckled.
Even for a lightweight implement, Alice noticed the growing stings, as he aimed repeatedly in the same spot, right where her bottom normally rested on a seat.
“Ow!” she gasped, stamping her feet on the rug.
The inevitable happened: the ivory disintegrated into shards and landed on the floor with a gentle clatter. Offering her a steadying hand, Edmund helped her stand upright.
She gazed up at him. His supposed stern expression failing to hide a comical undertone. He had enjoyed administrating the spanking, she felt sure of it. She didn’t mind. It mirrored her own ambivalent thoughts—the shame of being spanked with her own fan and the excitement of being bent over his desk, a fiery cheek pressed on his ink blotter while his firm hand rested on her lower back. “Very well. The next time I have an important matter to discuss with you, some thing that causes me vexation, I will not storm in here as if it were the Bastille.”
He grinned. “Good, I do not welcome cavalry charges with teeth bared.”
She couldn’t resist showing him her spirited nature, the one he implied he preferred. “What if I were to knock and march in as a foot soldier?”
“Less marching, but certainly more agreeable.” He adjusted a lock of her hair, tucking it behind her ear with a flick of his finger. Each of his little touches sent her pulse racing.
Reaching over his desk, Edmund picked up a piece of paper, upon which was a list of names and handed it to Alice. “These will be the invited guests to our ball. I think it will meet with your approval.”
She jumped up and down on the spot with glee. “The invitations—”
“Will be sent out shortly. Now, perhaps we might continue this conversation later, in the bedchamber?”
“Indeed, indeed, sir,” said Alice pompously in a masculine tone. As she went to dash out of the room, his hand swooped down for one last thunderous smack on her rump.
Chapter Ten
It came as some surprise to Edmund how little Alice had ridden a horse. A man accustomed to spending days in the saddle, covering many miles on rough terrain, could not comprehend how his wife showed little enthusiasm for the independence of horse riding.
“My parents insisted I went everywhere in a carriage or by foot if the weather permitted,” she told him over dinner not long after they had been married.
The matter had to be remedied. He could not imagine going everywhere in a carriage and he wanted her by him always. “I shall teach you to ride side saddle. There is a very suitable mare who has been trained to take the saddle.”
Over the weeks of late spring and early summer, Edmund endeavoured to take his wife out at least twice a week. Alice, initially, had been a nervous rider. Her balance thrown by having both legs to one side. He had encouraged her gently and with considerable patience, never shouting or bullying her, merely making brief suggestions: hold the reins thus; use the crop to cue the horse when the heel of your shoe is lacking; stay in line with the horse’s spine.
By the time they had come back from visiting Dodsworth, Alice’s confidence had grown immeasurably and in Edmund’s opinion, too cocksure.
On one bright August afternoon, he had proposed a ride out to a stone folly, which although clearly visible from the house, lay on the boundary of the estate. Alice donned her riding dress, hat and leather boots, and duly joined Edmund at the entrance to the house. Presented with a stool by a groom, Alice mounted and positioned herself upright as instructed by Edmund. He gave her a nod of approval.
The fine weather had continued into August and the meadows had filled with long grasses and wildflowers. Trotting along the valley, the horses began their ascent up the slopes of a hill. In the distance, the rotunda folly grew in size as they approached. Some quarter of a mile short, Alice had spied a fallen tree in their path and pulled up.
He considered it a large obstacle and quite beyond her skills to jump over. “We shall go round.” He collected his reins and encouraged his ride to walk towards the far side of the path.
She didn’t follow him. “I can jump it easily.” She peered up the hill.
He tugged on the reins. His horse neighed as he held the beast in check. “It is larger than you think, dearest. Neither do you know what lies on the other side.”
“Nothing but the grass I should think.” Alice tapped her crop on the mare’s rump. “I have managed a few jumps before now.”
Edmund wielded his frisky horse about. “A timber joist is not the same as a downed tree. We go around.”
She ignored him. “I know I can do this. Let me prove it to you.”
