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Tule looked to his wife then. “I understand your pain, ma’am,” he said, frowning, “but please understand the pain of those who are still in the asylum. Your sister is out, she’s safe now. But the way she suffered—” he shook his head.
Robert felt Julie tense, and he tightened his jaw. Tule was too good at what he did, pressing on others’ weaknesses to get what he needed.
“Hundreds are suffering the same way as we speak.”
“That’s enough, Tule,” Robert growled. “Please, don’t upset my wife more than she already is.”
“What about the people in the asylum? Aren’t they upset, hurt?”
“This decision was difficult for us, believe me,” Robert tried to appease the reformist. Still, he wanted Tule to know that he was firm in his decision. “Mary is the one who’s suffered, and she is the one who will suffer most when the truth comes out. I don’t want her to be distressed. I feel for all the people who are suffering in there. But who is to say that a few weeks would make a difference?
Tule stood at that, “I see your mind is made up then?”
“I want to help you, I really do.”
“You are the one who sought me out, Clydesdale. You took me off the ship from the continent, dragged me to your carriage to talk about reforming the asylum—”
“And I still want to do it. You need help from a lord of the realm, and you will get it. But I have a family to think about first and foremost. I’m sure you can understand.” Robert stood, indicating the end of the discussion. Tule bowed shortly and stalked out of the room.
Robert heard a wary sigh of his wife. He looked at her troubled profile. She was biting the inside of her lower lip. She did that every time she was distressed as she was now. He walked toward her, crouched in front of her, and looked up into her deep blue eyes.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said mildly, as he took her hands in his and caressed them with his thumbs.
“People disapprove of us anyway,” she said, shaking her head, “they will never accept her, maybe—maybe it wouldn’t matter if the article came out,” she shrugged and looked away.
“Do you really believe that? You know perhaps more than anyone that society is a wake of vultures. We won’t be able to exit the house with her. They look at us disapprovingly now, but they will spout unpleasantries, not at me—” Robert trailed off.
“At her,” she said and closed her eyes.
Robert stood and tugged her up to her feet. “Come here,” he said as he enfolded her in a hug. “We’re doing the right thing for Mary,” he whispered as he pressed her cheek against his waistcoat, stroking her hair.
Truthfully, he wasn’t so sure they were, in fact, doing the right thing anymore.Were they being selfish?He felt Julie snake her arms around his back and press herself closer to him. He kissed the top of her head and nuzzled into her hair.
“How about this?” he asked, his voice muffled against her hair. “We wait until after the ball and send the letter then?”
Julie drew back and looked up at him again. “It’s not like we are going to be invited to any other household after that,” she said with a light smile on her lips.
“Right. Mary will experience her ball, and we’ll spend the rest of the season quietly enclosed in our home.”
“And we can send a letter in a little over a sennight.”
“Yes,” Robert said with a smile.
Julie raised her face to his, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him on the lips. The gesture was so unusual that Robert froze for a moment, not moving, not reacting. This was the first time she willingly kissed him on her own accord. Instead of drawing away when he didn’t respond, she ran her hands up his chest, gripping at his shoulder with one hand, with another, she cupped the side of his face, lowered it closer to hers, placing an open-mouthed kiss on his lips. He felt her shyly licking at the seam of his lips, and he almost lost all control right then and there. He grabbed her by her waist and pressed her closer to him, rubbing his rising erection against her belly and lower. He opened his mouth and possessed her in a fierce kiss.
His starved senses immediately reacted to her heat, her smell, her essence. He backed her slowly against his desk while kissing and caressing her. She moaned into his mouth and ran her hands through his hair, making him groan. Robert started raising her skirts up, all the while caressing the insides of her thighs. Julie pressed closer to him, so lost in passion that she didn’t protest at his ministrations.
“Here, hold this,” Robert said against her mouth and handed her bunched-up skirts. She took them and regarded him mutely as he lowered himself to his knees in front of her. He untied her drawers and took them off her. She stood in front of him in her half-naked splendor, her silk stockings tied at her thigh with a red ribbon, her skirts at her waist, the lovely patch of dark hair in her most intimate place bared to his gaze. He couldn’t believe it was his shy wife, the one who insisted they make love in the dark with her chemise on. Robert took her by the hips, sat her down on the edge of the table, and spread her knees. He heard her intake of breath, saw the frantic rising and falling of her chest, but she didn’t protest. She just watched him with her passion-filled eyes, hazy and unfocused. He ran the finger at the seam of her intimate lips back and forth, then spread her folds with a circular movement. Julie moaned as she closed her eyes and threw back her head. Robert smiled as he lowered his mouth and placed a wet kiss at her center.
“Robert,” Julie gasped breathlessly and jerked in reaction.
Robert placed her knees on his shoulders as he settled more comfortably between her legs. He licked at her folds, listening to her moans, feeling her juices trickling down his chin. He pushed his tongue inside of her and was rewarded by a pleasure-filled moan. Her hands were tangled in his hair, pulling away and pushing him closer all at the same time. He moved his tongue in an erotic rhythm, then trailed it higher to her most sensitive nub. He circled it with his tongue repeatedly until she whimpered and squirmed in his arms. He took her bottom firmly in his hands and pressed her against his face as he sucked on her nub lightly at first, then firmer, making swirling figures with his tongue. He felt her pulsing from the inside as she tensed in his arms. She gave a tiny scream as she came, but he didn’t stop, drawing the last pulses of orgasm out of her. He finally let go of her and got up from his knees as he felt her pliant and warm against him. He wiped her juices off his chin and licked his lips, collecting the last of her taste on his lips. She looked at him with hazy, heavy-lidded eyes, breathing heavily, just coming out of her first proper orgasm.
Robert slowly undid the falls of his breeches and let his arousal bounce out of the constraints. Julie watched him, not taking her eyes off his straining cock. He moved closer to her, his cock pointing at her stomach, and placed his hands on either side of her on the table.
“Touch it,” he said in a hoarse whisper, “touch me.”
Julie took him in her hand, slowly at first, gingerly, as if she was afraid to hurt him. Then she moved her hand experimentally up and down his length. Robert sucked in his breath and closed his eyes.
