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Anthony gazed in adoration at the woman on his arm. His wife. It had been 8 months since their wedding and the thought of being forever tied to Kate still brought tears to his eyes. She was everything he could have wanted in a woman: intelligent, passionate and beautiful. And this evening his Viscountess looked like a Queen.
Kate wore a crimson gown adorned with a sheer overlay of embroidered black beaded tulips. A golden necklace with rubies wrapped around her neck, and matching teardrop earrings hung from her ears. Her dark hair was braided and pinned into a bun to hold a diamond encrusted tiara from the Bridgerton vaults, while wispy tendrils hung loosely against her cheeks.
He looked down at her gloved hand where his mother’s ring sat on her finger and a swell of possessive pride took hold of him. He inhaled deeply, relishing in her familiar scent, and grinned when she looked over at him.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Isn’t that a better question for you?” he quipped with a sly grin, both of them recalling her saying those same words to him a year ago.
She shook her head at him and rolled her eyes.
“You know I am,” she said haughtily, her sharp chin raised in challenge.
He reached his hand over hers and played with her ring.
“I do,” he said seriously this time as he pulled her hand up to his mouth to kiss it, “Viscountess”.
As they were announced to their guests Anthony could not help but marvel at his wife’s confidence. Kate had always demonstrated self assurance bordering on arrogance. It was one of the many qualities that had attracted him to her. But months ago, when his mother had brought up Kate’s new role as hostess of the Hearts and Flowers ball she had wrung her hands and expressed fears of not knowing the customs well enough to execute her role to perfection. But now, standing here before the entire ton, the same people who had attempted to shun them when their relationship was revealed, Kate looked as if she was born to the role.
They took their positions on the floor and began the steps to a waltz. Unlike the one they had danced at the Featherington Ball last season, this dance was full of joy. Kate giggled as he spun them faster than required, the hair around her face flying horizontally through the air.
Other couples soon joined them on the dance floor. Swirling colourful dresses and black suits brought the Aubrey Hall ballroom to life. Spectators admired and applauded them. But Anthony was singularly focused on his wife.
His breath caught in his throat. She was glowing. Something about her appearance was different but as he catalogued her features he found nothing new or unusual. Perhaps it was merely the lighting or the pure happiness on her face.
Her large doe eyes, framed by thick lashes, gazed up at him in longing. She licked her lips, leaving a glistening wetness that immediately tightened his pants. Kate could somehow induce his passions at the most inappropriate moments. He narrowed her eyes. She knew what she was doing.
In retaliation he slid his hand from her waist around to her lower back, rubbing short lines with his fingers. She gasped and he smirked knowingly at her.
“Anthony,” she said, leaning her face forward toward his ear, “I have something to tell you.”
She leaned back, the passion had been replaced with a vulnerability, a shyness he had never seen in her before. She smiled tentatively, and something in her eyes helped him finally register that underneath the vulnerability she was incandescently happy.
But then the dance ended and Benedict appeared to spoil the moment.
“Do you think you could keep up with me, sister?” Benedict winked at Kate while Anthony gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to smack his brother’s extended arm away from his wife.
Kate frowned, her face guarded as she looked from Anthony to Benedict. With a sigh of resignation she composed herself and smiled, “Of course I can.”
She took his hand and threw Anthony one last glance.
We shall speak later.
He nodded and turned to find his mother wrangling the many suitors vying for a place on Francesca’s dance card. He bit his lip. Obviously, this season was going to have much more in common with Daphne’s season than Eloise’s. He sprang into action, denying unsuitable gentlemen an audience with his sister, while fending off his mother’s admonishments.
“Have you learnt nothing, Anthony?” Violet hissed in his ear as he outright rejected Lord Hardy’s request for a dance with Francesca.
Once her card was full, Francesca was led away to dance with John Sterling, Earl of Kilmartin. Kate, meanwhile, was already on the floor with Colin.
Anthony huffed. Who would be next? He was suddenly grateful that Gregory was not yet of age to attend.
He stood to the side with the wallflowers and watched his wife dance while he chewed on a fingernail, impatient to have her in his arms again. When he had envisioned how this night would go he had imagined Kate by his side for its entirety. He certainly did not think he would have to share her with his brothers.
She spun gracefully and threw her head back to laugh at something Colin said. Her smile was breathtaking. His eyes wandered down to admire the tantalising way her gown hugged the curves of her breasts. His desire for her blazed like an uncontrolled fire, consuming his senses, and overwhelming his thoughts.
As soon as the music concluded he strode forward to reclaim his wife.
“Out of the way,” he nudged Colin, snatched Kate’s hand and tugged her forward.
“Where are we going?” she asked, bemused at his unhinged behaviour.
“Somewhere private,” he said with a grunt.
He pulled her all the way up to their bedchamber. Once inside Kate crossed her arms.
“Anthony! We are the hosts. We cannot just sneak off. What if I am needed to resolve some matter? Your mother is going to notice.”
He tugged her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist so that she was flush with his chest.
“We can sneak away because we are the hosts,” he whispered in her ear, his breath hot against her cheek. She closed her eyes and groaned.
“I do not think so,” she retorted but made no attempts to remove herself from his embrace or the room.
“Have I told you that you look ravishing tonight?” he purred, leaving a trail of kisses down her exposed neck.
Kate swallowed back a moan.
“Yes,” she bit out as she tilted her head back, “Only about a dozen times.”
He hummed, “Not nearly enough then.”
He pulled back and took pleasure in how her lips parted when he pulled one capped sleeve down her arm, and then the other so that the gown hung entirely from her chest.
“Anthony, we should…” she whispered but he knew she was already too far gone to stop now.
He quietened her with a finger to the lips, rubbing it along her bottom lip, until she took it into her mouth with her tongue.
“Ravishing,” he hissed, feeling his cock twitch in his pants at the sight of his finger disappearing and reappearing in his wife’s mouth as she sucked.
He finally pulled it from her mouth when he could not withstand the anticipation any longer. He tugged the bodice of her dress down until her breasts spilled out.
He groaned loudly, and hungrily captured one breast with his hand, and put his mouth on the other.
When he sucked on her nipple she shrieked and pulled back.
“Too much,” she gasped.
He furrowed his eyebrows, “I thought you liked it.”
And then that vulnerable expression from earlier crossed her face.
He pulled back, the hand squeezing her breast slid down to cup it. He lifted it in his hand as if to weigh it.
After 8 months of marriage, and a wife with a voracious sexual appetite, he was very familiar with Kate’s body. He knew exactly how it felt to hold her in his arms as she slept. He knew the texture of her hair as he ran his fingers through it, inhaling its intoxicating scent. He had memorised the softness of her lips on his. He could perfectly recall the sensation of her cunt clamping down around him when she reached the apex of her pleasure.
He also knew exactly how each breast felt when he cupped them and their precise weight.
Her left breast was heavier than usual. He weighed the right breast. It was heavier too. He rolled his thumb over each nipple and marvelled at the increased size of her areolas.
“Kate…” he said in a hushed voice as he looked up at her in a daze, still processing what the sudden changes in her body might mean.
“I believe I am with child,” she whispered in a shaky voice, her eyes brimming with unshed tears, and yet still she looked nervous.
Anthony’s face broke into a wide dimpled grin, a watery chuckle burst from his chest as he pulled Kate into a tight hug.
“There’s going to be a baby?” he asked, the news ricocheting through his mind like a cannonball, “You are carrying my child?”
Kate snorted against his chest, “Well it is certainly not anybody else’s.”
He pulled back and kissed her hard, his excitement bubbling over as he held her tight. He had always known that one day he would marry and have children but the reality of both coming true within the space of a year was so much sweeter than he could ever have hoped. Some time in the near future a little version of them would be running around. He hoped it was a girl, the spitting image of her beautiful mother, with a temper to match.
“How far along?” he asked when he was finally able to control his emotions.
She smiled warily, “Well, I have only missed two courses, but I have never missed one before, and of course there are signs…”
“Mmm, yes,” he smirked, playfully squeezing her breasts again as she gasped at the heightened sensation, “What else?”
She shrugged, “I have had the most vivid dreams, my appetite has increased tenfold, and I am dreadfully tired all day.”
He thought of how she had danced three times already that evening and grimaced.
“I wish I had known. I would have insisted you stay abed instead of exhausting yourself on the dance floor. I suppose I cannot order you to remain here for the remainder of the ball?” he arched an eyebrow at her, already knowing what her answer would be.
She sighed and shook her head, “We really should be getting back.”
Before she could make a move he pulled her in close once more, his eyes dark with desire, “Not before we celebrate.”
He gently pushed her against the bed, rucking up her skirts and divesting her of her underthings to reveal her glistening cunt. He pulled out his fully erect cock and pressed her legs down until she lay spread, her knees almost touching her torso.
“I thought you wanted me to rest,” she laughed.
“We both know my seed gives you strength,” he said smugly. And it was true. Whenever they made love she would lay there wide awake, energised by their activities, while he usually passed out immediately afterwards.
“You must tell me if it is too much,” he whispered, peppering reverent kisses on her belly.
He thrust forward carefully, pushing into her wet folds and groaning at the warm welcome. She moaned as he set a slow but steady pace.
“It feels so good,” she cried out, “Oh my God, so good. Harder, Anthony, please.”
“But the baby—” he protested, struggling to keep his composure as he basked in the usual rippling pleasure of making love to his wife.
“He’ll be fine,” she reassured him, pressing his arse down to her hips as she rocked up to meet him, “Oh God, oh, it’s so… it’s always been good but this…” Her eyes squeezed tight as she fisted his hair.
His cock dragged against her swollen clit eliciting a sob from Kate as her body began to shake from the intense emotions coursing through her body.
“I cannot wait to see your belly swell,” Anthony grunted, “The evidence of our passion taking root in your body for the whole of England to see.”
She whimpered, her cunt fluttering around his cock, barrelling toward a peak.
He grabbed her jaw and kissed her roughly, shoving his tongue into her mouth as she clamped down on him, muffling her scream.
Anthony followed quickly, thrusting erratically until he was fully spent inside her. He rolled to his side, careful not to put any of his weight on her. They gasped together, their bodies musky with the scent of their lovemaking.
“I want to announce it tonight,” Anthony said once he regained his breath, “To our families and then to the rest of them.”
Kate’s head whipped to the side, her eyes wide, “So soon?”
He propped himself up on his elbow. “Why the delay?”
Kate winced, “Well, there could be complications. It is still early, and… what if…” she cast her eyes down, “What if something happens?”
She looked so vulnerable that Anthony immediately felt guilty for pressing the matter. He grabbed one of her hands and kissed it.
“Nothing bad is going to happen, darling,” he reassured her, “But if you would like to wait then we will wait. As long as you need. I am merely eager to share our joy.”
“To gloat, more like,” she tutted, rolling her eyes.
He grinned wolfishly, “I do not deny it. I want every man who looks at you to be green with envy. They will gaze at your beautiful figure…” he took a nipple into his mouth and earned a gasp, “… and wish that they could have you. But it is my seed that grows inside you and only I shall enjoy my blossoming wife.”
Kate sighed heavily, “Has anyone told you how possessive you can be?”
He rolled over to hold her, slipped a leg between hers and buried his face into her hair, “I will always jealously protect what is mine.”
She pushed him away gently and sat up, “We can tell our families,” his face lit up before she continued, “tomorrow. But we are not making any public announcements.”
“You have my word,” he agreed and then sprung up to help her dress, pulling the bodice back up, but not without first giving each plump breast a tender kiss.
“I love you,” he whispered before kissing her lips and then before she had a chance to reply he fell to his knees and kissed her stomach, “And I love you too, little one.”