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The Fitzgerald ball was a grand affair. They had chosen a nautical theme, and there were billows of sea-blue silk set to look like waves. Shellfish and octopus dotted the refreshments table along with the standard fare, and the servants passed champagne flutes while wearing barnacles attached to the necks and shoulders of their uniforms.
Colin had thought it all ridiculous, but he enjoyed how taken Penelope was with the spectacle. He watched her flit about, mostly with Eloise in tow but sometimes on her own. He watched her surreptitiously, not wanting anyone to call attention to how drawn Colin was to Penelope before he was ready. But he did notice her, and he liked the thought that he was the only one to do so. That he was early. That he might take little sips of her beauty at his leisure, and notice how well she filled out her gown. Notice how fetching she looked with her hair cascading down her back in waves, ribbons pinned in place. Notice how her breasts jiggled when she laughed, and catalogued the movement for later. Notice just how pleasing she might feel to hold on to.
He noticed other things as well - that she disappeared for minutes at a time, when she should be waiting to be asked to dance. That she came back halfway through the ball looking rather flushed. If she had any wiles at all, Colin knew he would be overcome with jealousy. As she was Penelope, sweet and unassuming and unable to flirt with any of the gentlemen of the ton if her life depended on it, he simply smiled to himself and wondered what might have made her so flustered.
It was not unusual for him to keep track of her at a ball, which meant he often also kept track of Penelope’s family. He was just returning from taking a pull of Benedict’s flask when he saw Prudence turn a sickly shade of green. It seemed she had eaten a scallop that disagreed with her, and he saw Lady Featherington purse her lips in worry. Saw Philippa sniff at the scallop on her plate and take a bite, only to go green herself. Watched as Lady Featherington sighed in defeat and began to look around the ballroom for Penelope, so they all might head home early.
Penelope was enjoying herself too much for this to be allowed, Colin was sure. He would rectify the situation. He turned to find his mama.
“I notice Penelope’s sisters look unwell,” he said quietly. “Eloise is having such a good time in her company. Might we offer to escort Miss Featherington home at the end of the night, if Lady Featherington would allow it?”
Violet followed the direction of Colin’s subtle nod, and furrowed her brow in concern.
“Oh, those poor girls. Yes, Colin, good thinking. Let me speak with Lady Featherington and arrange it before she can steal away our Penelope.”
His mother’s knowing smile left him feeling quite transparent, but feeling temporarily hot under his collar was a small price to pay for being able to watch Penelope for a few hours more. He danced with a few debutantes, and with Penelope twice, delighting in how little her hand felt in his, and how dearly she looked up into his eyes, and how readily she laughed at his jokes. He found another drink, swilling it without much thought.
The evening continued well for him, as his mother decided to leave early, taking an exhausted Daphne and a bored Benedict with her. Anthony was to escort the rest of them home, but several minutes before midnight he clapped Colin on the shoulder. Told him he would not be heading home quite yet, and Colin should feel no need to mention this to anyone. Said Colin was plenty capable of escorting two young women home, and that Anthony would give Colin the pick of the horses the next time they went hunting if he might keep Anthony’s activities to himself.
Penelope had blushed when she learned she was to ride home with Eloise and Colin only, but in truth she often blushed when Colin informed her of anything. He found it rather endearing. Eloise was cross in the way she tended to be right before sleep, and Colin watched in amusement as Eloise settled back into the seat of the carriage, pulled at her overcoat to more fully envelop her, and started snoring softly within the first two minutes of their ride home.
“Did you enjoy the ball?” Colin asked pleasantly, once it was clear Eloise would not be joining them.
“It was marvelous,” Penelope smiled back at him. “I do love when the theme is carried through the entire decor, do you not agree?”
“Quite,” he said, and allowed the silence to fill the space between them.
He rather enjoyed watching Penelope squirm in her seat. She glanced at him, and at his chest, and then caught herself and looked resolutely out the carriage window. This would last all of several seconds, and her eyes would drag back to his face once more. She looked at his hands if he flexed them, and she looked longingly at his lips if he touched them with his tongue. It was, all in all, one of the more pleasant rides home from a ball he could remember. He was just thinking how darling Penelope was, starry-eyed from dancing and beautiful in her new gown, when she cleared her throat.
“Colin,” she ventured. “Might you- I overheard something, at the ball.”
“Oh?” Colin said, focused more on how the movement of the carriage made the tops of Penelope’s breasts tremble.
“I heard an argument between servants, and I could not follow why they were so cross with each other. What does ‘the tip’ refer to?”
Colin frowned.
“The tip of what?”
Penelope frowned right back.
“I had rather hoped you would know. I listened for as long as I could without being discovered, but I could not make any sense of it.”
Colin felt the liquor he sampled throughout the night heat his blood, and he leaned forward to chastise her.
“Listened! Penelope, it is naughty to eavesdrop.”
Her plump little mouth dropped open, and he saw her tongue for a long moment before she regained her composure.
“I- it was not- I was only curious. And they were being rather loud!”
“Very well then,” he said indulgently. He leaned back, and gestured for her to continue. “Tell me precisely what they said and we will see if we might muddle through it together.”
Penelope tilted her chin up defiantly and looked down her nose at him.
“Anyone passing by might have heard them.”
“And the well-behaved ones might have continued walking.”
They glared at each other until Colin could not contain a small smile, and Penelope giggled in return.
“Very well,” she allowed. “Perhaps I was misbehaving, but only very slightly. Please do not tell.”
“I would not dream of it,” Colin assured her. “I love a secret. Now, recount the argument so we might discover what sort of tip they were discussing.”
Penelope nodded, biting her lip in her quest to remember exactly what she heard.
“It was a footman and a maid. The maid was walking away, and the footman was grabbing at her arm very rudely. The maid was saying ‘no’, something about a fit, though I could not make that part out. And the footman was telling her she was being foolish, and she was not listening, for she only needed to worry about the tip.”
Colin could not quite believe his ears.
“He was quite insistent. He continued saying- oh, what was it? ‘Only the tip,’ or perhaps ‘just the tip,’ but this did not seem to sway the maid.” Penelope was leaning forward, acting out the argument. “That made the footman ever more agitated. I was hoping they might speak more plainly, but then someone started down the hall and I did not wish to be discovered. Do you know what they might mean?”
Colin found his mouth was rather dry. Penelope was looking at him expectantly, and he found himself at a loss for words. He was not used to struggling in this particular area.
“Ah,” he said, when he could no longer justify his silence. “Well. I do- I do think they were speaking rather plainly, Pen.”
“Were they! That is mysterious indeed. What were they speaking about?”
Colin cast a glance at Eloise’s snoring form, and Penelope’s eyes widened.
“Is it- were they speaking of- is the tip- indecent?”
“Do not-” Colin took a calming breath. “It is not for ladies to know, you are correct.”
The carriage slowed, and Colin saw the familiar sight of the Featherington estate just ahead.
“That is not fair,” Penelope pouted. Colin had a difficult time denying her when she did so. “Colin, you promised.”
“I did no such thing,” Colin said faintly. An evening of luxuriating in watching her, of planning future activities with her, did not prepare him for her to beg something so scandalous quite so soon.
“Then I shall ask someone el-”
“No.”
Colin had leaned forward again, with much more purpose this time. The carriage shuddered to a halt as Penelope looked across at him, shocked. Colin was at war with himself - he knew he should not. But he found the thought of thoroughly explaining this to Penelope too delicious to resist. He would be the one to truly misbehave, then.
“I am the only one you will speak to about this, Penelope. Do you understand?”
There was a low certainty in his tone that he could not help, but that he saw send a shiver through Penelope. She nodded, eyes fixed on his.
“The next time you plan to sleep in my sister’s bed, you will come find me once she falls asleep. You will meet me in the study after midnight. I will explain further then.”
The carriage door opened, but Penelope made no movement until Colin prompted her.
“Then, Pen. Only then. Goodnight.”
She flushed and nodded, managing a strangled, “Goodnight, Colin.”
Colin fell asleep that evening thinking of how, precisely, he might explain this argument to her.
- - -
If Colin had been consulted, he would have said that it took entirely too long for his meeting with Penelope to come to pass.
An entire week drifted by between the time he saw her lips form the words just the tip, and indecent, and Colin, you promised while her eyes shone at him in the dark, and when he overheard Eloise mention Penelope would be staying the night. Seven full days, he wanted it known, of him recalling her breasts bouncing, heaving against her neckline while they spoke together. Of Colin imagining what might have come to pass if they were alone in the carriage, with no Eloise to stop him from asking Penelope if she might like to learn what just the tip meant that very evening.
He thought of it every day- at length at morning and at night, and in short bites in between. How he might have instructed the driver to circle the park, or to head for Finsbury and onward. How he might have taken himself out, shown her officiously what a prick looks like. Might have let it fall thick and hard against his stomach, making his vest sticky with precum. Might have asked her if she could identify the tip, now. If she understood to what the servants were referring.
Colin rather liked to think that the carriage would be too dim for her to make much out from afar. That he might have been plying her with pulls from his brother’s flask all night, so she might find the boldness required to admit to this. He thought of sighing, patting the seat next to him. Thought of how he would pulse and twitch at her unsteady approach. At how she might giggle nervously as she sat down, might twine her fingers together as she might not know what to do with her hands.
“Examine it closely,” he imagined saying.
Some times he imagined her soft hands around him, so he might cover her fingers with his and teach her his favorite rhythm. Might use his free hand to raise her chin, pull focus from his hard cock so he might gaze at her flushed face while she touched him. Other times he thought of her putting her face practically in his lap so she might see him clearly. Thought about grabbing at the carriage seat while her warm breath fanned out across his erection, causing it to jump and bob. Pictured himself holding off as she examined him, shy touches and quiet questions he would do his best to meet.
Then he thought of it becoming too much to bear, of the knowledge of her mouth so near him devouring him whole. Of the thread of his composure snapping, his hand finding purchase in her hair. Holding her still and feeding her his cock, pressing past her lips and saying Just the tip, it is alright, you can take it. All of his imagining ended the same way: his spend across his stomach, his chest heaving, his mind overrun by Penelope.
After he righted himself, cleaned and straightened and made presentable once more, he would rejoin the day. Drift around Eloise and his mother and hope dearly to hear news of Penelope calling, or- the true prize- Penelope spending the night. On the sixth day, when he was losing hope and considering calling on the Featherington residence just to be able to speak to Pen (in truth, to surreptitiously feast his eyes upon her breasts, and her lips, and her beautiful hair, and to sneak a touch of her hand if he was lucky indeed), he heard precisely the name he wished to.
“-Penelope,” Eloise said.
Colin felt cross she had not said the rest of the sentence so loudly. And then cross with himself, for daydreaming instead of paying attention. And then pleading with himself, to not get hard in front of his family at the mere mention of Penelope’s name.
“Of course, darling,” Violet said.
He did not want to get too excited too quickly, but he could not prevent his heart from kicking in his chest.
“I must tell the kitchens to ready two mugs of drinking chocolate the morning,” Eloise beamed, and hurried out of the drawing room.
Tonight, he thought. It radiated through his body, a stone skipped across the deep water of his desire. Penelope will meet me tonight.
Colin had no real accounting of the rest of his day. He knew he walked from room to room, and he knew he spent long minutes on his hair, ensuring it was set just so, and he knew that he attempted to read. None of it really took; his mind was elsewhere. It was thinking of how sweet Penelope would look in her nightgown. It was cataloguing what he already knew of her curves, and making room for the knowledge of what they felt like under his hand. He felt rather smug at his self control, for he managed to only spend twice while he waited for her arrival.
There were many benefits of coming from a large family. Chief among them for his purposes this evening was the ability to lounge in the foreground. It was not unusual for one or more siblings to be underfoot, and it was a necessity to simply ignore those who one did not wish to speak to. This allowed him free range to sit near the girls once Penelope was very nearly where she was meant to be (under Colin, naturally. But that could not quite happen yet, so he would settle for near Colin).
He took every opportunity to meet Penelope’s glances. Colin felt them heat against his skin- against his jaw and cravat, his hands when he stirred his tea and the length of his legs as he sat still in his chair. Against his lips as he bit at them, pretending to read. He would feel the scorching thrill of her eyes on him, and allow it to continue for two full beats. Then he would dart his own eyes up, straight at Penelope, and she would startle and blush. It made his skin feel tight and prickling. Sent showers of sparks down his spine, made him crinkle his broadsheet as his hands flexed unbidden.
That sparkling tension in his body only grew during supper. Penelope was across the table and down one seat, allowing Colin the opportunity to observe her out of the corner of his eye. He engaged Hyacinth in as spirited conversation as he could, and watched Pen take steadying gulps of her wine as Colin teased and cajoled and made Hyacinth howl with laughter. He let her look at him longer, then, and loved seeing the heated shock travel through Penelope when he finally locked eyes with her. Tonight, he thought hard every time they looked at each other. You must remember.
The family reconvened in the drawing room after supper concluded, Francesca sitting down to play and Violet listening attentively and the rest of the siblings falling into familiar squabbles. Eloise crossed the room to procure sweets for her and Penelope, and Colin seized his chance. He sat down on the divan, maintaining a respectable distance, and leaned forward.
“Pen,” he said. He allowed his voice to come out velvet, low. Wanting. “Do you remember the last time we spoke?”
He saw her eyes widen, go hazy. Her lips parted, and she took an unsteady breath. The pink that bloomed in her cheeks when he sat spread like wildfire, catching her throat and her chest and (if the edge of Colin’s vision could be trusted) her breasts all aflame. She was rosy in the firelight, and Colin wanted nothing more than to groan and hike up her skirts right there. He did not. His smugness grew.
Penelope realized belatedly that she was asked a question that expected an answer, and she cleared her throat. It did not help disguise the formless need in her tone.
“About-”
She bit her lip, and Colin wondered for the thousandth time if sweet little Pen had been thinking about their secret appointment as often as he had been. They saw Eloise marching determinedly toward them at the same time, and they each leaned back slightly.
“Do you-” Colin began to ask, just as Penelope breathed, “Midnight?”
Colin felt his blood heat, felt his excess energy churn through his body. He wanted to say Yes. Wanted to say Have you thought of this as I have? Do you even know what to think about? Are you lying at night with your hands over the covers, not understanding why your breathing is shallow? Why your mouth is flooded? Why your thighs are slick and your pulse hammers? I will show you, I promise. But Eloise arrived before he could find the words.
“You oaf,” Eloise said, and kicked at his ankle. “Leave us be.”
“Eloise,” Violet called from across the room.
“I tripped, mama,” Eloise called over her shoulder. “Colin remains unharmed.” And to Colin, she hissed, “I will kick at you harder if you do not go.”
While he wanted nothing more than to continue to speaking to Penelope up until the very moment he could reach out and touch Penelope, Colin had at least secured his evening plans. He spent the rest of the evening just across the room from Penelope, looking anywhere but directly at her. Wondering idly exactly how innocent she might be.
He shifted in his seat as he allowed his mind to wander. Would she protest too loudly when he stole a kiss? When he groped her breasts, her hips under the guise of arranging her? Would she listen to him without delay? What precisely might he be able to convince her to try? Might he convince her to show herself, to spread her center open for him without understanding how wanton she was being?
“Colin,” Benedict said, interrupting Colin’s reverie. The irritation in Benedict’s tone let Colin know this was not the first time his brother had called for his attention. Colin blinked up at his brother and Benedict sighed. “We are adjourning to the study. Are you joining us?”
Anthony was out of the drawing room already, unwilling to wait. Colin huffed to his feet, irritated himself. He did not want to lose sight of Penelope. Since the Fitzgerald ball he had done little but think of her, throughout the day and into the night, and then meeting her in dreams, and he was close. But there was no way to explain this to his brothers without quite a lot of yelling, and perhaps some chiding (which Colin hated the most) and then there was the more pressing concern- that they would prevent Colin from meeting her tonight. So, there was little to be done but nod and follow.
Nod, and follow, and be such a bore his brothers would head for their bedchambers before midnight. He went maudlin. It worked a treat. He found himself in the study at half eleven, alone with guttering candles. He rose to snuff them out so no one might notice their light beneath the door. Then he sat in the dark, waiting and patient and hard, until Penelope arrived.
A tentative knock broke him out of his stupor, and he rose to his feet as Penelope opened the door. The dim light of the hallway cast shadows over Penelope’s beauty, but Colin’s eyes had adjusted to the dark. He could always see her.
Colin saw her hair first, the red cascade of it braided for the evening. Then her wide eyes, blinking into the dark. Searching for where Colin stood. She was dressed for bed as well, padding out of Eloise’s room to meet him in her nightgown and a pair of Eloise’s slippers from several years ago. The knowledge that Penelope was wearing so little- that when he held her, there would only be a thin fall of cotton between his hands and her unbound breasts- set him alight. He moved toward her because he must, rather than because he thought to do so. Colin’s eyes had adjusted to the moonlight, and he could see the quick rise and fall of her chest. They stood for a moment and simply breathed together. Once Colin realized that of course it must be him to start their evening, he moved to do so.
“Penelope,” Colin bowed.
The nervous energy radiating off of Penelope shimmered and ebbed, chased away temporarily by her familiar delight in him. She brushed off her nightgown, straightened her lace cuffs, and curtseyed.
“Colin,” Penelope replied, lashes fanning demurely. “Just the gentleman I wished to see.”
“How sweet indeed to be seen by you, Pen. Tell me, have you happened upon the study by chance?”
This set her back, and she frowned.
“Colin. Have you forgotten already? You told me-”
“I am teasing! Oh, you must forgive me. Of course I remember our conversation. Please, let us sit.”
She sat gingerly on the divan, perched on the edge of the cushion. Colin slotted himself next to her and, when he saw her nerves had returned in full force, he wished to see more. He slipped his arm along the back of the settee and leaned into Penelope’s space until he saw her swallow hard.
“I remember our conversation, Pen. Do you? What are you here to discover?”
“The tip,” she replied dutifully. “You said you might- that it was not polite to say, but if I found you that you would tell me.”
“I did,” Colin agreed. “Because you are very good, and I hope you would never betray my confidence. If I agree and explain this to you, will you keep our secret?”
“Oh, yes,” Penelope said. “I would never. I am so very grateful you might tell me what I long to know.”
“Hm,” he said, running his eyes along her body and giving her an evaluating look. “I am not sure I quite believe-”
“I swear it.”
He felt his grin grow once more at the determined jut of her jaw, and wished to tease her further.
“How am I to know, Pen?”
“On my father’s grave,” she added. She leaned purposefully toward him, her eyes shining with purpose.
Colin was set aback this time, and his mouth hung open. Penelope looked very somber indeed. His chest ached at the sight, and the ache swelled and traveled through him. Made him wish to grab her and hold her, and so he shifted in his seat and nodded.
“Very well,” Colin allowed. “I shan’t argue further. You know you must not tell a soul.”
“It is only-” Penelope looked bashful, and she examined her hands studiously as she finished her thought. “It is only that- my- Colin, would you look away?”
He smiled and nodded, and the two of them looked at their own laps together.
“Thank you. It is- I dearly want to know but I am fearing for my- my virtue.”
Colin grinned to himself and closed the distance between his thigh and her thigh. Felt her gasp and freeze and melt, in that order. Schooled his face to be as gentle and unassuming as he could, before turning back to look at her.
“There will be no damage to your virtue, Penelope, I assure you. I might feel inside of you with my fingers, and it will do no harm. I might even show you what the servants meant when they discussed his tip, and it would not make a real difference. To truly take your virtue I would need to thrust my member entirely inside of you. Do you understand? Imagine me settled between your legs, pressing and pressing until you were full.”
When she let out a whimper of distress, he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. Slid himself closer to her. Smiled reassuringly.
“But- why?” Penelope looked at Colin, brow creased. “Why would anyone- press? I do not-”
“Pleasure,” Colin interrupted. He smiled further when Penelope went pale and still. “It is pleasurable, Pen.”
Penelope swallowed hard, shifting and crimson beside him. She looked mortified and she looked curious and she looked, even still, puzzled. Her nipples were hard beneath her thin chemise, and Colin had watched them pebble further as he spoke. He wished to ruck up her nightgown and watch her confusion grow further as he shoved inside of her, but he did not. He could control himself.
“Here, Pen, let me explain.”
She was taking in desperate breaths, and they grew only more ragged as Colin gently cupped her jaw. He looked at her, truly looked at her, and enjoyed being able to take in her beauty so closely. Penelope flushed further at his open admiration, but she rubbed her cheek ever so slightly against his hold and it made something possessive and burning flare through him.
Colin felt his gaze grow heated at her plight. He brought the forefinger of his free hand to her mouth, and traced it softly along her bottom lip, back and forth.
“Between your thighs, you have another little mouth. Did you know?”
Penelope tried to flinch away at this impertinence, but he did not allow her to do so. She could not bear to hold his gaze, and shook her head slightly while looking resolutely down.
“I will tell you, darling. Do not worry. I should think you would enjoy knowing, for there are lips that might be kissed,” and here he dipped his face, very slightly, towards Penelope’s. This made her look up at him once more, shocked and hopeful, and he grinned at her. Stopped just short of kissing her and continued his explanation, murmuring the words at her parted mouth. “And a lovely wet entrance that longs to be fed.”
Her breasts were rising and falling more and more quickly, and he thought fondly of their ride in the carriage. How well his scheme had come together. Then he brought his finger to her top lip, skating along her cupid’s bow.
“Right here, Pen. This is where you will wish to be touched if I truly showed you.”
Penelope opened her mouth, a question clear in her eyes. Instead, Colin slipped his finger between her lips, touching the pad of it to the tip of her tongue.
“It will only be this much,” he said, soothing. “Almost nothing, see? Just the tip of my finger is in your mouth, Penelope.”
She was still as a statue, wide-eyed. Colin wished desperately to push his finger deeper inside of her mouth, petting and panting. Wanted to make sweet little Pen gag on his finger, suck her saliva off of him and tell her to open once more for his cock. He did not. He was a paragon of virtue. He realized he had been staring at the join of his finger and her mouth, a little slack jawed, and he cleared his throat. Removed himself from between her lips. Adopted a serious tone.
“Do you understand now?”
Penelope shook her head hesitantly, as if she were unsure whether she should admit to her ignorance.
“I do not- they were speaking of a fingertip? That does not seem cause for such a fuss. Surely you could have mentioned this in the carriage, Colin. I do not see why-”
Her voice trailed off as Colin’s hands moved to the fall of his trousers.
“Do you remember your promise to me, Penelope?” he asked solemnly.
She wet her lips with her tongue, traveling the same path Colin had traced just moments before. It made his cock twitch.
“Yes,” she breathed. The sparking, pulsing need that surrounded them both drew her to him. Made her sway forward, searching hungrily for something she could not yet identify.
“Very well,” Colin said. “I am trusting you.” He saw Penelope puff with pride, just a little, the gilding of it cutting through her worry. He did not bother to hide his smirk. Instead he unfastened himself and brought out his erection, moaning a little at the surprised gasp she let slip out. “You see? This is my member. Do you understand now?”
Penelope was entranced. He saw her hand twitch to reach for it, before thinking better. Colin could not help but stroke himself a little at that, just once, and Penelope let out a helpless little Oh! at the sight.
“Pen?” he prompted, when no response emerged.
“I-” Penelope blinked. First at his cock, straining up from Colin’s fist. Then at his face, as she attempted to remember what was happening. “I am so sorry, Colin,” she said, and she sounded truly penitent. “I cannot remember what you asked. Would you once more?”
There was no one sweeter, Colin decided. He was right to take her.
“Now that you have seen my prick,” and here Penelope took in a sharp breath at his vulgarity, for he had been careful to speak sweetly with her until now. Even in the low light Colin could see her pulse rabbiting in her throat, the nameless need inside her building and building once more. “And you know of the place between your thighs, do you understand what the servants were speaking of?”
He saw her try her best. She bit at her bottom lip, and stared at his cock, and flitted her eyes up to his mouth, and back down to his cock, and he did not rush her.
“I-” Penelope looked very small indeed, next to him on the divan. Her slippered feet scuffed nervously at the rug and she twined her hands together before attempting to speak once more. “Forgive me, I do not.”
“Darling,” he said fondly, and she blushed further at his endearment. “There is nothing to forgive. Here, let me try another way.”
He took his hand off of his prick and took hold of Penelope’s wrist, instead. Colin watched her intently as he raised her hand to his mouth. Her eyes glazed over and her lips parted as she panted at his touch. Colin nosed against her outstretched hand, lips against the webbing between her thumb and forefinger. He turned his head and extended his tongue, only slightly, so it lapped against Penelope’s skin.
The whimper Penelope let out once Colin tasted her would ring through his thoughts forever. It was high and needy and Penelope’s, so Colin could do nothing but love it. He licked a long, wet stripe over her - from the tip of her thumb down, across the webbing and up, ending by gently sucking the tip of her pointer finger.
While she was still dazed, Colin arranged Penelope’s forefinger and thumb to form a closed ring. Tugged her by her wrist until her hand was in his lap, pressed the head of his cock against her spit-slicked skin. He held pressure with his hand to ensure her fingers stayed closed as he rolled his hips.
“There,” he moaned. He fucked the tip of himself slowly through her circled fingers, letting the ridge of his cock head bump against her before pulling back through and thrusting in again. “Do you see?”
Penelope took a hitching breath.
“This is- you would do this between- down-”
A growl worked its way from deep inside Colin, and he shallowly fucked Pen’s hand harder. She whined in response.
“Just this,” Colin said. He was barely hanging on to his speech, Penelope shaking and awed and curious and touching his prick too much for him to bear. “This is all I will do, Pen.” Her mouth hung open and her entire body was trembling, her focus entirely on Colin’s hard cock moving through her fingers.
“Colin,” she breathed. It sounded plaintive and demanding at once, and Colin wanted more of it.
“If I were a rake,” Colin bit out between thrusts. “I would hold you down and ravage you. Do you know what that means?”
Penelope shook her head, but did not look up as he spoke. She licked her lips instead, transfixed.
Colin let go of her hand, holding her by the wrist instead. Then he snapped his hips hard, shoving the length of himself through the weak ring of Pen’s fingers. She was not prepared for him, and so did not have the strength to keep her circle closed. He groaned as he felt her desperately try and close her fingers around the thick base of him, unable to quite manage it. He continued to use her, stroking the full length of himself with her hand.
“This would rend your virtue,” he said. “All the way in. You would feel so full you would not be able to speak, do you know? And even so, you would be begging for more.”
“I could not-” Penelope began, and then fell silent as she was overcome. “I- I cannot imagine it,” Penelope eventually managed. Colin thought surely she was saying So you must show me, or perhaps But I will spend long hours attempting to do so.
“I can,” Colin said, and Penelope was the one to groan then. “You will be so wet and tight when I feed my cock into you, I know it.”
That was enough to rip Penelope’s gaze from her undulating hand. “When you-”
“Just the tip,” promised Colin. “It is alright, Penelope, there is no harm in it. Only the tip.”
“Colin,” she breathed once more. Colin thought hungrily of how she would say his name just so when he fucked into her tight cunny, and when he sucked and licked at her cunt until she screamed, and when he kept her so full of his fingers she would not be able to remember any other word.
“Very well,” he said, and pretended not to hear her pleading tone. “You are clever, aren’t you? You will not be satisfied until you understand fully. Lie down, Pen.”
The determined spark in her eyes flickered for a moment, and he saw her grow shy and small once again. Colin knew the gentlemanly thing to do would be to assuage her fears- or, in truth, to apologize profusely and bundle her back to her bedchamber- but he was rather uninterested in that. If the eyes of the ton were off him, he found he was rather uninterested in anything gentlemanly at all.
Instead he arranged her on the sofa, partially reclined against several cushions, and moved her braid over her shoulder. Brushed his hands down the length of her body while she whimpered, groping and squeezing as he wished along the way. Her breasts had just as much give as he had hoped- he did not allow himself to linger there, lest he spill before he fit the tip of himself inside Penelope. Once he reached her ankles, his hands reversed course, drawing her nightgown determinedly up as he did so. Her arms shot out, scrabbled at him, but he shushed her and tucked her hem tightly beneath her arms so he might appreciate her fully. Colin cupped her heavy breasts, greedy for seconds he was stealing from his own performance, and smiled down at her.
“Shh,” Colin murmured. “Do not fret, not when you are so lovely. Shhh, now. There is only you and there is only me and we are here together, and I have yearned for the sight of you.” Penelope’s back arched at his words, her body offering itself up to him before her mind had allowed her to do so. Colin had her well in hand. He let his voice drip sweet as he coaxed her thighs apart. “I am fortunate indeed that you asked for my help. Besides, do you not wish to see? How else are you to learn?”
“To see,” Penelope said, hesitant. “I might- might I see?”
“Of course,” he frowned, kneeling between her spread legs. “I am only here to show you. You asked me to show you, remember?”
“I asked-”
“For me to do this, yes. And you are very dear to me, and so I will do just as you requested.”
Penelope looked like one of his better dreams all spread out beneath him, the pale curves and swells of her body glowing in the moonlight. She gazed up at him torn, biting at her lips and weighing what she might say to him as he loomed above her. He had little interest in finding out, for the thatch of red curls below her belly called for his touch. He raked his fingernails gently through it, over and back, and he saw the words forming on her tongue grow shapeless once more. He felt a feral, gleaming satisfaction at his power over her.
“I must see if you are ready,” said Colin, trailing his hands down so he might rub his thumbs against the pillows of her inner thighs. “You must be good for me while I do.”
She swallowed hard, and he made note of her clear desire for Colin to think her good. He would be sure to tell her exactly how to prove herself so when he took her fully, and he would be happier for it.
“Ready?” Penelope echoed, and while he could not see her body trembling, he felt it beneath his palms.
“If your body craves what it must not have, Pen. I have seen you moaning and writhing as you touch me. Do you know how brazen others might think you?” Colin asked, his voice wicked. “We will know you are ready if you are slick for me here.”
Colin slid two fingers along Penelope’s pussy, her arousal allowing him to glide easily. He grinned at her.
“I have never felt anyone more ready, Pen. You have not touched yourself here before?”
She shook her head, too busy gasping and bucking her hips at this new feeling.
“Darling,” he said, gathering her wetness on his fingers. “You have neglected yourself. There are so many things I could show you, Pen. For example-”
Colin skated the pads of his fingers over her clit, glancing against it lightly. Doing so once more when it made Penelope gasp and grasp at his shoulder.
“Does that not feel wonderful? I could make you feel even more so, if you find me again.”
Then he took his hand from her sex entirely, and instead grasped at her hips as she rolled them and keened, eager for his touch.
“Listen. Before we go any further, you must taste yourself. You must taste yourself every time, do you understand?” He brought her hand to her cunny, pressing her fingers to her wetness, and then lifted her hand up to her mouth. Her eyes were wide, shocked, and they spent a long moment with Colin urging her wet fingertips against her closed lips. He tilted his head and gave her the look he used whenever he wished for her to comply with one of his more fanciful requests.
This look had worked every time before now, and it worked this time as well. Her swollen, bitten lips parted at his wordless command, and she closed her eyes as she tasted herself for the first time. Colin groaned when he saw Penelope instinctually suck and lick, her cheeks hollowing slightly and her saliva welling in the corners of her mouth. Her eyelids fluttered shut as she lost herself, chasing her own flavor down the length of her own fingers.
Colin felt a shiver down his spine at the thought of being able to shape Penelope’s world in this small way. He imagined her crawling into bed to touch herself at night, already thinking of him. Dutifully slipping a finger inside to collect her arousal and lapping it up even as her pulse spiked and her need thrummed within her, obeying him even when he was not there to watch over her. He would teach her how he might please her- how she might please herself- next time. Tonight he would keep her yearning for when they might meet again, and make her as starving and trembling in those coming days as he had been waiting for this.
“Do you taste sweet, pet?” he asked, and he could not help the rasp of it. “Here, let me-”
He drew her fingers from her tongue and slid them against his own instead, finding little but Penelope’s spit and loving it all the same. Her mouth hung open as she watched him, and her thighs fell further apart.
Colin finally drew her fingers out of his mouth and placed a gentle kiss on the pad of her forefinger. It was the only kiss Colin had given her yet, and she let out a whine when his lips pressed against her skin. His mind raced with the sounds he might pull from her once he got her back underneath him. Once he could spend languid afternoons kissing and biting over her body, up her legs and hips and stomach to her arms. Lavishing bites over her tits, at her waist, against her neck. Nip at her shoulders and start all over again, until she shook and begged for him.
When he returned to himself he placed Penelope’s spit-slick fingers gently against her breast, and encouraged her to rub and pull at her nipple. She let out a helpless little cry, then- Colin- and he felt very aware of how painfully aroused he was. How very close he was to being truly satisfied.
It was with purpose, then, that he brought his own hand to his mouth. Spat against his fingers while Pen toyed with herself, plucking at her tits and making her breath catch with her building desire.
“Just like that,” Colin encouraged. “Your body wants more, can you tell? It wants to be full, like-”
In no time at all his slick finger was at her opening, and they each let out a hissing, desperate breath as he pushed inside of her.
He pressed in to the first knuckle, drinking in Penelope’s shock. Colin rubbed her thigh, could not help the slight bucking of his own hips as he felt Penelope’s tight, wet warmth around his finger.
“God,” Penelope whimpered. “God, I- please, Colin, I feel-”
Colin worked the tip of his finger in and out of Penelope as she squirmed beneath him. His mouth mirrored hers, open and panting, and she was so perfect and silken around him that it took every ounce of his focus not to simply hold her down and shove his cock inside of her.
“Colin,” moaned Penelope over and again. “Colin, I- please, what-”
“Do you feel full, Pen?” Colin’s voice was ragged, dragged across stones, all of him scraping and crawling and urging himself in.
“No,” said Penelope. “No, I need-”
Colin let his hold on himself slip just a little, then, but what else could be expected of him when Penelope needed something? He would provide.
“Shh,” he soothed. “I know just what you need.” As he spoke, he pressed his finger fully inside of her.
She made a low animal noise that grew loudest when he was fully inserted, his palm pressing for just a moment against her swollen clit.
“There,” Colin said, rubbing his hand slowly up her thigh, over her belly. Squeezing and feeling and delighting in her softness, fucking her on his finger.
Penelope was vibrating out of herself, pausing her moans only to take in tremulous breaths. She was writhing, her nails sinking into her breasts and her thighs flexing and shifting as she tried to make sense of this new, overwhelming feeling.
“It is too much,” she whimpered. “But I- you mustn’t stop. You must- I must-”
“Are you full now?” Colin said, unable to keep the smile from his voice as pressed into her more roughly.
“Yes,” said Penelope. “Yes, you are- it is deep inside me, I did not- I do not-”
“Darling,” Colin murmured. “You only think so because we have just started. Let me-”
He spat against her cunt, less because he needed the lubrication to work open Penelope’s soaking quim and more because he wanted as much of himself inside Penelope as he could manage. Words and thoughts and spit and cum shoved deep into her until she was overflowing with him- until she became needy for him, became dependent on what he might fit inside of her. Colin briefly removed his finger to sweep up the bead of his saliva, Penelope pleading and complaining for the short seconds she found herself empty, and then Colin pressed back inside of her pussy with two of his fingers.
“Oh-”
Colin saw it truly stretch her. Saw the burn of him pass over Penelope, her beauty shifted and changed by this new pain. Kept working in and out of her only to the first knuckle, and then the second, fighting and fighting against his instinct to shove and take and tear. He was sweet to her, and he opened her up much more slowly than he wished to, and he did not fuck her on the full length of his fingers until he saw her eyes haze once more with lust. When he finally did so she let her head fall back and closed her eyes, luxuriating.
“I am full now,” she breathed, and Colin laughed once more.
He did not deign to respond, and instead scissored his fingers inside of her. Penelope wailed, let go of one of her breasts so she could clasp at Colin’s braced arm. Then she brought her other hand up too so she could urge his moving arm faster, deeper, more, canting her hips and digging her nails into Colin, now, and Colin would need her to do this again in the future.
“There,” Colin said, when he could no longer delay his need for her. “You are ready.”
“Ready?” said Penelope, barely understanding. Barely cognizant of her surroundings, focused only on being stretched and filled. “For-”
“My tip, darling,” he reminded her. “Remember? This is so you might learn?”
Before she could confirm if she remembered or had forgotten, if she wished to learn or if she had managed to put it all together now that she knew what it was to feel pleasure from something moving inside of her, Colin pressed the head of his prick at Penelope’s entrance.
Penelope’s hands fumbled at him, clutching desperately at his arms and his chest and she was too dizzy and gasping to realize he too shook, as if this was his very first time inside a woman.
He groaned as he felt her cunt welcome him in, and her moans wove through his. Colin tilted his hips ever so slightly, stopping before his shaft felt the kiss of her.
There was no world in which he lasted particularly long, not after a week of yearning and an evening of salivating and their time in the study, and Penelope looking stunning in her nightgown, and her breasts being bared to him, and her body giving so sweetly under his touch. Or the scent of her arousal, her spit on his tongue, his spit in her cunt, and he would-
Colin whimpered and began fucking into her in earnest, the tip of his cock thrusting in and out of her faster and faster. He felt the far edge of his orgasm, felt it build and grow and take form, and he could not wait to finally spend inside Penelope.
“Colin,” Penelope said. She grasped more firmly at him, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. “Colin, you must- it must be deeper.”
“You are wanton indeed,” Colin said between panting breaths, willing himself to last just a few moments longer. “This is the tip of my cock, Penelope. This is what you heard discussion over. And now you want more?”
“Your fingers were- God, Colin. I know you could press in further, I need-”
“You agreed,” he said. He felt a sense of perverse satisfaction at her growing desperation. Penelope knew what it was to have a prick inside of her, now, and it was Colin’s, and she wanted more, and he could not prevent his hips from stuttering as his orgasm began to rip through his body. “You agreed, you said just-”
Colin should be further congratulated for not thrusting in fully, so his spend might land as deep inside Penelope as possible. No, he kept his promise even so, coming with just the tip of him sheathed inside of her as she keened. He juddered and groaned and rode out his pleasure and when he was able to focus his eyes once more, Penelope was looking up at him with concern.
“Are you alright? There is-”
He breathed slowly in through his nose, willing his senses to return to him. For his throat to stop clicking and his ears to stop ringing and for Penelope to look slightly less like an angel beneath him. Only slightly, for she always looked so at least a little, but now she was haloed and glowing. He had thought he would return to himself, now that his goal had been met, but not so far. Colin realized he had been staring at Penelope, admiring her further, as she asked again if he was quite well. He felt his cock soften and slip out, and swallowed hard to find his voice.
“I am,” he said. “Never fear.”
Penelope was searching for words, and Colin was sure she wished to ask about the pleasure that slipped through her fingers, or the emptiness she must now feel inside of her, or even what the warmth that spilled inside her at the very end might have been. Instead of allowing her to speak he tucked himself away, and brought down her nightgown, and stood. Offered his hand to her so she might stand as well, and once she was on her feet he did his best to tame her hair back into her braid.
Before she could speak, Colin was wicked once more. Her hand was soft and bare in his and he would remember the feeling of her skin against his every time he clasped at her gloves. He lifted it slowly up, wanting to rake his gaze down her body once more but keeping polite and mannered, looking only at her shining eyes.
She let out a soft moan as he pressed his lips to her fingers. A perfectly chaste kiss, were it not for the small matters of their circumstances and their current location and the time and her general state of undress and his cum inside of her and how he had just ruined her, but none of it mattered. Penelope reacted as if Colin had dropped to his knees and sucked at her breasts through her nightgown. Colin was many things but he was not a fool, so he kissed her hand again before standing straight and proud. He looked down at her solemnly.
“Who will you tell of our meeting?” he asked.
“No one,” she said. She answered him at once, her words tripping over his.
“Good, Pen,” said Colin, just to see the words sink into her skin. Make her swallow as her mouth watered. “And what must you do if you wish to feel more of the pleasure I showed you?”
Her blush bloomed once more, and he wished dearly to bite across it. He made no movement, offered no reassuring smile, until she gathered her wits to respond.
“I am to- I will come find you,” Penelope whispered.
Colin smiled down at her then, and he saw Penelope’s face light up in return. It made his chest warm and his stomach swoop, her delight in pleasing him.
“Very good,” Colin said, and dipped his head to kiss her hand a final time.
Then he bid her goodnight, and watched her stutter, and chew on her bottom lip and attempt to say something, and then think better of it before slipping out of the room.
He waited in the study for the length of time Penelope would need to return to Eloise’s bedchamber. Then he waited longer, in case she tarried. He stood at the window, staring blankly out into the night. Thinking of her body beneath his, pliant and waiting. The shock he had seen, and the worry, chased out by curiosity. He thought of how she seemed to be catching her breath the entire time, even as she departed. How flushed she was. How very hopeful Colin was that she would seek him out again shortly, to collect on the pleasure he had mentioned.
He looked out the window and up at the stars and wondered if his pleasure was still inside her, or if it had begun to drip down her thighs. If she might not notice, too full of new information to note his addition. If she might wake with him on her skin. Dress and eat and go about her day with Colin laying claim to her in this small way- between her thighs without her knowledge. He quite liked the thought.
That thought flowed easily to the next, which was that Penelope was so very beautiful. Somehow even better than he had dreamed her; seeing her spread before him made his desire deepen and unfurl within his chest. Touching the rosy tips of her breasts and the flushed pink of her cunny and the cream of every delicious roll and swell of her, held still for the taking? He knew with certainty there was nothing better.
When she had dressed to return to bed, Colin found that he still saw the true shape of her. Her nightgown might cover even her ankles, and it might seek to conceal her lushness from wandering eyes, but it was no match for him. No match for his memory of her trembling beneath his hands. He was sure, in fact, that he would not be able to see her in the future without imagining her undressed before him, bottom lip caught between her teeth as he stole inside of her. It was enough to make him stir once more, despite his recent satisfaction.
Colin frowned. He had thought he would feel sated- he had a taste of Penelope. He felt her, and held her, and groped her, and looked more than he thought he might get away with, and rutted into her, and he spent inside of her, and he had her twisting and shaking for his approval even after. He had thought such an excellent showing would provide him a period of reprieve from his overwhelming draw to her since last week’s ball. Instead, he felt only the need for more. More time with Penelope, and more of his cock inside Penelope, and more of Penelope blinking up at him and assuring him sweetly that whatever he might have to show her, she would not tell a soul.
The steady ferocity of his desire for Penelope unnerved him. What he had anticipated being an evening’s indulgence- seeing beautiful Pen mewling on the tip of his prick, taking his come, none the wiser- was taking hold. Colin could feel his need for her deepening, heating. Ripping through him. Singeing away anything that he prioritized before. How could he have thought this would be enough? How could he have been so simple to have thought he might return to his previous existence? He would find her in the morning, and he would tell her he was enamored with her.
No, that was foolish. He would not embarrass himself in front of her. What, because he had thrust inside her? Now she ruled his every thought? No. Colin was just… he would feel differently in the morning. He would regain his senses in the night, and he simply had to wait himself out. There was no reason to rush anything that did not need to be rushed. It was time for him to be in his bed, lost to the world.
He would just… He would just pass by Eloise’s door. He would know Penelope was behind it, asleep and well and full of his spend, and that would still his racing thoughts. He would think hard tomorrow about what the correct course of action would be, and he would think hard tonight about the actions he had already taken with Penelope, and that would have to do.
It was with no small amount of surprise that Colin saw the door to Eloise’s bedchamber was slightly ajar. He approached it carefully, puzzled by flickering light he saw lick out and onto the hallway’s carpeting. Puzzled further when he heard muffled conversation from within. Was Eloise unwell? Did Penelope need comforting? In his concern, Colin almost forgot himself entirely. He was only a moment away from shoving into the room, demanding to know what would cause Eloise to be awake at such an hour- for as he knew, there were precious few reasons to be up and about at this time that were not nefarious.
But just a moment before he went barging inside, he heard a now-familiar sound that made him pause. Made him hold his breath and hold himself still, so he might peer through the crack in the door. He had heard what he was certain was one of Penelope’s hiccuping breaths- the sound she made when he pressed inside of her. But that could not be right, could it? She had sworn herself to secrecy.
Colin was fortunate the sight of Eloise and Penelope froze him entirely, for it meant that the groan that escaped him was quieter than it otherwise would have been. He thought for a breath that he must be dreaming- that he had returned to his bedchamber and had conjured Penelope to him.
But he would not have dreamed it quite like this- Penelope and Eloise on the bed, Penelope’s nightgown pulled up to expose her breasts. Eloise kneeling between Penelope’s spread thighs, murmuring questions Colin could not quite hear. Penelope’s head tilted back, her bitten lips slack and her throat working as she let out more and more of those moans Colin was so sure were his.
It would not do for him to continue to stand at the threshold, panting, his face as close to the slivered opening as he could arrange it. It was important for him to leave. A servant might pass by, or one of his siblings- one of his other siblings-
“There,” said Penelope. It was rich and desperate, and Colin groaned softly once more. “Inside, El. You might- oh.”
Eloise replied, “Christ, Penelope.” Her voice was shaking. Reverent. “You’re- it’s all slick.”
She sat back slightly and held up her hand, rubbing shine between the pads of her fingers. Colin could not see properly- had never felt such an urge to be in a place he could not be- but felt certain Eloise was learning the feel of not only their darling friend’s arousal, but his spend as well. He was not able to focus overly long on how this made his pulse jump, the thought of him and Penelope melted together so, because Penelope raised up on her elbows to watch Eloise. Colin became transfixed.
Colin had never seen this version of Penelope, and he wanted to storm in. Claim her as his own. She looked at Eloise so warmly and familiarly and sweetly that he wanted to pull Eloise back by her hair. Cover Penelope with his body and kiss into her mouth until she was breathless and moaning and demand she love him so openly, instead. He truly enjoyed how she trembled before him, yes. And how skittish and yielding she was for him, of course. She was frightened and she was obedient and she was good, and he saw the heated spark in her gaze that would surely translate into a passionate marriage. But he did not have this from Penelope- this earnest, playful ease. He felt an iron grip tighten around his heart. He felt his teeth grind together. He felt the need to take, and to grip, and to hold until Penelope apologized and soothed him and said Only you, Colin, it will only ever be you.
It was not fair for Eloise to have such a head start with Penelope. When Colin took Penelope on their honeymoon- for it was no longer a question in his mind, Penelope would be his and would be his bride and would be his wife and would heed him for the rest of their days, starting tomorrow- he would keep her away long enough for Penelope to look at him so. And then he would have both versions of her, afraid and not, completely reliant and rapturously excited, and he would never need to feel jealous of anyone again. Let alone Eloise.
“You might be slick between your thighs as well,” Penelope laughed, interrupting Colin’s dazed planning. She brought herself up on one elbow, and reached for Eloise’s wrist. “I will check in a moment, dearest. But first I must-”
Colin palmed himself as Penelope drew Eloise’s hand toward Penelope’s face. Bucked his hips as Penelope did not hesitate, sucking Eloise’s fingers into her mouth just as Colin had instructed her to do. Penelope held Eloise’s gaze as she cleaned Eloise, her rosy lips brushing against knuckles, and Colin’s thoughts fizzed to nothing. He only felt his desire snarling and saw Penelope’s plush mouth working and he shoved his hand down his trousers. He remembered precisely how sweet Penelope’s mouth was wrapped around him, and he brought his fingers into a tight circle around the base of his cock so he did not spill in his breeches.
“You must taste yourself,” Penelope continued. She pressed a soft kiss to the tip of Eloise’s finger, and then guided her friend’s hand back down between her thighs. “Before- El.”
“No harm in fingers,” Eloise marveled. Colin saw her shoulder working, heard Penelope gasp and moan as Eloise pet the inside of Penelope’s welcoming cunt. “This is marvelous news.”
He grit his teeth, for he had meant no harm in his fingers. Or Penelope’s fingers, if she was alone. He absolutely did not grant permission for Penelope to be spreading her legs for his sister, or to-
Colin’s hips bucked on their own when he saw Penelope shore herself up, push at Eloise’s shoulder. Urge her to her side, so she might curl next to Penelope. He heard El gasp herself and Penelope brought her hand- the hand Colin had felt on his cock, the hand he had just kissed goodnight- to Eloise’s matted curls.
“Very wet,” he heard Penelope murmur approvingly. “Be sweet for me and open your mouth, dearest.”
He stroked himself and imagined Penelope speaking with such a languid tone to him- that she would soon slip her fingers along his tongue just as she was doing to El. He should be there in her stead, cuddled next to Penelope, he was certain. Colin rested his forehead helplessly against the door frame, biting off his desirous, indignant moans as Penelope’s hips churned on Eloise’s hand. As she trailed her wet fingers down from Eloise’s slack mouth, tracing a shining trail down her neck and to her small, hard nipples. Colin was watching Penelope’s hand, is all, and was imagining it on his body, plucking and pinching and moving so confidently. When he heard Eloise whimper he whimpered, for he was imagining Penelope’s hand stroking through his pubic hair, not Eloise’s, and when he saw Penelope’s arm working rhythmically he thought again of her soft fingers holding his prick tightly. It did not matter that she was nose to nose with Eloise now, the girls breathing in each other’s air and gasps and moans, and it did not matter that he was seeing Penelope’s skin flush in the candlelight for the first time because of Eloise’s work and not his own, for he was the one to have explained this to Penelope.
And he would find her as soon as possible, and explain to her she had misunderstood, that Colin was the only one she should writhe against. That Eloise’s hands were so much smaller than his, and she could not take her as Colin knew Penelope needed to be taken. That Penelope needed to be pinned and filled and bred, and Colin had not had time to explain this fully to her, but he would rectify this oversight immediately. His temple ached from where he pressed it hard against the edge of the frame, using the bite and sting to temper himself. He fucked his fist harder and faster and more desperately until he heard a floorboard squeak somewhere in the dark and his stomach dropped.
It was as if someone pulled a sheet from over a painting to reveal it for the first time: Colin saw himself from above for a crackling moment of clarity. He saw the scene fully- creeping in the hallway and peeping at a door he must never be caught staring into, his cock angry and leaking, touching himself here, where anyone could happen upon him, and he knew he could not continue. With a rumbling groan he tore himself away, moving before he might tell if he had been discovered.
He was filled with such nervous anticipation he barely wished a silent goodbye to Penelope- was she kissing Eloise? No. He would not allow himself to- they were simply very close, their lips brushing as they pled with each other. He would- He could not think about that now. Colin rushed to his bedchamber, heart in his throat and expecting to see Anthony or a servant around every corner, a stern hand clutching his shoulder and asking him what precisely he thought he was doing outside of Eloise’s door, but no one confronted him. He stumbled into his room and fumbled with the fall of his trousers, thinking of Penelope alone in a bedchamber. Of stealing in and waking her with a starving kiss, of her winding her arms around his neck as soon as she realized who was pressing her against her bed. Of pressing his tip inside her again and letting her cry with frustration, fucking his fist while he remembered her hands tugging at his shirt and her eyelashes sparkling with needy tears, and Colin came again imagining the slick grip of Penelope’s cunt wrapped around him fully.
Once again Colin felt little relief. He gasped for breath and felt his spend cooling on his belly and hip and thought only of Penelope curled next to Eloise, and how he must separate them. How he must claim Penelope before she became too used to being pleased by someone who was not Colin. How none of his plans for the future held the same weight, now that he had felt inside Penelope. He must secure her hand, and he must secure her obedience, and only then would he think about whatever he had felt so pressing before tonight.
Sleep largely eluded him. He spent the hours he should have rested instead fretting, and hoping, and grinding listlessly against his mattress- thinking of Penelope made him hard but his hand was not enough, and he would try only to think again of Penelope gasping for Eloise, and the hammering worry that Penelope would be stolen out from under him meant he was not be able to come. He was trapped and he was miserable and he was desperate for the morning, so he might take Penelope in his arms once more. He watched the shadows across his walls grow long and then short, and he humped uselessly against his bed and thought how cruel it was that he had waited long days to take her and now he had a long night to endure as well.
By the time the morning came Colin knew precisely what he would do. He called his valet early, the both of them blinking away their tiredness as Colin was readied for the day. He positioned himself purposefully just inside the drawing room, so he might see who walked down the hallway on the way to breakfast.
He rallied once more when he heard voices, and stood at attention with his eyes trained down the hall. Colin wondered if Penelope might be able to sense him, as the back of his neck prickled as soon as he heard footsteps he knew were hers. If he was imagining the relief he saw in her gaze when their eyes met, or if she truly longed for him as much as he longed for her.
Eloise was caught up in the middle of an explanation, her hands fluttering high and low as she described something that was making Penelope giggle. Pen’s steps slowed as she saw Colin, and slowed further as he gestured urgently that she should return the way she came. He stopped his pantomime just a moment before Eloise looked his way, and to her he nodded. Eloise grimaced theatrically and resumed her story.
“Actually,” said Penelope, her voice thready. “I forgot- my- in your bedchamber. I will not be a minute.” Colin would have corrected her if he were not purposefully silent. “Save me a seat?”
“Absentminded,” Eloise sniffed, her hands thudding against her skirts. “Very well. But I cannot promise any of the good toast will be left if you tarry.”
The girls grinned at each other, and Colin waited for Eloise to make her way into the parlor before he strode after Penelope.
Colin was on a mission, and so it took him very little time to catch up to Penelope. He took hold of her just above her elbow- some of the anxiety rippling inside of him was smoothed right away by the hitching breath she sucked in at his touch. He dipped his face nearer to hers and at his words, she gasped again.
“My bedchamber,” he murmured. “I will follow shortly.”
Penelope stood still while she absorbed his instruction. He heard her throat click as she swallowed nervously- but Colin knew she would heed him. She had been so good for him before, and he felt sure that she would continue to be so. He already felt much improved; just standing with her in the hallway made his recent tossing and turning seem far more distant than it was. Instead he focused on how large he felt towering over her, how seeing her melt and shiver in his presence made his spine feel like molten sugar, and he felt refreshed.
He stepped back, listening intently for anyone who might be moving about. Colin did not care one whit if they found the two of them soon- it just would not do for anyone to happen upon them yet. Colin thought this with every beat of his heart- not yet not yet not yet- as he walked toward his bedchamber. Not yet not yet not yet as he looked over his shoulder, craned his head to see no one might stumble across him. Not yet not yet not yet as he breathed a sigh of relief seeing his door, as if he had managed a great feat of daring and not simply walked from the drawing room to his bedchamber as he had done practically every day of his life. Not yet not yet not-
When he pushed his door open and saw Penelope standing inside, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, his mind went gloriously silent.
“Good morning,” Colin said as he closed his door firmly behind him. He said it as if they were promenading, or had sat across the table from one another. As if he were not prowling straight to her, looming over her as she stared wide-eyed up at him.
“Good morn-?” Penelope replied, her voice abandoning her as he took her hands in his. He raised them both toward his face and as his intent became clear, she squeaked.
He laughed as he kissed her hands, one and then the other and then back, his breath and his lips warming her dainty fingers. He laughed more when she let out punchy little moans as he pressed his mouth to her skin again, and again, and the more he kissed her the harder it was to remember his worries. He kissed each of her knuckles, and the backs of her hands, and when he turned her palms upward so he might kiss over her delicate wrists she swayed against him.
“Morn,” he said. “Hm. Will you not greet me properly?” He allowed the tip of his tongue to trace along her skin.
“Pro-” she said, and then moaned rather loudly. This made her blush, which made Colin press a heated kiss to her wrist, which made her moan all over. “Properly?” Penelope managed eventually, and she seemed so pleased with herself for sounding out the full word that Colin could no longer help himself. He pinned her hands to his chest, and he bent down before she could track his intention, and he kissed Penelope- truly kissed Penelope- for the first time.
Penelope whimpered against his mouth and tested his grip on her hands. He thought she might like to hold his face, as he would like to hold hers, and so he loosed his hold on her wrists so he could instead cup her cheek. Her eyes were clenched shut, and her face was tipped back as much as she could, and she had risen on the balls of her feet to attempt to close the distance. The smooth press of his lips against hers was heady, made him hard and eager for her, but she was not yet yielding to him. Her hands were clutching at his vest, and her mouth was slightly open but unmoving, and she kept herself very still as Colin pulled back slightly.
“Properly,” he agreed. “Though in lieu I will accept a proper kiss. Might you kiss me in return, I wonder?”
Her eyelashes fluttered open and she said Oh, as if she had not considered she might act. Her eyes focused on him, and then on his lips, and he wondered if she too was thinking of the carriage ride they took where she could not help but stare at his hands and his lips and then she said Oh, again, with more determination, and she met his mouth with hers.
Colin moaned too, and wrapped an arm around her waist so he might keep her close to him while he deepened their embrace. “Pen,” he said, ragged. “Angel. I spent all night-”
He thought better of it then, for who was she with presently? Who was kissing her senseless? He would act now, and amplify her pleasure, and then he would have this the rest of his days. She was looking at him expectantly, so instead he encouraged her backwards, guiding her halting steps until she arrived at his bed.
“Yearning,” he breathed over her. “Wanting.”
She pinked beautifully, her cheeks and neck and chest flushing as he spoke.
“Hoping,” Colin continued. “Realizing I neglected to show you something very important.”
“Oh?” she said, rather helplessly.
He nodded and wound his hands around her, cinching tight around her waist and cradling the back of her head. He kissed her desperately, with more force than he had yet to show her, and as she whimpered against him he dipped her gently down against the mattress.
“Are you wet for me?” he asked, sounding as breathless as Penelope looked.
Penelope blushed further and stilled as he knelt by the edge of his bed, like he might forget what he asked her if she simply did not move.
“None of that,” Colin said indulgently. “You have felt me hard against your belly. Are you not ready for me as I am for you?”
He did not wait for her to respond, instead placing his hands on her ankles and steadily pushing her skirts up. His mouth watered as he saw her calves bared to him, and her knees, and he felt faint and greedy at the sight. His hands trembled as they traveled over her dimpled thighs, spilling and beautiful and soft to his touch, and he did not pay attention when she breathed Colin, Colin, I- for he was too delighted to see her perfect cunt gleaming in the morning light.
“Gorgeous,” he moaned, and wasted no time at all pressing his finger inside.
“Colin,” Penelope said again, attempting to raise up on her elbows and then giving up entirely. “God, I-”
“Did you enjoy our kissing as much as I did? Did it make you shift and squirm? Did it make you think of what I did to you in the study?” Colin asked, watching his finger disappear inside of Penelope over and over. “Your body knows me already, see. It knows just what it needs. It wants me inside. Can you see how it takes everything I feed it? You are swallowing me whole, pet.”
Every moan and whimper Penelope gave him strengthened his desire for her to come apart on his fingers, so once she began shifting her hips he pressed a second inside. She gasped at the stretch of him and he grinned, feeling drunk on her already. Wishing to see her debauched further almost as much as he wished to taste her directly, he brought his head between her thighs. Licked a broad stripe up her swollen lips and back down, keeping pace with his fingers.
“Christ!” Penelope gasped. “Jesus Christ, Colin-”
In the future he might tease her for her unladylike language, or might suspend her in limbo until she agreed to say things far more blasphemous. This time, though, he wanted nothing but to please her, and so he lapped sweetly against her clit.
Look what I can give you, he thought as he tasted her. Look what I wish to spend the rest of my life doing.
“You mustn’t-” she choked out, hungry for air even as she gulped it down. “I can’t-”
“Of course you can,” Colin soothed. “You were made for this, Pen.” He sucked harder against her, and the moan she gave him in return could surely be heard down the hall. Colin could not find it within himself to care, as his plans would only be hastened if someone discovered them so. “You were made for me.”
Penelope wailed at that, and wailed longer and higher and more when he sucked and kissed against her. He continued until she began to tremble, and still and she began to shake, and did not stop even as she gasped and pled and tugged at his hair and insisted that she couldn’t possibly, that she did not know what he was doing, that something was building and building and she did not know. Colin did not stop as she bit at her own fingers, raked her fingernails against his scalp and thrashed and writhed until she chanced upon a pleasing rhythm for herself. He did not stop as she rocked herself on his fingers and said Please please please Colin, and he did not stop as she shook so violently he had to fight to keep his tongue pressed to her, and he kept himself right where he was as she cried out and said yes, Colin, please, yes.
His lips and cheeks and chin were covered in her arousal when he finally sat back. Penelope lay boneless on his bed, precisely where she should be, and Colin beamed down at her as he rose. Looked lovingly at her as he brushed hair back from her face, as he undid his trousers. He could not wait for her to be his completely- why should he wait, when she was pliant and beautiful and mostly his?
She looked well used already, beautiful and wanton beneath him, and she did not open her eyes as he knelt between her thighs. Thought nothing of it as he blanketed her with his body, or even as he fit the tip of himself at her entrance, for she had done this before. He bent to kiss the top of her head, and then her eyelid, and her cheek. He pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, saw the corners of them twitch up as she worked to come back to herself, and he could hold himself back no longer.
Colin thrust himself inside of her all at once, and a strangled groan ripped from Penelope’s throat as her eyes shot open. His were closed in pleasure, though, and he snapped his hips as she gasped and mewled as he carved new space inside of her.
“Shhh,” he whispered, and leaned down to kiss at the corner of her eye. “Shhh. Only for a moment, darling. You are taking me so well.”
“Colin,” Penelope said, pain making his name swell and stick in her throat. “Colin, you- you said we mustn’t-”
“So good for me.” Colin rolled his hips, willing Penelope’s body to soften and open for him so she might understand how thoroughly she loved his cock. “That was before, angel. Now you are mine, aren’t you?”
He thought she must belong so thoroughly to him that his will seeped out of his thoughts and into her skin, for her moan in response was only pleasure.
“Aren’t you?” he prompted, and she gasped Yes, yes.
“And I will fill you with my spend, won’t I?” and Penelope breathed Yes, yes, though she did not know what he was asking.
“And you will heed me well and take what I give you, won’t you? For we are to wed, and you will be my wife.”
Colin came so hard inside of Penelope then that he could not see for several moments afterwards, but he retained his other senses.
He heard her cry yes again. Heard her say I will- I will- your wife as he trembled on top of her, wanting to stay inside of her as long as he was able.
He felt her shaking hands on his jaw, and he felt her little fingers brush what he realized were his tears away, and he felt her gasp and shift beneath him.
Then he could see once more, and he saw her, and he could not help but smile. Colin realized that he had never been quite so thankful. Thankful for Penelope, and thankful for Penelope’s sweetness and beauty, and thankful for carriages, and thankful for quarreling servants. Most of all, however, Colin felt thankful to know that he would spend the best parts of his life just as he was, entwined with Penelope.