258 Strip (1)

"Did you…Did you just bite me?" Alessandra touched her neck where she felt a slight pain. "Edgar, I am not something for you to munch down on."

"I beg to differ," Edgar replied then licked where he had playfully bit her. "If I had the chance I would definitely eat you."

"Have you been lying to me? Are you really some kind of monster?" Alessandra pulled away from Edgar the moment she felt his teeth against her skin again. By the time they returned home she would be covered in bite marks.

Edgar leaned back against the carriage seat, staring up at the woman on his lap. "Probably," he replied. Edgar was tempted to take off her mask now but it was pointless as she would have to put it back on when they returned home.

"Hmm. That would explain many things," Alessandra replied. She had a lot of mixed emotions with her clear view of Edgar with the top buttons of his shirt open giving her a preview of his toned body, his messy hair thanks to the wind when they had exited the home, and the expression on his face. She remembered this expression from their trip as when he wanted her. "We shouldn't fool around in a carriage."

Edgar ran his tongue against the tip of his teeth. He snaked a hand around her waist to keep her in place just in case she had plans of running away. The view before him was too wonderful for her to move now. "There is no rule that I cannot do what I want with my wife in this carriage. And even if there was, I would never obey it. Luckily, I have no intentions of letting your first time be like this."

"For someone who tries to do things with the law, you sure do love going around them when it comes to getting something from me. I take it that doesn't mean I can get off your lap now?" Alessandra asked.

"Why ask when you already know the answer? You can start to strip now-"

"No," Alessandra shook her head. "The promise was when we returned home. I know you said things like this can happen everywhere but I prefer the privacy of our bedroom."

"I can send home all the servants. Would that be enough?" Edgar asked. He had many places in mind where they could enjoy themselves. At some point, using the bed tended to become boring.

"And what of Sally, Alfred, and all the other servants who live on your property? They will have no place to go," Alessandra called out the one flaw in his plan.

However, Edgar always had a solution to get what he wanted. "I have many homes, Alessandra. I can send them to a couple and call it a nice vacation for all their hard work. I will not worry about this now. Once we start to be intimate, you'll find yourself not caring about where you are in our home. The pleasure will take over your need to be decent at all times. Our home is in view. I can hardly wait to see you strip for me."

"Why couldn't we live farther away? I should have fallen to sleep," Alessandra muttered, regretting not thinking of this sooner.

"Don't be a quitter, Alessandra. You are the one who said you are ready for what comes next. You are aware you will be naked before my eyes when that time comes? Just like before. Consider it more practice to be more confident," Edgar grinned.

"I don't wish to practice with you anymore, Edgar. Aren't you cold with your chest exposed? The inside of the carriage is not that warm. You might catch a cold," Alessandra said, taking it upon herself to button up his shirt.

"Will you nurse me back to health if I become sick? Do anything your patient requires of you?"

"I am not going to answer that, Edgar. You are devious enough to catch a cold and have me do all sorts of things while pretending to be weak. For all the times that you have teased me, I would enjoy seeing you sick. I might even call Caleb to take you away so that he would annoy you-oww!" Alessandra winced from Edgar pinching her. "Who needs to watch out for enemies when my husband takes it upon himself to torture me."

"A little pain never hurts anyone. It brings out such a beautiful expression. Scream my name this time," Edgar pinched her again.

Alessandra bit her lip to refrain from making a sound. Sometimes she wanted to inflict pain on her husband for the things he did to her but clearly, he would just enjoy it.

Alessandra felt relieved when the carriage door was opened as they were back home. She didn't care about Timothy averting his eyes when he caught her sitting on Edgar's lap and hopped out of the carriage after somehow getting away from Edgar's grip.

Alessandra picked up the bottom of her dress to hurry up the stairs to get out of the snow and get away from Edgar for now. "Hello, Alfred! The party was fun. I had a lot of fun. You can rest now that we are back," she quickly spoke to catch him up on how her time out went.

"Hello," Alfred replied after barely getting a word of what Alessandra had said to him. All he heard was the party was fun. He looked down at the carriage where Edgar exited with the biggest smile Alfred had ever seen. "Welcome back," he greeted the happy man.

Edgar took notice of the chair Alfred had by the window to keep watch for when they would return. "Have a servant make some tea for you and go to bed Alfred. See to it no one comes to my bedroom before you turn in for the day."

Edgar made a mental note to have a conversation with Alfred about resigning from being the butler and just living here as a relative. The old fox wasn't as young as he thought to continue this work. It would be an interesting conversation as Alfred would certainly fight him on resigning.

Edgar pushed that to the side for now since something entertaining was bound to happen shortly. Alessandra could run all she wanted but he would get to watch her strip by the end of the day.

"It must have been fun," Alfred agreed with Alessandra. The house was so much livelier thanks to Edgar's marriage. "I must warn Sally not to tend to the Duchess. We mustn't interfere with the arrival of an heir," he hurried off to find Sally.

Meanwhile, Edgar opened his bedroom door and found Alessandra sitting on the edge of the bed with her mask already off and her hair tied into a ponytail. "Alessandra-"

"Come sit on the bed. Let's do this before this confidence fades away. I set myself up for this so I won't back out," Alessandra stood from the bed. A promise was a promise and she had only run to the bedroom to calm her nerves before Edgar arrived. Had she walked here with him, there was no doubt in her mind he would have teased her with each step. "Do not say a word, Edgar. Just sit there," she pointed to exactly where she wanted him to be.

"This feels like I have traveled back to my tutor telling me this."

Edgar for once was obedient and sat on the bed, eagerly awaiting what was to come. Depending on how much Alessandra enticed him tonight, waiting until his birthday to make love to Alessandra would be out the window. Right now that idea had one foot out the window as he watched Alessandra begin to untie the string at the front of her dress.

'I shall have her tonight,' Edgar quickly changed his mind.

Alessandra looked down at her dress as she untied the tight string to avoid looking at Edgar. She could feel his burning gaze on her and knew if she looked, her heart would flutter and she would lose all train of thought because of how much Edgar's expression when he wanted her affected her mind and body.

Alessandra took a breath when the dress felt loose after the string was successfully untied. She started to push one sleeve off her shoulder but she was quickly interrupted by Edgar's voice.

"Look at me," his words came out as a command.

Alessandra was caught off guard by how deep it had become and instead of scolding him for breaking her rule of keeping quiet, she found herself obeying his words and looking up to face him. Alessandra felt a fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach as Edgar's expression was more intense than it was before. He sat with his arms folded and one foot placed over the other.

"Continue but do not look away from me. The moment you avert your eyes I shall punish you."

Alessandra continued with what she was doing, this time pushing both sleeves off her shoulder at the same time letting the dress fall to her ankles to get it over with. She had done as she had promised but since Edgar had pleaded for her at the party, she wanted to do more.

To Edgar's surprise, Alessandra touched her corset to start taking it off.