"Nell," he growled. "Where the bloody hell did you learn to do that?"
Perhaps it could be considered his just desserts if some other man had coaxed his wife into some kind of intimacies, considering what a rakehell Edwin had been before he married. But the pain that lanced through his chest said that his heart didn't care for such equality, and the utter rage that engulfed him indicated that his temper didn't either. He'd thrash whatever man had dared touch Eleanor in such a way. And once he got himself under control, he would blister her bottom like never before for allowing it.
"Cyn- Cynthia," Eleanor whispered, looking almost frightened. "Did I... Did I do it wrong?"
The answer was so unexpected that Edwin literally felt dizzy, as if his world had just shifted on its axis. Relief, so sweet it was almost painful, swamped him. Every muscle in his body relaxed and he loosened his hold on her hair. She wasn't lying, she was too surprised, too shocked by his reaction to think of a lie like that. Besides, her answer was so ridiculous that it had to be the truth.
"Cynthia? How did she k
now?" he asked. Not particularly because he wanted to know the answer, but because he couldn't think of anything else to say. Of course he knew the Countess had told Wesley that Cynthia had been throwing herself at various gentlemen, and Wesley himself had said the chit was brazen, but Edwin certainly hadn't expected this.
"She said that gentlemen had asked her to do it..." Eleanor said hesitantly, reaching up to rub the back of her head. Immediately Edwin let go of her hair completely, smoothing the hair with his fingers, a look of contriteness on his face.
"I'm sorry, sweet, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. "I was just so surprised... I..." He hesitated, scrambling for words as he reached out for her.
And Eleanor realized exactly what had happened. Whereas Edwin's fury had obviously abated, hers now sprung up to take its place. She glared at him.
"You thought another man had…! You thought I did... that I did that with another man!" She pointed her finger at him accusingly, absolutely furious. "You... You utter slow top!" Didn't he realize that she had no interest in any other man but him? It's not like she was the one who was backward in showing affection. In her anger, she conveniently forgot that she originally also spent just as much time giving him the cold shoulder in her efforts to spur him into declaring his feelings.
"I'm sorry, Nell," he said, grabbing her hand with the pointing finger and trying to kiss it. She yanked it away, still utterly enraged. "I just knew that I hadn't shown you... well... anything like that. You're a very passionate innocent, for all I knew some bloody scoundrel had tricked you into doing something like that." The dark look that crossed his face at the very thought was heartening, but it didn't do anything to relieve her frustration and fury.
"Get out. I don't want you anywhere near me you... you... blackguard!"
The contrite expression on Edwin's face - or, as close to contrite as the expression on his face every became - subsided under a much sterner mien. "I apologized Nell, I know I hurt your feelings but I won't tolerate insults."
"Like the way you just insulted me?" she spat at him, not at all mollified. "Get out. If you think I could do that with another man... well... maybe I should! That would show you, you bloody bounder!"
With a growl, Edwin grabbed hold of her wrist again and yanked. Eleanor shrieked as she was pulled forward, and then yelled out in fury as she realized that he'd pulled her over his lap. Ignoring her screeching, Edwin ripped the gossamer gown from her body, leaving her gasping as he rent the fabric up the center and bared her. Not that it would have been any protection anyway.
Shifting himself so that his legs were off the bed and Eleanor was hanging over them, Edwin sighed. He did feel a bit guilty about what he'd suspected of his wife, not to mention the fact that he had insulted her, but that had been in all innocence whereas she was deliberately being as outrageous as possible. Not to mention the cursing. Her threat that she would go find another man to be intimate with had his blood boiling, even though deep down he knew she didn't really mean it. At least he hoped she didn’t.
But either way, such a threat was not to be tolerated.
"If this is what comes of allowing you to take the lead, you won't be allowed such a privilege again," he growled, landing a hard blow to the center of her bottom without any preamble or warm-up. Eleanor shrieked and kicked, forcing him to shift the position of his arm slightly to make sure she didn't slide right off his lap.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"I apologized. I explained."
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"You didn't have to accept the apology if you were still angry, but continued insults will not be tolerated."
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"And do not ever try to order me from our bed again. It will not work and you'll get this and worse."
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
Eleanor was howling now, her bottom turning a bright, roasted red as Edwin's voice calmly intoned over her furious yells. Tears dripped down her face and onto the floor as she wore herself out struggling, to no avail. Hanging limply over his lap, she wished she could shut her ears to his lectures about proper conduct and threats to lock her in their bedroom morning, noon and night if she even thought about intimacies with another man, all the while Edwin continued to pepper her burning bottom with further chastisement.
It was the longest spanking she'd ever endured, her legs kicking long after she'd thought her muscles had turned to water as occasional strokes landed sharply against the tender crease between her cheeks, her wrinkled bottom hole, or the plump swell of her pussy lips. That last elicited particularly pained cries from her, something that Edwin noted because the contact from his palm increased after that.
He spanked her entire bottom, from the upper curve down to her sit spot and then continued down to mid-thigh, with occasional hits in between on her tender quim. She was burnt up, seared, all over her bottom and in between. And yet she knew that every time his hand connected with the plump lips of her womanhood, he could feel the wetness that was trickling out there. Shame, which she never became accustomed to, welled up inside of her and just made her wetter.
Finally he pulled her back up and cuddled her on his lap, letting her weep onto his shoulder as he used the cravat she'd blindfolded him with to wipe her face clean. The press of his hard thighs against her bottom was painful, but the comfort and warmth of his arms was too much to resist.
"I'm sorry," she said, weeping more tears as he gentled her. "I was just so incensed that you would think... I didn't want to listen to your apology. I just wanted to hurt you."