hough it could be painful, would heal quite easily and could actually take quite a bit more ill-treatment than other parts of the body. Still, she should check and make sure that her mistress had not been completely ill-used, although if she had made it up to the bedroom on her own two feet then surely the damage couldn't be so bad.
"May I see, my Lady?" she asked, turning and tentatively lifting the hem of Irene's skirt. With another little whimper, Irene nodded, huddling into her arms to avoid looking at Flora's face as her maid saw her shame.
"Oh Miss...." To Irene's shock, her maid laughed with relief. "You had me going there! You won't need the salve at all."
"What?! But... but... he brutalized me!" Irene jumped up and ran over to the mirror as Flora watched, some sympathy as well as some contempt in the maid's eyes. Lifting her skirts, Irene turned her back to the large mirror, looking over her shoulder and then gaping as she saw what Flora had seen.
A shapely bottom, very pink to be sure... but nothing else. No welts. No bruises. It wasn't even a very dark pink. In fact, it was the same pink that Irene's face was now turning as she wondered why something that had hurt so badly... but then had it hurt that badly? She'd endured true pain when she'd fallen out of a tree when she was younger and sprained her wrist. It hadn't even hurt as badly as that.
"A man has a right to discipline his wife, my Lady," Flora said, having remembered herself and reverting back to Irene's new honorific. There was quite a bit of sympathy in her voice, she realized that Irene had never been spanked that she knew of. No doubt it had been a bit of a shock to the young woman. While the Baroness was often cruel and vicious, she hadn't needed such measures to keep her daughter in line because she'd kept her constantly cowed. Now that Irene was coming out of her shell, she would need someone to set boundaries for her. But Flora also knew how much a spanking could hurt, especially when it was unexpected. "Now that you know what to expect, next time won't be so bad."
"Next time..." Irene shook her head and dropped her skirts, turning to face Flora and ask the question that was now burning in her mind. "My mother... she showed me a maid being spanked once, she had... it looked so painful... Malvin was doing it..." The butler who ran the household on her father's estate, although he'd been hired by the Baroness and reported to her rather than to the Baron.
"If it was Malvin then you saw a caning, not a spanking," Flora said, shivering a little. She remembered Malvin's form of discipline all too well. "He has a liking for the cane, he does."
"You...?"
Flora pursed her lips and nodded her head. "I druther a spanking any day."
Putting her hands over her bottom, which was still a little sore although she already could barely feel the after effects unless she actually pressed against the rounded curves, she couldn't imagine a punishment how much something worse would feel. The spanking she’d just received had hurt enough as it was. To know that Flora had endured something even more painful…
"That's awful."
"Yes, my Lady," Flora said. She paused and then decided that she'd already stepped so far beyond the bounds of her usual duties that she might as well give a last little warning. Lord knew the young woman's mother had never seen fit to give the poor thing any useful advice. "I'd be careful around the Viscount, my Lady. He seems a good sort, but he still has the right to discipline you as he sees fit."
"Thank you Flora," Irene said through lips that felt numb. She gave herself a little shake. "Can you help me out of my dress? I think I'd like to lay down for a bit."
Truly she just wanted time to think, and if Hugh did come searching for her then at least she could feign sleep. For a moment she'd felt conflicted, realizing that perhaps her husband was not quite the monster she'd painted him to be immediately following the spanking. Then she reminded herself that she shouldn't be feeling relief about that, it shouldn't matter. Her whole reason for marrying him without a fuss, other than the help it gave her family, was to learn how to please a man so that she could become Alex's mistress.
It didn't matter what Hugh thought of her or whether he allowed her to ride his horse. From now on she would only focus on two things, getting him an heir and cultivating Alex for after she'd done her duty to Hugh. Just like the other ladies of the ton in arranged marriages, she'd been foolish to think that hers might be any different. A man with feelings for her would never treat her so, Alex would never treat her or any other woman in such a manner... Hugh was unworthy of the false feelings he'd managed to engender in her with his facade of gentleness and caring.
Slipping into the bed, Irene hardened her heart against him, glad that they were to return to London soon. Perhaps it had been for the best that his true colors had not been revealed till now. She had greatly enjoyed learning how to please a man and soon a man deserving of such pleasure would reap that reward.
Chapter 12
Eleanor wasn’t pregnant and she didn’t know whether she was happy or sad about it. As usual, with anything to do with Edwin, her feelings were incredibly conflicted. Part of her was saddened, because she had enjoyed the idea of carrying Edwin’s child and having a part of him irrevocably tied to her. Another part was frustrated because now she didn’t feel as though she could leave with Grace, not without becoming the kind of scandal that Grace had invited upon herself, and Eleanor knew that neither her father nor her husband would bear that quietly the way Lord Brooke had. The worst part was, she was relieved. Relieved that she had a reason to stay with Edwin. Relieved to have her plan to leave his presence stymied.
Relieved to still be trapped with him.
Logically she knew that she was being ruled by instinct now rather than logic. Emotion rather than intelligence. Her brain knew that she was sinking closer and closer to the abyss of misery that her mother lived in. Her heart didn’t care, wanting to wring every last bit of happiness that she could out of her life and her husband before the rug was pulled out from under her.
In the meantime she distracted herself by organizing the dinner which would welcome Hugh and his new wife home. After her discussion with Grace, who had begun venturing out of the house for exclusive teas and at-homes, although she’d retreated from Lady Carrington’s ball last night when Lord Brooke had appeared around midnight, Eleanor was very curious to know how her brother’s honeymoon had gone.
******
Hugh helped his wife out of the carriage in front of his London house, trying not to look as impatient and frustrated as he felt. Ever since he’d spanked her Irene had become cold rather than warm – although last night he’d managed to heat her up once they’d gone to bed. He supposed that he should have expected that she wouldn’t return to her normal self immediately, but it hadn’t made for a very pleasant carriage ride. Eventually he’d given up on making conversation in the face of her single word answers.
It was good to be back in the city. The first thing he wanted to do, after making sure that Irene was settled into the household and introduced to the staff, was meet with his father and then his friends. His lips twitched downwards as Irene swanned by him, barely even glancing at him as she headed straight up the steps to the doorway, forcing him to step quickly after her to catch up.
The introduction of Irene to the household went fairly well, although she barely glanced at him once she met the Housekeeper, Mrs. Lewiston. Obviously eager to show the new mistress around, the two of them went off together. Although Hugh had hoped to show Irene around the London house, he realized that to force his company on her might do more harm than good at this point.
Grumbling under his breath he let Marling, the butler, know that he was going out before grabbing his coat and hat and making a tactical retreat.
******
An hour later he found himself in Edwin’s billiard room, rapidly losing his second game of pool. Unfortunately his father had gone with his mother to Bath almost as soon as Hugh had left on his honeymoon, and unusually his father was still there. The household was mostly closed up, although he had been presented with a p
acket of letters and work that his father wished for him to tend to now that Hugh was back in the capital. He’d only given it a quick look through but it seemed as though Lord Harrington was taking a page from the Earl of Clarendon’s book. Like Edwin’s father, he wanted to spend some time in the country and was giving his son the responsibilities of tending to affairs in town.