Page 86 of The Favourite

She felt him sink even deeper inside her, his breathing harsh, though he stayed still. There was no question about it. Their joining felt good. His expression wavered for a moment between pleasure and something else Jane could not quite identify. She felt a moment’s panic. Was it not as good for him? What was it? What had she done? It was so hard to think when he was stretching and filling her so completely. Despite the thrill of alarm running through her, she could not help but arch her back in wordless appeal. “Alisander,” she whispered.

“Oh fuck,” he wheezed, shutting his eyes. “I am not going to last. You are not a good girl at all; you’re a very bad girl to take your revenge on me like this. How dare you?” His shaken words made no sense to Jane, so she gave up struggling to comprehend him and simply let herself focus on how good he felt, biting her lip and pressing her knees into his sides.

His hands grasped her hips hard, and she rocked them against him.

“Jane,” he gasped. “You little—” He groaned, pitching forward, and shifted his weight onto his forearms so he loomed directly over her, staring into her face.

Her eyes flew open. “Was that not—?” She had thought he was urging her to move, but it seemed he had been trying to pin her in place. “I thought—?”

“Do it again,” he murmured, and when she did, his eyes flashed. “Fuck. So good, Jane,” he grunted, his eyes glazing over. “Yes, that’s it, fuck me. Give me more.” She obeyed, and almost cautiously, he started to move against her in tandem. Jane whimpered at the sensation of the slow, pleasurable grind, as it started to gain momentum.

She felt so strange, aiding and abetting him in the act. He was not guiding her at all with his hands, and he was staring at her face so intently, she ought to be embarrassed. She was a willing participant this time. Nay, she was giving as good as she got. The realization thrilled her, and directly after it, Jane experienced a moment of clarity. Their laboring bodies, their gasping breath, everything clicked into place. They were working together to reach mutual bliss.

Alisander’s eyes drifted shut and his hips started to pound against her own as their rhythm increased. “Fuck—Jane—” he groaned. “I can’t—Gods!”

It was a lot. It was almost too much. If she was not careful … Her eyes widened. It was going to happen again, she realized, recognizing the frantic shudder running through her. She threw her arms about him, sinking her fingernails into his shoulder blades and wrapping her legs around his back.

“Fuck yesssss,” he hissed. She felt his hot breath at her ear. “Now Jane, you know it’s my turn,” he admonished her in a raspy voice. “Behave yourself.” He sank his teeth into her ear lobe and Jane let out a shriek. Everything shook, the bed, where their bodies were joined, the part of him that was embedded so deeply within her, that he made her ache.

For one terrible, wonderful moment, she could focus on nothing but the overwhelming pleasure which engulfed her like a wave, stealing her breath and all reason from her. He spoke her name, once through gritted teeth and then again, in a sort of awed whisper. Then she was lying limp and shaken, and he was finally kissing her.

“Fuck, that was—no, no, don’t cry,” he crooned. “Just fantastic, my darling Jane. You were so perfect, just as I always knew you would be. Even more than I ever dreamed you could be.”

More nonsense words, she thought dimly, even as she passed her arms around his neck and let him comfort her. “I’m not upset,” she managed to sob as he pressed his lips to her eyelids and her cheeks. “Not at all.” The tears were simply a sign that she was not intended for such rapture, but how could she possibly begin to explain that?

He pulled back to look down at her face. “I know,” he said simply. Which seemed an odd thing to say to a woman who could not stop crying, but so long as he did not think her distraught, she was content to lie still while he tutted and fussed over her. “Clever Jane,” he murmured, “my beauty, my treasure.” For the first time, Jane allowed herself to wonder if he actually meant any of these things. The thought made her heart beat even faster.

Finally, she was calm, and he drew back from her, fetching a cool cloth which he pressed over her face and neck, before passing it between her legs. “Shhh, let me make you comfortable,” he murmured though Jane had voiced no objection. She felt too worn out for outraged modesty at this point.

She was already drifting to sleep when he joined her again moments later, peppering kisses over her shoulder and settling at her back. “Go to sleep now, Jane” he ordered, wrapping an arm about her waist. A pointless thing to say, she thought with surprise, then promptly realized she had been hanging on, until he said it.

20

Alisander was in a good mood the next morning, despite the tiresome need to write his official weekly report. How could he fail to be when Jane was becoming so delightfully abandoned in his bed? She had been shy again that morning, and it had made him want her again with a fierceness that had been a little alarming at such an uncivilized hour.

He had wanted to drag the covers off her and kiss her all over, then tease her mercilessly for good measure. However, she had been tousled and bashful, and he had been forced to content himself with gazing over at her a good deal as he washed and dressed. He had things to do that day, which did not include his wife.

He had pulled himself together again sufficiently to leave their bedchamber, gather his papers, and contemplate his report. In previous times, he would have dashed this off in his quarters, but now since they were crawling with womenfolk and babies, he had to go elsewhere. Also, there was his ridiculously distracting wife. When she was around, he found it hard not to make her his priority. No, he needed to get out of their rooms, or he would end up cornering her in the bedroom, and his duties would be forgotten.

Impulsively, he returned therein, and finding Jane bent over the wash basin in her shift, he turned her about and informed her he was leaving, bestowed a chaste kiss upon her brow, then a not so chaste kiss upon her mouth. “Be good today,” he told her, “and think of me.”

Jane, clearly shaken by such unaccustomed affection first thing in the morning, turned very pink and blurted, “I am always good,” while darting her eyes at Ayleth, who she clearly thought he had neglected to notice.

“Yes, you are,” he agreed, running a finger down her flushed cheek. Did she really think he had not seen Ayleth laying out her clothes? If the annoying woman had not been there, his embrace would have been a good deal bolder. He would not have turned her around, for one thing. Unable to resist, he dropped another lingering kiss to her lips. “Say you will miss me, wife.”

“I—you will be home soon enough, I daresay,” Jane choked out in adorable confusion.

“I will,” he agreed, “and then I will make you regret this cold leave-taking, madam.” He lowered his voice. “I daresay you are not so cool with your lover. It is too bad you make your husband suffer so.”

Jane’s eyes widened and she stared at him. “You—you are pleased to jest, my lord!” she said in a strangled voice.

He laughed. “Yes, I am,” he agreed and slapped her backside before strolling from the room. Her outraged gasp lingered in his ears as he made his way out of the palace. Really, he was in a most remarkably good mood.

Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, he made for the home of a prominent Lasconian merchant, who happened to be one of Willhelm’s premier contacts in Karadok, one Gaston Lemarchier. Lemarchier, plague take him, had been bombarding him with curt requests for a meeting ever since he had returned to the capital.

Approaching Lemarchier’s house in Thicket Lane, Alisander paused a moment, allowing the man who had followed him at a discreet distance to observe which door he knocked on. Lemarchier’s manservant, Paulk, seemed surprised to see him but admitted him at once.

“But Monsieur is not expecting you, milord,” the servant exclaimed as he took Alisander’s cloak and hat. “He is in a meeting right now with one of his associates.”