Eirin snuggled down closer into the warmth. She couldn't remember the last time she had woken up this warm. Was it late? Had Maria come in and left more coals to heat her room? She chanced to open her eyes and saw Lord Hawthorn on his side, his head propped up on his hand. He was staring down at her with a wide grin on his face.
Eirin furrowed her brows trying to figure out why she was in this bed. She never slept here; she always went back to her own bed. The events of the night came rushing back to her, and she felt herself blush. They had made love last night. Not just before they went to sleep, but he even woke her up in the night. I was so different than any other time they had ever lain together.
Lord Hawthorn leaned down and kissed Eirin on the lips, she was so cute when she first woke up. He realized he'd never seen her wake up before. Before she got herself under control he watched as everything rolled across her face. He saw the confusion about where she was and then the memories of last night.
Eirin's lips were soft and warm. He couldn't help himself but to take the kiss deeper. He rolled until he was lying over her, cupping her face in his hand and running his tongue across her teeth. He felt Eirin's tiny hands snake up around his neck and curved his arms under her shoulders to bring her closer.
Lord Hawthorn finally pulled away and looked down at her, her eyes were a bright golden, almost yellow color and her cheeks were flushed. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. "Good morning. If I had known what I was missing these last couple of months, I would have asked you to stay a long time ago."
Lord Hawthorn chuckled as he watched her blush. Dropping a kiss on her nose he rolled away from her and got out of bed. "Up. We are going out today." He headed towards the wardrobe to begin dressing.
Eirin sat up and pulled the sheet closer to herself. Looking at him, confused, she asked, "Where are we going?" She began to look around and saw her dress across the room, on the floor. She stopped wondering how to get to it without walking naked across the room when she heard him speak again.
"We are going for a ride." Eirin couldn't believe her ears; she loved to ride, but hadn't had the courage yet to ask him for the use of a horse.
Lord Hawthorn turned in time to see Eirin's face light up with her smile and he realized what he had been missing all these months she had been here and he had held himself back from her. He was such a fool. She was the most wonderful thing to ever come into his life. He was so happy they would be able to share this time together; they needed to learn each other on a personal level. They had skipped getting to know each other, but he planned to rectify that immediately.
Eirin and Lord Hawthorn spent a wonderful day riding all over the estate and even ventured into the woods. They had a picnic by the lake again and this time they spent the entire time talking. Lord Hawthorn told Eirin of his various land holdings throughout England and explained why he preferred to stay away from London. In turn he asked Eirin countless questions about herself. She told him the types of books she liked to read and other activities she liked to do. The only sour spot in the entire day was when Lord Hawthorn had mentioned Phillip.
Lord Hawthorn had explained that while he was in London during her recovery, he had made some enquiries into who Phillip was and what he had done. He had learned that Phillip's daughter was indeed a very vain girl and that Phillip himself was no better than a gutter snipe. He tried to ask Eirin how she had managed to hold herself with such decorum and subtly find out what her childhood had been like. Unfortunately Eirin had immediately become closed mouthed and refused to speak on the topic. He tried to match the girl he had learned about with the girl who sat in front of him but he found it impossible.
Lord Hawthorn had wished to try to question her further. He had learned so much more from London since then, such as the fact that it was widely rumored that Phillip had killed his partner and that the partner had had a daughter. Lord Hawthorn wished to find the daughter and help her. His heart had gone out to her when he found out what had happened. However, try as he might, he could not find a trace of her. As it turned out Lord Hamilton had lost his wife when his daughter had been very young and since then had sheltered her from all of London, practically becoming a hermit himself.
For Eirin the afternoon had been magical. She didn't mind talking about herself, for she had learned to live within the moment. She knew that events could turn without any notice and to plan too far ahead or to look back only caused pain. For her, her life now was as Lord Hawthorn's whore, or whatever he wished to call her, and the future would take care of itself when it came. She much preferred not to think of her father or the home she had known, it only hurt.
As they arrived back at the castle Lord Hawthorn directed her to return to her room to change and meet him in the library for drinks before dinner. As Eirin entered the library Lord Hawthorn could not suppress his moment of disappointment. Eirin had indeed gone up to wash and change, however she was still dressed in the same type of drab outfit she had worn since her arrival. He wished for once he could see her in some fine clothes with jewels at her neck and ears. He wished for just a moment that she could be his lady.
Suddenly, Lord Hawthorn had a revelation. She could be anything he wanted her to be. There was no reason she could not dress in the finest clothes in all of England. He decided then to send for a seamstress to come to the castle and outfit Eirin. He even had a few requests of the seamstress himself. There were several outfits he knew would look wonderful on her small frame, he was suddenly in an even better mood than he had been and approached Eirin with a glass of sherry and a smile.
Eirin was more subdued at dinner than she had been during the day. Lord Hawthorn had originally thought it was because she was worried about being served by the maid, Lori, again, however that could not be the case. As another maid entered to serve their first course Eirin raised her eyebrows but did not make a comment.
Once the maid had taken leave of them Lord Hawthorn informed Eirin that he had arranged a marriage for Lori with the town farrier. A man, he assured her, who would be able to keep Lori under control and out of trouble. She had already been sent home to her parents to prepare for her upcoming nuptials. Eirin smirked but otherwise made no remark.
Lord Hawthorn was curious as to this turn of her mood. He tried to enquire if something was wrong, or bothering her, however she merely said that the day had been exciting and she had become tired. He offered to skip tonight's game of chess at the end of dinner, but she declined, saying that if she never played him she would never beat him. That caused Lord Hawthorn to laugh out loud. He laughed so hard that he was forced to take a drink of wine to regain his breath. He thought he loved her wit the most.
Eirin was having a hard time remaining upbeat with Lord Hawthorn. He had been wonderful to her all day; it was not his fault his staff gossiped about her. As she had been returning to the library she had heard two maids in one of the chambers talking about the whore that had caused Lori to get fired. They had continued by questioning how a whore felt it her right to be a snob to the entire castle.
As much as the words shocked her, what was more surprising was how much they had not hurt her feelings. She realized that she had finally, truly accepted her position here. She thought that maybe she should be upset by that, but somehow, she wasn't. What it did accomplish, though, was to remind her that she had not inserted her sponge the night before. She had vowed to not allow him to sidetrack her to the point of forgetting again. As much as she had accepted her position here, she knew she was not ready to bring a bastard into it with her.
As they played chess Eirin made a concerted effort to bring herself out of her quiet. She had noticed his strained efforts to help her be lively and fun again. She knew that was also part of her job, so she once again kept up a lively banter with him, avoiding all topics she felt would be too serious or show too much insight into her life.
Once back in their room, with Eirin finally winning the game after brining him to tears with her witticisms, Eirin made her way to her own room to prepare for the night. Lord Hawthorn tried to repeat the previous night's performance and keep her from going; however, tonight she had her wits about her and insisted on preparing in her room and returning to him.
By the time Eirin returned to the room, Lord Hawthorn was already in the bed so Eirin made her way over and climbed onto the foot of it. She started at his feet, kissing her way across each of his toes and brushing her lips over the top of his feet to his ankles. When she reached his legs, she began massaging his calves while leaving scattered kisses all across the tops of his legs.
As Eirin made her way up his legs, she could feel him becoming more tense due to the effort it took to hold himself still. Finally, she reached his groin and looking up into his eyes reached up to take him fully in her hand. Lord Hawthorn thrust into her hand before gaining control of himself. Eirin looked back down to see pre-come seeping from the tip and leaned forward to lick across the tip. She continued licking as she made her way down the underneath side of his manroot. As she reached the base, she placed kisses around his entire sac, every now and then letting her tongue reach out to lick him.
Coming back up to the head she then placed her entire mouth over him, slowly taking him into her mouth. She still could not get very much of him into her mouth before gagging, but using her hands as well as her mouth she proceeded to pleasure his entire cock. Three months ago, she never would have been able to envision herself even seeing a man naked. Now, she found herself enjoying bringing this man pleasure with her mouth and hands. His cock was slick with her saliva and she could taste the beginnings of his climax.
Before she had a chance to bring him to the culmination of his pleasure he reached down and grabbing her under the arms pulled her over his body before rolling them both over and taking her lips with his own. Eirin tried to reach between them to take him into her hand again, however he stopped her by pulling her hands above her head. Eirin parted her thighs and wrapped them around his waist, trying to bring him even closer to her.
Lord Hawthorn lowered his head to the space between her breasts. He could feel her ribs, still, and licked along each one as he made his way over to her right breast with his mouth. He licked the sensitive underside, feeling her push her chest higher to him. He loved the taste of her skin, the slightly salty mix from where she only rinsed down after their day in the sun.
He tried to slip farther down her body, but her legs were like a vice around his waist, begging him silently to stay where he was. He could feel her pressing herself more tightly to his stomach. Feel her moisture as she tried to rub against him without releasing her legs. He raised his eyes to her face and saw her eyes were closed, her lips shiny from being licked and bitten.
