Arianna

One year later…

Matty Fielding. Her husband and the Earl of Stonehurst, Matty Fielding the insatiable, tender lover. Arianna would not have changed him for the world.

After what had felt like months of umming and ahhing, they had finally taken a few days away from London to travel down to Avebury for some riding. If the truth must be said, Arianna was glad to get away from town. Only a month was left until the current session closed, and while she admired Matty’s enthusiasm for politics and his post, she was not so enthused about life in London.

“All right,” Matty had conceded one night after dinner, “we’ll spend three days in Avebury, and then a night in Bath with your sister, on the condition we visit that dratted tea house of yours at some point.”

Arianna had been working on her most recent poem at the time, having waited until the last minute to implement Mr Mancini’s suggestions. “That’s a sound enough deal you’ve struck,” she had replied, but there was nothing sound about how the pair had spent their sojourn so far.

Placing a hand over her mouth to conceal her moans, Arianna stared up at her husband. She was surprised he had enough room in the carriage to manoeuvre as he did, driving into her in such a way as to make her throw her head back. It was doubly impressive considering the blasted carriage was still moving. But Matty was insatiable, and she was all too eager to stoke his fire; and a night at Regina’s home meant a night in separate rooms. 

With a knee on the bench, Matty dragged Arianna closer by her hips, thrusting even deeper into her. She let out a cry of delight at the sudden change in angle, and she laughed as Matty leaned down to kiss her, and stifle her sighs. 

“You’ll give us away, my love,” he rasped, abruptly drawing her up and pinching the skin at her waist. “I want you like this now.”

Suddenly, she was straddling him in that way that he liked, rolling her hips, taking him wholly. Matty let his head hang back against the back of the bench, and she smiled at the delicious sheen of sweat on his forehead. Her husband made her feel powerful and complete. 

“Is this what you need, my lord?” she teased as she rode him, but she knew from the way he gripped her hips that it was. He sucked on his lower lip, and that always meant he was close. 

“Touch yourself,” he ordered, and she was all too happy to comply. 

Matty’s face twisted as he spilled himself inside of her, and his repressed, quiet groan was enough to send her over the edge. Falling against his chest, Arianna allowed herself to catch her breath before Matty inevitably slid out of her and covered her in kisses.

 

***

 

Though Arianna was not foolish enough to say it aloud, Regina had doubled in size and was doubly loud because of it. It was only natural, with her pregnancy, that her sister should ask to be tended to night and day, but Arianna had not anticipated that she would become her lady’s maid for the duration of their stay.

Despite her incessant stream of complaints, Regina seemed enormously happy. Red was constantly flitting in and out of whichever room Regina occupied to cater to his wife’s demands, despite their vast household staff, and he did it happily. 

There had been a time, however brief, when Arianna had worried Red would not have the patience for family life, but he took to it like a duck to water and seemed more eager than Regina to welcome their first babe. 

As Regina lounged in a velvet chaise longue, explaining her various aches and pains, Arianna looked over the grounds of Redmund’s new estate from the window. Red had bought the manor in Bath outright once Regina had agreed to marry him, and the garden sparkled thanks to their mother’s advice. 

It was a terribly large place called Heatherhill, about an hour’s ride from Warminster Abbey. Her husband had gone with Red to inspect the grounds with the gamekeeper, and she could hardly wait for him to return.

“Would you please step away from the window and stop moping about? Really, anyone would think you weren’t married to the cad, the way you pine after him.” Regina slid back up on the chair. “He’ll be fine.”

“Actually, I was just admiring your gardens,” Arianna replied, coming to sit beside her sister. She plucked a lemon sherbet from the bowl balancing on Regina’s belly and popped it into her mouth. “It’s a lovely place. You’ve done well for yourself.”

“Oh, none of that! You know I would have married Red if he was the poorest man on earth. Well, I like to think that, at least.” Regina hummed and took Arianna’s hand in her own. “I wish you came down more. Is there nothing that you can do to convince Matty to seat in the country definitely?”

“Not while he is the only one in charge of the earldom,” Arianna explained. 

“There are ways to change that.”

“What do you mean?”

Regina cocked a brow and looked down at her belly. “It’s as easy as baking him an heir, sister.”

Arianna let out a shriek of laughter. “Red has made you terribly crass, you know. Even if I was pregnant now, we could hardly expect the child to attend sittings in his father’s stead.”

“I suppose there are too many whinging babies in Parliament already.” Regina lay her head on Arianna’s shoulder. “I’m not the only one who’s done well for myself, Anna. Diana’s most recent letter is there on the sofa if you want to read it. She and Andrew have just returned from the Isles.”

“Babies, publishing, travel… There was a point in time I was certain we would all be spinsters, destined to embroider for all time and think of what could have been.”

“All women have to suffer embroidery.”

“Just don’t do it if you don’t like it.”

“And have nothing to present to Mama when she pops in uninvited every other day? You’re mad.” Regina squeezed Arianna’s hand to get her attention. “Are you happy, Arianna? And answer truthfully, now.”

She had no trouble being truthful anymore. There was not a spot in her life that she wished to cover up. Almost. “I am happy. Of course, I am. That’s not to say things are perfect all the time, but they’re as close as one can get, I wager.”

“Heaven forbid things be perfect all the time. What a painfully boring existence that would be.” Regina tittered, shaking the blonde hair from her eyes. “Why, I don’t know what I would have done with myself if we hadn’t suffered that hobble with Matty. I mean it.”

Despite the years that had passed, Arianna’s betrayal of Regina’s trust was still a sore spot. It was easy to forget what she had done when she saw how content they were now. But, it did not change the facts.

“You don’t regret it?” Arianna asked hesitantly. “Not a single element?”

“Not an element, not a moment, not a fit of tears.” Her sister’s green eyes were full of mirth. “I needed to be shown that I couldn’t be complacent in my life. If not for my brother-in-law, bless his heart, I would never have had the courage to pursue Red.”

“I can understand that.”

“But you still hold guilt over it all. I can tell.”

You and your bloody sister’s intuition, Arianna thought.

Regina smiled reassuringly. “There is always a lesson to be learned. Always. It doesn’t matter how terribly we think we’ve erred. Everything has its reason. So let go, Arianna. Don’t you think it’s time?”

Arianna couldn’t answer right away. By the time she had come up with a reply that felt halfway right, the sound of laughter echoed from the atrium. 

“There she is! My gorgeous, bloated wife,” Red called, clapping Matty on the back. It was as though he hadn’t aged a day. Still smiling. Still golden. Still determined to wear shades of red on every occasion. “I see you haven’t strangled her, Arianna. Hats off to you.”

“You would despise me if I wasn’t so difficult,” Regina joked as her husband helped her out of her seat. “Oh, you smell like muck. Were you rolling around with the foxhounds?”

“A delight, isn’t she?” Red walked Regina out of the solar and gestured for the others to follow. “Let’s have tea before Regina develops an aversion to it.”

Arianna stood and made to walk after them, but Matty grabbed her by the wrist.

“Is everything all right?” he asked, pinching her cheek.

When Matty looked at her like that, how could it not be? 

“It is. It’s just…” Arianna paused and regarded her husband. “Regina asked me a question, and I’m not quite sure how to answer it.”

“If it’s about the baby’s name, I agree with her—Scarlet or Poppy for a girl is good, but Rusty or Red the Second for a boy?” He shivered at the thought.

Arianna laughed, and a wave of warm relief rushed over her. 

She loved Matty. 

She loved his smile; she loved his laugh. She loved his resilience and discipline. She loved his hair, the colour of his eyes, and how he was of middling height, but held himself taller. 

And she loved his flaws, too. How he could be a grump in the morning. How he could be jealous. How he always left his cravats out on his dresser and refused for Gregson to put them away.

Still, Arianna loved everything about him. And if she did, she had to love their story too, flawed as it was. Because things could be perfect and imperfect all at once.

And maybe that was the lesson.

She took his hand in her own, the one with the wonky finger, and she kissed his wedding ring. And in a perfectly imperfect way, she shared with him a little secret. 

“How about we stop talking about names for a Southerdon baby, and start debating ones for ours?” 

THE END

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