Edward Buckingham sat upright in his bed reading waiting for Eleanor his wife to finish disrobing from her evening wear and change into her night clothes. This was his favourite part of being in London. The downsizing of their Hatfield home to London meant that he and Eleanor did not have separate bedchambers.

He peaked over his book as he watched Eleanor remove her layers of undergarments and slip into her silk chemise. The room in Lincoln's Inn was much smaller than their apartments in Hatfield Hall. The intimacy of the room suited their London life.

The large oak sleigh bed matched the imposing wardrobe and dressing table at which his wife sat lost in her thoughts. Eleanor sighed as she carefully took her hair in her hand and brushed it until it shone in the candlelight. Her red hair flecked with strands of grey giving the gold sheen and silver tinge.

Edward had been with Eleanor since she was a bride of twenty and now at forty six she looked no different. He still desired her in a way that had never waned. She was the love of his life. He saw no need, as many men of his standing did, to take a mistress. Eleanor had been a naive young woman who blossomed into a woman who understood her needs. A quick learner Eleanor fast became his lover and intellectual partner when married.

Eleanor observed her husband in her mirror. She too greatly desired her husband. He was still the handsome, lithe man who captured her heart all those years ago. His humour and intellect made him stand out from the crowd of suitors she attracted as a young woman. She brushed out her long red hair from the carefully coiffed style her maid had achieved for dinner.

When Eleanor was satisfied that she had brushed the knots out of her hair she crossed the room to Edward. "Sir, you can put your book down you peeping tom." Eleanor giggled.

"You are in high spirits despite the night's outcome." Edward's eyes twinkled as he pulled back the bed clothes for Eleanor to join him.

"I have never been so happy and yet so bemused within five minutes Edward. Our daughter is so sensible, why is our son such a renegade?" Eleanor sighed and laid her head on Edward's shoulder.

"My love, I recall that when young you were not a fan of propriety and neither did you give two hoots for these sorts of issues. As a liberal I thought you would be all over young Georgina Parks?"

"I like Miss Parks and the fact my son wants to marry her is a good thing. The haste in which he wants to marry her is a concern, though Georgina told me she 'didn't have a bun in the oven', which put my mind at rest." Eleanor stifled a laugh. "It is not our son that has me bemused."

"Really Lady Buckingham what could have rattled the stoic woman I have in my arms." Edward looked down at Eleanor's chemise and allowed himself a peak inside. It was a glorious sight to behold.

"No Edward. It was our daughter asking for a book on how to have conjugal relations with her future husband that took me aback." Eleanor looked shocked and bemused.

Edward laughed so much he nearly fell out of the bed. When he managed to be sensible again he took Eleanor into his arms. "My darling Eleanor. Our daughter has seen the world from a book. She has an atlas but not travelled. She sees copies of painting and has never been to the Louvre. She wants a book so that she can understand what is happening and what will happen to her."

Eleanor looked bemused. "I have a copy of a book which may be of use to her however when I read it at her age I was horrified."

"Eleanor was love making as awful as the book suggested?" Edwards eyes twinkled as he drew Eleanor close to him.

"No, not at all. You were gentle and kind. You gave me time and allowed me to come to you." Eleanor snaked her hand behind Edwards neck and kissed him with a passion.

"I hope they will be as happy as we have been, all of them." Edward turned the lamps off and rekindled their memories of first being together.

Elizabeth heard her parents talking. She quietly tip toed down the stairs to the library. She knew where those books were kept. Adam had scared the life out of her in more than one occasion by flashing horrible pictures from their weighty tomes. If her mother was not going to be forthcoming with the books then Elizabeth would have to seek them out on her own.

She crept into the library and found the books she wanted. She took out the Anatomy of Man and a Lady's Guide to being a Companion. Elizabeth set out the books on the floor and brought her candle nearer. She turned the pages to find reproductive systems. Elizabeth let out a gasp as the Anatomy book described parts of her own body that she did not know existed.

She studied the book. She looked at the pictures of the female anatomy and recognised some parts of herself however the parts that she had never seen utterly baffled her. She understood her monthly cycle and pieced together that at some point for her to have a baby Henry was going to have to put something inside her. As to what she held her breath to find out.

When Elizabeth found the page she let out a gasp. She had never seen anything as ugly in her whole life. She reads how the male gets aroused and the part gets bigger and harder. So hard it can go inside of the woman. The worst part was the average size of the thing. She was 100 percent sure that she would die if something of that size was put anywhere near her.

Elizabeth thought she would burst with emotion. How could she let Henry down now. How could she tell him that she would not marry anyone never mind him if she had to do that. She thought of him and she began to feel a tingle run through her body. That tingle was intoxicatingly irritating. She decided the best thing to do was to talk it through with her Aunt Tilly the next day.

Aunt Tilly was single. She had never been with a man as far as Elizabeth was aware. There were rumours that Ruth her companion was really her lover. Elizabeth had heard the servants gossip about Tilly.  If Aunt Tilly could live alone so could Elizabeth. She set her mind to call on Aunt Tilly for breakfast the next day.

Across London in the Brockett Townhouse in Mayfair Henry Carlyle felt very different indeed. He and Lady Apsley had come back from dinner at the Buckingham's in great form. They retired to the Parlour for a Hot Chocolate before bed. The room was vast with windows that looked over the Mall. Henry took his seat in one of the armchairs across from Lady Apsley.

"I suggested that I begin my move to the Dowager's House in order to make way for the new Lady Brockett." Lady Apsley smiled.

"Madam I would not presume to move you from your home." Henry offered kindly.

"It is time. It is also important that I spend a little of my time with Elizabeth to inform her about the tradition of the Ladies of the house making a fresh corner of the garden as a permanent memory of our impact on the Hall."

"I am sure she will love that Lady Apsley. I am afraid that the last two days have rather taken their toll on me. Would you excuse me to my bedchamber?" Henry was bone tired. The talk at the Royal College. The proposal and the discussion of marriage with Elizabeth's parents had stretched his resources to the limit.

Lady Apsley nodded and Henry bowed and left. All the time thinking about Elizabeth and her effect on him.

Tonight was one of those rare English summer evenings which was warm with a cool wind blowing. Henry crossed his cavernous bed room and opened the windows to let the breeze in. He walked over to his bed and quickly took off his clothes and decided to sleep naked rather than bake in another London summer night.

Henry lay on his four poster bed thinking about Elizabeth and her reaction to him. She was so naive. He thought of his first time lovemaking with Mrs Jones. She was the widow of a man he had tried to save after an accident on the railway. Mrs Jones, Alice, was so grateful.

Alice's husband Jacob was maimed by a wooden sleeper falling on him. He was hanging on to life for a month before a chest infection which turned to pneumonia took him. Jacob had been a manager for the South African Railway Company and a brute of a man by all accounts.

Henry attended the house every day. Looking after Jacob, working with the nurses. One night when it seemed that Jacob would slip away Alice confided in Henry that Jacob had beaten and terrified her throughout their marriage.

She looked so frail and frightened. Henry placed a comforting arm around her. Her pretty green eyes looked into his. He instinctively brushed her chocolate hair from her face. They kissed. It was Henry's first time kissing a grown woman in a sexual way. It lit him up inside. The fire was the same as that described by Elizabeth that afternoon.

Alice and Henry met in secret and she taught him to make love to a woman so that a woman would enjoy herself. She was an expert tutor. Alice had been brutalised by her husband. She knew what she wanted from a lover and moulded Henry into a sensitive, considerate and patient lover.

The thoughts of Alice aroused him. He thought of the afternoons he stole with her as she schooled him. The cool breeze from the opened windows caressed his naked form as he lay on top of his covers. Henry began to gently stroke his hardness thinking of how Alice felt and how his Elizabeth would feel. He wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for her. He hadn't expected love from a marriage however he felt lucky that he could have both and he would have them soon.

When he thought of Elizabeth he pictured her opening up to him like a flower. A tight bud blossoming into a full bloom. He would ensure that she would enjoy his bed and his life until they both left this mortal coil.

Ok I hope this was ok?

Do you think Elizabeth will call this off?

What about Henry and his past?

Vote and comment peeps