I wondered why the captain wanted to talk to me. Perhaps he was making arrangements to send me back to London so they could be private. My spirits sank with every step until I was practically at a standstill outside the door, which led to the billiard room. I'd found it earlier when I was exploring the manor house and I'd even hoped for a game with my captain.

But it was his wedding day and I was only in the way. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage and tapped on the solid oak. I heard him call out 'enter' and I opened the door to the cozy paneled room. He had already racked the balls and a cue sat on the corner nearest me, ready to be chalked.

"Horatio, thank you for coming." His eyes met mine across the table and I tried to act normally but was afraid I'd failed when his gaze dropped. "Please close the door and come play a game with me."

"Yes, Sir." I did his bidding and picked up the cue as if I'd never seen one before. "Um, do you want me to return to London?"

"No!" His eyes flew up to meet mine. "No. There's no need for you to leave ... unless you want to. If you're bored with our company then I would understand."

It was my turn to deny any such state. "I have heard that three is a crowd especially during a honeymoon."

He gestured to me to break the balls and I took a deep breath before scattering them across the green velvet. One of the stripes went into a side pocket and he chuckled before letting me pick my next shot.

"Jane and I are not your average honeymoon couple, Horatio. Neither of us is ready for the intimacies of marriage and so we've agreed to wait until we're both comfortable with each other." He watched me shoot and miss before taking a good look at the table.

I wasn't sure how to answer him or even if I should. Sir Edward had wanted to protect her both legally and physically, marriage would do that. She was still so new a widow that it must seem very odd to be the wife of another. He lined up his shot and it sank with a clink.

"Good shot, Sir." I watched him move to my side of the table and the scent of leather rose from his casual wear. For some reason, it made my stomach flip-flop to have him so close to me.

"Thank you, Horatio." He missed the next shot and left me with an almost impossible placement of balls. While I was studying the table, he leaned on his cue and began to watch me.

"She told me that she didn't want me to be celibate for the next few years while we get to know each other." He said in such an even tone of voice that I almost missed his astonishing words. "I told her that I loved another but it was impossible for us to be together. My feelings must be transparent to her eyes because she told me that she approved of him and wished me to pursue him with fervor."

Him? He said him? My thoughts whirled so rapidly that I felt the room spin about me. "Sir?" If he hadn't been standing right beside me, I don't think he would have heard my whisper.

"Horatio, it's been you for some time now but I have no right to take what I want with all my heart." His eyes blazed into mine and the cue fell from my nerveless fingers onto the table.

"What if I want to give to you with all of my heart?" I whispered to him.

And finally, I was in those strong arms and his lips were on mine while I clutched his shoulders. My lips opened under his and his tongue surged inside, rubbing against the roof of my mouth while I shivered as if I had the ague. We were pressed together so tightly that I could feel every button on his shirt. His chest was so broad that I felt it everywhere against me.

But I wanted to be closer yet.

Then we had to breathe and he tucked my head into the crook of his neck while his hands gentled long strokes down my back to my waist and up again. "Horatio, are you sure? I don't want to take advantage of you. It was never my intention to let you know how I felt. You're going to be one of the great captains of His Majesty's Fleet in the coming years. I don't want to ruin that for you."

"You won't, Sir. I have so much more to learn." I raised my head to look into his eyes. "And these lessons, I want more than anything in the world, but only if you will teach me."

"Jane was right. We do love each other." His voice shook with incredulous belief.

"She is ... all right with this?" I never would have thought it.

He nodded with a chuckle. "She would like to adopt you to be the son she never had. And she's the one who told me that she approves of us when I wasn't sure there was an 'us'."

I finally smiled my widest smile. "Then we should start my new lessons at once. Don't you think so?"

Edward caressed my cheek and brought our lips together again. This time I explored the warm moist cavern of his mouth. His hands cupped my buttocks and pulled me hard against his groin. Hardness met hardness and I shuddered at the intimate touch. I needed to touch him without all these clothes in the way. My moan tore our lips apart and I was glad to see him panting, too.

"I think it will be an early night, Horatio. But dinner is an hour away and I believe we should lock the door and explore a little more." He moved around me and I heard the lock click. Then he motioned me over to the settee and I settled by his side. His hands began to unbutton my shirt and the touch of his fingers against my skin made me shiver.

Hesitantly, I began to unbutton the smooth linen that kept me from seeing his chest. I'd never seen it before since even on the hottest days, he'd always retained his shirt and never joined us in swimming. Three buttons down and I could see dark curls curling around his nipples. My fingers itched to touch them to see if they were soft or wiry.

But I was bared to the waist now and his callused fingers were plucking at my nipples. I'd never known how intense that would feel and I felt little ripples shiver over my skin. Then he was bending to lick one of them and I moaned at the shock. He suckled gently, bearing me back onto the arm of the settee while I clutched his arms. Then he switched sides and it felt even more intense.

I'd never been so hard in all my life and when I felt his fingers sliding the buttons of my breeches apart, I began to shake. He hushed me with gentle lips that caressed me from my nipples, up my throat to my empty mouth. Then he was touching me intimately and I suddenly came in his warm hand. It felt as if I'd shake myself to pieces but he held me together until I stopped quivering.

And that is when he did the most amazing thing. He brought his come covered fingers to his lips and licked them clean. Archie and I had always used a towel to clean each other off after we finished pleasuring ourselves. He seemed to be enjoying the taste and I grew curious as to what it was like.

"Edward, what do I taste like?"

He smiled and kissed me. He tasted slightly bitter and a little salty so that answered my question. Pulling back, he smoothed a hand over my hair. "You taste delicious. All men are a little different but mostly a man's seed reminds me of salt water."
"I want to taste you." I told him and watched him smile broadly.

"Then you shall taste me later. You'll come many times tonight, Horatio. I will not have as much ammunition to shoot as you do." He kissed me again.

I was growing addicted to his kisses but I remembered my earlier mission and my fingers searched and found his remaining buttons. Soon I had his chest bared to my sight and when we broke apart to breathe, I tangled my fingers in the soft mat of dark curls. They were soft most of the way down to his waist where they felt more wiry. I wanted more than anything to see his groin but there wasn't time right now.

The hard bulge my questing fingers found promised to be a reward worth waiting for.

He chuckled and brought both of my hands away from the danger zone. Kissing the tips of each finger, he cherished my sensitive skin. "That is indeed yours to play with, Horatio but later, after a bath which we will share. Then I will take you to bed and love you. Is that agreeable to you?"

I nodded happily. "Yes, please."

"Good, because we'll both be carrying hot water canisters upstairs." He tickled me into laughter and I retaliated until we were both laughing uncontrollably while trying to keep from being too loud.

"My God, Horatio, what did I ever do to deserve your love?" His eyes were gentle while his hands smoothed back my hair.

Tears filled my eyes and I shook my head. "I'm the lucky one, Edward. I've wanted you for months, ever since I awoke from a dream and realized it was you that had made me mess up my nightshirt."

He chuckled and pressed small kisses over my jaw from one side to the other. "I have had my share of those dreams, Horatio. The amount of laundry we've caused each other must be astronomical." He pulled back and brought me with him. "I promise that this shore leave will drain us so completely that it will be a month before we'll be able to love each other again."

I grinned at him and began to re-button his shirt. I was suddenly possessive and wanted no one else to see him this way. He returned the favor and soon we were presentable again. My lips felt swollen with kisses and a lock of hair kept escaping my tie and curling in front of my ear. But the touch of his fingers, smoothing it back into place, began to excite me once again and I began to harden.

"I shall be a dried up husk of a naval captain by the time you are through with me, Horatio." He shook his head and cupped my chin with his warm hand. "I can hardly wait to throw myself into your fire."

"I will keep you safe, always." I vowed to him.

"We will keep each other safe, Horatio." He promised me and I thought about the vows that he and Lady Jane had exchanged.

We could never do that in front of witnesses but to each other, all the words that I wanted to tell him, I would. He would always know that I loved him if I had any say in the matter. We inspected each other to make sure that no evidence remained of our loving. Then he unlocked the door and ushered me out of the billiard room with a last fond caress to my buttocks.

I wiggled and heard him moan under his breath. Dinner was going to be too long even if we hurried our eating. And Dorcas and Wenton would wonder what was wrong if we rushed. I disliked prevarication but if I wanted to be with Edward, I would need to become used to it.

We'd been eating in the kitchen with Lady Jane having a tray in her room. It reminded me of family meals when I had a family. Tonight however, Dorcas had set the dining room table for three and the candles in the shining silver candelabra gleamed on the polished cherry wood table.

Lady Jane joined us wearing another of the dresses from the trunks in the attic that Edward and I had carried down. Edward kissed her cheek before seating her at one end of the long table. I sat on one side while he took his seat at the other end. Conversation was general until after the soup when Lady Jane asked about our billiard game.

I blushed beet red and cast a speaking glance at Sir Edward. He chuckled. "Dear Jane, may you always prove to be right."

She laughed out loud. "Women are nearly infallible when it comes to ... billiards, dear Edward. Horatio, will you mind very much being adopted by an old woman who never had a son?"

I was still blushing but I shook my head. "I see no old woman present, Lady Jane, only someone who reminds me of my own mother. I would gladly be a son to you."

Tears in her eyes made her blink rather rapidly. "I am truly blessed with to gain both a husband and son, so late in my life. Now, finish your fish, Horatio. I expect you'll need all your strength over the rest of your shore leave."

Her teasing tones made me blush yet again and it didn't help when Edward chuckled. "We shall both need all our strength, Horatio."

His fond look bade me be comfortable with their teasing and I nodded with red cheeks. The rest of the meal passed easily while Edward spoke of the estate. He mentioned the land, the neighbors and the village, answering our questions about this place to which Lady Jane and I had come. It seemed to me that although neither of us had expected to be welcomed to a new home, we'd both fallen in love with the estate and its owner.

But I was the lucky one who would sleep with Edward tonight. I would learn what made him moan and I would finally find out what it felt like to be possessed by my dearest love. I could hardly wait for my new lessons. I needed to taste him again in the worst way. Dinner was finished and while Wenton cleared the plates, Lady Jane stood up, waving us back into our chairs.

"For my first day up, I find that I may have overdone it a bit." She circled the table and kissed Edward's cheek, murmuring something in a low voice. Then she came to me and hugged me close, dropping a kiss onto my hair and whispering into my ear. "Take care of him for me, Horatio. He's a good man but a lonely one. Take away the loneliness and give him love in its place."

I nodded, dumbfounded at her wise insight and wondered what she'd said to him. "Good night, Lady Jane."

"Good night to you both. Tomorrow, I believe that a walk around the gardens is in order. I shall see just how much work there is to be done." She smiled at us both and left the dining room with Dorcas by her side.

"Wenton, we shall bathe tonight. Would you see that water is heated for us to take up with us?" Edward said to the elderly butler.

"It is heating as we speak, Sir Edward. I thought it might be needed." He bowed to us with just a hint of a smile and left with a tray piled high with our dishes.

Edward and I exchanged a heated look and I rose to blow out the candelabra at one end of the table while he arose and blew out the other. Then side by side, not yet touching, we made our way to the kitchen and the canisters of hot and cold water. Wenton said the bathroom was clean and ready for use. I know I was trembling a little when we toiled up the stairs with our heavy burdens.

Soon I would see all of my beloved Edward and he would see all of me. I hoped that I could last longer this time and not come prematurely again. We entered the small chamber with the long porcelain tub and washstand. I mixed the water in the tub while Edward left me for a moment to gather robes for us. The steam rose as the hot and cold mixed together.

Then Edward was back with two thick robes that he hung on the back of the door. I watched breathlessly when he began to disrobe, only beginning on my own clothes when he chuckled and gestured pointedly to my clothed state. I undressed by rote, my gaze on the strong body being unveiled before me.

He was heavy with muscle and I watched in awe when his breeches slid down his legs. I gulped, never having seen a groin quite like his. His long, thick cock sprang from a nest of dark curls that I wanted to touch. There wasn't an ounce of spare flesh on him and he looked like a statue that I saw once in a London museum. It had been a Roman statue of a wrestler done in marble and Edward looked to be his twin.

But he was coming closer, the look in his eyes one I'd never seen before. "Beautiful," he murmured, raising a hand to caress my chest. "A young god come to tempt me."

I shook my head unable say a word. He just smiled at me and with a quick movement, lifted me in his arms and set me in the hot water. He reached for the soap and then joined me, settling in one end of the tub while with a crook of his finger he beckoned me to him. And I came as I would always come to him, sliding over his body to rest on that broad chest that so fascinated me.

He kissed me tenderly, his hands foaming with soapsuds as they slid over my back and down over my nether cheeks. I wiggled and felt his cock surge against mine. My legs fell to either side of his and for the first time, I felt his fingers skim down my crease over the small opening that Archie had told me would take a cock. I didn't see how it could possibly stretch enough to take someone the size of Edward but I would let him teach me that lesson when he judged me ready.

Kissing him was better than anything I'd ever done before but I wanted to investigate him as well so I slid my lips to his cheek then down his throat, the way he had done to me earlier. And he hummed his approval before handing me the soap and gesturing to his body as if to say that it was mine to wash. That was too good an offer to refuse and I lathered my hands before swirling the white bubbles all over the dark hair that covered his whole torso.

The curls grabbed for my fingers like tiny hands caressing each finger with their silky strands. But the small nubs nested in them drew my attention and I plucked his nipples the way he'd shown me earlier. His reaction was all I could have hoped for, his cock hardening beneath me and his nubs peaking at my touch. But I had more to explore and I left them reluctantly to wash each of his long arms down to the strong hands that were teaching me so much.

Moving backwards, I bypassed his groin so I could wash each foot. Then I moved up his legs while I watched his groin grow even harder under my gaze alone. He chuckled when I moved between his legs and finally slid both hands around his cock. Biting his lip, he kept his groan silent but I could feel it vibrating between us. He was much bigger than Archie and I slid the foreskin all the way down to his balls and looked at him in awe.

He felt so alive to my touch, warm and hard as iron yet soft as velvet to my fingertips. Suddenly, I had to know what he tasted like and I rinsed him hurriedly so I could taste what my fingers had known. He was right, the single tear weeping from the slit in the plum colored crown tasted like the sea itself. He was salty and a touch bitter, the way I'd tasted earlier. I sucked gently to release another tear and Edward brought a hand to my cheek in warning.

He didn't want to release here and he was taking the soap in his hands with a gleam in his eye that told me I would be well washed by the time he was through with me. And I was right. Not a crease or hair on my body escaped his soapy fingers. I felt as if every inch of skin was as sensitive as my rock hard cock. He took pity on me finally and after rinsing me clean, he sucked me into his mouth and drank down my exploding seed with strong suction that emptied me completely.

I had to bite my hand to keep from crying out and he soothed it with a kiss before standing up and raising me with him. Getting out of the tub, he handed me one of the towels that had been sitting on the washstand and I dried myself while watching him dry himself. His cock was a thing of beauty and so swollen that it had to be painful. He handed me a robe and I watched him shrug into his for the trip to his bedroom.

And that big, beautiful bed where we had lain so chastely the first few nights, but not tonight. Tonight would not be chaste at all. In a very real sense, this was my wedding night and I could hardly wait to give him my virginity. Although I did wonder how much it would hurt to take him inside of me.

The very thought made me shiver with wanting and I followed him from the bathroom to the room that was now ours as if an invisible rope bound us together. He locked the hall door then went to the dressing room door and locked it also. Then he turned and let his robe fall to the floor, crossing to me and tenderly undoing my sash. I was on fire with wanting and when he picked me up and carried me to the turned down bed, I moaned at the loss of his warmth.

"Gently, Horatio. I will need something to ease the way." He leaned down to kiss me and I sucked his tongue into my mouth as if I'd done it a hundred of times instead of just twice. He finally pulled away and shook his head. "You are more potent than any whiskey ever distilled. How I shall ever do without your taste, I do not know."

With a fond shake of his head, he crossed to the armoire and opened the drawer in the base, coming back to me with a jar in his hand. The fire flickered its light over us and I slid over so he could join me on the soft linen sheets. I needed another kiss and he gave me his tongue to suck on while his fingers moved over my body, awaking every square inch of skin to arousal. I was panting with need when I felt his finger slick with something that smelled of balsam slide behind my balls to my entrance and then within.

I squirmed a little, the feeling quite odd but he merely chuckled and slid it out then back in again. His mouth had begun the suckling that felt so good at my breast and I spread my legs for him so he had better access to my secret place. His leg slid between mine and the hair tickled me on the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. I was rocking back and forth when I felt a greater pressure at the small hole and realized that he now had two fingers within me.

The scissoring motion was distinctly odd but when they moved deeper yet, I felt a flash of fire that startled me. "Oh, Edward, what is that? Oh-h-h."

"Each man has a gland deep inside his channel that brings great joy when it's stimulated. How does it feel to you?" He licked my nipple again and kept on thrusting his fingers in and out.

"Hot ... and full ... but it's not enough." I moaned and tried to get his fingers in deeper.

"Hush now, Horatio. Soon, my love, I'll give you more soon." He gentled me and removed his fingers completely to my great dismay. I cried out but he'd only retreated so he could scoop up more of the cream, which was helping him breach my virgin self. But this time, three fingers stretched me wide and I gasped, biting my lip against the sudden pain.

"Sweetheart, push out against me. That's right, flex around me and try to relax." He kissed me tenderly and rocked me against him gently. "That's it, my brave love. I don't want to hurt you but some pain is inevitable this first time. We can wait a day or so if it is too much."

I grabbed him and held on. "No, Edward, I want to be yours completely and absolutely. It's a little better now. It just feels so very odd to have your fingers there and I feel like I need to push them out."

"I know, my love, I know. There ... that's it ... love . . . relax for me." He crooned the soft words in my ear, nuzzling it and biting my lobe gently. "You're so very hot inside, sweetheart."

"Burning up, that's how it feels." I gasped and tried once again to get his fingers deeper to trigger that spot that had flooded me with warmth. And there it was again, only stronger than before. "Oh, Edward, more before I burn up completely."

He kissed my lips and swallowed my moan when he removed his fingers from my well stretched hole. Then he was turning me away from him while I protested but to no avail. "This will be less painful this first time, Horatio."

I heard him scooping up more of the cream and with a glance over my shoulder, I saw him slicking it over his cock. Then his leg was sliding between mine again and he opened them at the same moment his cock nudged my hole. I tried to relax but I couldn't hold back a cry when the large crown stretched me impossibly wide and slid inside.

*************
End part four