Chapter Two: The Governess and the Manor Lord II

The storm did not pass quickly. It raged on through the night, lashing the stone walls of Ashbourne Manor with rain, the wind howling against the shutters as if the heavens themselves were furious at what had been done inside. In her chamber, she lay restless, her body aching in places she had never known could ache. The fire burned low, casting unsteady shadows across the chamber walls, but its warmth did nothing to quiet the memory of what had happened in the library.

Every time she closed her eyes she saw him again. His hands gripping her wrists, his body pressing her to the shelves, his breath hot and merciless against her ear. She could still feel him, thick and unrelenting, splitting her open, filling her until she screamed. The shame of it should have buried her. She should have prayed for forgiveness, begged heaven to cleanse her of the sin. But instead she pressed her thighs together beneath the coverlet, shuddering at the pulse of heat that came back to life with every thought of him.

You are mine.

The words echoed again and again. She turned on the bed, clutching at the sheets as if she could strangle the memory, but it refused to leave her. He had taken something from her and replaced it with hunger.

A knock at the door broke the silence. She froze, her heart seizing in her chest. It was late, far past the hour for visits. Before she could find her voice, the door opened, heavy and slow, as though the manor itself gave way to him.

Lord Ashbourne stepped inside without a word of permission. His coat was gone, his boots damp from the storm, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal the hard lines of his chest. Firelight glinted against his skin, casting him in shadows that made him look less like a man and more like the figure of some dark god. His eyes sought her at once, found her trembling on the bed, clutching the coverlet like a child.

“You should be asleep,” he said. His voice was steady, but there was a dangerous weight in it, something that stirred her insides in ways she could not fight.

She swallowed hard. “My lord, it is late…” Her voice faltered, too thin to carry across the storm.

“Late,” he said as he closed the door behind him, “is when a man craves most fiercely. And I crave you.”

He moved toward her, slow but unstoppable, each step bringing his presence heavier upon her until she could scarcely breathe. She shook her head, clutching the coverlet tighter. “But… your niece-“

“She sleeps,” he cut her off, his gaze burning into her. “And you. You belong to me. Do you understand that yet?”

Her lips parted, but the protest died. His authority crushed her voice before it could form. He did not wait. He reached for the coverlet and pulled it aside in one sharp motion. Her nightdress clung to her, pale and thin, the fabric showing the outline of her body beneath. She shivered as his eyes dragged over her, devouring her with a hunger that left no room for innocence.

“I should have kept you in the library,” he murmured, his tone low and sharp. “Bent over those shelves until you forgot your own name. But I let you walk away. I let you rest. That was a mistake I will not make again.”

His hand seized her ankle, dragging her down the length of the bed with no more effort than if she were a doll. She gasped, her body falling open beneath him, her legs spread, her breath caught in her throat.

“My lord… please…” she whispered, though she did not know whether she begged him to stop or to go further.

“Do not beg me to stop,” he snarled, lowering himself over her. His mouth claimed hers with a force that bruised, his tongue driving between her lips, his teeth scraping until she whimpered. His hands pinned her wrists above her head, his body pressing her hard into the mattress. He broke the kiss only to murmur against her lips, “You do not want me to stop. Your body betrays you.”

She writhed beneath him, her chest heaving, her breasts straining against the fabric of her nightdress. His mouth left hers and moved lower, biting at her throat hard enough to draw a cry from her, then soothing it with a lick of his tongue, marking her skin with his possession.

His grip shifted from her wrists, only to seize the ties of her nightdress. With one brutal pull he tore it open, the fabric splitting to bare her breasts to the firelight. He growled deep in his throat, lowering his mouth to one peak, sucking with greedy force until she arched upward, her cry muffled against his shoulder. His hand closed over the other, rough, squeezing, tugging until she moaned helplessly.

“You taste of sin,” he muttered against her flushed skin. “And I will drown in it.”

His hand slid lower, over her belly, between her thighs. She tried to twist away, but he held her down, his fingers parting her folds with ruthless ease. He found her wet, aching, already trembling for him. His lips curled into a dark smile. “So eager. You pretend to resist me, but your body begs.”

His fingers thrust inside her, curling deep, stroking until her hips lifted from the bed. His thumb pressed against her swollen bud, circling mercilessly until her moans filled the chamber. She clawed at his back, biting her lip to stifle the sound, but he caught her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“Say it,” he ordered, his voice sharp as steel. “Say who you belong to.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears, her body convulsing around his hand. “I… I belong to you,” she sobbed.

“That is right.” His fingers withdrew at once, leaving her empty, gasping, desperate for more. She whimpered in protest, but he silenced her with a look.

He rose, stripping his shirt from his body, tossing it aside, then unfastening his trousers. Piece by piece, the firelight revealed him until he stood naked at the edge of the bed, his cock hard and heavy, glistening at the tip. Her eyes widened in shock, her breath faltering at the sight of him.

“Do you see what you do to me, governess?” he asked, stroking himself slowly, his gaze locked on her trembling form. “No prayer will save you now. No virtue will protect you. You opened yourself to me, and you will never close again.”

He climbed back over her, forcing her thighs wide apart. The thick head pressed against her entrance, stretching her painfully. She gasped, clutching the sheets, but his voice growled in her ear.

“Take me. Take all of me.”

He thrust forward, driving himself into her inch by inch, his groan rough and savage as he buried himself to the hilt. She cried out, her body stretched beyond reason, her walls clutching at him as if trying to resist. He gave her no mercy.

At first he moved slow, each thrust deliberate, grinding her into the mattress, making her feel the weight and depth of him. Then his pace shifted, faster, harder, his hips slamming against hers until the bed creaked and the headboard struck the wall. She clawed at his shoulders, her cries filling the chamber, pleasure and pain twisting together until she no longer knew one from the other.

His mouth devoured her throat, biting, licking, branding her skin. His breath was hot and ragged, his growls deep in her ear. “You are mine. Mine to take. Mine to break. Mine to ruin.”

She shattered beneath him, her climax tearing through her like lightning, her scream raw as she convulsed around him. He snarled, driving harder, chasing his own release, until at last he thrust deep and spilled himself inside her, his groan guttural, animal, a sound of triumph.

They collapsed together, his weight heavy on her trembling body, his cock still pulsing inside her, his breath hot against her ear. For a long moment there was only the storm outside and the sound of their bodies, sated and ruined.

At last he whispered, dark and certain, his lips brushing her ear. “You are ruined now, governess. No man will ever touch you but me. This house owns you. I own you. Tomorrow you will rise with my seed inside you, and every step you take will remind you that you belong to me.”

Her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling, her body aching from the violence of his possession. Outside, the storm raged on, but inside the true storm had already broken, and she knew it would never pass.