Chapter Fourteen #4
But she shook her head, strongly. “I must,” she said.
“I want you to understand why your kindness has meant so much to us. To me. I have spent the past twenty years being treated as a possession, an afterthought, a breeder of heirs. That is all Roget ever saw me as and that is something I have never confessed to anyone. Up until a week ago, I was resigned to the fact that it was all my life would ever be, but so much has changed since then. You have changed our world more than you can ever know. My world. And I shall be forever grateful.”
Markus smiled faintly before bringing her hand to his lips, kissing it gently.
“I am supposed to assume a new position next month, a very important one,” he said.
“It will bring me wealth and prestige, and it is something that will make my father very proud, but now… now I am not entirely sure I want to accept it.”
She looked at him, startled, as she wiped her cheeks with her free hand. “Why not?” she said. “Markus, you must. You have done great things here at Trastamara, but this is not your destiny.”
“Why not?” he said, overlapping her last word. When he realized he’d been forceful, he took a deep breath to steady himself. “What I mean to say is what if a man’s destiny isn’t what he’d planned? Sometimes destinies are expected. Sometimes they just… happen.”
She wasn’t quite following him. “Trastamara was never your destiny. It belongs to Atlas.”
“That is true. But you do not.”
“What do you mean?”
“What if you are my destiny?”
Amabella blinked in surprise. Then, her eyes widened. “What… what do you mean?”
He shook his head. Then, he snorted like a man who was about to lose his mind.
“I am not entirely sure,” he said. “But I do not think I want to leave this place or you. You consume me, Ama. I do not even know how it happened. But the moment I saw you, I knew you were something unique. I have never had a woman catch my eye as you have. I feel… I feel as if we are destined to know one another. Mayhap even belong to one another.”
Her wide eyes grew wider. “You… Markus, you cannot mean that,” she said. “I am older than you are. Much older.”
“You are ten years older than I am. That is not terribly old.”
She sat back in her chair, staring at him in disbelief. “I have had four children,” she said. “I have been married. I told you that I have had my time. But you… you have not had your time. You must find a young and lovely woman who can give you a dozen children, fine tributes to the de Wolfe name.”
“I do not want a young and lovely woman to give me a dozen children,” he said. “Amabella… you are ageless in my eyes. Do you not understand? You are wise and mature and reasonable. You are everything a man could want.”
Amabella could hardly believe what she was hearing.
When he’d told her that he wanted to flatter her, she could have never imagined this was what he’d meant.
But he seemed unsure, even as he said it, torn between whatever he was feeling for her and the destiny as Edward’s Lord Protector that await him.
He was torn as she was torn.
She was older than he was. Ten years older, as he’d pointed out. But it didn’t matter to him in the least. Was it possible that it mattered to her? Perhaps it did in the sense that he was in his prime, a young and powerful knight who deserved a young, beautiful, and virginal wife.
Not an older woman with four children who had already been married.
But the truth was that she probably fell in love with him the very first day she met him. He’d been so very gentle with her, and kind, and he treated her in a way she hadn’t been treated in years. Add his male beauty and powerful form, and there was nothing about that man that was imperfect.
Did she want him?
There was no doubt in her mind. This beautiful, impetuous boy had her attention.
He had her everything.
Gently, she disengaged her hand from his, and both of her hands came up to cup his face. For a moment, she simply looked at him, those gorgeous blue eyes, the nearly-black hair, the straight nose and square jaw. My God, he was spectacular.
It had been such a long time since she’d longed for a man’s touch that when the feeling crept over her, it was difficult to resist. In fact, she didn’t even try.
She knew what it felt like to have a man make love to her, from long ago when Roget had actually been gentle with her.
She remembered the excitement, the pleasure, something she never thought she’d ever experience again.
But here it was, in front of her.
Before Amabella realized it, her arms were around Markus’ neck as her lips slanted over his.
The magic began.
Markus responded instantly to her, engaging in a heated kiss as tongues plunged deep.
He was so surprised, and so overcome, that he ended up pulling her out of the chair and into his arms. He tried to stand up with her but in his haste, he ended up tripping, backing into a wall with his big arms around her as if to never let her go.
Amabella had her arms around his neck, his head, trapping him against her, and when she suckled on his tongue, Markus nearly went out of his mind.
With a growl, he picked her up and set her on the table of her solar.
Amabella was no shrinking maiden. She was a woman, with woman’s needs that had been pent up for years. They were needs she had resigned herself to never being fulfilled again until Markus came into her life.
Until he kissed her hand.
Now, she was on fire.
Amabella took on the aggressor role. She wrapped her legs around his waist, skirts and all, holding him tightly as they furiously kissed one another.
Markus’s hands were beginning to roam, gaining confidence, as he went from holding her tightly to stroking her back and arms. When she didn’t stop him, he grew bolder and moved to her buttocks, squeezing them and pulling her body up against his.
Her legs were parted and his body was wedged in between them even though they were fully clothed.
Markus sincerely wished, at that moment, that they were not.
He’d never been more consumed by a woman in his life.
Markus’ mouth went to her neck, gently suckling her tender skin, and a hand began to gently pull back the neckline of her garment.
It wasn’t too tight, and he was able to pull it off her right shoulder, baring her skin, as his lips suckled her delicious flesh.
He could hear her grunting with pleasure, her hands on his head, her face in his hair.
He made no move to touch her breasts, but he continued to slowly and steadily pull her bodice off her shoulder, exposing the swell of her right breast.
Still, she didn’t stop him.
Markus grew bolder.
He hadn’t been with a woman in over a year.
He simply hadn’t had the time. Now, he had the woman of his dreams in his hands and he was consumed with her.
If she wasn’t going to stop him, he was going to keep going, and the bodice was pulled further down.
When the fabric resisted, he snaked his hands in behind her and untied the laces that were secured on the side of the garment.
It loosened the dress considerably.
Markus’ mouth was on her cleavage now, that delightful cleavage he had noticed the first day he ever saw her.
That lush, beautiful body was in his hands and he feasted.
Half of her bodice was pulled down her chest and he continued to pull, kissing the flesh as it became exposed, until he finally uncovered her right breast.
Amabella cried out softly as his mouth clamped over a tender nipple.
She began to pull at his tunic, trying to undress him, and Markus went right along with her.
He wanted her as badly as she wanted him, not stopping to think about the consequences of his actions.
He didn’t care. All he knew was that he wanted her so badly that he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her bodice down around her waist to expose her full, luscious breasts.
His clothing was coming off in pieces until he was finally nude from the waist up.
Mouth on her succulent breasts, he flipped up her skirts without any resistance whatsoever.
In fact, she was working on his scabbard and his breeches, and he had her skirts up about the time she pulled loose his ties.
His broadsword cluttered to the floor and his breeches slipped down to his mid-thigh.
He was between her legs, their bodies naked from the waist down, and his big arousal pushed at her.
Markus was a big man and his male member was proportionate, and Amabella’s eager hands moved to his thick erection as she guided him into her.
He was a hunter seeking his target, and when he felt her slick, wet heat, he thrust firmly into her.
Amabella bit off her cries of pleasure, sinking her teeth into his left bicep.
It only served to inflame him. She was exquisitely tight and hot, and he thrust again, feeling her legs wrap around him and draw him in deeper.
His arms went around her, holding her tightly against him as he began to move.
Markus’ mouth was on hers, kissing her deeply, as he made love to her on the well-made oak table of her solar.
It was everything he knew it would be. He felt things for Amabella that he had never felt in his life, for anyone, feelings of attraction that he couldn’t control.
It was more than the act of sex itself. It was a demonstration of emotions that had completely conquered him.