Chapter Fifteen
“Put your hand here,” she whispered, putting his palm against her breast. “Let me feel you against me, your flesh to mine.”
Thor didn’t need to be told twice. It was early in the morning, and he’d already made love to her twice the night before, but she tended to like it in the morning, too.
This woman who had looked at intimacy with a husband as a duty and a horror now couldn’t get enough of it when it came to Thor.
Not that he minded. With a growl, he picked up his wife and carried her to their bed, a very big bed that had once belonged to Robert.
But no one thought about that.
Now, it belonged only to them.
Once on the mattress, he loosened the fastenings on her surcoat, pulling at them as she helped him.
There was eagerness in her movements and in his.
When he yanked the bodice down, he tore her shift a little in his eagerness and snorted as she giggled, but it didn’t stop his momentum.
He yanked again, freeing her breasts, and his mouth clamped down onto a warm and tender nipple.
As he suckled her furiously, Caledonia cried out softly, holding his head to her breast as if he were a starving child nursing against her.
She hadn’t been allowed to nurse her own children, so there was something innate and intimate and satisfying for Thor to suckle her.
She never knew she liked it until he did it, and these days, he took great delight in her breasts. As if they belonged to him, personally.
Perhaps they did, just a little.
Pushing her back on the bed, Thor continued to nurse hungrily at her breasts as he caressed her buttocks and stroked her inner thighs.
She took his hand and put it against the dark fluff of curls between her legs, thrusting her pelvis forward and trying to entice his fingers into her body.
Thor knew that and responded by slipping a finger into her tight, wet sheath, feeling her gasp with pleasure.
When she began pushing her woman’s center against him, mimicking the pelvic thrusting he would soon be doing, it was all he could take.
Unfastening his breeches, he put the tip of his hard, throbbing phallus against her warm and wet folds.
“Tell me you love me,” he murmured, gently kissing her chin, her mouth. “Tell me that I am your everything.”
Caledonia was bucking against him, trying to force him into her body. “I love you,” she whispered, something she had been doing for a few days now. “Give me your seed, angel. Let me bear your son and I shall never ask for more.”
I love you. Those words drove Thor wild.
He thrust into her, listening to her gasp with the sheer glory of it.
She cried out softly as he thrust again and again, seating himself to the hilt, feeling her tight wetness around him.
It was bliss. Caledonia clung to him, wishing he could bury himself deeper.
Thor was hung like a bull, something she reminded him of nightly, and it made him feel powerful and virile.
He satisfied her every time, but she was so desperate for the man that she always wanted more.
As he thrust into her, he was so forceful that she ended up nearly sliding off the bed on the other side.
With soft laughter, he had to pull her back onto the mattress so they could continue.
Caledonia wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately as he made love to her.
With every thrust, he rubbed his pelvis against hers, and she could feel sparks when their bodies met.
Those sparks always ignited a wildfire, and even though neither of them wanted this to end quickly, it was difficult staving off the blaze.
As usual, the blaze flared and Thor couldn’t hold back his release.
Caledonia put a hand down between them, feeling him as he climaxed into her body, but in doing so, she touched herself and climaxed along with him.
Thor held her tightly, feeling her curious and loving hands between them, touching him, caressing him.
It was a magical moment.
“I love you,” he murmured into her ear. “I cannot remember when I haven’t loved you.”
Caledonia pulled her face from the crook of his neck, smiling at him. “I remember when you did not love me,” she said, teasing him. “I remember being thrown over your shoulder and hauled around like a sack of grain.”
“You deserved it.”
“And dragged away to face Henry.”
“You very much deserved it.”
She giggled as he moved his body weight off her, lying down beside her with his arms still around her.
“I am sure that I did,” she said. “But I am glad you did not give up. Your persistence has given me more happiness than I can comprehend.”
He gave her a half-grin, looking at her beautiful profile.
He loved the way her nose tilted upward, and there were times when he would gently drag his finger down the slope of her nose, tracing the outline of it.
There were times when he watched her sleep and couldn’t believe his life had turned out the way it had.
Everything had happened so quickly. A marriage, a title, a castle, and a love he wouldn’t trade for anything on this earth.
It had been thirteen days since their arrival at Stafford Castle.
Thirteen days of coming to know his wife, his wife’s daughters, of becoming familiar with his property.
Thirteen days of watching Caledonia realize she was no longer the outcast and finding her role amongst people who wanted her to succeed.
It was amazing what a little love and support could do.
But it was also thirteen days of discovering just how badly the inhabitants of Stafford Castle had suffered under the de Lucera cousins and Madam Madonna.
Thor really hadn’t planned on remaining at Stafford because he wanted to visit Edingale Castle, but it seemed that Stafford needed him at the moment.
For the first few days, servant and soldier alike had been afraid to speak up, to tell of their experiences under Cristano de Lucera, but once they started to, terrible stories came out.
Stories that had Cristano stealing from his men, selling off servants to other castles for the money it would bring him, of selling the fine horses that Robert de Tosni had collected, and of relegating the soldiers and servants to eating gruel or anything they could hunt and kill while he and his cousins and Madam Madonna lived like kings.
But Thor was determined to change that.
The Stafford soldiers had lived so long with the de Lucera cousins that having a liege who actually cared about them was a shocking concept.
But Thor was very much like his father, a man who was concerned for those he commanded, so as the days passed, the soldiers seemed to grow more comfortable with him.
He and Clayne and Darius and Truett formed a powerful quartet, and together they worked to convince the Stafford soldiers that not all commanders were terrible men.
Some of the soldiers even sent word to those who had abandoned their service to Stafford, and over the past couple of days, former soldiers began flooding back to Stafford Castle, eager to return to their posts and willing to give the new Earl of Tamworth and Stafford a chance.
Since no one had much liked de Tosni or de Lucera, Thor didn’t really have to worry about their loyalties.
They were willing to go on a little faith.
The same could be said for Caledonia’s daughters.
At least the two younger girls had quickly warmed up to their mother, who had spent the vast majority of her time sewing clothing for them and initiating lessons.
Nicola had been a great help when it came to the clothing and the lessons, and even though she had been a rather flighty student herself in her younger years, she was very smart and helped Caledonia tremendously.
Janet, the middle child, was the one most eager to learn.
The child had spent thirteen days being bathed and fed on a regular basis, having her hair combed and braided so that it was nice and neat, and spending a few hours every day learning letters and also words from the Bible.
That was the way both Caledonia and Nicola had been taught, learning words that were printed in the Bible and then translating them to a language they all spoke.
Janet had learned quickly and already could write her name and several other words.
She was also learning her numbers and could already write the first five.
After that, she still got a little fuzzy, but it had only been a few days.
Caledonia was very proud of her progress.
Joan, the youngest, was a little more of a challenge.
Since Madam Madonna had forbidden anyone from talking to her, she was a little more than an infant when it came to communication.
Caledonia had been trying for thirteen days to break her of eating dirt and grass, hoping it wasn’t just a habit but simply because she had been hungry enough to eat anything.
That meant that the child always had a piece of bread or cheese in her hand, for if she wanted to eat something, it would actually be food and not foliage.
As a result, she was getting quite a happy, round belly on her, which, given how skinny she was, was wonderful to see.
She was starting to fill out, and as of the past couple of days, as long as she had bread or cheese or some other type of food in her hands, she wouldn’t resort to eating the dirt.
But both Caledonia and Thor watched her closely to make sure of that.