Chapter Seventeen #4
Facing an unknown future, he was not in command of his emotions as he usually was.
He began to think about tomorrow and facing Henry.
What if Henry did, indeed, throw him in the vault, or worse?
What if he ordered him executed for having a part in Canterbury’s death?
There would be nothing left of him, no wife or children or family left behind other than his mother, who would surely curse him for not giving her grandchildren to carry on the de Nerra name.
He could easily see his mother going mad because of it, living with terrible regrets.
He didn’t want to live with any regrets, either.
And Vesper… this sweet, beautiful woman he found himself so enamored with.
What about her? She could marry him tomorrow before he left for Winchester.
Or, she could go with him to Winchester and they could be married at the cathedral.
But would he have time to consummate the marriage, to spend a few precious minutes with her to demonstrate how much he adored her?
He couldn’t be sure that there would be time at all, at least not like they had at this moment.
Right now, the timing was perfect to do precisely that – make her his own, forever.
God, he had such need of her. In her, he saw his salvation.
Laying Vesper back on the dusty floor, he loomed over her, gazing down at her and drinking in her beauty. With her sculpted cheekbones and bright eyes, she was as perfect a woman as God could have ever made. When he saw that she was inspecting him just as he was inspecting her, he smiled faintly.
“I was wondering if our children will look like you,” he murmured, kissing her cheek gently. “Or mayhap they will look like me.”
Vesper reached up, touching his face. “You mean the grandchildren your mother wants so badly?”
“The same.”
She grinned. “They will have to look like you or I doubt she will accept them.”
Val laughed deeply, kissing her on the cheek again. “I would not be surprised if you were correct.”
His kisses grew stronger and, soon, his mouth was capturing hers again, one big arm around her while the other roamed.
As he kissed her lips and suckled on her chin, his right hand drifted down her arm and onto her torso, lingering on her belly.
But the kisses grew more heated and that same hand moved up her body, gently closing around a breast. Vesper’s eyes opened wide and she looked at him in surprise.
Val simply kissed her chin again and squeezed her breast softly.
“Does this disturb you?” he asked softly.
Vesper wasn’t sure how to answer, but it was clear that she was trying to pretend as if she wasn’t bothered by it at all.
“Nay,” she said quickly; perhaps too quickly. “You are to be my husband and it is your right. But…”
He leaned down, nuzzling her neck. “But what?”
“We are not married yet.”
It was the maidenly virtue speaking, the virtue that had been drilled into the head of every young woman.
One was not to participate in the pleasures of the flesh until after marriage, but that was a myth in many cases.
There were plenty of young women who indulged because Val had been with a few of them.
There had been one of the ladies of the Countess of Gloucester, and then a distant de Bohun relation he’d met at a masque in London, and… .
“I will summon a priest tonight,” he said, already feeling his manhood growing rigid for want of her.
“If it makes you uncomfortable, then I will stop. But know this… I depart for Winchester tomorrow and there is no knowing if I will return. You know this. If I am to spend a last night of freedom, then I would very much like to spend it with you. There is no telling what tomorrow will bring for us both.”
Vesper met his gaze, her hazel against his brilliant green. She bit her lip. “That sounds very much like a manipulative statement I heard once when a certain knight I was trying to fend off sought to play on my sympathies.”
Val’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “And?”
“And what?”
“Did it work?”
She scowled. “Of course it did not work!”
He started laughing again, low in his throat, and Vesper couldn’t very well be angry with him because she could see that he was jesting with her.
Even so, there was truth in his words. He was going to face something unspeakably frightening tomorrow and it was very possible she would not see him for a very long time, if ever. That thought scared her to death.
She loved Val, wildly so. With time, it was a love that would deepen and grow roots, becoming something rich and binding.
But now, her love for him was new and exciting and full of the dreams that all young women had – a handsome husband, a home, and children.
Perhaps those were Val’s dreams, too. If they were, she didn’t want to leave them unfulfilled.
Taking his hand, she put it back on her breast.
“For whatever comes tomorrow, let us live tonight as if there is nothing ahead of us but our future together,” she whispered.
“For tonight, pretend that I am your wife and I will pretend you are my husband. And when tomorrow comes, we will be grateful for this time together – either as our last time together or as our very first of many to come. Either way, I am yours.”
The smile faded from Val’s face as he looked at her. She was so rational and wise, and he appreciated that about her. Everything about Vesper d’Avignon was perfect in his eyes.
He couldn’t wait to make her his own, forever.
“Until I die, I will love you and only you.”
“And I, you.”
The hand on her breast fondled her gently as his mouth found hers yet again.
Vesper was becoming accustomed to his kisses now and she had quickly learned to crave his warm lips.
He had stubble on his face, scratching her tender skin, but she didn’t care.
There was nothing about him that she didn’t love.
His kisses became more forceful and the hand on her breast began to unlace the stays of her shift beneath the lower neckline of her surcoat.
His mouth moved from her lips to her neck and finally to her chin, along her collarbone and to the swell of her breasts.
Vesper had just become accustomed to his hand on her breast when he suddenly peeled the fabric back, exposing her left breast. Her nipple hardened when the warm air hit it and as Vesper tried not to become embarrassed by the fact he’d just pulled her clothing down from one breast, Val’s mouth descended on a taut nipple.
It was a sensation like none other. Vesper was overwhelmed by his hot mouth on her breast and her back arched in surprise, in pleasure, giving herself over to the newness of the experience.
Val’s body was half-covering her, the weight of him pressing upon her, but it was a touch that stoked the fire his kisses had started.
The noise from the hall below was a quiet rumble, reminding them that they were not alone in this tryst. Although men could not see them, any sounds from the loft might surely be heard, so Vesper put a hand over her mouth as Val pinched her nipple between his teeth.
It was enough to cause her to cry out but the hand over her mouth prevented any noise from escaping.
Still, his hands were moving over her, his mouth on the flesh of her breasts when she could feel one of those roaming hands snaking up her skirt.
As a woman who had never known the touch of a man until this moment, Vesper should have been fearful of the hand on her thigh, moving upwards, but the truth was that she wasn’t afraid.
She was curious and eager to learn, and everything Val had done to her until this point had been thrilling and pleasurable.
Therefore, she wasn’t afraid. She liked his mouth on her breasts so much that she was quite willing to see what he would do next, something more to give her such pleasure.
What she wasn’t prepared for, however, was the shock of his fingers probing her woman’s center.
She barely touched herself down there, only to wash and to tend to necessary woman’s needs, so to have a man touch her there – even a man who would be her husband.
She was growing embarrassed and Val must have sensed that.
His hand came to a halt and he stopped nursing at her breasts, lifting his head to look at her.
“Did I hurt you?” he whispered raggedly.
Vesper shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “’Tis just… I have not…”
He could see how embarrassed she was and he leaned forward, kissing her on the chin. “You needn’t be ashamed,” he murmured. “This is a wonderful and natural thing. You will enjoy it, I promise. Will you trust me just a little?”
She had liked what he’d done to her so far so she nodded. “Aye,” she murmured. “But… but there are men in the room below us….”
He kissed her again. “They will not hear us if we are quiet,” he said. “And they cannot see us, even if they come up the staircase. But if you are still uncomfortable, then I shall stop.”
She quickly shook her head. “Nay,” she said softly. “You promised that I would enjoy this. I am waiting.”
He gave her a half-grin, kissing her once more as he resumed his heated kisses on her shoulder.
The hand on her thigh remained still for a few moments longer before beginning its exploration once more, moving to the dark curls between her legs.
He probed her gently, causing her to twitch and buck, because his fingers made some kind of magic happen down there.
There was a certain spot he would touch that nearly brought her off the floor.
It made sparks fly, causing her legs to tremble, but it was oh-so-pleasurable.