Chapter Seventeen #3
“God, I hope not.” Her touch was both heaven and hell, but he didn’t bid her nay. Pleasure pulsed through his veins, concentrating in his length. With every stroke, with each brush of her fingers, he hurled closer to the edge of bliss.
Needing a distraction, Barr delved a hand between her splayed thighs.
Easily he encouraged the swollen nubbin at her center out of hiding, and seconds later after strumming his finger over it, circling it, alternating degrees of friction, she uttered a strangled sort of scream as she fell into a gentle release.
“You must have been in great need since you fell into that so quickly.” It was but one of the things he loved about her.
“It’s the company I’ve been keeping.” She squeezed his stones and chuckled at his moan.
Just as he thought to play at her nubbin again, her fingers glanced over the highly sensitive skin that rested between his stones and anus.
The giggle she made when he nearly launched off the bed echoed in his ears, and he welcomed the sound, for it heralded endless moments of happiness and joy—something that had been absent in his life for far too long.
“Finish me, Barr. I cannot wait for extended foreplay tonight.”
“As if I could deny you anything.” He rested the bulk of his weight on his forearms while aligning his tip at her opening.
“I can’t believe we are to marry.” She looped her arms about his shoulders, wriggled into a better position, and bumped her hips against his, while offering a grin. “Beyond that, I need to feel you inside of me.”
Bloody hell but he was so damned fortunate he could hardly bear it.
There was no more time to set aside for thinking.
Desire and need took command. With a powerful flex of his hips, he penetrated her body, went as deep as he could.
Their moans of enjoyment blended together.
Every time he was with her in this way was amazing, and he still couldn’t believe he’d won her.
Of course, it had only been a week, so it wasn’t as if there was such a long period of convincing her.
The bite of her fingernails digging into his biceps competed with the bite of her teeth when she nipped at his earlobe. He gripped her hip with a hand and encouraged one of her legs upward with the other which allowed him to stroke ever deeper into her honeyed heat.
Over and over again, Barr thrust, and she matched his rhythm until they moved effortlessly together in a dance as old as time.
The second he peered into the dark pools of her eyes, saw the same emotions reflected there that were flitting through him, he was lost, and he hoped he would never grow bored with this sort of connection.
Eventually, he passed the point of no return.
Urgency roared through his shaft and tingled through his stones.
Every tiny little sound of encouragement pushed him closer to shattering, and when she slipped a hand down his back to squeeze one of his arse cheeks, he was gone.
“Cate!” The hoarse shout sounded overly loud, but he didn’t care.
“Oh, yes, Barr, yes. Go harder. Faster.”
How could he deny the request? With the last of his strength, he stroked into her with short, deep, fast thrusts until he thought he might completely expire from either the effort or the pleasure beginning to flood his person.
Finally, her body stiffened. A keening cry left her throat.
Cate arched her back, gripped his arms so tightly he feared she’d leave bruises, and her thighs quivered.
Over and over, she repeated his name. The words pushed through his blood, and then with one powerful stroke, he went tip over tail into the void of bliss where nothing existed except extreme, soul-breaking sensation that made him feel both comforted, satisfied, and as if he’d died at the same time.
All because of this one woman.
“Damnation,” he whispered against the side of her neck as he came back to himself. Sweat dampened his back while he struggled to regulate his breathing.
She chuckled, but the sound was a bit on the tired side.
“I heartily enjoyed that.” As she drew a hand along his chest, the tickle of her fingers through the sparse hair there nearly sent him to heaven once more if that was even possible.
“It seems my choice of husbands will certainly keep me happy.”
“I am glad you’re so satisfied.” When she nodded, he flashed her a tired grin. “You’re certain you wish to be my duchess?”
“Yes. The new challenge will give me a voice to help fight illiteracy in London and perhaps make books not quite so expensive.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.” Barr resettled on the bed next to her on his side. “I love you. We will have an interesting marriage, I’ll wager.”
“Punctuated by books, research, poking through ancient places, and carnal explorations.” She bussed his cheek and then burrowed into him while wrapping an arm about his waist. “I can’t wait.”
“Neither can I.” He wrapped his arms around her and simply held her in the silence.
Everything in his life had changed, or would soon, because of her.
Travers would certainly make jest of him, but he didn’t care.
“What need have we for an erotic manual when there are intuition and soft emotions between us already?” Then he frowned.
“Do you think it’s too soon or that we are misguided? ”
“Not at all. There is no timeline or rules for how love behaves between two people.” When the candle finally guttered out and the acrid scent of smoke filled the air, she sighed. “By the by, I finished the translation.”
“What?” Shock smacked into him. “When?”
“A few hours ago. I was bored after waking, so once Mrs. Travers and I spoke, she brought me the book and my notes.”
He frowned. “Was it by her urging that you accepted my offer of marriage?”
“No, but I took her advice under consideration. It was adorable how she and your valet wished us matched, but ultimately, the choice was mine.” She brushed her lips over his. “You have my heart, Barr. That is all.”
That mollified him. “Tell me how the book ends.”
“Very well.” After struggling onto her back, she rested her head on his shoulder while his arms came about her.
“The pharaoh’s son successfully sent his lover away to safety.
He arranged for a boat to carry her down the Nile to a port he considered safe, where a family loyal to him had agreed to take her in. ”
He gasped. “He didn’t go with her?” How could any man send the woman he loved away without accompanying her?
“Apparently not. Things at the palace grew more urgent. Instead, while his love went to safety, the man searched out the person who’d betrayed them both. From what I could tell, the pharaoh’s son challenged him to a fight.”
That made sense. If someone betrayed Cate and affected her safety, he would go after them. “Did he win?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think so, but the book was badly damaged in that section and much of the text is missing, so it’s only conjecture on my part.”
“How disappointing.” Barr frowned. “Is that all?”
“More or less.” Cate shrugged. “The last line on the last page says basically says, ‘Keeper of my heart, I will live on in that organ as well as in the life within you’.”
“What?” Another gasp escaped him. “His lover was pregnant?”
“So it seems.”
“No wonder he was frantic to send her away.”
She nodded. “I like to think they were reunited somehow, and that they both kept travelling until they were far enough from his father that they could live life as a family in secret. I also like to believe they built a bond of love so strong nothing could break it.”
For long moments, he stared at the ceiling that was shrouded in shadows. “I adore how your mind works. I will take comfort in your ending.”
“Oh, Barr.” Taking one of his hands, she threaded their fingers together. “History is sometimes unfair and fraught with horrors and sorrows. In this way, I can perhaps change the narrative to instill hope for the future in whomever happens to read the book next.”
“But no one will know of the real ending.”
“Perhaps it’s not for everyone to know. A reader can make of it what they will once you sell the book.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I have decided to keep the book.”
“Why?” Yet curiosity propelled that one-word inquiry into the air.
The heat of embarrassment went through his chest. “It is how we met, and it is part of our story now. The book will remain in my library—our library—and it will be part of how we’ll tell people that we are engaged.
” Pausing to press a kiss into the top of her head, he then said, “But for now, it’s our secret, the story of our own forbidden words, and our memories of this time will be ours alone. ”
A soft sigh left her throat. “You’re a sweet romantic.”
“Well, I just know what I like.” He held her closer. “Happy Christmas, Catherine.”
“Happy Christmas, Barrington.”
He grinned. “Damn, I can’t wait to announce our news, but for now, I’m content in keeping it to ourselves.” After all, he’d won her, had her finally in his bed, and intended to claim her body many more times between now and the new year. Everything else could wait.
To think that one tiny, almost insignificant story of a pair of lovers from thousands of years ago could have inspired his own second love had the power to stagger his mind. But then, as the book had said, love was love.
Perhaps that was all anyone needed to know. There was a certain comfort in that.