Chapter 33 #3
Her feet flew over the ground, the dew seeping through her slippers. At his door she hesitated. Before reason could surface, before she could think further about the consequences of her actions, Susanna raised her fist and pounded on the door. Not a ladylike gesture as much as a demanding one.
Ned opened the door.
For a moment he said nothing, simply stood there in his shirt and trousers, his eyes narrowed. “You’ve come.”
“You knew I would.”
He smiled. “I hoped.” He held the door open, and she entered his cottage, the first time she’d done so.
The space was tidy and surprisingly comfortable.
In front of a fireplace rested two chairs, and behind them a small table bearing a vase of Tyemorn’s roses.
A doorway led to another chamber, filled with a bed on which lay a multicolored quilt.
“I’ve no daughters at home to worry about,” she said.
“So you’ve a yen to be a little irresponsible.”
“Is that what I’m being?”
“A little bit wicked, I’m thinking,” he said, grinning at her. It seemed to Susanna that his smile had a little bit of wickedness about it as well.
“Should I leave?”
She clutched the shawl more tightly, glanced up at him, and smiled.
How many months had they worked closely together?
How many times had she met with him and never noticed the intelligence in his brown eyes, or the humor resting there?
His face without the beard was strangely unlined, and his smile was as youthful as she felt at this moment.
“Only if you wish it,” he said, the wicked man, as if knowing how desperately she wanted to stay.
She glanced at his arm. “Are you feeling up to visitors?”
“I’ve powers you’ll never know, lass,” he said, grinning at her.
“Then I’ll stay,” she said.
“Then come in, my dear Susanna,” he said.
Slowly, without taking her eyes from his, she pushed the door closed.
Riona’s skin felt too warm and tight as she sat, smoothing her stockings from ankle to thigh.
Was he going to stand there and watch her?
Evidently so, since James made no movement toward the door.
Instead, his gaze was fixed on her movements.
She removed each garter before slipping off her stockings.
Her stays were next, and then her shift.
He startled her by kissing the nape of her neck as she bent her head to undo the bow at her neck. When she turned to face him, he stepped back, wearing a rueful smile.
“Love me, James. Please.”
“No.” He reached out and pulled her to him. “Never ask. You never need to ask.”
She rose up on her knees, entwined her arms around him. “Can I encourage?” she asked, smiling. “Spur you on, perhaps?” She nipped at his earlobe with a teasing bite.
With one swift movement, he tossed her onto her back and loomed over her. “No need.”
She’d never thought that lovemaking might be fun, or that she might be naked and laughing in James’s arms. But as he rolled with her until she was atop him, both of them were smiling.
Dear heavens, how she loved him. Was there anything as wonderful as the sight of James smiling? Or laughing with his deep, melodious voice?
As she watched him, her amusement leached away, leaving only a warm wonder. How precious this moment, and how fortunate she was. His arms were around her as she lay on his chest. “A gigantic rock, that’s what you are. A warm rock. You’re hard all over.”
She realized, suddenly, that other parts of his body were quite solid as well.
Raising up on her knees once again, she surveyed him.
“A stallion?” he asked, teasing her. The words she’d uttered on their first meeting came back to her as she smiled at him.
Their couplings had been done in bright sunlight or in moonlight, but never in the soft glow of flickering candles.
His chest was broad, tapering down to a narrow waist and hips. His thighs and calves were well muscled, leaving no doubt as to his fitness. His erection was as solid as a pillar.
She held him lightly between both hands, marveling at the size of him. Slowly, her fingers encompassed him. So large and so beautiful.
His indrawn breath indicated that he liked her touch. Glancing at him below her lids, she smiled inwardly, feeling a surge of pure feminine power. He sat up, his hands braced behind him, his glance on her face and not on what she was doing.
Her hands were suddenly talented, smoothing around the curves of his body, flattening against a flank, his muscular chest. Her palms ached to press against his skin, learn him in some ancient and almost mystical way.
Her fingers closed more fully over him as she stroked down the length of him. Again. And again. From base to tip, circling the breadth of him in a relentless and enticing touch.
“Are you milking me, Riona?” he asked incredulously.
“Oh yes,” she said, breathing the words through her delight. “Does it hurt?”
His bark of laughter was unexpected. “Do I look as if it hurts?”
Each movement of her fingers had made him hotter and harder in her hands. “No,” she agreed, shaking her head slowly.
She hadn’t noticed before that James’s body was so hard. The expanse of his arms, the length of his thighs, even his buttocks as she cupped them, were tight and taut, and superbly masculine. He was beautifully made, an elemental and perfect creature.
She hadn’t realized that she had the power to alter his breath, make his heart beat faster with a simple touch. Nor had she ever considered that this joining, this coupling, might be so filled with thoughts and feelings that had nothing to do with love or even passion.
A feeling of possession stole over her, startling her in its fierceness.
He was hers, just as she had given her life over to him.
Their fates and futures were inexorably intertwined.
Whatever happened to him would happen to her.
Never again would she feel that sense of loneliness, strange and unsettling as it had been, especially in the midst of a loving family and friends.
How utterly powerful she felt at this moment, as if she’d been given a secret strength.
Suddenly, James toppled her, forcing her onto her back in a movement she hadn’t anticipated. Pinning her wrists to the bed with his hands, he lowered himself over her.
“I want to be inside you,” he said, his words as potent as the look in his eyes.
But instead, he stood, his erection so magnificent that she couldn’t help but reach out and touch it, pull it down from his belly where the tip rested.
“Soon,” he said, stepping cautiously away from her. “First, let me indulge in a fantasy only hours old.” He held out his hand in invitation.
She rose from the bed, taking his hand and following him to the bench before the dressing table.
Sitting down, he moved his legs apart, guiding her to stand between them.
“Put your hands on my shoulders.” Wordlessly, she did so as he placed his hands behind her legs, raising her until she sat on each of his thighs.
She was exposed and open, facing him. In front of her was the dressing table and above it the mirror.
All she could see of herself was her hands and knees.
But his muscled back and buttocks were readily visible as well as the powerful arms supporting her.
Suddenly, he was slipping inside her, her body heated and ready for him. Her hands clenched on his shoulders and her eyes half closed in pleasure. A moan escaped her as he separated his legs farther. Bracing his hands behind him, he moved, thrusting himself deeper.
Glancing at herself in the mirror, she was shocked at the face of the woman she saw.
Abandoned, flushed, with her hair cut short and her fingers clenching James’s shoulders, she seemed a stranger.
A moment, an instant, a second later and all thought vanished as he continued to move, leading her into a labyrinth of delight.
There was nothing more than her and him; everything else fading into nothingness.
She kissed him, held his head still so that she could deepen the kiss, her tongue exploring his mouth.
Her hands speared through his hair, nails sliding along his scalp, fingers linking at the back of his head.
His hands moved to explore her as he mouthed her breasts.
He surged within her, hungry for her capitulation, demanding her surrender.
What choice did she have? The feeling was in her, part of her, submerging her beneath a powerful wave of sensation. A single spear of bliss so powerful that she felt faint with it.
Long moments later, she felt him carry her to the bed. She turned toward him, content when he curved an arm around her.