Chapter 15 #2
“I think…” she said unsteadily. “I think you are the best and most wonderful man who ever lived, Jasper King, and I love you very, very much.”
He stilled at her words, gazing at her in wonder.
“I love you too, Anne. I never thought my heart could do such a strange and marvellous thing, but it seems to know how after all,” he said, and then cast the plans onto the seat opposite and pulled her to him, kissing her with such enthusiasm that the journey they had believed would be interminable ended far sooner than they might have wished.
King found he needed to pinch himself several times whilst introducing Anne to Mrs Keller and showing her about the home he had created for himself.
It seemed too much to hope that this startling, challenging, beautiful woman was his wife, and he had the strangest desire not to blink, or to speak too loud in case he woke up.
Nonsense, of course, but he felt nonsensical, happy and bewildered all at once.
He felt a burst of pride as she exclaimed over the property, congratulating him on how wonderfully it was furnished and decorated.
To King, however, it seemed suddenly too dark, too masculine, with Anne’s delicate perfume suffusing each room, with the rustle of her skirts and petticoats and the feminine trappings of lace and ribbons set against the backdrop of his old life.
He determined to speak to her about selling it as quickly as they could, but not right now.
Dinner was served in the small dining room, an elegant affair in which Mrs Keller took a deal of pride, for it was the first time she’d had the chance to cater for a proper dinner for a lady.
The table had never looked so elegant, with fine china and crystal glasses, and the silver shining brightly against the best linen tablecloth and napkins. King smiled, bemused to believe it really was his home. Having Anne here seemed to change everything for the better.
Still, the meal was an exercise in torture.
Neither of them really had an appetite, at least not for the splendid food Mrs Keller had provided.
King did his best to do it justice, rivetingly aware that Anne was too nervous to eat.
She kept stealing glances at him, sometimes holding his gaze boldly and sometimes blushing and looking away, though she smiled and shook her head at her own silliness.
Finally, he could stand no more.
“Come on, let’s go up. Unless you want anything else—”
“No!” she exclaimed. “I was only waiting until you’d finished. Please, may we go up?”
He laughed at that, delighted by her urgency. “Whatever my lady wife wishes for, she may have.”
“Promises, promises,” she muttered provocatively, and then laughed and ran up the stairs ahead of him.
Anne heard King chuckling as he followed her up the stairs and into his bedroom. He closed the door and turned, leaning against it.
“Are you really here?”
Anne laughed and turned in a circle. “I believe I am,” she said, regarding him with a solemn expression.
King took a step closer. “You’re sure I didn’t dream it?”
“I’m quite sure,” she said, though her heart skittered about behind her ribs.
“I have dreamed of this moment too many times, Anne. It would be too terrible to wake alone again, wanting you so badly.”
Anne closed the distance between them and linked her arms around his neck, smiling up at him. “I’m too managing and difficult to be a dream, as you will discover to your cost, you poor fellow. I’m not the least bit dreamlike.”
“Yes, you are.” He held her face between his hands, cradling it as if he held something of infinite value. “You are the dream I never dared to wish for, a future so wonderful and so extraordinary I never even considered it as a possibility.”
He bent then and kissed her, tenderly at first and then with increasing ardour, yet still he was careful.
His kisses had changed since he had discovered she was not really a widow and she missed the rough passion he had shown before.
If only she could provoke him into treating her a little less like she might break.
“I want you,” she said, watching with a little shiver of pleased apprehension as his eyes grew dark at her words
He made a gruff sound. “I should hope so,” he said lightly.
She could see the need he had hidden from her until now, and it only increased her determination to see him unravel.
Anne slipped out of his arms and turned her back on him, giving him a coquettish smile from over one shoulder.
“Undress me,” she said, relieved her voice did not tremble, though everything inside her quivered with nerves and anticipation.
She felt his clever fingers go to work, unbuttoning and unhooking the layers.
With each garment, the rasp of his hot breath against the back of her neck seemed to increase.
It took far too long but finally only her shift and stockings remained.
He stood close behind her and, though they did not touch, she felt the heat radiating from his body.
Gathering her courage, Anne reached for the hem of her shift and tugged it up and over her head.
He drew in a stuttering breath as the sheer material fluttered to the floor.
Anne raised her arms and plucked the pins from her thick red hair.
The gaudy shade had always embarrassed her, until she saw the way King revered it.
The heavy tresses fell, cascading around her shoulders, and she heard his breath hitch again.
Her own breathing sped erratically as his hands settled on the swell of her hips, then slid up over her waist, until they cupped her breasts.
Anne gave a soft sigh, resting her head against his shoulder.
Gently, he caressed her skin as though he were mapping a foreign land and wished to commit every curve to memory.
“My God, Anne, how lovely you are. I’m half afraid to touch you,” he whispered, his anxiety sounding entirely sincere.
Anne turned in his arms, shaking her head.
“I have never been delicate, Jasper. I’m strong, or else I’d never have survived.
I have worked hard to get where I am and I’m no sheltered schoolroom miss, no hothouse flower.
I have not been that for a very long time and I’m glad of it.
Don’t make me feel weak by treating me differently now you know I am not quite what you expected.
With you, I am stronger than ever, fearless and bold.
Show me you want me that way, just as I truly am. ”
She sank her fingers into his hair, pulling his head down to kiss him with all the eagerness she felt. She pushed at the shoulders of his coat, suddenly desperate for the touch of his skin against hers.
“Take it off,” she urged.
King laughed, looking delighted by her impatience.
Moving quickly, he cast aside his coat and waistcoat as she tugged the cravat from his throat.
He pulled off his shirt in one fluid movement and a bare moment later her hands were on him, exploring the muscular expanse of his chest, the dark flat nipples that became taut little nubs under her questing fingers.
The shiver that ran over him made a wicked smile curve over her mouth.
“Yes, you have more power over me than you ever knew,” he said, his voice low and fervent. “I’m putty in your hands, love, so treat me carefully and don’t take advantage.”
Anne grinned up at him. “How intriguing,” she said, leaning in and rubbing her face against the wiry hair on his chest like a cat. “Just how far does that power extend?”
“It has no limits,” he told her, gazing at her with something close to wonder lighting his eyes.
Her grin faded as she saw the sincerity in his expression, “I love you, and there are no limits to my heart either, Jasper.”
He lifted her into his arms then and carried her to the bed, putting her down carefully.
Anne settled herself against the pillows, surprised that she felt no embarrassment at being naked before him.
It seemed entirely natural and right, and she only felt impatience to see her husband in the same state.
With her heart skipping faster, she watched as his hands went to the buttons on his trousers and then stopped.
She glanced up at his face. “Why did you stop?”
A rather smug grin of masculine satisfaction curved over his wicked mouth. “I’m just enjoying the way you look at me, love. It’s good for a fellow’s ego.”
“I’m not sure you need the help,” she said frankly, relieved when he laughed and carried on with his buttons.
King pushed down his trousers and small clothes, and Anne gazed at him, taking in the full picture of her husband, a man in his prime, a man who wanted her badly.
“How lovely you are,” she said with a sigh. “I feel I have waited for this night for such a long time.”
“You are a terrible, bold creature,” he said, laughing as he climbed into the bed beside her.
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “Whatever shall you do with me?”
He pulled her into his embrace, and she stared up at him, looping her arms about his neck.
“I think I’d rather show you than waste time on explanations,” he said gravely.
He kissed her and Anne sighed with pleasure as his body settled over hers. He was so hot, far hotter than her, and she shivered, though she wasn’t cold.
“You’re not nervous?” he asked, misinterpreting her trembling.
Anne gave a little snort. “No,” she admitted ruefully. “Just impatient. Am I very wicked to admit to it?”
“Very. Don’t ever change,” he told her before bending his head and nuzzling the valley between her breasts.
Anne closed her eyes, entranced by the warmth of his mouth as he kissed the lush curve of her breast, tracing a path to her nipple. A soft moan escaped her as he cupped the plump weight of her other breast, holding it while he teased the tight peak, worrying it with teeth and tongue.
“Oh!” she gasped, enthralled by the darts of fiery sensation that sung beneath her skin.