Chapter Fifteen #3
Chrystobel cut him off, shaking her head.
Before he could press her, she threw herself at him, arms around his neck, smacking him in the throat even through his hauberk.
Off-guard but quite thrilled by the unexpected gesture, he did the only thing he could do.
He put his arms around her and held her next to his rain-dampened body. She was soft and sweet and alluring.
“Thank you,” she whispered tightly, squeezing his neck so tightly that she would have strangled him were it not for the hauberk creating a barrier. “You are so kind to bring me gifts, but to bring gifts for Izlyn as well… what a generous man you are. Izzie will be thrilled.”
Keller was sorely wishing at that moment that he was not wearing his armor.
He wanted to feel his wife against him in the worst way.
His wife. It still didn’t seem real because it was in name only.
He’d had yet to progress beyond the social stage and he very much wanted to.
As the storm pounded outside, lighting up the sky every so often, he thought that now would be a good time for them to become husband and wife in every sense of the word.
Releasing Chrystobel enough so that he could look her in the eye, he cupped her face with his enormous hands and gently slanted his mouth over hers.
Chrystobel didn’t resist Keller’s kiss. In fact, she had anticipated it, hoped for it, and now that he was upon her, she collapsed against him, her tender lips suckling his.
It was warm and wonderful, and being swallowed by his big arms was nothing short of delightful.
When he moved to kiss her more deeply, she didn’t resist. She responded readily.
When his tongue snaked into her mouth, timidly, she simply allowed herself to experience it.
She’d never been kissed like this, not ever, and there was something very naughty and decadent about it.
His kisses grew more forceful and she let him have his way, experiencing every sensation with the greatest of pleasure.
Her arms went around his neck to hold him fast, hold him against her, and she was startled when he suddenly bent over and swept her into his arms. Big, strong, powerful arms cradled her without effort as he carried her over to the bed and deposited her gently on the mattress.
It began to occur to Chrystobel what was about to happen.
The moment was upon them, the moment that should have occurred on the day they married but didn’t.
Instead of being fearful, she was actually quite curious.
She gazed up at Keller expectantly only to see that he was removing his tunic and wet mail, so she thought that perhaps she should remove her clothes also.
Wasn’t that what one did when consummating a marriage?
Although no one had ever really spoken to her about the ways between men and women, at least not seriously, she had heard servants speak on it more than once.
Naked flesh against naked flesh, they had said.
A man’s male member between a woman’s legs, causing babies to be born.
Aye, she knew all of that. It was time to create a baby, a son for Keller, so she sat up on the mattress and reached behind her, unfastening the stays of the surcoat.
As she stood up to remove it, Keller was already half-undressed.
His mail hauberk and tunic had come off, leaving him naked from the waist up.
Silently, he reached out to help Chrystobel by lifting her surcoat over her head, leaving her clad only in her shift and stockings.
He tossed back the coverlet on the bed and Chrystobel removed her shoes and stockings, completely ignorant of the fact that this was supposed to be an intimate and pleasant experience as much as it was an experience to create a child.
No one had ever told her it was supposed to be pleasurable.
Therefore, she was looking at it all rather logically.
She climbed into the bed, gazing up at him with a mixture of trepidation and anticipation.
“Are we to create a child now?” she asked rather frankly. “If that is the case, then you will have to tell me what to do. I do not know that much about it other than what the servants have told me.”
Keller gazed down at her, a smile playing on his lips. “You are already doing all you need to do,” he told her. “Getting the woman into the bed is the most difficult part.”
She cocked her head curiously. “It is?” she asked, confused. “It is simply a matter of climbing onto the mattress. I fail to see what is so difficult.”
Keller scratched his head in a marginally awkward gesture. “It was a jest,” he muttered. “Not to worry. I shall take over from here.”
“You will let me know if I need to do anything.”
“I’ll be sure to.”
With that, Keller sat down on the edge of the bed, his back to her, and pulled off his big boots.
Then, he unfastened his breeches and swiftly pulled them off.
He pulled the coverlet up and over him as he slid into the bed, covering himself up to the chest. Chrystobel was still sitting next to him, realizing that he was now completely nude beneath the covers and she was not.
Pulling the shift up over her head, she tossed it to the floor whilst pulling the coverlet up to her neck as she lay down beside Keller.
So they lay there, side by side, as she stared up at the ceiling, waiting for him to make the first move.
Keller, who had never made love to a woman that he hadn’t paid for the privilege, rolled onto his side so he could look at her.
Every woman he had bedded had taken the aggressive role and he’d simply gone along for the ride.
Given that Chrystobel had never done this before, he was going to have to be the aggressor.
He hoped he didn’t scare the woman off with his bumbling attempts.
Leaning over, he kissed her naked shoulder, the only thing that was peering out from the top of the coverlet other than her head.
Her skin was warm and soft, and she smelled faintly sweet.
Then, a big hand snaked under the covers and cupped her left breast, feeling her jump with surprise at his action.
Her breast was warm and soft, too, and he was instantly and madly aroused as he fondled her.
From one breast to the other, he squeezed gently and caressed, pinching her nipples and feeling her quiver in response.
It excited him so much that he buried his head beneath the coverlet, which was still pulled up to her neck, and began suckling her nipples.