Chapter 16
“So, is it done?”
Siaspar smiled when Katherine ran to him as soon as he appeared at the door, hope dancing in her eyes.
Following his declaration that she was not to work for Lady Malpas or for him ever again, he had found her an empty cottage in her parents’ village.
She could live there while he went back to Allerby Castle and put his plans to execution.
There, he would be able to visit her in private while he waited for the bishop to make a decision on the state of his union.
Not that he had expected any difficulty.
And fortunately, he had been right.
With all parties involved agreeing and the lady’s brother himself testifying that his sister had not been bedded in four months and would never bear a child from this union, the man had had little choice but to declare the marriage ratum sed non consummatum, valid but non consummated.
In a few days, the clerk would hand him a paper making the decision official.
“Yes, my love,” he told her, lifting Katherine into his arms. “It is done. Finally.”
He was a free man. Free to be with the woman he loved.
With a cry, she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a long, loving kiss.
“How did it go? Was it very awkward? How did Lady Malpas behave? What did she say? How do you feel?”
The questions came tumbling out of her mouth. Siaspar did not comment but his smile widened. He loved it when she was impatient. Or rather, he loved it when she was herself. They had spent too long pretending they did not feel anything for one another and keeping a distance between them.
“It was exactly as I suspected,” he said, depositing Katherine on the table so that their faces were level.
“Lady Malpas was so delighted to be rid of her Welsh husband that she did not deny the non-consummation. You, of all people, should know what her feelings toward me are and what lengths she went to to avoid being bedded by me. So when I suggested we annul this marriage, she was more than amenable. Especially when I agreed that she could claim impotence if she wanted. She loved the idea, as you can imagine.”
The woman had relished the idea of this last humiliation, but he cared not what she or her brother thought. He knew the truth; it was all that mattered.
With the right bride in his bed, he would have no problem doing his duty. Quite the opposite.
“I offered to help find her a husband,” he added, smiling to himself.
“You never—”
“I did, as I wanted to ensure that there were no unexpected difficulties.” This graciousness had cost him little.
He would have done much more to gain his freedom.
“I’m sure I can prevail on Lord Sheridan, my English neighbor at Castell Esgyrn, to suggest a suitable candidate for her.
Someone he hates, of course, not a friend.
I would never wish that woman on anyone worthy.
So it all ends well. I am free of a wife who made my life miserable and the lady will soon be wed to someone she will have no scruples bedding. ”
“As to that…” Katherine hesitated. He nodded encouragingly, hoping she would never think she could not speak her mind. “I think that Lady Malpas might have had another reason for not wanting to be bedded on her wedding night.”
“Oh?” Siaspar arched an eyebrow. This was intriguing. “You mean a reason besides her loathing for me? I am all ears.”
“I might be wrong, but I got the impression… Well, she said something that night that led me to believe she might already have had a lover and did not want you to realize that she was not a virgin.”
“Is that so?” Siaspar was positively tingling with mirth.
“You mean that she actually managed to ensnare a man? It seems incredible but, after all, why not? Some men will not see past a pretty face and if he was English, I suppose she did not spend her time scowling at the unfortunate man, which would have helped. But based on this information, I might start to question your countrymen’s sanity.
They take us for savages, but if they are seduced by women like Lady Malpas, it’s hard not to conclude they might not be in possession of all their faculties. ”
Katherine gave a mock sigh. “I guess now I know what you really think of me.”
He tightened his hold around her waist. “I never said a word against English women. I believe they have a lot more sense, which is good, as I need an English mother for my children. Remember that this was the only reason I agreed to this accursed union with Lady Malpas in the first place.”
“So, I am only here to ensure that your children are not seen as uneducated brutes?” she challenged with an exaggeratedly arched brow. “I’m flattered.”
“You should be,” he answered, mimicking her. “Thanks to you, they will not be considered second-class citizens, savages like their father. I—”
“You are nothing of the sort!” she said hotly.
“No. But I am grateful to you for offering my children an easier life than I can ever have. And I cannot wait to meet them.”
He bent down and kissed her stomach. His heart started to beat faster at the idea of seeing it swollen with his babe one day.
“Mm. If you want children, you will have to start bedding me, you know. Properly, I mean.”
Siaspar smiled to himself. He had refused to make love to Katherine until he was free of his wife.
In the last two weeks, he had pleasured her in every way he knew how, and had even allowed her to pleasure him until he burst in explosive release.
But he had not wanted to join with her until everything was official, precisely so that he did not make her with child until he was certain they could be legitimate and he could be a father to them.
He’d known that once he’d plunged inside her heat he would never be able to withdraw in time.
“If you want to be bedded properly, cariad, that can be arranged,” he said, his voice thick with desire. “Sooner than you think. That is why I’m here. Because we’ve waited long enough.”
“We have.”
Her eyes had caught ablaze, a sign of desire he knew only too well and which fanned his in turn. Not that it had needed any encouragement. That fortnight had been the longest of his life.
“Then take me to the pallet, my love.”
Siaspar didn’t hesitate.
Before she could blink, Katherine found herself lying under a hard, masculine body. Her arms were stretched above her head and both her wrists were imprisoned in a strong hold. Her insides convulsed in anticipation. At last, this was it, Siaspar was about to make love to her.
In the last two weeks, she had discovered untold delights, some very wicked indeed, but she had been denied what she craved the most. To become one with the man she was going to marry, the man who was right now kissing her as if he wanted to swallow her whole.
“Undress me,” she breathed.
“Yes, cariad. I need to see you.” He always wanted to see as much of her as he could when he touched her, as if to make up for their first two nights together.
His hand went to her stocking as he spoke.
“Yes, I will undress you. And myself. There will be nothing between us when I make you mine in truth.”
Despite their eagerness, it took longer than Katherine would have wanted for them to be naked. But finally, they were.
“I want you. Now.”
She parted her legs to welcome Siaspar, cradling his erect shaft against her throbbing entrance.
A gleam flashed in his eyes. He’d understood what she was doing, showing her that, this time, this joining was her decision, that she was coming to him willingly, not because she was obeying someone else’s orders.
And she’d made it clear that this time she would not suffer any delays, accept no caresses, however delicious.
She wanted him inside her.
Today, nothing else would do.
He lifted himself above her, ready to plunge in, but at the last moment, seemed to hesitate. Katherine placed a hand on his cheek.
“What is it?” What was he worried about? Did he think she was not ready yet? No need. Though he had barely touched her, she could feel how slick she was. Surely he could feel it too?
“I would understand if you preferred to wait until we were actually married. I don’t want you to think I—”
“Siaspar,” she purred, loving him for this thoughtfulness. “Do I look like someone who is having scruples right now?” She nudged her hips upward, providing him with the answer. “I want you. I don’t think anything or anyone could stop me, not even you. So I will give you no choice.”
He smiled when she echoed what he had told her in the meadow the day they had declared their love to one another.
“I have never bedded Lady Malpas,” he said suddenly.
“I know.” She smiled. Did he think she would be jealous? “I, of all people, should know that you lay with me instead. So lie with me again. Please. I’m dying to feel you inside of me. Dying for you to make me come.”
This bold declaration put paid to his last hesitations. He slid inside her and they both moaned at the same time at the marvelous sensation. They had truly been made one for the other.
“Jesus, you feel so good,” Siaspar said between clenched teeth. “How did I ever get so lucky as to find you?”
But he had not found her, of course. She had been sent to him in a cruel bargain. Which only made the connection they shared even more incredible. It could so easily have ended up in disaster.
“I think I’m the lucky one.”
Katherine wrapped her legs around Siaspar’s loins and his rhythm instantly increased. The tremors she remembered from their second night together started to build inside her, stronger now that she was allowing herself to welcome the sensations. Soon the wave became unstoppable.
“Let me look at you, my sweet, while I make love to you, let me show you what you mean to me,” he said, his voice hoarse.
His hair was falling wildly around his face, the muscles on his arms were rippling with the effort of plunging inside her, his neck was corded, his eyes aglow. He was magnificent.