Chapter Fourteen
“I don’t want you to leave, you hear me? Not until…we’ve shared everything.”
Minny swallowed, looking into the eyes of the man she adored.
And why shouldn’t she? Why shouldn’t she kiss him, say such things, invite dishonor upon herself? It would all be worth it, to be with Henry…
She could feel his fingers pressed up against her buttocks, each one a brand, marking her forever. For she would never be able to kiss anyone else, could she?
Not now that she knew the taste of Henry Everleigh. No one else would ever match him. Henry had somehow crept into her heart so slowly she had not really noticed it happen.
Oh, the kisses had helped, Minny thought with a twist of pleasure around her center. But this was new.
This wasn’t just attraction, it was…something more. She had never known there could be more, but Henry had awakened things in her…
“Shared…shared everything?” Henry repeated blankly. “I…I don’t know what—”
Minny tried to prevent her nerves from showing. It was natural, she told herself, to feel…worried about this.
It was the first time she had ever considered such a thing, after all, and many in her situation would consider what she was about to suggest absolutely outrageous!
She might have done, if it were not Henry Everleigh. But he wanted to leave her.
“London. I need—I have to return to London.”
Minny could not wrap her head around it. Why would Henry wish to leave, just as they were settling into such a wonderful pattern of joy and contentment? Perhaps even more?
“I don’t want you to leave,” Minny said firmly, though her boldness shocked even her. “Henry I—there was a man once who left, and I did not say anything because I was afraid, and I have always regretted—”
She felt the change in him before he spoke. Henry stiffened, his hands slipping from her as his eyes narrowed.
“Another man?”
At once Minny realized her mistake. A nervous laugh escaped. “I did not mean—”
“You said before old Chapman proposed matrimony to you,” Henry said, his voice dark. “Dear God, are you honestly trying to tell me now, of all moments, that you regret—”
“No!” Minny placed a hand on his chest and felt the thunderous pounding of his heart.
In a way, it calmed her own. Here they were, standing in her forge, the one place she always felt safe—with the first person ever to make her feel truly safe and unsafe at the same time.
“No, you have misunderstood—I have not explained this very well!”
Henry glowered. “No, you have not.”
Minny took a deep breath. It wasn’t a betrayal, not really. She was not giving the whole story, after all, and surely, he would never begrudge her sharing his tale if it were to bring her to happiness.
Alan would have to forgive her.
Henry was still glaring. “Minny, if you don’t explain—”
“It was my brother,” she said in a rush.
They were still standing together, Minny in his arms, and she felt the softening of his grip as he relaxed.
“Brother?”
Minny nodded. Oh, she should have told him days ago, weeks perhaps—but then, Alan had always made her promise she would never reveal anything about him to others. It was too dangerous. The notes she sent proved that.
But she needed Henry to understand. That meant telling the tale.
“My brother was…was hounded out of this village,” Minny said quietly, swallowing as she recalled that awful time. “I tried to stand by him, but I never properly—I should have asked him to stay, told him we could face it all together.”
Curiosity flittered across Henry’s face. “Why was he—”
“That doesn’t matter,” she said hastily.
She had promised she would never tell. Even Henry’s warm kisses could not drag that particular secret from her.
“My point is, I did not strike while the iron was hot,” Minny said ruefully, smiling at the look of dawning comprehension on Henry’s face. “I knew what I wanted, knew I had to speak up if I wanted it…but I didn’t. So I’m doing that now.”
Henry’s hands lightly clasped her waist. “You…want me to stay?”
Minny nodded slowly. A growing need for him had been creeping over her so gradually, it was hard to pinpoint precisely when the hammer had dropped and she had fallen completely in love with him.
But she was. She loved Henry Everleigh, and if his response to the mere suggestion of Mr. Chapman was anything to go by, he cared for her, too.
Which was undoubtedly why the words she should say were somehow replaced with, “I don’t just want you to stay here, in Pathstow. I want you to stay here with me…tonight.”
Henry stared, his eyes widening.
Heat tinged Minny’s cheeks; it was a bold suggestion indeed, but she could not just let him leave without knowing how she felt about him. Without knowing how deeply she was attracted to him.
It was strange, one never thought about ladies being attracted to their lovers. Minny flushed as she thought of the few times she had discussed such things with her mother. It had always been gentlemen—or men—who had uncontrollable urges.
But this growing need was clamoring for attention, and if Henry did not kiss her—
“You cannot mean that,” Henry breathed.
Yet he did not give her any time to respond. His lips had already met hers, and Minny moaned in his mouth, the connection so sweet.
Everything in her leapt at his touch, anticipation tingling across her skin. The ache in her was growing, building, hotter than a furnace and fueled differently, but she would not let those flames go out.
Not now she had leapt for her chance to have the man she loved.
“I mean it,” Minny gasped between kisses. “And I think you want—”
“Oh Minny, you cannot even imagine what I want,” Henry growled.
His ardor was so passionate, the candlestick they had mended together slipped to the floor with a clang. Minny ignored it. She could make new ones, but this moment with Henry was something she could never recreate again.
The first time they truly allowed their passion to blaze.
“Oh!” Minny gulped as Henry pushed her back toward the anvil.
It was a relief to find it was cold to the touch. Her buttocks pressed against it, Minny reveled in the sensation of being trapped between it and the hard presence of Henry’s chest.
Her fingers were tangled in his hair, but just as she was about to claim another kiss, Henry’s hands left her.
“Henry?”
Minny blinked. Her vision had become hazy thanks to her passion and the gloom of the forge, but as her eyes continued to adjust to the light—or lack thereof—her mouth fell open.
Henry was slowly unbuttoning his shirt. “I cannot tell you how much I wanted—”
“Yes,” breathed Minny, reaching forward.
Her palm splayed across his chest, the dark hair she had seen that one time when he worked at the forge without his shirt under her fingertips. It was an image which had plagued her dreams ever since.
A lump rose in Minny’s throat as she became overwhelmed by desire and confusion.
Once she stepped over this line, there was no way back.
“You have to be sure,” breathed Henry, as though he had read her thoughts. “Truly sure, Minny, that this is what you want.”
Minny hesitated. It was so easy to be swept away by feelings like this, wasn’t it? At least, that was what she was discovering.
But as her eyes met his, the certainty she had been lacking flooded into her chest. She wanted him.
“I want you, Henry,” Minny breathed. “Henry!”
His name had escaped her throat in a shout of surprise as his hands lifted her bodily from the ground and placed her on the anvil itself.
The metal was cold through her gown, but it was nothing to the heat roaring through her body. Minny watched with desire-hazed eyes and a certain amount of confusion as Henry took a step back and then slowly, ever so slowly, started to lift her skirts.
Minny swallowed. The brush of his fingers against her ankles—for of course, working in a forge, she wore no stockings—was causing tingles of sensual delight all across her body.
“Henry, what are you—”
“Trust me,” Henry breathed as he gently pushed her skirts above her knees. “You can tell me to stop anytime you want, do you understand?”
Minny nodded, her voice unable to speak. Oh, she had never—no man had ever—
“Beautiful,” Henry whispered.
Heat rushed through Minny as Henry gently parted her knees as her skirts reached her hips. She was exposed as never before, but there was no look of revulsion in his eyes.
No, quite to the contrary.
“Henry, I—Henry Everleigh!”
Minny had been unable to help it. Grabbing the anvil with both hands and arching her back as the sensations overwhelmed her, her eyes fluttered shut as Henry leaned forward and kissed her thigh very gently.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” quavered Minny, holding onto the anvil for dear life as Henry’s teasing kisses moved upward, dancing along her thigh until he reached—“Oh, God!”
He was kissing her on her secret place. More than kisses, his tongue was darting over her, along her, then into her as Minny was overpowered with pleasure.
And Henry was moaning, as though he was enjoying himself!
Minny recalled the look of delight and desire that had flashed in Henry’s eyes as he had beheld her, and gave herself up to the pleasure. The anvil was broad enough to hold her as she quivered, the delightful ache in her building as Henry’s tongue licked and sucked until—
“Henry!”
Minny had been unable to help herself. His name was cried from her lips as ecstasy dazed her, a cresting heat that blazed through her in a rush of tingling frenzy and unknowable pleasure.
Henry did not cease his kissing until Minny’s body went limp and she fell back across the anvil.
She could not tell precisely how much time had passed before she opened her eyes, still lying back on the anvil. It was to see Henry’s face above her, delighted but with concern creasing his forehead.
“Did I truly please you?”
Minny swallowed twice to bring a little moisture to her mouth. “Please me?”
“I tried to—”
“You tried very well,” she managed, heat searing her cheeks at the disgraceful nature of their conversation.
But then, if she could be taken to such fiery ecstasy on her own anvil, perhaps she should not be so shy as to talk about it.
“I want you, Minny—all of you,” Henry said quietly, his hands resting on her thighs, his fingers stroking her, teasing even more pleasure from the fireball which had already erupted within her. “I can take precautions, but you need to decide—”
“Oh, yes,” Minny murmured.
More pleasure? More ecstasy? More opportunities to touch and be touched?
Henry groaned and his hands left her.
His absence was like the closing of the furnace door, an abrupt and rather unpleasant sudden loss of heat. Minny looked up, desperate for him, then whimpered with the expectation of pleasure at the sight her eyes took in.
Henry was fumbling—rather poorly, it had to be said—with the buttons of his breeches. Eventually his patience ran out and he tore the things down, revealing—
Minny swallowed. She had known, in theory, of course. One could not live in the country and be completely unaware of the facts of life. The farmyards around the place were full of them.
But she had not expected…well.
“I want you to get you ready for me,” Henry said in a jagged voice.
Minny almost laughed. “I do not think I could be more—oh!”
Perhaps she could. Henry’s clever fingers were gently rubbing over her, and as she laid back and accepted the adoration, pleasure sparking across her body as she squirmed, he groaned.
“Christ alive, you’re ready.”
“I want more, Henry,” Minny gasped, trying to describe the ache within her. “More of you, more, please.”
Henry bit his lip as he nodded, pushing aside her knees to stand between her thighs. “You are—Minny, you have to know, I think I love—”
“Oh God!” Minny could not help it.
He had pushed himself, just the head of his manhood within her, and the sensation was overwhelming. Far greater than his tongue throbbing with his withheld passion, Minny felt herself slowly increase to permit more and more of him.
The slick movement twisted at something deep within her, and Minny whimpered.
Henry immediately halted. “Minny, are you—”
“More,” she gasped, clinging onto the anvil as she remained on her back, adoring the way they were slowly becoming one. “There’s a—a fire in me, Henry, and I need you to—”
“Minny,” Henry moaned as he thrust deeper into her, sheathing himself completely.
It was everything she wanted and more, and Minny knew she would never be the same again. How could anyone be the same after something like this?
“You are incredible,” Henry murmured as he thrust into her again.
Minny whimpered. Oh, this was too much—the way he spoke, the way he touched her, the way they had thrown all caution to the wind and abandoned all sense and reason—
“So beautiful,” he continued, his hands on her hips as his thrusts grew in both depth and pace. “Every part of you makes me want to—”
“Yes,” Minny moaned, his words driving her beyond all endurance, her eyes fluttering open because she wanted to see him as he ravished her. “Yes, more—”
Henry swore under his breath. His thrusts became rhythmic, forceful, taking everything from her yet giving everything in return. “Minny, damn, you make me—”
“Yes, yes,” she whispered, the ache growing inside her as the heat he built started to rage. “Yes, yes, yes!”
This time she had no time to twist her lips around his name. The rush of fiery pleasure roared through her body, making every part of her tense and quiver, and Minny gave herself to the flames.
“Minny!”
Something had evidently happened in Henry, too, though Minny was not entirely sure what. His thrusts became pounds as he poured himself into her, his breath sharp, gasps echoing around the forge as he clung to her hips for dear life.
Minny let go of the anvil and moved her hands to his own, clasping them tightly as they shared the pinnacle of pleasure, waves roaring through them.
She would never know anything like this with anyone else—and she had no wish to.
Henry Everleigh. A man with no prestigious name, no reputation, only a little money…and she had given herself to him.
“Damn, woman, you took everything from me.”
Minny smiled, a wickedness she had never known until Henry had introduced her to such pleasure. “Does that mean in a few minutes you will be unable to go again?”