Chapter Sixteen #2
She smiled, touching his rough cheek. “You told me you were not good with words, but you lied,” she insisted. “You are very good with words. You say the most wonderful things.”
His soft expression returned. “You have made it easy,” he whispered. “You have made a great many things easy for me, Wynny. It has endeared you to me more than you can possibly know.”
Gazing into his magnificent face, Ellowyn was struck with how much she loved the man.
She didn’t know exactly when it had happened, but as she looked at him, she couldn’t remember when she hadn’t loved him.
Powerful, commanding, handsome, kind, and sometimes socially awkward, Brandt had quickly come to mean everything to her.
And then he was going to go back to France and leave her all alone.
The knowledge of that tore her to shreds and tears filled her eyes.
She threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly.
Brandt had seen the tears no matter how quickly she had moved to hide them. He held her snuggly, his face in the side of her head.
“Why do you weep?” he asked. “What is the matter?”
She shook her head. Then, she sobbed. “I do not want you to leave me,” she whispered tightly. “Brandt, the thought of you returning to France, the thought of us being separated, claws at me like a great fanged beast. Being apart from you will surely kill me.”
He didn’t say anything. He simply continued to hold her, but the truth was that he was thinking very heavily on what she had said.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was becoming increasingly distraught at the thought of leaving her behind as well.
He knew he had to, but that didn’t change the emotions he was feeling.
He loosened his grip on her, taking her face between his two great hands.
“If I said that the mere thought does not eat away at me as well, I would be lying,” he confessed, his dark eyes boring into her.
“But I know, as a warrior, that I cannot bring you with me. My thoughts would be on you constantly, worrying over you or dreaming of you, and that would be the death of me. If my mind is not on what I am doing, then it makes it easier for someone to kill me. Do you understand?”
She sniffled, nodding her head as she wiped her eyes. “I do,” she said, unhappy. “I hate that I do, but I understand.”
He rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs, kissing her forehead. “I find myself in a very peculiar position right now,” he said. “My focus, my career, has always been on Edward. Until I met you, I was anxious to return to him. Now I am not anxious at all. I am dreading it.”
“As am I.”
He sighed sadly and kissed her forehead again.
“Then let us make the most of this time together. Let us build happy memories to cling to for the times we are separated. I promise I will not bring up my departure to France in your presence until such time that my departure is imminent. I will not constantly remind you of something we are trying to ignore. Is that acceptable?”
She frowned. “When are you departing?”
He was serious. “Four weeks at the most.”
Ellowyn closed her eyes, already miserable although she was struggling not to be. Finally, she nodded. “Very well,” she whispered. “We will pretend you are not leaving and that you shall always be with me.”
He put a finger under her chin, tipping her head up. He kissed her softly on the mouth. “I will always be with you no matter where I am,” he kissed her again. “My heart is with you, Wynny. Surely you know that.”
She gazed into his dark eyes, unable to control herself. “I do love you, Brandt,” she murmured. “Always remember that. You have all of me.”
His features went through the range of emotions – shock, realization, and finally awe. He wrapped her up in a fierce embrace, squeezing the breath from her.
“Wynny, my love,” he replied. “I do not know what to say except….”
Ellowyn buried her face in his neck, trying to avoid the chain mail. “Except what?”
“Except… I am sorry I called you a whore when we first met.”
Ellowyn froze, her eyes flying open. Then, she pulled her face from the crook of his neck, looking at him with such surprise that her mouth popped open.
Brandt looked back at her with equal surprise until she broke down into screaming laughter.
Soon, the two of them were howling with laughter, so much so that Ellowyn was nearly weak with it. She struggled to catch her breath.
“It was probably the best thing you ever did,” she chortled. “As sweet and slick as a marriage proposal.”
He shook with mirth. “I was at my most charming that day.”
She shook her head, wiping the happy tears from her eyes. “You are a Devil, Brandt de Russe.”
He grabbed her face and kissed her soundly. “Aye, but I am your Devil, Wynny. I am your devoted, humble, and loving Devil.”
She sobered as he kissed her, the moment so warm and fluid between them. “Do you love me, Brandt?”
He slowed his aggressive kisses, running his hands over her soft cheeks. “I have never loved anyone before but I suspect that I do. What I am feeling for you could only be love.”
She grinned, returning his sweet kisses, until they turned amorous. The fire that ignited so easily between them roared to life. Brandt picked her up and headed to the bed, but she balked.
“Nay,” she breathed. “Not on that mess. It is filthy and full of bugs.”
Brandt hardly slowed down. He began pulling off his gloves, unfastening the ties of her girdle with a free hand.
Ellowyn felt his sense of urgency, feeding off of it, and in little time she had her surcoat off, helping Brandt with his mail.
It was more cumbersome to undress him but they managed it, everything from the waist up.
His broad, muscular chest drew her lust and she kissed his chest, toying with his nipples just as he toyed with hers.
Brandt yanked the shift over her head, leaving her clad in her hose and boots.
She had a fabulous figure, soft and round in the right places, and already he was suckling her breasts and fondling her buttocks, pulling her up against him.
She had such soft skin and he lapped it up, starving for her.
Nothing on earth fueled him like she did.
Ellowyn, meanwhile, managed to unfasten his breeches but he had to lower them.
He could do it faster, anyway. With his breeches down around his knees, he turned her around, braced her arms against the bed post, and lifted her buttocks up against his pelvis.
His manhood, hard and demanding, thrust into her from behind.
Since he was so much taller than she was, he had to literally hold her up off the ground as he thrust into her.
It was nothing for his considerable strength.
Ellowyn gripped the bed post, wrapping her legs around him as he drove into her soft and yielding body.
He had a firm grip of her pelvis, holding it tightly against him, his gaze on her slender back and supple buttocks, driving him insane with desire.
Bending over, he wrapped a big arm around her torso, holding her against him as his free hand roamed her breasts, delighting in the silken texture.
Then his fingers moved to the curls between her legs, fingering her, listening to her gasp and groan as he stroked her.
He felt her release and he answered shortly, spilling his seed deep into her womb.
Still embedded in her, he held her close, kissing her back, stroking her breasts gently, digesting everything about the woman that he was so closely joined with.
Every tremor, every breath, every sigh was engrained in his brain.
She was becoming a part of his very makeup, the fibers of his being.
As he stood there and held her, his body still joined to hers, his mouth was against her back.
“Aye, I love you,” he whispered into her flesh. “I will never love another.”
Eyes closed, trying to catch her breath, Ellowyn could only smile.