Chapter Ten #2
Maeve screamed from the feelings that converged on her all at once—pleasure, pain, need, embarrassment and fear. If he could do that to her, she was giving him far too much power over her, power she’d never intended to surrender to him.
Pressure between her legs brought her down from the incredible high to realize he was pushing his phallus into her body and her body was resisting him with everything it had.
“Relax, sweetheart.” His lips moved over her neck and ear. “Relax and let me in.” He rocked against her, giving her a little more each time.
Maeve took a tremulous breath, trying to give him what he wanted but also keep something for herself for when this interlude with him was but a distant memory. She refused to give him everything. He could have her body, but he would never touch her heart.
“Nice and easy. That’s it.” He moved slowly and carefully, as if he were afraid to hurt her.
Right when she was becoming accustomed to the motion, a tearing pain had her crying out from the agony that gripped her.
He held himself up on his hands so he could see her face, and his dark hair slid down over his damp brow. “That was your maidenhead giving way. It shouldn’t hurt anymore.”
While that might be true, Maeve remained tense and fearful of the pain.
“Move with me, love.” He slid his hands under her bottom and squeezed her cheeks, guiding her. As he slid deeper inside her, he tugged her upward to meet his thrust. “God, yes. Like that. Just like that.”
His eyes closed, his lips parted and his cheeks flushed with heat.
Her heart contracted at the sight of him in the throes of passion. If she’d found him attractive before, now he was magnificent.
“Maeve.” He gathered her into his tight embrace. “Wrap your legs around my hips.”
She did as he asked, gasping when she realized the position sent him even deeper into her.
“Yes, like that. Does it feel good?”
“It feels . . .”
Because she was so close to him, she felt him hold his breath in anticipation of her response.
“Incredible.”
“Yes, it does.” He released his tight hold on her and reached down to where they were joined to touch the place she had only just discovered.
Like before, her body seized with contractions that made him groan as he picked up the pace until he was hammering into her, the fingers on his other hand digging into her shoulder.
All at once, he pulled out of her to spend on her belly. When he was finished, he left her to grab a towel to wipe her clean. “I don’t think we’re ready for offspring.”
“N-no.” She felt boneless, like a lump of clay. If someone said the house was on fire, she feared she wouldn’t be able to react.
Then he wiped up the dampness between her legs, and Maeve noticed blood on the towel.
“Is that . . .”
“It’s perfectly normal the first time. It won’t happen again.” His brow furrowed with concern. “Are you quite all right? I wasn’t as gentle with you as I should have been.”
“I’m rather well except for the fact that I can’t seem to move.”
His laughter lit up his face and only added to his appeal. “Come, let me make you more comfortable.” He helped her up and pulled down the sheet and quilt and settled her on a plump feather pillow.
“Is that better?”
“It is. Thank you.”
“Why can’t you bring yourself to look at me?”
She kept her gaze fixed on the sheet. “Because I’m embarrassed.”
“By what we did?”
She nodded tightly.
“There is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Oh, but there is. I didn’t know that men did . . . those things . . . to women.”
“What things?”
She felt the dreaded flush creep back up her neck to her face. “Don’t make me say it!”
“I won’t make you say it, but you can’t deny you enjoyed it.” As he spoke, he dragged a light fingertip from her neck to her chest to her breasts where he teased both nipples before continuing down to the cleft between her legs.
Maeve gasped from the light touch to her sensitive flesh.
“Tell me you enjoyed it.”
“I did.”
“Then don’t be embarrassed. Before long, what we do here will seem normal.”
She laughed from the preposterousness of his statement. “I’m not sure that will ever seem normal to me.”
“I promise you that it will. We’ll do it so frequently that you’ll no longer be embarrassed.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.”
Smiling, he kissed the end of her nose and then her lips. “I’ll be right back.”
Maeve watched him walk into the adjoining bathroom, taking note of broad shoulders, a narrow waist and tight buttocks.
It would take months to comprehend the events of this day that had led to Mr. Nelson—Aubrey—becoming her husband.
Her stomach ached when she thought of the man who had come looking for her and the money Aubrey had offered to make him go away.
What if he rejected the offer and insisted on taking her into custody? The thought of having to go back to Ireland, to face Mr. Farthington’s family, not to mention the possibility of a hangman’s noose, had her paralyzed with fear.
“Whatever is the matter?” Aubrey returned with a fresh towel, got on the bed and eased her legs apart.
Before she could form a protest, he had placed the delightfully warm towel against the sore area between her legs.
“You were relaxed and now you’re tense again.”
“I’m wondering if your friend Mr. Jarvis found the man who’s looking for me.”
“I have no doubt that Matthew will succeed in his mission.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“When Mr. Tornquist came earlier, I noticed a few things about him.”
“Such as?”
“He was missing several buttons on his jacket, his shirt was dingy and his shoes were in need of a shine.”
“What does any of that have to do with me?”
“I believe Mr. Tornquist is down on his luck and will leap at the offer of one hundred thousand dollars to tell the people who hired him that he was unable to locate you.”
He tapped on the bottom lip she had drawn partially between her teeth. “Rather than worrying that delicious lip, tell me what you’re thinking. Let me ease your concerns.”
“I would like, at some point, to be able to go home again, to see my family. I’ll never be able to do that as long as Mr. Farthington’s family is accusing me of murder.”
“That is a very real concern and one we will address in due time.”
“How will we address it?”
Aubrey appeared to give that significant thought.
“I’ll write a letter to the authorities in Ireland, detailing the events as you relayed them to me.
” He took hold of her right hand and placed a kiss on the soft pink skin that had finally replaced raw blisters.
“I’ll attest to the fact that your hand showed signs of recent healing from a burn. ”
“You noticed that?”
“I noticed it the day of the picnic and suddenly understood why you always wear gloves while you work.”
“I was desperately afraid of infection. A doctor in New York provided me with a salve that aided in the healing, but he warned me about the threat of infection until the wound healed.”
Aubrey continued to press soft kisses to the new skin. “And then you came here and faced calamity with a hand that was still healing. In case I forget to tell you, I think you’re a very impressive young woman.”
“I’m not impressive. I was desperate for a job and willing to do whatever I had to in order to survive.”
“You are impressive, and I’m so very happy that your desperation led you here to me.”
“I fear that you will not be so happy once your family learns of our marriage.”
“You must hear me when I tell you that there is nothing they can say or do that can come between us unless we allow it. I, for one, will not allow it.” With his finger on her chin, he turned her face toward him, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I don’t want you to worry about anything.”
“That is much more easily said than done.”
“You’re no longer alone with your worries, lovely Maeve. You have me now, and I won’t let any harm come to you.” He brought his lips down on hers and wrapped his arms around her.
With his warm body pressed against hers and his tongue teasing its way into her mouth, she found it hard to think about anything other than the way she felt when he touched her. But in the dark recesses of her mind, the fears refused to be silenced.