Archangel (18 page)

He laughed softly. “I do not think I could have,” he told her. “Erik would have run me through. As it is, he still might rise from the grave and come after me.”

She giggled. “I think he would have been very grateful.”

“For what?”

“For trying to save his sister from hell.”

Gart’s smile faded as he gazed into her lovely face. He didn’t have anything to say to that. Closing his eyes, his lips slanted gently over hers.

The first few seconds of the kiss were soft, gentle, tantalizing.  But soon enough, he was intoxicated with the feel and smell of her and his senses overwhelmed him. The lightning flashed again this time, swamping them both, and he pulled her into a crushing embrace, his tongue invading her sweet mouth.  But it still wasn’t enough. He had to have more.

Emberley had never been kissed with such passion.  At first, Gart frightened her with his onslaught and she tried to pull away, but very quickly, she realized that she wasn’t frightened at all.  Gart was powerful and manly, and she realized that she craved him more than she had realized.  As his mouth left hers and blazed a heated trail down her neck, all self control left her. She could no longer resist him. She’d never known such heat or lust in her life and, with a gentle growl, she snaked her hands underneath his mail and tunic to make contact with his muscular body.

Her heated hands caressed his tight abdomen, flesh against flesh.  Gart went mad; he ripped his mail off, then his tunic, and didn’t remember doing either.  All he remembered was the feel and taste of Emberley. Her fine surcoat disintegrated beneath his hands, the sounds of material ripping filling the chamber. Before either of them realized it, she was nude but for the hose tied to each leg with a silk ribbon.  When Gart realized her state of dress, it threw him over the edge. He latched on to her mouth and picked her up in his big arms.

Emberley wrapped her legs around his waist, as a child would, her arms around his neck as he carried her to the bed and carefully laid her down on the coverlet. He suckled on a delicate earlobe but she turned the tables on him, latching on to his shoulder and suckling his smooth flesh. He groaned as she moved to a nipple, hissing when she latched onto the peaked flesh and suckled hard.  It was driving him out of his mind.  With his last shred of sanity, he released his breeches and they collapsed around his knees.

Grabbing Emberley by the hair, he pulled her off of his chest and settled himself between her legs, his hands moving to her ripe, full breasts and loving the feel of them.  She was round and lush.  His heated mouth suckled her tender nipples, first one breast and then the other, and Emberley whimpered softly as he lapped and drew at them.  His hands were everywhere, caressing her, acquainting himself with her body, before moving to the fluff of dark curls between her legs.

He could feel the moist heat against his fingers as he stroked her.  Being that Emberley was not virgin, she didn’t flinch from his touch. Although sex with Julian had been a duty, she still knew something about it. Julian had made sure to educate his naïve wife.

Emberley grasped Gart’s hand and pushed it up against her pink folds and Gart took the hint.  He stroked her intimately, invading her responsive body with his big fingers and listening to her weep softly with joy.  His mouth was on her breasts, her ribcage, nibbling along the curve of her torso as his fingers stroked in and out of her.  Finally, when he could stand no more, Gart lifted himself up and thrust firmly into her slick, heated body.

Emberley cried out softly as he drove into her, lifting her pelvis to his, wrapping her slender legs around his hips and drawing him in deeper with every stroke.  She held him tightly with her legs as her hands wandered to his buttocks, her fingers invading the crease between his hard cheeks, touching deeply intimate places. 

Gart was so highly aroused that he groaned as he felt her little fingers, seeking his private crevices, and he gently removed her probing fingers. He knew if she continued that he would spill himself too soon, so he took both hands and stretched them sensually over her head, tenderly trapping her as his great manhood thrust deeply into her.

Emberley was lost in a haze of delirious desire. She could feel every one of Gart’s thrusts deep inside her, touching her womb, feeling her tremors of pleasure begin.  As his mouth moved down her neck to her breasts, a powerful climax came over her, followed by another and still another. Gart was merciless as he felt her walls tighten around him, wanting to prolong her pleasure and his own. 

Eventually, he could no longer hold his concentration and he spilled his hot seed deep into her beautiful body, feeling every last tremor with the greatest of pleasure. But even as he went through the throes of his release, he could feel her climax yet again and he continued to move deep within her, not wanting the experience of their first coupling to end.  It had been the most powerful personal experience of his life.

When their sweating, heated bodies slowed to a halt, Gart found himself looking Emberley in the eye. He was still buried deep within the soft, moist haven of her sweet body. They just stared at each other, shocked at the power of their mating. It was more than either one of them could have imagined, an experience that went above and beyond simple passion and emotion. It delved into the realm of the soul.  Gart leaned forward and very gently, very sweetly, kissed her on the lips.

“I love you,” he murmured against her mouth. “For all time, I will love you and only you.”

Emberley burst into body-wracking sobs.

Chapter Nine

“Fight me, you coward!”

Romney challenged Brendt, who went running in the opposite direction as Romney brandished his great wooden sword and shield. Romney was undeterred, ignoring the scolding by Gerta as he and his siblings played in the late morning sun. Romney wanted to fight but no one would engage him. He was now a mighty knight with his new sword.

Shielding his eyes, Romney could see Gart upon the battlements.  The man was seeing to the posts, now staffed with his own men since the baron took most of his troops with him. His little face lit with mischievous excitement.

“You!” he hollered at the battlements, pointing to Gart as the man spoke with a couple of soldiers. “Come here and fight me or else!”

Gart heard the yelling, glancing down in the midst of his conversation to see Romney pointing a sword at him.  With a smirk, he finished his conversation and sent the soldiers away.

“Or else what?” he called down to the boy.

Romney was as frisky as a billy goat. He pawed the ground with a foot. “Or… or else you will be sorry!”

Gart lifted his eyebrows. “Is that the best you can do?”

Romney growled like a bear and began swinging his sword around, barely missing Orin when the child came too close.  Realizing he almost hit his brother, Romney paused to see if Gart had seen it. He had, still watching the boy from the battlements.  Romney smiled apologetically but Gart shook his head reproachfully and began to make his way towards the turret stairs.  Romney watched with apprehension as Gart disappeared into the turret. He knew the man was coming to take his toys away.

“Romney?” Emberley appeared next to her son. “What are you doing, sweetheart?”

Startled, Romney looked up into his mother’s face.  He hadn’t seen her all morning. In fact, he hadn’t seen her since they returned from Minehead yesterday. Gart said she wasn’t feeling well, so it was something of a surprise to see her standing next to him.

“Are you well, Mama?” he asked, concerned.

She nodded. “Of course,” she replied, looking around. “Where are your brothers?”

Romney pointed back over towards the kitchens. “Gerta went back there.  She went to get milk for Lacy.”

Emberley shielded her eyes from the sun as she gazed over towards the kitchens. She could see Orin running around, being chased by Brendt.  Gerta appeared, carrying Lacy, and the old woman urged the boys away from the kitchen yard where they might hurt themselves on any variety of implements. As Emberley watched her children head back in her direction, she felt a body stand next to her. 

She could feel the heat, the power, knowing it was Gart before she even looked.  Already, her heart was thumping madly against her ribs and her breathing was becoming to come in swifter gasps.  But she stilled herself, dropping the hand from her eyes as she turned to look at him.

Gart’s intense eyes greeted her, warmth and emotion radiating from him.  Emberley smiled faintly.

“Good day to you, Gart,” she said softly.

He smiled, looking far more relaxed and content than she had ever seen the man.  Usually, he had some manner of hardness or professionalism about him. But not today- he actually appeared happy.

“My lady,” he greeted evenly. “You are looking exceptionally well.”

Her smile broadened. “Thank you,” she replied. “As are you.”

Orin and Brendt began clamoring around their mother and Emberley’s attention was momentarily diverted.  Gart took the opportunity to study her as she dealt with her boys; he hadn’t seen her since yesterday afternoon, after they had made love and she had wept painfully. She had fallen into a fitful sleep after that and he had stayed with her, if only just to hold her. He had never loved anything in his life as much as he was coming to love her and the passion of their lovemaking, the depths of the emotion they were coming to feel for one another, had his insides tearing themselves apart.  He was struggling to think clearly about it.

He’d left her sleeping in her big bed towards dusk, heading down to the great hall to find all four children at the table eating like pigs.  He had taken the meal with them and a few of his senior soldiers, telling the children that their mother wasn’t feeling well, which wasn’t anything new in their world. They were used to that.  Gart returned to check on Emberley after dinner but she was still sleeping heavily. He’d ended up taking the night watch, checking on her every couple of hours throughout the night and watching her sleep. When dawn broke, he’d stolen a couple of hours of sleep himself only to rise, more exhausted than he had been when he had gone to bed, when one of his soldiers had roused him.

So he forced himself to awaken and get to business. His first action after shaving and washing had been to check on Emberley again, who was still in an exhausted sleep. Gart had broken his fast with a very sleepy Romney and proceeded out to the grounds.  Julian had taken most of his army with him and there were no more than fifty men at arms left behind, not a particularly wise move with a castle the size of Dunster.  On the edge of the moors at the gates to Cornwall, a castle like Dunster needed to be more heavily manned against the wilds that plagued the area.

Gart had spent his morning putting his own men on the walls.  Then he had been challenged by Romney, only to come face to face with Romney’s beautiful mother.  Now, all he could do was stare at her, feeling as if he was on brittle ground. The mood between them was uncertain given the events of the previous day and he was unsure how to act or even what to say. Eventually, Orin and Brendt resumed fighting with their wooden swords as Lacy, set to her feet by Gerta, took off running.  As the fat nurse followed the baby, Romney faced off against Gart.

“Well?” he demanded. “Are you ready to fight me?”

“Romney,” Emberley admonished softly. “Enough with your impertinence. You do not make demands of Gart.”

Gart gave her a half-grin, holding up a hand to let her know it was all right.  He faced the boy. “Are you sure you want to fight me?”

Romney nodded, holding his sword defensively. “I am.”