Captive Bride (21 page)

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raindrop like a tear from the heavens spattered against Huiann’s cheek.

“We may get wet before we get home.” Alan slapped the reins against the horse’s back and the buggy rolled up the grassy trail to the road.

He was proved right. The few raindrops turned into a light mist then a drizzle that pelted them despite the buggy hood protecting them from the worst of it. The dirt roads were churned-up mud. A few horses and delivery carts were out, but most of the carriages and pedestrians had taken refuge inside. The city looked different without the teeming activity in the streets, hushed and gray and somber.

Huiann’s coat repelled the rain, but a fine mist bathed her face, making her shiver. She pressed close to Alan’s side, content to be rained on as long as she was in the shelter of his arm.

He let her out of the buggy in front of the store and waited until she’d gone down the alley toward the back of the building before leaving to return the vehicle to the livery stable.

By the time he returned, she had the fish frying in a pan and was making compote from the rest of the blackberries they’d picked. Alan came up behind her as she worked at the kitchen counter, slipped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. “I hope you enjoyed your day out even if it was cold.”

“Good day. Thank you. Good fish too.” She indicated the sizzling filets in the frying pan. “How many you catch?”

He laughed and tightened his arm around her. “Not as many as you, and you won’t let me forget it, will you?”

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She smiled. He was easy to joke with, like Bolin had been. She stopped stirring the compote and leaned back into his body. He turned her to face him and kissed her. She clung to his neck, overwhelmed by his powerful body pressing against hers. Amazing that she’d once been alarmed by his size. Now it was one of her favorite things about him, the sense of being protected and adored by a sweet and loving giant.

His hands roamed down her back and cupped her bottom, pulling her against his groin. Hard again. He was always hard for her. Huiann’s sister Mei had once hinted that her husband’s demands grew tiring, but Huiann didn’t find it so. Her sex softened immediately, yielding to the pressure of his erection rubbing against it. How quickly she’d changed from an innocent virgin to a woman whose body sprang to full arousal at the mere thought of her lover entering her.

She twined her fingers in his hair and opened her mouth to his plunging tongue. He lifted her half off her feet in an effort to pull her even closer. The kitchen counter pressed into her back and Alan’s body against her front. Her mind floated as light as thistledown on a breeze as he kissed her until she was breathless.

The smell of fried fish brought her back to earth with a thud. She braced her hands against Alan’s shoulders and pushed him away. “Fish!” He set her down and she pulled the pan off the stove and set it on a trivet. She forked out the golden brown filets, a little blackened around the edges, and laid them on a plate.

Alan reached out to break a crispy bit off the edge of one of the fish, burned his fingers and pulled away with a hiss.

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“Sit,” she ordered. “Dinner now.” Huiann found she was ravenous from all the fresh air and she devoured several pieces of fish, a good portion of rice and the blackberry compote on thin fry bread.

Alan sat back after he’d emptied his plate for a second time. “Delicious. Thank you. It’s a wonder I didn’t starve before you came.” He helped her clear the table and Huiann started to heat water in preparation for washing dishes. He stopped her with a hand on her wrist. “Let’s leave them until tomorrow. This is our holiday.” He pulled her toward the stairs and Huiann was happy to abandon the dishes and go with him.

In his bedroom, Alan removed her clothing item by item slowly, kissing each bit of flesh he uncovered.

Huiann liked this game. She held perfectly still and let him do everything, anything, he wanted with her. After he peeled off her blouse and chemise, Alan kissed her throat, her chest, her breasts. He suckled her nipples and her sex tightened as if a line was attached from her breast to her crotch. With every tug of his mouth her sex responded like a fish on that line. But unlike the fish, her pussy wanted to be caught and didn’t fight against that insistent tugging.

He removed her skirt and petticoat, her drawers, shoes and stockings. He unbound her hair from its plait then stood back and gazed at her nude body, her flowing hair, studying her as if she were a work of art.

Huiann kept her eyes modestly downcast, but her body burned with arousal, anticipating his touch. She remembered what Madam Teng had told her about men liking a woman to be submissive and meek. It 194

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was a role Huiann found could be exciting to play, but she also liked that she was free to make requests of him too.

She lifted her gaze and met his hungry eyes. “You now.”

Some nights she helped him undress, reveling in each button popped from its hole, each hook unfastened, but tonight she remained still and watched him strip for her. His hands moved down the front of his shirt. When all the buttons were undone, he shrugged it off his shoulders. Beneath he wore a long-sleeved undershirt. He pulled this over his head, leaving his tawny hair tousled and making her want to plunge her hands into its softness. The hair on his chest looked golden in the lamplight, and shadows delineated the muscles of his chest and stomach.

Huiann ached to rub her face against his chest. She knew how that hair felt now, how his skin smelled and tasted, and the more of him she had, the more she wanted. He was more addictive than opium.

He unfastened his breeches and the drawstring of his drawers and slid both down his hips. The sight of the sharp blades of his hip bones sent a surge of excitement through her, and when his erect cock was revealed, she couldn’t take her eyes from the thick staff. Was it normal for a woman to be so aroused by the sight of a man and to want him inside her so desperately?

Neither her mother nor Madam Teng had said anything about experiencing such pleasure. Huiann had no idea how to feel about her boundless lust for Alan. It was probably shameful, as most things that felt good seemed to be.
Enjoy yourself, it’s later than
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you think
was likely not one of the proverbs her mother would want her to live by, but she decided to stop worrying and simply enjoy the sensations coursing through her.

Completely naked, Alan crossed the floor to stand before her. He touched her, light strokes up her arms, over her chest, down her stomach, like a sightless man learning her shape with his hands. He grasped her waist and turned her away from him then continued his soft strokes, brushing over her back and buttocks, down her legs to her feet. She felt him crouching behind her, and her body blazed as his hands bracketed her hips and his mouth touched her bottom. He kissed her on her buttocks, soft, warm presses of his lips on her flesh that made her moan as her anus clenched tight.

He delved a hand between her legs, fingering her sex and gathering the moisture there. Then he slid his wet finger farther to the hooded nub at the apex and tickled it in that delightful way she’d come to love so much. Soon she was moaning and thrusting against his hand.

After several moments, Alan removed his hand and stood. He brushed the length of her hair with his palm and leaned to kiss the skin just behind her ear.

“Huiann, I want to do something new.”
Yes. All right. Anything.
Her heart pounded. She nodded and drew a deep breath, waiting.

He guided her across the braided rug to the wardrobe and pressed her against its flat surface. The wood was cool and smooth against the length of her body, her flattened breasts, belly, groin and thighs. He placed her arms on either side of her head, palms flat, 196

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and held them there. Then he moved in behind her, his erection nudging at her bottom.

He’d taken her from behind like this in bed, but it felt different standing. Exotic, decadent and wicked.

The heat of his body baked her backside like an oven.

His skin slid seductively against hers as he nuzzled the side of her neck and the crook of her shoulder.

Then suddenly his heat was gone. He’d stepped away, leaving her pressed against the wardrobe.

Huiann glanced over her shoulder and watched him prepare his cock with a condom then stand and study her once more. She’d learned that the sight of her nude body was extremely arousing to him, as his was to her.

Moving closer, he stroked his hands over her back and buttocks. He traced his finger down the crack between her cheeks, skating lightly over her anus, which clenched spasmodically. Once more, he reached between her legs, fingered her engorged vulva and dipped inside her, testing her wetness, then he grasped her legs and moved them apart. She held her breath as he moved in behind her and the head of his cock bumped against her entrance. Her muscles tightened as if to grab hold and pull it inside.

With one strong, piercing thrust, he filled her completely. She gasped at the abrupt invasion. His knees bumped her legs. He had to stoop to match his height to hers and allow his entry. Huiann was pressed hard against the wardrobe door. Her breasts ached—

not from being flattened, but from her excitement at Alan’s harsh breathing. She loved having the power to transform him into a creature of primitive lust made helpless by his desire for her.

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He withdrew his length and thrust again, pushing her against the unyielding wood. She lifted up on her toes as he slammed into her over and over. His grunts made her blood race and she pushed her body back onto his erect staff. He pumped fast and recklessly, a completely different pace than the slow communion they usually shared. The dragon was rampant in him now, the male aspect of aggression and dominance, and her phoenix, the female principle, unfolded to envelope him.

Suddenly Alan groaned and buried himself deep once more, pinning her beneath him. She felt the swell of his cock as his release pulsed through him, and wished she could feel the warmth of his seed filling her. The condom wasn’t necessary since she still dutifully swallowed the concoction she’d bought from the doctor. But Alan insisted on taking extra precaution against pregnancy, saying something about

“quacks and charlatans.”

He collapsed against her back, gasping for breath.

She closed her eyes and felt every inch of his body covering hers. At last, his rough breathing slowed and his softening penis receded. He stepped away and turned her to face him.

Framing her face in his hands, he kissed her and whispered, “Thank you.” Always kind, always respectful. He was a perfect balance between primal animal and polite gentleman, and she loved both aspects.

He slid his hand down between her legs and located her clitoris. “Now you,” he murmured. “Let go for me.”

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Between the husky rumble of his voice and the insistent rubbing of his finger, she couldn’t refuse.

Only a few strokes brought the flitting fireflies in her belly swarming together into a mass of glowing light.

She whimpered then groaned, eyes closing as she squirmed against his hand and ecstasy washed through her.

When she opened her eyes, Alan was watching her face. He smiled, smug like a cat with a fat bird in its mouth. He enjoyed his ability to satisfy her as much as she liked having that power over him. Too bad not every man realized there was as much joy in giving as in receiving pleasure.

Alan lifted her and carried her to bed. She burrowed under the covers, shivering at the coolness of the cotton sheets against her bare skin. He lay down beside her and she curled up against his side and closed her eyes, thinking about their glorious day by the lake and the lovemaking that followed. If it weren’t for her worries about Xie and Alan’s insistence on moving her to the country, she’d be completely content.

But how long could they play at being husband and wife? She’d willingly embraced this relationship, but wondered if it could ever become more—a real marriage with all the difficulties that would entail.

Shoving these thoughts from her mind, she relaxed and enjoyed the moment. Right now she was safe, warm and loved, and that was enough.

A pounding on the door downstairs snapped her awake.

She bolted upright. Alan tossed off the blanket, jumped out of bed and pulled on his trousers. He Bonnie Dee

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reached in the nightstand drawer and took out a large pistol with a long barrel.

“Wait here,” he commanded then ran from the room. His bare feet pounded down the stairs.

Huiann rose and put on her dress. If trouble was coming, she didn’t want to face it naked. Below, the kitchen door opened and there were voices and footsteps. Heart racing, Huiann slipped out into the hallway to the landing. She recognized Dora’s voice speaking through loud sobs. Ignoring Alan’s command to stay, she ran downstairs to the lamp-lit kitchen.

Alan was helping Dora to sit on one of the wooden chairs. Her hands covered her face. Tears and blood trickled from between her fingers. Dora’s body shook as she gulped in breaths of air between wracking sobs.

“Dora,
an ning,
” Huiann hurried to her side and moved her friend’s hand away from her face. With a damp rag Alan offered her, she dabbed at Dora’s bloody nose.

Heavy pounding shook the door in its frame and Ralph’s voice bellowed, “Dora, you in there? Come on out, you slut!”

Alan strode to the door.

“No!” Huiann called, but it was too late.

Alan opened the door, his big body filling the frame. “You’re drunk. Go home.”

“Let me in,” came the slurred voice of Dora’s man.

Alan stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Huiann could still hear his quiet, commanding voice and the other man responding with loud belligerence. Dora clutched the bloodied rag against her mouth and whimpered.

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Outside, the arguing intensified, the men’s voices rising. Then the sound of flesh hitting flesh was followed by a yell. Huiann snatched up the pistol from the table where Alan had laid it. The grip was cool against her palm and the weapon was much heavier than she’d expected. She ran to the door and pulled it open, dimly aware of Dora calling out her name.