Claire Delacroix (91 page)

“Why the smile?” Burke murmured when Alys’s eyelids fluttered open again. He did not know how long he had simply held her, watching the crimson fade from her cheeks, watching her doze within the circle of his embrace, watching the sunlight toy with the majesty of her hair.

The moment he had dreamed of for so long was here, and Burke did not intend to miss any of it.

Alys’s smile broadened, her eyes echoing the sun-flecked hues of this secret glade. She brushed his hair back from his forehead, her movements languid. Burke bent to brush his lips across hers and she sighed.

“Dare I hope you were pleased?”

“Sweet torture,” she confirmed, and looped her arms around his neck. That dimple reappeared, her eyes twinkled with mischief, then suddenly she rubbed herself against his erection. “Yet you are still in such troubled state.”

’Twas a marvel to see the understanding sweep over her and a new confidence color her every movement. Burke knew he would never tire of watching Alys, nor, indeed, of tempting that smile.

“We could see to that now,” he whispered against her throat. Her sigh filled his ear as he kissed her creamy flesh, and she arched against him in a way that made him nearly explode with desire. Burke eased himself between the lady’s thighs as they kissed and braced himself on his elbows above her.

When their lips finally parted, they were both breathing quickly. Alys ran her hands over Burke’s shoulders, then flicked a nervous glance down between them.

“You truly go there?”

“ ’Tis easier than one might expect, but the first time may
be difficult” Burke touched the tip of his nose fleetingly to hers. “You must promise to tell me if there is pain.”

Alys nodded and bit her lip in trepidation. But Burke did not want her to be afraid. He captured her lips beneath his own once more, entangling their fingers as he eased closer to his goal.

She returned his kiss hungrily, her legs parting to accommodate him as she braced her feet on the back of his calves. The imprint of those toes on his own flesh nearly sent Burke surging forward, but he gritted his teeth and moved with excruciating slowness.

His Alys. She was so very wet and warm. Burke closed his eyes when his erection nudged against her softness. He eased closer and met resistance, then broke his kiss to watch his lady.

“Tell me,” he urged, and Alys nodded quickly, her wondrous eyes wide. He moved again and she caught her breath, her fingers tightening on his own.

But the warm embrace of Alys surrounded him so sweetly that Burke had no breath of his own to ask. Indeed, he touched his brow to her shoulder and closed his eyes, aware of naught but her beguiling softness beneath and around him. Eventually he opened his eyes, only to be greeted
by
the lady’s gentle smile.

“ ’Twas just a twinge,” she whispered, then wriggled her hips encouragingly.

Burke gasped and slipped further into her welcoming grip. His own tension eased when Alys’s fingers relaxed their hold upon his. Finally buried to the hilt and certain paradise could be no more than this, Burke paused for a moment to let the lady become accustomed to him.

“That was not much,” she confided. “Indeed, I had expected more …” Alys got no further before Burke tentatively moved. She gasped with pleasure, her eyes widened, and she clutched his shoulders once more. “Burke!”

He moved again and again, knowing he would not last long
and wanting to ensure she found satisfaction in this. He could not resist the creamy length of Alys’s throat, the perfection of her ears, the ripe invitation of her lips.

She kissed him so demandingly she nigh drove him wild, her ardor rising with every stroke. Burke extricated one of his hands and managed to work his fingers between them, his thumb caressing Alys anew as he sought a rhythm to please them both.

Alys twisted and writhed beneath him again, her every move driving Burke onward. He felt the heat build but grimly hung on, waiting for Alys’s release. He felt sweat bead on his back, his legs were clenched, he was bigger and harder than he had ever been in all his days.

Alys pumped her hips demandingly beneath him, she clung to his hand, she whispered his name. Burke felt her tremble begin, and as she parted her lips to cry out, he buried himself within her one last time. When Alys tightened around him, he heard himself shout her name, then he too tasted the stars.

Long moments later Burke opened his eyes to find Alys breathing as heavily as he. He had collapsed atop her and feared suddenly for her comfort. Burke rolled to his back, Alys still clasped in his arms, and savored the way she giggled as she sprawled across him.

“Ah, Alys, I do love you so,” he murmured, then pressed a kiss into her hair.

Alys sighed and leaned her head on his chest, her breath fanning across him. “I shall never doubt you again,” she whispered.

“Aye? Why?”

“Because you were right once more,” she confessed drowsily. “One must match the rhythm of one’s steed.”

Burke chuckled despite his exhaustion to find himself compared to Moonshadow. Alys propped her chin in her hand,
bracing her elbow against his chest, and looked down at him with a cocky smile. “And was this worth three years’ wait, sir?”

Burke studied the unkempt vixen lolling on his chest and knew that Alys would never fail to stir his blood. He traced the line of her lips with a fingertip and smiled into her eyes. “I would wait a lifetime for you, my Alys, and that without complaint.”

“More sweet words,” she teased.

“And every one of them the truth.”

“I know.” When Alys leaned down to claim a kiss, her hair spilling all around them, Burke thought his heart would burst. He caught her close and kissed her deeply, and only then recalled another tale he would lay to rest.

To his relief, one glance to his cloak confirmed what he had suspected he would find.

“Look there,” he bade his lady fair. Burke knew the very moment that Alys saw her own blood, for she frowned as if disbelieving the evidence of her own eyes. Burke slid her weight to one side, pointing to the mark of her maidenhead left upon him.

“And there,” he urged.

Alys touched the smear upon his flesh, then met his gaze hopefully. “ ’Tis blood.”

“And not just any blood. ’Tis your virginal blood, Alys, and the mark of your maidenhead.” He squeezed her waist. “Another of your aunt’s lies proven for what it was.”

Alys turned a smile upon Burke that fairly curled his toes. “And what of your lie, sir?”

Burke could not hide his astonishment at this, though Alys’s manner was teasing. “I thought you knew I told you no lies.”

“Aye, I know it well.” Her smile did not fade. “But on this day, you at least were
misguided.
” Alys ran her fingertips down Burke’s chest, then across his lingering erection. The member returned to life once again and the lady laughed.

“You told me this would be resolved by our play, Burke,” she jested, her fingers closing around him with newfound confidence. “But ’tis as swollen as ever. I would not see you so tormented.”

Burke could not hold back his smile. “You abandon innocence with ease, my temptress.”

Alys laughed again. “And you would complain of this?”

“Not at all,” he declared, then sat up and gathered Alys quickly into his arms. She nestled against him quite contentedly, her head on his shoulder, her legs curled so that her feet were on his thigh. Burke captured one foot in his hand and leisurely ran his thumb across the soft flesh of the arch. “I should be delighted to offer my assistance in your quest.”

Alys’s eyes sparkled. “In the name of gallantry?”

“A man of honor can do no less,” Burke agreed easily, then bent his head to claim another leisurely kiss before Alys could laugh once more.

Lady Crevy was a practical woman. She had not survived so long and so well by missing opportunity when ’twas cast into her lap.

Lady Crevy liked this pretty child who fretted so for her cousin’s happiness. No less, she knew that Guillaume could trust such a tender woman with his heart. And she knew also that her son, still nursing his heart’s wounds, would do little to make the most of the matter.

He could be so like his father at times.

She clucked her tongue as she marched up the stairs. A sensible woman had to turn opportunity to advantage, when others might let it slip away.

Lady Crevy rapped once as she entered the chamber she had granted to the visiting women and smiled to see that Brigid’s color had returned. The young maid straightened from serving broth to her lady.

“Do not let me disturb you,
petite,
” Lady Crevy declared warmly. “I would assure myself only that you are restored.”

“Aye.” Brigid smiled. “ ’Tis good to b-b-be in a soft bed.”

Lady Crevy sat on the edge of the mattress and felt the young woman’s brow, satisfied that her skin had cooled. “You will join us at the board this night.”

Brigid’s smile faltered, but Lady Crevy was not about to let her decline. “I tell you why,
ma petite.
I have a concern for my son with which you might aid me.”

“M-m-me?”

Lady Crevy patted her hand. “He is so shy with the ladies that I fear Crevy will never have an heir. It pains me to think that he will be alone when I pass away, for he is kind and not the manner of man who should be alone.”

Brigid bit her lip, her eyes wide with sympathy.

“But you can help,
ma petite,
if only you will.”

“Oh, I would do anything. You have been so nice!”

“ ’Tis a small thing, you have only to talk to him.”

Brigid flushed. “But I will st-st-stammer.”

Lady Crevy leaned closer. “Ah, to believe that, you must know little of men. They love to talk of themselves, and my son, for all I love him, is no different in this. You have but to ask him of himself, of Crevy, then listen avidly to him. You must laugh at his jests, and thus, you will aid him to believe in his own desirability.”

Brigid’s gaze dropped shyly. “I think your son is m-m-most handsome.”

“Aye, he has his looks from me,
non
?” They laughed together, then Lady Crevy clapped her hands. “Ah! This could help you as well, for you can cultivate those fine Paris manners you are so certain you lack. My son has been to Paris many times—ask him of this!”

Brigid’s eyes widened, then she smiled, obviously entranced
by the possibility. “I c-c-could do this. For Alys and B-B-Burke.”

“Of course you could,
ma petite.
” Lady Crevy snapped her fingers. “I have another idea. You must be bored with the garments you have brought all this way. There is naught like a new kirtle, even one borrowed from an old woman like me, to brighten a lady’s mood,
non
? And a bath, hot and deep.”

“A bath!” Brigid breathed.

“I shall see it done.” Lady Crevy rose and clapped her hands, her commands sending servants scattering. She noted with pride that Brigid already sat straighter, anticipation in her eyes.

’Twas then that a tousled Lady Alys entered the room, her hair easing from beneath her veil. Aye, Lady Crevy knew that manner of flush, that beguiled smile, as well as the root of both. Burke de Montvieux was a rogue, there was no disputing that, but she could hardly blame the man.

Three years! ’Twas
contre nature.

“Alys! I am to aid L-L-Lady Crevy’s son!” Brigid evidently knew naught of what had put such a smile upon her cousin’s lips, and Lady Crevy marked innocence in that girl’s favor.

“How wonderful.” Alys flushed in a most telling manner and Lady Crevy knew that ’twas no accident Burke halted here, Brigid in his entourage. Lady Crevy’s heart swelled that Burke should be so thoughtful, and she knew she could not let Burke’s generosity go unrewarded.

He was a man who did not forget his friends, and Lady Crevy would reward such impulses.

She crossed to Alys’s side and looked her in the eye. “Aid me in this,” she insisted quietly, “and I shall aid you.”

“Me? But how?”

Lady Crevy turned to Brigid and smiled. “Your
cousine
has agreed to aid my son in overcoming his shyness. I believe she will do a wondrous job, with such charm and such a sweet smile. Do you not agree, Alys?”