Elizabeth Elliott (29 page)

“Aye.” She released a long sigh. Clearly, it was not an appealing prospect. “If you promise to let me leave the hall as soon as the meal ends. They may be your family, but it will take time before I can accustom myself to the notion that they will be mine. Indeed, I still have difficulty accepting that I will be your wife.”

“ ’Tis fact,” he assured her, his gaze on her lips. She had the most sensual mouth imaginable. His fingertips moved along the neckline of her bodice, caressing her soft skin. “I meant every word I spoke last night, sweetheart.”

She shivered under his touch, but did not try to stop his seductive exploration. “What if your brothers do not accept me?”

“They will accept you.”

“But what—”

He leaned forward to cut off her objection with a kiss. And then another.

She managed to free her lips when he tried for thirds. “How can you be so sure? You said yourself that Kenric would probably slit my throat when he learns I am Roberto’s sister.”

Guy frowned over the reminder. What had possessed him to say something so stupid? “I exaggerated. The reason why escapes me at the moment, but rest assured that no one in my family will hurt you.”

She lifted her chin to reveal the small cut Fitz Alan made, her expression skeptical. “ ’Twould seem they intended an early start on your exaggeration. You are certain they do not know who I am?”

“That was a misunderstanding, as well you know.”

She didn’t look convinced.

He drew her closer. “Claudia, do you know how your
brother died? The details, I mean, of what really happened that day?”

She drew small circles around the hollow at the base of his neck with her finger. “I know that Roberto tried to kill Kenric’s wife, but Kenric slit his throat instead.”

He captured her hand and held it against his chest. “Your brother was wounded, sweetheart. There was to be a joust between Kenric and your brother, and Roberto received a mortal wound. There was no hope for recovery, only long hours of suffering until he succumbed to his injury. Kenric ended his life to end his suffering. Roberto confessed his plot before he died.”

Guy knew he spoke the truth, even though it was a truth colored by deliberate omissions and a few small rearrangements of the events. Roberto was dead and he could not change that fact. What he sought now was a means to turn Kenric into something less than a monster in her mind. Her thoughtful expression said he might be succeeding.

“Your brother would have died anyway,” he pressed. “Kenric did nothing more than shorten his life by a few hours, a day at most.”

Her brows drew together in a frown. “I did not know this.”

“You will find most tales that concern my brother are not as grim as they sound. And it will not matter who you are to Kenric and Fitz Alan. When they realize my reasons for choosing you, they will support my decision.”

She turned her frown in his direction. “Are we back to your cryptic reasons again?”

“Aye.” His gaze drifted lower, wondering where he would find the laces on this gown. “I believe we are.”

She read his thoughts easily enough and flattened her palm against his chest. “Your brothers will be waiting to meet with you.”

“I came here to make an apology,” he informed her, as his hands worked to loosen his tunic. He sat up to toss the
garment aside, his smile wicked. “I intend to make it a very long apology.”

“They are apt to guess the reason for your delay.”

“Aye.” He stripped away the last of his garments, then leaned back against a pile of pillows. He stretched his legs out in front of him, and crossed them at the ankles. “Does that bother you?”

“Oh, yes,” she whispered, and he knew the answer had nothing to do with his brothers.

Claudia was either unaware of her expression, or didn’t care that he knew of her interest in his nakedness. Once he had hoped to find a mistress who would look at him with such undisguised longing. He had never dared hope to find lust in a wife. The perfect woman sat before him, and she was his. Life was very good indeed. He propped his hands behind his head. “I am at your mercy, my lady. Do with me as you will.”

“You wish to be ravished, Baron?”

“ ’Tis my fondest desire.”

“I am not so certain how to go about this.” She looked him over from head to foot, her voice considering. “I did not realize that a woman could ravish a man. You may need to provide a few instructions, my lord.”

“Do you want to touch me?”

“That would be
my
fondest desire.” She knelt at his side, then drew her fingertips across his chest. “May I touch you however I wish?”

His pulse gave a leap of excitement. “Aye.”

Guy lay unresisting beneath her hands, at least, in spirit. His muscles contracted wherever she touched him. She found the reaction fascinating and tested him thoroughly, delighting in her visible control of his strength. His body’s response to more intimate caresses startled her at first, but curiosity soon overcame modesty. She experimented until she discovered certain strokes that made him groan, others that made him shudder. He exerted himself not at all, yet a fine sheen of
perspiration covered his body, and his breathing sounded labored.

“Do you want me to stop?”

She brushed her fingers across his belly and he shuddered again, but managed to shake his head. She shifted restlessly. Her skin felt warm and sensitive beneath her gown. More than once she had imagined what it would feel like to receive caresses as intimate as the ones she bestowed. She studied the grim set of his jaw and his pained expression, then drew a line down the center of his chest. “I cannot tell if you are enjoying this, or if you tolerate my explorations just so I may sate my curiosity.”

He released a breath so deep that she wondered how long he’d held it. “I want you to know my body as intimately as you know your own, Claudia. Be warned that I intend to know yours just as thoroughly.” His heated gaze lingered on her breasts, and they suddenly felt swollen. He could heighten her arousal with a glance alone. “You will undress for me while I watch, then you will lie down among these pillows to await the pleasures I will give you with my hands and mouth. I think I will start with sighs.”

Her hands moved to knead the muscles of his chest and belly. “Sighs, my lord?”

“Aye, I will caress your arms and soft, white shoulders, and you will give me little sighs of longing. Then my hands will skim over the sensitive skin along your sides where you are ticklish, and lower to your waist, to the curves of your hips, then down the full, delicious length of your legs. You will start to tremble, but I will massage your feet to relax you a little, just as you rubbed mine. Then you will learn that such a massage is not the least bit relaxing while you lie naked before me. That realization will make you moan.”

Her voice was little more than a breathless whisper. “It will?”

Guy nodded, then closed his eyes. “I will work my way up again very slowly, rubbing and massaging every inch of your legs. You will discover that the tender skin behind your knees
is more sensitive than you ever imagined, that a few strokes along your inner thighs is enough to make you tremble. It is anticipation that causes a quickening sensation in your belly, the need to be caressed even more intimately, but I will not ease your need so soon in the game.”

“This is a game to you?” One hand drifted lower to stroke his thigh. She traced the line between his legs, moving upward until she heard his breath catch.

He swallowed visibly. “Aye, Claudia. ’Tis a most pleasurable game called love-play, one that we will play often.”

“What will you do next in our game?”

“Stroke your stomach,” he managed. His breath came out in a long hiss when her actions matched his words. There was a dark edge to his voice that made her shiver. “It will no longer be enough just to touch you. I will want to kiss you, to taste where I touch you.”

She pressed her lips to his stomach and swirled her tongue over the taut skin. Guy uttered a blasphemous curse that made her blush. “What next, my lord? Would your kisses move higher, or lower?”

His body responded to the question, but his words denied its reaction. “On you, my lips would move higher, along with my hands. A woman’s breasts never fail to fascinate a man, and yours are so perfect that they fair make my mouth water. I will brush my thumbs over your nipples until—”

To her amazement, his flat male nipples hardened beneath her thumbs, and she felt a tremor pass through his body. She leaned down to kiss the small bud, then bit him painlessly. A low growl from deep in his chest ended in a tortured moan when she nibbled a path across his chest to inflict more of the torment.

“Claudia.” His voice was barely recognizable, and she leaned back to look at him. His arms were still clasped behind his head, but every muscle stood out in rigid relief. His chest heaved with each breath he drew, and his eyes were tightly clenched, as if he suffered some mortal agony. “Please, Claudia. End this game.”

She was more than ready to oblige. She just wasn’t quite certain how. “Should I take off my gown?”

He shook his head. “No time.”

“Then what—”

“Mount me. Now.”

“What?” It had never occurred to her that they could make love in such a way. It sounded most intriguing. She eased her leg over his until she straddled his thighs, then rearranged her skirts around them. Every brush of the fabric against his skin made him flinch.

“Hurry, love.”

His patience was strained to the very limits, she would wager, along with his control. Still, he didn’t touch her, or do anything to hasten her movements. The feel of his bare thighs beneath her made her own skin tingle. She moved higher until her own aroused flesh stroked the length of his. She repeated the seductive movements until he was slick with her desire. Being fully clothed made the intimacies taking place beneath her skirts somehow more intense, more wickedly erotic. She tilted her head back and curled her hips forward to slide against the length of him once more. Guy arched his body at the same moment, freeing himself from beneath her, then surging upward again to seek her opening. She braced her hands against his chest and made small, tentative motions with her hips to help position him, then she sat down. Very slowly.

His eyes opened just as slowly. The look of near-violence in those blue depths made her shudder. His expression would frighten her if she did not have such complete control of him, but he gave her his strength willingly. Somehow she knew that he had never played this particular game with another, never allowed anyone to dominate his will so completely. She sensed that this was much more than a game, that there was a hidden meaning in his intense gaze, something important, yet unspoken.

Then she knew.

He did not touch her because she did not give him permission
to touch her. Her earlier explorations continued unhindered because she indicated no desire to see them ended. He would do anything she asked, and nothing against her wishes. It was a game, but a game meant to teach her one thing. He belonged to her. Body and soul.

Tears blurred her vision as she took him fully inside her, and a shadow of concern crossed his features. She leaned down to kiss his beautiful mouth, to murmur words of reassurance. “Our lovemaking is always a source of wonder, my lord. Pray forgive my tears and hold me as you wish.”

His arms wrapped around her and he crushed her to his chest for a kiss that tasted of all the restraint still leashed inside him. Yet he did not become the aggressor even then. His hold loosened until his hands moved over her in sweet caresses that guided her movements and taught her how to dominate them both. The first small shivers became tremors deep inside her, and only then did he take control of her. His hands held her hips down hard against him, taking and giving at the same time. Her whispered words of love were lost in the harsh sound of his completion. He called out her name.

13

G
uy gave his tunic one last tug to make certain the garment was back in place, then he opened the door to the solar. Fitz Alan sat in one of the window embrasures, while Kenric had his hands clasped behind his back as he paced before the fireplace. They both turned at the sound of Guy’s voice.

“I trust the two of you had ample time to refresh yourselves?”

“We had ample time to conquer half of Scotland,” Kenric drawled. “What kept you?”

“Careful, Baron.” Fitz Alan stood up to help himself to another goblet of wine. “You will make the boy blush.”

“What kept me is none of your business,” Guy told Kenric, then he inclined his head toward Fitz Alan. “And I would thank you to remember that you were already a father at my age.”

“Is that the reason you are in such a rush to become a father yourself?” Fitz Alan gave an exaggerated sigh. “Ah, I have a rival. A glass of wine?” he offered, before Guy could voice any more arguments. He filled another goblet without waiting for the answer. “I vow you have the finest spirits. Where is this batch from?”

“Burgundy,” Guy answered. He accepted the goblet and took a deep drink, hoping to soothe his irritation. Anger would get him nowhere in this discussion. Still, it annoyed him when these two treated him like a child. Since he was the youngest in his family, the others tended to forget that he held power and responsibilities equal to or greater than their own. Most times he remained good-natured about their teasing.
Today would not be one of those times. “Before we go any further, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I will not have either of you speak of Claudia again as you did in the bailey. My people accept her, and I would not have a few careless words turn them against her.”