Lords of Honor (33 page)

When
they
sat for their wedding celebration meal
at the long, massive
table
,
the group
felt
more at ease
, despite the news of Brown Coats on the property
.
The
couple
was
toasted
.
The conversation
remained
lively
.
A
fter the luscious cake was
served and eaten, the
ir party
mingled in the expanse
seating area
of the Great Hall
.

While speaking with some of the gentlemen, Micah
gazed
longingly
across the expanse of the hall to where Rowena and Libby now sat conversing with Matthias Halfknight, Lord Sinclair
,
and Charlie
.
He noticed
Libby’s hair
already
slip
ping
from its pins.
He ached to
thread
his hands
through
her hair and shake out those pins
.
He
watched
his lovely
, smiling
wife, wishing they could leave the celebration and go upstairs.

Harry pulled him to the side
several minutes later
.
He leaned close to Micah and
whispered,
“Rowena will take Libby upstairs shortly, Micah
.
We decided you and your new wife need some private time
.
Your meals will be brought to your rooms
.
We will see you again at dinner tomorrow evening,” Harry said with a broad smile.

Micah grinned as he watched Rowena and Libby stand and make their way toward the arches in the paneled gallery
.
“Thank
you
, Harry.”

Rowena whispered as she pulled Libby along with her across the
white
marble fl
oor,
“I’m to escort you upstairs, Libby
.
We all decided you two need your privacy
.
So you will be served dinner in your rooms this
evening along with
breakfast tomorrow morning, and we don’t expect to see either one of you until tomorrow at dinner
.”
Rowena gave her a knowing smile.

Libby blushed
.
“Oh,” was
the only response
she could manage
.
Yet, her heart soared
at the knowledge
that
she and Micah would be alone
for a time
.

Libby sat alone on the large bed
in her chamber
,
dressed
in a very sheer nightgown and wrapper that Lady Bingington included with her silvery wedding gown
.
She sat with her knees up, her arms clasped around them
.
Butterflies danced in her stomach
.
She was nervous, only because she did
not know exactly what to expect in the marriage bed
.
Libby did know
she had nothing to fear from Micah
.
She extended
her
arm and admired the sparkling wedding ring
her husband
placed on her finger
during the ceremony
.
It was
a large,
oval
,
blood
-
red garnet surrounded by lustrous seed pearls, set in dainty gold filigree.

“Do you like your ring, Libby?”

She
looked up,
smil
ing at him brightly;
unaware
until that moment
he
had
entered
her
bedchamber
.

“It’s beautiful
.
I love it,
Micah.
”
S
he
grinned
happily
.

She w
atched as he removed his coat and
started to take off his
waistcoat.

“It was my mother’s wedding
ring
.
She would have loved you
Libby
and w
anted you to have it, I am certain.”

“I wish I could have known your parents, Micah
.”

“So do I, Libby
.
I knew your father, but I never met your mother.” Micah talked as he
removed the onyx and diamond studs from
his shirt.
“I
wish I could have
known her.” He smiled at
his wife
.
“I have the feeling you take after her.”

“So my father said.”

After removing his shirt, Micah sat on the edge of the bed
.

She allowed herself to feast upon his broad shoulders and watched the hard muscles of his back ripple as he bent
over
.
Libby heard the thunk of his boots as they hit the floor
.
He turned to
ward
her
.
The
silver
of his
eyes
had
darkened to a stormy gr
a
y.

Libby raised a brow, “Do you not need to take off your trousers
, husband
?”

He
flashed
his wife
a
devilish
grin
.
“Then I would be naked and you would not
.
Do not worry, sweetheart
.
My trousers will come off very soon
, a
s will that heavenly nightrail
.”
Micah kept reminding himself Libby was an innocent
.
He could not rush
their union though he longed to bury himself inside her
at that very moment
.
He lunged
playfully at his wife
.
He caught her arms and
pull
ed
her against him.

Before Libby knew it she found herself enfolded in
his arms
. H
er
wrapper
was
peeled from her quickly and expertly
by her husband
.
It wafted to the floor
.
Micah
gazed
at her
body
through the transparent, filmy fabric
.
Gently
,
as if she were made of porcelain, he lowered her to
lie
back upon the
pillows
.
His hands caressed her body through the thin fabric
.
His mouth moved to her breasts, suckling her
.
W
et spots
were left
on the fabric whe
n
he moved upward to kiss her
.
Micah’s hands and mouth on her body did strange and wonderful things to her
.
Liquid heat coursed through her
.
The se
n
sations heightened and centered down low
.
Oddly, s
he felt
unusually damp in that area
.
As he kissed her, her husband’s
fingers
moved to
her
hem
.
Their kiss deepened, and Libby
felt herself
becoming lost
in the passion that
flamed and
grew between them
.
She felt t
he thin fabric
of her nightgown
scrunch up
as his hand slowly moved up her leg
.

Micah’s hand
glided
up her silky smooth leg
to the place he most wanted to touch
.
His fingers gently probed
her tender folds
and
gently
caressed her
.
He lifted his head and
studied
her
lovely
face, noting her expressions as he tenderly gave her pleasure
.

Libby sucked in her breath as Micah’s fingers moved
with more determination
.
A
hot, yearning pooled at the juncture of her thighs and began building
.
She felt wet there.

Micah
stopped suddenly and brought her up
to a sitting position
.
He quickly removed the sheer nightgown, paus
ing
to
dip his head and suckle each
one of her breasts
.
“You are beautiful, Libby,” he breathed
, “so beautiful
.”
He
began
taking down her hair
.
He made
fast work of removing the pins
.
He placed the white rosebuds on the table beside the bed along with her pins
.
He threaded his fingers through her silky
,
sable hair that
her maid
curled
for
their
wedding day
.
Her gorgeous hair
seemed
thicker and fuller with the
waving curls
.
Micah
urg
ed
her down on her back again
.
He
m
oved to the edge of the bed, stood and dropped his trousers
.

Being
already
fond of Micah’s
muscled chest
, back
and broad shoulders,
Libby
admit
ted to herself
, she
was mesmerized by
the sight of
his muscled
legs and
buttocks
.
She thought h
er husband
much
more beautif
ul than the
statues she admired in museums
.
An ugly
, red
scar on
the back of his
upper thigh caught her interest
.
She remembered he
was
shot
last month in Glastonbury
.
Micah’s lean muscular body
reminded her of a Greek statue
.
Apollo
?
Mars
?
Zeus
?

When he turned around
, she realized he was
infinitely
better
endowed than any Greek statue she
remembered seeing
.
His engorged manhood was quite large
and
standing straight up
.
She
felt momentarily shy
.
She
noticed
the angry scar on the front of his thigh
.
“Is that where you were shot
?
There’s another on the back of your thigh
.
Did the bullet go through?”

“Yes
.
It’s much better now
, Libby
.”
He grinned
.
His wife saw him naked for the first time and she was
more interested in his scar than his manhood
.
But he could see she was nervous
.
Not frightened
,
it
seemed
more
that she was
unsure
of what was to come
.
He was the first man to kiss her, and would be the one to claim her innocence
.
He guessed no one told her about what happened between a man and a woman
.
Her mother died long ago
.
Her aunt was a spinster.
He told himself he must go slowly and be gentle with his lovely, innocent wife
.