Lords of Honor (36 page)

Micah rose, still holding her against him
.
Her legs
remained
wrapped about him
.
He carried her across her room, opened the connecting door
to his chamber
and walked across the floor
.
Gently he deposited her onto the soft fluffy mattress of his very large
and ornate
Elizabethan
testered
bed
.
He came inside her again
.
He m
oved gen
tly
and
slowly until she recovered
.

Libby
soon
matched his rhythm
.
He increased the pace, groan
ing
with pure pleasure
when her legs wrapped
tightly
around him
.
He wanted to be careful, for he knew she would be tender, but he was about to come, and couldn’t stop the age old need to push deeper, harder
, faster
.
She came again, beneath him, calling his name
.
He threw back his head in exaltation
and
groaned
her name over and over
when the sheer power of his release came
over
him
.
He shattered, lost all control, plummeted over the edge
into the abyss
, lost in pools of swirling sapphire
.

“Oh, Libby!” he said in between deep, gulping breaths
.
He drew her close
.
He k
issed her neck, her hair, her
red
lips. “I didn’t hurt you did I, sweetheart?”

“No,” she giggled
.
“I am not hurt, Micah
.
I have never felt better in
my entire life.”

“Nor
I, sweetheart
, n
or I
.
I told you that we would not have a problem in our marriage bed, did I not?”

“You did say that
.
And I would have to agree
.
I think we are doing very well
.”
She smiled and kissed him.

They slept, woke, ate
,
made love again
.
They slept
again.

At
dawn Micah woke to Libby’s precious
bottom
snuggling against him
.
As was his habit, he captured the firm little wiggly thing and held her still
against his groin
.
Until he remembered they were
now
married and
they were both
naked and
he was
already
unbelievably
hard
.
He grinned broadly
.
His fingers moved to her opening
, found
her to be wet
.
H
ow could she not be
?
H
e spilled his seed inside her four times already
.
Regardless,
he massaged her further
to make certain she was ready for him
.

“
Morning.” Libby said beneath the silk of
the
heavy
, sable
hair covering her face
.

“Good morning my beautiful wife.”
Gently, Micah smoothed her hair back
and placed a kiss to her cheek
.
He positioned
the head
of his
cock against her wetness
.
Slowly he
pushed into her warmth
.

“Mmm
.”
Libby moved her hips back to take him fully.

Micah
’s
lips grazed
her cheek
and
moved to her exposed neck as he gently moved inside her
.
He kept a hand on her hip to keep her firmly against him while he moved deep within her
.
Their hips continued moving in unison as the gentle
rhythm ignited a fire within them that sparked and grew into hot flames
.
When Libby began to tremble and pant, h
e pulled her closer against him
.
He
plunged deeper, sending his Libby, his love
,
over the edge
.
He
went with
her
.

They rested on the chaise again, Libby leaning
back
aga
inst he
r naked husband, her legs c
radled between his
.

“Do you like your room, Libby?”

“Yes
.
It is beautiful
.
I find it v
ery relaxing
.
I love the colors.”

“Everything in here is new
.
This room has been empty since – well, empty a long time
.”
He hadn’t meant to bring up Lucy to Libby
.
He didn’t think it fair to Libby
that he sp
oke
of his first wife
.

“Since Lucy and the baby?”

“Yes
.”
Micah
said while he ran
his
fingers
through Libby’s silken hair
.
“If you don’t like
the decoration
you can change it
,
sweetheart
.”

“I’m not going
to change it
.
I love it, Micah
!
Truly
, I do
.
You picked the colors?”

“Yes
.
I told Mrs. Clarke of my idea for this room
.
Together we picked the swatches, and while I was
away for three weeks
hunting
along
the North
ern road
for
Davitt, she and Simmonds supervised the re-decorating
in my absence
.
”

“
This room is beautiful
.
I
am very fond of it
.”
Libby started to say something
else
then stopped
herself
.
She wanted
to ask him if
he found it
difficult to be in this room
, i
f this was where his wife and baby died.

“Say what you were going to say, Libby
.”
Micah rubbed her arm.

“No, I shouldn’t
.
It was just a question and an impertinent one
.
And none of my business.”

“About Lucy?”

She nodded, too ashamed to speak.

Micah’s arm came about her waist to hug her tightly
.
“Sweetheart,” he smoothed her hair back from her face, “don’t ever be afraid to ask me a question
.
I’ll answer whatever question you ask, Libby
.”
His lips grazed her temple.

Libby turned to face him,
“I just wanted to know if it
is
difficult
for you to be in this room
.
This would have been her room, and I’m guessing this is where…”

“Yes, this was her
room
.
This is where she and my
-
my son died
.
But everything, even the furniture was
removed
.
It was l
ong ago
.
And no, it is not hard for me to be in here now, because this is
your
room
.
And you are my wife
now
, and I want to be with you, Libby
.
I’m happy, with
you,
right now
in
this moment
.
This room
is where we have slept together and
made love together
.
This is
your
room.
”

Libby smiled
.
She r
aised her hand to touch Micah’s cheek.

“I don’t mention Lucy to you
, Libby,
because I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable
.
I know it mus
t be difficult for you,
sweetheart
.”

Libby nodded slightly
.
“I sometimes worry that maybe I won’t be as good a wife to you as she was, or that you might like the way she did things bette
r
.
Or that you…” Libby stopped
.
She
lowered her lashes.

“Libby?” Micah coaxed softly
.
He saw a tear roll down her cheek
.
He reached out to wipe it away with his thumb
.
“Tell me, sweetheart,” he whispered
as he cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her face so he could see her eyes
.

“I - I am afraid that you might not ever
come to
love me as much as you loved her
.
I know that is unfair of me to say, I’m
sorry
.
I can’t help it;
I do wonder
.”
She looked
in
to
hi
s eyes,
her
own
sapphire eyes
shimmer
ing
.

Micah’s long hands cu
pped her face
.
Love
?
Yes, Micah realized then, he
did love
Libby
.
“Oh, sweetheart, no!
I
do
love you, Libby.
I do.
Come here
.”
Micah
drew up his legs and
swung around
to sit on the chaise,
while
pull
ing
her into his lap
.
He
smoothed her hair from her face
.
He
gazed deeply
into her eyes as he spoke
.

“Libby, I was one and twenty when I met Lucy
.
I married her at two and twenty
.
She was eighteen
.
She died
four years later
.
I was so young, Libby
.
I did not know what love was
.
But I did
,
in my heart
,
love Lucy
.
She was petite with blonde hair and blue eyes
.
I
did not even
kiss her until we were engaged
, she would not allow it
.
Six months later we were married
.
Lucy
wasn’t fond of the marriage bed
.
We did not s
leep
in the same bed t
ogether except the first night.”

Micah sighed heavily
.
He
continued, “
On the rare occasions she allowed me to bed her,
she
stayed
in her
room
and
remained dressed
in her night
gown
.
Not once did I see her
without clothing
except our first night
.
S
he sen
t
me back to my chamber
immediately
after
I made love to her
.
I slept
alone
.
She would only let me come into her room to make love to her about once a week
at first, p
erhaps twice a month
after the first year
. E
ven less after that
.
Once she
was with child
,
she
never
allowed me to come to her
.
”