Lords of Retribution (Lords of Avalon series) (30 page)

“Sweeting,” he whispered hoarsely in her ear after his lips left the curve of her neck, “You had best stop or I shall make you mine here
, within minutes, instead of waiting until our wedding night as we should.”

“Please, Jack, make me yours now
. I need…something,” Tuesday whispered. She removed her hand from him and rubbed herself against his cock.

Jack raised his head and gazed down upon her.
“I haven’t yet heard you say you’ll marry me, Tuesday.”

“I must be certain, Jack.
”

“Then you must wait,
my dearest
Trouble
. For I will not take your innocence unless I know without a doubt you intend to marry me.”

Tuesday groaned in frustration. She took Jack’s hand and rested his fingers against the place that ached for his touch
. He did nothing. She pressed herself against him.

He gave her a devilish grin. “Tell me you
’ll marry me,” he growled deeply as he lightly stroked her sensitive nub and stopped.

“That’s bribery,
” Tuesday said accusingly.

He nodded
. “It is, Trouble. Shall I bribe you further?”

“Yes,
” she whispered breathlessly.

He
came over her, placing his cock near her opening and began to massage her sensitive area with the tip while he placed feather light kisses over her face and neck.

“Please, Jack?” Tuesday begged him, her voice silky with her passion.

“Say you’ll marry me!”

“I – I…yes,
” she breathed as she squirmed beneath him.

“Yes what?” Jack’s lips moved to her
graze along her slender neck.

“Yes, I will!” Tuesday lifted her hips
against his aroused member.

Jack
lowered himself, allowing his hard body to cover hers as he positioned himself at her opening. “You will what? Tell me, sweeting. Say the words.” Jack placed soft kisses along her cheekbone, her eyelids, the tip of her nose, her chin. He licked at her lips and dipped his tongue inside her mouth when she opened to him. His hand lightly skimmed over her neck, her breasts and down lower.

“Yes, Jack,
I will marry you
!”

“As soon as we get to Menadue?” He
asked her as he began to penetrate. He stopped as the tip of his cock slipped inside her. His hand moved upward to caress her breast. He placed a soft kiss to the teeth marks he had left on her other breast earlier as he watched her. When he lifted up, his cock slid in a fraction more. He stopped. “I’m waiting for your answer, Tuesday,” he whispered huskily.

She moaned softly
. “Yes, Jack! I will marry you as soon as we get to Menadue.
Please, Jack!
” Tuesday threw her arms around his neck and rested her cheek against his. She liked the feel of his stubble against her skin. “
Please Jack
!” she whispered in his ear as she tried to arch her hips to take him deeper. His large hand pressed her hip back against the floor.

Jack lifted
his head and grinned down at her. Then he kissed her tenderly. He slid further inside until he reached the barrier. “Very well sweeting, than you shall have what you want, since you just agreed to become my wife upon our arrival at Menadue. This may hurt a bit, Tuesday. I must break the barrier.” Jack had never in his life deflowered a virgin, he’d never even wanted to. This particular virgin he wanted more than any other woman he’d ever known. He would make her his.

She nodded.

He gave one powerful thrust and found himself embedded in her wet, hot heat. He almost groaned aloud at the exquisite pleasure he felt as her tightness closed around him. He felt like letting go a kingly roar when he realized that Tuesday was now
his, and only
his. He refrained. “Does it still hurt, Tuesday?” he whispered huskily as he began to move slowly inside her.

“No, Jack
. There is no pain.” There had been a pinch, but it was gone. Now all she felt was the pleasure of having Jack deep within her and the warm sensations his movements were stirring inside her. His hard body trembled with need as did her own. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and drew his head down.

Jack kissed her passionately as he continued his slow thrusting
. She was so tight. So hot. He had to force himself to keep everything at a slow pace. This was her first time. She was tender. His body trembled with the intense pleasure he felt and his need to thrust fast and deep until he came. He pushed such thoughts away and raised himself up to trail kisses down her neck, across her shoulder then downward to tease her perfect breasts. He swirled his tongue about her hard, pert nipples. He laved her, suckled her, all the while thrusting into her in an even, sensuous rhythm.

Tuesday arched beneath him
. She began to move with him, match the rhythm. She wanted to be even closer to him if that were possible. She wrapped one leg around him, then the other. “Can I…” her voice trailed off. She moaned in pleasure as he thrust deeper within her.

“God, yes!” When Tuesday wrapped her legs about him, Jack couldn’t help but increase the pace
. “You feel so good, sweeting,” he whispered hoarsely against her ear after he moved to nibble on her earlobe. He lifted up, smoothing her sandy hair from her eyes as he gazed down at her. “Do you feel any pain?”

His breath was warm against her ear
as lowered himself back down, covering her fully again. Tuesday shook her head. “No, I feel very good, Jack.”

Jack grinned
. Then he changed pace. He started thrusting deeper. His movements quickened. Tuesday was with him. Her hands stroked his muscled back, his hard shoulders and strong arms. Her fingernails dug into the skin of his arm. She met his every thrust. He did not want her to bruise her beautiful derrière, so he slid his large hand under one firm globe, lifting her slightly as he continued to thrust into her. Jack watched her expressions as he pleasured her.

Th
ey became lost in their passion.

The flames
burned higher, consuming them. Joined, they moved as one, their bodies growing slick with sweat. Together they climbed higher, the intense ecstasy building until, in tandem, they soared. They shattered as the explosion rocked them and they fell, cocooned in the warmth of their blissful fulfillment.

Still clinging to one another in their sweet euphoria, Jack realized he had never in his life felt so fulfilled or so at peace
. He smiled down at his sleepy Tuesday. He kissed her tenderly.

Soon, they
both slept.

Marrek kicked at a stone upon the ground. “Bleddy Hell!” he mumbled. Cleve’s party had caught up to his on the road at first light. They were not far from the banks of the Tamar near Saltash.

They had two dead
men left along the road leading to the river. Isaac Slaughter, John Madingly, whoever he truly was, had shot them as they neared the river. The dead men were the Reverend’s accomplices.

One had not
yet expired upon their arrival. He told them the girl might have escaped the Reverend last evening. She had broken free of him when he pulled her into the woods. They heard the Reverend howl in pain. A gunshot followed a few minutes later. The Reverend, as the men called Madingly, had returned alone, mounted up and rode out, not mentioning the girl again except to say she was gone. Since she was their bargaining chip, he told his men they must make it over the Tamar as quickly as could be. They traveled through the night.

Senny had wounded Madingly, the dying man said
. He had a long gash down his face that was still bleeding when they reached the Tamar. It took both men by surprise when the Reverend turned and shot them upon nearing the river. The man said there was a chance the girl ran onto the moor and got away. The Reverend had seemed quite agitated when they rode out.

Where was Senny?
Marrek prayed she lived. Before he died, the accomplice gave Marrek a general idea of the location where they camped before Senny was either shot or got away. He and his colleagues had found that site on the way to the Tamar, however, they had not searched the wood too far from the site. He reasoned Senny could have escaped Madingly and the shot. If she lived, she might be traveling across the moor. It was possible she was wounded and had not perished. Even if she were dead, he had to find her. She was special to his cousin Gabriel and his family. Hell, Marrek considered the Penroses to be family. Senny had always been a sweet, gentle creature, adored by many.

“C
reed, I want you, Tremayne, Arthur and Marcus to take the dead men back to Menadue. Be on the lookout for Senny. Cleve, Newt, and August come with me. We’ll backtrack and see if we can find her. Alive or dead, we must find Senny.”

He looked to Ruan
. “See if you can pick up Madingly’s trail across the river in Devon. If you find nothing within two days time, return to Menadue. If you find something stay on his trail and send word to me.”

Ruan nodded.

They mounted up and went their separate ways.

“Harry and Owen, I need you to join us for a moment,” Trevan said as he motioned for the two gentlemen, both senior members of the Avalon Society, to join him and his brother Tristan as they made their way purposefully down the corridor toward the library.

Harry paused and kissed his wife
. “Go start your breakfast my love. I’ll be along shortly.”

Rowena smiled up at
her husband. She joined Grace after Owen kissed his wife and daughter.

“What is it, Trevan?” Harry asked
as they entered the library. He knew it was bad news by the look on Trevan’s face.

“
I received no word from Jack this morning. I received the last message from him yesterday just before dinner. He sent a message at noon from Camelford and mentioned he thought he was being followed. In all honesty, I was so concerned about Wenna’s condition and Zenny being taken last night, I truly forgot about him.” Trevan ran a hand through his hair.

He sighed deeply before he continued, “
He could have possibly made it here by late last evening. I was hoping he stopped for the night somewhere and I would have a message this morning when I came downstairs but there was none. Something has gone wrong. I’m sending some of my men in the direction of Camelford to search for him. We must accept the fact that our scrolls and treasures might have been taken and that Jack has come to harm.”

Harry nodded grimly
. “Have you received word from Marrek regarding Senny?”

“No.” Trevan sighed heavily.
“That is not a good sign either. Madingly should have reached the Tamar long before now.”

“Our
men are ready now,” Tristan said as he entered the room. “I still think I should go with them.”

“Your arm is badly broken, Tristan, you’re not going
. They can handle it.”

Tristan frowned
, nodded and left the room.

“How is Wenna, Trevan?” Owen asked.

“Better this morning. She took a nasty lump on the head. She had me worried yesterday. I’ll be the first to admit it. We’ll not mention to the ladies anything of our concern for Jack or the fact that not hearing from Marrek means Zenny has not yet been found.”

Harry and Owen nodded their agreement.

“I received word from Gabriel this morning that he, Micah and Lyon’s party stopped at Launceston last evening. They should be here by late afternoon or nightfall if they left early enough this morning. I pray God Marrek finds Zenny before Gabriel arrives.”

Harry clapped Trevan on the back
. “I do as well. Let’s eat and meet back in the library. We need to make some plans in the event our treasure has been stolen and Senny and Jack have come to harm.”

Trevan nodded grimly
. Things were not looking at all well this morning.

Gabriel was in agony. He had lost his connection to Senny with the dawn. He feared she had succumbed to whatever wound she had suffered. Had she been shot? He didn’t know. He knew he felt her pain. He tried to ask but she had never answered him. He felt her grow weaker throughout the night. He knew only that she was in pain, and she suffered. At dawn, she had been so weak – he stopped and shook his head. He would not think of that. He prayed constantly that she still lived. Finally, desperate to find Zenny, for he knew if she was not dead, she was unconscious or too weak to connect with him; he closed his eyes and begged the Archangel, “Please,
please
, help me find her, Michael!”

H
e opened his eyes and surveyed the moorland. Generally, he found peace when he looked upon the moor. Even though the landscape was wild and windswept, it was home. Today he found no peace looking over the vast area, cloaked in summer green with patches of gorse and heather dotting the landscape. It was wet from the rains and a light fog hung about the land. He hoped it did not thicken, it would make finding Senny that much more difficult. He worried for Zenny and wondered if he would ever find her out there in the rugged, unforgiving landscape. She could be anywhere, how was he to find her?