Petals on the River (70 page)

may we find at the end of our lives that we've enjoyed a deep love that

has bound us together in a caring, nurturing unity."

"Amen!
 
" They dissolved into laughter and leaned their heads together

to sip from their glasses again.
 
A brief meeting of their lips promptly

dissolved their amusement and swiftly ushered them toward emotions far

more sensual.
 
Gage took their goblets and set them aside.

Then he raised an arm and laid it around his wife's shoulders, gathering

her close for another kiss.
 
It was an enticing exchange of lip and

tongue, breathless sighs blended with the flavor of Madeira, and a

leisured exploration of two hearts and minds in one accord.
 
When Gage

lifted his head, his warmly flecked eyes delved glowingly into hers as

he plucked open the buttons of her gown.
 
They were tiny and difficult,

but he was tenacious.

He swept the garment open, pushing it around one creamy mound and then

another until the swelling ripeness of her bosom thrust forward

impudently.
 
Shemaine watched him with hated breath as he indulged his

senses, searing her skin with the heat of his gaze and making her shiver

with ecstasy as he stroked a thumb across a soft, pliant peak.

In some awe Gage feasted his gaze on the lustrous orbs, amazed at their

perfection.
 
They were creamy satin adorned with delicate pink rosebuds,

incredibly soft to the touch.
 
Beneath his roaming hand, they seemed

even more daintily hued.

"I'm besotted with such rich fare laid bare before me," Gage whispered.

"You're more beautiful than I imagined."

He leaned down to lightly caress a pink crest with a licking torch,

snatching her breath for one ecstatic moment.
 
Then he straightened and

Shemaine's disappointment reached its zenith.
 
She watched him worriedly

until she realized he had only paused to readjusted their positions.
 
He

pulled her lower in the bed, and a soft mewl escaped her lips as his

mouth returned to take full possession, devouring the hills and valleys

with ravenous greed.
 
Her fingers slipped through the hair at the back

of his nape as she arched her back, thrusting the creamy mounds upward

against the wet, fiery brand that caressed her nipples with slow,

undulating strokes.
 
His teasing tongue sent sparks flaring upward until

she was nearly overwhelmed by the ever-rushing excitement washing over

her.
 
It was difficult to catch her breath with such pleasure billowing

over her, arousing her to a heightening fervor that made her loins

hungry for appeasement.

The sheet was dragged away from her silken limbs, and a lengthy caress

of a slender thigh swept her gown upward.
 
Even as his mouth worked its

wiles upon her breasts, his hand slipped between her thighs with

purposeful intent, quickening her breath and evoking soft blissful moans

of pleasure with his rousing enchantment.

When he drew away, Shemaine followed eagerly, lifting her face to claim

another passionate kiss.
 
Gage held nothing back, seizing her mouth much

like a starving man who had just been served a feast.
 
A sigh slipped

from her lips when the kiss ended, but the effects lingered like a

strong intoxicant, leaving her in a delicious trance. She was only

vaguely aware that her gown was being pulled up over her body and lifted

free of her arms and head.
 
Then she was swept flat upon the bed, and

when her husband pulled her close, she could feel every muscular curve

and bulge of his naked body.
 
The experience was immensely arousing.
 
No

longer did she fear the warm, alien hardness that she had glimpsed and

now felt against her.

Gage was aware of the strengthening tremors quaking through his own body

as he struggled to pace himself and forestall the driving urges that

raged within him.
 
His hard-won restraint was sorely tested, but when he

felt the timid brush of his wife's hand against his thigh and her

slender fingers searching out the manly hardness, he was brought up

short by the sweet, brutal intensity of his hunger.

"Ah, love, you've lit fires that must now be quenched," he rasped,

closing his steely fingers around hers.
 
It was exquisite torture, but

he could not endure it for long.
 
He was far too close to ecstasy to

trust himself.
 
"My needs roil in merry pain, madam, yet I would seek to

give you pleasure ere my release."

Sweeping her beneath him, Gage kissed her with all the zeal of a lusting

suitor as his manhood probed within the sweet moistness of her.

Penetration came with a clean, swift thrust, startling a gasp from his

bride.
 
Yet he held himself in rigid reserve upon the threshold of

rapture, soothing her pain and fears, kissing her mouth and fondling her

soft breasts until by gradual degrees he could feel her warmth yielding

to his intrusion, becoming more pliant and, then, increasingly hungry

for what was coming.

It was a ritual of lovers, mesmerizing movements that made Shemaine' s

breath come in quickening gasps and her heart race to a swifter rhythm,

nearly matching the thunderous roar of her husband's. Like silk, her

limbs twined about his narrow hips, catching him close against her as

her fingertips dug into the muscular ridges of his back.

Responding to the guiding hands beneath her buttocks, she rose upward to

meet the surging strokes of his body.
 
Of a sudden, she felt driven by

some strange, heightening urgency that she had been hitherto ignorant

of.

Gage knew it well enough and sought it with fervor and zeal, and it came

for them both in a stunning array of splintering brightness that pulsed

in an ever-increasing crescendo through the fibers of their beings,

lifting them on soaring wings to a rapturous exultation and ultimately

into a dazzling pinnacle beyond the realm of reality, into a place of

such pure bliss that it left them spellbound as they floated like soft

thistledown back to earth and their own bed.

Shemaine clasped a trembling hand to her brow and gazed up in amazement

at her smiling husband.
 
His eyes glowed with a luster that she had

never seen before.
 
"Oh, Mr.
 
Thornton, you do overwhelm a girl."

"And you, my beautiful Shemaine, have amazed this erstwhile widower far

beyond my expectations*" he averred.
 
"I cannot, in truth, lay the merit

to my lengthy abstinence.
 
Were I to search out the cause for A..

such exquisite delight, I'd lay it to your eagerness to pleasure me and

be satisfied in return."

Shemaine was a bit concerned about her own behavior.
 
"You are

displeased with my boldness?"

"Indeed no, madam!" Gage laughed at the absurdity of the idea. "I was

gratified beyond belief to discover that you are a very passionate

woman, so gratified I would like another taste!
 
But you are tender, and

I promised I'd be careful of you."

Shemaine twined her silken arms about his neck, enjoying the thrilling

pressure of his manly body upon her own.
 
"Strange, I don't feel

tender."

"Perhaps we should explore this matter further," Gage suggested,

contemplating the idea.
 
Still, there were other things he wanted to

show her.
 
"But twill have to wait until a later moment, my sweet. Right

now, I have a surprise for you.
 
Your wedding present awaits in another

room."

"My wedding present?" Shemaine was clearly astounded.
 
"But I have

nothing for you."

"How can you say that, dear wife, when you have just given me what I've

been yearning for ever since I brought you home with me?" He kissed her

with renewed ardor, making her aware of his passion.
 
"There now, you

see how much I want you?
 
But I'm just as eager to show you your gift."

Gage withdrew from her and, rolling to the edge of the bed, came to his

feet.
 
Striding to the door in naked grandeur, he paused there to look

back at his wife, who had been intent upon observing him until he

glanced around.
 
Shyly she dragged the sheet up to cover her nakedness

as he grinned invitingly.
 
"Are you coming?"

Eagerly Shemaine nodded and left the bed, wrapping the top sheet around

her and tucking the tail of it between her breasts.
 
As she came

forward, Gage's gaze wandered back to the bed.
 
Glancing over her

shoulder to see what had caught his attention, Shemaine saw the red

stains marring the whiteness of the sheet.
 
Her cheeks brightened with a

blush, but her husband laid an arm around her creamy shoulders and

pulled her close against his side, saying nothing, only smiling.

As Gage led her into the parlor, Shemaine couldn't resist a glance

askance at his manly torso.
 
Though her husband seemed completely at

ease with his lack of attire, she was still timid about openly appeasing

her curiosity.
 
Like so many other parents with their daughters, her own

had preferred to shelter her, keeping her for the most part ignorant and

in the dark about men.
 
Yet their reticence had in no wise prevented

Shemaine from being curious.
 
She was eager to gain all the wifely

knowledge she could about her husband, for no one had to tell her that

Gage Thornton was truly a fine specimen of the male gender.

Gage smiled as he glanced down and caught her ogling him.
 
"Can I

interest you in taking a bath with me, my dear?"' "You jest, of course."

Considering the limited space in the washtub, Shemaine was sure he was

teasing her.
 
"We'll certainly need a larger tub if we're ever to share

one together."

"Do you not think such a thing would make a fitting wedding present?" he

asked, leaning down to brush his lips against her brow.

Placing a hand on his chest, Shemaine leaned her head back to look up

into his face as he straightened.
 
"What would make a fitting wedding

present?"