Rebel Dreams (39 page)

For a brief moment Evelyn feared Alex had not even returned
to his room. Perhaps he had gone to the library, or worse yet, to some maid’s
room. What had made her think he would come here?

Because this was his home. This was where Alex would retreat
when he was hurting. Evelyn raised her candle and approached the bed. She heard
a sharp intake of breath and almost closed her eyes in relief.

“Have you come to strangle me in my sleep? If so, I warn you
that sleep eludes me. You will have to try poison.”

She could see his wide shoulders rise up from the pillows. A
glass clinked as he set it aside. From what she could tell as her eyes adjusted,
Alex had discarded his coat but no more.

“You are doing a fair job of poisoning yourself, sir. I need
not do it for you.” Bravely, or foolishly, Evelyn set the candle down on the
table and perched upon the edge of the mattress near his hip.

As she had hoped, Alex reached for her. His hand caught in
her hair and pulled her backward until she leaned against his shoulder. His
fingers found her throat, and he caressed the bare flesh there. “Have you come
as the sacrificial virgin, then? Did the others send you up to appease the
angry gods?”

“That would be like sending my soul to the devil. Your
family is too considerate for that.” Evelyn pulled her legs up to the bed and
curled beside him. Her toes were frozen, but Alex’s fingers were skillfully increasing
the heat as they skimmed over her collarbone and slid to the neck of her
bodice. Daringly she raised her hand to his chest and found his shirt partially
open. Her fingers caressed his warmth. When he tensed beneath her touch, she
began unfastening the rest of his shirt.

“So you’re sending yourself to the devil. Why?” Alex asked
almost threateningly.

Again she hesitated, but the time for denials was gone.
Drawing her hand up his chest to his neck, curling her fingers about his nape,
Evelyn drew him down to her. “Because I love you,” she whispered—before his
lips descended to cover hers.

Alex’s arms closed around her, pulling her hard against him
as his mouth plundered hers. She felt his shudder as she circled his shoulders,
pressed her breasts against his chest, and opened her kisses to him.

Alex twisted to push her back against the pillows. “Tell me
you want me, Evelyn. That’s something I can understand. Lie to me if you must,
but say you’ll never leave me.”

He still wouldn’t accept her love, but this time she wouldn’t
back away. “I won’t lie to you,” Evelyn promised. “I’ll never leave you because
I love you. Alex, couldn’t you love me just a little?”

Evelyn felt his groan as much as heard it. His heavy weight shifted
over her, pressing her into the mattress. Her fingers sought his face,
encountering tears streaming down his rough cheeks. With a distraught cry of
love and anguish, she crushed him to her. Their lips met in promises their
voices could not offer.

***

Evelyn’s fragile gown gave way beneath Alex’s haste. She
moaned as he played her flesh, rousing the peaks to reveal she suffered the
same aching hunger as he. Alex suckled and she arched against him, giving her
body as a gift. He took it with a hunger that came from the soul.

He wasted no precious minutes on undressing. Alex yanked the
remains of Evelyn’s gown above her hips. Finding her ready, he unfastened his
breeches and took what she offered before she had time to think better of it.
He plunged deeply, satisfyingly, forcing Evelyn to take all of him before
realizing she encouraged instead of fought him. That realization was an
aphrodisiac to his senses, and he lost all control in the welcoming softness
sheathing him.

When she came as quickly as he, Alex knew there had been no
others for her, as there had been none for him. When he’d discovered no desire
to seek out other available women, he had thought himself half-dead. Now he
knew he was fully alive only in his wife’s arms. He was not particularly
grateful for that knowledge, but relief surged through him as he rolled over with
Evelyn snuggled in his arms.

“You are as mad as Alyson,” he whispered wonderingly against
her hair.

“Everyone should be as mad as Alyson,” Evelyn agreed
sleepily. “Are you sorry that you are shackled to a madwoman?”

Alex stayed silent for a moment, kissing her brow and
exploring her breasts with purpose. “I was only sorry that I gave you no
choice. I am not sorry that you chose to stay.”

Such cold, formal words. Evelyn pressed a hand to Alex’s
chest and pushed him back into the pillows. Leaning over him, she began kissing
every inch of skin that she could reach. His tears had dissipated, but she
tasted their salty path with her tongue, wondering that a man as cynical as
Alex could still have the compassion to cry. Between kisses, she said, “You are
an insufferable prig, Alex Hampton. I think I liked you better in Boston.”

Alex caught the hem of her gown and finished pulling it off,
exposing the nakedness of her back and buttocks to the cold air. When she gasped
and tried to cover herself, he wrapped his arm about her waist and flung the
gown aside. “I’ll do better next time, tyrant, and even better the time after
that. And all the times in all the nights and days to come. You have bound
yourself to a harsh taskmaster, my dear.”

Heat flooded through her at his seductive promises. Hours
they would have together. Hours when they could teach each other the ways of
love. He might have more experience, but she could teach him love.

Feeling his maleness rise against her again, Evelyn slid her
hands into his unfastened breeches and shoved the cloth downward. The soft,
downy hair that covered him startled her. The hard narrowness of his hips and
buttocks was an erotic sensation, but she managed to remove the garment with
only a little help. When he was freed from this confinement, Alex lifted her on
top of him.

“If you wish to be brazen, my love, let me show you how.
Where were we? At nine hundred and ninety-seven?”

That was the Alex she knew. Straddling his waist, Evelyn
bent to kiss him. Just the feel of flesh against flesh inflamed her senses. She
could smell the brandy of his breath as he invaded her mouth with his tongue.
His jaw was rough with unshaven beard, but she rubbed her fingers over it
anyway. She kissed his eyelids and felt the ripple of muscle beneath her as he
reached for her and pulled her down to suckle at her breast.

She needed his hunger, needed to know he wanted her. It was
the fragile line that bound them. Wantonly Evelyn followed his dictates,
discovering desires of her own under Alex’s roaming hands. She learned the
boldness of her position when he pushed her toward his hips, and she was
already open and vulnerable to him.

When Alex lifted her so he could enter, Evelyn welcomed him
with a cry of surprise. She heard him chuckle as she sank deep and discovered
her own power in this position. When her inexperienced motions caught fire, he
growled deep in his throat and flung her over.

“Wanton tyrant,” he whispered in her ear as she clasped his
neck and arched against him. “You learn too fast.”

“I will be your equal in all things,” Evelyn gasped as he
plunged deeper. “Almost all things,” she admitted as he repeated his action
with swift, sure strokes.

It wasn’t a game any longer. He was part of her, so much a
part that she didn’t think they could ever be separated. She clung to his
strong arms as he strained to find that final fulfillment that would merge them
totally, blend them into one. When it came, it wasn’t blinding stars or noisy
rockets but a sweet song and gentle paradise. Their bodies rocked together and
the seed of his life poured into her, sealing their bonds. Perhaps physically
they might part again, but part of him would always remain with her. To be
complete, they would need to be together.

Evelyn woke sometime in the middle of the night when Alex
pulled her into his arms again. Lying on his side, he kissed her urgently.
Before she was fully awake, he lifted her leg over his hip and eased into her.

His need incited her to an excitement of her own. They found
satisfaction quickly, with a pleasure that had more to do with their mutual joy
than the physical joining of their bodies.

Evelyn murmured a protest when Alex started to move away,
and he obligingly remained, stroking her hair, holding her close, pulling the
covers around them.

“I want you in my bed every night. Will you do that? Even if
I am not yet home, will you sleep in my bed?” His relaxed satisfaction barely
concealed his anxiety.

“I had never thought to sleep elsewhere.” Evelyn pressed a
sleepy kiss to his shoulder. “You’re the one with houses so big you cannot
think what to do with the space except create two chambers where there need be
only one.”

Alex smoothed his hand over her flanks. “We’ll make a
billiard parlor of the other.”

Evelyn giggled and they slept again, this time until past
dawn.

***

Alex had forbidden the servants to enter his room unless
called, and he was paying for his privacy the next morning with the iciness of
a dead fire. Hugging his wife’s slender warmth closer, he nuzzled at her ear
with his rough chin. Evelyn murmured with pleasure and squirmed closer, her
rounded bottom fitting neatly into the curve of his body as he curled around
her.

Alex gently pushed her back against the pillows to chafe her
with his bristly kisses. Her eyes opened, and she caught his hair in both hands.
“You need a shave,” she informed him.

Grinning, he eluded her hold and buried his scratchy face
against the vulnerable curve of her throat. She squealed and tore at his hair,
and they went tumbling through the covers until Evelyn happened to notice the
bed they were demolishing.

Pushing him away, she pulled the sheet up to her chin and
stared at the hand-carved posters she had last seen in Boston. “Our bed. I
thought you had forgotten it. You’ve been sleeping in our bed!”

Alex laughed, pulling her down into his arms. “You could
have been sleeping here too, if you’d wanted. All you had to do was ask. I am
eager to please.”

“The deuce you are!” She pounded the hard bulge of his
biceps with her fist, but he didn’t flinch. “You have been an insufferable cad
for months. I don’t know why I even speak to you. You don’t deserve so much as
the time of day from me.”

“But you gave me a lot more than that last night,” Alex
reminded her wickedly, holding her against him. “Several times, in fact. You
must have a strange affinity for insufferable cads.”

“Only in bed, I assure you,” Evelyn replied with a huff. “Out
of bed, I demand explanations and apologies. You have been not only
insufferable but also rude and intolerable and cold and arrogant. I demand
reparations.”

“To my holy saint of a wife, I humbly apologize. I was not
aware of her affinity for insufferable cads. I intend to make full amends for
my neglect by being as insufferable as she can desire. Will that do?” Alex
nibbled at her ear.

“Bah, you are a dolt who will never learn. I am starving. Am
I allowed breakfast?”

Leaning over her, Alex pressed his mouth to hers until her
arms circled him. “I’ll feed all your hungers, my love. What kind of breakfast
would you like?” he inquired suggestively.

“You cannot possibly,” Evelyn whispered, half in fear that
he would follow through on the promise in his voice. “I am sore in places I did
not know existed. Have some mercy on me.”

Alex kissed her cheek, pushed himself off her and out of
bed, and strode in splendid masculine nakedness through the daylight streaming
in the windows. “I have decided this house is too antiquated for our needs. We
need running water up here, and a tub big enough for two.” He pulled a robe
from the armoire. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Gathering Alex’s covers around her, Evelyn gazed at the
lovely poster bed, then discovered their garments scattered across the bottom
of the bed and the floor. Her cheeks flamed in memory of what they had done.
Had she really been that brazen? Could Alex truly have enjoyed such unladylike
behavior from his wife? He had not seemed displeased.

He returned with a contingent of servants, a huge tub, and
buckets of hot water. Another maid lit the fire, and still another carried a
tray of steaming hot chocolate and crumpets. Evelyn discovered a ravenous
hunger for all four: water, food, fire, and, most of all, the man garbed only
in a long robe waiting for the servants to be gone. He caught her gaze, and his
dark eyes gleamed like hot coals.

When the servants departed, Alex strode across the room.
Before she knew his intentions, he lifted her into his arms and carried her
toward the tub. Evelyn squealed, but he was unmoved by her feeble squirms.

“Just think of all this time I’ve wasted in darkness. It’s a
sin. From now on, I wish to see you like this in light.” Alex unceremoniously
dropped her into the tub, and joined her after doffing his robe.

“Alex!” Fire ignited Evelyn’s cheeks as she faced a broad
hair-covered chest. His long legs raised around hers, and after last night, she
could not help her erotic thoughts. “You cannot.”

Solemnly he reached for the soap on the low table beside the
tub. “I can and I have. Do you need some help? Come over here and I’ll wash
your back.”

“You are an odious lecher,” she informed him, without the
ire he deserved. “Had you but waited your turn, I would have washed your back.
I’ll not go splashing about like a duck in a puddle for your amusement.”

Alex laughed, a sound so rare that Evelyn would almost have
agreed to present her back to him if he asked again. Instead, as he began
soaping himself, she reached for the delicate porcelain cup of hot chocolate
and sipped as if accustomed to sitting in a bath with a naked man and drinking
chocolate every day.