The Reluctant Suitor (66 page)

“An excellent idea, Seward,” Colton replied with enormous enthusiasm. “Lady Adriana and I are indeed weary after such a tedious ride today and would like nothing better than to soothe our spirits in such a manner as you suggest.” He paused as if a thought had just occurred to him and held up a forefinger. “

One more thing, after our dessert, I would very much enjoy a hot bath. It seems to soothe my wound.”

“Aye, my lord, I shall see that one is prepared for you and that your wishes are carried out as you have stated. I shall also caution the servants not to disturb you after the dishes have been collected.” The elder

’s lips twitched ever so slightly. “Travel does seem to weary a body, and of course, wounds do need leisured time to heal properly.”

“Very good, Seward.”

Smiling warmly at his bride, Colton offered his arm. “Shall we go up now, my dear? I would enjoy getting comfortable. What about you?”

Adriana curbed her own smile as she tucked a slender hand within the crook of her husband’s elbow, knowing well what they’d be doing soon after the servants had been dismissed for the night. She had come to believe her stalwart husband could be nigh dead and still be desirous of copulating. Their honeymoon had been proof enough of that. “That does indeed sound inviting after a lengthy trip.”

Colton’s grin widened as he gently patted her hand. “I was certain you’d agree, madam.”

C
olton stripped away the last of his garments beneath the warmly admiring gaze of his wife and motioned for her to make room for him as he stepped near the oversized tub.

“I thought I’d like to take a bath alone for a change,” she teased, her teeth tugging at a bottom lip as she sought to curb a grin. Deliberately reclining against the rounded end of the copper tub, she leisurely soaped her breasts, taking puckish delight in teasing him with her nakedness. She flicked a glance upward toward his boldly displayed passion, secretly pleased that he was already desiring her. “You haven’t let me do that since we’ve been married.”

His devious chuckle was well contrived. “Make room for me, wench, or I’ll have your hind-part in my hand. I’m coming in whether you want me or not.”

Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Adriana lifted herself upright and scooted forward. “I’ll never get clean if you keep insisting that we take our baths together. You always seem to have other purposes in mind

rather than merely bathing.”

“That may well be, madam. After all, you have such luscious places upon which I enjoy feasting, yet I can

’t see what difference it makes who actually bathes you as long as you get clean.”

Settling into the water behind her, he laid an arm around in front of her, capturing a rounded, soapy breast in one hand as he thrust his free hand underneath her, just forward of her buttock. Lifting her back within the spread of his thighs, he snuggled her closely against him.

She tossed an impish glance over her shoulder. “Comfortable?”

“Not entirely,” he breathed as he nuzzled her ear.

Wiggling her hips, Adriana resettled herself, but hardly expected the jolt of scintillating excitement that spiraled upward through her as her womanly softness came in contact with his manly flesh. Her husband’

s breath caught, assuring her that he had also been affected. She shivered in rapturous bliss, and her dark eyes were soft and warm with desire as she turned her face in profile to him. “Better?”

He nibbled a dainty earlobe between his teeth as he made her keenly aware of his excitement. “Do you have any doubts, madam?”

Adriana smiled as his fingers brushed across a soft nipple. “Perhaps we wouldn’t have so much difficulty fitting together if you didn’t get so carried away
before
you got into a tub.”

Leaving a trail of kisses across her shoulder as he progressed inward toward her nape, he cajoled softly,

“You could consider facing me, in which case we’d fit together perfectly.”

The luminous eyes closed dreamily as he taunted her once again with his maleness. She rolled her head slowly upon his shoulder, luxuriating in the languid caress of his mouth. “Knowing you, I fully expect that event will follow shortly.”

“You’ve come to know me through and through, madam.”

Considering he was always surprising her with new and exciting experiences in the world of sensual pleasure, Adriana rejected his conjecture as anything holding merit. “Not in a thousand years.”

Leaning forward over her shoulder for a fresh view of her creamy breasts, Colton lifted a saturated sponge and stroked away the whitish foam adhering to the womanly fullness, causing his wife’s breath to halt and then ease outward in a blissful sigh as he gave first one delicately hued peak his undivided attention before moving on to the other.

“I like that,” she sighed tremblingly, deliberately thrusting the sensitive peaks forward to reap as much pleasure to be found from his touch. The sponge was forgotten as his brown hands came forward to gently clasp the pale orbs. He felt a shiver of desire go through her as his fingers plied the delicate nipples.

“From the moment I wake in the morning till I fall asleep at night,” he rasped against her ear, “I’m besieged with freshly brewing desires amid a profusion of memories we’ve made together in the various beds in which we’ve been ensconced these last months, my love. I even crave you in my sleep.”

“Yes, I know.” She sighed and then giggled when he canted his head to peer down at her in some curiosity. “Well, I’m not necessarily oblivious to the changes in your body when we’re snuggled up in bed. I enjoy waking up and feeling you hard and eager against me. One day, I may even take advantage of the fact that you’re asleep.”

Chuckling softly, he pressed his lips into her sweetly scented hair.

“I give you leave to wake me anytime, madam. Giving you pleasure always reaps more of the same for me.”

“I can’t remember a time since we’ve been married, my dear husband, when you haven’t teased, titillated, poked, evoked, intoxicated, ignited”—she paused to catch her breath and then sighed contentedly—“and completely appeased my desires. You definitely have a way about you that bestirs my yearnings and makes me eager to be one with you.”

Colton grinned at her exaggeration. “For a moment there, I was sure you were going to compliment my rutting talents.”

Giggling, she wiggled her bottom against him teasingly. “Finish your bath, husband. I want to go to bed with you.”

“What can we do there that we can’t do here?” he whispered against her ear. Slipping a hand down between her thighs, he plied the silky softness that readily opened to him.

Soon Adriana found herself writhing with the ecstasy he created within her until she could bear it no longer. Rising to her knees, she turned to face him, her eyes aflame with hungering desire as she searched the smoldering gray orbs. Laying her hands atop his broad shoulders, she moved her body in slow, sinuous, seductive invitation, feeling as if bubbles of delight were bursting within every fiber of her being beneath the delicious caresses he plied to more sensitive areas. When at last he guided the hotly pulsing blade into her warm, moist sheath and pulled her down upon him, a convulsive shiver went through her.

Her head fell back, spilling darkly curling tendrils from her loosely confined tresses as her loins began to caress his. The throbbing passion intensified as their bodies cleaved together and their gasping breaths became moans of blissful pleasure until they soared together from the limitations of the universe and began to ascend to galaxies far, far beyond. It was much later when they finally drifted to earth, once again wrapped in each other’s arms.

“I love you, madam, more than mere words can convey,” Colton whispered against her brow, seriously doubting he had any more strength left in his limbs.

Adriana finally braced up on his chest and smiled in eager delight as she scrubbed her slender fingers through the feathering of hair covering that broad expanse. “Tell me when you first realized you loved me.

”

Colton lifted his head musefully, as if he were having some difficulty remembering back. “Why, if you’re really curious when that emotion began to thwart my bachelor status, I believe it was when you crushed my manly parts.”

Laughing in amusement, she delivered a playful blow to his chin and then proceeded to recline alongside

him. “Well, if it’s any consolation, my husband, I was sure I had destroyed my maidenhead during that same encounter. I couldn’t sit comfortably for a whole week.”

He canted his head to peer down at her, seeming a bit confused. “I would never have known. It still looked intact when I perused you in the bathtub.”

His comment wrenched a feigned gasp from her, prompting her to push herself up from his chest. “You didn’t!”

Chuckling, he lifted his naked shoulders in a casual shrug. “A man always looks when he has the opportunity to peruse at close range a worthy subject, and you are indeed
most
worthy, madam.”

Adriana sat back and tossed her head, pretending to be miffed. “You were absolutely despicable, that’s what you were. Ogling me while I slept, you should’ve been ashamed of yourself.”

“I was too intrigued by the sights to feel anything but overwhelmed by my lust for you, my dear. To that, you can attest.”

The corners of her lips turned upward enticingly. “Aye, ‘twas a bit shocking at the time, but I’ve grown rather fond of the view.”

“Oh-oh!” He peered down at himself, drawing her curious attention to the same area.

“Lecher!” she accused with a grin.

“Lecher, am I? I’ll show you what a lecher I am.”

With a laughing squeal, she scrambled up and swung a leg over the side of the tub in her haste to flee, allowing him another delectable view. Her breasts were set wondrously abounce as she danced backward, away from the tub. His devious chuckle sounded menacing as he swung a leg over the side and began to stalk her. Though she watched him carefully to determine which way he would go, he feinted to the left and then caught her as she lunged toward the right. Sweeping her up in his arms, he growled as he made a pretense of devouring her throat.

“Colton, behave yourself,” she scolded, her voice a strange mixture of giggles, feigned reproaches, and playful shrieks thrown in for good measure. “The servants will hear us.”

“They shouldn’t be listening at the master’s door, madam. I’ll have to talk to them about that.”

Changing her tactics to pliant submissiveness, Adriana slipped her arms around his neck and didn’t mind at all that he lifted her upward to languidly devour a soft nipple. Trembling at the pleasure he created with her, she asked huskily, “Have I told you recently, my darling, how much I adore you?”

“I seem to recall you saying something like that when you were slipping off to sleep last night, and then the night before, and the night before that,” he whispered softly, raising his head to find her parting lips approaching his. “I don’t care how many times you say it, I never grow tired of hearing it.”

“I never thought it possible, but our union has brought me joy beyond measure. I can only hope and pray that nothing happens to disturb the blissful haven we have found together.”

T
he Wyndhams’ homecoming to Randwulf Manor was first heralded by the gardener, who espied his lordship’s new landau coming smartly down the lane from some distance off. The aging man scrambled up from his knees near a flowerbed in which he had been directing several of his newest helpers in the planting of flowers. Scampering hurriedly up the stone steps, he whisked open the front door of the

manse and gave his old friend happy tidings of the couple’s imminent return. With a buoyant grin Harrison conveyed the news promptly to his mistress, who by then was having her tea in the drawing room, where, after reveling the past three or so months in the fact that Colton was now married and deeply in love with the very one his father had chosen for him, she had been content merely to relax and gaze lovingly at the portrait above the mantel and recall the former days of her own marriage.

No one thought of informing Alice Cobble of the couple’s return. Nevertheless, her ears were well attuned to the excited dither and chatter of servants. Thus, with the young child draped facedown over her forearm, she made a point of sauntering into the main hall just as the master laughingly swept his bride past the vestibule.

Adriana’s jubilation promptly ceased in the wide corridor beyond the archways as she caught sight of the slovenly garbed woman. The frazzled hag held the tiny girl as carelessly as she would a bag of grain.

Although the baby’s gown was finely made and edged with costly lace, it was badly wrinkled and soiled.

For barely a moment, Alice jostled her burden upright, allowing Adriana to see the girl’s huge, haunted blue eyes, chapped cheeks, and runny nose. The realization of the baby’s less-than-sublime condition went through the younger woman like a cold shiver. Feeling suddenly sick to her stomach, she clasped a trembling hand over her mouth. A fretful moan escaped her lips as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and made a desperate attempt to stem her queasiness.

Unable to ignore his wife’s distress, Colton bent near solicitously, but when she shuddered convulsively after casting another distressed glance beyond him, he looked around in curiosity to see what had provoked this reaction from her and mentally cursed when he espied Alice Cobble, not only present against his wishes, but in the same slovenly condition she had been in when he had first brought her from London. Furthermore, his daughter looked very much like a tiny, pitiful waif.