The Tempest (24 page)

“Delay for a few moments. It would not be wise to have us both emerging from thegarden at the same time.”

A mischievous light shined in his eyes. “I shall need several moments delay to recover my senses.”

Realizing what he insinuated, she grinned…and leaned to whisper in his ear. “Wicked man.” Then she clutched his face, kissing him hard and hot on the lips. “I shall find you again soon.”

He smirked up at her. “I shall be all anticipation.”

She smiled, scurrying away, leaving him to wait for the right moment to emerge from their hiding place…and aching for the moment when she would return to him.

*****

Coming out of the gate, she hurried up the steps leading to the graveled walk. Then she slowed her steps, assuming a more dignified air…just as a maid came into view.

“Oh, Lady Cassia. The Master was looking for you. He was quite worried…”

“There is no need for concern. I stepped out for a breath of fresh air, but now I shall retire to bed. Good night.”

The maid curtseyed and Cassia turned up the walk into the house…where she found Stephen waiting just inside the front vestibule. Leaning on his arm against the doorframe, he eyed her suspiciously, but she only looked at him in the most innocent way.

“Did I ever tell you that the outdoor privy seat is freezing cold?”

His expression suddenly changed from suspicion to shock. “What?”

“The stone is positively freezing on my hind quarters.”

He looked utterly revolted at her statement. “Dear God, Cassia! Could you be more uncouth and unladylike? Lord above!” He turned away from her in obvious disgust…and it made her smirk, silently congratulating herself for her quick thinking. Not that it had been so difficult. Men could be so simple-minded at times. She sighed and hurried up the stairs to her room.

*****

The house was falling into silence as it was shut down for the night. In Cassia’s room, the maid had helped her out of her clothing and into a nightdress, but she drew the line at being tucked into bed like a child. In a firm but kind tone she dismissed the servant, who curtseyed obediently but did not immediately go. She went about the room and extinguished the candles, and Cassia lay with just the sheet covering her, watching the slow movements of duty…wishing she would be gone.

When the last candle had been snuffed out, and only the low fire in the hearth remained, the maid at last made her departure. When the door closed, Cassia threw the sheet off and sat up, listening. She knew not to rush out of her room quite yet, just in se there were a few souls lingering about. Guy’s room was a distance away, and she had to be certain the entire house was asleep before she ventured there.

Going to her dressing table, she examined herself in the looking glass, and sighed in frustration at the length of her hair. It had grown quite a lot since that day at the castle, when it had been so brutally cut away. Still, it seemed so shameful to look at. For a moment she wondered if Guy secretly found it displeasing…but then she shook the foolish thought from her head, knowing that such a matter of feminine pride meant little to him. He loved her. He had come back to her, and that was all she needed to know.

She smiled to herself as she rose to pace before the fire, a giddy feeling running all through her. She could hardly wait to be with him again, and it mattered little to her that they were taking such risks to be together. They’d been through enough trials and tribulations, but still had managed to find their way back to one another…and so this chance they were taking was a small one. As long as they were cautious, who would be the wiser? She sat on the edge of the bed, waiting.

After a fair amount of time had passed…the fire had burned down to embers as she’d waited…she rose to her feet, unable to delay a moment longer. She went to the door and cracked it open, peeking into the hall. All was quiet and darkness. Carefully closing her chamber door behind her, she slinked down the corridor, silent as a cat, feeling her way along the wall, moving carefully past the stairway. The guest quarters were on the other side of the house, some distance away from the family chambers. She was not quite sure what room was his, but it would not be too difficult to find. He was the only guest in residence at the moment, and though there were several rooms to choose from, she was certain he would leave her some clue. Looking down the corridor, she strained her eyes…and was just able to see a light underneath a door. She smiled, knowing she had found the right place. She tiptoed to the door, taking a deep breath as she paused at the threshold. She lifted the latch…and slipped quietly in.

He was sitting before the fire, his booted legs stretched out in front of him. Sipping from a goblet, he did not turn his head when she came in…but she could see the sly little smile on his face. His voice had a low, sultry tone.

“Why, Lady Cassia. What an unexpected surprise. Did the little lamb wander from the safety of the fold and lose her way?”

She checked the door to be certain it was locked. When she turned back to him, he was watching her intently, his eyes looking her over with heated scrutiny. Her own eyes became bright with anticipation as she slowly walked over to his chair. Standing behind him, she leaned her chin on his shoulder and let her arms creep around him. Her words were soft in his ear.

“The lamb did not get lost. She escaped when the shepherd closed his eyes to rest.”

He chuckled. “Did she expect to wander into the den of a wolf?”

“She sought him out…and with much eagerness, I might add.” She placed a teasing kiss on his ear. She felt him shiver slightly at her touch, but still he did not move. He seemed to be playing some sort of game, being deliberately cool when she wanted him to be full of fire and fervor. Coming around to stand before him, she took the goblet from his hand and put it aside, quite out of his reach. Placing herself on his knee, she looped her arms around his neck. She looked deep into his shining eyes, seeing his sly expression.

“The door is bolted,” she softly said. “And so long as I am in my own chamber before dawn, there is nothing to fear. Now please kiss me, Guy. We were so rudely interrupted before, and I will not be denied a second time.” She leaned in to kiss him, but he pulled away slightly. From the smug look he wore, he was clearly entertained by the notion that she’d come to him this way, and his words provided proof of it.

“So eager. So demanding. Most men find that unbecoming in a woman.”

She narrowed her eyes at his teasing, impatient for him to act and not to speak.

“How fortunate for me that you are not like most men. But I did not come here for conversation, Guy of Gisborne. Talking can wait for another time.” She tried to kiss him again, but still he hesitated…and if it wasn’t for the fact that she wanted him so terribly, she would have smacked his handsome but arrogant face. He seemed quite amused by her frustration.

“I do not think your brother would approve of this wanton behavior.”

Her eyes grew bright with growing irritation at his delay…and at the mention of Stephen, who was the last person on her mind at that moment, she became quite perturbed.

“My brother is not my keeper. I am a grown woman. I have been engaged, married, widowed, and engaged again. I hardly think he has the right to judge what I can and cannot do.”

Guy raised an eyebrow. “So u would defy him, then?”

Her answer was bold. “For you, I would defy all things.”

At last she felt the melting of his resistance. His arms were slowly finding their way around her waist, pulling her close…and when she brought her face close to his, he did not pull away. His eyes were dark with longing, his voice low and seductive.

“You are an incredible woman, Cassia. A beautiful, wicked woman…and I find such wickedness extremely delightful.”

Then at last, he kissed her, and they both uttered a little sound of delight.

*****

As their kisses deepened, she moved herself so that her knees were on either side of his legs, her bottom on his lap. She buried her fingers in the soft waves of his hair.

While his mouth hotly tasted hers, his hands were slowly pulling at the white silk ribbons on the front of her nightgown. When it was gaped open, one of his hands crept in to caress her, his fingers circling the soft skin of one breast. His other hand went around her waist to the small of her back, pressing firmly there to encourage the little movements she was making with her hips, pressing herself against the bulge of his arousal. Moving her shoulders so that her sleeves fell, leaving her more exposed to him, she arched her back and thrust her breast against the warmth of his palm. When his lips moved down to that hardened peak, his tongue expertly teasing it along with his fingers, she whimpered and clutched his head against her. Moving her mouth to his earlobe, taking it between her teeth, she spoke hotly between gentle nips of the skin.

“Take me to the bed, Guy…please.”

He chuckled softly, but obeyed her. He rose with her, his hands cupping her backside, her legs wrapped around his waist. Her arms clung to his neck as he carried her to the edge of the bed, and when he gently put her down, she fully anticipated falling back and taking his weight upon her. But he remained only half-reclined, kissing her quite boldly, his tongue dancing wildly with hers, his hands grazing her neck and bare shoulders. Her fingers traveled beneath his collar, wanting to feel his skin, and she found great frustration in the restrictive design of his clothes. The tunics and undershirts he’d once worn had always been slightly open at the neck, the ties always lazily done and easily conquered by a pair of willing hands. But these finer garments were much less accessible, and she clutched fistfuls of the material, tugging at it in her haste to have it off. Guy, sensing her frustration, broke the kiss for a moment and pulled the high collared tunic off. The shirt quickly followed, leaving him bare from the waist up…and Cassia pulled his head back to recapture his mouth.

While one of her hands clutched the base of his neck, trying to pull him down to the bed with her, her other hand traveled down his chest to his stomach, and then to the band of his trousers. When she felt his fingers close over her wrist, she thought he meant to undo the ties himself…but then he suddenly stepped back, as if heught heave her. She reached for him, confused by his actions, but he stilled her questing hands. There was a strange, almost dark smirk on his handsome face as he slowly pulled up the hem of her nightgown. She looked at him, curious, when he did not raise it higher than her thigh. Instead of his hands venturing up, his fingers went to the bend of her knee…and then, lifting her slender leg, his fingers traveled down her calf to her foot. She’d never imagined such a sensation, but when his lips placed a hot kiss on her ankle, she felt a pleasurable shock ripple through her body. He began a slow path upwards, kissing and softly nibbling the skin, and her heart thudded in her ears when he paused at her calf to look up, his eyes meeting hers.

“Smooth as silk,” he whispered. And then he smirked. “Beeswax and honey?”

Her reply was breathless. “With a bit of strawberry. And just how would you know about that?”

His lips moved back to her skin. “We all have our little secrets, do we not?”

She wanted to speak. But as his hot mouth crept past her knee, it became clear to her what he intended. When he slowly knelt down, placing himself between her legs, she gasped at the sight of his dark head in such a wicked position. His kisses traveled along the tender flesh of her inner thigh, his breath hot against her skin, and she felt herself trembling with a feeling so intense that she bit her lip, fighting the urge to scream. Her inner core was pulsing as she felt his fingers touching her, exploring her…and then she felt it. His mouth fastened on her tender nub of flesh, suckling her. She was struck by an explosion of lightning sensation, waves of ecstacy crashing over her, and she threw her head back with a jubilant cry…then she slumped forward, clutching his head. Her heart labored wildly, her breathing so rapid she was certain she might faint. Stunned beyond words, trying hard to catch her breath, she could hardly comprehend it when Guy tugged her nightgown the rest of the way down and slid it off her legs, tossing it aside. Fully nude, weak from what he’d done to her, she was limp when he lifted her and moved her to the center of the bed. He joined her a moment later, now naked himself, and moving over her, he covered her mouth with his. This time, it was a wild ravishment of a kiss. Despite the incredible heights he’d just taken her to, she found the sensations building all over again, the flame within her reignited in an instant. She clutched at his head, whimpering as his mouth devoured hers. His hands were everywhere, roaming over every bit of skin, and her nails ran sharp down his back. Her fingers clenched the firm muscles of his backside…and she could contain her urges no longer.

“I need you, Guy. I need you now.”

Almost before she’d said the words he was there, buried deep. She sucked in a sharp breath at the feel of him, rigid and throbbing within her body. Then he was moving, hard and fast, surging relentlessly as she clamped her inner muscles around him. Both of them were moaning, panting heavily with their exertions. Their mouths opened eagerly together, hot and hungry…and trying to stifle the ecstatic sounds escaping them. When they broke from kissing it was only for moments, just long enough to gather breath. As they rushed to those last frantic moments they ground their mouths together once again, shattering as one, absorbing one another’s explosive cries of fulfillment.

Sral quiet moments passed, their breathing hectic, their hearts pounding. Covered in a sheen of perspiration, arms and legs tangled, their bodies were fused together…and neither was willing or able to move. Guy’s voice was ragged when it softly broke the silence.

“Wild, wanton little woman. You might have brought the entire household awake with such noise.”

Narrowing her eyes, she gave his arm a pinch. He lifted his head from the crook of her shoulder to look at her, his expression one of mock hurt, his breath still fast. But the corner of his mouth went up crookedly.