And finally, after years of sacrifice, of waiting, Geordie had exactly what he wanted. Cat, not only in his heart, but also in his bed, soon to be his wife.
22
Love and lust tangled into a heady rise of emotion within Cat. Geordie’s powerful body beneath her hands reminded her how the boy with the remarkable character that she had cared for so deeply as a girl, was now the man she loved so completely as a woman.
Her fingers shook with nervousness, excitement and the force of her anticipation as they moved over his shaft as he’d shown her to do. He palmed her breast and teased at her sensitive nipples until she was crying out into his mouth. That was when his hand came to rest between her legs, his fingers against her and inside of her. He claimed to lack experience, but he had obviously learned what pleasured her quickly.
He circled the center of her pleasure with his thumb and gently leaned her over the bed. She lay back on the soft mattress with the smooth coverlets beneath her. He withdrew his hand and slowly, carefully eased over her; his weight braced on his forearms to keep from laying atop her fully.
“You’re so beautiful, my Cat.” He ran his fingers up the side of her waist reverently.
Cat drew in a sharp breath at the tingles radiating out from his caress. “I love you.”
“And I you.” He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her thoroughly, wonderfully, until her head spun.
Their naked bodies moved against one another, grinding and flexing. She parted her legs and cradled his hips between her thighs. The heat of his shaft lay against her entrance, not penetrating, but rubbing. He made all of her hot with lust, her core impossibly wet and pounding with desire.
Their kisses turned hungry, more desperate as the rhythm between their rocking bodies increased. Geordie shifted his hand and the head of his arousal bumped against her entrance. A sliver of a memory came back to that night with Sir Gawain, but she shoved it aside. She squeezed her eyes shut and kissed him harder. She wouldn’t think of that. Not now. Not when Geordie—
The pressure between her legs, at that intimate spot, increased. Cat’s breathing sped as wild panic turned the heat in her veins to ice.
“Stop,” she gasped.
Geordie immediately pulled away from her. His chest rose and fell with the labor of his breath. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes bright. “Did I hurt you?”
Cat shook her head in frustration. “I…it…” Shame burned in her cheeks. “It scared me.”
“We don’t have to—”
“Nay,” she said vehemently. Sir Gawain would not ruin this for her, not this night and not the intimacy she experienced now with Geordie. Sir Gawain had already taken too much and she refused to give him more. An idea came to her. “Let me see you,” she said. “I want to look at your face.”
Geordie nodded. “Anything, Cat.”
She took her hand and put it to his arousal. The tip was damp from where he’d entered her, and it pulsed wildly in her palm.
“You guide me in. I had meant for you to do that, but I…” He shook his head slightly. “Forgive, me, I lost myself with you.”
She pressed a kiss to his mouth at his sweet words and positioned him at her entrance once more, angling her head to watch him. Geordie stared down at her, his lovely brown eyes tender with love. He always had shown his emotions in his gaze, and now she clung to that. She drew him toward her, and his mouth parted in a shuddering intake of breath.
She flexed her hips up to carefully nestle the pulsing head of him inside of her. His brows flinched. She released him and gave him a little nod. He pushed slowly, easing into her more deeply. This time the action did not fill her with panic, but an eagerness for more.
He exhaled as one does before battle, when they need their heart rate to slow. Cat nodded once more. He eased out and pressed back in, going further this time. The pulse of desire thrummed between Cat’s legs again and her nipples prickled. Geordie’s eyes closed in apparent pleasure and quickly opened once more, fixing on her with concern.
Cat gave a soft hum of delight. “All of it,” she whispered.
Geordie swallowed. “You are certain?” he asked in a husky voice.
“Aye.” Cat arched her hips to meet him.
He watched her as he carefully withdrew from her and thrust back in, filling her completely. She gasped at the satisfaction of it, to have all of him within her, fully joined together. Geordie groaned and dropped his head forward, his breathing ragged.
Every muscle in his body was tensed to the point of trembling. He uttered a quiet curse and slowly lifted his gaze to her.
Cat locked her stare on his and moved beneath him, rolling her hips back and forth as they’d done before he was inside her. He blinked and shifted himself from her, before pushing within her fully once more.
“God, Cat,” he muttered. “You feel so, so damn good.”
“So do you,” she breathed.
He braced himself over her, thrusting in a careful rhythm as the tingles of pleasure dancing over Cat’s body grew hotter and hotter and hotter still.
“Kiss me,” she gasped.
He bent over her and took her mouth with his. She wrapped her legs and arms around him, pulling him deeper into her, as they panted and kissed one another. He shifted slightly and found the bud of her sex with his finger once more.
Cat cried out, everything in her tightening in preparation for another crises. His digit moved over her in deft strokes, bringing heat flooding through her, even as he thrust within her. Her center tensed, pausing on the brink for one more pass of his finger, two, three.
Cat gave a scream of pleasure that he drank in with his own mouth. Her core clenched around the thickness of his arousal pulling him deeper still. He pushed into her, burying himself. His forehead dropped to her shoulder and he loosed a low groan, gritted out through clenched teeth.
They lay there for a long moment, panting with their racing hearts and sweat-slick bodies. Geordie lifted his head first and gently touched her cheek. “I didn’t hurt you? Or the babe?”
It was then she realized, he’d awkwardly leaned to one side of her to avoid pressing his weight on the small bump of her belly. Cat smiled softly and shook her head. “Nay. Quite the opposite.” She lifted a brow. “I thought you said you had no experience.”
He flushed. “That doesn’t mean I didn’t pay attention to the braggarts conversing around me.”
Everything in Cat felt light and airy. She gave a soft laugh and pulled him down to her for a kiss. “You make me so happy.”
“As you do me.” He grinned and pulled himself from her.
A shudder of latent pleasure rippled over her at the subtle movement. “I look forward to a lifetime of this with you.”
He gave a low growl. “Every night.” He kissed her lips. “Sometimes during the day.” He slipped lower and kissed her collarbone. “Mayhap even in the morn.” He licked the line between her breasts.
She moaned with pleasure.
“There is so much more to this than what we did.” Geordie gave her a wicked grin that set the hungry pulse of pleasure trilling between her legs. “I want to do it all.”
Cat laughed again, caught up in the happiest joy she had never thought to actually experience. Their life would be perfect indeed. Perfect and happy and wonderful with not one thing ever going wrong.
Geordie pulled himself regretfully away from Cat. He went to the ewer, for a splash of cold water. Not only to clean himself, but to quell the stiffening of his cock. Though he’d just had her, his body reacted to his carnal thoughts, craving more of her.
Except that she would no doubt be sore. He had been serious when he’d said he’d never hurt her, and that included being aware when she might be tender from having him inside her once already. He splashed water from the ewer onto a fresh linen and carried it to the bed. He rolled his shoulder slightly; the one Cat had stitched with such care. It ached from holding himself up for so long, a pain he would gladly take in exchange for the
pleasure they’d shared. In fact, he hadn’t even felt it twinge until that very moment.
Cat reached for the linen as he neared, but he pulled it back and shook his head. A languid smile curled at her lips.
God, but she was beautiful. Her hair crimped from her braids and tousled around a face that glowed with the effects of having been freshly loved. He would see her like this every night.
“So?” Cat said coyly. “Was is worth the wait?”
Geordie chuckled and swept his hand down her knee to part her legs. “Aye, well worth it. Enough that I would have waited another four years for certain.” He paused thoughtfully. “Though I’m glad I didn’t have to.”
“I imagine so.” Cat laughed and spread her shapely legs for him.
Geordie swept the linen over her sex to wipe her clean and the good-natured tinkle of her laugh faded into a soft moan.
“Thank you,” she said. “For being so gentle, so understanding.”
Geordie set aside the cloth, lay beside her on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “I’m glad it was pleasurable for you too. I always want it to be.”
“It will,” she said with a certainty he liked.
He drew up the blanket at the foot of the bed over both of them.
She nestled against him, laying her head on his chest. “I’m sorry you missed the rest of your feast.”
The feast. It felt a world away.
He wrapped an arm around her to hold her close to him. “I’m not.” He would give up a lifetime of feasts for having had this night with her, especially when it led to the promise of so many more.
Cat’s breathing turned deep and even almost immediately and her body relaxed against him. Sleep tried to come for Geordie, but he pushed it away. He’d spent beyond four years wanting her.
From the moment he was old enough to have dreams of desire, from when he’d first started to notice the budding breasts at Cat’s bodice—he’d wanted her since then. Only when he was older and truly understood the ways of the world did he understand he didn’t want her merely for sexual satisfaction, but as his companion, as his wife.
He ran his hand up and down her slender arm. Her skin was like cool silk under his fingers. Cat gave a little sigh in her sleep and nuzzled closer.
Nay, he would not sleep, not for the entire night. He wanted to lay awake with his love held to him as he savored his good fortune. At long last, he had everything he could ever want and would not lose the moment to sleep.
His mind wandered over the life they’d promised one another, imagining her within Easton Castle in Strafford, bringing light to those dark halls of his memories. He could almost hear the happy squeals of their child and see her brilliant smile as she stood at his side.
And then he knew, there was one final thing he needed to make everything entirely perfect. Quiet and stealth, he slipped from the bed of his love with the skills he’d learned as a warrior and dressed. He would be gone briefly, before she even realized he had left.
With one final glance back at a sleeping Cat, he slipped from the room and let the door close behind him.
23
Cat woke to the glow of light from beneath the shutters, but she did not open her eyes. Not yet. Everything the night before had been too wonderful to be real.
She feared opening her eyes and being crushed by reality, if indeed it had all been nothing more than a dream. Except that she lay against something solid and warm, a strong body that was certainly not her imagination. She blinked her eyes open and found Geordie with one arm tucked behind his head, the other securely around her shoulders.
His stare was fixed on the underside of the bed’s wooden canopy, as though he had been awake for some time. Cat shifted to better regard him and he turned his attention to her.
“Good morrow, my Cat.” He smiled at her.
“Good morrow, my Geordie.” She pressed a kiss to his naked chest. “Have you been awake long?”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t want to wake you. Did you sleep well?”
Cat rolled her shoulders inward, curling around Geordie. “I don’t think I have ever slept so well.” And it was true. She’d felt safe in his arms, cherished. “You?”
“It was the best night of my life.” He winked at her.
Cat couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I would have to agree with you.”
Desire pulsed between her thighs as she remembered exactly how the night had been; how he’d felt inside her, filling her. Her nipples drew taut and her breath hitched. She bit her lower lip.
The happiness in Geordie’s eyes went serious with what she now knew to be desire. Already, she had learned what it looked like on his face, and how her body reacted in kind.
But there was so, so much more to learn.
His gaze dipped lower to her breasts, then her mouth, before returning to her eyes once more. “Cat, if you’re sore...”
She shook her head and let her touch wander over his torso, being careful to avoid his wounded shoulder.
His breath quickened and a suspicious lump appeared under the covers. She brushed her thigh over him and met the hot hardness of his ready arousal. Aye, suspicious indeed.
“I believe I was told mornings might be involved…” She arched her body against him.
He grabbed her to him with a growl, a low, primal sound that made the hairs on her neck stand up with a delicious thrill. He nuzzled her ear with his mouth and ripples of pleasure teased over her skin. She parted her thigh to better rub her body against him.
A knock sounded at the door. Geordie sat up, blocking her with his body.
She curled her hand over his tense shoulder. “’Tis only Freya.”
“I’ll be missed from my chambers.” He looked down at her and frowned. “I do not want to sully your reputation.”
Cat scoffed. “I believe I handled that well enough on my own at the feast.”
“It isn’t the same.” He rose from her bed and quickly dressed. “I must take my leave.”
He was right, though she didn’t want to admit it. She pulled herself from bed and drew her chemise on.
The knock came again at the door, harder this time. “My lady,” Freya hissed.
Geordie paused in his dressing and cast Cat a questioning look.
A trickle of cold apprehension ran down Cat’s spine. Freya never insisted anything of Cat. Something was amiss. Quickly, she made her way to the door and unlocked it.
The servant entered the room swiftly and closed the door behind her. She pressed her back to it and huffed to catch her breath. Her cheeks were flushed. Evidently, she had come to the room in haste.
“Freya, what is it?” Cat asked.
Geordie came to Cat’s side and put his arm around her shoulders, as though bracing her from any news she would hear.
“Everyone is looking for Sir Geordie,” Freya panted. “I dinna say anything and slipped away at the first opportunity I could to come here.”
Cat stiffened at her servant’s words. Geordie did not flinch.
“Why am I being sought out?” Geordie asked with an immaculate calm.
“Because he’s dead,” Freya whispered. “Sir Gawain has been killed.”
Cat staggered back. “Killed?”
“Aye.” Freya gulped in a breath of air. “They found him in his cell with his guards knocked senseless and his throat slit.”
“But Geordie has been here all night,” Cat protested. “I will vouch for him.”
Aye, it would destroy her ragged reputation to do so, but once she and Geordie were wed, it would be of little consequence.
“But he was no’, my lady.” Freya flicked a cautious glance up at Geordie. “Someone saw him leaving yer room in the middle of the night.”
“I beg your pardon?” Cat turned to Geordie, her mind a muddled wash of confusion and fear. He had promised her he would not kill Gawain. Surely, he had not gone against that.
She shook her head, unable to even ask the question.
“Where did you go?” she asked.
He shook his head and his cheeks colored. “It was foolish.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I had no idea…”
“Where did you go?” Cat repeated. “What is going on?”
“I didn’t kill Sir Gawain, but I did leave the room.” Geordie reached into a pouch at his belt and pulled out something she could not see. “I’ve had this for two years. I thought…” He gave a helpless shrug. “I wanted to finally see you wear it.”
He opened his hand and there in his palm was a gold ring with a sapphire winking at its center.
Cat sucked in a breath.
He had gone to his room to get the ring he had kept for her all those years, and now he might die for his romantic act.
Geordie closed his fingers over the ring, locking the cool metal in his hand. At the time, it hadn’t seemed an issue at all to take only a few moments to retrieve it. Now, he realized how costly a mistake it might be.
“Oh, Geordie.” Cat put her hand to her mouth.
Geordie clenched his jaw. “I couldn’t possibly have known he would be murdered then.”
“You could leave,” Cat said hurriedly. “You could go now and ride hard to Werrick Castle. The king and his men never venture so far. You know that. And even if he did, the Scottish border is—”
“Nay.” Geordie shook his head. “Only guilty men run. I will get a trial and there I will be proven innocent.”
“But if you are not…” Cat pressed her lips together.
“Pray to God justice will be served and I will be.”
“Nay.” A sob erupted from her. “I cannot lose you, Geordie. Please.”
“Cat.” Geordie knelt on the ground before her and extended the ring to her. “Wear this, think of me daily and say prayers for my imminent release. Once the trial is done, I will be free, and we can wed.”
Catriona’s Secret Page 18