by Edith Layton
“Make me,” she told him.
He did.
CHAPTER 17
She felt him leave her side and cracked an eye open. “No,” she said, and pulled him back down to the bed.
“Greedy thing. But it’s morning,” he said with warm laughter in his voice, although he nevertheless put his arms around her and held her close again.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cristabel mumbled sleepily. “Stay.”
“If I stay,” he said, dropping a light kiss on the tip of her nose, “I’ll do more than stay. It would be delicious, but not wise. It’s still too new a sport for you to appreciate that gesture as much as I’d like you to.”
She pushed him away and sat up, her eyes wide. “I don’t please you!” she said in dismay.
She was rosy with sleep, her mouth still pink from his night kisses, her hair witch-wild from his fingers, and lying like spilled sunset on her white shoulders. And beneath her shoulders—he smiled a slow, sensual smile. “Ah, but you please me too well,” he said. “Your body more than pleases me. That’s the problem.”
“Where is the problem?” she asked anxiously.
She remembered the night they’d passed together. He’d brought her to the brink of madness with his achingly slow and steady lovemaking. Then he’d brought her to mindless bliss with his clever hands, before letting himself take his release in her. She loved it when he finally found his ease, thrilled to see him become so abandoned to his pleasure. She was proud when she felt his body moving convulsively in hers, knowing in that instant that she occupied every ounce of his questing mind and had chased every rational thought from it. It was no small thing, for he was the smartest man she’d ever known. Seeing how she moved him and feeling the intensity of his response brought her great happiness.
But she wondered if that was enough for him. Pirate women had told her about this part of marriage; she’d known more than most maidens when she’d come to him. So she also knew a man wanted his woman to move with him and share with him in his final ecstasy. For some women, that took time; for some, it might take an eternity. When Magnus’s great body pounded into hers as he approached his release, she felt little soreness—just the wonder and joy of holding him as he came to his pleasure. But she did not find the ecstasy that he found, either. Now she worried that he knew it, and that it might be enough to make him turn from her. The men she’d known had always roamed when they found disappointment in their beds. She wanted to be nothing but pleasure to him.
He studied her face, and frowned when he saw her fear. He touched her cheek. “I only meant that I don’t want to overburden you with my desires. You’re still new at this; there may still be pain. No? Well then, at least, I’d think there was the fact that you are unaccustomed… Look, Cristabel, lovemaking isn’t a thing learned in a day, although I do believe the way of it was bred in your bones, and I thank God for it, my little pirate. Some of the pleasure came to you at once, but the rest must come with experience. I don’t know why, but that’s the way of it for most women. I’m not complaining. There are women who never feel anything. Don’t worry about that,” he chuckled. “You are fire itself. But the ultimate flame is a slower thing to kindle and flare. Do you see?”
“Show me,” she said, her eyes searching his.
His eyes were troubled as he looked at her. “No,” he said, caressing her bare shoulder, “lovemaking can’t be done to prove anything, except love. Not for us. Take me in love, or lust, or simple merriment, and it will be well. But no other way. You don’t have to prove anything to me, Cristabel.”
She laid her head on his wide shoulder. “Oh, Magnus,” she said in a choked voice, “but I do love you.”
She said it as though she marveled at it. Then she said it in grateful recognition. Then she said it against his lips, as she gave him a kiss of simple love. Then he took her in his arms. “Well,” he muttered, “we might make something of this.”
There were tears in her eyes as he came to her, but he knew she wasn’t crying. She didn’t think of pleasing him now, nor did she wonder about her response. She only knew she loved him entirely, and his lips, his hands, his body, told her he felt the same way. Eventually, when she felt the strange and yet familiar tightening in her body, and when she heard him urging her in low, tense tones to let it go, she did—and found at last the release that she’d been seeking since he’d first touched her, and found it to be so powerful that she had no words, only small sobs, to greet it.
“There,” he said when they were done and she lay replete against his chest, feeling his heart and breath slow to normal. “Well, what do you know? For once, I was wrong. It wasn’t such a long wait after all, was it?”
She giggled.
“No, no flowers please. No time for congratulations,” he said. “I have a wedding to plan this morning. You have that chat with my mother to endure. And then—and then,” he said thoughtfully, as he lay gazing into space, one hand behind his head, the other stroking her, “I think I’ll see to our move from this place. It’s very comfortable here, but there are drawbacks. We’re expected to emerge from this room and greet the family every so often. Making love at midnight and dawn may be fine for old married folk, but I’ve a penchant for surprises. Noon is not a time to scoff at either, you know. Oh, you don’t? Well, you should. Yes,” he said with a pleased grin for the blush that covered her entire body. “I think I’ll go and get my own house ready for my bride.”
“We’ll go and get it ready,” she said.
“I think it best that you stay here, where it’s safe,” he said, bracing for her protests. Yes, he knew she was good with a knife and a pistol, too, but no, he didn’t want her to have to use them.
“I’m not safe unless I’m with you,” she said, and before he could answer, she went on, “I couldn’t rest knowing you were alone and in possible danger, and if you don’t take me, I’ll find a way to follow without you knowing. You know I will and then if I get into trouble, you’ll be sorry, so it’s only truth when I say that I’m not safe unless I’m with you.”
He rubbed his chin and stared at her, thinking deeply.
“And I agree that we should live in your house,” she added, “alone with each other, with no one to answer to, and no one to see what we do or when we do it, and the sooner the better, too.”
“After you speak with my mother, then,” he said with a sigh.
*
When Magnus came to get Cristabel to take her to see his house, all the women in the room complained loudly. Even Sophia seemed sincerely reluctant to let her go.
“But we were having such a nice conversation,” his mother complained, but stopped to smile when she saw Cristabel’s face as she rose to greet her new husband. All the women beamed then, even Sophia.
“My pardon, Mother,” Magnus said, “but I promised to show Cristabel her new home this afternoon. We can’t stay with you forever, Sophia,” he said, before she could protest, or pretend to. “You should understand that well enough. You have your own life to get on with. You’re fairly newly wedded too.”
“Of course, of course,” Sophia said nervously, “but still, you’re always welcome here.”
“I know,” he said, “and thank you for it. But it was never my intention to marry and set up housekeeping in your house.” As they all laughed he added, “Now I’ll spirit your guest away. We’ll see you at dinner.”
He offered Cristabel his arm. She moved to his side and walked to the door with him, staring into his eyes without a word. It was only when she got to the door that she stopped, turned around to the company, and blushing, said, “Oh. I’m so sorry. We were having such a good time, and I just walked off—what you must think of me!”
“I think,” the countess said with a happy little sigh, “that my son has picked a good wife. Go on, my dear. There’ll be other times for us to chat, I’m sure, when you’ve grown tired of Magnus.” But she said that as though she doubted it would ever happen, and all the women laughed. Then they, to
o, sighed as they watched Cristabel and Magnus leave together.
Sophia stood by the window watching them as they went down the street, an odd sad, twisted expression, somewhere between envy and tears, on her pale face. Because her mother-in-law was from the countryside and frowned on Town fashions, Sophia’s little face was free of powder today. All her tiny freckles showed, making her look much less worldly than she usually tried to be. She looked young and lost as she watched Cristabel and Magnus turn the corner, and yet she would have stayed there, staring after them, if her mother-in-law hadn’t called her back to herself by asking her a question.
*
“She was wonderful!” Cristabel chirped excitedly as she walked at Magnus’s side. “Your mother was charming and welcoming and kind, and I really think someday she could come to like me for myself, and not just because you married me. I was so afraid of what she’d ask, and if I’d stumble and speak…well…’pirateish,’ if she stumped me, but all she asked was if there was anything she could do to make me happy. Then she told me a dozen, dozen stories about you. Your sisters were just as nice, and they had their stories too. I know about every friend you ever protected; why, I think I know every dog you ever saved from drowning. They told me every considerate thing you ever did, and you did so many that if you hadn’t come to get me, I’d still be sitting there listening to them singing your praises.”
She fell silent, and he raised a brow as he looked down at her. He mistrusted her silence. When she was happy, she laughed, or joked with him, or chattered like one of the bright birds from her islands. “What story upset you?” he asked.
“None,” she said, looking up, her face somber. “In truth, Magnus, you are just too good to be true.”
He laughed so loudly, he made passersby smile. “Exactly,” he said, when he could, “so don’t hate me when you come to know me better.” He chuckled, but stopped when she spoke again.
“Well,” she mused, “the things they liked most about you—the things which are truly wonderful about you, Magnus—are also the things that make me very angry with you too. It’s good that you protect everyone around you, but not everyone needs protecting all the time. And your selflessness is very fine, but the fact that you don’t have a care for yourself when someone else is in danger is upsetting. I want you to be around for ages, my lord. I’ll have to teach you to be a little more selfish and proud.”
“Like you?” he asked gently. “I think I’ll have to find another tutor.”
“Well, look what happened the last time you tried to protect me,” she said indignantly.
“Yes, I was able to convince you to marry me,” he said. “A bad example, my lady, since I don’t regret anything about that night because of it. In fact, I wonder if you’d have married me if the wretch hadn’t managed to put a hole in me. No, don’t say a word. Remember? You said you were a terrible liar.”
She laughed and kept laughing as they strolled to his house, a few streets from where Martin’s house was. It was broad daylight, so she didn’t have to search the shadows for danger as they walked, even if there weren’t two footmen following them discreetly, and three pirate lads on the street whom she recognized as she strolled by them. They were lurking, trying to look like innocent citizens. One of them gave her a weak little wave of a mittened hand before he remembered that he was supposed to be looking natural as he sorted through a dustbin.
She was grinning when she went up the steps to Magnus’s house. But then she smiled with pure pleasure. She nodded to his servants as Magnus introduced her, but she couldn’t keep from looking around herself in admiration. His house was larger and taller than his brother’s, rising a full four stories high, with a garden in back, a coach house, and stables. The house had spacious rooms, each one with a fireplace framed in marble, shining wood floors spotted with bright carpets, beautiful walnut furniture, high ceilings, and new sash windows everywhere. Martin’s house had cased windows that stingily leaked in small amounts of sunlight. She hadn’t realized how she had missed the light until she saw how much sunlight a London house could have.
“Now, you tell me what you want discarded and what you want to buy, and I get to fight to keep the chair I love best, I suppose,” Magnus said with mock glumness as he went up the tall staircase with her.
“Why should I do that?” she asked in amazement.
“Well, because it’s what every bride does when she comes to her husband’s house, or so I’m told,” he said as he opened the door to his bedchamber.
She said nothing. He turned to see her standing still in the middle of his room, her hands twisting together.
“What have I said?” he asked in concern.
“How shall I know what to like or not?” she asked in a small voice. “I lived in two rooms, and thought myself lucky if the roof didn’t leak. I had to shoo chickens out of my bedroom, and I thought the grandest place anyone on earth could live would be in my father’s pirate ship. I thought Martin’s home was grand; this is—this is beyond anything I’ve seen. And from the way your mother talks about your home in Kent… Oh, Magnus, I don’t belong,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes glowing bright amber in the wash of sunlight and tears. “In your arms, in your bed, I am home. But everywhere else, I’m in some alien land. I don’t want to embarrass you or myself. But I don’t know how not to.”
“Is liking my home embarrassing?” he asked.
“Is it?” she asked.
He took her in his arms. “You might be able to embarrass me if you stood on a street corner and balanced an eel on the end of your nose,” he said thoughtfully, “but don’t bet on it, because it might enchant me. And of course, if it made people throw coins, I think I wouldn’t mind the embarrassment at all. Don’t cry. Don’t even sniffle. The staff will think I’m being a brute. There, better. Now, I’ll show you the other rooms, which we must work diligently to fill up with little pirates and noblemen. Yes, very good. Blushes are much better than tears.”
She wandered throughout his house—which he kept telling her was her house, and she almost began to believe it.
“In three weeks,” Magnus said with satisfaction after they’d finished touring all the rooms, “we’ll move in. First we must buy bride clothes, and have our new wedding. I’ve set all the wheels in motion. We can hurry the thing through—having a title does have its benefits. Of course, the fact that we’re already married helps enormously. High churchmen are more competitive with the low fellows who do the service for a shilling than they’d like us to think.”
He said good-bye to his staff and led Cristabel to the door. The last of a rosy sunset showed over the rooftops of London, promising a fair new day and the nearness of spring. They strolled along in silence; he thought it was the silence of contentment until she spoke.
“Who will give me away?” she asked in a small voice. “I’ve no one. What a strange bride I will be.” She shook her head solemnly. “No bridesmaids, no guardian, no family at all. Only Black Jack, who can dress and act the gentleman and give a false name if he wants. And a dozen or so pirate lads, who can’t even put their noses into such a grand church. I’ll be a most peculiar bride, Magnus. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
He put his hand over hers where it lay on his arm. “Sophia will stand with you, as will my sisters. Martin will be my groomsman. We can find an upstanding man to give you away, and say he’s related. But if you like, we can ask Black Jack to do it. As you say, he’s a good mimic, and although it might sting him, I think it would please him very much to know you think so highly of him.”
It took her a minute to answer because she was so touched. She finally managed a saucy grin as she said, “Now, all I have to do is to remember not to say ‘Aye’ when the parson asks me to say ‘I do.’ But do you know?” she asked consideringly, her head to the side. “I think my speech is improving. I don’t lapse so often anymore. It must be the company I keep.”
“I’m not so sure it’s for the good,” he said. �
�I’ll miss my little pirate. But if that’s the price I have to pay for having you less frightened and unsure, I’ll gladly pay it.” He squeezed her hand in his warm one as she smiled up at him tremulously.
Which was why neither of them saw what was coming.
There were three of them this time, and their appearance on this street at this hour was so unexpected that even if Magnus and Cristabel had been paying attention, they would have been surprised. As it was, they were totally unprepared for meeting up with three heavily cloaked and armed, grinning would-be assassins, and that one moment of shock cost them dearly. The three were almost upon them by the time Magnus drew his sword and marshaled his wits. And quick as Cristabel was, she scarcely had her knife in her hand before she was crouching, wondering which of them to protect Magnus from first. She and Magnus stood back to back on one of London’s finest residential streets, surrounded by three circling men armed with sword, pistol, and cutlass.
It was a bold move, and Magnus was afraid it was a very good one. No one could have expected assassins in such an open, public place; he didn’t know if his footmen were nearby. Even if they were, these men were very near now. Magnus watched them closely, holding his sword in readiness for their next move. He was very good with a sword, and with his fists as well, but the pistol bothered him. He felt Cristabel move at his back and worried more, because he knew she wasn’t hiding there. For the first time since they’d met, he wished she were the type to faint, then she’d be well out of it and he wouldn’t have to worry about her. He was ready for them, but there were three of them, and they looked hard and desperate. He would fight until he dropped, but his only realistic hope was to protect her before he died.
It was like finding a shark in your bathtub, Cristabel thought in horror, but she was quick to adjust. Her eyes narrowed on one fat fellow, the one with the pistol. Guns made a man overconfident. He looked to be a swaggerer, and already wore a grin. He wouldn’t expect a knife in his throat, and never from a woman. She steadied herself and stared at him, hoping Magnus could finish off one of the others quickly, so that together they’d have a chance against the third. If he didn’t, she’d give up the fat fellow and go for the one who was giving Magnus trouble.