‘Aye... Only once.’
He didn’t move for a moment and she didn’t know if he thought that was a bad thing or not, but she really just needed him to do something because she was going to die if he didn’t fill her. Finally, he said, ‘I’ll tread slowly. Tell me if it’s too much.’ She shuddered in anticipation, squeezing her hands into fists as she waited.
Slowly and with a tenderness that surprised her, he pressed forward. He moved into her inch by slow inch, as large and thick as she’d known he would be. For a moment it felt like he was too much, but she was more than ready for him. He pulled back and pressed forward in slow strokes until he sank into her completely. She sighed as he slid home and clenched around him as pleasure vibrated through her.
He growled something in his own language and leaned over her, his hand wrapped in her braid as he once again pulled her mouth to his. As he took her mouth, he pumped his hips, pulling out just to sink back into her. Waves of pleasure rippled out from where they were joined, reverberating throughout her whole body.
‘More,’ she whispered when he stopped kissing her, her fingers gripping the pillow beneath her.
He gave a little pump to appease her, but it only made her push back for more. He groaned and reached beneath her to pluck her nipple, somehow causing a dart of pleasure to go straight to where she gripped him. ‘Please, more,’ she begged.
‘Say my name, Gwendolyn,’ he whispered against her ear, his fingers busy teasing her breast. ‘I want you to know who’s inside you.’
‘Vidar,’ she whispered.
He pulled out almost fully, only to thrust to the hilt inside her. And this time he didn’t stop, he took her relentlessly. First in hard, long strokes that quickly became short and deep as if he couldn’t get enough. His mouth never left her neck and she reached back to tangle her fingers in his hair to keep him close when his teeth scraped her sensitive flesh. She needed to never stop touching him. She needed him inside her until she couldn’t think.
With every thrust the pleasure wound up tighter and tighter within her until every movement had her craving more of him. Only him. Only Vidar, whose hands made her feel so good. Only Vidar, whose voice made her weak inside. Only Vidar, who felt as if he’d been made to fit her. His name fell like a chant from her lips and his thrusts were punctuated by soft grunts against her neck. Then she couldn’t take it any longer and the pleasure shattered apart within her. Stars shimmered behind her eyelids and she gripped him tight, convulsing around his length as she cried out her pleasure.
He whispered in his foreign tongue and increased his pace. ‘Gwendolyn,’ he called out, tightening his hand in her hair until it very nearly hurt, but somehow pain only meant more pleasure. He went rigid, pouring himself into her, before he fell limp above her, gasping for breath as his arm went around her waist and he tucked her against him.
Chapter Sixteen
It took Gwendolyn a long time to catch her breath. Vidar lay behind her, his strong arm around her waist and his heart beating against her back, nearly matching the frantic rhythm of her own. She could hardly believe what had just happened. And it wasn’t so much that she couldn’t comprehend that she’d given in to him, it was that she couldn’t understand what had happened...or how she’d enjoyed it so much.
Nothing had prepared her for the way things had escalated between them. Never once in her entire life had she even suspected the heights of pleasure that Vidar had shown her. Never once had anyone—not even Annis whom she thought would know—suggested that she could come apart at the seams as she had. The omission would have made her angry had she not been floating in the strange but wonderful glow of their joining. The fact that it was Vidar who’d made her feel this way...well, she couldn’t even consider that just yet. It was too confusing and took away from the lingering pleasure that tingled along her skin.
He stirred behind her, shifting more to his side to take more of his weight from her, and his hand moved up to gently cup her breast. She smiled at the pleasing sensation of his rough skin against her overly sensitive nipple. If things could simply stay like this for the rest of the night, she would be content.
‘Gwendolyn,’ he whispered against her hair. ‘You—’
She reached up and covered his mouth with her hand. ‘Don’t speak.’
He grinned against her palm and, in typical fashion, he spoke. ‘Why not?’
She didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say. There was a slight chance it would enhance her mood, but this was Vidar and there was an even greater chance that he’d only say something to ruin the moment. ‘Because you frequently say things that make me angry.’ She didn’t want to be angry. She wanted to float in the happy place she had found between reality and whatever it was that had happened between them. Because as good as it had felt, it had not been reality. It couldn’t have been. It had been too perfect.
His hand tightened on her breast while his other one moved down her belly to find its way between her thighs. Her eyes flew open as he stroked the tender flesh there and a stirring of pleasure flickered to life. ‘We can do it again?’
He chuckled and gave her breast one last squeeze before letting her go and rising to his knees. ‘Thought you didn’t want me to talk?’ She rolled on to her back and he grabbed her ankle, gently repositioning her so that he sat on his knees between her legs. His gaze went to rest between her thighs. She might have felt some embarrassment, but she was too busy looking at his growing erection. It rose up towards his belly and glistened from what they had just done.
‘You can talk if it’s about this,’ she said.
His smile widened and his gaze flashed up to hers. He slowly moved over her, his weight coming down to rest on his hands on either side of her. ‘What if I told you that I loved being inside you? That I want to be inside you again?’
Aye! She wanted that. Her body pulsed in response to his words. She whimpered instead of talking and he took the sound as consent. Dipping his head, he placed whisper soft kisses over her cheekbone and down to the corner of her mouth. When she turned to meet him fully, craving the brush of his tongue against hers, he kept going, nipping the fleshy part of her chin as he moved down her neck.
‘What if I said that I wanted to taste you, to suck you until you beg me to take you again?’
‘Aye!’ This time she found her voice and arched upward to aid him, instinctively knowing his destination. She’d never considered that a man would put his mouth at a place designed for a babe, but she was content to let him teach her all the things she didn’t know.
He laughed, a soft, husky sound that blew across her skin. The flat of his tongue dragged over her nipple followed by the heat of his mouth closing over her. It was as if there were a direct path from his mouth to that part of her that craved him. She buried her fingers in his long hair and held him close as he moved from one breast to the other, unwilling to give him up. His hand went to her leg, hitching it on to his hip before he blindly guided himself to her and pushed inside.
She couldn’t help the cry that escaped her lips as he filled her with one thrust. Pleasure vibrated through her, and she transferred her grip to his wide shoulders, trying desperately to get even closer to him. He didn’t seem to be in as much of a hurry this time, because he let her nipple go and rose over her, that familiar smile tugging at his lips. He was breathtaking, his eyes intense but teasing at the same time as he looked down at her.
‘I knew we’d be good together,’ he said.
She tightened her grip on his shoulders. They were good together, both when dealing with the people of the villages and in bed. Especially in bed. He gave a little flex of his hips and she clenched around him, throbbing for more. ‘Vidar.’
He shook his head, still smiling down at her, apparently determined to take his time. ‘You’re beautiful. I’m glad your father made that agreement with my brother. I’
m glad you’re mine.’
She didn’t know how to respond to that. This wasn’t the Vidar she had spent her days fighting against. This wasn’t the man who’d walked into her life and tried to control it. This man was different. She took his face in her hands and drew him down for a long, slow kiss. He took his time, teasing her lips with his tongue before stroking deep. Only then did some of his urgency return and he pumped his hips once hard, drawing a gasp from her as the power of it reverberated through her. She was gratified to hear his own groan of pleasure.
It was intoxicating to share this longing with him and to know that he was experiencing the same thing. He looked down at her and his eyes were wide in something close to surprise. She touched his cheek, drawing her fingertips over his closely cut beard and into the golden hair that fell forward. He wasn’t teasing or arrogant now. She wondered if she was getting a glimpse into him without all of the artifice.
He leaned down again to kiss her, his lips warm and soft against hers as he moved within her. He took her slowly this time, without the desperation of the first time. And it was just as good, but so different, because he held her and she held him. It wasn’t about dominance or who was right or any of those things that had come between them. When she came apart she gripped him tightly and he stared down into her eyes until she’d started to float back down to earth. Then he buried his face in her neck and called out her name as he followed her over the edge into that great abyss.
And when they were finished and spent and so tired that Gwendolyn could barely keep her eyes open, he only tightened his arms around her. She smiled at the gesture and tried not to like it. But she did. She really liked being held by him. She held on to him and brushed her cheek against the soft hair of his chest, resting it there so that she could listen to his heart. When he let out a soft snore, she stifled a laugh. Despite what he’d said, she had a feeling that it was going to be very hard for them to pretend this hadn’t happened come morning. For now, though, she was content to fall asleep in his arms.
* * *
Vidar couldn’t look away from his wife. Her hair had come unplaited at some point during their night together and it spread out around her, spilling over her shoulders to play hide and seek with the creamy mounds of her breasts. He leaned forward and gently moved one of the silky strands to the side so that her dark pink nipple could peek through. He knew that he should leave her in peace now that it was morning, but he didn’t want to leave her at all. He wanted to stay in bed with her doing more of what they’d done last night.
She had been as unrestrained in his arms as he’d imagined she could be. Given the way she’d challenged him and how she knew her own mind, he’d suspected that she’d be fiery in bed. His imaginings hadn’t come close to the real thing. His Gwendolyn was spectacular.
And she was also a deep sleeper. He’d already dressed and rummaged in his trunk to find the gift that was now lying beside her. Planning to leave it for her to find, he’d sat it in his place in bed, but he’d been unable to leave her. He wanted to give it to her himself and see her reaction.
Leaning forward again, he ran his fingertips along the satiny-smooth skin of her jaw and over her full lips. She sighed and turned into his touch, so he cupped her cheek and bent down to kiss her awake. He couldn’t get enough. Last night, he’d meant it when he said that today they’d go back to how things were, but he didn’t think he had a hope of not touching her again now that he’d had her.
She responded to his kiss, opening for him and pushing her hand into his hair, picking up where they’d left off last night as they’d fallen asleep.
‘Good morning,’ he whispered.
She jerked awake as if she’d only just realised it was morning and not the middle of the night. They’d awoken a few times just touching and kissing and he even took her once more in the early morning hours. Or perhaps she’d only thought that she’d conjured the kiss in a dream. Either way, she looked at him with a puzzled expression. ‘Vidar.’
He was uncertain of her mood this morning. If she preferred to pretend that the previous night hadn’t happened, then he’d only be able to indulge her so far. They could pretend outside their chamber—he had no intentions of indulging his warriors and their wagers—but in their chamber he couldn’t. Not touching her wasn’t an option for him any longer and he hoped that she felt the same.
‘I have a gift for you,’ he said, nodding towards the small chest.
She hadn’t noticed it, so she looked over at it, sitting up in bed as she did. He greedily took in the sight of her body. She was all lush curves over a frame of lean muscle. She was the perfect combination of soft and firm. He wanted to stroke her silken skin for hours, learning all the places that made her sigh and tremble.
‘What is it?’
‘Open it.’
She very nearly smiled. The corner of her mouth pulled upward before she managed to quell it. ‘But why are you giving it to me?’ She looked over at him then, her blue eyes wide and unfathomable. He found himself mesmerised by them, which was a first for him. He’d never found pleasure simply by looking into a woman’s eyes.
‘It’s the morgengifu.’
‘Isn’t that given on the morning after the wedding?’ she asked and, realising that she was half-exposed to him, she grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to cover her breasts.
‘It’s been yours since the morning after our wedding. But we never spent a typical wedding night. I waited because I hoped that one day we would.’
She blushed and looked back over at the chest. ‘You seem to hold traditions very close to you.’
He grinned. She was talking about the mead they drank every night. Picking up the small chest, he sat it closer to her. ‘Open it.’
The chest itself was walnut and carved with dragons and serpents that symbolically guarded the treasure within. The fastening holding it closed had been dipped in gold. She ran her fingers over it. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘I chose it with the intention of impressing the daughter of Alvey, along with the Lord of Alvey himself.’
She said, ‘I’m impressed.’ But he caught a bit of an undertone of sadness in her voice.
‘You didn’t allow me to finish. I chose it with the intention of impressing someone I hadn’t even met. A faceless wife I knew that I’d be bound to for the rest of my life. I’d filled it with gold, because that was what Eirik had said would be acceptable.’ She was reluctant to open it, so he reached over and flipped the latch free. He stopped short of lifting the lid for her. ‘But then I met you and you became more than a wife to fill the empty space at my side. You intrigued me, and challenged me, and were unlike any other woman I had ever known.’
She met his gaze, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. He didn’t understand why it was suddenly so important to him to know.
‘I knew then that I couldn’t give it to you as an empty gesture on the first morning of the rest of our lives together. I decided to wait until we’d truly joined. Until I felt that you were my wife in every sense. That began on our trip the past sennight. We worked together to better the future of our people.’ His voice lowered as he reached for her hand, which had fallen to the bed. He traced a path over her knuckles, wanting to touch her again. ‘And then last night...’
‘You mean the last night that can be as if it never happened?’ She gave him that smile that challenged him.
He couldn’t help but return her smile as he touched her cheek, craving the silk of her skin. When she rubbed herself against his fingers, his heart nearly tripped over itself. She wanted him still and she was so close to admitting it to herself. ‘Then last night you gave yourself to me and it was so much more than I’d imagined. And, aye, we can pretend out there...’ he tilted his head towards the door ‘...that it didn’t happen. But in here I want us to know that it did.’
She didn’t answ
er him immediately and looked back to the chest instead. When she opened it, she gasped and a surge of pleasure moved through him. She picked up the pieces of jewellery with reverence. He’d filled it with silver and gold chains, amber and ruby broaches, stone bracelets, and strings of pearls. The gold pieces he’d originally included were on the bottom. ‘They’re beautiful, Vidar.’
Pride filled him, along with a sweet satisfaction at hearing her say his name, which didn’t make sense. She’d said his name before, but it was somehow more gratifying to hear it from her lips now. Perhaps because there was no anger behind it. Or perhaps it was because the way she’d cried it out last night was still fresh in his mind. Her eyes lit up as she pulled out the pieces one by one.
He had the strange urge to kiss her, but he held back because there was still a barrier between them and he wasn’t certain how to cross it yet. The only thing he was certain of was that he wanted to cross it. Its existence hadn’t bothered him before, but tumbling it down was all that he wanted.
This marriage had changed him. His wife had changed him. He didn’t know what it meant yet, but he was happy to see where it led.
‘I’ll see you downstairs,’ he said, rising to his feet.
She looked up to watch him go, her face full of questions, but she seemed unable to ask them. He had a feeling she didn’t know how to proceed any more than he did.
Chapter Seventeen
Gwendolyn dressed and went downstairs to find that nothing had changed. The hall was a hive of activity as everyone ate their meal and had their conversations. No one gave her a second look. No one sneered at her. No one jumped up and said ‘Ah, there goes our fair Lady, the one who gave up her principles for a night of pleasure.’ She fought a smile at that last one. No one would say that.
And it had been a night of pleasure. She’d wanted nothing more than to lie in bed and re-imagine it for the entire morning. She’d never wasted a morning in bed in her life, but today it had seemed like a grand idea. That’s what had motivated her to finally leave her bed. Aye, she’d given in to Vidar last night. For better or for worse, she couldn’t change that now, but she would not allow him to change her. Her habit had always been to break her fast and then head out to the sparring field. It would be that way today. And if she was a little tender between her thighs, then she’d simply keep busy to keep from thinking of it.
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