“But shouldn’t we leave York while they’re in town?” Their course seemed clear to Lucy. “As long as they’re not lying in wait for us upon the road—”
Alex laughed aloud. ’Twas the first time Lucy had seen his face aglow with mirth, and it warmed her even though she did not understand its cause. She thought there was some urgency to getting the Mandylion to its destination.
“I had the same thought.”
“Then why are we not leaving? We can be—”
His hands closed around her upper arms and his mouth came down on hers, silencing her, melting her with his heat.
He pulled away slightly. “The journey can wait.” His voice was deep and quiet. “This cannot.”
His hands slid behind her back and he pulled her close, even as he deepened the pressure of his mouth on hers. If Lucy was melting before, she ignited when his hands moved ever lower, pressing her hips to his. A soft groan slipped from her throat. He teased her lips apart with his tongue and she opened to him.
Sensation coursed through Lucy and she felt as if she were floating. Alex’s tongue danced wickedly, enticingly with hers, and she felt his hand move to the back of her head. He cupped her cheek, then moved to her throat and down the bodice of her gown.
When his hand closed over her breast, Lucy gasped, breaking their kiss. Immersed in the intensity of his touch, she hardly heard him when he spoke.
“Is there a bed somewhere?” His voice was a low rasp that resonated through her body.
“In back, I think,” she said, “past the curtain.”
Alex took the lamp in one hand and kept his other arm around Lucy as they sought the priest’s bedchamber. She took no notice of her surroundings, but after finding the small room with its narrow bed and rough wooden trunk, turned her attention to Alex. She slipped her hands to the back of his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair. This was what she wanted—warmth and intimacy, a chance to show him what he meant to her.
He made a sound of approval that was cut short when Lucy raised herself on to her toes to kiss him again. She felt the muscles in his shoulders and arms tighten as he put his arms ’round her again, and she felt his strength envelop her.
A pleasant heaviness swirled in the lower part of Lucy’s body and she pressed against Alex to increase the lovely tension growing there. His chest was broad and hard, his abdomen unyielding. When she felt his hands moving at her shoulders, she realized he was loosening her sleeves, removing her bodice.
She shivered with anticipation when her gown dropped to the floor.
And then he touched her naked breasts.
A heated flush spread from her nipples to her neck, then to her cheeks. She broke the kiss to catch her breath.
“Ah, Lucy,” he breathed in her ear. She felt his mouth move down to her jaw, her neck. Her skin, already warm, turned fiery when his mouth reached the tip of one breast and he pulled it into his mouth.
She took his head in her hands and held him in place while he stroked her nipple with his tongue. A soft groan sounded in the room and Lucy did not know if ’twas she or Alex who’d made it.
When he moved to treat her other breast to the same tender attention as the first, Lucy felt as if her bones had turned to dust. Before her knees gave out from under her, Alex lifted her into his arms and carried her the few steps to the bed. He lay her gently upon the simple quilt and jerked his tunic and linen shirt over his head before coming down to her.
Reaching for him, she breathed his name. Her breasts brushed against the mat of hair on his chest when he hovered over her. She encircled his neck with her arms, then slid her hands across the taut skin of his broad shoulders and down his back. Alex shuddered and tipped his head down to meet her lips in a fierce encounter of tongues and teeth.
He filled Lucy’s senses completely. Alex’s hand touched her knee, then moved upward. She felt no shyness, no shame when his fingers reached the part of her that ached for his touch.
She opened to him. Body, heart, and soul.
“You are so soft….” His whisper penetrated the sensual haze that surrounded her and she responded with quiet, inarticulate sounds that seemed to inflame him even more.
He continued to kiss her as he shifted his position, placing his body in intimate contact with hers. When he moved again, Lucy felt him press against her, his flesh as naked as her own.
“Alex?” Her voice, soft as a whisper, was full of emotion, her body full of yearning. She needed him….
“Don’t be afraid.”
“I could never— Oh!”
He moved quickly. A burning pain lasted only a second and Alex held perfectly still within her.
As the pain subsided, Lucy was certain there must be more. Sensing that he awaited her acceptance, she moved her hips, taking him deeper. Alex made a low sound in his throat and braced himself over her. Slowly, he began to move with tight, deliberate strokes.
Lucy matched his rhythm, digging her fingers into the thick muscles of his upper arms, her body aching for something she could not name. She began to move faster, and Alex coaxed her legs around his waist. When he slid a hand down between them and touched her intimately, Lucy was plunged into a maelstrom of sensation, like naught she’d ever known before. She cried out with the pleasure, cupping Alex’s face in her hands.
And as he drove into her one last time, shuddering with his own completion, Lucy brought his face down to hers and melded her lips with his.
Chapter Seventeen
The lamp cast a flickering light into the room while rain pelted the windows.
Alex gathered Lucy into his arms and held her as they lay together weakly, and vainly tried to force himself to think about the task that had brought him to England, and not the raw, mind-numbing pleasure he had just experienced with Lucy.
His wife.
He watched her eyes flutter closed, her thick lashes resting like golden half moons on her cheeks. Her lips, lush and giving, were parted in sleep, and Alex saw that the pulse in her throat had slowed to normal. He wondered if his own had.
His body still hummed with the intensity of their lovemaking. That should not have been unexpected, he supposed. He’d been without a woman for several years. That alone had made the experience with Lucy beyond memorable. So there was no point in making more of it than it was. Marital relations would certainly become calmer after this.
Lucy’s lower body nestled into him. She slipped one arm across his middle and her breasts pressed against his side. He pulled the blanket over them and lowered his face to her hair while his body became immediately aroused again.
’Twas too soon to take her again. Besides, she had just fallen asleep. Alex could not imagine any woman who would care to be awakened so that her husband could make love to her. Again.
He’d been careful of her new bruises, though she had not seemed to mind their vigorous lovemaking. Nay, she’d been as enthusiastic and giving as he could have wished. She had responded to every kiss, every caress, as if starving for him. She made him feel alive.
His demand to be wed by Father Massey…Alex could not say what had come over him. But the thought of leaving Lucy at Eryngton had become every bit as abhorrent as leaving her in York. He could not do it.
He could hardly accept what he’d done, either.
What of his commitment to Cluny? What of his intentions to become a monk? And Isabella… His grief over the loss of his wife and child had changed. Since meeting Lucy, his memories of Isabella and Geoffrey were more tender than sad. He could think of them without pain, and remember the life and love they’d shared.
Though he doubted he’d ever feel the same about another woman, some bright part of Alex that had been deeply buried had begun to emerge. And Lucy was the cause.
Yet he did not think he could be a husband to her. His course had been set too long ago to change now. He could not return to Clyfton House with a wife in Isabella’s stead. ’Twould be a betrayal of all he’d shared with her.
Nay, he
would set aside funds for Lucy’s keeping. He’d find her a house in York if she wanted to stay here, or mayhap there would be a comfortable cottage closer to Clyfton, where Philip could see to her well-being. Alex would see that she had servants so that she would never have to work her hands raw, or strain her weak hip.
A cold finality seeped into his soul as he mentally arranged things, and Alex wondered if ’twould actually be possible for him to leave her. When her hand shifted and came to rest over his heart, he placed his own atop it.
She made a small sound and turned her head to look at him. Her eyelids were heavy with sleep, but she smiled softly. Alex found himself bringing her hand to his lips for a kiss.
’Twas not at all what he intended, but while he did it, Lucy pressed her lips to his chest. She kissed him again, her mouth touching one of his nipples. He groaned, but she did not stop.
If she had, he would have begged her to continue.
Turning to lie upon him, she straddled his leg and pressed her breasts to his belly while she teased his nipples in turn, just as he had done hers. She’d learned well, for Alex was fully aroused instantly.
“You have so much hair, Sir Knight,” she whispered. “’Tis thick on your arms…your chest….”
She rubbed her nose against it and trailed her tongue down his breastbone to the center of his abdomen. He shuddered with anticipation but she stopped.
“I would touch you…” she said breathlessly, “as you touched me….”
“Aye.” He took her hand and guided it to his most sensitive place and squeezed his eyes closed at her gentle touch.
Her shuddering breath was warm on his abdomen when her hand encircled him. “Teach me to please you,” she whispered, “to give you the same pleasure you gave me.”
“Ah…” He could hardly speak. “Just…continue…what you are doing….”
Lucy slid farther down in the bed and when her breasts grazed his thighs, Alex nearly came out of his skin. She stroked him tentatively at first, but her touch quickly became bolder. Her fingers learned how and where to apply pressure but when he groaned, she stopped abruptly. “Did I hurt you?”
Alex could not reply. Instead, he guided her hand back to where it had been and encouraged her to resume what she’d been doing. ’Twas as if she knew exactly what he needed, what he craved. “You are so smooth…yet so hard.”
He groaned. His blood pounded in his ears and his entire body clenched.
With one swift move he shifted their positions until she was beneath him and he was poised to enter her. He’d been quick and forceful the first time to minimize her discomfort. This time, he planned to go slowly and torturously, to maximize her pleasure.
“Oh!” She put her hands on his buttocks to try to pull him in, but he kept his control. Somehow.
Lamplight flickered across her features. Their eyes met as Alex braced his arms on either side of her head and finally plunged.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
He looked down and saw her full lips slightly parted. A deep rose hue painted her cheeks, and her brows were raised in anticipation. She was so beautiful his heart tightened in his chest and he could do naught but what she requested.
He kissed her.
Their mouths met, their tongues coming together in a mating dance that echoed the movement of their bodies. She gave so generously, Alex did not know if he could ever get enough of her. Certainly one night would not be enough.
He savored every sensation: her softness, her shy sensuality, her eager response to his touch. She was more passionate than any woman he’d ever known, more fiery than he could ever have imagined.
When the movements of her lower body became frenzied, Alex knew she was close to reaching her peak. She held his hips in her hands and bucked against him, her muscles suddenly tightening around him. She tore her mouth from his and cried out.
Alex could hold out no longer. He lunged and surged within her, his pleasure cresting in mind-numbing pulsations that went on endlessly. ’Twas almost as if their first encounter had never occurred.
But it had. The sweet innocence of their first time was etched upon his mind, his heart, forever.
He felt her heart beat against his chest and realized that he was crushing her with his weight. He pushed up onto his arms again, but was not ready to leave her. He kept them joined.
Lucy took a quivering breath and her muscles clenched around him again, sending waves of pleasure through him.
“Are you all right?” he asked when he could breathe again. He’d been more forceful than he’d intended, and he frowned with concern that he may have hurt her.
Lucy nodded bashfully, her eyes skittering away from his. Gently, he took her chin in his hand. “What is it, Lucy? What’s amiss?”
She bit her lower lip. “I should not have… I forgot myself, Alex and I—”
“Could not have pleased me more, if that is your worry.”
A deep breath escaped her. “I…” She swallowed. “When we’re joined this way…’tis the most wondrous thing I’ve ever known. Does it…is it always this way?”
Her question was innocent enough, and Alex could do naught but answer her honestly. “Nay,” he whispered. “’Tis rarely so uncommon.”
Alex had never had reason to believe Isabella hadn’t enjoyed their trysts in their bedchamber. Yet his experiences with his late wife did not compare to what he’d just felt with Lucy.
He moved aside and she turned to curl into him. He did not want to feel anything toward Lucy. He did not want to relive the overpowering sensations of joy and satisfaction that he had just experienced with her, the sensations that had been banished from his existence during these long, solitary years.
Lucy awoke alone.
The curtain was drawn so she could not see into the rest of the cottage, but she could hear no movement on the other side and sensed that she was alone.
She did not know where Alex was.
Quickly, she washed and dressed, then pushed back the curtain to find that the fire had been built up recently. Alex’s packs were next to the door, but his sword and the scabbard were gone.
Still, she did not think he’d gone far.
The pottage she’d cooked the night before was still in the pot, lying near the fire. Lucy stirred it and put it back in to cook, then went to each of the windows to look outside.
’Twas still raining, and there was no sign of him.
Lucy pulled her shawl around her shoulders and sat down on a stool by the fire. She was glad for a few moments to herself, to reflect on all that had happened since leaving Saint George’s Inn.
Though she did not understand why Alex had made her his wife, she was certainly glad he did—and that he’d returned to her yesterday. Though they had made love twice last night, and again before dawn, Lucy still did not know what was in his heart, or what he planned for them.
She got up to stir the pottage and decided that this would be her choice. She’d seen Lady Elsbeth banished to the nunnery when she had not pleased her husband, and the misery she’d suffered for months afterward. Lucy was not going to succumb to the same fate. She was going to do whatever was necessary to stay with him.
Mayhap if Elsbeth had used some of her experience in the bedchamber with her husband, she would still have been with him rather than with the Craghaven nuns. Lucy remembered every word of Elsbeth’s tales…and ’twould be her pleasure to experience everything the lady had spoken of…with Alex.
“’Tis still raining,” Alex said, pushing open the cottage door. “And there is no sign of the black knights anywhere in town.”
He pulled off his long, dark cloak and spread it out by the fire while Lucy wondered if he would offer her a husbandly kiss. When he did not, she decided to go to him.
“Good morn, husband,” she said, placing her hands upon his shoulders. She rose up on her toes and pulled him down, enabling her to reach his lips with hers. Lucy gave him the kind of kiss she’d learned during the night, one that
she hoped blistered his soul as much as it seared hers.
A moment later, Alex pulled her into his arms and returned her kiss with the kind of ardor he’d shown her last night.
His eyes were unfocused when he finally drew back. “I missed you in our bed,” she whispered as his thumbs grazed the lower part of her breasts. She slipped away from him. “’Tis time to break our fast.”
Lucy took the cookpot from the fire, then ladled the soup into two bowls. She handed one to Alex, who still remained silent after their kiss.
“Shall we leave after the meal?” she asked.
Alex sat down across from her. He shook his head. “I think we’re safe to stay here another day. Massey won’t travel in this rain, so he won’t be back. And Skelton’s men will spend another day at the tavern wondering where to look for me.”
He warmed his hands by cupping the bowl. They were large and the skin rough, but they’d been naught but gentle with her. A shiver ran through her when she remembered some of the things those hands had done, and when she thought of the way they might spend the day.
There was only one way in which Alex wanted to spend the day. But there were good reasons why he should not. Instead, he turned away from Lucy and opened the shutters that faced the street. “If Skelton’s men ride toward the northern gate, we’ll see them,” he said.
“Will you watch the road all day?” she asked. She wore the second gown that had been altered for her. ’Twas a bright russet with gold trim that suited her fair coloring perfectly. The neckline left her delicate neck and shoulders bare, and hinted at the fullness of her breasts. Her hair was loose, flowing in soft, golden waves to her waist. Without thinking, Alex could almost feel it brush across his belly as it had in the night.
“I think we’ll be able to hear anyone riding past,” he said when he was able to find his voice.
“Will we leave here when it stops raining?”
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