After the Kiss

by Karen Ranney

  He had taken the precaution of destroying all his cipher worksheets, especially those relating to the most recent codes he’d solved. His memory would furnish the details he needed.

  He had limited his activities, preferring instead to stay at Margaret’s side. Guarding her had become of paramount importance.

  But there was nothing about Margaret’s life that could not be closely examined. She had lived circumspectly, an almost cloistered existence. Until, of course, she’d stood upon a darkened terrace one night months ago.

  Her only secret had been a curiosity easily confessed. It felt exceedingly daring to read Augustin’s words at the time.

  He opened the drawer where he’d left the notes he’d transcribed upon reading one of the books. He began to read the Journals again. Without being drawn into Augustine X’s words, he completed his annotations, flipping from the beginning of the book to its end until he’d written down all the margin notes.

  His eyes scanned the column of numbers and letters, noticing a pattern. A code? It may be nothing. The volumes could simply be used as printer’s proofs; the marks meant for the binder.

  Then again, books were often used to transmit coded messages. Normally the method utilized was to underline selected words in a passage. Placed together they formed sentences. Not altogether a secure system of encipherment.

  But perhaps he had been too hasty after all. He began to work, finding himself immersed in the possibilities before him.

  Chapter 31

  The greatest mystery is that of

  a woman’s smile.

  The Journals of Augustin X

  Because of her bandage and the soreness of her arm, Margaret required help in dressing and undressing. Michael had served as her maid, doing so with a rather forbidding scowl, and then absenting himself from the room until she was asleep.

  Tonight he was evidently intent upon doing the same. She sat on the side of the bed and studied him.

  She was filled with a particularly languorous feeling, one that had the oddest effect of making her fingertips tingle. All because of him, of course. His frowns amused her, while his smiles had the ability to alter even her heart, seeming to stop it for a beat or two before it raced to catch up.

  He was a man of intelligence and logic and tumultuous emotion, for all that he tamped it down. A being capable of great tenderness, protectiveness, and the granting of exquisite physical pleasure. Now he stood looking at her with solemn blue eyes that measured the silent moments between them.

  Hers. Once before she’d had the thought. But then she’d only borrowed him. Now he was hers for a lifetime.

  “Is it true that they call you the Code Master?”

  “Where did you hear that?” he asked sardonically.

  “Elizabeth, I believe. Or perhaps Smytheton. Both are very impressed by your consequence,” she teased. “They tiptoe past your library door in case they disturb you, and talk about you in a hushed voice.”

  “Everyone does,” he said amicably. “I’m quite an ogre.” He walked slowly toward her. “Everyone but you, of course.

  “Did you know there was a code in the Journals?” he asked, threading his fingers through her recently brushed hair.

  “No,” she said, turning. “Is there really? What does it say?”

  “I haven’t the slightest idea,” he admitted. “I’ve just begun to sort it out.”

  “Should I feel pleased that you’ve broken your concentration to help me undress? Or is that why you’ve come?”

  “Unless you choose to wear your dress to bed,” he said.

  “And then you’ll go work in your library until I’m asleep? Again?” she asked, studying him.

  One of his brows rose imperiously.

  “I was shot in the arm, Michael,” she said. “You mustn’t think I’m all that delicate.”

  “Else you will tell me of the roof you thatched and the bricks you mended?” He smiled.

  “I truly am better, and it has been more than a week. I’ve missed you,” she said. There, a hint and an invitation in one.

  She didn’t need that much cosseting.

  For a moment they simply looked at each other.

  She stood and closed the distance between them.

  “You have a dangerous mouth, Margaret,” he said, bending his head to kiss her. Softly at first, then deepening the kiss until she saw only darkness behind her closed lids. She leaned into him, wanting to be touched. To be held by him. More kisses, please. A day’s worth. A week. A lifetime.

  He pulled back finally, his breathing as harsh as hers. They leaned against each other. For support, she thought, smiling.

  She could remain this way for the rest of her life. Enthralled by this man. First he’d captivated her curiosity, then her body. Now her mind, her heart, and perhaps her very soul.

  He slowly withdrew something from his waistcoat, held it up for her to see. She smiled as she realized exactly what it was. A long length of pink ribbon.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “I took it from the modiste’s supplies,” he said, coming to her. He wound the ribbon behind her neck and around her throat. “But do not think me a thief,” he said. “I had Smytheton pay her for it.”

  “You’ve had it all this time?”

  “I keep it with me always.”

  “Waiting, perhaps, for the propitious moment?” she teased.

  He moved his hands behind her back and with great deliberation opened the first three buttons of her dress. The gaping bodice allowed him to press his lips against her collarbone, the curve of her shoulders.

  He gently helped her off with her dress, his eyes narrowing as he viewed her bandage. He bent his head and kissed the edge of it just as he did every night.

  He did not, however, remove her shift. He simply grabbed it at the hemline, began to tear it. Her hands reached out and rested on his wrists.

  “I will buy you another one,” he said.

  “You said we should practice economies,” she said softly, her voice tinged with humor.

  “I’m too impatient,” he said. “Besides, I think our fortunes can survive a shift,” he said. He continued to tear the garment until it parted at her neckline.

  Naked, except for her bandage, she stood in front of him. He gently pressed his palm against her bare breast.

  “The sight of my hand against your skin arouses you, doesn’t it?”

  She nodded. She felt as if she could barely breathe.

  The back of his fingers slid along the tip of her nipple. Her breasts were extremely sensitive lately, so much so that even that smallest movement was enough to make her gasp. His fingers imprisoned the nipple gently, elongating it. His other hand wound the length of ribbon midway around the fullness of her breast.

  His gaze was intent upon her face. Knowing exactly what she felt. Aware, always, of her response to his touch.

  He pulled on the ribbon gently with both hands, sliding the satin along her flesh slowly until he reached the tip. The gentle friction against her engorged nipple was an exquisite delight. Back and forth, slowly and delicately, until she caught her bottom lip with her teeth, trapping a moan between her lips.

  “Which of your breasts is more sensitive, I wonder?”

  He moved the ribbon, repeated the gentle torture.

  “Both,” she murmured slightly.

  “Are you certain?” he asked. “We can try it again.”

  “I’m certain,” she whispered.

  So, it was to be seduction again. Overpowering and enervating. Fire traveled through her at the thought of it. Anticipation laced with desire.

  Always for him.

  “Kiss me, Michael,” she said.

  “No,” he said. “Your kisses are too intoxicating.”

  “Please.” A pretense of a pout.

  “Later.”

  “Now.”

  “No,” he said, a light of wickedness in his eyes and enchantingly talented fingers.

  “Another ques
tion, then,” he said, leaning close to her. She could feel his breath on her cheek, his inquisition one spoken only between lovers. “Do you like my lips on your breasts, Margaret? Or my fingers? Which brings you more pleasure?”

  “Both,” she said again, smiling slightly.

  “You can’t have both right now,” he said, pulling back. “You must choose.”

  “Your lips.”

  “You want my mouth on you?” he asked softly.

  She nodded. The heat in her body was increasing.

  “Show me.”

  She pulled the ribbon free, handing it to him silently. She lifted her breast, then reached up and hooked her other hand behind his neck, pulled him down to her. “Here,” she said, lifting her breast up for his anointing tongue. She felt fierce and demanding in passion.

  “Valkyrie,” he said, and placed his mouth on her.

  Her hand kept him in place, the sweet and gentle suction too much a sensation. A moment of exquisite delight. She closed her eyes in order to savor it and him.

  Long moments later, he pulled back.

  “Is that what you wanted?” he asked.

  “Yes. It’s been so long,” she sighed.

  “Only days,” he said, stroking his finger from the center of her breasts to her throat.

  “Eons,” she argued.

  “An eternity?”

  “Yes.”

  His thumb gently stroked over a nipple.

  “You’re trembling,” he said.

  “Yes.” It seemed to be all she could say.

  He bent and carried her to the bed. She really should protest, but his mouth was too close to hers. She kissed him instead. First, a short darting touch of the tip of her tongue. But then, he pressed his hand to the back of her head and held her there, deepened the kiss.

  When she pulled back, he pressed his lips against her throat as if he wished to measure the pulse of her heart.

  He lowered her to the bed, stood beside it looking down at her.

  She wanted to be beautiful for him. His eyes answered her wish, made her feel like a goddess.

  He removed his own clothes, smiling at the intensity of her study.

  He moved around the bed and lay beside her. Only then did he reach for her again, pulling her atop him. She spread her legs until she straddled him, understanding immediately that he didn’t want to hurt her shoulder.

  “I’ve never done this before,” she said helplessly.

  “It is not that difficult. I shall volunteer to serve as your tutor,” he teased.

  He moved his hands, one resting on her buttock, the other against her stomach. Another sensation, strange and carnal and certainly wicked made her open her eyes and stare at him.

  He grinned at her, the expression in his eyes intent.

  In each hand he held the end of the ribbon. He had wound it between them. She felt it being pulled, slowly between her legs. It was blissfully decadent, almost too intense a feeling.

  “Retaliation?” she asked, finding it difficult to speak.

  “I do not like to think that I allow a debt to go unpaid.” Another long stroke.

  “Is that what it was, a debt?”

  “A most glorious one. The memory of it will fuel my dreams for my lifetime.”

  He pulled the ribbon so that his fingers were against her intimate curls. His fingers stroked along its path, tucked it among soft and swollen folds. Gently. Tenderly.

  “Do you think we can die of this?”

  “Pleasure or each other?”

  “Either or both.” Her lashes were too heavy. She let her lids flutter shut. His hands, those talented, wonderful hands, continued to slowly pull on the ribbon, tease her with his touch.

  He lifted her slowly, wound the ribbon once around himself, and then entered her slowly. A wanton, that’s what she was. A wanton wife. She bent and murmured the words against his lips, feeling him smile in response.

  He pushed her back so that she sat upright on him, the feeling of being so completely filled almost too much to bear. He pressed the heels of his feet on the bed and surged upward into her then shockingly pulled on the ribbon again. The sensation was almost unbearable.

  “I cannot touch your breasts if I continue with this,” he said. “Do you wish me to stop?”

  “Indeed no,” she said. A very proper response. One couched in the most decorous of phrases. In fact, she was adrift in a sensation of pure sensuality. Totally and beautifully sublime. Feeling. Nothing but feeling. And around it, holding her safe, was the image of him. His slight smile, the intensity of his eyes.

  “Your breasts are lovely,” he said, his voice husky. “I would like to kiss them.”

  She opened her eyes, her gaze on his face. He seemed imbued in a soft haze, as if the pleasure she felt colored even the sight of him.

  “Would you?”

  “Yes,” he said, and licked his lips.

  She looked down at herself. Her nipples had drawn up, the areolas puckered. She placed one hand beneath each breast. “Do you think them too large?”

  “No,” he said, smiling. “I have noted, however, that your nipples are…arrogant.”

  He smiled and gently pulled on the ribbon. A sharp and exquisite sensation traveled through her, harnessing her breath, holding her quiescent. She closed her eyes at the sensation and trapped a moan with her teeth.

  “Very arrogant,” he said, leisurely.

  She blinked open her eyes. “Perhaps I am learning to be a countess after all,” she murmured.

  His face was flushed, his eyes glittered at her. “My countess,” he said.

  She bent forward, raised herself to him. His mouth closed over a nipple and he began gently to suck.

  His hands gripped her hips, began to push her down on him, establishing a rhythm. It seemed as if there was too much pleasure, all of it originating with him. More. Please. More.

  He pulled back, his lips wet and hot as he pressed her forward and kissed her. A soft moan emerged from her lips, was captured in his kiss.

  “Margaret.” Her name was an odd and enchanting refrain. An urging to bliss, completion. And finally paradise.

  Chapter 32

  Anticipation is to the art of love

  what amusement is to the soul.

  The Journals of Augustin X

  Michael glanced at the letter from his solicitor. An offer had been made for Torrent, one surprisingly generous.

  He glanced over at Margaret seated on the divan reading. She had been so quiet in the last hour that he had forgotten she was in the library at all. She was attired in another of her new dresses, a deep blue frock with a matching scarf wound around her neck and under her wrist to support her injured shoulder. He smiled at the sight of her, her cheek pressed against the side of the couch, her eyes shut. Napping again.

  Tenderness surged through him at the sight of her.

  He stood and went to her, scooping her up into his arms before she could wake. She nodded at him sleepily. “You’re carrying me again.”

  “I am,” he admitted. “To our bedroom,” he added.

  “To have your wicked way with me?” She almost purred the question.

  “No. For you to nap,” he said, still smiling.

  “I’m forever sleeping.”

  “Yes, you are,” he agreed. “But then, it’s for a good cause.” He had grown accustomed to the idea of becoming a father. So much so that he was alternately enthralled and terrified at the prospect.

  He tucked her into bed and kissed her lightly. She smiled, turned, and curved into the pillow at her side. She was asleep again before he left the room.

  Returning to his library, he stared out at the fog-shrouded view from his library. The garden was obscured by an unusual afternoon mist. Fog was more prevalent in autumn or winter, rarely so in summer.

  He moved back to his desk, forcing himself to work on the Augustin code. His mood was oddly somber this afternoon, the reluctance he felt unlike him.

  He sat, opened the book
and took out his notes.

  Key codes were nothing more than language, albeit rendered more obscure and therefore more difficult to learn. All that was required to read this specialized code was a translation key, one of repetition, symbolism, or pattern. Perhaps the keyword in the Augustin Journals was separate for each chapter, which would explain the differing notations on each heading.

  He opened the book to the first chapter. The margin notes were b 2 3. He selected the second paragraph, located two words beginning with the letter “b.” The third letter in each word was an “o.”

  He sat back, stared at his annotations.

  “She is recuperating, Mama. It is not the time for visitors.” Elizabeth’s voice.

  He turned his head toward the door, jerked out of his concentration by the interruption. He stood, irritated by his mother’s effrontery.

  “I mean to have my say with this chit, Elizabeth. Get out of my way.”

  “Michael will not be pleased,” Elizabeth said.

  “She’s right,” he announced, opening the door and glaring at them. His mother was halfway up the stairs, his sisters trailing behind her.

  “My wife is not receiving,” he said curtly.

  “I tried to stop her, Michael,” Elizabeth said helplessly.

  One quick nod was his only response. He knew only too well what his mother was like when she was set upon a certain course of action.

  “I’m afraid I must end this visit,” he said calmly, surveying his mother and sisters. “And insist that you not return in the future unless you are specifically invited.”

  His quick nod at Elizabeth rescinded that order for her. She smiled lightly, obviously relieved, and began to walk down the stairs.

  “Is it true that you’re selling Torrent?” his mother demanded, frowning down at him.

  “And Haversham. We cannot afford them.”

  “We could have kept all our properties if you’d married an heiress,” she countered. “Instead, you married your whore.”

  He strode across the foyer, enraged.

  “My wife will not now, nor ever, be called that word,” he said, his voice echoing through the rotunda. “Nor addressed in that tone.”

  “Are you even certain the child is yours?” His mother’s face was mottled with color, her lips nearly bloodless with anger.