“That is going to be a very spoiled dog,” Bened said.
She grinned. “I know but I hope to make her a very well-trained dog, too.”
“I think she is very well behaved now. She has been calmly toted about for days and miles on end, in a basket, tied to a saddle. She also stays close to you, no running off when she is out of that basket. But then she would never do that.”
“Why do you say she would never do that?”
“That dog will be your shadow, Rose, for the rest of her sadly short life. She will be, and stay, wherever you are.” Seeing her frown and the hint of confusion in her expressive eyes, he patted her hand. “Boudicca is your dog until old age takes her away. Yours was the hand that pulled her out of the water.”
Primrose looked at the little dog and smiled. “I did intend to keep her even then so ’tis a good thing.”
They idly discussed ideas for what they needed to get done in the manor while Bened had the maids return to clean away the last of the meal. The moment the maids left, Primrose became nervous, no matter how foolish she told herself it was. They had been lovers before they were married so she certainly knew what was about to happen. Neither had they been celibate in the days since they married and then traveled to the manor. When he took her hand in his and tugged her to her feet, she decided she was wrong. It was different. It was their first night together, as husband and wife, in the home they would share from this day onward.
“It was a lovely meal,” she said, and stretched up to brush her mouth over his.
“I wished to make our first night here, in this room, in this house, as special as I could.”
“And you succeeded.”
“Do you know what I thought when I first saw you?” he asked, touching a kiss to her forehead as he began to undo her gown.
“That I was a lackwit for searching so hard for a horse that was standing mere feet away?” She trembled as he ran his fingers up and down her back, the tempting warmth of his touch penetrating her linen chemise and sinking into her blood.
“Nay, I thought you were adorable.”
Stepping free of the gown now tangled around her feet, she frowned at him. “Adorable? A woman standing before a man in her shift truly does not wish to be thought of as adorable, Bened.”
He laughed. “If you had been standing before me like this on that day, adorable would not have been the first word to come to mind. Nay, it would have been mine.”
She smiled as he picked her up and carried her to the bed, seating her on the edge. When he knelt at her feet to tug off her shoes, she stroked her hands over his hair and untied the leather strip that held the thick length of hair off his face. Primrose combed her fingers through it, amazed at how soft it felt.
The feel of his hands moving up her leg distracted her from her enjoyment of his hair. He untied the ribbons holding her stocking in place and slowly removed it in a way that was as much a caress as if he was using his hands against her skin. By the time he removed the second stocking she was trembling, astonished by how such an ordinary action could so deeply stir her desires. When he began to kiss his way up her leg, she offered no shy resistance, eager for what she suspected he was about to do. The first touch of his lips in the intimate kiss she had been anticipating almost pushed her over the edge.
As her body weakened from the strength of the passion roaring through her, she fell back onto the bed. Bened took full advantage of her surrender and Primrose lost all ability to even think of how brazen she was being. Then she knew she was close to the edge and called out his name but he ignored her, taking her to the heights with just his clever mouth. She was still sprawled on the bed trying to catch her breath when he stood up and began to shed his clothing.
One thing Primrose had never expected was that she would so enjoy looking at a naked man. But Bened was a pleasure to see in all his glory. Tall and strong, taut swarthy skin stretched over firm muscle. The small triangle of black curls on his chest and the line of hair leading down to his impressive erection. She idly thought that she needed to find a better name for that as it sounded a bit odd. His legs were long and strong as were his arms and she loved to feel all that strength against her, loved to wrap herself around it. It was not even the fact that she had the comforting knowledge of a strong man at her side as much as it was the look and feel of him. When he got on the bed and tugged off her shift she was quick to get as close to him as possible, soaking in his warmth.
Thinking to give him at least a little of the pleasure he had given her, she began to kiss her way down his body. The way he tensed and the faint tremor that went through him told her he liked it. Then she kissed the tip of his erection and he groaned. Chancing a peek at him, she blushed as she caught him watching her but the look in his beautiful eyes encouraged her to be even more daring and she slowly ran her tongue up his length. He buried his fingers in her hair and she decided to keep teasing him, exploring him thoroughly with her tongue and fingers.
“Take me into your mouth, love,” he whispered.
Primrose thought about that for just a moment and then did as he asked, finding new ways to drive him mad if the sounds he was making were any indication. Then he grabbed her under the arms, pulled her away, and tugged her up his body. Before she finished the thought that she had done something wrong, he joined their bodies. She sat on top of him for a moment, still somewhat dazed from pleasuring him, and then he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her, then slowly brought her back down on him. He did it twice more before she felt brave enough to do it on her own. He leaned up to kiss her breasts and she lost herself completely in the lovemaking and the delight they could give each other, until the fire flared and swept through her. He held her tight against him as he thrust inside her several more times and joined her in her release.
Primrose toyed with the curls on his chest and worked hard to convince herself that she had nothing to be embarrassed about, but total abandon, even in her husband’s arms, was not easy to forget. The way he was gently stroking her back told her he was content and she decided that was all that mattered. Yet, when he set her aside and went through the ritual of cleaning them both off, she could feel the annoying heat of a blush on her cheeks.
Bened grinned as he crawled back into bed and pulled his wife into his arms. Once her desire was stirred, Primrose could be a wild delight in a man’s arms, but once those flames cooled she tended to worry that she had gone too far. He suspected it would take awhile before he could convince her that her husband wanted her to get a little untamed anytime she wanted to.
“I did not forget to give you a wedding present, you know,” she said, lightly nuzzling his neck.
“You did not have to get me anything.”
“Well, I suppose one might say I did not actually get this but was given this.”
Primrose wondered exactly how to tell him she was with child. She knew he would be pleased but she did not wish to shock him or make him become too overprotective. They had a home to make together and she did not want him denying her the chance to help in that just because she carried a child, his child.
“Is it some sort of family heirloom or the like?”
“No.” She rested her arms on his chest and looked at him. “I was going to be so clever and slip in the information in some clever way but cleverness is failing me right now.”
“Then just be blunt. I rather like blunt.”
“Your wedding gift from me is that I am with child.”
His eyes went so wide and he stopped breathing for a moment. Primrose looked at him in alarm but he did not look angry. Then he began to smile, a broad smile so joyous that she could not stop her own smile from forming.
Bened slipped his hand over her flat stomach. “You carry my child. Our child. You could give me no greater gift. Rwy’n caru ti, my rose.” He took her face between his hands and kissed her on both cheeks.
“What did that mean?” The feeling that had been behind the words had stirred her almost to t
ears and she had to know.
“I love you.” He brushed a kiss over her lips and then held her close. “When did you know?”
“When I was being forced to marry the swine Edgar and my aunt tried to stab me and was shot for her troubles.” She watched him slowly pale and he pressed his hand down a little harder on her belly. “All is well, Bened.”
“Were you planning to tell me?”
“Not if you did not wish to stay with me or just stay together, not until you made some decision about it all. I did not wish to be a woman married for what sat in her womb and little else.”
He stroked her hair. “It would never have been that but it was probably wise not to immediately run to me and tell me. I probably would have put my foot in it, said or done something Lilybet calls male idiocy.” He smiled when she laughed. “It was best to wait until I knew what I wanted. Just one thing, I always wanted you but I had the arrogance to think I could decide what was best for you and did not think it should be me.”
“Yes, Lilybet is right. Men can be idiots.” She rested her cheek against his chest. “Simeon is going to have so much trouble with her.”
“Ah, so you saw that too.”
“I have no idea what I was seeing. It could be the rough seeding of a romance, or a true love or of just a truly fine and lasting friendship. That is up to them but she does know very well how to prod Simeon to a temper.”
“Are you content with the child coming so soon?”
“Yes, as long as you do not try to build some huge protective wall around me. I want to help build the nest for our baby. I may not be a healer like the ones you know, but I do know a great deal about healing and since I showed a knack for it while still very young, I also know all about childbirth and the carrying of a child, the good for you and the bad for you. I will be fine but if you start smothering me with watchfulness and protection I will get cross.”
He laughed but was smart enough not to promise anything. “My mother will be pleased.”
“She already has a great many grandchildren.”
“‘Never too many’ is her favorite saying. And if we have a daughter . . .” He laughed and shook his head. “Mother and all the other women in the family will be more than pleased.”
“Which do you want, Bened?”
“I just want our child to be healthy, to live.”
She nodded, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “So do I but I always thought men wanted an heir and since you are now a titled gentleman, I wondered if you had thought on that.”
“I have a great many nephews. Not a direct line to me but one any court in the land would accept.” He gently rolled her onto her back and kissed her belly. “You will soon get round here, our child growing inside you. I will love watching it.”
“I believe talking about how round a woman gets when carrying a child . . .”
“Might be one of those things that will cause me a few bruises?” he teased.
“At the very least.” She murmured with pleasure and burrowed her fingers deep into his thick hair when he began to tease her breasts with soft kisses and long strokes of his tongue.
“I will try to recall that. Lilybet knew.”
“Of course she did. She was touching me when Edgar hit me and I fell. She later assured me that all was fine. Hmmm. She might know what we are having, a boy or a girl. I need to decide if I want to know.”
“What would knowing help you with?”
“Planning for clothing and all that.”
“Ah, I see. I will leave the decision up to you. My mind just freezes on the word. Child. I am going to be a father.” He pulled her into an enthusiastic hug.
“You are not one yet?”
“Nay, not that I know of and I would. It is impossible to hide a Wherlocke or Vaughn child from his father, or mother as such is the case. It is in the blood, in the very heart of us and we recognize each other.”
“That must be helpful.” She trailed her fingers down his taut belly and felt it tremble ever so faintly beneath her touch. “So how did ones like Lilybet become lost to your tribe?”
“Our tribe. Hah! I like that. And I have no idea. All we have are some burned or partly burned papers left of a whole family driven into exile or murdered. Getting rid of family records meant they had nothing to take to court. It did not stop the persecutions but it slowed them down. Even when engaged in such horrific persecutions they do love their puzzles. Let us hope Modred and Dob find the answers.”
For awhile they just relaxed in the bed, enjoying the closeness of their bodies with no fear of societal anger or repercussions. Then Primrose curled her long slender fingers around his erection and Bened smiled. Quiet time was over. He turned to his wife, the woman he meant to spend his life with now carrying his first child, and suspected that any quiet times for him ended the day he found a woman with poor eyesight stumbling through the woods looking for her horse.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2015 by Hannah Howell
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-3504-6
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If He's Noble (Wherlocke Book 7) (Paranormal Historical Romance) Page 26