by Zoë Archer
The cotton of her chemise was thin as a sigh, her peach-hued nipples and dark golden curls between her legs plainly visible. Light as it was, the gauzy fabric still felt heavy against her skin. She saw in Leo’s ravenous gaze that she was beautiful, and it fed her power.
She stepped closer, and his hands came up, roaming over her body, stroking along her shoulders, down her arms, tracing patterns between her breasts and the curve of her belly. His touch filled her with sharpening crests of need. When he cupped her breasts and teased her nipples into harder points, awareness coalesced into an exquisite ache.
Wanting more, she rose up on her toes and kissed him, open-mouthed. They groaned at the sensation. He took and he gave, and as her hands gripped his shoulders, the trembling she felt was not merely her own, but his. This, too, strengthened her, and she pressed closer, rubbing her thighs and the tips of her breasts against him.
Hotter air touched her as he gathered up and discarded her chemise.
She was utterly exposed. Instinctive modesty made her turn away, crossing her arms over her chest.
“No, no.” He gently turned her to face him. “This is me. This is what we’ve made between us.”
His gaze burned hot, yet beneath shone tenderness and acceptance.
Drawing a breath, she let her arms lower to her sides. Allowing him to see her.
He recognized what this meant, and as he looked his fill, she saw both his sensual hunger and his pleasure in her trust. Yet he did not simply look. He stepped toward her, and then his broad hands were everywhere, caressing her naked skin. Her back. The curve of her buttocks. Her breasts. Her skin became unbearably sensitive, yet the flood of sensation was too good, too wondrous, and she couldn’t find words to make him stop. She didn’t want him to stop.
She moved to untie her garters and roll down her stockings.
“Leave them.” His fingers trailed over the ribbons and silk, then higher, to the bare flesh of her thighs. “Soft here. So damned soft. And here”—his fingers glided higher, and she tensed in anticipation—“softer still.”
Her arms wrapped around him. She held herself in readiness, dizzy with the feel of his still-clothed body against her own naked skin, the tremors of need that wracked them both.
Then his fingers found her. Her most intimate place. She cried out in pleasure, the sudden and yet inevitable beauty of it. He stroked her, spreading wetness, learning her secrets.
“Ah, Leo.” She writhed against him.
“Have you done this, Anne?” His voice was hoarse, demanding. “Have you touched yourself? Made yourself come?”
With anyone else, the questions would have embarrassed her, yet she knew this man, her husband, and to hear him speak thus and answer in kind felt precisely right.
“Yes.” She gasped into his mouth. “Yet it was never like this.”
He groaned. “Spread your legs. Give me more.”
This was to be a night of discovery. She had often wondered how it must feel to stand on the deck of a ship and see an unknown coastline approach, never before encountered. The fear and excitement of new territory. Part of her wanted to stay within the confines of safety, her narrow world. But here was a chance to be the explorer she had longed to be. Summoning her courage, she whispered, “Let me touch you, too.”
His gaze flared, recognizing her bravado. Yet he shook his head. “Your pleasure first.” He walked them back to the bed, and guided her to drape beside him. As she lay on her back, he propped himself up on his side. He cupped the back of her head with one hand, and with the other, he dipped between her legs.
She arced as he caressed her, her legs flung wide, her hands buried in his hair. If she did not hold tight, she was certain she would float up and never stop. His touch was relentless, tender. He circled and rubbed at her pearl. Two of his fingers stroked her cleft, lightly sinking inside, testing only the opening. Everything inside her tightened in preparation.
“Leo, I—”
“Yes.”
It grew within her, a rising sensation that originated between her legs yet permeated every part of her. She craved it; she feared it.
“Give me your trust.” He continued to stroke her, drawing her forth. “As I give you mine.”
She saw the truth of this in his face, tight with need, yet open and unafraid. Him, only him.
The climax demolished her. And built her stronger. It filled her body with a pleasure that seemed too much to bear, yet she took it, took what it gave her, what Leo drew from her body. She could not even scream. Her mouth opened. No noise came out. Only a silent cry of release that was too intense for sound.
“Never,” she murmured when she could speak. “Never like that.”
A look of harsh triumph crossed his face. “Mine to give you. Everything else—gowns, money—those are only things. Anyone can have things. But this. This is more. This is ours.” He slowly sank a finger deep into her tight passage, and she gasped at the new sensation. It took her several breaths before her body eased, permitting him access.
When he added a second finger, stretching her, she winced and sucked in a breath.
He stopped immediately, his fingers still within her, but motionless.
She wanted to retreat, but would not permit herself to hide. “Keep going.” She lifted her hips. “I want everything.”
For a moment, he remained immobile. And then he grew sharper, darker as his gaze burned. His fingers left her, and he rose up to stand beside the bed, tearing at his garments as if they were on fire.
He stared at her as, layer by layer, he undressed. All his exquisite tailoring meant nothing, just an impediment. His coat, his waistcoat. He peeled off his stockings, revealing thickly muscled calves. It took him two attempts to undo the buttons fastening his breeches. When, at last, the buttons slipped free, he shoved his breeches down along with his smallclothes.
Anne could not look away from his erect penis. She had never before seen an aroused man, and the sight was far more compelling than any statue or painting. He was thick and slightly curved, with a gleaming, broad head.
His low chuckle brought her attention back up to his face. “I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“You were a zephyr waiting to become a tempest.”
She was wry. “Another investment pays off.”
Yet he shook his head. “This isn’t business. We waited for a reason. So it could be more than cold commerce.”
“I am assuredly not cold.”
Leo grasped the hem of his shirt, the only article of clothing he still wore. Then hesitated, frowning.
Desire made her audacious. She knew what his body felt like beneath his clothing, and understood that it would rival even the sunrise for beauty. “Don’t be shy. Let me see you, too.”
“I have ... marks.”
“It does not matter.”
To her disappointment, he lowered his hands. “Not yet.” Then he knelt on the bed and lowered himself beside her. She would have voiced her complaint—that it did not matter to her if he had scars or any disfigurement, because to her, he would never be anything other than magnificent—but his kiss stole her words.
They wrapped around each other, and she discovered she loved the contrast of his muscular, hairy legs with her soft, smooth limbs. The burning heat of his body soaked into hers, even with his shirt between them, and as their mouths met and devoured, his erection pushed insistently toward her. He left slick trails on her belly. Leo rolled them over, positioning himself above her, then slid his penis between her folds, teasing without entering her.
It felt so strange, to have someone other than herself give her pleasure, conferring such personal demands to another. Yet it made sense, for if anyone could touch her so intimately, it must be Leo.
He touched her like this; pleasure built again, pushing away lingering traces of apprehension.
“Kiss me,” he said, a hoarse demand.
She arched up, her open mouth to his. At the same time, he thrust int
o her.
Pain and pleasure collided. She had no sense of which was which. They were the same. And, oh, he was thick within her, filling her. He was everywhere inside her. A moment’s panic. It was too much. She would be lost. He was too hard, too male, too everything.
Yet after that initial thrust, he was still, and Anne willed her eyes open to see him above her. His face contorted, torn between pleasure and anguish. He held himself back savagely as her body learned the feel of his. The only sounds in the chamber were the muted pops of the fire, and his harsh breathing.
She relaxed into the sensation, allowing herself to experience this newness, for it was exotic, his body within hers. Yet true and right. Fear ebbed. Pleasure took its place.
Tentative, Anne brought her legs up, and wrapped them around his. His eyes flew open, silver and bright. He groaned her name. In response, she curled her fingers into his shoulders, feeling the bunch and strain of muscle beneath the cambric.
“I want ...”
“Tell me,” he urged gravelly.
An experiment: She tilted her hips. He moved within her. Pleasure followed, streaking through her hotly. “More.”
“You can bear it.”
“Anything.”
He took her mouth, kissing her deeply. And his body began to move. Sliding forward, gliding back. She had imagined this moment many times—what it would be like to have a man inside her—and the truth far outpaced what she had envisioned. For the shadowy man of her imagination had no true will of his own, no real need. But Leo did. He had strength and hunger, entirely his own, and these she felt with every movement of his narrow hips.
She was not still, could not be passive. Her body had its own will. She met his thrusts, and pulled him tighter. Pain limned the edges of sensation; it swirled through her in a spiral of dark and light.
The world spun further, and she realized that Leo had actually turned over onto his back with her clasped against him, his body still deep inside hers. He sat up and edged backward, until he leaned against the carved headboard and Anne straddled him. The posture was altogether wicked, for it allowed her to see everything—him, his face harsh with need, the shirt clinging to his slick torso and arms. She saw herself, too, nude save for her garters and stockings.
He gripped her hips. “Look down.”
She did. What she saw made her gasp.
“That’s my cock.” His voice was no more than a snarl. “Mine. Inside you. Can you see that?”
“I ... can.”
“Watch.” He pulled back a little, and she saw inches of his ... cock ... sliding out of her. Then he surged forward, and she moaned to see him sink into her, disappearing all the way to the root. Had she not witnessed it with her own eyes, she would never have believed she could contain his length, yet she saw and felt and knew.
She was truly his wife, in every way. Just as he was her husband, in all meanings.
“Now.” He released his bruising hold on her hips, and grasped the headboard, his arms outstretched. His eyes glittered. “You take us there, Anne. Show me. Show us both.”
“I don’t—”
“You do.” His jaw tightened. “The whole time. It’s been there. In you.”
For a moment, she hesitated, uncertain. It came to her: an image of herself this very night, crossing the floor of the assembly, her chin tipped up. She had been seen by everyone, and drew strength from it. It gathered in her now, her capability. Leo had shown her the path, and she walked it using the strength of her own legs.
Had he wanted to, he could have lain her down and taken her, controlling every movement and sensation. But he wanted more than that, more from her. A challenge. She would meet that challenge.
Settling her hands on his shoulders, Anne pulled her hips up, just a little. Again, that wondrous sliding within her. Then she sank down. As she did, her pearl rubbed against him.
“Oh.” She dragged in a breath. “That’s ...”
“Yes.” The cords of his neck stood out.
Anne moved again, and once again. She discovered angles, speeds. Her hands clutched him tightly, so tightly she feared she might tear his shirt and mark his skin. Part of her wanted to mark him, but she did not want to cause him pain. She grabbed the headboard, as well, and saw his knuckles whiten.
Rational thought slipped away. Anne rode him. He stretched beneath her, arching up. Her gasps joined with his groans, and the room resonated with the sounds of flesh meeting flesh.
This time, when her climax arrived, she could not be silent. At her scream, his hands released the headboard. He seized her hips, his head fell back, and his whole body went rigid.
He had never looked more beautiful, carved as a statue.
Finally, release faded, loosening its grip on both of them. They could only pant and stare at each other, sated and amazed.
Concepts, thoughts, words—all vanished. She knew only the resonance of her body and the feel of him against, and within, her. Gradual as a feather drifting in circles to earth, she regained use of her mind.
She wondered: What was one supposed to say in a situation like this? Thank you? It seemed a paltry phrase to enclose a world far bigger than any atlas.
So she let actions and silence serve her better. Her fingers cramped as she released the headboard, but they relaxed as she cupped his face. His stubble prickled against her palms.
He stared at her, grave, marveling, yet when she lowered her mouth to his, his eyes drifted shut, and he took her kiss readily.
We are outcasts no longer.
He didn’t want to, but Leo needed to get up from the bed. Reluctantly, he disentangled his limbs from Anne’s, and left her murmuring and drowsy as he padded into the closet. By the light of a single taper, he stripped off his shirt. He took a cloth and dipped it in the water-filled basin. With movements made hasty from eagerness to return to her, he cleaned himself off.
Blood streaked over his cock. Not much, but enough to prove that, for all her responsiveness and innate sensuality, he was Anne’s first lover.
First and only. For himself, he was glad of his experience, if only to have made it good for her. Thinking of her sighs and moans, the way she moved, the pleasure she took from him, his cock stirred. He wanted more.
A folded nightshirt awaited him on a small table. God, he hated having to wear it.
He walked to the glass on the table, adjusted it to get the right angle. Turning, he looked over his shoulder to see the reflection of his back.
Images of flames covered his skin there. They appeared to be drawn directly on his flesh with black ink, yet he knew that nothing could wash them away. The flames began just below his nape, spread across his shoulders, and twisted down along the length of his spine.
He did not regret his gifts from Mr. Holliday, but something about the image of flames writhing across his skin made him feel sick dread.
His resolve strengthened never to let Anne see the markings, nor understand their meaning.
Which meant he would be forced either to make love to her in utter darkness, or to wear a damned shirt when he did. And though he had always slept nude, he had to endure wearing this sodding nightshirt like some doddering old man.
He turned away from the mirror. Sleeping in a nightshirt was a small sacrifice if it meant having Anne beside him. He quickly tugged the thing on, then took a fresh cloth and dampened it. After blowing out the candle, he returned to the bedchamber.
Anne stretched out atop the bedclothes, sleek and soft and delicious as she lay on her stomach. She had taken the last of the pins from her hair, and the mass of it spread around her in silken profusion. At his approach, she smiled. Something seized within him, something tight in his chest.
Wife. He felt he understood the meaning of the word now, its significance. By giving her his name, he had pledged to her his care, his protection. And he vowed it to himself now, more binding than any words spoken by a reverend.
Seeing the cloth in his hand, she reached for it, but he held it a
way.
“Let me,” he said.
As she turned over and leaned back on her elbows, the embers of desire roused. She was beautiful to look upon—her lush breasts tipped with coral, the curve of her belly, her pretty little quim, the suppleness of her arms and legs. Her body held more strength than one would have guessed, for she had gripped him hard. He was glad of it. Rather than pliancy, he wanted strength to match his own.
“I like how you look at me now,” she murmured.
His gaze flew up to hers. The stain of passion still tinted her cheeks, and she wore a timeless little smile. It pleased him, knowing he put that smile upon her lips, that she could be so free with him.
“I like looking at you.” He curled one leg under him as he sat beside her. Carefully, in slow, tender circles, he ran the cloth over her. He frowned at the smears of blood at the tops of her thighs. “It hurt.”
“Some. Less than I thought it might.”
“But it felt good, too.” The need to please her burned hotly through him—as strong as his need to build his fortune on the Exchange. Stronger.
“No new bride has less cause for complaint.” She placed her hand atop his. “Truly, Leo. It was ... a marvel. Sensations I could never have conceived.”
“You may conceive.” Finished with his task, he set the cloth aside and stretched out alongside her. He placed his hand over her belly.
Her lips curved. “That is the purpose of marriage.”
“Trying to make children has its own enticements.”
She wound her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. “In truth, I hope a child comes later. Much later. For I am selfish enough to want you all to myself.”
“Nothing wrong with self-interest.” He pulled her close, his hands cupping the sweet roundness of her arse. The fragrance of her skin enthralled him, sweet and musky with the lingering traces of sex. With their sex. He pressed his face into the juncture of her neck and shoulder, nuzzling. She murmured encouragement. Her limbs made a delectable rustling in the bedclothes.