She tasted herself on him and felt his satisfaction that he could do this for her, and she could do this for him. He muttered words, words she hardly heard, somehow found her way to her brain.
Faith didn’t want to think about what he had just said. The heat of passion, no doubt. Immediately she heard his voice in her mind. No. I meant it, Faith. I love you. Oh God, my sweet, I love you.
“I love you too.” Faith hadn’t realized until the words were out that she’d said it. He was as essential to her as breathing. How had that happened?
He paused and, still deep within her, lifted his head and met her eyes. He was smiling. “I love you, Faith. You’ve given me someone to share with, someone to care for. You.” He leaned down and gently kissed her tears away, tears she hadn’t known she’d shed. “That’s why I did this. I mean it; I’m not letting you out of my sight until I’ve put my ring on your finger.” He pushed insistently, and Faith felt him slide deeper inside her and touch the spot he already knew drove her wild. She let him see her response, did what her instincts told her to do, half closing her eyes on the pleasure, using her shoulder muscles to get extra leverage as she pushed to meet him, entice him in even more.
“Gerard.”
It was the only word she was able to utter, spoken on an outbreath, as another peak hit her with the violence of a clap of thunder, the suddenness of lightning in a clear summer sky.
She heard his answering call, her name, shouted into the darkness of the bedroom. He jerked against her, his body bathed in sweat, driving his seed deep into her body.
Faith stared at him arched above her, his body taut with exertion, eyes closed at the moment of his climax. His hair threaded around his face, tangled silk. She felt deliciously possessed, owned by him.
He released his breath sharply and fell on to her body, gasping. Faith let her legs slide down his until they entwined. Everywhere they touched, complimentary bodies giving and taking, blending together.
Faith lay in complete contentment, feeling his hands move over her in gentle, soothing caresses. “We need a bath,” she murmured, feeling the sweat slick between them.
“I’ll send for one,” he said instantly.
She put her hand on his chest, pressing him back into the sheets. “No. It’s late. We can do it in the morning.”
He touched a kiss to her hair. “If you wish. Are you tired, love?”
“Mmm.” She snuggled in.
Their skin chilled, and Gerard sat up, but only to tug the rumpled bedclothes over them and draw her back to lie with him. “Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll be here.”
“So will I,” she managed before tumbling into warm, embracing oblivion.
Chapter Fourteen
Faith woke to a series of gentle kisses on her bare shoulder. Smiling, she rolled and opened her eyes. It was broad daylight and Gerard sat on the bed, dressed in his banyan. “What time is it?” she managed. Her eyelids felt heavy.
“Nearly ten. You wanted a bath, ma’am?”
She smiled and reached for him. “Heaven.”
Grinning like a boy, Gerard pulled back the bedclothes and scooped her up, straightening and crossing the room with her. Faith thought he was taking her into a bedroom, but the doorway he went through led to a far different kind of room.
Steam filled the room, from the tiled depression in the middle of the chamber. Several water cans were stacked in the corner, next to another door that Faith presumed led to a servant’s entrance. “Like it?”
“Good Lord. It’s positively decadent.”
“Isn’t it? Though it never occurred to me before, you’re quite right. My father had it installed. There’s another one at Hill House. Some quack told him it would help with my condition, to immerse me several times a day in hot water with herbs. The herbs were disgusting, but I like the hot water.”
The air about them was delicately floral scented. Faith detected roses and lavender. “That smells good.”
“The herbs didn’t. I ordered this for you, my sweet.” He put her on her feet, making sure she was steady on the tiles before letting go and linking his hands loosely around her waist. “I’m afraid you have me to act as maid. Weren’t you supposed to be engaging one?”
“I interviewed some the other day. I didn’t intend to take one.”
“You will now. We’ll arrange it for you.” He undid his robe and stepped into the water. It came to just above his knees. “Come on. There’s plenty of room for two.”
Faith touched her toe to the water. “I washed with cold water in Vinegar Yard and considered myself lucky to have it. The pump was just outside the house, so I didn’t have as far to go as some other people.”
He set his hands about her waist. “Now you can order this filled whenever you please.”
She put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself and stepped in, wincing at the heat, allowing her body to become accustomed to it. “It must be a lot of trouble.”
He shrugged. “That’s why we pay our servants good wages. There’s an outlet that leads to a large tub outside. They use the water on the garden, I believe. Never mind about that, come and get clean.”
Together they sank into the blessed heat. Faith ended up with her back to him, lying between his legs, supported on his broad chest. He’d balled a towel to pad the tiles at his back. Her sigh of contentment came from the heart.
They lay together in silence for a full five minutes, Faith recalling all the events of the previous evening. “I started the day so badly,” she said, her voice reverberating gently off the tiled surfaces. “I was determined to let you go.”
“I know. I was as determined not to let you go.” He leaned forward and kissed her shoulder, stopping to sip a few drops of water, his tongue lingering on her skin. “Now you don’t have to go anywhere.”
Last night she had been past caring, knew that if she didn’t make love to him she’d die of wanting. Now questions clustered in her mind.
“Am I still in danger from your blood?” Faith had hoped to be past all that.
“Maybe.” He paused. Faith knew there was something he wasn’t telling her, but didn’t want to push him and break the mood of gentle sensuality weaving its spell around them. He would tell her in time. “Now I’ll take even more care. I rarely hurt myself and when I do it heals quickly. You’ve guessed, haven’t you?”
“Guessed what?”
The water swirled when he lifted her and reached for the soap, lying in a china dish by the side of the bath. “What matters now is that I can make love to you, and I’m not dying.”
Faith closed her eyes on the words, spoken so dispassionately but with so much meaning for both of them. She failed to entirely repress her shudder.
His hands, busy lathering the soap, stopped. “What is it?”
Tears seeped out of the corners of her eyes, swiftly blinked away. “I couldn’t bear to think of that. One of the reasons I backed out was sheer cowardice. I’m sorry, Gerard, but the thought of waking one morning to find you had gone was more than I thought I could bear. Rather than that I chose to distance myself. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
The soap fell with a plop into the water and Faith found herself pulled into his arms, her back hard against his chest. “Don’t be. I was willing to accept your decision because I didn’t want to hurt you anymore. Now I can promise you. I won’t be going anytime soon. I want to see our children grow, have many more years of loving you yet.”
“We can really have children?”
He relaxed his hold. “Yes.”
The brevity of his response warned her. Twisting her head, she stared at him, and silently asked him to open to her. He refused, blocking his mind, keeping it rigidly closed. She had no idea what was going on behind those shuttered eyes. He stared at her, grey eyes expressionless. “Tell me when you want to, Gerard. Is it your proposal? We don’t have to marry, you know. We can—”
“Oh, no.” He dipped his hand in the water for the soap and came into contact with her th
igh instead. Faith found the soap while Gerard caressed her, sending shivers coursing to her stomach. How could he rouse her so easily?
He took the soap from her and lathered it again, drawing her to lie against his chest once more. Placing the soap back in its dish, he began to wash her, circling the silky, scented bubbles over her shoulders, working down slowly to her breasts. “You don’t get away that easily, my love. You’re going to make an honest man of me before too many days have passed. I knew last night my father was planning to send you away. I was willing to wait until I realized what he was about. Then Stretton interrupted me on the way to your room and told me more than I wanted to know, but what I needed to know.” His big hands moved in gentle circles over her breasts. Faith sighed happily and gave herself over to the sensation.
He spoke quietly and steadily, as if he were telling her the time of day. “Stretton says we do not die through disease or old age. I don’t know if I believe that part. The rest is feasible, that we somehow inherit attributes associated with the old gods, that the spirit somehow floats to the next vessel. Mother Nature never wastes her gifts.”
Faith lay stunned. She still had difficulty believing anything, except the reality of their love. His hands soothed her, swirling over her breasts and stomach. She didn’t hear that. She couldn’t have heard it. “It doesn’t matter,” Gerard said. “Living that long would be inconvenient, to say the least. I have no intention of putting it to the test.” He paused, cupping her breasts in his soapy hands. “If I have a choice, I’ll go when you do.”
“Gerard.” Water prayed as Faith wrenched herself out of his arms and turned around to face him. “You don’t mean it. It can’t be true.”
He smiled. “Faith, I don’t care. I never intend to put that particular piece of folklore to the test. A long life would be pleasant, but not that long. I don’t want to deprive my heirs of what should be theirs, but more than anything else, I don’t want to go on alone.” He reached out for her hand, and took hers in it. “Faith, last week I thought I had months left. Now I know I have years. I feel better than I have for a long time. The lethargy has gone, completely gone. I woke this morning very early, with you in my arms and lay for thinking. I know what I want.”
“You think it’s true?”
“It might be. I don’t care.” He tugged on her hand and drew her closer. She slid along the tiles and he pulled her close. Bubbles crackled between them. “Let’s take this as it comes, my love. It’s the only way either of us will stay sane.”
She laid her head on his shoulder. He was right. “I can’t take it all in.”
“Then don’t. Let’s concentrate on getting married without my father thwarting us. We can think about other things then.”
His caresses were making her feel pleasantly sleepy. She laid her head on his shoulder, revelling in the feel of his arms closing about her, making her feel completely safe and wanted. She heard the splash when he swirled water over them both, rinsing off the soap.
He held her for a while in companionable silence. Faith was drifting off when she heard him speak her name. “Faith. I want you.”
She opened her eyes and found it was true. He was already hard, his member straining toward the surface of the water She turned wondering eyes to his face. He laughed, sounding embarrassed. “After living so long with celibacy, I think my unruly body wants to make for lost time.”
She kissed the hard line of his jaw. “I don’t mind.”
“You don’t mind?” he echoed, voice full of laughter. “A compliment indeed.”
Faith raised her body, enjoying his look of appreciation when her breasts crested the water. She swung one leg over his thighs and straddled him. “Is this right?”
“I’ll say it is.” Eagerly he gripped her and drew her on to him, releasing one leg to smooth her inner thigh and insinuate his fingers into her cleft. “Perhaps I’m not the only one who wants,” he murmured, his voice turning husky and intimate. “You feel ready for me, my love.”
For answer she moved towards him until his erection touched her opening. Smiling into his face, eyes open, she pressed in, and took him.
“Sweet Faith.” He pushed back against her strongly, driving in to the hilt. Inside her, where he belonged, as surely as she was made to take him. “How can this feel so good?”
“I think it’s meant to.”
He laughed and she felt it all through her body. At her moan he gripped her thighs and pushed. When she opened her eyes, she saw him, delight etched on his features, driving her on. She bore down on him, felt her muscles contract inside and exploded into joy.
He wouldn’t let her fall forward on to him, but held her, and when she was once more steady, moved his hand to play between her legs, where she was fully open to him. His thumb working her, he encouraged her to move, watching her face all the while.
She watched him, kept her eyes open and rode him. When she orgasmed again, she hid nothing, let him see everything in her face, her eyes. Total trust.
He reciprocated, showing her his joy and—yes, love for her. It was a moment of total commitment for them both. The world shrank to the compass of the small room, its population a total of two as they wordlessly exchanged their pledge.
He sat and grasped her around her waist, steadying her while they changed position slightly. He drew her close. “I want to hold you,” he murmured, his mouth next to her ear. “Hold you and love you.”
Faith slid her arms around him, moving into him so he pressed further into her. “I love you too, Gerard. This feels so good, how do you know how to do exactly what drives me wild?”
“When you open your mind to me you show me what you like, your mind responds with your body. Open to me, sweet.”
She obeyed, opening fully to him, mind and body. He thrust into her, and she felt him respond to her cry, eagerly working to win more responses. He gave her his joy, his delight at finding her, his pleasure in her response to his lovemaking. He spoke, his mouth caressing her ear with his words. “Do you think we’ll ever get enough of this?”
“No. No!” she cried, the volume of her voice increasing as she lost control over her body and her mind. She gave it to him and he took it, caressed it in warm waves of love, and gave it back to her, with his surrender as his gift to her.
It was his turn. Throwing back his head, he cried out once when the soaring delight took him.
She stayed close, recovering her breath and her senses. He pulled her tightly against him, the water lapping gently about them, soothing her senses. He kissed her ear. “We’ve lost a lot of the water over the side.”
She opened her eyes. “It’s getting cold, although I can’t say I noticed until just now.”
Immediately he lifted her away and got out of the tub, reaching a hand down to assist her. She stepped out and he held her steady with one hand while reaching for a towel with the other. “You, my love, are a complete delight,” he said, wrapping the soft warmth around her.
“So are you,” she said softly. “Won’t you get tired of this?”
He pretended to consider, reaching for another towel to wrap around his waist. “One day. The day I stop breathing, perhaps.” When she laughed, he added, “I love your laugh. You should laugh more. Perhaps I’ll dedicate my life to making you laugh.”
“Very trivial.” She pattered towards the door. “Your father won’t appreciate that.”
“My father can go to—”
She opened the door. The fire was newly made, and when she entered the room, she saw the bed had been made with fresh sheets, turned down ready for use. She could smell something appetizing, and realized she was hungry.
Coming behind her, Gerard dropped a robe over her shoulders. He had retrieved his own and thrust his arms into the sleeves, reaching for the sash to fasten it firmly around his waist. “Come,” he said. “My nose tells me breakfast is served.”
It was. In the next room, Gerard’s private sitting room, a delicious meal awaited them. At first all Fait
h saw was the table, piled with domed dishes, then a movement caught her attention. Gerard’s manservant, the urbane Jameson, stood by. When Faith turned to him, he bowed. Faith backed into the warm, solid body of her husband-to-be. Her appetite disappeared.
“Steady, my sweet,” he said, perfectly naturally, as if they were fully dressed and not naked under robes that suddenly seemed far too skimpy. “Come and sit down. You must be famished.”
Faith swallowed her nervousness down and lifted her chin, allowing Gerard to take her across the room and seat her before taking his own seat opposite her. She pleaded with him. Can we be alone?
He smiled at her reassuringly. No, love. I hope this is the first of many intimate meals we share. You are mine now, and the more people who see us together, the better.
She could see the sense in that, but she couldn’t help it. The man made her uncomfortable. He served them with an impassive expression on his face, not intruding any more than necessary, but hot waves of embarrassment flushed over her skin. The awareness of the way she had spent the last day intruded on her.
When she lifted her head to face a full plate and her lover, she found him watching her. Instead of speaking to her privately, he spoke aloud. Anyone listening could have heard him. “Faith, I love you. We are doing nothing wrong. By tomorrow night, we will be man and wife, never to part again. It was the only way, sweetheart. My father would have spirited you away so I would never have found you again, he would have told me that you didn’t care for me. You do care, don’t you?”
He was going to make her admit it. If she denied it now, it would make her feel like a worm. She lifted her head. “Of course I care. I love you.”
He reached his hand to her over the table to her, and she took it. He pressed it warmly and it was as intimate as anything they had done together. When she smiled back at him, he released her hand and turned to his food.
Lightning Unbound: Even Gods Fall in Love, Book 1 Page 17