by Gina Black
The air sizzled between them. Nicholas’s chest burned where her hand rested. His heart throbbed almost painfully, as did his loins. He let out a long breath.
“I am not afraid anymore.” She looked into his eyes and smiled an innocent seductive smile that made his heart twist.
“Ah, lass, do you have any idea what you do to me?”
“I think it must be very like what you do to me.” She leaned forward, raising her lips to his. “Please do it some more.”
Nicholas groaned. He was a knave to be sure. She needed comfort, but she asked for passion. So he would give it to her.
He lowered his mouth until it met hers.
Heat ran through Katherine as Nicholas’s lips played with hers, alternately soft and demanding. Never had she wanted anything as much as she wanted to be with him, just like this.
She marveled at his many textures. The smooth firm muscles of his shoulders, the hard tendons in his neck, the softness of his lips and tongue, the roughness of his shirt as it brushed her tender nipples.
It seemed each moment since she first came upon him, had inevitably led to this one, this moment that would change the course of her life forever.
He buried his hands in her hair. She gasped as his lips left hers to trail over her chin and down her throat. Each tantalizing movement of his mouth sent shivers of heat surging through her.
Easing her from his lap to the floor, he settled beside her. His hair brushed across the tender skin of her breasts as his tongue traced the line of her collarbone, not tickling exactly but sending delicious thrills over her sensitive skin—thrills that grew as his mouth moved to cover her nipple. Her breath caught as he suckled on one breast while caressing the other. Her breasts thrust forward, aching, needing, seeking more. Little moaning sounds rose from her throat as waves of pleasure ran through her.
His mouth came up to hers. His teeth grazed her upper lip. He suckled on it as he drew up her skirt. Inch by agonizing inch, the hem rose, passing her ankles, her calves, and then her knees. The kiss deepened, became more urgent.
She felt the shock as his fingers touched the bare skin behind her knee and moved up the delicate skin inside her thighs. They slid under the satin fabric, moving in a slow torture until they reached the apex of her legs, touching her through the flimsy material of her drawers, in a place she’d never been touched before.
Katherine clamped her legs together.
“Do you wish me to stop?” Nicholas’s voice was thick and rough. He took his hand away.
Katherine let out her breath in a shudder, trying to ease the tension building inside her. She wanted him to continue, more than she had ever wanted anything.
She shook her head, and eased her thighs apart.
Nicholas put a hand on her knee and spoke, the words almost too loud after the music of their breathing. “A woman may feel pain the first time she joins with a man. I am sorry for it, and I will do my best not to hurt you.”
Katherine swallowed. “I trust you.”
Nicholas stroked her thigh and gave her an odd smile. “Do you now?”
He reached for her hips, and drew her to his body. The hardness at his groin pressed against her most sensitive place. His breeches did little to disguise its size and nature.
Could he possibly fit inside her? It probably would hurt. She frowned.
“You are sure, lass?”
Feeling shy, then bold, she hovered for a moment in indecision until the boldness won out. Katherine smiled. She would not run away this time.
Reaching up, she ran her fingers through the white streak in his hair, and then moved onto her side, facing him. She ran a stocking clad foot along his leg.
Nicholas groaned. His hand trailed up her thigh, to her waist. He untied her drawers, easing them down her hips, and bringing his hand to brush against the curls at her most intimate place.
Katherine’s breath caught.
He kissed her, lightly at first. As his tongue slipped into her mouth, his finger slid inside her.
She arched up against his hand, opening her legs to him, wider, wider. As he moved his finger in and out, slowly at first then faster, she moved with him. Her body burned in unspeakable places. A strange moaning rent the air. It was a moment before Katherine realized she was making the noise, like the woman at the inn.
The most pleasant thing a man and woman can do together.
And it was true. Pleasure she had never imagined rolled over her and built. She gasped and moaned, clutching at his arms, and his shoulders.
He moved her onto her back. Her breath caught as she felt his finger leave. He pulled her skirt up to her waist, removed her drawers, and moved his body between her legs. Loosening the laces of his breeches. His man’s part sprang free. Thick and full, he took the length in his hand, and positioned it where his finger had been.
Katherine held her breath as he pushed into the slick tight opening of her woman’s place, until she was stretched to a point beyond comfort. She looked to see his face screwed up in fierce concentration.
“Nicholas?” she gasped.
“Hmmm?” he groaned.
“You are hurting me.”
He stilled, bracing himself on his arms above her. “Do you wish me to stop?”
She saw regret in his eyes, but acceptance as well.
She shook her head. “No. I cannot but wonder, though, how much more could fit without tearing me apart.”
His eyes twinkled. “You will be amazed at what a good fit we will make, though there will be some pain when I break your maidenhead.” He went down on one arm, rolling her onto her side facing him, and started to play with her nipple, rubbing and tantalizing it into a hard pebble.
Katherine sucked in her breath and moaned as the tightness eased.
“There is naught to be done about it, lass.” Nicholas spoke into her ear. His breath, hot and sensual, sent chills through her.
Her muscles clutched his long male length, and then relaxed.
He exhaled a hot breath against the side of her neck and pushed into her, the penetration deepening, feeling strange but not uncomfortable.
“The pain will not last.” He kneaded her breast, teasing the nipple with his thumb, then ran his hand down her hip to her buttocks, holding her tight as he pressed into her. “I promise.” His voice was a husky whisper across her lips.
He kissed her. His tongue teased until she forgot everything but the feel of it as it danced with hers and the feel of his lips as they played upon hers with increasing urgency. His hand massaged her bottom and she felt herself stretch to accept him as he pushed deeper and deeper inside. She felt hopelessly full of him, yet a strange tension began to build where they joined, and she wiggled to ease it, a movement that allowed even more of him entry. Katherine moaned her pleasure, clutching at him, arching against the throbbing torment.
He moved her onto her back, holding his weight up on two arms. She could feel his strength restrained, hovering above her. Their eyes met as he pressed forward, stretching her to a point well beyond comfort.
Suddenly he thrust into her. Deep. Hard.
Katherine felt as if she were torn apart. She tried to hold in her cry, but could not. “No! It cannot be like this, there is no pleasure for me. You are too big. We do not fit.”
“Just this time, for this short while.” He grunted between clenched teeth, holding himself in place as she squirmed against him. He groaned.
She whimpered, but the pain was easing. Balancing on one arm, he reached between them and began to stroke and tease her most sensitive place, until she was slick and hot, and burning with need. Pleasure radiated to her fingers and her toes. As he began again to move his man’s part in and out of her, her muscles relaxed against his invasion. Tension coiled up inside her. She tightened her legs around him.
“That’s right,” he said. His hair fell about her. He moved his mouth over hers again.
She tasted coffee as his tongue pleasured hers. His smell filled her senses. His b
ody rocked hers in an even rhythm, and an almost intolerable pleasure built within her. As he moved, she held him tight, mindless to anything but the extraordinary sensation growing within.
“Yes, lass,” Nicholas whispered in her ear. “Yes.”
His warm breath and the velvet timbre of his voice combined with the pressure building inside her. She tugged at his shirt until she had exposed his naked chest to her tender breasts. He lowered himself onto her and grasped her buttocks, pulling her to him until he was deep inside.
They moved together in a union of heated need and longing. He thrusted into her until she could bear it no longer. She writhed against him, crying out his name. As fierce pleasure pierced through her, she came undone. Nicholas held her as she whimpered her release.
Awareness came back slowly. Nicholas lay beside her, his man’s part still big and hard inside her. Her body ached and throbbed. Nicholas pressed gentle kisses along her brow.
She swallowed, and looked away, embarrassed. “Did it feel this good for you?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
“Yet?”
He nodded.
“There is more?”
Nicholas grinned. “Now it is my turn.” He rolled her onto her back again, and rose up above her. With almost painful slowness the full length of him filled her. Then he withdrew, leaving her empty.
She slid her hands along his back, the muscles hot and slick with sweat. Her arms traveled over his shoulders and the puckered scab from his bullet wound, and then down arms that rose like columns to each side of her, veins distended from the effort of holding his body aloft.
His face drew into intense concentration.
She wrapped her hands around his wrists, holding on as he thrust into her, deep and hard. The feeling of pressure, of being a tightly wound spring grew, replacing her lethargy. She thrust up to meet him. Just as she felt herself begin to shatter once more, he let out a groan. His face contorted as if in great pain. He jerked, as spasms ran through him, all the way to his man’s part.
Understanding flitted through her mind. It was not pain as she had ever known it, but the wrenching ecstasy of the deepest pleasure. Then their cries joined together, her completion all the sweeter this time for sharing his.
* * *
They lay together, her back to his front, faces to the fire, like two pieces of a puzzle. In spite of their difference in size, it was a perfect fit. Nicholas wished they could lie thus forever, basking in the afterglow, bodies sated, languid.
But his mind, filled with self-loathing and self-recrimination, would not let him fully enjoy the moment. In an endless chant it intoned: what have I done?
If his other crimes against the lass had not been enough, by taking her maidenhead he had ruined her. And he now had no leverage over her father, since he could no longer return her intact. And, in dishonoring her, he had dishonored the pledge he’d made to his father.
Voices in the hallway abruptly penetrated his thoughts. He heard the low rumble of a man’s voice accompanied by the higher pitch of woman’s laughter. Would they try to enter this room? He tensed, arms tightening around Katherine, aware that discovery would not only expose his identity but compromise her as well. Then a door down the hallway opened and closed and all was quiet again.
Katherine turned in his arms, lips pursed, a frown marring her lovely forehead. “What of Jeremy?”
“Ah, my wanton, now you remember your friend,” Nicholas could not keep himself from teasing, then at the look of utter consternation that swept her brow, he added hastily, “Henry has gone to get him.”
“Montford?”
“I must have left her in the coach. Henry will bring her back.”
“Tis remiss of me to forget them,” Katherine shook her head. “I have paid attention to naught but you.” She looked around the large room, taking in the stately bed at one end, and a roaring fire before them. There were several nice pieces of furniture. “Are we at an inn? It does not look like one. I had not thought to ask.”
“No,” he replied, brushing a thumb over her brow. “’Tis the estate of an acquaintance. Perhaps you can see some of it in the morning,” when the other guests are all sleeping. “’Tis safe here, to be sure.” For you.
He massaged her neck and the back of her shoulders and she dozed off. Time stretched on with only an occasional pop from the fire. It would have been perfect were it not for the troubling thoughts that kept him awake, bubbling up as if from some witch’s cauldron in his mind. Or perhaps it was the embers of a conscience finally sparked into existence.
No doubt Henry would think so.
* * *
Katherine stirred. Montford had joined her sometime during the night and lay on her chest, purring. Katherine hung for a bit in that delicious between-place, not asleep or awake; a languid sensual creature enjoying the comfort of a good feather bed, the warmth of a down coverlet, the lingering smell of a man.
Nicholas.
The sudden vivid recollection of the night brought a flash of heat surging from the ends of her toes to the very roots of her hair. All at once, she realized she lay naked. And alone.
Flooded with equal parts of relief and dismay, Katherine opened her eyes to take greater stock of her surroundings. Last night she had paid them little mind.
Katherine sat up. Throwing Montford off her chest and hugging the coverlet, she peered through the dimness at the large bedroom. A chest sat along the opposite wall. Dying embers of a fire burned in the large fireplace.
The ruins of her clothing lay discarded on the floor. At some point during the night—she could hardly remember when—Nicholas had divested the remnants of her clothes and helped her onto the lush mattress. She’d sunk into a deep sleep, so deep she had not heard him leave. Nor heard Montford and her satchels arrive.
Katherine slid from the bed. She padded cross the soft wool rug to the draped window. Tugging back a corner of the dark velvet, she peered through the glass. The sun beamed brightly on the outside tableaux. Any vestiges of the night’s rain had burned off.
A well-groomed garden stretched out in a long vista. Here and there a gardener stooped, a spot of brown against the variegated greens. At the end of a long row of topiary chess pieces, sat a large fountain. Water cascaded in ribbons from what looked like a giant sea creature, maybe a dolphin such as she had read about.
Suddenly aware she was naked, Katherine stepped away from the glass.
She donned her shift. The clothing Nicholas had given her was ruined, so she dug the horrid black dress out of her bag, put it on, and finger-combed her hair. With no pins or cap it hung loose to her waist, undoubtedly making her look like a young girl.
The thought brought her up short. Heat flooded through her. She was a woman now. A tenderness between her legs and traces of blood on her thighs testified to her loss of childhood. A smile played upon her lips. Would any part of her be the same? Somehow she doubted that.
Montford started scratching at the floor.
“No puss, not here.”
Katherine pulled her shoes on over her stockings. She grabbed up the kitten and walked to the door. Taking a deep breath, not knowing what she would find on the other side of this portal, but knowing she had no choice but to find out, she opened the door.
An empty hallway greeted her.
Katherine exhaled with relief. Giving Montford a pat and cradling her to her chest, Katherine started down the hall toward what appeared to be a staircase landing.
All of a sudden, Montford growled, stuck her claws into Katherine’s chest and jumped atop a tall cabinet. At the same time, Katherine heard the riotous sounds of dogs barking. The commotion got louder and then they were there—six spaniels running and jumping. A tall man who looked a bit like Nicholas followed them. She had a quick impression of a dark complexion lightened by sparkling eyes, and plentiful shining black hair that curled into great rings. He looked at her with perhaps as much surprise and stupefaction as she looked at him.
A
nd then Montford vaulted over them all and shot down the stairs. Katherine tore after her, with the barking spaniels and the unfortunate man behind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
NICHOLAS HUNTED a maze of corridors, peering into chamber after chamber, each devoted to some trifling domestic activity. Startled servants made a hasty bow or curtsy as he passed. Finally, he found Katherine in what he guessed, from the drying plants that hung from the ceiling, was the stillroom.
He stood in the doorway, an observer unobserved. Jeremy lay on a pallet stretched before a fire with Katherine beside him, his hand clasped between hers. A hot flair of jealousy ripped through Nicholas but he stayed quiet, unwilling for them to notice him until he had his emotions under control.
Katherine’s face was away from him. He wanted to see her expression, especially her mouth. Would it look soft and well kissed from last night, or would she be nibbling her lower lip in that adorable way of hers?
The conspiratorial hush of their voices disturbed him. What could they be saying to each other?
In the dim light of morning, he’d risen in haste, urgently aware of the need to be on the road before the household awoke. He’d been gone but a few moments to bid Henry prepare their departure and returned to an empty room. His heart had plunged clear to the bottom of his boots, and his first thought had been she’d run off again. But then he’d seen her bundles and been reassured on the one hand. On the other hand, what he’d heard from a servant had not been reassuring.
The man told him of the Puritan and her cat who had been run off by the King and his spaniels.
The vision this conjured in his mind should have been quite comical, yet this morning he could not even smile at it. All he could think was he’d missed detection by a hair’s breadth. Running into the King would be disastrous, putting him in the awkward position of having to beg Charles’s forgiveness and explain his absence now, instead of later in London after he had come up with a good story. Nor did he want to think of Katherine discovering his duplicity.