by Peggy Waide
She started to say something. He held up his hand. "Wait. My moods are so volatile, they banned me from Boodle's and White's. Agatha threatens to personally recruit new members to my household staff. Tam and Walterrefuse to talk to me. Caesar torments me day and night. And women have begun to hound me for the position as my mistress. Jocelyn, you must return to save me from myself."
When he finished his impassioned plea, hot tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her whisper was barely audible. "You said you love me?"
"With all my heart."
"I lied to you repeatedly. I know now I was wrong. I never meant to hurt you."
"As punishment, you may spend the remainder of your life proving yourself. May I hold you now?"
Jocelyn froze, knowing Reyn might yet despise her for her final revelation. Before she could answer, he jumped the barrier between them, and pulled her torso flush with his, eye to eye, lips to lips, chest to chest.
He drew back to stare at the rounded protrusion in front of him. Both his hands gently caressed her belly. "Either you have been eating enormous quantities of food or you seem to be carrying my heir."
She threw her arms around his neck and she wept with joy. "I love you."
"Oh sweetheart, when I couldn't find you, I thought I would never be able to hold you again." He pressed his body into hers, kissing her deeply. "I will spend the rest of my days showing you precisely how much I love you." Their tongues met again to battle as his hands acquainted themselves with the added bounty of his wife's breasts. Reyn forced himself to pull away. "Jocelyn, if we don't stop, I believe we will be struck by lightning. Right now, my thoughts are far from chaste."
Jocelyn continued to place nibbling kisses along his chin and neck, bringing her hands down to rest on the bulge that fought the restraint of his breeches. "I see what you mean, my husband."
"Sweet mercy." He groaned as he lifted her into his arms. "Please tell me you live nearby. That you have a bed. A large bed. Never mind, it does not matter. I don't believe we shall make it past your front door."
He had reached the chapel door when his expression became frantic. "Jocelyn, you are healthy? There are no complications? It will be acceptable for you and I... for us...?"
Persuasively, using the tip of her tongue, she convinced him that lovemaking would not only be acceptable, but demanded.
"Jocelyn, I'm warning you. I intend to make love to you until dawn. Of course, if we need be creative, then I will be happy to oblige you. I have three months of lurid fantasies I wish to fulfill. Which way?"
Overlooking three startled novices, she pointed down the hill to her stone cottage. Reyn kicked the door open with his boot and set Jocelyn down long enough to close the door, tear the front of her gown from chin to toe and bury his head between her breasts. Unabashedly, she offered herself to him.
"Heaven help me." Gasping, he stepped back a foot to enjoy the naked vision before him. Her breasts, ripe from pregnancy, were thrust high, her nipples a shade darker than he remembered. As his eyes drifted downward, she crossed her arms in front of her distended abdomen.
"No, Jocelyn, let me look my fill. You are beautiful."
With callused fingertips, he traced a circle around each swollen nipple, wringing forth a whimper from her open lips. His hands joined to slide over her belly to the warmth that awaited him. He nearly spilled his seed then and there. Dropping to his knees, fully dressed, he loved her endlessly until she writhed against his mouth, seeking her release.
She tugged on his hair, frantic, and begged, "Reyn, come to me."
Ready to burst, more than willing to comply, he carried her to the small, unadorned bed to place her amongst the white embroidered pillows. Like a sailor returned from six months at sea, Reyn shed his clothing in little time under the appreciative eyes of his wife. His wife. He smiled. How that pleased him.
Jocelyn spoke genuinely and clearly as he knelt beside her. "Thank you for my life, your trust and your love. I love you."
"Jocelyn, you are my life, my heart. With luck, I will endeavor to make you happy until the day my final breath leaves my body."
"Then, husband, would you mind loving me? It has been entirely too long."
"Greedy wench, aren't you." He grinned, but happily obliged her.
Heedless of the call for evening vespers or the sounds of dusk, they lay entwined, content with the peace found only in one another's arms.