A long silent moment passed between them. Finally, Keely nodded.
Richard shrugged his bedrobe off and stood proudly before her in all of his masculine glory. Unfortunately, Keely refused to drop her gaze below his neck.
Richard's lips twitched with the urge to laugh, but he controlled himself. Instead, he affected a slightly pleading tone in his voice when he said, "Look at my body, Keely. Please?"
Slowly, Keely dropped her gaze from his broad shoulders to his magnificent chest covered with a mat of copper hair. Her gaze dipped lower to his tapered waist, but her eyes widened when she saw the apex of his manhood, which stiffened beneath her curious stare.
"May I touch you, sweetheart?" he asked, his voice a soft caress.
Keely lifted her gaze to his. For one awful moment Richard thought her maidenly fears would overrule her apparent curiosity. Then she nodded.
Richard stepped a hairbreadth closer. He reached out with one hand and caressed her silken cheek, then glided his fingertips down the column of her slender neck to her shoulders.
Everywhere he touched her burned. Keely closed her eyes and whispered, "I can feel the sun's warmth."
Richard smiled at that. Reluctant to frighten her by reaching for her breasts, Richard glided the tips of his fingers along their gentle swell and continued down her side to the alluring curve of her hips.
Keely sighed. "I do feel the summer's breeze," she murmured.
"If you wish to feel the dew," he whispered hoarsely, "then I must kiss you."
Keely opened her eyes. She smiled and nodded at him.
Ever so gently, Richard drew her into his embrace. Allowing her no time to think, he captured her mouth in a lingering kiss that stole her breath away.
Keely reached up, entwined her arms around his neck, and pressed her nakedness against his. For the first time in her young life, she experienced the incredible sensation of masculine hardness touching her female softness. And she liked it.
Without warning, Richard scooped her into his arms and placed her on the bed. Then he lay down beside her and gathered her into his embrace.
As his lips hovered above hers, he asked in a seductive whisper, "Shall I stop?"
"Not yet," she answered without opening her eyes.
Richard smiled with tenderness. His mouth claimed hers in a slow soul-stealing kiss that seemed to last forever. Swept away by his passion, Keely returned his kiss in kind. And then some.
Richard flicked his tongue along the crease of her mouth, and Keely willingly parted her lips for him. He explored the sweetness beyond them, and she surprised him by following his lead. Their tongues touched tentatively and then grew bold, swirling wildly together in a primitive mating dance as old as time itself.
"Can you feel the sun's warmth?" Richard breathed against her lips.
"Yes."
"Me too."
Keely moaned. His words tugged at her heartstrings and inflamed her blossoming desire.
Richard sprinkled dozens of feathery-light kisses on her temples, eyelids, nose, and throat. He held her tightly as if he wished never to let her go. His mouth returned to hers, and they kissed for an eternity. Richard caressed her silken body from the delicate column of her throat to her thrusting breasts to the juncture of her thighs.
Feeling her shiver, he whispered, " 'Tis the summer's breeze, sweetheart."
Again, his lips claimed hers in an earthmoving kiss. His hands caressed her as lightly and gently as the summer's breeze, while his lips moved down her throat and then beyond.
Capturing one of her dusky nipples between his lips, Richard suckled upon it and ignited a heat between her thighs that banished all coherent thought from her mind. Keely burned to be possessed by her husband.
"I need—something," she panted, her innocence making her ignorant of what she yearned for. But her husband knew.
"Spread your legs for me," Richard said, his voice thick with desire.
Without hesitation, Keely did as she was told. Richard kissed her thoroughly, and then, watching her face, he slowly inserted one long finger inside her.
Panicking, Keely opened her mouth to cry stop, but Richard was too fast for her. He covered her mouth with his own, drugging her senses with the urgency of his kiss.
When he judged her shock had passed, Richard inserted a second finger inside her. "Be easy, my love," he cooed to her. "Accustom yourself to the feel of it. You're so wonderfully tight. I want to make you ready to receive me.... Can't you feel the sun's burning warmth between your thighs?"
Without waiting for an answer, Richard dipped his head to her breasts and suckled upon each of her aroused nipples. His talented fingers began to move rhythmically and seductively inside her.
Keely relaxed, and catching his rhythm, she began to move her hips. She enticed his fingers deeper inside her writhing body and moaned her need. Her hips moved faster and faster. And then his fingers were gone.
"No," she whimpered, protesting their desertion, as her eyes flew open.
Richard knelt between her thighs. His engorged manhood teased the dewy pearl of her womanhood. Keely moaned at this incredibly sensuous torture and closed her eyes.
"Look at me, my love," Richard ordered, his manhood poised to pierce.
Keely opened her eyes and stared in a daze of desire at him.
"One moment of pain, my love," Richard promised. "Like a passing cloud blocking the sun's warming rays."
Richard pushed himself inside her with one powerful thrust and buried himself deep within her trembling body. Clutching him, Keely cried out in surprised pain as he broke through her virgin's barrier.
But she never said stop.
Richard lay perfectly still for several long moments, letting her become accustomed to the feel of him inside her. He began moving seductively, enticing her to move with him.
Keely wrapped her legs around his waist as innocence vanished and primal instinct surfaced. She moved with him and met each of his powerful thrusts with her own.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, a thousand suns exploded inside Keely. Wave after wave of volcanic sensation carried her to paradise and beyond.
Only then did Richard unleash his own powerful need. Clutching her tightly, he groaned and shuddered and poured his potent seed deep within her womb.
They lay still for long moments, their labored breathing the only sound in the chamber. Richard finally rolled to one side, pulling her with him, and planted a kiss on her forehead. He gazed with budding love at her wondrous expression.
With her heart shining in her eyes, Keely looked at her husband and said, "Stop."
"Stop?" Richard cocked a copper brow at her as his emerald eyes lit with amused surprise.
He was unable to suppress the chuckle bubbling up. Within three seconds, his chuckle gave birth to a howl of hearty laughter, and his shoulders shook with uncontrollable mirth.
"You're shaking the bed," Keely said, and then dissolved into giggles.
Richard pulled her across his chest. One of his hands massaged the fragile nape of her neck while his lips claimed hers in what he intended to be a passionate kiss; but for the first time in his life, the worldly wise earl laughed into the mouth of the woman he was kissing. Surrendering to the inevitable, he pulled his wife down on top of him and stroked her back while he tried to tame his mirth.
Keely rested her head against the mat of dark copper curls that covered his chest. She heard the rhythmic beating of his heart and sighed with contentment.
Lifting the gleaming pendant from between her breasts, Richard asked, "Do you always wear the dragon?"
"I shall never willingly remove my mother's legacy," Keely answered.
"You loved her very much."
"I still do. Love lives for all of eternity. It cannot die with the loved one's passing."
Richard felt strangely comforted by that thought. " 'Tis time for sleeping," he said.
"I'm not tired." In fact, every nerve in Keely's body tingled in a wild riot, the natural by-p
roduct of her husband's lovemaking.
"I have a gift for you," he said.
"And I for you," she replied in a soft voice.
With no regard for modesty, Richard rose from the bed and walked across the chamber. Keely lingered there a moment longer and admired her husband's magnificent body with its broad shoulders, strong back, tapered waist, and firm buttocks.
Feeling her eyes upon him, Richard glanced over his shoulder and winked suggestively at her.
Keely blushed and leaped off the bed, then remembered her own nakedness. Grabbing her husband's discarded bedrobe, she quickly covered herself. Keely heard his husky chuckle and cast him a quelling look before heading across the chamber to her own belongings.
They rendezvoused at the bed. Refusing to relinquish her husband's bedrobe, Keely sat on top of the coverlet and tucked her legs beneath her. Richard sat with his back resting against the headboard and covered his more interesting features with the coverlet.
"Happy wedding day, dearest," Richard said, handing her the smaller of the two packages in front of him.
Keely opened the lid of the lacquered box and stared at its contents. On a bed of blue velvet lay the most beautiful brooch she'd ever seen. A gold flower basket filled with love-in-a-mist, the brooch's blossoms had been created in sapphires, amethysts, and diamonds.
Looking up at his expectant expression, Keely said in a voice no louder than a whisper, " 'Tis worthy of a queen."
Richard leaned forward and planted a sweet kiss on her lips, saying, "You are my queen."
Keely stared at the brooch and valiantly blinked back the sudden tears that filled her eyes, but her bottom lip trembled with the effort. Once again she wondered what the earl would do when he realized he'd married the wrong woman. She could never fit into his world, nor would his world accept her for what she was. By God's holy stones, she didn't even know how to dance.
"Open the other," Richard said.
Keely shook her head. She pasted a bright smile onto her face and insisted, " 'Tis your turn, my lord." She offered him one of two packages and added apologetically, "I fear 'tis not so fine as what you've given me."
"I'll be the judge of that," Richard said, opening the box. A heavy band of gold with an immense red carnelian stone stared up at him.
"As you already know, the carnelian protects its owner," Keely told him.
Richard handed her the ring and then gestured for her to slip it onto the third finger of his left hand, saying, "Thank you, Keely. I will cherish it... por tous jours."
"For always," Keely whispered, slipping the ring onto his finger. With irrepressible mischief shining in her eyes, she added, "I couldn't ask His Grace for money because
I wasn't speaking to him at the time. So Odo and Hew robbed a fancy lord along the Strand. I do hope the fact that the ring is stolen doesn't bother you."
"Your cousins stole—?"
Keely burst out laughing. "I'm teasing."
" 'Tis a magnificent gift, but not quite as magnificent as your amethyst eyes," Richard told her. "Did you know that the amethyst represents virtue?"
Keely shook her head. "What about emeralds?" Like your eyes, she thought.
"Emeralds signify constancy."
I hope so, she thought but said nothing.
Richard offered her his second gift. "In view of your unusual beliefs, I thought you could use a bit of redemption," he teased.
Wearing a puzzled smile, Keely unwrapped the package. "A book?"
" 'Tis Lives of the Saints."
Instead of laughing as he'd expected, Keely frowned at the book without really seeing it. She recalled the gibberish she'd seen that day in the study and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. Her husband knew she was a penniless bastard. What would he now think upon discovering she was also ill-educated?
"Is there a problem, dearest?"
Keely heard the concern in his voice. Too embarrassed to meet his gaze, she stared at his chest and confessed, "My lord, I am unable to read any language but English."
"I know," Richard said, his expression tender. "If you look closely at the book, sweetheart, you'll see that I've translated Lives of the Saints into English."
Keely smiled with relief and held the book in her arms almost reverently. "What a wonderful gift. I've never owned a book before."
"Will you read it?"
"Someday."
"Soon, I hope."
"In view of your lack of faith," Keely said, handing him her second gift, "I decided you could use a smidgeon of salvation."
Richard unwrapped the package. Puzzled, he stared at it for a long moment and then, realizing what it was, shouted with laughter. Richard unfolded the hooded white ceremonial robe and caressed his bride's handiwork, his initials R and D embroidered with golden threads.
"Will you wear it?" she asked.
His lips twitched. "Some night," he promised.
"Soon, I hope."
Richard pulled her down on the bed and stroked her back, saying, "You must be exhausted, sweetheart."
Keely shook her head but rested her cheek against his chest. "Your advice about forgiving my father was correct," she said. "I feel as if a tremendous weight has been lifted off my spirit."
"And so does he, my love."
He'd called her "my love," Keely thought. Did her husband harbor tender feelings for her? Or were his words a figure of speech, another English custom of which she was unaware?
"What are you thinking?" Richard asked, noting her troubled expression.
Keely reared up and faced the object of her thoughts. Nose to nose with him, she asked, "Would you have stopped if I'd asked you?"
His hand paused in its stroking. Richard gazed into her eyes and lied, "Yes, dearest. Your merest wish is my command."
Keely arched an ebony brow at him and then gifted him with a sweetly flirtatious smile. "What if I say start?"
A devastatingly lazy smile spread across his handsome features. Richard gently flipped her onto her back and, with his sensuous lips, wiped the smile off her face. An hour later they dropped into a sated sleep.
Richard awakened during those hushed magical moments before dawn when the world still slept. Without bothering to open his eyes, he moved toward the middle of the bed in search of his wife's hot little body. It wasn't there. One emerald eye opened first, and then the other. Where the bloody hell had she gone? Richard rolled over and saw her.
Naked, with her ebony mane cascading to her waist, Keely stood in front of the window and gazed outside at the dawn. The palm of her hand rested against the window glass, and her lips moved in a silent chant.
The hint of a smile touched Richard's lips. His wife was greeting the sunrise, as she'd said she did each morning of her life.
Richard arose and padded on bare feet across the chamber. Holding the veil of her ebony mane aside, he brushed his lips along the nape of her neck and sensed every fiber of her being smile a good morning greeting to him.
Without shame or modesty, Keely leaned back against the hard muscular planes of his body. His strong arms encircled her and cupped the perfect globes of her breasts, his thumbs flicking seductively across her sensitive nipples.
Feeling her sharp intake of breath, Richard smiled inwardly and asked, "What do you see?"
"Beyond the horizon." Her voice sounded soft and dreamy.
"What lies beyond the horizon, my love?"
Keely turned within the circle of his embrace. She entwined her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips, then answered, "Our daughter Blythe has begun her long journey to us."
Richard gave her a puzzled smile. What she said made no sense at all, but by now he'd known her long enough to realize that any explanation she offered would only confuse him more. So he nodded once, accepting her words without question.
"What would you like to do on this first full day of our married life?" he asked.
"Our marriage needs a propitious beginning," she answered gravely. "Duty requires that we ret
urn to Devereux House. Oh, and we'll need a barge large enough to carry Merlin. She must accompany us."
"Why?" Richard asked, already regretting the need for an explanation.
" 'Tis an ancient Welsh custom," Keely explained. "When a bride walks her horse through her husband's home, good luck follows."
Laughter lurked in his voice when he asked, "You think to march Merlin through Devereux House?"
Keely nodded.
"She'll conduct her business on my floor," Richard argued.
"Merlin is a well-mannered lady and would never even consider so foul an action," Keely assured him. "Besides, 'tis important for the well-being of our marriage."
Richard absolutely refused to allow a damned horse into his house. Nor did he intend to pass the day arguing with his wife about it.
"Cheshire and your father will be wed this afternoon," he reminded her. "We haven't the time to journey to Devereux House. Will this venerable custom await our homecoming at a later date?"
"I suppose so," she answered with an uncertain frown.
Richard stepped back a pace and held his hand out in invitation, saying, "Come to bed."
Keely dropped her gaze from his emerald eyes to his hand and then his manroot, lying flaccid at his groin. She reached out slowly and said, "My lord, you carry a beauty mark on the top of—oh!" Beneath the light touch of her fingertip, his manhood stiffened, surprising her. "Why, it has a life of its own."
"This randy fellow makes no move without my knowledge and approval," Richard said. "What you see is a freckle, clearest. Ladies have beauty marks, and gentlemen have handsome freckles."
Richard scooped her into his arms and carried her across the chamber. He tossed her unceremoniously onto the bed and, with an exaggerated growl of lust, fell on top of her.
Keely and Richard passed the whole of the morning and part of the afternoon basking in the sun's warmth and sighing at the gentle summer's breeze. All within the kingdom of their bed.
Chapter 13
"Are you ready?" Richard asked, entering their bedchamber. " 'Tis late."
At the sound of her husband's voice, Keely turned away from the window and stood motionless while he stared at her. His awed expression pleased her immensely.
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