by Alex Ryder
She put her hand to her mouth. ‘Silly me. Oh, yes…this is even nicer.’
‘I’m pleased you like it,’ he murmured. ‘What do you think of the marble flooring and the pale green tiles and the gold-plated taps?’
‘Gold-plated taps! My! We are extravagant, aren’t we?’
‘And what about the huge, sunken, whirlpool bath?’
‘It takes my breath away.’
‘More than enough room for both of us, you’ll notice.’
She peered down at the soft grass, then looked up and smiled. ‘You’re definitely spoiling me.’
‘I intend to. Nothing will make me happier.’
She glanced around. ‘And what about the children’s rooms? Where are they?’
He walked another few paces and pointed. ‘One here and one over there, just by that large clump of ferns.’
She pouted in mock disappointment. ‘Only two?’
‘Well, they’re very large rooms, as you can see. I thought, one for the boys and one for the girls.’ He gave her another heated and lingering kiss, then murmured, ‘Of course we can always add more rooms as the need arises.’
‘Oh, well, that’s all right, then,’ she whispered happily. ‘Will our first child be a boy or a girl?’
‘Which would you prefer, darling?’
She thought for a moment, and looked up as a meteorite streaked across the sky to disappear over the western horizon. ‘A boy, I think. With dark hair and lovely grey eyes just like yours. Then again, a girl would be nice too. Sometimes boys need a big sister to keep them in line.’
Another star raced across the sky and he remarked, ‘Someone up there is having a party. That must be a good omen.’ Taking her gently by the arm, he led her a few steps on. ‘Well, here we are at the front door. And that’s the driveway, leading to the road behind those trees.’
Impulsively she reached up and put her arms around his neck. ‘It’s wonderful, darling, and I’ll make it into a home you can be proud of.’
He embraced her tightly. ‘I know you will, darling.’ He brushed his lips over her forehead, her eyes, her cheek, then her mouth, before murmuring, ‘I’m still wondering how I was lucky enough to find a girl like you. I can’t think of a single thing I’ve ever done to deserve you.’
‘That’s funny,’ she sighed happily. ‘I’ve been having the same thought about you. Perhaps it was just fate.’
‘Yes. Three cheers for fate.’
‘We didn’t get off to a very good start, though, did we?’ she reminded him nostalgically.
He grinned. ‘Never mind. We’ll look back on it one day and laugh. Wait until I tell our daughter of the night her mother dressed up as Trixie Trotter.’
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ she said, giving him a poke in the ribs. ‘I’d just have to tell her why I did it, and you wouldn’t like that, would you?’
‘Hmm… I think we’d better change the subject.’ He kissed her again, long and lovingly, and she could feel the need for him quickening in her breast. He began teasing her with his tongue and she readily opened her lips. Slipping her hands beneath his jacket, she put her arms around him and pulled herself closer until their two bodies were pressed together, sending waves of loving warmth throughout her being.
His mouth left hers and he gazed down at the moonlight shining in her hair, then very gently he laid a hand on her cheek and stroked it lightly. It was a simple gesture that told her more than mere words could do how much he loved her.
‘I keep wondering if this isn’t all a dream and any moment I’m going to wake up and find you gone,’ he murmured. ‘You’re like some beautiful goddess come to life in the moonlight.’
She pressed her mouth to his and nibbled at his lip, then whispered, ‘I’m no goddess. My name is Catriona Hind, the devoted wife and sole property of Mr Ryan Hind. I am his willing slave and he may do with me as he wishes, any time or any place.’ She smiled and lowered her eyes demurely. ‘Even here if he so desires.’
‘Now that sounds like an invitation I’d be churlish to refuse,’ he observed in a voice that sounded thick with sensual anticipation. ‘But what about the fairies? Or don’t you mind an audience?’
‘Oh, the fairies in Kindarroch are very understanding about these things,’ she whispered with a smile. ‘Besides, they’re very well bred and they’ll simply pretend that we aren’t here. Anyway, our honeymoon has begun so we won’t be doing anything to be ashamed of, will we?’
‘Oh, well, in that case…’ She arched her back as he kissed her neck and began unbuttoning her blouse. Suddenly he paused and grinned. ‘Do you realise that we’re standing in the front hall of the house? Shouldn’t we be doing this in the bedroom?’
She sighed dreamily. ‘Then you’d better carry me there, darling. I’m feeling very fragile.’
Effortlessly he lifted her and cradled her in his arms. He was as mad as she was, she thought. Gloriously, wonderfully mad. If this was what love did to you then may it last for ever. She clung to him and gazed into his eyes as he carried her the few steps then lowered her gently onto the soft grass.
There under the stars they made love. A love that somehow seemed to go beyond mere physical gratification. The feel of his hands on her naked flesh as they caressed and fondled…the sweet tremors throughout her body as his lips sought and suckled and fed on her own desire…the throbbing power of his manhood as her hand gently guided him into the sweet, moist warmth of herself…the feeling of breathless anticipation as he slowly but surely carried her higher and higher on a relentless tidal wave of unbearable ecstasy…and the shattering climax of release which left them both clinging to each other, gasping for breath.
For sweet, exhausted minutes they lay there, the sound of their beating hearts replaced by the soothing lap of the waves from the beach. Then he kissed her again, so sweetly and tenderly that she felt like crying with a happiness so intense it almost hurt.
‘Do you want to go back now?’ he asked softly.
‘No, darling. Not yet.’ She wanted to stay here like this for ever.
‘Good. Neither do I.’ He kissed her again softly then rolled onto his back and gazed up at the sky. ‘Why couldn’t we have met years ago? I’ll never forget this night as long as I live.’
She propped herself on her left elbow and ran her fingertips over the smooth skin of his chest. ‘I know you won’t. I’ll make sure of it,’ she warned him with a lazy smile. ‘And in any case, “years ago” I was just a spotty-faced schoolgirl you wouldn’t have bothered looking at.’ Her fingers moved playfully downwards to his stomach.
He reached up for her and pulled her down until he could kiss her on the breast making her shiver with pleasure. Gently she curled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down softly as his lips closed around her nipple.
After a moment she sat up, but she still couldn’t take her eyes off him. How beautiful he looked, stretched out below her. Long and clean limbed like some Greek god in repose in the moonlight. It was strange to think that he was the first man she’d ever really known. She’d never even had a proper kiss until she’d met him, and yet she knew in her heart that she could never have felt like this over anyone else. Nor would she ever for as long as she lived.
It couldn’t just be put down to luck that of all the men in the world she might have met he was the one who’d been there at the right time in the right place. Mere chance? Perhaps. Or then again perhaps it had been ordained in the stars right from the beginning.
Putting that thought aside, she lay down beside him again and rested her head on his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to the comforting and hypnotic beat of his heart.
No breath of wind stirred the warm blanket of the night, and her mind slipped in and out of that state of sweet drowsiness felt only by lovers in each other’s arms.
It might have been minutes or an hour later when she felt him take her hand and lay it gently on his manhood. She could feel the pulse as it began to enlarge, then she opened her eyes an
d stared into his mischievously. ‘Again?’ she murmured in happy surprise.
‘Too soon for you?’ he asked with a lazy smile. ‘If you’re too tired we can wait till later. We’ve a whole lifetime ahead of us.’
She held onto him with her right hand and gave a gentle squeeze, then sat up and looked down at him. Suppressing the urge to giggle, she said in a voice of concern, ‘Oh, you poor man—that must be terribly awkward. I mean, how are you going to get dressed in that condition? We can’t go back to the hotel with you looking like that, can we? People are bound to notice.’
He propped himself up on his elbows and rebuked himself with a grin. ‘That’s the trouble with having a beautiful, sexy redhead for a wife. I suppose I’ll just have to learn to keep it under better control.’
She put her finger on her chin and murmured thoughtfully, ‘That might not be such a good idea, darling. The last thing I want to do is to spoil your enjoyment. Anyway, if I’m to blame then I suppose it’s only right and proper that I do something about it.’
He grinned up at her. ‘I like your attitude. An understanding wife is the most treasured possession a man can have. I can see that our married life is going to be a tremendous success.’
He made to sit up, but she placed the palm of her hand on his chest and firmly pushed him down. ‘You’ve been doing all the work, darling. It’s only fair that I do my share.’ Slowly she moved until she was sitting astride him, then gently she guided him home and gazed down lovingly into his eyes.
Overhead the stars smiled down at them, and the sound of the sea caressing the beach was joined by the sweet, ecstatic sighs of two lovers in the night.
Morag had slipped away quietly without telling anyone, and now she sat on her seat by the fire with a cup of hot, sweet tea in her hand and a smile of contentment on her face. Her task was over.
When the sea had claimed Seumus only his physical presence had been taken from her. His love had remained because love never died. And neither did the spirit. It awaited its rebirth and the start of a new life in the physical world. This was the wisdom she had because of her ‘gift’.
It was this gift which had sent her the vision of the crowded church and the tiny child being baptised in the name of Ryan Hind. That had been over thirty years ago, and over the years she’d ‘watched’ the child grow to manhood. He was strong and courageous, and, like Seumus, he was a man capable of deep love and loyalty. But she’d also sensed tragedy and bitterness in his life. He’d been looking for the one woman who was capable of returning the love and respect he had to offer but it had seemed like an impossible dream.
Catriona was such a girl. Catriona had a spirit and strength to match his own and she too was capable of infinite love and tenderness. It was as if they had been fashioned for each other.
Well, Morag had succeeded in bringing them together and now they were man and wife. Oh, Ryan would be a wonderful husband, just as Seumus would have been. He would cherish Catriona all his life.
She sipped her tea and wandered over to the window. She stared dreamily out into the night. For too brief a time, at the ceilidh, when Ryan had ‘asked’ her to dance, she had been a young girl again in the arms of her husband.
She was coming to the end of her time now, but she knew that she’d live long enough to see Ryan and Catriona’s first child. It would be a boy with dark hair and blue eyes. And his name would be Seumus.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1129-2
REVENGE BY SEDUCTION
First North American Publication 2003.
Copyright © 1998 by Alex Ryder.
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