"I'll always be by your side, love you forever," Simon declared fiercely. "They're not going to separate us. Not now, not ever. We were fated to be together, truly. I'm going to get well for you, for us, my love, I swear it."
"Yes, yes, for us," she agreed, stroking his tousled hair back from his brow.
His golden gazed blazed intently. "Just promise me, whatever happens in the next days and weeks, whatever happens between us, all of this was real, and true, this pure love between us, this power, this, this madness..."
"I promise. Oh, Simon, ohhh..."
As he felt himself stir within her once more, he made love to her all over again, slowly and thoroughly, so that much later, when she cried out his name again for the dozenth time, begging and pleading with him to give her all his love, and he could hold back no longer, Simon knew Gabrielle was right.
Their joining and blending into one was like the union of two halves of a whole, and they could never be complete without one another again.
Chapter Fourteen
Simon managed to restrain himself as best he could their first night together, at last allowing them to drift off to sleep after his intense campaign to pleasure her, in order to give her every consideration due an innocent young virgin, as well as a passionate interlude in her life she would never forget no matter what the future might bring.
He was also careful to ensure that he pulled out of her undulating body, so as not to leave her with anything she might regret later.
After their remarkable first night, he woke before her, took the basin and a sponge she had brought as part of her supplies, and tenderly cleaned her as she had him.
After that Simon patiently stroked patted and rubbed her until she roused from her slumber and climaxed three more times. For her fifth time he finally acceded to her pleading and moved within her carefully, teasing her in tiny sections of her inlet of desire until she could take the whole of him within her swollen folds.
He was undeniably huge, but his care and talented fingers as he rubbed the nubbin of flesh at the front of her mound was enough to have her whole body open to him gracefully.
Afterwards they were stunned by the power of their ardor as the whirlwind swept them up in its stormy swirl once more, and then they floated back down to some semblance of reality, and slept.
They slumbered until nearly six, when she heard Clarissa rustling in the corner and saw a hand come through with some bags of water and food.
"Everything all right?" Clarissa whispered.
"Fine. Just tired."
Clarissa laughed softly. "I'll bet. And hungry too, I'll warrant. I won't interrupt. Spence and the other guard are more than busy in one of the empty cells the girls found. So enjoy yourselves, and I'll see you later."
Gabrielle began to sponge herself down, washing the sweet stains of sensuality from her thighs, and took a nibble of some bread and cheese.
She looked through the supplies, clean linens, pen and paper, and more books, and even a tiny chess and draughts set. Clarissa really had remembered everything for her new if grim home.
But it would be worth it to be with Simon, she thought, as she gave herself a last swipe with the sponge and put the basin to one side.
When she returned to the bed Simon was gazing at her as if he had seen the Second Coming. She realised with a blush he had probably been watching her perform her toilette all along.
As she approached he raised one hand to her cheek and she melted into his arms once more. He manouevred her into the bed and lifted the backs of her knees onto his shoulders and began to nuzzle her tiny curls.
Gabrielle would have protested out of shame that her ablutions had been rudimentary at best, but he seemed to take such pleasure from what he was doing that the words died on her lips as her body came to life under his.
"You're so lovely, so beautiful, ma cherie. The taste, the smell, c'est magnifique. I worship you," he murmured, in between long slow licks with his tongue.
The small bud at the top of her thighs drew lavish attention and praise as well, and once again his talk was of roses as he delved into her most intimate flesh. His tongue teased the very entrance to her secret centre. Her petals glistened and swelled like a flower coated in morning dew burgeoning to meet the torrid kiss of the hot sun.
Simon's endearments and tenderness brought moisture to her eyes as well as loins, for here was beauty indeed. The loving they shared, the gift of pleasure he was giving so freely, was like nothing she had ever known or dared dream of. This had to be love, not mere lust. Love with a stranger....
And yet not so strange, for with every passing moment together, they grew more intimate, unified into a perfect whole.
One hand travelled up over the gently sloping plain of her stomach to stroke one breast, while the other began to rub her ever so delicately below. Then her hips were bucking up against his mouth. His tongue filled her as she soared and soared.
Just when she thought she could stand no more, one long middle finger pressed into her and curled, and she ascended into the heavens once more. His ring finger joining the other deep within had her grasping his head, desperately trying to pull the maddening tongue away from her inflamed mound.
Yet still Simon kept on giving, until finally he could bear the pressure in his loins no more. Her passion notched up still higher as his shoulders drew level with her own. Her legs wrapped around his as he moved up even further until the velvet tip of his hot sex burned into her like a brand. Her hips rose to meet his tumultuous stroke.
But he wasn't finished titillating her yet. Her whole body went on fire as he rubbed the entire outside of her, only occasionally peeping in the engorged head for the merest maddening second. She clawed his back and buttocks, begging until she was hoarse. All he did was laugh and chide her for her impatience.
"I want this to last for hours, my love."
She almost wept with frustration. "Hours? I can't bear..."
"You can. A woman is capable of an infinite variety and multiplicity of climaxes. I want you to have them all. If you're frightened or it hurts, you must tell me. But otherwise I'm just starting gently and making it build until you tell me to stop."
"But your own pleasure. And, well, your condition." She gasped as he dipped into her again. She had never seen anyone so in control even in the throes of what had to be the most hellish temptation.
"There isn't much I can do to repay all your love and kindness. I'm nothing and no one without you, darling. And I have nothing else to offer, nothing else to give you except my love, all of me, heart and soul and body. Please allow me to at least try to repay you with the joy only a woman can feel, only a man in love can give.
"As for me, I'm fine at the moment. I may alter radically tomorrow or the day after that, but for now I'm well. And I take such pleasure from yours, it's like a taste of paradise. Watching you writhe under me, hearing your sob of passion, well, you can see what you do to me."
His sex brushed against her and she could instantly feel the difference. Where he had been huge before, he was now so desirous she was sure he would never fit.
But he patiently moved in deeper and deeper with every minuscule movement of his hips, teasing the first couple of inches of the entrance to her secret cove until she lost track of how many zeniths she reached. She tried to pull him in, but he laughed and shook his head.
"You can press here to stop me from climaxing," he said, guiding her index finger to the solid base of his shaft. "Or you can pull on my orbs gently like that to stop me."
"But what can I do to bring you on?" Gabrielle asked tenderly.
He smiled down at he, love etched in every feature of his handsome face. "Anything and everything. The sound of your voice, the lightest touch of your hand, the spark in your wonderful eyes as you look at me tenderly without fear or disgust. All that and more. You don't even have to try.
"But if left to myself, I would take my pleasure in two seconds and you would be left stranded on the shore of you
r vast ocean of desire, and that would never do.
"So I have to take you by the hand and lead you, ride the tides with you. Show you the rock pools, eddies, the swirling currents of your own sensuality. The spring and neap tides. Always flowing, never still. And like a master mariner, I want to pilot you safely between the Scylla and Charybdis of love and passion."
She stroked his cheek, moved at the beauty of his metaphors. "But Simon, must I be led?"
"You're so young and innocent. We wouldn't want you to drown or be run aground," he said lightly, continuing his poetic metaphors.
Gabrielle felt a pang. How many other women had he done this with, or for? Awakened to their own bodies? Their wellspring of voluptuousness?
As if sensing her thoughts, he breathed, "I've only ever sailed these uncharted waters with you, my love. Like Venus rising from the waves, you've come to me. I am naught but a poor shipwrecked wretch as abandoned and alone as Ferdinand in The Tempest, cast away like unwanted flotsam. Like Caliban, a miserable wretched creature. Or at least until your tender little hand reached out to save me from drowning.
"I was barely even a man any more until you came to me, bathed me, cleansed my body and soul. You've brought me the gift of your love, your pretty pink seashell full of all sorts of hidden delights and promises.
"And I in turn have gifted you with my whole heart and soul, and am ever ready to revere and worship my goddess with my body in this miraculous act of love."
Gabrielle never been so moved in her life. There was no doubt about it. He had the soul of a poet, and he loved her. No one could say such words only for the purpose of seducing her.
In any event, he already had. Or had she him? He didn't need fine words to entrap and trick her. He was already where he wanted to be.
"Oh, Simon, I do love you so."
"Ah, the magic words indeed, to make our enchantment complete."
He bowed his head now to kiss her fully on the mouth. As his tongue probed sinuously, Gabrielle's whole body opened to him. The almost unbearable pressure below filled her until there was no room for a single rational thought. Nor ever again even a tiny doubt.
She gasped into his mouth as the tide of sensation crashed through her. He climaxed so powerfully within her lush cave of delights that she could feel him pulsing into her in time with the violent beating of her heart.
At last Simon was still within her and lowered her legs, lying full on top of her, his huge body's weight a caress all of its own. Gabrielle couldn't believe something so simple could arouse her so violently all over again. Especially since she was so boneless, in thrall to her passions, that even looping her arms around his shoulders and waist seemed to take superhuman strength.
He wasn't finished with her yet. He stroked his cheek along hers, kissing her as though starving. Then his mouth dipped to tease her breasts in his maddeningly leisurely fashion. All the while she could feel him filling her once more. Only this time he pressed so deeply within her that her breath caught in her throat.
Before she couldn't move because her legs were riding around his elbows. Now she was his sensual prisoner once more, pinned by the weight of his heavy hips. His abdomen massaged her without whilst his manhood massaged her within.
Still he pressed in deeper and deeper. She urgently tried to wriggle up into the curve of his body, but she was trapped and only able to follow where he was leading. The sensation rendered her even more wild with need.
The torrential outpouring of desire was even more remarkable than their previous joining. She was certain if he hadn't covered her mouth with his own she would have screamed like a wild thing.
The ecstasy rolled through her, wave after wave of rapture, and still he kept moving. Finally she grabbed both his buttocks and pushed down hard, ramming her hips upwards with all her might.
They both blazed together, sparks flaring ever higher, their need white hot as they flailed helplessly in the tide of tempestuous bliss. A groan was torn from his lips as he surrounded her, his arms wrapped around her so tightly, Gabrielle was sure he would never let her go.
"Oh, thank you," she wept, when she could speak at last.
"Thank you. I've never... You're so beautiful," he panted, smoothing the damp auburn tendrils back from her brow.
"So are you," she said, stroking back his own ebony locks in turn. "I love you, Simon."
"I know, I can feel it. Your heart beating, embracing me, making me one with you forever. I love you too, Gabrielle, oh, how I love you." He blew out a shaky breath and laughed. He kissed her more gently now, careful not to rasp her with his bristling beard.
When he broke it off some time later, he sighed. "I must be crushing you."
"No, you're fine. Please stay."
"I daren't. I'm going to get worse soon," he warned, withdrawing from her gently and carefully with one final loving kiss.
She nearly cried out in frustration as they separated. For it was as though she could never be truly whole again without the indescribable melding into one which only her beloved could give.
"Can you do something for me, darling?" he asked softly.
"Anything," Gabrielle replied.
"Roll over so I can kiss your back?"
"Certainly."
She moved to her belly on the narrow cot and then his hands were upon her, kneading all her most sensitive flesh like a master baker. Her already limp limbs ceased to work at all. His beard and mouth stroking down her spine tautened her nipples and dewed her thighs. He licked down her back and kissed each ivory globe worshipfully. Sitting back on his heels he raised her hips slightly. With a gasp from them both he was inside her.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I need you so. Want to thrill you." His hand had moved from her bottom up to one breast and the other slid around to her velvet tracery.
She lay prostrate, powerless to move, or even touch him fully. Now he set up a mind-shattering rhythm which had her biting the pillow to keep from crying out.
"Simon! Please, oh please," she sobbed.
"What is it, love?" he asked in alarm.
"No, don't stop, just kiss me, please!"
He scooped her tightly to his groin and turned them onto their sides, the better to tease her nipples and whorl as he spread her legs. She turned her head around as he twined his neck with hers, and their lips met at last. She panted her passion into his mouth, his name like a prayer and benediction as he filled her over and over again inexorably.
One last arching of her hips drove him too deeply to resist her any longer, and they saw a comet blaze across the indigo darkness and explode into a million stars.
He was almost weeping as he pulled her so tightly to him that she was sure there was no part of their bodies that didn't touch. He kissed her neck and shoulders and nibbled her nape with his warm open mouth until her skin shimmered with desire.
"What is it, darling?" she asked softly, as she heard him try to choke back a sob.
"I never imagined, never knew such joy could exist. Loving and being loved. And it's not just physical. It's like being reunited with something I thought I'd lost. Something that had been taken from me. Amputated even. Severed.
"I wasn't whole, I was fragmented. Just little scattered pieces. Now you've integrated me back into some semblance of a human being. And back into the world of the living."
"Not yet, but soon, I promise," she declared.
She turned over to face him and caressed his damp cheeks. "I don't care who they say you are or what they claim you've done. I love you, Simon, and I'm never going to leave you. Never going to let you go, no matter what."
He kissed her softly on both eyelids. "I know you say that now, my treasure, but circumstances may alter radically, for one or the other of us. It's good of you to offer, but we may be dragged or driven apart. They will come. I can sense it. We have some time remaining. But they will come for me, and will probably kill us both if they ever find you here."
"What harm can a mere prostitute do to them if the
y're as powerful as you say they are?"
He heaved a huge sigh. "The mere hint of being found out will be enough. But we do have some time. So if my life is going to end soon, selfish though it is, I'd like to make the most of the time we have left." He showered her with kisses and she sighed happily.
"It's all wonderful. I adore you. But is there, well, is there anything you can teach me about what pleases you?"
He flashed her a wide grin. "There are a couple of things a complete innocent like you might not be aware of which I shall be happy to teach you one day if I ever find my interest flagging or need variety. But for the moment, I think I'll just lie back and let you discover it all for yourself."
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 6 Page 15