No sooner had she glanced down and found her plate empty, then he was hustling her up out of her chair.
"Mason," Oswald admonished, but was ignored as Mason took her elbow and practically lifted her off her feet as he propelled her toward his bedroom.
Once they were through the doorway, he slammed it shut and turned the key, lifting her up, so he was stood between her legs and pushing her back against the door. Linnet clutched at his forearms as he pressed up hard against her, breathing hard. "I'm going to take care of you, Linnet," he said in a low, steely voice. "You won't want for anything."
She blinked at him. His eyes looked so bleak, she wanted to comfort him. But when she tried to reach up to touch his face, but he grabbed her wrist and pinned it over her head.
"No, let me say my piece."
They stared at one another a moment in tense, pulsing silence.
Linnet swallowed, "Okay, she said and licked her dry lips. Immediately his gaze was riveted to her mouth. Then he groaned and crushed and his mouth to hers in an almost bruising kiss. Linnet moaned softly into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, accepting his kiss with enthusiasm. She would try and piece together their lives afterward. Right here and now, this was what she needed. She could feel instinctively that he needed it too. Desperately. Then everything would be okay, she just knew it. She cried out in disappointment when he pulled his mouth away from hers. "Mason," she whimpered, but he closed his eyes
"I need to say it, Linnet. I know I've been a selfish bastard, but you need to know I will provide for you."
"I do know that!" she burst out indignantly.
He stared at her, his breathing ragged. "Do you?"
"Of course!" She panted, and arched her back to press against him. "And I need you to take care of me right now," she shifted her hips to rub against him. Too many skirts, she thought distractedly. She was pressed against his hard lower belly rather than his groin. "Please Mason," she pleaded.
His eyes glowed and his grip on her adjusted slightly so that she slid down until she felt the bold thrust of his erection pressed where she needed it, up against the juncture of her thighs. She felt it even through the layers and whimpered, trying to press closer.
He sucked in a breath. "You want me Linnet?" he asked, his voice gravelly.
"Yes! She forced her eyes to meet his boldly even though her face was a-flame. Her mind cast about for the best way to entice him. "To .. to re-seal our bargain. In your bed." For a minute she thought she'd said the wrong thing. Oh gods, she almost groaned. After all, what did she have to bargain with now? Nothing. No title, no lands.
"Our bed," he corrected her gruffly, "Can bloody well wait." He released his hold of her thighs entirely this time and she slid down his body until her feet hit the floor. Then he dropped to his knees before her and lifted up her skirts.
Linnet panted as she felt his strong hands strip away her undergarments. His feet encircled her ankles to lift her feet to step out of them, but to her surprise he left her shoes and stockings intact.
"Shall I give you my mouth?" he asked. "I need you wet for this, sweeting," his words were dark with promise. "It's going to be rough."
Linnet bit her bottom lip, trying to find the courage to tell him she was already wet. "I-I don't think I need it," she admitted on a gasp.
He drew an unsteady breath and slid one hand up her thigh, watching her the whole time through gleaming eyes. When he found her wet core, he slid his fingers right into her making her cry out. "You're so wet," he said thickly and came to his feet, still holding her skirts bunched at her waist. "So beautiful," he said staring down at her exposed cunny. "And all mine." He brought his two fingers to his mouth and sucked on them, watching her reaction. "Of course, I owe you my mouth after last night," he said . "But I'll get to that later." His hands slid around to fondle her bare buttocks and Linnet's head fell forward to rest against his chest a moment as she tried to pull herself together. It was almost too much, this assault on her senses. He hauled her back up, pressing her back against the hard wood of the door. Supporting her with the hard muscle of his thighs. he reached down and started unlacing his crotch.
"Brace yourself, love" he said. "I'm about to fuck you like Sir Maurency did that tavern wench."
Linnet's head snapped up. "What?" she stammered. "That never..."
"Trust me," he growled, adjusting his clothing and then sliding one hand beneath her bottom to boost her up where he wanted her. He aligned their hips and then slid the head of cock until it was poised at her entrance, where she ached for him. He looked into her eyes as he eased into her inch by inch. "In real life he would have." They both panted and shifted against each other until he was fully sheathed inside her. Linnet wrapped her legs around him and he took her mouth again in a surprisingly tender kiss. Linnet pulled away first, gasping for a breath. "What if Sir Maurency was married?" she blurted.
He didn't miss a beat. "I saw her freckles Linnet. They are married," he groaned and thrust.
Linnet's clung to him. "You noticed the freckles," she said in slight dismay. She tipped her head back until it bumped against the wooden door.
"Of course I noticed them," he grunted, pounding his hips into her. "I'm obsessed with them. I only wish you'd given her more." He kissed her neck, her cheek, her forehead.
"More freckles?" she gasped, as she concentrated on the pleasure coiling deep in her belly. His pistoning hips, The feel of his big, warm hands, his greedy, hot mouth gliding over throat.
"I like my tavern wenches covered in them," he said huskily. "All over their bodies. All over their beautiful faces."
Linnet sobbed and he ran his hands down her silk covered bodice, squeezing and rubbing at her small, high breasts and then stroking down until he reached the slickness where they were joined. The fact she was still half clothed somehow added to the thrilling sensation of being ruthlessly taken. She wished she could feel more of his skin though. She slid a hand across his tanned collarbone to the warm pulse she could see fluttering in his neck.
"Just how close are you, my leopardess?" he whispered and rubbed the pad of his thumb against her. Linnet tensed and then cried out as her pleasure burst forth and engulfed her. She hung on for dear life as Mason hammered into her with renewed vigor, right the way through her own blissful tremors until at last he shouted his own release, pressing his hips forward and crushing her between his big hard body and the door as he spent himself inside her.
For a few moments the only sound in the room was their mutual ragged breaths. Then he kissed her temple and swung her round, crossing the room and dumping her on the mattress. He followed her down, kneeling between her outspread legs and lazily stripping off his tunic. Linnet lay too sated to worry about what view he was getting and the fact her legs were splayed. She concentrated on taking deep breaths as her eyes started to close. She felt too pleasurably exhausted. Too relieved by the shattering communion of their bodies. She gave a muffled exclamation when she found herself swiftly turned and dumped on her front. Then she felt his fingers at the lacings up the back of her sleeves.
"Who the fuck would put lacings in such a damn awkward place?" he muttered. "Did Postner make you this gown?"
"No," she murmured, her eyes drifting shut.
He slapped her on the rump and Linnet's eyes jolted open. "Mason!"
"Up wench, let's get this off you," he said sounding amused.
She grumbled as she clambered to her knees and he wrenched the yellow silk over her head. She vowed never to wear that wretched gown again! Her shift followed and then her shoes and stockings.
"Under the covers," he said stripping down the bed, but when she tried to comply, he caught her about the waist and hauled her back into his arms, so he could kiss down her spine and across her shoulder blades. Linnet giggled when he finally released her and scrambled under the cool sheets. Her eyes closed with a happy sigh. She could hear Mason stripping off the last of his own clothes before he slid in beside her, hauling her
into his embrace. She turned into his hard, warm body and snuggled closer as he kissed her cheek and wound his fingers into her hair.
"Are you going to sleep?" he asked suspiciously after a moment.
"No," murmured Linnet sleepily. She gently kissed his chest.
"Why are you so tired?" he asked. "It's not like you."
She didn't bother to answer him. Just curled her fingers round his upper arm.
"Usually this is the point where you annoy the living shit out of me with your ceaseless chatter," he observed.
Linnet raised her blurry gaze to his. "Well this time it's you that's the annoying one," she grouched. "Let me sleep."
He frowned. "We should talk, Linnet."
"I'm so tired," she yawned, gently thumping his chest. "You fell asleep on me last night."
He seemed to ponder this a moment. "True enough," he conceded. "You can sleep. For now."
With a thankful sigh, she drifted off into a deep, dark slumber.
XXXIV
The door creaked and Linnet's eyes flew open. Mason was coming through the door with a platter of fruit, a jug and two goblets. The room was dark. She wasn't sure how many hours had passed. There was a fire burning in the grate and he set the tray down, slipped out of his robe and re-joined her in the bed.
For some reason she lay still as he curled around her.
"Are you awake?" he asked in a quiet voice as his arm slid round her waist, drawing her back against him.
"Yes," she whispered.
There was a moment's silence before he said. "I'm sorry Linnet."
She felt a moment's panic. "For what?"
“I couldn’t do it,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Not even for you."
“Couldn’t do what?” she asked faintly.
His jaw tensed. “The noble thing."
Linnet tried to turn to look at him, but his grip on her tightened, holding her where she was. "The noble thing?” she repeated uncertainly.
“Give you up. Not now. Not ever.”
She absorbed this a moment, her heart thudding in her chest. He didn't want to give her up. "That would not have been noble," she said. "And that's not what I wanted you to do."
She wasn't sure he'd even heard her, he certainly gave no indication that he had.
"Here's how it is, Linnet." He gave her a slight shake. "You're still my wife and ... I'm keeping you."
Linnet decided to take a different approach. "Why?" she said. "Just tell me that."
"I already told you," he said stubbornly. "You're mine."
"But... I can't uphold my part of the bargain anymore," she said uncertainly.
He gave a short laugh at that. "Oh yes you can. You're still giving me sons."
"But ... there's no title anymore."
He shrugged.
"I'm not an heiress," she pointed out.
"No, you're not."
"But you still want me for a wife?"
"Yes."
She lay still a moment absorbing this. "Oh. very well," she said at last.
"Very well?" he repeated with a slight edge.
"If that's what you want."
She felt him come up on his elbow behind her.
"What of you?" he asked. "What do you want?"
"I want to know what happened after I fainted," she said firmly.
He released her and she shuffled up into a seated position against the pillows, pulling the blanket up to preserve her modesty.
"I picked you up," he said dryly, then reached behind him for a cup of wine for her and the plate of fruit. She took the wine and he placed the fruit on the covers beside her.
"But how did you answer the queen."
He stared at her a moment. "You heard my answer to the queen," he said with a frown.
Now it was her turn to stare. "No I didn't."
He took a swig of his own wine. "I answered the queen. You turned pale as a ghost and fell to the floor in shock."
"I didn't hear your answer to the queen," she said. The room was spinning and turned black before I passed out."
He frowned. "Even if that's true, it must be glaringly obvious how I answered, Linnet."
"I want to hear the words," she persisted.
He shrugged. "I said, 'the marriage still stands'."
Linnet felt a ridiculous sense of disappointment. "Oh," she said. To hide it, she took a sip of her wine. It tasted strong. She placed it on the side. When she turned back Mason was still looking at her and he didn't look very pleased.
"I suppose Sir Maurency would have said something a lot more flowery," he said with a thunderous frown.
Linnet felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. "Why do you keep bringing him up?"
He flung back the covers and sprang from the bed, reaching for his robe again. "Oh I don't know, maybe because you've been in love with him for the past eleven years?" he said bitterly.
"Where are you going?" asked Linnet in dismay.
He didn't answer her, merely strode across the bedchamber and slammed the door so hard behind him that it rattled in its hinges.
Linnet felt a flash of anger and injustice. Snatching up the top sheet of the bed she wrapped it round herself like a toga and then grabbing the biggest apple from the fruit bowl she stormed into the adjoining room where Mason was stood gazing moodily out of the window and flung it at his head. It whizzed past his left ear and bounced off the wall before rolling to his foot.
"Damn me, that female's always throwing things," complained Roland who was sat in front of the fire playing cards with his father and Oswald. "She threw a candlestick at my head this afternoon."
"Good for her," answered Oswald. "You deserved it."
"Well if it comes to that, Mason flung a goblet at my head yesterday and practically put a dent in the wall, so I guess they're well suited," boomed Baron Vawdrey.
Linnet ignored them. After all, she was a Vawdrey now, so she may as well get used to their ways. In fact, she thought narrowing her eyes, maybe she should join them. It must be nice to speak exactly what was on your mind without flinching. She turned to Mason and pointed a finger in his direction. "That's a ridiculous thing to say Mason Vawdrey!" she said loudly. "I was sheltered, not delusional!"
"Oh," he answered, turning to face her. "And pray tell me, what should I have declared to the entire world to keep you happy?" he demanded, his hands on his hips.
"Very well, I shall tell you," she said feeling a spark of anger. She folded her arms across her chest and took a deep breath. It was now or never. He would be disgusted, but she may as well take this opportunity to be totally honest. "What you should have said to the queen was this: 'I love this woman and I refuse to be parted from her, now or ever!" Linnet's chest heaved as the words flew from her tongue. "And - And I don't care about her bringing me no dowry - or the fact she's plain and little with no womanly charms and has ugly red hair or is absolutely covered in hideous freckles!" Her lip wobbled and suddenly it was all just too much. Linnet whirled on her heel and ran for the bedroom door as she felt the tears spilling over. She caught sight of Mason moving out of the corner of her eye, and desperately tried to get the door open before he caught her. Of course, she had no sooner wrenched on the door handle, then he was upon her his hands closing on her arms and spinning her round.
"I would never say anything so fucking stupid!" he snarled. "I don't care about the dowry," he continued in a low angry voice. He slashed one hand through the air. "I admit, that was why I married you in the first place, but it's not the reason I want to stay married to you now!" He cursed and rubbed his face. "At least," he hesitated. " I'm not even sure that I wasn't affected even then..." he broke off in confusion. "Almost from the first moment I clapped eyes on you ... I felt protective of you." He halted again with a scowl. "I know that doesn't make sense and I probably didn't act like it. But it's the truth. And I knew I wasn't good enough for you. But I married you anyway. And then ..." he hesitated and screwed up his eyes. "You were so ... sweet," he s
aid the word almost as if pained him. "And you'd been so cheated in life. And no-one understood you and yet..." he swallowed and gazed down at his feet a moment before looking back up wonderingly. "You just gave me all that sweetness you'd stored up all those years as though I .. as though I deserved it. And ... Almost in spite of myself, I found I wanted it. I wanted that sweetness so bad..." He looked up at her. "I still want it Linnet. I want all of it. All to myself. And I'm having it. I don't care what anyone else says. It's all mine."
Linnet blinked. Oh my gods. Was he saying...? He was . He was saying he wanted her. Linnet Cadwallader. With all her flaws and freckles and all. She collapsed back against the door staring up at him.
"Well I for one am heartily glad he never said that in front of everyone," said Roland after a moment's heavy pause. "He sounds like a fucking lunatic!"
"Shut up Roland," said Oswald mildly. "He's not mad, just in love."
"So that's what all this is about!" tutted Baron Vawdrey, his expression clearing. "Course I had my suspicions from the first. He was far too touchy about her. You could barely even mention the wench without him flying off the handle."
With an exclamation of irritation, Mason reached behind her and opened the bedroom door, pushing her back through it. As soon as he'd secured the door behind them she threw herself into his arms. "I love you," she breathed fiercely. "I didn't think you'd want to hear it, Mason but I do. I really do."
His arms closed around her tightly a moment and then he hoisted her up. "Oh no," he said. "You're not getting off that easily.." He strode over to the bed and dropped her onto the mattress where he started dragging the coverlet off her. Once he'd wadded it into a bundle and hurled it across the room, he pushed her back flat on the bed. "These freckles," he said, running his hands over her skin. "I absolutely forbid you to try and get rid of them Linnet. I thought I'd made it clear to you that I love them. No more remedies, no more quackery, they're part of you and that makes them mine."
"Very well," she said weakly. "If that's how you feel..."
"It is...!" he snapped, swinging a leg over her waist to straddle her naked body. He ran his hands into her hair. "And your hair," he said accusingly. "You fucking know I love your hair!"
Her Bastard Bridegroom Page 23