All You Could Ask For

by Angeline Fortin

“Yer so ready for me, angel,” he said huskily, pressing a hot kiss to her belly. “I want ye so.”

  Wordlessly, she pulled on his shoulders in assent and he lifted himself briefly, shedding his trousers, before moving on top of her. He settled between her thighs and looked down at her, brushing her hair from her face. His hand trailed lightly over her shoulder and down to her hip where he traced the ridged lines of her scars. Abby couldn’t help but tense, catching his hand.

  “Don’t,” he whispered gruffly. “Never hide. Yer so bonny, my angel. Every inch of ye is glorious.”

  He pressed against her, hard and insistent, and she wrapped her thighs around his hips once more. “Richard.”

  “My God, angel,” he panted in her ear, shaking his head. “I’ve never…ah, God!” He came inside her slowly with a groan that vibrated through his body. Abby felt him slide deeply, felt him fill her, stretch her. Her heart pounding in time with his, she tensed against a moment’s pain and then it was gone. All that was left was Richard possessing her.

  She sighed with contentment. Though her entire body thrummed with expectation, it was done. He was hers and she was finally his.

  Then Richard moved.

  Crying out in surprise, she clung to him as he began to move steadily within her. Magic sang through her body. Her cries became moans, her breathing hastened until she was gasping for air. Her heart was no longer pounding but racing as her body tensed, pleasure radiating through her belly and down her thighs. Richard ran a rough hand up her thigh and under her bottom, tilting her against him and lifting her leg even higher. He kissed her neck, licked and nipped at the tender skin there. Breathing heavily in her ear, he whispered huskily in a thick brogue, words of worship and encouragement, urging her to come with him.

  “Richard!” Abby cried out again as his pace increased.

  She felt lifted to highest heavens, facing the unknown but with no trepidation. Only expectation. Thrilling anticipation. Time suspended for a brief moment as she hugged him desperately against her. Her body exploded almost painfully, contracting around him, and his cry of release echoed hers as they flew together. She pulsed and throbbed as his drove roughly into her once more. He stayed there, his body tense as if he never wanted to part from her.

  Then he relaxed, wrapping his arms under and around her. He pulled her close, pressing tender kisses on her lips that Abby lazily returned. Running her fingers through his hair, she sighed deeply, thinking that a woman’s imagination was simply no substitute for the real thing. Never had she imagined anything so physically exhilarating or powerful, but it was only the pleasure he’d given her body that had surprised her so. Her heart had always known it would be like this. Her mind and soul seemed somehow fulfilled. Content.

  Richard lifted his head, releasing a deep breath over her head and she stared up at his neck, watching the muscles working there. She’d never felt so much happiness or such a sense of completion. Straining upward, she ran her tongue up the length of his throat tasting the saltiness of his skin.

  His breath hitched and he looked down in surprise only to find her smiling at him seductively. He’d never seen his prickly angel looking more lovely, so soft and warm. His member twitched in arousal still deep within her and Abby’s expression changed to one of surprise.

  “Did ye think that having ye just once would be enough to satisfy me?”

  A myriad of emotions crossed her face, but in the end, she merely shrugged with a siren’s smile. “Actually, yes, I suppose I did.”

  “Well, ye were verra wrong, angel.”

  Capturing her lips in a passionate kiss, he began to slowly move within her again, driving her to rapture once more.

  Chapter 29

  He’s more myself than I am.

  Whatever our souls are made of,

  His and mine are the same.

  ~ Emily Bronte

  Abby sighed blissfully as Richard held her in the circle of his arms. She had always known it would be wonderful and it was, even more so the second time than the first. He’d been so passionate, ravenous for her body. He had touched, kissed and even licked her in places she’d never thought would be so enjoyable…once her embarrassment had abated. In turn, she had wanted to do all those things to him as well. She wanted to give him the same joy as he had given her. In the past several hours, she felt that she had thoroughly explored every part of his body, but it would never be enough.

  Now that she had him, she wanted him forever.

  Idly caressing his chest, she imagined his big body next to hers each night. To feel that passion again and again, would make for a most fulfilling life. She couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful, more right.

  “Oh, God,” he moaned, his voice filled with a misery that was at odds with the bliss she was feeling. “This is so wrong.”

  Abby’s hand stilled with surprise, feeling the joy seep away. “W-w-what?”

  He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face before he turned to face her. “I didn’t mean to say that aloud. I’m sorry. It’s not you, angel. It’s not even this. It’s me. I’ve felt like this since I returned. “

  Pushing her hurt aside, Abby focused on what he was saying. The emotion on his voice was thick and much had been troubling him of late. More than just the nagging pain of his injury. She knew that.

  “What is it?”

  “I’m so wrapped up in you that I cannot focus on the one thing I need to do!” Richard ground out, curling his fist into his hair in frustration. “It’s not right that I am here in your arms while my brother, my friends, languish in prison. I should be spending each moment finding a way to save Vin. I should be on my knees begging someone to help him!”

  “Instead, you are here with me.”

  Abby stared at him, feeling his pain as if it were own. It tore at her soul more gravely than those horseshoes had ever torn at her skin.

  He turned on his side to face her, brushing her hair away from her face tenderly. “Don’t. Don’t even think it. I am pleased to have this with you, angel. You have given me more peace these past days than I have felt in a month. But you have also taken the urgency of it all away and that’s my fault,” he berated himself. “I’ve let myself be distracted to the point that I am almost glad that I haven’t yet found help. That I haven’t found a reason to leave.”

  “That’s not true,” she told him with utter certainty. “If I have given you a moment’s peace, I am glad for it, but I know where your focus truly lies. Where it has lain since your return to London. This is just your worry speaking, your frustration that you haven’t yet been successful. Don’t lose faith. I know in my heart you will see your brother again.”

  “I don’t deserve this,” he murmured, burying his face in her hair. “This happiness, when they have none. I’ll never forgive myself for leaving them. God, but I miss them.”

  If it caused her so much pain to witness it, she could only imagine how he felt. The loss, the pain…the uncertainty of the fate of his friends was probably more agonizing than if they had died in battle. Wrapping her arms around him, she drew him close, pressing soft kisses to his temple. Her heart ached for him knowing that it would never end for him until he knew for certain.

  “Richard…”

  “I’m so lost, angel.” His arms tightened around her almost desperately. “These past few weeks since I’ve been back have been some of the worst of my life. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  “I didn’t do anything,” she denied. “We’ve only seen one another a handful of times.”

  “Is that all?” he said with some surprise. “You have been in my mind so thoroughly that it seems like so much more than that. I feel as if I’ve been tossed about by a storm that is tearing me apart. You are the calm at the center of that storm, my angel. My salvation.”

  “I would do anything for you, Richard. For so long, I have…” Abby stopped, swallowing back the lump that was forming in her throat. She couldn’t say the words she longed to, kn
owing that she might soon be separated from him forever. “There is nothing wrong in taking a moment’s pleasure where you can find it. No one would ever censure you for that. Come, my love, let me help drive your troubles away.”

  Abby brushed her lips across his stubbled chin, across his lips. Her hands caressed and massaged his chest and shoulders as she continued to kiss him, humming soothingly until he gathered her in his arms and rolled onto his back. He wound her hair around his fist and drew her to him, his lips ravenously taking hers. His body was strung as tight as a bow, but she could feel his arousal growing beneath her and wiggled her bottom, undulating slowly until he was moaning passionately against her mouth. He grasped her hips and arched beneath her, grinding against her until she understood what he wanted her to do.

  Sitting up, she lifted herself and eased down taking his length inside of her. He felt larger this way, filling her almost painfully. Arching her back, she adjusted to the feel of him. Then he lifted her as he withdrew and brought her down to meet his upward thrust. She cried out, not in pain, but in ecstasy. He was with her then, a part of her. She could feel his desperation, perhaps more mental than physical, but the urgency of his body demanded that she match his fervor and Abby could not deny him.

  “Richard!” she cried out, her head flung back. Her hair tickling his thighs.

  He watched her in wonder as she rode him, drawing away the demons that chased him. Never had he imagined that such passion was possible, not only in a woman but also in himself.

  Her hair a tangled halo, she smiled down at him. Her eyes, bright and clear, and for a moment, his heart felt ready to burst. He saw the words in her eyes before they reached her lips. Felt them touch his heart before they touched his ears.

  “I love you, Richard. Always. Forever,” she whispered, and he stopped moving.

  The moment suspended.

  Looping an arm around her waist, he lifted her, turning until she was on her back beneath him. He stared down at her in wonder, his throat working but no words emerged. His chest ached and though his heart called for him to rub the pain away, he tenderly brush the hair away from her face. “Abby, I…”

  “Shh,” she whispered, caressing his cheek. “It’s all right.” She pulled him down for a gentle kiss, then another before she rocked her hips against his. Richard withdrew before plunging slowly back into her.

  Running his fingers into her hair, he pulled her head back and held her gaze as he worked within her at an agonizingly pace. His heart bolted ahead of him to the finish line, but he held back, plunging into her welcoming depths again and again. Still he watched her eyes and saw it finally, seeing what had always been there. Recognizing it for what it was and feeling an answering ache in his heart.

  Then he could hold back no longer, and neither could she. She urged him to go faster, her body wrapped about his, embracing her to him until she exploded around him. His release came on its heels and he felt the scalding heat pour out of him and into her welcoming body.

  Heat and so much more.

  * * *

  Abby felt Richard’s chest rise and fall again beneath her cheek for what seemed to be the hundredth time. He slept. She watched though she was exhausted by their love play. Exhausted by not only the physical but also the emotional toll the night had taken on her.

  Still, she hadn’t been able to sleep, not a bit through the night and now the sound of birds tweeting outside her window told her that dawn was imminent.

  Turning her head, she looked up at his face. Asleep, the tension, the worry, the hardships he had suffered were all erased. He looked younger, more like his score and six years. More like the lad she had always known. More like the man she had fallen in love with all those years ago.

  She loved him still, and now there was so much more of him to love. She’d always known he cared for others more than himself. He’d proven just how much this past week, a week that had seemed more like months, or as if they had never been apart these last six years, but instead had spent them learning about one another. Knowing each other.

  She understood him better than ever…even after she thought there was nothing more to learn.

  We all have our scars, angel, some more visible than others.

  She’d taken his words at face value that day, not understanding what he had meant. She did now. This was what scarred Richard the most. It wasn’t a saber wound or a bullet. It was guilt. Guilt that he’d left his brother, his comrades in peril. It would eat at him if he didn’t do something about it.

  He had to. He would never be able to move on with his life if he didn’t have that knowledge that he had truly done all he could. Even if his mission failed, at least he would know that he had done all in his power to save the others.

  As if he somehow sensed her eyes on him, Richard awoke. He smiled softly at her, running his fingers through her hair before a frown formed between his eyes. “What is it?”

  “You must go.”

  “What?”

  “Go find Vin. Find Jace and the others,” she added, feeling as if she were tearing at her own soul out even as she said the words. She would lose him, perhaps forever. It broke her heart to even think it, but she couldn’t tie him here. “You’ve done all you can here to get those responsible to do the right thing. The time for hoping is over. You need to take the problem into your own hands. You need to do it. Not only for them. I understand that.”

  “But this…”

  “Will always be here,” Abby interrupted, hoping it was the truth. “My father knows the Duke of Cambridge very well. I have asked him to intervene on your behalf. Cambridge is your last hope, is he not?”

  “Aye,” Richard said softly, though his body had tensed with something…anticipation, perhaps? “We hadn’t yet been able to track him down. We need the duke to drive our petition. Without him, no one else is willing to act.”

  “Father has agreed to beg the favor of the duke,” Abby went on. “I pray that he will say ‘yes’, and your problems will be solved. If he does not, I think you should return to Egypt straight away and search on your own.”

  “Francis and I had already spoken of going,” he confessed. “There is a Navy battleship leaving from Portsmouth for the Suez Canal just three days hence that we could gain passage on. It is all the Prince of Wales was willing to do to assist us.”

  “Three days?” she repeated numbly.

  Even in encouraging him to go, she had never considered that it might happen so quickly. Still, as much as it might break her heart, it needed to be done. She couldn’t bear seeing his pain any longer. She couldn’t draw out her own needs to hold him back.

  Swallowing painfully, Abby gathered up a reassuring smile. “Don’t you think you should be on it then?”

  “It might take longer than that for your father to meet with Cambridge,” Richard said. “Perhaps we should wait a bit longer. Just in case.”

  Tears burned behind her eyes, but Abby shook her head. She knew what he was offering…for her, but she couldn’t be so selfish. Returning to Egypt was something Richard had to do if he had any hope of being freed from his guilt. He had to go, it was as simple as that and she told him so.

  “We’ll see,” was all he said before encouraging her back into his arms. They lay there in silence for a moment, each with their own thoughts before Richard added, “I suppose we should get you home before your absence is noted.”

  Abby sighed reluctantly. She was where she wanted to be. “I suppose.”

  Chapter 30

  I can get on with wild beasts first-rate;

  But men rile me awfully…

  ~ Louisa May Alcott from Jo’s Boys

  “Put up the hood of your cloak as we ride, angel,” Richard whispered as they left his chamber. “It’s not yet light out, perhaps we can get you home without anyone noticing.”

  “Not much chance of that, I’d say,” a deep voice barked out and they both stopped guiltily in their tracks to find Jack about half way up the stairs before them.<
br />
  Jack was still in his evening clothes, though he was disheveled enough that it was clear he hadn’t been in them all night. Abby thought she should feel as much guilt for being caught with Richard, as Jack should feel at being caught in such a state. Since it appeared that he felt none, she refused to give into her mortification and crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest. Glaring at him even as Jack scowled back.

  “Just getting in, old chap?” Richard offered tauntingly as if he were of the same opinion as she. Abby admired his calm. To be sure, Jack looked fit to be tied.

  “You lied,” Jack said in a low menacing voice as he climbed the remaining stairs to the landing.

  Richard held up a hand, shaking his head. “Nay, I did not lie, Jack. I had no intention of seducing your sister. I swear to you.”

  “Jack, it’s my fault. I came here of my own free will. Richard did nothing that I didn’t beg him to do.” Abby reached out to her brother, then cringed back when her brother’s angry glower turned to her briefly. His eyes dropped then, and she looked down to see that her cloak had parted, revealing the tattered remains of her blouse.

  Jack’s black gaze targeted Richard. “You’re a dead man, MacKintosh.”

  “Jack, you’re being ridiculous!” Abby responded, stepping between them.

  “Nay, angel.” Richard took her hand. “It’s his right to do this. I knew I was doing the wrong thing and I will pay the price for it.”

  “It wasn’t the wrong thing,” she cried, wrapping her arms around him. “Was it? I love you, Richard. I always have. I went to Ascot all those years ago to find you, to see you. I’ve wanted this always, loved you always. It isn’t wrong. Tell me you don’t think it was wrong.”

  Richard looked down at Abby standing there in her voluminous cloak. She was nearly drowning in it, if truth be told. She didn’t look like a child playing dress up at all, but rather like a tousled woman who had been well loved through a long night. Her vivid turquoise eyes were wide with uncertainty but that love she spoke of was there, too. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek tenderly.