“Make love to me.”
“Amazing, and all I needed to do was use pretty words.”
“No…” Sofia brushed a kiss across his lips. “…all you needed to do was admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“That you can’t live without me.”
“I’d think it was quite obvious that I would be dead without you.”
As if suddenly remembering he was injured, she pulled back and winced. “Do the wounds hurt?”
“Yes.” Ash nodded emphatically. “In fact, if you could just rub your hands across my naked skin, I would feel so much better.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Common war practice.” He coughed. “Do you feel that chill? Better shrug out of your gown and lie down next to me. We don’t want me catching a chill and dying.”
She rolled her eyes and then stood.
“Well, blast, it was worth a try.” He chuckled.
With a wink, she shrugged out of her simple gown and dropped it to the floor, followed by her shift.
Throat drier than a desert, Ash stopped laughing. “You’re beautiful,” he croaked. “So beautiful.”
“And you, my long lost prince…” She kneeled in the bed, hovering over him. “…are you… chilled?”
“Frozen.” He hissed. “Can’t feel my legs.”
“We’ll have to remedy that.”
“Yes, well, it isn’t just my legs bothering me…”
“Ah, feeling lucky, are we?”
He pulled her down with him. “Very much so.”
He kissed her hard on the mouth, their tongues tangling as he pulled her as hard as he could across his own body.
A knock sounded at the door.
Sofia squealed.
Ash cursed.
The door opened.
And in walked The Beast.
Along with Pierce and Hunter.
Bloody hell, he may have survived the fever, but there was no way he’d survive this.
“Name your second!” Hunter shouted with a wink, while Pierce raised his hand as if to offer.
“Damn… so close,” he muttered to himself just as Dominique stomped toward the bed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
I am whole. —The Grimm Reaper
SOFIA ROLLED HER EYES as Dominique’s glare chilled the room. He paced by Ash’s bed side, stuffing his hands in his pockets, while Sofia brought the blankets closer to her chest. Could they at least quit the room so she could become presentable?
“You will marry her!” Dominique finally roared, loud enough to break every mirror within the house.
Ash and Sofia shared a look; she bit her lip to keep from laughing while Ash nodded emphatically. “Of course.”
“And you will—”
Dominique stopped mid-sentence, his eyes narrowing. “Yes, well, all right. The wedding will be immediate, the bishop has already been contacted to dispense with the details.”
“Perfect.” Ash’s grin widened.
“Bloody hell.” Hunter looked heavenward. “Show a bit of compassion, old chap.” He slapped Dominique’s back. “The man hasn’t been with a woman for ten years! He, of all people, is allowed one indiscretion.”
“Or five.” This from Pierce.
Dominique growled while Ash peered around the men and sent a glare in Pierce’s direction. But the man was, at the moment, staring at the ceiling as if inspecting it for cracks.
“Ten years,” Dominique said in a low tone. “You are able to wait one more day, are you not?”
“Not,” Sofia answered sweetly.
Ash cursed under his breath.
“He did almost die.” Hunter winked at Sofia.
“Yes, the fires of hell licked at his heels!” Pierce announced loudly. “And behold! He returns after true love’s kiss and is ready to claim his bride!”
“We need to find a wife for Pierce. It’s uncomfortable how close he is to that damn horse,” Hunter mumbled under his breath.
Pierce scowled.
“Death will be in your future if you touch her.” Dominique pointed his finger at Ash’s face. “And Sofia?”
“Yes?” She tilted her head while Dominique averted his eyes to keep from looking at her bare skin, or what was exposed of it.
“You will clothe yourself and return to your rooms where you’ll have dinner brought to you. Tomorrow you wed. Tonight, I’m locking you in your tower.”
“Ah, splendid.” Hunter clapped his hands. “Give him a challenge, why don’t you. After all, lovemaking is so much more exciting when one sees it as a prize.”
Ash’s nostrils flared as he glanced in Sofia’s direction. Her entire body heated from that one gaze.
“Impossible.” Dominique shook his head. “I’ll simply keep her guard at the door. They’ve done a good enough job every evening, haven’t they?”
“Yes!” Ash and Sofia said in unison.
Dominique’s eyes narrowed. “Tomorrow. Now, Sofia, I trust you are able to dress yourself once we leave. I’ll send the maid. And Ash, for heaven’s sakes, close your eyes.”
“He’s scared of the dark.” Pierce again.
“It’s true.” Hunter coughed. “When he was a child, he was locked in the—”
“Enough!” Dominique roared. “Out! All of you!”
Grinning, Hunter tipped his hat at Ash and pushed Pierce ahead of him. Dominique glared one last time before he shut the door to the room.
“Well, that went remarkably well, all things considered.” Sofia sighed, leaning her head against Ash’s chest. “How long until a maid enters?”
“Not long enough,” Ash grumbled. “Tonight?”
“You’ll brave my Royal Guard, will you?”
“I’d brave a damn dragon to get to you. I’d brave death. I’d walk through the fires of hell. Just don’t lock your door, or I may perish.”
Sofia pressed a kiss across his lips just as the door opened.
Ana stepped through, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. “Your Highness.” She dipped into a curtsy. “The prince demands I dress you and lock you in… your room.”
“Very well.” Sighing, Sofia stood, completely naked.
Ash stared at her like a man starved, his eyes never leaving her skin as Ana helped her dress.
“He is to be my husband.” Sofia felt the need to explain.
“Yes,” Ana huffed. “But he is not your husband yet.”
“This time tomorrow,” Ash whispered. “And I’ll burn every article of clothing in your wardrobe, Your Highness.”
“Ah, so I walk around naked?”
“So you never leave our suite.”
Ana coughed. “Well, then, we’ll just be going.” She all but shoved Sofia from the room.
The last thing Sofia heard was Ash’s soft cursing as the door shut behind them.
“That man is the very devil,” Ana whispered under her breath. “To look at you in that way before the vows are announced.”
“Vows or no vows…” Sofia sighed. “…I hope he looks at me in that way every second of every day.”
“Your Highness, permission to speak plainly?”
“When have you not?”
Ana smiled. “That look, the one he gives you, will never falter. It is one of true love and adoration… the rascal.”
Laughing, Sofia walked into her room and nodded her head. “Thank you, Ana.”
“Don’t thank me just yet.” Ana pulled out a key. “I’m to lock you in here until dinner is brought. I’ll also bring hot water for a bath.”
“Thank you.”
Ana curtsied and left.
After dinner, Sofia’s Royal Guard checked on her numerous times, each of them knocking on her door every few minutes, asking if she needed anything. Finally, she told Cornelius she would be lying down — her head ached.
It was a lie.
One he believed, thank heavens.
But that also meant she had to be even quieter than before.
A loud thump sou
nded from her balcony.
“Princess! Are you hurt!” Cornelius shouted through the door.
“Er, no.” She jolted from her bed. “I simply fell off my bed.”
“Do you need aid?” More shouting.
“No!” She stifled a giggle as Ash made his way into her room, limping. “I’m quite all right.”
“Sweet dreams, Princess!”
“Must he always shout?” Ash asked in a quiet voice, making his way slowly toward the bed. When he reached it, he sat. “Bloody hell, that was difficult.”
“Did you forget we had an adjoining door?”
“No.” Ash cursed. “And neither did Dominique. While I was bathing, my valet locked it and then gave the key back to The Beast.”
“Horrid little man.”
“Yes, well, you’d be proud. I let him live.”
“Wonders never cease.”
“Didn’t say I was happy about it.”
“You can always shoot Pierce if you get bored,” Sofia teased.
“Ah…” Ash looked up through hooded eyes. “…I knew I loved you for a reason.”
“Glad to be of service.” She curtsied.
Ash let out a pitiful groan.
“Princess!” Cornelius shouted again, causing Ash to wince. “I heard a noise.”
“Breathing, she’s simply breathing,” Ash whispered under his breath.
“I’m sleeping!” she said loudly. “Please leave me be.”
“Apologies, Princess. You were sleeping — quite loudly.”
Sofia rolled her eyes while Ash leaned back on his elbows and winced.
“You’re hurting?” she whispered, sitting next to him, gripping his hand in hers. His hands were rough. She shivered in anticipation of them running over her body.
“Very much so.” Ash angled his head. “You see, I don’t believe I’m capable of being quiet.”
“Quiet?”
“When I make love to you…” he continued. “I’d rather the whole world hear how I felt, than try to stifle my own damn amazement that I’m sharing a bed with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” He licked those full lips, stirring her hunger for him. “And, Princess, I do dream about what your scream would sound like — what your body would feel like beneath mine, the trembling, the whimpering — damn, but I want it all, and if I cannot have it tonight, then I will be patient. I will wait until tomorrow.”
Sofia hung her head, disappointment stabbing her in the chest. “So, you scaled the wall for nothing?”
“Of course not.” Ash’s smile was soft. “I scaled the wall to simply hold you.”
“Oh.”
“Come here.”
He didn’t need to ask twice. She fell into his arms, careful to avoid his wounds, and laid her head on his chest.
“This…” Ash sighed. “…is happily ever after.”
“Lying on a bed, clothed, while my Royal Guard listens for heavy breathing?” Sofia teased.
“That…” Ash chuckled. “…and knowing that I shall never have to sleep another night without you by my side.”
Sofia did not really know how to respond to that without crying, so she tucked her head against his neck and whispered, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
They fell into a deep sleep, and when she awoke, he was gone, and in his place he had left a shiny apple.
She picked it up, spotting a note placed underneath.
An apple a day…or perhaps an apple every hour, keeps one’s strength, for tonight you will not sleep. Not. One. Wink. —Ash
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
One does not march toward one’s death… but, oh, it would have been a sweet death, to have her in my arms, to make her completely mine. Yes, I would have stood on the opposite end of Dominique’s pistol and smiled — cheerfully accepting my fate. Patience is not a virtue I possess. —The Grimm Reaper
“STOP TWITCHING,” HUNTER HISSED. “Your new bride will think you have fleas.”
“To be fair, he probably does.” Pierce chuckled to Hunter’s left, taking a swig of whiskey.
Ash chose not to respond to either of them; instead, he waited for his wife to make her goodbyes to the rest of the family and managed not to shake his leg like a dog or clap his hands in order to gain her attention.
She made her way toward him, a secret smile forming across her lips when her Royal Guard stopped her. A few cried; some wailed.
“Dear God, you’d think we just had a funeral,” Hunter muttered. “Do you think, gentlemen, that the Royal Guard imagine Ash is going to kill her in bed?”
Ash, again, chose not to respond, though he did clench his fist in preparation to knock some sense into his twin.
Pierce chuckled. “He’s a killer, after all. Oh look, they truly are saying goodbye, as if he’s going to break her in half.”
“Ten years.” Hunter sighed. “He very well may.”
Pierce nodded sadly then removed his hat from his head and pressed it against his chest. “And to think, all he wanted was for a woman to love him, and that very love killed her.”
“Then again…” Hunter sniffled. “Ash may well have a heart attack. The human body can only take so much… tension before it explodes.”
“So young.” Pierce nodded.
“So brave.”
“Bloody hell, I should kill you both,” Ash growled.
“Ah, he speaks,” Hunter announced. “Tell me, do you fear you may enter the marriage bed and simply… faint before you’re able to… perform?”
“No.”
“But…” Pierce held up his hand. “…it is a possibility that the actual act lasts only a few seconds, leaving your poor young bride… upset.”
“Who’s upset?” Dominique sauntered up.
“Sofia,” the men said in unison.
“Why the hell would she be upset?”
Pierce pointed at Ash. “Performance anxiety.”
Ash paled. Ah, the look of death. He knew it well.
Dominique sputtered then coughed into his hand. “One must simply bide one’s time while one is—”
“Please,” Ash whimpered. “Stop.”
“Come on, old chap.” Hunter slapped Ash on the back. “He’s simply helping. Haven’t you ever heard of the saying, a beast in the bedroom?”
“I have now. And I’m ever so sorry about it.” Ash sent a pleading look in Sofia’s direction. She pushed away from the sobbing men.
“Yes, well…” Dominique nodded emphatically. “…one must simply commit to the decision to—”
“Plug one’s ears and go back in time,” Ash finished.
Hunter and Pierce joined in laughter, while Dominique scowled.
“Sorry.” Sofia grinned when she reached him, extending her hands.
He gripped them, tugging her body against his. “They were… distraught.”
“They’ll be just fine.” Ash growled, bestowing a kiss upon her lips.
“Remember what Dominique said…” Hunter nodded encouragingly. “…and you’ll do just fine. Sofia, my dear, have you any smelling salts?”
“Why would I need—?”
“Good day.” Ash tugged her toward the door.
“I’d say good evening,” Pierce called.
“But don’t want to jinx anything.” Hunter chuckled.
Ash ignored their laughter.
One thing impossible to ignore?
Sofia.
The minute they were in the carriage, he pulled her body onto his and kissed her across the mouth — hard. His teeth damn-near collided with hers as he plundered her mouth, his hands roaming across her breasts.
“Ash?” She moaned, tilting her head back.
“Hmm?” Oh look, a spot on her neck just begging for attention. He licked across that spot — not enough. His lips sucked, marking her as his.
Sofia let out a little squeak. “We’re in the carriage.”
“Very astute of you, sweetheart.”
“And…” She gasped. “�
��oh my, I don’t believe dresses are able to—” A loud rip thundered through the carriage.
“You were saying?”
“Is that a knife?”
“Course not.” He took her mouth again.
“Ash, should we wait until—“
“Ten years,” he murmured against her lips. “Ten years,” he repeated, caressing her breasts, pulling the fabric free from her dress, with the knife he supposedly did not have. Her dress fell in shreds across the floor. “Ten years without touching perfection — ten years of waiting for the moment I could be with my one true love.” His teeth tugged at her lower lip.
“Yes, well, clearly you haven’t forgotten much in ten years.”
“Compliments…” His fingers tugged her dress, resting it around her waist. “…will get you prizes.”
“What kind of prizes?”
“What kind of prizes, she asks.” Ash laughed and reached beneath her skirt.
“What are you—?”
“I said prizes, now be good receiver while I give,” he instructed, though it pained him not to join with her right there in the carriage. Touching her intimately, kissing her, it was enough — for now. It was enough.
Her chest heaved as he teased, taunted, played her as if she was the most perfect string instrument, and he the musician.
When she let out a moan…
And when that moan was followed with his name…
The need to bask in the glory of it all had the Grimm Reaper ready to simply lean back and take it all in.
Sofia moved against him.
The carriage stopped.
He blinked, taking in her disarray and fully appealing form lying against him. His hands were still beneath her skirt, and Sofia’s chest still heaved with exertion from their lovemaking, her cheeks a rosy pink, her eyes narrowing as a knock sounded at the carriage door.
“We’ll simply…” Ash nodded. “…run into the house.”
“Run?” she repeated. “You want me to run after—”
The knock sounded again.
“Blankets!” Ash pointed into the air then pulled a blanket from under the seat, damn-near pushing Sofia to the floor. “In you go.”
“In the blanket?”
“We’ll wrap you up.”
“And then we run?”
When Ash Falls Page 20