The Soul of a Storme

by SOOKOO, SANDRA

  “I think so.” Sarah finger-combed his still-damp hair. The threads of silver glimmered in the low light. “It’s too early to have a midwife confirm, of course, but I missed my menses last week, and that never happens with me.” Another shiver raced down her spine, anticipation for everything she’d ever wanted culminating within her blood. “I don’t want to hope in the event I’m wrong or nature takes its course, but…”

  “It’s a bloody miracle. You’re my hope, Sarah, my salvation, and I promise to try every damn day to be worthy of you.”

  A tear fell to her cheek. “You are, right now, as the man I see here.” The change was noticeable, in his expression, his eyes, his attitude, how he acted, and it stole her breath. “I’m so proud of you, so glad it was you who ran me off the road that day.”

  “When you gave me the biggest dressing down of my life?” They shared a chuckle and he tugged at the sash of her gown. “With that one meeting, I set my feet on the path I’d need to walk, for it would lead to you and a life I had no idea I wanted.”

  She sucked in a breath as her robe gaped open and the relative coolness of the room wafted over her skin. “When did you turn into a romantic?” How was she supposed to think when his hands were beneath her robe and gliding over her bare legs?

  “You bring out the softer side of me.” A wicked gleam popped in his eyes. “I’m going to show you right now how much I adore you.”

  As her robe slipped from her shoulders to pool at her feet, Sarah smiled. “I can’t wait.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Drew trailed his fingertips up and down the backs of Sarah’s legs. As gooseflesh popped on her skin, he grinned. Oh, they would have such fun together. While kneeling, he busied himself by kissing and licking a path around her naval. The adorable divot captured his attention for a few seconds. All the while, he continued to caress her silky legs. A tiny moan escaped her, and he slid his hands upward to cup the soft globes of her buttocks.

  How had he ever thought her plain? He kissed her mons, dared to delve his tongue through the blonde curls between her thighs, and as he urged her legs apart, he spent the next few minutes coaxing that all-important little pearl out from hiding. At her surprised inhalation of breath, he pressed her lower half closer and buried his face in the heaven that was his wife.

  With every sweep and pass of his tongue to that nubbin, his shaft hardened. As he teased the button, and tiny cries were pulled from her throat, he explored further, intent to bring her to swift release before he did anything else. He drew his hands up and down her legs, both the inside and outside, until she trembled where she stood, and still he worked that nubbin for all he was worth. It swelled from his attentions, and he increased his friction: sucking, nipping, flicking, and then soothing with his tongue.

  A low keening cry issued from Sarah. Her legs shook. The hand she’d rested on his shoulder clenched, her nails digging into his dressing gown. With a smug masculine chuckle, he surged to his feet and caught her into his arms as her knees buckled. “Merciful heavens, that was quite intense. I had no idea one could… oh, my.”

  Yes, setting her at sixes and sevens was by far one of his most favorite games. “I’m not nearly done with you tonight, darling.” Once he’d laid her on the bed, he shed his dressing gown and joined her, reclining on his side. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  “Immensely.” Her eyes were wide and dark behind her spectacle lenses. She raked her gaze along his body, and he swore he felt her regard as if she’d touched him. “The first two times we came together, you were in various stages of undress.” Slowly, with a timidity he found endearing, she pressed a hand to his chest. “I’ve never had cause to blatantly inspect your naked form.”

  “Ah.” Wanting very much to please her, Drew flopped onto his back and tucked his arms beneath his head. “Explore at will, love.” He probably wouldn’t last long once she laid hands on him, for even now his length had tightened to near pain.

  “How scandalous.” She blinked at him.

  “I don’t see how. We’re married.” How could she sport such a blush when they’d been together carnally twice now?

  “Newly married at that, given the issues surrounding our union.” She kneeled at his side. When she trailed the fingers of one hand down his chest, raking through the mat of hair, he hissed in a breath. “I’ve not seen a naked man apart from Greek statues in the London Museum.” The other hand sailed over his abdomen, untying the sash of his dressing gown, and then went lower until she brushed his erection.

  “Oh, God.” There was no hope that he could make this last for hours as was his want. Every touch, each trip of her fingers, all the tiny caresses she gave him pushed him closer to the brink. She was all too beguiling and intriguing, and as she’d said, their marriage was too new; he needed to bed her a handful of times before he’d have enough of her that he could finally make love slowly. “Careful, Sarah. I’m primed enough.”

  “Poor thing. I guess it’s your turn to suffer exquisite torture then, hmm?” With a smile that promised him wicked delights—or a swift death—his wife circled his shaft over and over. Her palm barely brushed the sensitized flesh, but each time she touched him, his need for her increased and his stones tingled from pent-up desire.

  Then she wrapped her fingers around him while watching his face. Drew held his breath. When that didn’t stave off the acute sensations racing through him, he attempted to wriggle into a sitting position, but she pushed him back down with a palm on his chest.

  “Perhaps it’s time for you to learn patience.” As she stroked her curled fingers up and down his impossibly hard length, he lost his focus and well as part of his rational mind. “It’s so satiny and thick.” She turned her head, watching as she moved her hand. A pink blush infused her cheeks. “Turnabout is only fair, don’t you think, Lord Hadleigh?”

  Oh, dear God in heaven. He gasped as she lowered her head and tentatively touched the tip of her tongue to the head of his member. The waterfall of her hair rasped over his chest to cultivate exquisite eddies of need and fire through his blood. Never had he been subjected to anything as exquisite as that. “Sarah, please stop, else I’ll embarrass myself.”

  But when had his damned wife ever listened to him? With a laugh that he felt all the way into his stones, she took part of his length into the hot cavern of her mouth and swirled her tongue around it. When she came off him, she giggled. “This is quite… interesting.”

  He couldn’t stand it any longer. Tugging on her arm, he urged her off his prick. “There is plenty of time for you to experiment and master that particular pleasure.” With that small amount of breathing room, he pulled her over his body until she straddled his waist. “I need you, Sarah.” The words came out more breathless than he’d intended, and for the first time in a long while it wasn’t due to anxiety. It was with him in the background, but he refused to give it power. This trouble breathing had everything to do with wanting his wife, his beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed wife, the woman who potentially carried his child.

  Perhaps his heir.

  “There’s nothing stopping you from taking what you want.” The dulcet sound of her voice washed over him in a soothing wave, but it was the twinkle in her dark eyes that sent longing coursing through him.

  “Minx.” Drew coaxed her down so he could kiss her lips. “I don’t want to take anything. Not anymore. I’d rather share with you.” When she wriggled her bottom, the sensations against his straining member nearly undid him. “Ride me.” The command taxed the last of his control.

  “Oh.” The look of concentration on her face was adorable, and he couldn’t wait to teach her everything he knew regarding delights found in the bedroom. “I don’t think…” She lifted onto her knees, and once more her fingers were on his length, guiding him to where she needed him. “I’m afraid I won’t be very good at this.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He gripped her hips, showing her. “Push down when I thrust upward, and… Christ!” She’
d done what he asked. White stars erupted behind his eyelids while intense sensation raced through his length.

  “Oh!” Sarah dug her fingers into the skin of his chest and abdomen. Each little touch hurtled him closer to breaking. The emeralds around her neck winked in the candlelight. Was there anything more erotic than making love with a woman who wore nothing but gemstones? “This is… well awkward, but somewhat… nice.” When she moved, bouncing up and down without finesse, his eyes crossed. “This feels incredible, and I… oh!” Her eyes briefly rolled back in her head behind her tilted spectacles. Pleasure lined her expression.

  And damn if it wasn’t the most sensual sight.

  If she weren’t careful, he’d spend before he was ready, for her inexperience was more arousing than a skilled courtesan. “Perhaps this is too advanced just now.” He held her as his body tensed. Seconds later he flipped them both over and covered her body with his. His dressing gown slipped off his body. “Let me love you properly, as I should have done all along.”

  She cupped his cheek with one hand. “I won’t say no.”

  A shuddering breath escaped him as some of the pressure eased. For long moments, he kissed and licked seemingly every inch of her soft, clover-and-violet scented skin. With tongue and teeth, he brought her, shaking, to the edge of release as he tormented her nipples and teased his fingers between her thighs. She retaliated, though, by trailing a hand down his back. She squeezed an arse cheek, and he had to bear down to stop the inevitable. How was it that a few touches from her had him needing to prematurely shoot his wad like a green schoolboy?

  Perhaps this act was more powerful when the right emotions were behind it.

  Drew settled himself comfortably between her bent, raised knees, and with one flex of his hips, he penetrated her as deep as he could go. Her honeyed heat surrounded him, pulled at him, and he sighed. “I adore how you feel.”

  “Not as much as I do you.” She looped her arms about his shoulders to hold him closer. Then she bumped his hips with hers. “Now, do hurry, my lord. I am in great need.”

  “We can’t have that.” Then he set about bringing his wife to release.

  Over and over he moved into her with slow, gentle strokes while he held his weight on his forearms. She watched him, canted her hips, and matched his rhythm. All too soon they fairly danced together, in a waltz as old as time itself. Then her eyes shuttered closed and she simply held onto him as he worked his length in and out of her sweet, tight passage.

  Heat buzzed through him. Anticipation tingled at the base of his spine. Need roiled through his stones, pulling them tight to his body. His member pulsed with each thrust. His control shattered. Faster and faster he speared into her. Deeper and deeper he went in the attempt to join with her. Harder and harder he worked to bring her over the edge before he went too.

  Heated need consumed him, and he shifted his angle, so the root of his member brushed her nubbin. A moan wrenched from her throat, and he fractured. Frenzied cries came from her as she dug her fingernails into his shoulders. Then she screamed. The walls of her passage fluttered greedily about his prick. His thrusts were frantic, and on a particular deep one, he broke into a million shards of white light as he fell into bliss and took her with him.

  As he marveled over how this former straightlaced governess was a screamer during intercourse, he ground his pelvis into hers while his length emptied. With a sigh, he collapsed on top of her and wrapped his arms around her. What a novel experience feeling her heartbeat racing against his, her breathing as ragged as his own. If she weren’t already increasing, he would have a wonderful time putting her in that state over the next few months.

  Eventually, as his overheated body cooled and his breathing returned to normal, he rolled off her and onto his back. “Woman, you wear me out, and I’m not a young man any longer.”

  “That’s too bad.” She yawned, nestling into his side with a hand on his chest. “For I’ll want another go ‘round soon.”

  God, but she’d be the death of him. “Give me an hour or so and I’ll let you have your wicked way with me.” And gladly. He grinned into the darkness. Had he ever been so happy in his life? All too soon, he sobered. Turning his head, he found her gaze in the inky shadows. “I’m glad you rescued your flute.”

  “I couldn’t leave it behind. It’s the most valuable thing I own, excepting everything you’ve given me.” Her spectacle lenses were smudged, and they sat at an awkward angle on her nose, but it was the most adorable thing.

  “Darling.” He took her hand, entwining their fingers. “I’ve asked my mother to handle the planning for this, but I want to have a recital or musicale evening at my townhouse in London for you. Sometime next month if you agree. This way you can see if playing in front of a crowd is what you’d like to do.” The surprise in her eyes gave him pause. “But only if you’re willing. It’ll be a good way to introduce you to society as my countess, and you can come to know my family.”

  “Truly?”

  “Yes.”

  She squeezed his fingers. “You believe in my talent that much?”

  “Oh, yes. You tamed this wild beast with it, did you not?”

  “Perhaps.” The smile she gifted him with had the power to light the shadows. “I would like that.”

  “Good.” For long moments, he remained silent. The sound of their breathing blended with the summer insect and animal life that teemed outside the open window. As his eyelids were fluttering closed, he roused himself, for there was something he needed to say. “Before you came into my life and upended it—”

  “Reordered it so you could see what mattered,” she interrupted softly.

  “All I had left of any of my family—Father, Finn, Brand—was my anger toward them,” he continued as if she’d not spoken. “I wrongly told myself that if I let go of my anger, I’d have nothing left of them.” It had taken days for him to come to such a realization, but looking at it now, it made complete sense.

  “Anger is not the same as fond memories.”

  “I know that now.” A tiny grin curved his lips. “In my father’s case, nothing can bring him back. I realize that now as well, and while in London, I made my peace with that. But my brothers are still lost, not dead, but lost to me…” He would always worry about them because that’s what the oldest son did. It didn’t mean he wanted to manage them, it merely meant he cared. “I love them, but don’t know how to say it.”

  “I’m proud of you.” Her eyes lit with happiness. “There is time to make things right by them, Andrew.”

  “I don’t know how.” Admitting to things beyond his ken was difficult, but if she were there, he could tackle it.

  “None of us do; we go by faith.” She brought his hand to her lips and kissed a finger. “Yes, the war damaged them, and yes, they will need to navigate their new realities by themselves, but you can make a fresh start with them, heal the rifts like you did with me.”

  “How?” He was at a loss.

  “Leave your ego and arrogance behind and lead with your heart. Show them that you love them but let them spread their wings.” She smiled. “They’ll soar if you allow them to.”

  After a few seconds rumination, he nodded. “Will you stand with me when that happens?”

  “Of course, I will.” When he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, the tiny squeal she uttered sent tingling awareness through his shaft. “I’ll do whatever is needed, because you are worth saving too.”

  “I love you.” His chest swelled with affection while his heart skipped a beat. “I can’t wait to see where our path leads next.” For now that he’d found his, he would never walk alone.

  “You’re learning, changing, evolving into the man you needed years ago, and that is quite an aphrodisiac.” She snuggled into him and dropped a kiss to his lips. “I wouldn’t have married you otherwise.”

  “Ha!” He snorted in mirth. “I’m fairly certain you married me to keep your cute little arse out of the gutter and away from y
our great uncle’s children. A business arrangement, remember?”

  “Do shut up, Hadleigh. It’s not well done of you to bring up such unsavory things to a lady.” The fondness in her dulcet tones continued to cultivate a sense of peace within him.

  Sometimes, calming the storm meant suffering through it until he came out the other side into clear skies, and he couldn’t be happier with that outcome, all due to the woman in his arms. Perhaps in this he’d succeeded where his father had failed. Would that there be more moments like that in his future. “Ah, but it’s such fun to tease you, countess.” He looked forward to more of that for as many years as they had together.

  The End

  About the Author

  Sandra Sookoo is a USA Today bestselling author who firmly believes every person deserves acceptance and a happy ending. Most days you can find her creating scandal and mischief in the Regency-era, serendipity and happenstance in Victorian America or snarky, sweet humor in the contemporary world. Most recently she’s moved into infusing her books with mystery and intrigue. Reading is a lot like eating fine chocolates—you can’t just have one. Good thing books don’t have calories!

  When she’s not wearing out computer keyboards, Sandra spends time with her real-life Prince Charming in central Indiana where she’s been known to goof off and make moments count because the key to life is laughter. A Disney fan since the age of ten, when her soul gets bogged down and her imagination flags, a trip to Walt Disney World is in order. Nothing fuels her dreams more than the land of eternal happy endings, hope and love stories.