He edged her mouth with his thumb. “A spirited angel who’d not hesitate to tell me exactly what she thought. ’Twas what drew me toward you, like a moth to a fire.”
Those beautiful violet eyes blinked. “Aye, I did wish to burn you that day for the exchange we had. I’ve never met such a stubborn man, so strong in his ideals.”
Wonder filled him as she picked up his hand and turn it over, examining the various scars and small burn marks. Jeffrey shuddered as she tenderly kissed his palm.
“A man of passion who embraced ideals as strong as my own, including your commitment to those in need. A man who’d not hesitate to work hard to help a poor widow in financial distress and put her family before his own desires. ’Tis something I have pondered of late, how you sacrificed much to leave the city you loved, and all your friends to come to Virgina and help Meg. You are a man of much honor for doing so.”
The praise humbled him. Jeffrey felt tongue-tied for a minute, amused at how her words turned him into an addle-minded lad like his apprentice, Jonathan.
He placed his calloused palm upon her soft cheek.
“Aye, I did much for Meg, but my concern is foremost now for you. You come first, Mandy. I want to please you and be a good husband to you.”
Lifting her gaze to him, she smiled and he finally saw the thin veil of fear vanish.
“I wish only to show you true pleasure between a man and woman. Mandy, there is nothing to be scared of,” he said softly. “I promise I shall be gentle. Will you yield to me now, sweet?”
Although she bit her lip, she gave a small nod. Years of experience in bedding women guided him as he slipped the robe from her body, letting it drop in a heavy sigh to the floor. Standing behind her, he lifted the long masses of her hair and pressed one tiny, heated kiss to the nape of her neck.
Straining against his breeches, his erection poked her soft bottom. Aware of this, he walked around and faced her, wanting her to think only of the intoxicating pleasures of the marital act, not the ultimate consummation of their bond.
Jeffrey cupped her breasts. They were full and heavy in his hands, and his throat went dry as he gently stroked, thumbing her nipples through the thin lawn gown. A throaty cry of pleasure rose from her. He continued flicking her nipples, watching them harden, each caress causing a nearly painful surge of heat in his lower half.
His ragged breathing filled the air as he locked muscles in an tremendous effort to avoid tipping her back onto the mattress and ravishing her.
For he’d need every ounce of control to not part her thighs and plunge into her wet, silken female warmth, feel her tighten around his cock.
Jeffrey bit back a groan, imagining what awaited him. She’d be so tight and warm and soft against him, their coupling much richer, deeper, more meaningful than anything he’d felt. Making love to her would feel like sin.
This woman threatened to burn his soul.
Sinking to his knees before her, he gazed at her flat belly, imagining it growing round with his child. Mayhap they might create one tonight. Overwhelmed with emotion, he gently pressed a kiss to her abdomen. Then he took the hem of her gown, then stood and lifted it over her head, pulling it free.
She was so lovely, his bride. Indeed, as lovely as the fabled Helen whose beauty caused a war.
Desire surged through his veins, pooling at his groin as he studied her alabaster purity. He marveled at her slender waist, rounded hips and firm breasts. Another surge of heat slammed into him at the sight of the dark red tangle of curls between her legs. Nearly painfully aroused now, he drew her into his arms, gently kissing her.
Only when her kisses turned eager and more demanding did he draw away with a small smile. Aye, Mandy’s passion would lead him through this night, for he’d let her set the tune.
Jeffrey wrapped a silky strand of her hair around his finger. “I adore your women’s beauty. Your hair is smooth and shimmering as morning dew on a spider’s silken web,” he said quietly. Releasing it, he gathered his arms around her and kissed her again.
How much he’d longed for this night, had craved it with all his being. Amanda engaged not only his lust, but his tender affections, and something much deeper.
And much more dangerous.
As her mouth opened under the gentle pressure of his, Jeffrey felt his heart swell with a passion he’d never felt before. He did not dare call it by the name he’d sworn to avoid after all his hopes and dreams were shattered by one who’d pledged false promises. Nay, those four little letters were ones he could never admit, not in his secret dreams.
But tonight was not for lost dreams, or false promises. Tonight was theirs, to consummate their bond in the flesh.
Amanda curled her hands around his neck as Jeffrey lifted her into his arms as if she weighed no more than his hammer. With extreme care, he laid her upon the bed.
For such a big, powerful man, he had a gentle touch..
Her husband was a fearsome man in height and strength, so different from herself.
Desire twined with curiosity as Jeffrey shed his clothing. Mother had never mentioned the removal of garments. But as her hungry gaze roved over his naked body, she realized her mother’s lecture meant to inspire fear.
The martial act was shameful, and her husband would come to her, lift her gown and plunge rudely into her. Nudity was not necessary. One must preserve modesty. When the pain came from her husband invading her body, she must think of good, solid England.
All thoughts of modesty and England fled as she studied Jeffrey’s solid, muscled form, the long limbs dusted with dark hair, the hard curve of biceps that wielded iron, the ridges of muscles lining his flat abdomen. A strange throbbing started between her legs, a pleasant ache that had her squirming against the mattress.
A thick mat of inky hair covered his chest. Her gaze tracked it as it tapered past his narrow waist and lean hips to a thicker nest of dark curls at his groin, from which his thick erection stood stiffly.
Jeffrey followed her gaze and a twinkle lit his eyes. “Do I please you, wife?”
“’Tis quite... er, large. ’Tis like the iron you forge.”
His mouth twitched as if he suppressed mirth. “Not always. ’Tis you that makes it hard. Other times, it is smaller and made to soften.”
“Oh! Like when the iron softens under the hammer?”
His loud laugh filled the cabin. “Not quite, sweet.”
She swallowed convulsively and dragged her gaze away when he climbed into bed and slid his arms around her. Jeffrey feathered hot, eager kisses across her cheeks, her chin, her throat. He explored, touched and stroked.
She arched her back and cried out with surprised pleasure as those skilled lips trailed down to a breast, teasing the tender bud there with his tongue, flicking it expertly until it grew taut. Jeffrey fastened his mouth to her breast and began suckling, swirling his tongue around her nipple.
He blazed a trail of kisses over her body, touching the underside of her breasts, kissing the hollow of her throat, spanning her delicate ribs with his broad, large hands.
So large and strong his hands were, yet they touched her ever so gently. Reserve melted with every new sensation pummeling her. Capturing her mouth again, he grunted in approval when she wrapped her hands around his neck and caressed the muscles at his neck. He stroked her hair, massaging her scalp in delightful, even strokes. Amanda opened her lips to his, meeting the skilled thrusts of his tongue as their tongues coupled.
As she slid her fingertips along the finely corded muscles of his arms, Jeffrey kissed her neck again. Gently he nipped at her bottom lip, demanding entrance. She opened her mouth, allowing him entrance, shyly darting her tongue out to meet his.
He pulled away and grazed his teeth along her throat, followed by gentle licks and kisses, as if he longed to devour every inch of her skin with his mouth.
She whimpered from the delightful feel of his warm, wet mouth moving down the length of her body. Feeling wanton and aching, Amanda arched her
back and moaned from the sweet torment. Jeffrey’s hands upon her naked skin made every nerve in her body burn with heat as blazing as the fire he used to work iron.
He cupped her face, forcing her to meet his demanding gaze. In the smoldering depths of his deep gray eyes she saw a mirror of her own burning need. Her very soul seemed on fire and the inferno would consume her. And send her straight to Hell, as mother so often had warned.
But if these lovely sensations were Hell, she supposed she was no angel after all, for she wanted more.
“My darling Mandy, open your legs,” he coaxed, stroking a hand across one round hip.
A shred of resistance and dignity remained. She eased her legs open the barest bit.
“Wider sweet, that’s the girl,” he said soothingly, his hands dipping between her thighs.
Amanda recoiled in shock as he probed her feminine softness with his finger. “Jeffrey,” she squeaked, mortified at this new intimacy.
“Hush, sweet, ’tis natural between husbands and wives. I only want to please you, honey.”
When his finger gently slid into her core, her body tightened. Jeffrey kept kissing her while penetrating her deeper, stroking her, his thumb rubbing against her swollen flesh. She squirmed, desperate for his touch, yet embarrassed.
Then the strokes increased, the delightful friction increasing. A squeak of agonized pleasure tore from her throat.
The delightful feeling in her loins swelled until it consumed her like fire. Confused, she whimpered, aching with a fevered need for something she did not understand, and horribly mortified at feeling this needy. His strokes continued until the heat built up in her body, then exploded in a shattering crescendo. She cried out, clinging to him as her body shook from the waves of pleasure washing over her.
“Jeffrey,” she gasped, shaking as he slipped out of her dewy passage. “I don’t... understand... what happened?”
Amanda felt him chuckle into her hair. “You climaxed, sweet. The pleasure that happens for men can happen for women as well.”
“It can?”
Masculine satisfaction filled his dark eyes as he gazed down at her. “Aye, if the man takes the time to please his new bride.”
Gently he touched the corner of her mouth with his lips.
Jeffrey parted her long, slender white legs with his muscled thighs, then balanced himself on his hands as he mounted her. She sensed some great, unleashed power surging as his stiff member prodded her moist entrance. Tensing, she braced herself, hoping it would be over with quickly.
But he was ever so tender and gentle, easing into her the barest bit. “Mandy, relax honey, I promise to be as gentle as possible. There will be a bit of pain,” he whispered huskily.
She sucked in her breath as he cupped her bottom. Amanda felt herself opening to him, like a rose unfurling its petals to the warm sun.
He thrust forward gently, retreated, then she felt him rub his hardened member against the center which had brought such pleasure. Intense feeling hummed inside her. Acting on instinct, she tilted her hips up.
Jeffrey eased inside her again. She felt stretched, the pressure twisting into pain, and then he surged forward.
His flesh merged with hers and she uttered a cry as he pierced her innocence. Burning pain filled her, along with the odd feeling of fullness between her legs.
Above her, his gaze filled with concern. Locking his enormous muscles, Jeffrey went still, then he kissed a tear spilling from her eyes.
“My sweet Mandy, I hate to hurt you like this. I only want to hear cries of pleasure from you,” he said tenderly, pressing his forehead against hers.
“Please Jeffrey, just... hurry,” she managed to say.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on his body moving over hers, the wiry hairs on his chest brushing against her sensitive nipples.
Slowly he moved out of her, the pain lessening. Amanda wriggled her hips as he moved forward again. Jeffrey closed his eyes and groaned. A bead of sweat from his brow dropped upon her breast like a teardrop.
Her husband was using his tremendous strength to take it slow, she realized in growing wonder. Not rudely using her body for his own lusty pleasure, as her mother had warned, but considering her needs as well.
His tender concern overwhelmed her.
And then he opened his eyes and their gazes met. Tender longing filled his, not crude lust.
This was no mere physical act, but something deeper and significant, as if they’d crossed a new threshold and bonded their souls together. Marveling at the realization, Amanda wound her hands around her husband’s neck and pumped her hips upward, obeying an ancient instinct.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Aye, Mandy, just like that.”
He continued to move out of her, then push back inside. With each upward surge of her hips, he quickened the pace. His hard, masculine body became a driving force, muscles coiling and releasing. Amanda writhed, feeling sensual and feminine as he moved above her.
She was causing him to feel pleasure. She was the reason he grunted and groaned in erotic bliss. The knowledge awed her as she stroked the thick muscles of his back.
Jeffrey suddenly stilled. Shuddering he cried out her name, and she felt something warm and fluid shoot inside her.
His seed, she realized. The very thing mother warned would produce children.
Breath sawed in and out of his lungs as he collapsed atop her.
As if fearing he crushed her, Jeffrey rolled off, drawing her into his embrace. His heartbeat gradually slowed as his ragged breaths calmed. For a moment they lay in silence.
“You are mine now, Mandy,” he whispered against her throat. “My wife.”
“Jeffrey.” She could only manage a shaky whisper.
He breathed into her hair and caressed her tousled, tangled curls.
“Yes, sweet. You felt it, too.”
“Aye,” she murmured. “Now I know what the poets speak of.” Was this love? She wasn’t sure, but the powerful emotions assaulting her certainly felt so.
“Passion is one of life’s fruitful pleasures.” He gave a lazy stretch. “There is much more I will teach you, Mandy. And I will relish every moment of each new experience with you.”
New experience? Amanda winced at the soreness between her legs as she rolled over to face him.
“’Twas lovely,” she admitted. “And this is what happens in the marriage bed? All these lovely feelings and sensations. I felt it in my heart, as well. Did you?”
The shy confession filled her with trepidation. But if he dared to show a glimmer of love for her, mayhap this marriage would not be in vain.
Jeffrey brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, but the tenderness fled his expression. Instead, he looked guarded, as he had on that day when she’d first met in him in the blacksmith shop. “I felt many things, sweet Mandy. You have a natural sensuality certain to please any husband.”
He closed his eyes on a heavy sigh.
The truth hit her with the force of a solid slap. Jeffrey wanted her with the fierce passion of a man accustomed to bedding women. But that was all. She was just another bit of excitement he savored. Like his treason against the Crown, he seized upon her like a new experience he craved. And her response to him was exactly the decadent, wanton one her mother told her only shameless doxies exhibited.
Amanda closed her eyes as he kept a possessive arm curled about her, keeping her close to him. Gradually he fell asleep. Her husband. The man with the right to possess her body. She’d have no respected position as a wife with William. No social standing. Her own lust had damned her to his bed and this marriage. She drifted into a dream.
She smelled the sour stench of old rum drifting from her father. “For the sins you have committed, you must be beaten. You have failed as a spy. Failed as a daughter.”
The crowd cheered as her father tied her to the whipping post. The cane made a low, hollow sound against his bare palm. Thwack. Her skin crawled with each successive strike.
Then he
changed into Jeffrey. “I married you for your silence. Do you think I could ever love a Tory?” With a savage hand, he ripped the gown from her back. Amanda cried out, knowing what would follow. He raised the cane. She began to scream as the first blow fell upon her bare back. “Please, please you are hurting me. Jeffrey, please don’t hurt me!”
She woke to feel someone gently shaking her out of the nightmare’s grip. In the dying firelight, he loomed large, a hulking beast ready to devour her. Bemused and half-asleep, she screamed again and tried to clamber away.
Two strong arms embraced her. “Hush now, hush,” Jeffrey crooned.
Jeffrey. Her husband, not a monster intent on harming her. Soothed by his husky voice, Amanda buried her head against his chest as sobs ripped from her throat. He rocked her back and forth.
“Let it all out, sweet, you’re safe now,” he whispered against her brow.
Finally, she raised her tear-stained face and mopped her face with the edge of the sheet. With a thumb, Jeffrey gently wiped away a lingering droplet from her eye.
“You had a nightmare, honey. What was it?” His voice filled with tender concern as he cradled her face.
She shook her head, still unable to speak. Jeffrey must not know her humiliation. Pressing her hands to her face, she tried to gather her scrambled thoughts.
He gently removed her clammy hands, clutching them in his strong, warm palms. “Mandy, I would never hurt you. Why did you cry out against me? Do you fear me still? Or is it some nameless beast?”
“’Tis nothing,” she muttered, bending her head. With a finger, he lifted her chin to meet his penetrating gaze.
“You hide something from me.”
Pain laced her as Jeffrey gripped her the back of her bruised arm. She cried out. Immediately he released her. Her husband got up, lit a candle and brought it over to the bed. The hateful illumination cut the blessed darkness. In the dark, he could not see her shame.
With one hand, he jerked back the covers, leaving her totally exposed. “Jeffrey, please.”
The Patriot's Conquest Page 15
