He was right. Katherine’s fingers found her nipple beaded to the touch, shrinking and peaking as she moved her hand upwards, cradling the lush curve that felt strangely warm beneath her palm. It was an erotically charged sensation, multiplied ten times by the man standing and looking at her.
“How does it feel, Kat?”
“Strange.” She daringly squeezed her nipple between her thumb and forefinger. “Like…like…as if somebody is piercing me with a hot dart.”
“And where is the dart going?”
Once again she blushed as her other hand traveled down towards her mound and rested just above the curly hair. “Here.”
“There? Really?” She could hear the laughter in his voice. “I think you’re a little off…”
Katherine closed her eyes. She could do this, but not with the sight of him right in front of her. “Very well. Here.” And her hand slid between her legs, through the fronds of hair and to the hot folds of swollen and moist flesh.
“Ahh. Better.”
The bed dipped as Adrian’s weight shifted it. She sensed him between her outspread thighs. “This is treasure indeed.”
He placed his hand over hers and guided her fingers in between the folds. “Do you feel this, Kat?”
She snorted back a choke of disbelief. “Of course I do.”
“But do you feel the wonder of it?” He kept the pressure up, pushing her hand into and around her pussy, moving it gently and bringing a gasp of pleasure to her throat.
“Exciting, isn’t it? Arousing? Makes you feel wild and wanting and sends your muscles into a dance of need?”
“Yes. Oh yes.” Her buttocks clenched involuntarily and Katherine found her hips lifting off the bed a little as the feelings intensified.
“Don’t forget your breasts. Touch them both. Find what you like—do what you like. Help me learn you, Kat.”
He was continuing his instructions as he moved her hand, and Katherine fell into his spell, one hand seeking out her breasts, kneading, squeezing, lifting the curved weight high as her desire grew.
The other hand was being controlled, rubbing now, and Katherine let her fingers spread to drift over places that were hotbeds of sensitivity. One spot—yes there—and she gasped as her touch slid through her own slick juices over a small bud of lightning within the flesh.
“Adrian…”
“Yes, Kat, yes…” Adrian continued to force her hand into a ryhthm, a flow of sensation from his hand to hers to her pussy. “Let go. Give to me. Share with me…” His free hand grasped one thigh and pulled it even farther from the other, baring her and stretching her to her limits. The extra taut skin between her legs amplified the sensations he was urging her to release.
“Oh God…”
Frantic now, she found her own pace, almost angry when his hand didn’t permit her the touch she desperately needed. It was a runaway carriage and Katherine could not even think of pulling her horses.
Her heels dug into the bed, her knees bending a little to take the strain. She was blind to everything but the welling volcano within her abdomen and the red tide burgeoning through her veins.
Suddenly her hand was torn from her body and before she could scream out her fury, it was replaced by something else.
Adrian.
Thick and cool, his cock forced its way into her welcoming body, riding the high levels of arousal and taking over the thrusting movements, copying what her hand had been doing with the strong pounding of his hips. Now her entire lower belly felt him, and as his groin abraded hers to withdraw and then repeat the action, her inner secrets learned his hardness, solid and ridged within her, rubbing places that she could never have imagined being so sensitive.
“Adrian…” Katherine screamed his name, lifting her thighs to embrace his body against hers, pressing herself into his need and deeper onto his cock. She looped her legs around his waist, lifting herself to him, opening herself, giving him all she had and taking all he had to offer.
“Yes, my Kat…yessss…” He yelled back, his muscles tightly cording against her thighs.
She opened her eyes at the last moment, needing to see him, to watch him as they claimed the heights together for the first time. His face was lowered and he was staring at their bodies melding, parting and meeting once again. His weight was all on his hands, broad shoulders knotted with the strain, and his expression—he raised his gaze to meet hers.
There was a fire burning inside him, darts of light flickering behind his fathomless pupils. His fangs were emerging a little, shiny points gleaming white against his lips.
She yearned for his bite. She yearned for the sensation she knew his feeding would bring.
Then he thrust deeply into her burying himself to his balls and she lost the capacity to yearn for anything else at all.
She simply shattered.
*~*~*~*
Shards of ice that had formed around Adrian’s heart and soul cracked and fell away as Kat shuddered and screamed her way into release beneath him. He rode the bucking hips with fierce control, letting the waves of her climax flood the space between them and wash heatedly over his brain.
He felt her spasming around his cock every bit as clearly as he felt her mind soaring to indescribable heights, and the combined sensations tipped him over into his own orgasm. It had thudded against his balls with insistent demand the minute Kat had slid her hand to her pussy and built to agonizing levels as she’d aroused herself under his gaze.
He wanted to sink his fangs into her but knew he couldn’t. The knowledge was bittersweet but controllable, thanks to his earlier feeding. Instead, he focused on the woman—her responses, her cries, her scent, the indescribable joy of knowing he’d brought her to this peak. His woman was sobbing out her ecstasy beneath him, around him, within him.
It was pure bliss for Adrian, and he let himself fall into it head first.
And he drowned.
Drowned in her pleasure, her body, her sex. Drowned in the sensation of her muscles as they clung lovingly to his cock, draining it as he pumped himself into her, emptying his balls and his heart at the same time with a wrenching groan.
He could not remember a moment like this in his entire life, neither before he’d been savaged by Thérèse nor after. He wanted to hold this second in his hands, to examine it, to experience it over and over again for the duration of whatever life he had left. Eternity would be too short to fully encompass the magnitude of this physical and emotional release.
But, as always, nature would not permit such liberties, and the woman beneath him fell back onto the bed, gasping for air, her legs sliding loosely from his hips, and her eyes closed in exhaustion.
His cock throbbed once more, reluctant to admit that his orgasm had passed. His balls were loose and empty, and for once he could have sworn that a warmth percolated from them to ease the icy ache of his loins.
Her scent was soothing, relaxed now, redolent of Kat and sex and her woman’s body. Adrian knew his own scent was blended with hers, but all he could detect was her as he breathed the unique fragrance into his very soul.
She was his. Kat. Come what may, Adrian had no doubts that they would lie together like this forever. Fate, in all its twisted and unfathomable brilliance, had delivered his woman to him. His salvation.
His Kat.
His cock softened and with a sigh he pulled himself regretfully from the slick silk of her sheath. It was as if he was leaving home, emerging from a cocoon of passion a new man.
Moisture welled beneath his eyelids as he closed them tiredly, and he tumbled down onto the bed beside her, gathering her into his arms, heedless of the sticky wetness that dappled them both.
“Kat.” Her name slipped from his lips as she snuggled close.
“I’m here.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too. More than you can imagine.” A warm tongue gently flicked at his shoulder, tasting him. “I shall always love you. To the edge of madness, I think.”
; She eased herself away a little, raising up on one elbow to look into his eyes. Wonderingly, she stroked his face. “Adrian, you’re in my soul now. Do not ever leave me. Do not ever doubt me. I don’t care what lies ahead, because I know we’ll face it together.”
She reached down for his hand and interlaced their fingers, lifting them and showing their clasped hands to him. “This, Adrian.” His hand was squeezed hard. “This is us. This is our strength. Each other. Joined—we are invincible.”
His lips curved at the fierceness in her voice as she released him and yawned. “Yes, my Amazon queen. I know. And we’re also tired from our joining. Sleep now.”
She obeyed him without demur, closing her eyes and slipping easily into her rest.
Tomorrow, she would be his. His wife. It might not be the wisest move for one such as Adrian, but he knew he could do nothing else.
He’d found his heart. He would never willingly let her go.
His pulse slowed to almost nothing as Adrian also surrendered to his rest, content that although his heartbeat might be negligible, there was another beating for him within the woman wrapped in his arms.
Chapter Seventeen
The bride was given away by her new father-in-law, the ceremony was held at night—lit by hundreds of candles—and there were no attendants or groomsmen to clutter up the proceedings.
But all present, which included most of the Chesswell household, agreed that the occasion could not be improved upon.
Katherine wholeheartedly agreed as she allowed Sir Sidney to bestow her hand in marriage to Adrian Chesswell, the love of her life. She cared little about the formalities, smiling as Cheverly, chest expanded with pride, passed the ring to Adrian. She squeezed Sir Sidney’s hand as he gave it to his son, knowing that she’d not only found a husband, but a father who would care for her as if she were truly his own.
His capacity to love Adrian, in all his turmoil, was astounding. She knew she would receive no less and the thought warmed and comforted her. She was truly home.
And when the bemused vicar finally pronounced them “man and wife”, telling Adrian he might kiss his bride, she was amazed at the gentle touch of his lips…almost reverently resting on hers.
It was a far cry from the hot and passionately searing kisses that had awoken her from their deep sleep. Hungry for her touch, Adrian had already begun arousing her as she lay beside him, half-awake and wanting as much if not more than he did.
He’d turned her onto her stomach, kneading her buttocks, nipping them, reaching beneath her and lying on her, crushing her mound into his hand and forcing her to move with him. It was hot, erotic and wonderful, and Katherine found her body willing and able to follow him down the road to bliss. He’d parted her buttocks and rested his cock against her tight opening, a shivering delight of surprise, arousal and nerves. He hadn’t claimed her there, but had played, teaching her of the amazing pleasures she had yet to experience.
In truth, by the time he’d finished touching her, strumming her like a virtuoso on a favored instrument, she would have taken him into her body any way she could get him. But he’d satisfied them both by raising her onto her hands and knees and pressing his length deep between her legs, filling her, and just stopping still for long moments.
“Yes, Kat. This is where I belong.”
“I know. There isn’t a doubt in my mind.” She’d breathed her answer as he began to move, once again pushing her body up the still-new slope of desire and passion. Each time was different, each time was wonderful, and Katherine wondered if each time with them would be as the first time—exquisite and incredible.
They cried out together, exploding into a shivering mass of muscles and flesh, Kat scrabbling for a grasp on the linens as Adrian’s arms pulled her ever deeper onto his cock. She swore she heard him sob, even as she herself struggled for breath.
This—this—whatever it was between them shocked her with its intensity. And as she tumbled bonelessly beneath him, the love she felt shocked her with its fierce protectiveness. She would move heaven and earth for this man, should the need arise.
And she had some matters to settle between them.
He pulled her close as he seemed to like to do after their loving, cradling the length of her body against his. “Are you all right? I didn’t hurt you?”
She chuckled. “Not a bit. I feel rather like a contentedly buzzing bee.” She stroked his chest. “Adrian…I need to tell you about the Byerly business. I need to tell you the truth.”
Katherine sighed. Now would come her confession, the admitting that she’d lied.
Adrian’s voice was encouraging. “Very well. Tell me.”
“First…” she paused, seeking for words to express herself. “I must apologize to you, as I must to Sir Sidney. I lied. To both of you.” Katherine swallowed. “I am a weak and godless woman, and I ask your forgiveness.”
The only answer was a snort. “Kat, you are cuddling a man who cannot tolerate sunlight, feeds on blood and may possibly have killed at some point over the last ten years. I have no identity, a fake father and I will quite brutally and unapologetically dispose of that piece of offal Byerly if he comes within ten miles of you. What the devil do you have to apologize for?”
“’Tis not quite the same. You were forced into all of that through no choice of your own. I lied consciously, deviously, with no other goal than to mislead you.”
Adrian humphed and tugged her even closer, resting his chin on her head as it lay against his shoulder. “We could debate our degenerate natures and who’s worse for hours and not agree. So perhaps you should just tell me and be done with it.”
“Very well.” Katherine relaxed a little. “It began when I was not quite eighteen. My parents were extremely strict, and I was raised knowing little of life other than what was permitted by them. We were not poor, but not of the aristocracy either, a fact which seemed to trouble my mother more than my father. She worshipped at the altar of good Ton, he worshipped at the altar of the Lord. When Matthew Byerly came to our district for a visit, he seemed the answer to both their prayers.”
Something must have betrayed her tension, since Adrian began a gentle stroking of her shoulder and her arm. It soothed her and made it easier for her to continue. “Matthew was wealthy, possessed of substantial holdings and a devout man. He was also looking for a wife, having buried three. He wanted children, of course, not having produced any thus far.”
Katherine turned her head and touched Adrian’s chin in an affectionate gesture. “He was not a bad man, Adrian. He treated me with courtesy and gentleness, although his nature was Spartan and his devotion to the Church and the Bible quite sincere.” She sighed. “He visited my bed regularly, although briefly, and I think he was sad I never bore him a child. But it was not to be. We were wed for more than seven years.”
“Seven long years, Kat.” Adrian spoke quietly as she paused.
“Yes, they were long years. Quiet, dark years of worship and good deeds. Spent with a man who was intelligent and kind, but…but…”
“Passionless?”
Katherine turned fully and looked at Adrian. “Yes. Oh yes. There was no passion there, nor was I allowed to betray any on my part. It was hard. Many times I wished I could run to the fields and laugh or sing or dance. Or just shout out loud to remind myself that I truly lived.”
“And then he passed away.” It was a statement, but a leading one nonetheless.
“Yes. A seizure of the heart. And then things went from bad to worse thanks to Arthur Byerly and his greed.” She took a deep breath. “I knew he coveted Matthew’s estate and assumed it would be his. I honestly had no idea that it wasn’t until Matthew’s will was read. Arthur’s fury knew no bounds. He could not overturn the will, so he determined on a course of action that would get him what he wanted—marrying me.”
“The worm-faced vermin.”
“Quite.” Katherine giggled. “And very apt, too. He spread the rumor that Matthew had wanted us to wed. Of cou
rse my refusal turned him into a rather angry worm-faced vermin, since apparently women didn’t turn him down. Especially ones he considered needy widows.”
“Hence your mad flight from Byerly and your arrival here?”
She nodded. “It became too untenable. I couldn’t spend every night of the rest of my life with a bureau in front of my door to protect myself. I refused to live like that. So I fled. With Jessie.”
Her thoughts turned mournful until hard lips claimed hers. “I am saddened by that loss.” Adrian kissed her in between his words. “But you are here now. With me. Where you were always meant to be.”
She kissed him back. “So you forgive me?”
He snorted, which—since his mouth was now against her breast at the time—made her laugh. “There is nothing to forgive and much to forget. Your life begins now, my Kat.” He sucked strongly on her nipple, making her sigh and squirm with pleasure. “As my wife.”
*~*~*~*
And it was as his wife that Katherine Byerly Chesswell walked proudly beside Adrian Chesswell into the dining room where a small but festive meal was to be served.
Adrian hadn’t wanted any fuss, Sir Sidney was simply happy that the son he’d come to love as his own had found happiness, and Katherine—well, Katherine just glowed. The Vicar joined them, along with his wife and the two guests who had served as witnesses. The conversation was cordial, those outside the family managing to politely suppress their curiosity, even though Adrian could almost hear the questions humming around their heads.
“I’m glad you feel well enough to take on the responsibility of a wife, Mr. Chesswell.” The Vicar’s wife glanced delightedly at her plate, piled high with a vegetable soufflé. “Oooh, lovely. Local beans, I’ll warrant. Nothing tastier, Sir Sidney.”
Since she obviously enjoyed a lion’s share of beans along with everything else, Sir Sidney merely nodded and took a mouthful of his own meal.
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