Will grinned at his brother-in-law. "That's the pot calling the kettle black. Why, I caught you and Viv in the-"
"Yes, er, thank you, young man. Hide and seek with the children, you know, and we got a bit tired whilst waiting."
"Anyone would think you were in the cavalry then, for the officers frequently resemble their horses."
Vevina and Stewart looked at him blankly.
"You know, they sleep standing up."
They slapped him playfully. With warm hugs all around, they promised to come around at the end of the week to make more arrangements for Christmas in three weeks' time.
Then the Joyces stepped back in through the front door and closed it.
"Alone at last," Will sighed.
"Are you sure that-"
"Yes. I love every single one of them, but I can't think of anything better than having you all to myself."
He moved to pick her up into his arms, but she shook her head. "I need ten minutes."
Will felt a pang of fear streak through him.
She stroke his cheek reassuringly. "Trust me. No trellises this time."
"All right. If this is anything like the surprise you gave me the other night, it'll be worth it."
She bestowed a warm kiss upon him, and went up to see all of her arrangements had been carried out. Once in her room she viewed the food and wine, the banked-up fire, the flowers, with a smile. She tested the pallet that had been made up in front of the hearth, and surveyed the little bottles of oil.
Then she divested herself of her gown and put on a diaphanous wrapper and brushed out her hair. She left only a few candles burning around the room, and ran the water in the tub.
Will tapped on the door and entered. His breath caught in his throat as he saw Elizabeth's pale flesh shimmering under the transparent silk.
"Like the first day I ever saw you on the beach," he whispered in reverent awe.
With a sweep of her hand she indicated the food. "And like our true wedding night. Apart from the rabbit stew, of course. But it wouldn't be such a delicacy if it were cold, and I have a few other things on the menu."
He gave her a broad answering grin. "Whatever you heart desires, darling."
Then he approached almost shyly and took both her small delicate hands in his own huge warm ones.
"In case I've never said it, or not said it often enough, Elizabeth, I have never loved and will never love anyone as much as I love you. Except possibly all the children we'll be blessed with."
She blushed, and he stroked her cheek.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to worry you," he apologised.
"Not worried, no. It was a powerful image. And a true one. You've seen it too, haven't you?"
"I have. From the very start, when we awakened upon the capstone of the dolmen. I've even heard its little heart beat, I'm sure. Oh darling, don't look so worried. I love you, and this makes our happiness complete."
"Yes, but children are hostages to fortune."
He kissed her. "Not ours. They will be happy and loved, and know peace in their lifetime."
She kissed him then, and he spun her around until she laughed in delight and begged to be put down. "I have other things I want to do with your hands," she said with a wink.
"Indeed. I can thing of quite a few. The only problem is the image of seeing you rounded with my baby is making me so hard feel like I'm about to faint."
"Well, don't faint, darling. I want you awake for all I'm going to do to you."
He stared. "Why, you teasing little minx."
Her eyes flashed. "No tease. I have every intention of following through."
She removed his clothing lingeringly, piece by piece as they had done on the night they had finally consummated their marriage.
Then she led him to the tub, and waited while he climbed in.
Soon she was lathering his broad stroking back, kneading his muscles until he sighed and surrendered to whatever she had decided she was going to do to him. Whatever it was would be wonderful, he was sure. Each time they were together was more and more wondrous than the last.
"I felt you, you know. When I was ill. Heard you. I was a long way away and couldn't reach you, but your hands upon me were most powerful."
"Oh, darling, please don't remind me."
"Are you sure?" she whispered, her eyes glowing with their special warm spark.
She continues to soap him, down the plain of his hard chest and abdomen, and still lower. Under the water line.
He sucked in his breath, and shook his head, but it was too late. One hand braced on the edge of the tub, while the other pulled her to him for a kiss. He gasped his release into her mouth as she twined her tongue around his, and her fingers thrilled him until the end.
"Oh, Elizabeth, thank you. But you shouldn't have."
"Why not? You've done it to me. That first day in the cave, the night we got engaged. You remember, darling. What's sauce for the goose…."
"You are most definitely saucy. But does that mean I'm a goose?"
She smiled tenderly. "No. You are my most darling husband, the man who can delight me with just one look from your wonderful eyes."
He reached to caress her breasts, but she shook her head. "No. I mean, I love what you do to me, but I want you to have this night of pleasure for yourself. Not have to worry about pleasing me."
"Are you sure? I mean I thought women....
"You do please me, always. You don't have to try. Now for one night I just want to return the favor."
"All right, I'll try to control myself. But if you keep doing that, darling, I'm not going to be answerable for the consequences."
She smiled and gave him a fleeting kiss, as light as the flutter of a butterfly's wings. "Just relax and enjoy it. We have all night. And the rest of our lives."
"Now that sounds like a bargain I would be mad to refuse."
She lathered him all over a second time, from head to toe and everywhere in between, until his flesh felt as though it were on fire. As though he had never made love before.
It was all so new and wondrous, like wandering around in the dark and stumbling across a glimpse of paradise. Like it had been in the cave. And the dolmen. Magical. Perfect.
When he had finished soaking, Elizabeth dried him off lingeringly with some warm towels and led him to the pallet bed on the hearth. She whispered for him to lie face down. She sat on the bed beside him, and took up a small bottle. She poured some perfumed oil into one palm and onto his back, still rugged with scars, but not nearly as bad as it had been.
She ran both hands down him in long languorous strokes. Will thought he would burst into flames, so thrilling was the contact. She kneaded his buttocks, thighs, calves, and then worked her way back up.
His erection thrust painfully against the mattress, and finally he could stand the exquisite pleasure no longer, and begged her to let him turn over.
"Easy," she said as he did so and grabbed for her arm. She pressed him back down on the mattress and poured more oil on his front.
"Oh, no, love, I can't…"
"You can. Just relax, trust me."
She worked her way down to his feet once more, taking pains to skirt around his throbbing loins. No, she had other plans for them.
Slick with oil, he looked like a god descended from Mount Olympus, and she stroked him almost worshipfully, before running her hands up his thighs to spread his legs and explore the delicate skin which was tightening desirously between.
"Elizabeth, love, you can't-" His breath caught in his throat as her mouth came down and moved over him. The smooth glide of her lips and tongue nearly unmanned him again.
He tried to lift her head. "No, please, I need-"
"I know what you need. To be loved unconditionally, with no forbidden joys. No boundaries or restraints. No more fears."
She put her head back down, until his gasp told her he was on the edge. Her oily hand slicked over him and then herself, and she quickly swung her leg over his h
ip and took him inside her with one huge ripple.
He exploded in the throes of such uncontrollable desire that she had to hold him down on the bed by both shoulders. His shout of passion must have alerted the entire household, but she was past caring as she felt her own climax rushing through her.
She stretched up to kiss him, but in a moment she had been flipped onto her back. He filled her, the head of his manhood surging, completing her.
Will lay prone on his wife's supple body, unable to move so much as a muscle. He could feel her breathing, hear her heart beat, feel a tiny little pulse deep inside her. Life, love, it was all here, all he needed.
He said as much to her, and she sighed and kissed him. "Me too. And to think we almost lost this."
"Please, Elizabeth, don't remind me. I can't bear to think about it. All those weeks I waited for you to come back to me. It was torture not to be able to speak to you, see your enchanting eyes looking at me with love."
"But I'm here now, darling. Now, and always. I promise."
He sighed. "I hope so. I just wonder—"
"I know. I've wondered too. What sort of bargain we've made with the gods."
His breath whooshed from his lungs in relief. At last, one of them had dared to say it. "I don't know. It scares me. I've never experienced—"
"I have. Well, not directly. It was Jonathan Deveril, actually."
"Your special friend," he said, trying to keep the jealousy from his tone.
"Yes, my special friend. He should have been my brother in law. He and Jane—"
He shook his head, exasperated with himself. "I've been a fool, haven't I? Jealous of him for no reason."
"Not a fool, darling, but a man in love. But 'tis no matter now. What I wanted to say was, he made a bargain with God to save Clifford and Thomas at Cuidad Roderigo. Or so he thought. He said he was certain they were both dead, and yet after he prayed, he saw they were alive, with hardly a mark on them."
Will's jaw set grimly. "Remarkable, but still, Christian or pagan, what difference does it make? The gods do exact their price."
She stroked one soothing hand down his shoulder. "But never anything we can't bear. Jonathan lost Jane, but it was her choice. And he found Pamela, and she saved Sophie from one of Jane's violators."
He nodded. "I can see the pattern. I'm just not sure I can bear any more suffering after nearly losing you."
"I know what you fear. But life is love, and loss, and gain."
"I know. The baby—"
"Will be fine. I promise. But we may lose Parks."
He sighed heavily. "Can you see it too?"
She considered. "No. It's all black in the cave, then a single streak of light, a bolt from the heavens."
"Where?" he asked in a whisper.
She paused again. "In my hands."
He shook his head. "It makes no sense to me."
She cradled his head against her bosom. "Trust to fate then. It's all any of us can do."
He rolled onto her, and they banished their fears in each other's arms.
Fitzsimmons seethed, pacing up and down the church aisle. "You've told me to trust to fate, but after all these weeks we still have nothing!"
His companion shrugged. "What difference does it make? Only a madman would risk invading in the winter."
Fitzsimmons' eyes glittered. "A madman, or a genius."
"What are you saying?"
"Maybe now is the perfect time. Or not exactly now, but the Christmas season, when many of the soldiers will be on leave to see their families."
"That's only three weeks away!"
"Ample time. We send word, and watch all the pieces on the chessboard move into place."
His companion said in exasperation, "But what about the guns—"
Fitzsimmons shrugged. "We might not find them, but then no one else will either."
"Joyce must know," the other speculated.
"If he does, he's been spending so much time in his house with that whore Elizabeth we can't even follow him to try to find—"
"He was always bookish."
"Hah, is that what you call it?" Fitzsimmons snorted.
His colleague shook his head. "I must go. I'll be missed."
"As will I."
"But you promised. If we give up on the guns, what will I have to—"
"I didn't say I was giving them up. I have a plan. Kill two birds with one stone, eh? Or in this case three."
"If you mean that bugger Parks, he's gone."
"He'll be back, I'm sure." Fitzsimmons smiled wolfishly. "In fact, I'm looking forward to it."
"Very well. If your orders are to give the word, I'll send to London now, tell them all to assemble for three weeks from today, the twentieth."
Fitzsimmons nodded. "Perfect. If everyone keeps their heads, it will go like clockwork. This will be one holiday season Ardmore will never forget."
But as the winter frost settled in, Ardmore looked back. Looked back and remembered. And gathered its strength for the next great pagan festival: the winter solstice.
Chapter Thirty-three
"What is it about the cold weather that makes me feel so lazy, yet so alive?" Elizabeth asked as she pulled herself from the bed, tugged on her flimy wrapper and stretched.
Her husband ogled her scantily clad body happily. "I don't know. I suppose because it's a time of rest, recovery, until all the excitement of spring. It only looks frozen at the minute," he said as she moved to gaze out the window. "But underneath it all there's teeming life just waiting for the right spark to get it going."
He came up behind her and pulled her to him, resting his hands on her belly.
"Yes, love, you most certainly had the right spark."
He smiled. "So did you."
She sucked in her breath as his hands travelled lower, through the folds of her delicate nightdress to the bare flesh underneath which always seemed to cry out for him.
"Darling, we need to get up and dressed. Everyone will be here soon and-"
"I'm most certainly up. And you're dressed, at least."
"This hardly counts--"
Her sob of urgency as he peaked her nipples with his other hand choked off any other half-hearted protest.
He filled her to the hilt as she braced her hands against the window frame. Her knees began to buckle, but he held her up by her belly, caressed her whorl of desire, and drove into her delightedly until she tightened around him and squeezed him unmercifully with her tight inner muscles.
They both exploded, and Will laughed throatily.
"There, you see, never even needed the bed."
"We rarely do these days. You're insatiable."
"Hah! Which of us was the one who kept me in our room at the townhouse in Dublin with naught more than a bit of bread and water to feed me for three whole days when we were supposed to be Christmas shopping?"
She blushed. "I can't help it. The baby--"
"In which case I shall keep you filled with children until we're too old to manage."
"Promises, promises." She turned to face Will and kissed him long and hard.
"At least we did get all our shopping done and pay calls in the end. I also seem to recall there was some fresh cream to go with that bread and water that you had some very interesting uses for."
Will actually blushed too. "So did you," he accused.
"Yes, but the marmalade was even better."
Will cupped her rump with a laugh. "I love you no matter what foodstuffs you'd like to tease me with. This is what I dreamt of. A love with no qualms, reservations, no hiding in the shadows, no shame. I can't tell you what it means to me."
"To me, too. But if we don't get bathed and decently clad, we will never-"
"Oh drat," he sighed.
"What?"
"My present to Vevina. We were supposed to pick it up at Waterford yesterday, but the weather was so awful we never got there."
The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2 Page 58
