Never before had he been reluctant to tup a woman. So, why had he not followed when he ordered her to retire? Mayhap because it lacked the secrecy of inching down a darkened corridor, or slipping unexpected into a bed knowing that soft flesh eagerly awaited his hands? He was still pondering his lagging desire when he silently eased the bedchamber door open.
His desire far from lagged at the sight within the room. Letia stood in a stream of moonlight bathing at a basin. A dark blue robe draped low across her back and arms, its weight held it there at the crook of her elbows, exposed the long line of her back down to the dimples above her buttocks. A riot of dark curls tumbled about her shoulder blades as she dipped her head, engrossed in watching what she was doing.
Without a whisper of sound, he eased the door to and moved in the shadows. His breath caught when she cupped the weight of her left breast and lifted it. Slowly, she rubbed a soapy hand over the plump flesh there, paying careful attention to the straining nipple as she cleansed it of her mother's milk. Satisfied now, she cupped her hand in the water and brought it up. Her teeth worried her lower lip, and she shivered and squirmed while she trickled water over her breast.
Raik's stones ached and grew heavy as he followed the trail of water slipping down over her nipple, down her rib cage, the wet flesh gleaming in the moonlight. His hand came up, wanting to stop her from patting it dry with a small, white cloth.
He barely drew breath. He did not want to lose the vision of Letia as she turned her attention to her other breast, treating it in the same way. Mannish his wife might be in her daily pursuits, but inside her bedchamber, he could not deny the desire she provoked.
His surging cock wouldn't allow him.
CHAPTER 23
Raik shifted while he watched Letia, envying her hand as it stroked over her snowy flesh. Had his clothing been tighter, he would have urgent need to free his sex.
"I brought clean linen to bind your breasts." Maud hurried through the doorway leading from the solar. She skidded to a halt, the cloth sliding to the floor as her hand flew to her throat. "Ack! Baron, you startled me." She plunked her candle on the bedside table and picked up the spilled linen, placing it away from the fluttering light.
Letia dropped her cloth and clutched the sides of the robe to cover her gleaming nakedness.
"Why did you not announce yourself, my lord?"
Though she had turned her back, he heard the scowl behind the words.
"On entering my own bedchamber?"
"This is my chamber. Goda prepared your room across the landing. You will remember it. The one you slept in before." She turned to face him, holding tight to the robe. He saw the missing tie on the floor near hidden by the bed.
"Hm. And this room? Did ye not share it with the late baron?"
"That is different. Warin brought me here when we first wed."
He snorted in disgust. When a light mewling sounded from the shadowed bedside area, he was sorry for his irritation.
"This room has always been his. Ours,"
"Aye. And it is now mine. Ours."
Raik strolled over to find Aubrey still sleeping, his little body moving quietly.
"I thought you would wish separate quarters, since you no more wanted this marriage than I did."
"Ye thought wrong, wife. About the quarters. Aubrey is my legal heir for all in England. I want a son, an heir from my body for Scotland. I canna do that from across the hall."
Maud snickered, reminding him she was yet there. He could near hear Letia's teeth gnashing together.
Finally, she huffed and threw him a scorching look. "Turn your back, sir, while Maud binds my...uh, binds me." She beckoned to Maud.
"Nay, Maud. Yer mistress needs no bindings. For truth, 'twould be even more like bedding a squire."
Maud stopped in mid-stride. He heard Letia splutter but ignored her as he unclasped the gold pin holding his red cape. Taking care to protect the yellow silk lining, he folded the material inward. His gaze searched the room until he spied the big chair beside the fireplace then sauntered over to drape it over the chair's back.
"When ye leave, Maud, tell Edulf to bring my things to the solar. Goda can see them brought here on the morrow. You and Aubrey will take the room across the hall. Beginning tonight. Cover yourself, wife."
He jerked open the door and called to the sentry posted at the top of the stairwell. When the man came, he ordered him to carry the cradle to the other chamber as gently as possible so he would not awaken the babe.
"Nay. The child sleeps beside my bed," Letia protested.
"I ken he was born in early May? Over two and a half months past?" He quirked a brow at her. "Maud will bring the bairn if he awakens and needs feeding."
"He stays with me. He oft needs feeding." Letia's jaw jutted, her eyes glinted with determination.
"If he so oft needs feeding, then mayhap Maud should see to finding a suitable wet nurse so ye can sleep of a night."
Letia gasped. "A child should have his own mother. He should not have to share another infant's mother."
"Then ye will no longer object to him sleeping beside Maud's bed and having him brought here." Tired of her trying to counter his commands, a streak of mean deviltry crept in. "Besides, dear wife, if ye are as loud and lusty in yer bed sport as ye are in anger, the little lad won't get his proper rest."
She spluttered and sucked in her breath to argue further. He crossed his arms and widened his stance.
"Enough. It grows late."
He stood, unyielding, as Letia gritted her teeth and kissed the top of Aubrey's head. She glared at Raik while the guard carried the cradle from the room.
"Maud, during the night, open the door but a crack afore ye enter. If all is not quiet within, wait a bit and return."
"Aye, my lord. To be sure."
Maud followed the guard from the room, and as she passed him, only he could see the waggle of her eyebrows and the long face she pulled at him. Why, she looked about to burst out laughing!
He pulled the door to behind her.
Letia wanted to scream. Angry thoughts flew about in her mind, making no sense.
How dare he banish her child from her room. Uh, their room.
He wasn't Aubrey's sire... But he was.
He had no right... She gulped. He did.
Raik was the baron of Seton now, master over all. Including her. Her scalp prickled. She scraped her fingers through her hair then realized she had let go of her robe. Heaven help her, she had flashed her nude body at him. She grabbed the cloth and wrapped her arms around her waist.
Mayhap he had not seen. It was not so. His lips lifted in a wicked smile and his eyes grew heavy with lust.
His sword rasped over-loud in the silent room as he removed it then strolled over to pass between her and the bed. He placed it on the floor where he could easily heft it during the night. She bolted to the far side of the bed and warily eyed him as he unbuckled his belt and rolled it around the sheath. He laid it on the edge of the table. As he crossed through a bright shaft of moonlight, the red stone eye of the tunic's gryphon glinted at her, as if it, too, eyed her with a disapproving glare.
Tension crackled and swelled to fill the room, pushing against the stone walls as if it would crumble them outward.
She feared she'd lose what little she had eaten and disgrace herself. What should she do?
What he expected.
All too conscious of her naked body beneath the wrap, she eyed the bed. Mayhap it would be best to get between the sheets. At least she'd be covered. Raik sat on the far edge of the mattress removing his black boots. What if he turned as she dropped her robe? She'd best hurry. Wetting her fingers, she pinched out the candle. Her robe went flying with one hand as she held the covers up with the other and jumped into the cold bed.
When the bedding rocked him, he glanced over his shoulder and grunted. She eased further down in the sheets until she was near off her pillow. She thought better of it. What if he turned to lean on his
elbow to say something and clipped her chin? She wriggled her way back up.
"Do ye always root like a hungry pig around the bed at night?"
"I was not rooting. The pillow was in the wrong place."
He stood and the bed swayed again. She rolled toward the middle.
"Ye're doing it again. Do ye intend to sprawl over the whole bed?"
She huffed in disgust and scrambled back toward her edge.
He grunted, satisfied. And continued undressing. The room darkened as clouds built, heralding rain before the sun next rose. She watched his shadows as he slipped the red tunic over his head with a silky whisper, followed by the long, yellow shirt. He seemed as careful with these garments as he was of his cape.
As he crossed the room, the clouds passed and he stood, his front bathed in bright moonlight. On that first moonless night the year before, he had come to her and removed her robe to hold her. She had been conscious of his height then and felt the hard ridges of his muscled body. But she had not seen what her body had felt standing against him. Naked.
Raik's beautifully defined chest was impressive. Each section of muscles stood out, prominent and cut into his body as if they were made of Scottish granite. They tapered down to a trim waist and a dark, deep bellybutton and flat lower belly. Black hair sprinkled his chest and trailed down. And down. To a heavy nest of springy hair.
His tarse and balls were imposing. Aye, she had glimpsed them before, inert as they laid there betwixt his legs when she tended his injuries.
And she had known their hardness when they coupled. But she had not expected to see them like this.
Lifeless. Uncaring.
He did not find her desirable.
Raik had no need of a seer's powers to know Letia watched him. He felt her gaze probing the darkened room, studying his body as he passed through the shaft of moonlight. 'Twas apparent he'd lost his urge to couple. He stretched out on his back, folded his arms beneath his head and stared up at the forest green canopy over the bed.
He would have to convince his unruly cock it should raise to the occasion, for he had to consummate the wedding. And not tomorrow or the day after. Tonight. What if on the morrow she attempted to back out of the marriage stating he had not fulfilled his husbandly duties? He would not chance losing Seton and this single opportunity that he would ever have for a home and land of his own. King Stephen would not put an official seal to his possession until he knew Raik had done the deed.
His bride was as still and silent as he. Mayhap if he pretended his Lily was abed with him his cock would awake? Uh. He closed his eyes and pictured those nights. He inched his hand down to feel his sex.
Soft….Lifeless…. Hiding against his stones.
The room was too bright. Not near the same as it had been those sensuous nights. He jumped up. The bed creaked and swayed like a ship at sea. He stamped over to the window opening and slammed the shutters together.
Ah, good. He turned and looked toward the bed. It was too dark to see her eyes staring, mocking him.
Letia gritted her teeth and willed herself to get through this. In those stolen, moonless nights she had spent with him, he had been a careful, considerate lover. Surely he would be the same with a wife—even a wife he had not wanted?
But what if he recognized her body in the dark? Could a man tell when he had swived a woman before? Hmm. Her shape wasn't the same, for her breasts were heavy and lush and her stomach was soft and rounded.
Too, in that time before, she had come to him, even seduced him as much as she had known how. Tonight, he had invaded her room. The circumstances were entirely different. If she remained indifferent, he would never know she was the same woman. She intended to be as still and unresponsive as an oak tree on a quiet day.
Raik threw back the sheet and turned on his left side, disturbing the bed again. It had the desired effect when Letia squeaked and fell over against him.
Her breasts grazed his chest, the nipples hard and hot. Remembering their lush beauty when she stood before the basin, his heartbeat quickened. Never had he seen anything so arousing as her soapy hands gliding over her breasts, cleansing and checking the nipples, staring down at them. It would have been even more stimulating had she been pleasuring herself.
The harsh rush of his breath stirred a wayward curl on her brow to tease his cheek when he rose on his elbow and reached for her. He did not go straight to her breasts, though his lips demanded it, but prolonged the anticipation by cupping her chin and sliding his thumb over her full lips.
Lush. Soft. Warm.
Would she relish a kiss? Surely, she must like some aspects of bed sport or Aubrey would not be sleeping in his cradle. He hesitated but a breath before he decided to find out. At first, her body stiffened and her lips stayed still beneath his. He plied them with all the sensual skills he had learned over the years. Soon, her breath caught and she responded. Would she like his tongue tracing her lips then probing for her to open? She did. Ah, she tasted of honey and cinnamon left from the warm scones served with the fruit and nuts.
Still, he hesitated to touch her breasts. Instead, he kissed and licked his way from beneath her left ear, down her neck and across her collarbones. The faint scent of heather on her skin drifted to him as he traveled between her breasts and on down to plunge his tongue in her navel. She squirmed. He rubbed his cheeks on her soft belly, the hair covering her sex ticking him beneath his chin. His hot tongue tasted her hipbones and started back up.
As he nuzzled beneath her breasts, he felt the tension in her stomach, felt the muscles in her legs try to relax as if she willed her hips to stillness. He grinned. Her body was quick to heat and respond. He would not let her deny him. Or herself. His hand stopped its leisurely travel over her thighs to move between them. She clamped her knees together before she realized his trapped hand was nestled against her heated center.
He had felt what he wanted. She was damp. Near ready. His fingers parted her nether lips, and as he settled over her, he rolled her nub between his fingers at the same time he licked a turgid nipple. She arched against him, thrusting her breast at his mouth, her sex against his fingers. Her head rocked back and forth.
"Nay, nay," she murmured, all the while denying what she said, for she clutched the hair at his temples to keep him close.
He spread her legs with his knees and settled himself there. He nudged his cock against her opening, wondering how slow he should go. Never before had he swived a woman who had a small bairn. Had she healed from the birthing? Would he hurt her?
She made no protest as he eased into her. Her flesh clenched around him, surprisingly as tight as any childless lass who was used to swiving.
He squeezed his eyelids together, remembering the way his Lily had felt, how she had responded to him so readily. His lips closed over a nipple, but on feeling the milk spurt there, drew back. He wouldn't steal from his heir. He lapped the areola surrounding the nipple, the taste of her breast's milk stimulating him further.
To keep her from bucking him off, he plunged deep and firm. Her frantic moves met his own needs, and he rose on stiff arms arching above her, angling his hips as he quickened his thrusts. When he was near to bursting with holding himself in check, he reached between them to slide his finger around her slick nubbin. She strained and arched so high and fiercely she near unseated him.
Letia, who had looked at him so disdainfully earlier when he asked if she was loud in her bed sport, now gave him a truthful answer.
She yelled. Loud.
So loud she near drowned out his own groans while her body pulsed and pulled at his bucking cock as he released his seed. She throbbed around him, the waves squeezing up and down his member, draining him.
They both collapsed.
Depleted.
Letia had meant to be as still and unresponsive as an oak tree?
She had failed.
Unless a fierce summer storm had caught that tree.
She gasped for breath, the sound of her own voice
still resounding in her head. It was the first time in her life she had ever been so vocal in the throes of her release. Nay. Mayhap not. Had Raik not covered her lips with his on those stolen dark nights, would she have been as loud?
Raik's weight was heavy. Though his bent arms kept his chest from robbing her of breath, his lower body locked hers firmly against the pallet, his sex still engaged. He was as spent as she. His forehead pressed into the pillow beside her head; his gasps for air huffed against her neck. Her body still pulsated, trying to keep Raik within.
Saints! She heard a small sound above their rasping breaths.
Of a sudden, Raik reared back, twisted and leaped from the bed. He crouched and, as he came upright, she heard the sword tip scrape against the floor. Sword in hand, in three steps he reached the door and wrenched it open.
CHAPTER 24
"What do ye here!" Raik's harsh voice demanded.
Though Letia could not see his back in the doorway, the faint glow of the sentry's torch at the stairwell highlighted his form and that of another man's.
"No need to skewer me, Baron. A slight mistake in rooms only."
It was Sir William's smooth voice.
"Dinna take me for a fool. You lurked to..."
Letia could hear no more, for Raik slammed the door closed behind him. She didn't need to hear the muffled words on the other side to know her husband did not believe the Norman. But in the absence of a cry of pain or scream, he must have reassured Raik he meant no harm.
Oh, Saints! Judging from the voices, now Sir Cormac was there, and heaven only knew who else.
"If the lot of ye are not stealing from another's bed, there is no reason for ye to be lurking about outside my bedchamber."
Sir Cormac coughed and gurgled, sounding like he was stifling laughter. "How could we not land at yer doorway when we heard such howling and baying I thought the great black beast had ye in his jaws!"
"Yer crowing and clucking is as foolish as any rooster feeding on dregs from the brewer's hut, fool."
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