Winterset

by Candace Camp

  “I am leaving now,” Anna said firmly. “Give me a hand up. You can follow if you wish, but I’m not waiting.”

  The man was too used to obedience to refuse to do as she said, and he tossed her up into the saddle, then stood, scratching his head, as he watched her ride out of the stables and into the yard beyond.

  Anna took the faster route through the fields to Winterset, grateful that it was growing lighter by the moment. She gave her horse its head, her only thought to reach Reed. She thundered along the narrow dirt path and across a meadow, sailing over a low stone wall, and then headed on to the path to Winterset.

  The sight of Reed’s cold, lifeless face plagued her thoughts. She had been so stupid, she berated herself. She had been so caught up in her fear for her brother that she had not even thought about Reed. He was as likely to be in danger as anyone—more, even, since he was actively involved in searching for the killer.

  The sun was just peeping over the horizon as her horse pounded up to Winterset. The house stood still and quiet, though there was some sign of activity out in the stables. A startled groom stuck his head out the stable door and started forward when he saw Anna jump down from her horse. She left the reins dangling for him and ran through the formidable gates and up to the front door.

  She crashed the knocker against the door repeatedly until a footman pulled the door open.

  “Reed! Where is Reed?” she cried, pushing past the astonished servant into the foyer.

  “Uh, uh, in his bedchamber, I imagine, miss,” the footman began, but realized he was speaking to Anna’s back as she rushed past him and up the stairs.

  “Miss!” he exclaimed in a scandalized voice and started after her.

  “Reed!” Anna called as she darted up the stairs and into the hall. She looked around, not knowing which room was his, and called his name again as she started down the hall, opening one door after another.

  The footman jittered along behind her nervously, pleading with her to stop, to let him announce her to the master. Down the hall, a door was flung open and Reed stepped into the hall.

  “Anna!” He had obviously pulled on his clothes hastily, for he wore only trousers and a shirt, hanging open down the front, and his hair was still tousled from sleep. “What is it? What’s the matter?”

  He started forward. Anna ran toward him. “Reed!”

  She flung herself into his arms. “Reed! Oh, thank God! I was so worried about you.”

  Reed held her close, motioning at the gaping footman to leave, which the man did, albeit with some reluctance.

  “Worried about me?” Reed asked, surprised. He stepped back into his room, pulling Anna with him, and closed the door. “Now, why would you be worried about me?”

  “I saw you!” she cried, stepping back and looking searchingly into his face, as though she could not quite believe that he was alive and well, even though the evidence was standing right in front of her.

  “Saw me?” he repeated. “What do you mean?”

  “In a dream. I dreamed about you lying out in the woods in the rain, dead. You were so pale, so still. Oh, Reed, I was so scared!” She threw herself against him, her arms going around his waist and holding on tightly. “I thought you were dead. I don’t know what I would do if you were dead.”

  Anna looked up into his face. Her eyes were huge and dark blue in her face, sparkling with tears, and the color was high on her cheekbones, staining them red. Her hair hung in a long tangle down her back, careless and windblown.

  Reed’s breath caught in his throat. He had never seen her look so desirable.

  “Oh, Reed…” Anna breathed, and she brought her hands up to cup his face.

  She felt the roughness of his unshaved skin beneath her hands, and she was suddenly aware of his shirt hanging open, revealing a strip of bare skin down the front of his chest and stomach. Her heart began to hammer, and the nerves all over her skin sizzled to life. She felt the heat flood his face beneath her hands, and her own insides turned hot and molten.

  Anna trembled, rose up on her toes, then pulled his head down to meet her mouth.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Reed’s mouth clamped down on hers greedily. All the passion that had been held back stormed through them, sweeping aside the concepts of propriety and duty. There was no thought, no feeling, other than the desire that raged in them.

  He lifted her into him, pressing her body against his. She could feel the fierce hunger in him, the heat that exploded in his body, surrounding her. He kissed her wildly as his hands roamed up and down her back, digging into her buttocks and moving her against the rigid length of his desire.

  Her own hunger was like a ravening beast inside her, clawing to be free of the restraints she had put on it for so long. She wrapped her arms around Reed’s neck, clinging to him as her lips gave back to him, kiss for kiss.

  Lost in a haze of desire, they made their way toward the bed, turning, sliding backward, never pulling apart long enough to walk the few feet. He fumbled at her buttons, and she slid her hands beneath his shirt, roaming with pleasure across his bare skin. The feel of his flesh beneath her fingers, the smoothness of skin and the faint roughness of hair, stoked the flames of her passion still higher.

  Anna felt as if she could scarcely breathe, could not last another moment without touching him, kissing him, all over. She wanted him with a kind of desperation she had never experienced, a hunger that would not be denied. She wanted to know him, to have him inside her, to belong to him in the most elemental way.

  “Love me,” she murmured, lightly dragging her nails down his bare back beneath his shirt.

  Reed jerked at her touch and let out a groan. “I do, I do.” He kissed her deeply and whispered, “I will.”

  He jerked at the last few buttons, popping off two of them, and shoved her dress down off her arms. In her haste, Anna had donned none of her petticoats, only her chemise and pantalets. Reed stopped, gazing down at her lithe body, clad only in these two simple cotton garments. Her breasts swelled above the top of her chemise, pale and round and succulent. A strand of her hair fell in front of her shoulders, curling and tangling down over her breast, and the sight of it sent hunger crashing through him.

  Reed ached to take her immediately, to consume her all at once, and at the same time he wanted to take his time, to taste each and every delight of her flesh. He wanted to smother her with long, leisurely kisses, to roam over every inch of her smooth skin, to caress and arouse her to a quivering, begging hunger. And he wanted, too, to sink deep within her right now, to drive to his exploding satisfaction.

  He reached down and took the strand of hair between his fingers, sliding down it, his knuckles brushing over the silken skin of her breast, and his skin trembled at the touch. He laid the tress back over her shoulder and bent to press his lips upon the soft, yielding top of her breast. He smelled the scent of her skin, the faint trace of perfume. His lips made their way across the tops of her breasts, kissing and teasing, his tongue circling designs over the quivering flesh.

  Untying the bow between her breasts, he slipped loose the ribbon that laced up the chemise, and it sagged apart. He slipped his hands between the two sides and pushed back the fabric, exposing the full white orbs. Reed cupped her breasts, delighting in the contrast of her pearly skin with his tanned hands.

  Her nipples tightened boldly under his gaze, and he grazed his thumbs across them, sending shivers through Anna and hardening the buds even more.

  “You are so beautiful,” he murmured, and bent to kiss her breasts again.

  He wrapped his arms under her hips, lifting her up so that he could feast more freely upon her breasts. His tongue traced around a nipple, teasing it into an even tauter state, lashing and circling and finally pulling the hard button of flesh into his mouth, suckling it.

  Anna trembled beneath his ministrations, sparks of sensation shooting through her with every tug of his mouth. Her abdomen blossomed with heat, desire pooling between her legs. She gr
oaned, her hands roaming restlessly over his shoulders and neck, and tangling in his hair.

  She had never known anything like the feelings that flooded her now. An insistent ache grew between her legs, yearning for a completion that only Reed could give her. He had lifted her off her feet, and now she wrapped her legs around him, pressing herself wantonly against him.

  A half groan, half laugh escaped Reed, and he murmured shakily, “You will unman me.”

  He eased her feet back onto the floor and threw off the scrap of her chemise, still clinging to her arms, then unfastened the bow of her pantalets and ran his hands beneath them, pushing them over the curve of her buttocks and down her legs, until they fell in a pool at her feet.

  Anna tugged at his shirt, pushing it back and off his shoulders. Then her hands went to his trousers, inexpertly seeking the buttons that fastened them.

  “You should do this,” she said shakily. “I am all thumbs.”

  “I enjoy more the way you do it,” he told her, smiling.

  In response, she tossed him a saucy grin and slid her hand boldly into his trousers, and he groaned, biting back an oath. She started to withdraw, but he clamped his hand over hers.

  “No, stay.”

  Surprised at her own audacity, Anna did as he said, her hand searching out the hard male length of his desire and curling around him. Her other hand slid beneath the waistband of his trousers, and she pushed them down, gliding over his buttocks as his hand had moved on hers. He sucked in his breath, and the sound aroused her. She could feel the quiver of his flesh beneath her hands, and that aroused her even more.

  Reed grasped her shoulders and kissed her, his mouth claiming hers, as she continued to caress him. His lips ground into hers, his tongue probing. He wrapped his arms around her, his skin searing hers, and they tumbled back onto the bed.

  He kissed her again and again as his hand went between her legs, finding the tender flesh there, slick with the moisture of her desire. He caressed her, his fingers moving delicately, expertly, exploring and exciting her. Anna dug her fingertips into the soft flesh of his buttocks as the passion built in her to almost unbearable heights. She moaned his name, lost in her hunger, aching for him.

  He parted her legs and slid between them, sinking into her slowly, gently opening her and filling her. Anna gasped, but it was wonder, not fear, that spread through her as he eased into her, and despite the brief, sharp slice of pain, her desire only increased, swelling and growing in her with each slow thrust.

  Reed moved within her, and Anna wrapped her arms and legs around him, trembling with urgency. Something was building in her, strange and sweet and at the same time almost unbearable in its intensity. She clutched at his back, almost sobbing in her need for release. And now he was moving more quickly, thrusting into her hard and fast, and she was rushing, rushing….

  Then the pleasure broke within her, startling her and flooding her with the most intense sensation she had ever known, sweeter and brighter and more explosive than anything she could have imagined. He cried out, jerking as his own shattering release reached him, and he collapsed against her.

  They lay there for a long moment, spent and replete. He rolled from on top of her, wrapping his arms around her and taking her with him, so that she lay across his chest.

  Dazed, Anna lay limply, listening to the hard, trip-hammer beat of his heart as it gradually slowed. She could not speak, could not even really think, only lie basking in the pleasure that permeated her body.

  Then, much to her surprise, his hand began to move over her again, smoothing down her back and hips and thighs, stroking and caressing her, his fingertips lightly teasing over her skin. Amazed, she felt his maleness move against her.

  “Again?” she asked, rolling onto her side and staring at him.

  He grinned at her. “I have been waiting for this a long time.”

  Reed pushed her gently onto her back and rose onto his elbow. “This time, I mean to take my time with you.”

  And he did. He lay looking at her, his fingers drifting over her skin. He aroused her slowly, teasing and caressing with his fingers and mouth, stoking the fires of her passion bit by bit, until her whole body was once again alive and thrumming. Only then, when she was moaning, her hands reaching for him, urging him on, did he slide once more inside her. Slowly, he stroked in and out, building the desire in them both to the melting point, teasingly keeping them just out of reach of that supreme release, until their bodies were stretched taut, aching and almost at the breaking point.

  Then he plunged deeply, hurtling them both over the edge into blissful oblivion.

  * * *

  Anna’s eyes drifted open, and she lay for a moment, aware of the soft, sated contentment that permeated her body. She felt warm and languid, and she was aware of her body in a way she never had been before. She closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy this last moment of unadulterated happiness.

  Then, with a sigh, she sat up. Beside her, Reed opened his eyes at the movement and smiled at her. His face was unlined and content, his eyes filled with happiness.

  Bleakly, Anna knew that she was about to ruin that happiness.

  “I must go,” she said softly. She could not resist leaning over and kissing him.

  Reed wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her for a longer, deeper kiss than she had planned. When he released her, she sat up, her eyes bright and her breathing a bit unsteady.

  “Don’t go,” he murmured. “Stay. We are doubtless already a complete scandal to the staff. We may as well luxuriate in our wickedness. There is no avenue for us now save marriage, anyway, and that will cure all transgressions.”

  “No, please, don’t joke about it,” Anna said, sliding off the bed and picking up her clothes.

  She felt suddenly embarrassed at her nakedness, and she turned away, hastily pulling on her undergarments and dress.

  “I’m not joking,” Reed said, his voice turning a trifle wary. He sat up, feeling at a disadvantage, and got up to don his own trousers. “I may have said it lightly, but I meant it just the same. I want to marry you.”

  When Anna did not respond, he walked around to face her. She started to turn away, but he put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her. “Anna. Look at me. Say something. I am asking you to marry me.”

  “I cannot,” she said wretchedly. “You know it is impossible.”

  “No, I don’t know that,” he responded tightly. “There is nothing impossible about it. We have only to do it. And I intend for us to do it very soon.”

  “No!” Anna jerked away from his grasp. “Reed, please, don’t make it any more difficult.”

  “I shall make it damned difficult,” he rasped. “You act as if I am hurting you. I am asking to marry you! I want to love you and care for you for the rest of our lives.”

  “I want it, too!” Anna cried, facing him. Tears shone in her eyes. “But you know that we cannot.”

  “We can! I don’t give a damn about your family and whatever madness may lie in them. I love you, and I want you, mad family and all. I don’t plan to spend the rest of my life the way I have the past three years, missing you, aching for you, all because of your stubborn pride.”

  “It is not stubbornness, nor my pride. I am doing what is right, and you know it. You just want to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist, but it does.”

  “You don’t understand. I know very well that it is there. I just don’t care. I refuse to let the fact that your uncle is insane ruin both our lives.”

  “You cannot allow that into your family. Reed, think! Yours is one of the highest, oldest families in the land. You cannot let their blood be mingled with de Winter blood. You cannot subject future generations to that.”

  “Then we won’t have children. Anna, listen to me.” He went to her, taking her hands between hers. “There are ways to avoid having children.”

  “You cannot be certain,” Anna said.

  “Dammit, if it takes never being able to experienc
e again what we just did, then I will do that,” Reed told her roughly. “I want you as my wife.”

  “We could not keep that from happening again, and you know it,” Anna retorted. “And, besides, you should have children. You will make a wonderful father. I know it. I have seen you with Con and Alex. You deserve to have children.”

  “I would rather have you,” he replied bluntly.

  “It isn’t even just the children,” Anna told him. “The madness comes upon us late in life. Although my uncle showed only slight signs when he was in his twenties, the madness grew worse and worse as he got older. It could still happen to me. I could go mad, and then you would be saddled with an insane wife. I can’t do that to you. I couldn’t bear for you to see me like that.”

  “And I cannot bear to live without you,” Reed snapped. “I want to be with you for the rest of my life. And if you should go mad, then I will live with you mad.”

  “That would only be a half life!” Anna argued.

  “I would rather have a half life with you than years and years with some other woman. Bloody hell, Anna! I love you! And I am willing to take whatever comes.” His eyes flared with anger. “I think it is just that you are afraid. You don’t love me enough to marry me.”

  “That’s not true!” she flashed back. “I love you more than anything. More than life itself. I love you to the very depths of my soul.” Tears clogged her throat, and she had to force out her last words, “And that is why I will not marry you.”

  Anna turned and ran from the room.

  “Anna, dammit!” Reed let out an oath and whirled, picking up the nearest object, a small lamp, and sending it crashing against the opposite wall. He stood for a moment, then turned and ran after her.

  She was already running down the stairs, and Reed started after her, heedless of the startled gazes of his servants, many of whom seemed to have found some task that needed doing around the staircase. “Anna! Wait!”