Wild Lavender

by Lynne Connolly

  Tonight they had taken a step they could not pull back, and they were headed for somewhere new. How appropriate, then, was this final act of possession?

  In law it would be Tom possessing her. He could claim her fortune and stir up so much trouble that their families would be even more at odds than they were before. But she trusted him not to shake the beehive and force the families to take the action that could destroy them both.

  But no. Here they were a reasonably prosperous merchant and his wife. Nothing more.

  “Will we always be Mr. and Mrs. Fisher?”

  Poised over her, he stopped and smiled. “Yes. Always. Nothing can take this away from us. I will always keep this house for us, and we may always retire to it when we feel the need.”

  She had the key. She could come here whenever she wished. That knowledge had made her life more bearable and infinitely sweeter.

  “Open your legs, my love. Let me in.”

  With a laugh of sheer pleasure, she did as he bade her, raised her knees and slid her feet up the sheets until he was nestled inside her thighs, his cock grazing her cleft. He rubbed against her, nuzzling his member into her, collecting the wetness her body had made for him.

  “You feel too good to be real,” he said.

  She grinned. “I know what you mean. So make it real, Tom.”

  He kissed her. “Your wish, as always, is my privilege to obey.”

  He slid against her again. “You’re ready. There’s nothing I want more than to plunge in deep, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She braced herself, pressing her feet down. She would not move, because the reward for a little pain would more than compensate. “Do it.”

  With a grunt, he freed his right hand and brought it down between their bodies. When he touched her, she jerked up and turned her head, to be confronted by his sinewy bare arm. She swallowed and turned her face back to his. “What are you doing?”

  “Easing my way.” He sounded breathless. “You feel wonderful, Helena, as wet as I’ve ever known you.” He slid a finger into her, right inside, and moved it. She forced a smile, but she’d lost her society face. She couldn’t have pasted on her quiet serenity if her life depended on it. Nor did he want it, she knew. She would not insult him by trying. The lack of any useful mask made her feel painfully vulnerable, but this was the man she had fallen deeply in love with. She needed to show him that, if only for her own sake.

  “I can’t do any more.” He withdrew his finger and rested his hand next to hers on the pillow. Unhesitatingly she threaded her fingers between his. His forefinger was wet with her essence. “I’m as untried as you in this instance, Helena.”

  She loved that this powerful man confessed he was in new country, that he opened himself enough to say that.

  Their eyes met, and they watched each other as he made her his.

  Helena couldn’t suppress her swallow when he eased in, stretching her in a way that alarmed her and then brought her pain. But she trusted this man, and she pressed closer to him, silently urging him to continue.

  Tom set his jaw. “I’ve never known anything like this,” he said through his teeth.

  He pushed until he was fully embedded, their bodies pressed together in unimaginable intimacy. Only then did he kiss her, and he kept the caress brief. “How do you feel?”

  “Odd. Invaded—wonderful.”

  He quirked a smile and his eyes danced. “Wonderful? Truly?”

  She nodded. “Absolutely. Is this the right time to tell you that I love you?”

  “Any time is. I love you too, my darling.”

  Helena had never felt so cherished and cared for. Tom had eyes for her alone. Until that moment she hadn’t been aware how much she’d needed that—for someone to concentrate on her only. Her world shifted a little. This whole mad plan could work.

  “You’re my world.” She loosened her hand from his and curled it around his neck, tickling just below his hairline in the way he liked.

  He purred. “Ready?”

  He’d remained still inside her, allowing her body to accept him. On her nod, he slowly drew out, nearly to the tip, and then pushed back in again, keeping his movement firm and steady. He gave her the time to assimilate what he was doing.

  She felt every inch as he slid deep inside, her body stretching to admit him and then clasping him as if it would never let him go.

  She grazed his flanks with the sides of her feet, and he groaned. “Around my waist,” he murmured. “Please.”

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, resting her heels on his buttocks.

  He moved again, and she gasped. The movement had opened her to him more fully, so when he drove in this time, the effect was deeper, and—

  “Oh!”

  He chuckled, a rumble low in his throat as he saw and felt her reaction. As he moved again, he dropped a kiss on her lips. With every stroke, his movements became easier, and deeper.

  She had not been aware that she’d arched her back until he touched somewhere new, a place inside her she hadn’t known about before. “Tom!”

  “There we are,” he said in a voice of deep satisfaction. “Don’t hold back, my love. Let me take you there.”

  “Where?”

  A few moments later she knew. He stroked in and out of her, his thrusts deepening, opening her up to take everything and welcome it. At first she tried to mark the sensations rioting through her, but with her whole body involved in learning and marveling, she could no longer use her mind.

  “Your body knows what to do,” he murmured. Sweat gathered on his brow, and he levered his upper body up, placing his hands either side of her, leaving her free to touch him, to run her hands over the bunched muscles at his shoulders and arms, feeling the strain when he powered into her. Each of his breaths ended in a sharp grunt, and she watched him, pushed her body up to meet every thrust. She fell so deeply in love with him she would never get out.

  Nor did she want to. She cried out, his name the only word she was capable of uttering as the ripples of sensation rioting through her coalesced and joined in one surge, washing over her, drowning her in pure emotion.

  She opened her eyes, staring at him in wonder. He was waiting for her, a wicked grin curling his mouth, his gaze sparkling. Then he closed them, and his whole body shuddered. He released into her, jetting his seed deep inside her body, groaning as he came.

  With a cry of triumph he rolled away, taking her with him. He helped her uncurl her legs, restoring one to drape over his thigh as they lay on their sides facing each other, entwined in each other.

  Chapter 7

  Tom could not sleep, but he didn’t care. Watching his wife—his wife!—sleep in his arms was all the succor he needed. She was truly lovely. Her bright hair shadowed at the candles in the sconces guttered down to nothing. The smell of molten wax mingled with the heady aromas of their lovemaking, and the moon rose high outside, finding its way between the heavy curtains in a fine ribbon of silver.

  He was watching when she opened her eyes. She moved closer, snuggling into him. “Have you slept?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I have no need. My love, you’re even more beautiful when you sleep.” She had conquered him completely. The glory of their lovemaking was followed by her utter surrender to sleep.

  “What time is it?”

  “About an hour before dawn.” Cupping his hand around her neck, he brought her closer for a kiss of welcome. “You’re mine now,” he said when their lips parted. Possession roared through him.

  “I always was. That was why we were attracted from the moment we met. We were waiting for each other.”

  “I won’t argue with that.” He returned for another kiss. “I’ve never felt so at ease, and so happy. I’ve been planning, sweetheart.”

  “You do that a lot.” She treated him to a mock pout. He rewarded her with another kiss.

  “I do. It’s part of my heritage. It’s who I am. I don�
��t seem to be able to control it. But this time it’s for us.” Smiling, he stroked her shoulder, then draped his arm over her waist, the tips of his fingers just reaching her buttocks. The intimacy felt thrillingly natural and right. “Your plan is a good one. Go home, arrange to stay with your friend, and send me word.”

  “My father will wish to send me in the family coach.”

  “Let him. While I’d love to escort you, traveling in the coach will give us time.”

  “I hate the subterfuge.”

  There was just enough light for him to see her eyelids droop very slightly. “So do I, love, but it’s the only way. One day we may be able to return. We will write to them. I’ll make sure they don’t know where the letters originate, and they may reply the same way. I won’t use any of my usual channels, so my father cannot find us.”

  “Yes.” She lifted her gaze and as she gazed at him, her eyes sparkled once more. “They will forgive us. We may live quietly somewhere.”

  “I’m glad to be out of it, to tell you the truth.”

  “Out of what?”

  “The Cause, the mess the Stuarts have dragged our family into and the way they turn their backs on us the minute we displease them.” He twined a lock of her hair around his finger, the words flooding out of him. “I have worked for years to rebuild the family. That is why I kept some of it back and built an income of my own. I cannot bear for my father to throw it at the prince yet again. But I think he may be coming around.”

  “I always thought that you were convinced the Stuarts should return.”

  “I did, but then I was young and I had ideals.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I sound ancient. I am older than you, love, but still in the same decade.”

  “You’re as old as Julius, are you not?”

  “While I’m not used to being compared to your brother, in this case you have the right of it. We’re of an age.”

  “Nearly thirty.”

  “Indeed. Does that make me old to you?”

  “Not when we’re like this.” She wriggled in a way that made his cock come instantly to life.

  “Don’t do that. I’m determined not to overtax you tonight. This is your first time. I can’t take you twice.”

  With a delighted laugh, she rolled him onto his back and straddled him, her legs on either side of his. “Is that all that concerns you? Don’t let it. I want to practice my skills.”

  “Nothing would give me greater pleasure.” He could deny her nothing, especially this. “Since you’re there. But tell me my love, honestly. How do you feel?”

  “Deliciously used.”

  She sat up, making him groan at the sight of her. “I wish the candles hadn’t gone out. I can barely see you in the dim light.”

  While they’d been speaking, dawn must have broken because the light from the window had increased. It poured over her lovingly, and he could hardly blame it. But it cast her into shadow, and he could barely make out her pretty breasts and the delicious indentation of her navel. Her shape, though, was thrown into sharp outline, and he revelled in the beauty of her curves and the way her moonlight hair spilled over her shoulders, nearly to her nipples.

  He looked down to the apex of her thighs, where the silvery curls covered a world he was only just beginning to explore. He would see her every day like this. He couldn’t wait. He touched her, stroking her, sensing rather than seeing her smile. “Your skin is magical. It draws me in.” The silky smoothness was unlike anything he’d ever touched before.

  She caught his hand and brought it to her breast. Her nipple hardened and peaked under his fingers, and she moaned softly. “I like you touching me.”

  “That’s just as well because I plan on continuing for some considerable time.”

  She flattened her palm on his chest, and he drew in his breath through his teeth in a hiss. “I like touching you, too.”

  “I love you touching me.”

  Laughing in delight, she explored him with her hands, moving so her breasts swayed. He cupped her breasts, wondering idly if he could make her come that way. One day he would try. But not today.

  Today he had a burning ambition to see her ride him.

  He gripped her hips and lifted her. A fresh thread of her scent came to him, and his cock hardened even more. When she glanced down, her eyes went wide.

  “Gratifying,” he murmured. “Consider, do you truly want me to put that inside you?”

  Her voice shook as she laughed again. “And I thought passion was deadly serious.”

  “Never.” Not with Helena.

  He brought her down, holding her above him. His cock reared up without any extra help from him, but he feared any more bravado might tax his prowess. “Take hold of it, love. Put it where it can do the most good.”

  She flicked a glance up at him, but didn’t comment. Instead, she did as he bade her. The feel of her cool fingers wrapped around his shaft nearly undid him. Then the heat of her seared him. Her hand trembled but she positioned him in the right place.

  He thrust and his head went back against the pillow. Every time he entered her she overwhelmed him. Rational thought scattered to the four winds, and one resolve filled him. To take her, to make their joining as good as possible and then find heaven inside her.

  Sitting up, he banded his arms around her and thrust up inside her, exploring her with an avidity he could never remember feeling before. Oh, he had enjoyed sharing a bed with a woman, but not this enveloping feeling of rightness. Joining with her was meeting his match in every sense, in a way he had not believed existed.

  When she bent her head to claim a kiss, he gave it to her gladly, but he worked his hands on her hips, showing her how to move.

  She was a fast learner, his wife. She rose and fell without him guiding her more. All he could do was respond, and kiss her.

  The feel of her breasts against his body enticed him, aroused him more. He punched up into her, no longer entirely in control of himself.

  She murmured against his mouth, “You told me to do it. Now you do it. Let go.”

  He needed no more urging. Holding her down, he thrust up into her, piercing her, claiming her. She cried out, but not in pain. As long as she stayed with him, he would continue. He drove up hard, again, but this time she ground down, meeting him in a duel of desire.

  They kissed again, sloppy and uncontrolled. He drove his tongue into her mouth, desperate to take everything, to claim her for good. A ceremony meant nothing. This was their true blending of bodies and souls. It would only get better.

  This time they exploded at the same time. He held her while she shuddered and cried his name, but he was no mere participant. He was part of the shattering orgasm that wiped away everything that had gone before and left them together, facing a new world.

  * * * *

  After letting her sleep another hour, Tom slid out of bed and went down to the kitchen. He brought her hot water and tea, and roused her gently. When she wound her arms around him he wished for time to stay exactly where it was, but in his experience, wishing never made it so. Washing her was a delight in itself—urging her to stand on a towel while he took the sponge and passed it over every inch of her, adding the occasional kiss for variety, and because he could do nothing else.

  She stood in the beam of sunshine that had replaced the moon, laughing. She washed him in return, teasing him, stroking his cock into full, painful rigidity, forcing him to grit his teeth and remind himself that they could not make love again. She had to get home, to pave the way for them to leave.

  “I will have you to myself. I’ll keep you in bed for a month for this.”

  “Good,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “I can’t wait.”

  She straightened, thank God, because he couldn’t have lasted much longer. He’d have taken her against the wall because he wouldn’t have managed to make the bed, even though it was but a few steps away.

  He retrieved her clothes while she drank he
r tea. “Did you make this?”

  “I am capable of a few basic tasks,” he said with a grin.

  “I know.” She gave his body a smoldering stare before taking her shift from him. “I sometimes think my oldest brother would just lie in bed until he died if he didn’t have servants. He tells me he can shave himself, but I have no idea if he was telling the truth.”

  The notion of the exquisite Lord Winterton undertaking mundane tasks gave him a moment of amusement. But the man had a fine mind, and he refused to underestimate him, as Northwich tended to do.

  All too soon she was dressed, and so was he. He gave her the plain straw hat and the cloak he’d collected from downstairs. They probably belonged to the maid, but he’d left more than enough recompense on the kitchen table.

  He had made his plans, and when he arrived back at the house, he would have to make haste putting them into action. He dared another kiss now they were both dressed. “If when you arrive home you discover your subterfuge has not worked, come to me. Do not let them take you from London.”

  She nodded.

  “We’ll bring our plans forward. Do not send messages here, but to an address I will give you. It’s an office where my man of business resides, but there are many businesses in the building. I can trust him. He will send the note immediately to me by messenger.”

  “Tell me. Don’t write it down. My brother is bound to know your handwriting.”

  He hadn’t thought of that. He gave her the address and made her repeat it. “Send messages back the same way. But it will not be for long, my love, I intend to claim you by the end of the week.”

  “What?”

  He caught her in his arms, gazing down at her lovely face. “I don’t intend to wait longer than that.”

  She nodded. “Yes. We will do that. I’ll write to Mary in Devonshire and warn her she might have visitors. Because my father is sure to send someone down after a time. She may say she knew nothing of my plans, because I will not tell her what we plan to do.”