“Gabrielle, I would be gentle and patient with you,” Simon groaned as she kissed him with a passionate abandon he had only dared suspect might lurk under her calm surface, “but you’re making it difficult for me to hold back.”
“I’ve promised all of myself to you, without fear or restraint,” Gabrielle sighed, planting kisses up and down his neck and chest. “I want you so.”
He nearly fainted as her hand moved to cover him. She started against the hard velvet flesh. She glanced downwards in wonder, for it seemed to surge and grow even larger.
“It’s impossible,” she breathed, wide-eyed.
“It will be impossible for me to control myself if you do that again. But no, it is fully possible, with patience, and some coaxing. Do you trust me?” Simon asked earnestly.
Gabrielle nodded and answered with complete honesty, “I do trust you. You’ve never willingly hurt me, Simon. I know you’ll be gentle.”
“You’re not afraid?’ Simon murmured against her rosebud lips.
“Nay, though I’m convinced I’m on fire.” She smiled pertly, and Simon’s heart turned over.
“I love you, Gabrielle, always.”
“And I you, Simon. God help me, but I’ve never stopped wanting you, even when my cousin told me what you—” Gabrielle confessed candidly, only to pull herself back at the last minute.
“Told you that I what?” he asked in confusion.
“Would be like when the withdrawal started,” she supplied quickly. “And the fact that it may take months before you feel really well. Not to mention the epilepsy. But I don’t care what he says. I’m brave and I love you. The disease and the addiction are part of you, but they’re not you.”
He held her close. “Ever since I met you, and then learned you were on the other side of the wall, so close yet so far, I’ve lain here in this very cot night after night convulsed in an agony of unsatisfied desire. But all you have to do is smile at me or say my name, and I fall in love with you all over again,” Simon revealed, his longing shimmering in his golden eyes.
“Oh, Simon, I’m so sorry,” Gabrielle whispered tearfully. “I had no idea.”
“It doesn’t matter, my love. The past is over. Tonight is the first night of my quest to get well, and of our new life together.”
Simon cupped her chin in his hand, and teased her mouth open until his tongue entwined with hers. Simon’s other hand moved between her thighs, and soon her legs parted fully as she gave herself up completely to the incredible sensations his feathery touches could bring.
Soon Gabrielle was writhing on the bed, panting in a frenzy of ecstasy. Simon feasted on the creamy peaks of her breasts as she arched against him and breathed his name.
“Simon, please,” she begged, as her nails bit into his shoulders.
“Not yet, my love,” he rasped, revelling in her need for him.
Simon smiled as he looked down at her parted lips and flushed features, and felt a triumphant surge of joy. Never could he have believed how much she wanted him, or how much he could satisfy her.
Boldly, he moved his kisses down to the soft auburn curls, and renewed the attentions his fingers had started.
She lay back on the pillows against as his hand swept upwards over her body and fastened on one rosy nipple. Gabrielle’s shimmering hair spread out over the pillow in a lustrous cascade as she rolled her head from side to side in utter abandon.
Soon Simon knew he could not hold out any longer. He waited until her ragged breathing grew calmer, and moved upwards again to take her mouth in a stirring kiss.
“Now please, Simon,” Gabrielle beseeched urgently.
"Yes, now, my love. I'll try to spare you the pain, and then I promise you, it will be so lovely."
"Yes, please, only hurry. I—"
He did not need to be told twice. Already poised against her slick, quivering flesh, he pressed downwards, and with one sure thrust he was inside her. His control slipped as he slid deeper into her tightness.
She was startled, her flesh stretched almost unbearably. Even as the pain sizzled through her, the pulsating pleasure did as well. She arched her hips to meet his with an instinct which caused him to lunge even deeper.
“God, Gabrielle!” he shouted, as he cupped her buttocks and pounded into her, his climax ripping through him.
He trembled from head to toe, and began to grow almost frightened as his pangs seemed to go on forever. He felt her tighten around him. If anything his pleasure increased as she cried out his name and her fingernails dug into his buttocks.
Finally they quietened. Simon felt so drained he lay on top of her for several moments.
“Lord, I’m sorry, I must be crushing you,” he murmured.
Gabrielle pleaded, “No, ‘tis nothing. Please stay.”
“Did I hurt you?” he whispered, as he brushed her tumbled tresses back from her face, and saw the tears glittering on her cheeks.
“No, my love, never.”
“But you’re crying,” Simon insisted, kissing the tears away gently.
“Oh, Simon, it was so wonderful, it was like coming home. I’ve wanted you so much. Only now it’s going to make it worse. How can I ever bear for you to ever be separated from me after knowing such joy?”
“I’ll always be by your side, love you forever,” Simon declared fiercely. “They’re not going to separate us. Not now, not ever. We were fated to be together, truly. I'm going to get well for you, for us, my love, I swear it.”
"Yes, yes, for us," she agreed, stroking his tousled hair back from his brow.
His golden gazed blazed intently. "Just promise me, whatever happens in the next days and weeks, whatever happens between us, all of this was real, and true, this pure love between us, this power, this, this madness…"
"I promise. Oh, Simon, ohhh…"
As he felt himself stir within her once more, he made love to her all over again, slowly and thoroughly, so that much later, when she cried out his name again for the dozenth time, begging and pleading with him to give her all his love, and he could hold back no longer, Simon knew Gabrielle was right.
Their joining and blending into one was like the union of two halves of a whole, and they could never be complete without one another again.
Chapter Fourteen
Simon managed to restrain himself as best he could their first night together, at last allowing them to drift off to sleep after his intense campaign to pleasure her, in order to give her every consideration due an innocent young virgin, as well as a passionate interlude in her life she would never forget no matter what the future might bring.
He was also careful to ensure that he pulled out of her undulating body, so as not to leave her with anything she might regret later.
After their remarkable first night, he woke before her, took the basin and a sponge she had brought as part of her supplies, and tenderly cleaned her as she had him.
After that Simon patiently stroked patted and rubbed her until she roused from her slumber and climaxed three more times. For her fifth time he finally acceeded to her pleading and moved within her carefully, teasing her in tiny sections of her inlet of desire until she could take the whole of him within her swollen folds.
He was undeniably huge, but his care and talented fingers as he rubbed the nubbin of flesh at the front of her mound was enough to have her whole body open to him gracefully.
Afterwards they were stunned by the power of their ardor as the whirlwind swept them up in its stormy swirl once more, and then they floated back down to some semblance of reality, and slept.
They slumbered until nearly six, when she heard Clarissa rustling in the corner and saw a hand come through with some bags of water and food.
“Everything all right?” Clairssa whispered.
“Fine. Just tired.”
Clarissa laughed softly. “I’ll bet. And hungry too, I’ll warrant. I won’t interrupt. Spence and the other guard are more than busy in one of the empty cells the girls found. So enjo
y yourselves, and I'll see you later.”
Gabrielle began to sponge herself down, washing the sweet stains of sensuality from her thighs, and took a nibble of some bread and cheese.
She looked through the supplies, clean linens, pen and paper, and more books, and even a tiny chess and draughts set. Clarissa really had remembered everything for her new if grim home.
But it would be worth it to be with Simon, she thought, as she gave herself a last swipe with the sponge and put the basin to one side.
When she returned to the bed Simon was gazing at her as if he had seen the Second Coming. She realised with a blush he had probably been watching her perform her toilette all along.
As she approached he raised one hand to her cheek and she melted into his arms once more. He manouevred her into the bed and lifted the backs of her knees onto his shoulders and began to nuzzle her tiny curls.
Gabrielle would have protested out of shame that her ablutions had been rudimentary at best, but he seemed to take such pleasure from what he was doing that the words died on her lips as her body came to life under his.
“You’re so lovely, so beautiful, ma cherie. The taste, the smell, c’est magnifique. I worship you,” he murmured, in between long slow licks with his tongue.
The small bud at the top of her thighs drew lavish attention and praise as well, and once again his talk was of roses as he delved into her most intimate flesh. His tongue teased the very entrance to her secret centre. Her petals glistened and swelled like a flower coated in morning dew burgeoning to meet the torrid kiss of the hot sun.
Simon’s endearments and tenderness brought moisture to her eyes as well as loins, for here was beauty indeed. The loving they shared, the gift of pleasure he was giving so freely, was like nothing she had ever known or dared dream of. This had to be love, not mere lust. Love with a stranger….
And yet not so strange, for with every passing moment together, they grew more intimate, unified into a perfect whole.
One hand travelled up over the gently sloping plain of her stomach to stroke one breast, while the other began to rub her ever so delicately below. Then her hips were bucking up against his mouth. His tongue filled her as she soared and soared.
Just when she thought she could stand no more, one long middle finger pressed into her and curled, and she ascended into the heavens once more. His ring finger joining the other deep within had her grasping his head, desperately trying to pull the maddening tongue away from her enflamed mound.
Yet still Simon kept on giving, until finally he could bear the pressure in his loins no more. Her passion notched up still higher as his shoulders drew level with her own. Her legs wrapped around his as he moved up even further until the velvet tip of his hot sex burned into her like a brand. Her hips rose to meet his tumultuous stroke.
But he wasn’t finished titillating her yet. Her whole body went on fire as he rubbed the entire outside of her, only occasionally peeping in the engoged head for the merest maddening second. She clawed his back and buttocks, begging until she was hoarse. All he did was laugh and chide her for her impatience.
“I want this to last for hours, my love.”
She almost wept with frustration. “Hours? I can’t bear—”
“You can. A woman is capable of an infinite variety and multiplicity of climaxes. I want you to have them all. If you’re frightened or it hurts, you must tell me. But otherwise I’m just starting gently and making it build until you tell me to stop.”
“But your own pleasure. And, well, your condition.” She gasped as he dipped into her again. She had never seen anyone so in control even in the throes of what had to be the most hellish temptation.
“There isn’t much I can do to repay all your love and kindness. I’m nothing and no one without you, darling. And I have nothing else to offer, nothing else to give you except my love, all of me, heart and soul and body. Please allow me to at least try to repay you with the joy only a woman can feel, only a man in love can give.
“As for me, I’m fine at the moment. I may alter radically tomorrow or the day after that, but for now I’m well. And I take such pleasure from yours, it’s like a taste of paradise. Watching you writhe under me, hearing your sob of passion, well, you can see what you do to me.”
His sex brushed against her and she could instantly feel the difference. Where he had been huge before, he was now so desirious she was sure he would never fit.
But he patiently moved in deeper and deeper with every minuscule movement of his hips, teasing the first couple of inches of the entrance to her secret cove until she lost track of how many zeniths she reached. She tried to pull him in, but he laughed and shook his head.
“You can press here to stop me from climaxing,” he said, guiding her index finger to the solid base of his shaft. “Or you can pull on my orbs gently like that to stop me.”
“But what can I do to bring you on?” Gabrielle asked tenderly.
He smiled down at he, love etched in every feature of his handsome face. “Anything and everything. The sound of your voice, the lightest touch of your hand, the spark in your wonderful eyes as you look at me tenderly without fear or disgust. All that and more. You don’t even have to try.
“But if left to myself, I would take my pleasure in two seconds and you would be left stranded on the shore of your vast ocean of desire, and that would never do.
"So I have to take you by the hand and lead you, ride the tides with you. Show you the rockpools, eddies, the swirling currents of your own sensuality. The spring and neap tides. Always flowing, never still. And like a master mariner, I want to pilot you safely between the Scylla and Charybdis of love and passion.”
She stroked his cheek, moved at the beauty of his metaphors. “But Simon, must I be led?”
“You’re so young and innocent. We wouldn’t want you to drown or be run aground,” he said lightly, continuing his poetic metaphors.
Gabrielle felt a pang. How many other women had he done this with, or for? Awakened to their own bodies? Their wellspring of voluptuousness?
As if sensing her thoughts, he breathed, “I’ve only ever sailed these uncharted waters with you, my love. Like Venus rising from the waves, you’ve come to me. I am naught but a poor shipwrecked wretch as abandoned and alone as Ferdinand in The Tempest, cast away like unwanted flotsam. Like Caliban, a miserable wretched creature. Or at least until your tender little hand reached out to save me from drowning.
“I was barely even a man any more until you came to me, bathed me, cleansed my body and soul. You’ve brought me the gift of your love, your pretty pink seashell full of all sorts of hidden delights and promises.
“And I in turn have gifted you with my whole heart and soul, and am ever ready to revere and worship my goddess with my body in this miraculous act of love.”
Gabrielle never been so moved in her life. There was no doubt about it. He had the soul of a poet, and he loved her. No one could say such words only for the purpose of seducing her.
In any event, he already had. Or had she him? He didn’t need fine words to entrap and trick her. He was already where he wanted to be.
“Oh, Simon, I do love you so.”
“Ah, the magic words indeed, to make our enchantment complete.”
He bowed his head now to kiss her fully on the mouth. As his tongue probed sinuously, Gabrielle’s whole body opened to him. The almost unbearable pressure below filled her until there was no room for a single rational thought. Nor ever again even a tiny doubt.
She gasped into his mouth as the tide of sensation crashed through her. He climaxed so powerfully within her lush cave of delights that she could feel him pulsing into her in time with the violent beating of her heart.
At last Simon was still within her and lowered her legs, lying full on top of her, his huge body’s weight a caress all of its own. Gabrielle couldn’t believe something so simple could arouse her so violently all over again. Especially since she was so boneless, in thrall to her passi
ons, that even looping her arms around his shoulders and waist seemed to take superhuman strength.
He wasn’t finished with her yet. He stroked his cheek along hers, kissing her as though starving. Then his mouth dipped to tease her breasts in his maddeningly leisurely fashion. All the while she could feel him filling her once more. Only this time he pressed so deeply within her that her breath caught in her throat.
Before she couldn’t move because her legs were riding around his elbows. Now she was his sensual prisoner once more, pinned by the weight of his heavy hips. His abdomen massaged her without whilst his manhood massaged her within.
Madness Page 14
