His Remarkable Bride (18 page)

He took that even further by lifting her against him, balancing her in his strong arms as she wrapped her legs around him. He took a few steps only, pressing her up against the wall next to the open doorway leading to the hall. His hips pinned her and he moved his hands swiftly up to undo the row of buttons that ran from her high collar down the front of her dress. The mad thought hit her that she should help him, but all she could do was grip the wall behind her, trying to find some purchase.

At last, he managed to completely unbutton her bodice, then spread it open, pushing the top aside and partway down her arms. It exposed her shoulder, but also bound her arms more tightly to her side. The sensation was scintillating, especially when he leaned into kiss her neck and shoulders. Not just kiss either, lick, nip, and suckle as well. She pressed her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, sighing with pleasure…and he hadn’t even touched anything truly sensitive yet.

That changed in a matter of seconds as he rained kisses down to the top of her breasts. She arched forward, feeling her nipples harden against the constraint of her corset and chemise. She wanted to feel his mouth and hands on her, imagined how amazing it would feel if he would rake his tongue across her sensitive flesh.

Some part of him must have heard her. He pulled back, breathing deeply, only to unhook the fastenings of her corset. His hips still held her fast against the wall, the pressure of his staff clear through the layers of fabric around her legs. Her arms might have been constricted, but as he worked her corset loose, she gathered up handful after handful of her skirts, tugging them higher and struggling to remove as many layers of barrier between their bodies as she could.

As soon as her corset was as loose as it could get in their current position, he tugged the ribbon holding the front of her chemise, then pushed it aside. He flicked the chemise straps off her shoulders, and with a swift tug pulled the entire top of her dress down several inches. Her arms were further trapped at her sides, but her breasts slipped free of all restrains. A longing cry escaped from her. The muscles of her core twitched in anticipation, the ache there reaching dizzying strength, and she arched her chest forward.

He took up her invitation with heated intensity, cupping both of her breasts in his large hands. She hadn’t realized how large his hands were, with long, strong fingers, until they were surrounding her.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, stroking his thumbs across her nipples.

Her core tightened with pleasure in response. She squeezed her thighs around him, and he pressed into her harder as a reward. She bit her lip over a pleading cry, wanting him so badly she could hardly bring herself to breathe.

He responded by hoisting her higher and bending forward to close his mouth around her right breast. As his tongue flicked her nipple, she felt a jolt of pleasure so intense that for a moment she thought she might climax. She’d never done such a thing simply from her lover suckling her breast before. Then again, she hadn’t felt even a fraction of the passion, of the love, for Craig as she felt for Athos now. And Craig had used her, whereas Athos’s every touch and movement fired her blood. She gasped outright as he raked his teeth gently across the hardened nub of her nipple.

“Athos.” She breathed out his name as a plea and a prayer. She wanted to reach for him, to thread her fingers through his hair and encourage him to go on, but her arms were held fast by her sides. She continued to draw her skirts up inch by inch as much as possible, but the fabric was caught between the two of them.

He inched back, then blew on her wet, inflamed nipple. She gasped and shuddered and squirmed at the sudden shock of cold when the rest of her was burning. “Let me help you.” His voice was a liquid purr, sending even more tremors pulsing through her.

Holding her carefully, first with one arm, then the other, he worked her skirts up until they bunched around her waist with her bodice in front and hung loose in the back. One hand continued to search as soon as the barrier was removed, testing the cotton of her drawers, finding the split in the center, and delving inside. He raked his fingernails against the tender flesh of her thigh. She had never been so grateful for split drawers in her life.

Without a lick of hesitation, he trailed his fingers right up into the wet heat of her opening. She started to gasp, and then shouted outright as he plunged a finger inside of her. The move was so unexpected that again she thought her body would burst into completion. She was sure she would have if Athos had moved or stroked or caused any further friction at all, but he didn’t. He stayed perfectly still as they were. The mad intimacy of his finger inside of her as she panted, chest heaving, and fought not to bear down on him to find her own pleasure was dizzying.

He leaned closer and whispered, “Do you want it?” so close that his breath tickled her ear.

She wanted his mouth on her breasts again. She wanted him to tickle her inner walls and rub his thumb across the hard, pulsing point of pleasure between her legs. He was so close to touching her there already. She wanted him naked above her, below her, behind her, it didn’t matter. She wanted him to take her in every way possible, even the ones she hadn’t particularly enjoyed before, all at the same time and then again in succession. She wanted everything and more.”

“This isn’t enough?” he murmured, teasing her earlobe with his tongue. Even that simple gesture ratcheted up her pulse. “You want more?”

Her heart burst as though he had heard her most wicked thoughts. “Yes,” she panted, digging her nails into the wallpaper behind her. It was the only motion she was capable of right then.

He withdrew his hand from her, and for a moment she sagged in disappointment. Only a moment, though. She felt his hand moving, felt him swivel his hips, and then seconds later the hot, flared tip of his staff pressed into the molten folds of her sex.

She barely had time to open her mouth in shock before he thrust into her. It was quick and hard, forceful, and yet infinitely tender at the same time. And he was large. She shouted out of pure, primal instinct, pleasure building in her so fast that she was certain she would lose her mind. She jerked her hips, bearing down on him in restless, frantic movement as he held her against the wall and thrust hard and fast, growling with deep, male abandon as he did. There was no way she could hold on, and with cries in time to each of his powerful thrusts, she broke apart, her core convulsing with blinding strength around him.

Even after her passion had spent itself, she was still alive and pulsing with need. He continued to thrust in her until with one uncontrollable movement he surged harder, calling out, “Elspeth,” then began to slow to a stop.

He leaned into her, using the angle of his body as much as his muscle to keep them both upright, wedged against the wall. Elspeth couldn’t have moved if she’d tried. All she could do was feel the heat and weight and strength of him. Above all, she was acutely aware that he was still inside of her. He touched his forehead to the wall beside her, breathing heavily. She turned her head to him and smiled, beamed from the center of her soul. In no way had she ever imagined their first time would be as sizzling or as unusual as this. And crazy as it felt, she still wanted more.

As soon as his breathing began to steady, he lifted his head enough to look in her eyes. Uncertainty shone in his eyes at first, but he must have seen the excitement and continued hunger in her. His hesitance vanished, replaced by a renewed flame, and he shifted so that he could kiss her. This kiss was ten times as searing as the first ones. It was the kiss of a lover. His hands slipped down to her breasts again, and this time when he pinned her to the wall with his hips, he was inside of her.

“All right,” he panted, breaking their kiss only to press his forehead to hers. His hands continued to knead and tease and own her breasts. “This is what we’re going to do.”

She hummed to let him know that she was listening.

“I’m going to slide out of you and then I’m going to set you on your feet.”

“Mmm hmm.” She licked her lips, moving her hips enough to tease him.

“After that,” he resumed, his voice thick with continued desire, “we’re going to our own bedroom.”

“We are?” She breathed deeply, her chest thrusting forward into his hands. His gaze darted down to the swell of her breasts, her nipples still firm and pink as he played with them.

“And then we’re going to get completely naked, because I want to see all of you.”

“There are a few things I want to get a look at too,” she panted. If her hands were free, she would have reached for those things right then and there.

He groaned and stole a hot kiss before going on with his plan. “Then I want you on your back in our bed, where I intend to kiss my way from your lips to your breasts to your stomach to your treasure chest. And then I plan to pick your lock with my tongue until you come about three more times.”

“Oh,” she sighed, giggling and mewling at the same time. Her hips twitched, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he jumped and tightened inside of her.

“And after that—” His voice dropped to a roguish rumble. “—I’m going to sink so deep inside of you and take you so completely that you’ll cry with bliss and shout out my name.”

“Dear heavens, yes,” she moaned, hips working as if she wanted to start right then.

“And then,” he whispered, so sultry that she held her body rigid in anticipation.

“Yes?” she panted when he didn’t go on.

“And then,” he brushed his lips over hers, then kissed her with enough passion to draw her soul up from the deepest part of her. “And then you’ll probably end up pregnant with triplets.”

She burst into laughter, but it was a kind of silky, sensual laughter that she’d never felt before. He was so…Athos. So absolutely perfect in such wildly unexpected ways, and so devastatingly sweet at the same time.

“I tell you truly, husband of mine,” she murmured, squeezing her inner muscles to hold him and surging forward to nip at his lips. “There are things I want you to do to me right now that I doubt the Bonneville sisters have the slightest inclination of.”

“Naughty things?” He chuckled, the sparkle in his eyes equal parts humor, lust, and…and love.

“Very naughty things,” she whimpered, exaggerating her already raging desire for him.

“I’m good at naughty things.” He began to move subtly inside of her, hardening once more. “You have no idea how good at them I am.”

“Are you?” She feigned doubt, moving in time with his thrusts, the pressure in her core growing all over again.

“Eight children don’t conceive themselves,” he said.

Elspeth burst into laughter a second time. Using her back against the wall to keep her dress in place, she wriggled her arms free of her sleeves and threw them around his neck. She pulled him closer, pivoting her hips against him as she drank her fill of his kisses. He responded enthusiastically, groaning and lightly pinching her nipples.

All of a sudden, he stopped. “Wait, wait. We’re supposed to be moving to our bedroom, getting naked, and doing the rest of this in bed.”

“Then let’s get started,” she purred. “Especially with the naked part. Because I want to be able to dig my nails into your back while you’re inside me next time.”

He answered with a groaning sigh and withdrew, easing her to her feet. She intended to make him sigh like that much more and much louder in the near future. He took her hand, and together they fled down the hall to their own room.

Once upon a time, he had dreamed of being a hero. Wide-eyed, dreamy Athos would grow up to be Athos the Musketeer, Athos the rescuer of damsels in distress, Athos the noble warrior. How could he have forgotten those dreams? How could he have lost sight of the man he’d wanted to be, the man he was?

He was a man. The fact that he was realizing it, that it was something he needed to realize at all, left him chuckling and shaking his head as he lay in bed with Elspeth the next morning. He was stretched out on his back, limbs heavy with lack of sleep and exertion like they hadn’t seen in a while. Elspeth curled against his side, an arm and a leg thrown over him. Her breathing was still deep and regular. As it should be. They’d worn themselves out yesterday, and worn themselves out again that night. And again.

He laughed at the thought and stroked his fingertips along Elspeth’s arm. Did it make him some sort of a cad to be so proud of the pleasure he’d given her over hours the day and night before? She’d made no secret of her enjoyment. In fact, there had been a moment or two where he was worried Pete or Josephine Evans would come knocking on the door, telling them to keep it down. That thought raised more laughter in him. Really, why should he be ashamed of the two of them enjoying each other so thoroughly? They were husband and wife. They were in their honeymoon period. And clearly their levels of interest and taste for certain things matched. Far better than his and Natalie’s had, no matter how hard he’d tried to do right by her.

The sigh he heaved as the last thought hit him was enough to shake Elspeth out of her slumber. She stretched against his side, sending a ripple of desire through him. Would he stop reacting so strongly to her someday the way he had with Natalie, the way she had with him?

No. Certainty filled his soul. No he wouldn’t.

“You’re too alert for someone who just woke up,” Elspeth mumbled, then pressed a series of quick kisses over his heart.

“I didn’t just wake up,” he told her, grinning from ear to ear.

“Then why are you still in bed?” She shifted to prop herself up on one arm, studying him with sleepy eyes and a hazy smile.

Athos twisted to his side, fitting himself against her. He brushed a stray lock of hair back from her temple and kissed her softly. “Why would I want to be anywhere else in the entire world than where you are?”

Her grin widened and spread, sparking her heavy-lidded eyes to full wakefulness. “Would it be completely mad and impulsive of me to declare that I love you when we haven’t even known each other a week?” she asked, voice low and sultry.