Lucianna (16 page)

Lucianna sat quite still. The room was very, very quiet. A small fire burned in the hearth. It was the bedchamber’s only light. One of the bedchamber windows was open a bit, and she heard a night bird begin to sing. The birdsong seemed different here. Her ear was cocked for the sound of his footstep in the hall. When would he come? Her second marriage, her first wedding night, Lucianna thought. What would it be like? What would he be like as a lover? Her mother always had said even an inexperienced woman could tell the difference between a good lover and a poor one. Was that really so, or was it something Orianna had said to reassure her daughters?

She heard a soft click, and he stepped into the chamber through a small door in the wall she had not even noticed, but then she had had no time at all to inspect these new rooms. An involuntary sound of surprise excaped her.

“You did not know there was an entry between our bedchambers?” he said. “I am sorry to have startled you.”

“I had no time to seriously view these new rooms,” she told him. “Balia and her new assistant were in too great a hurry to ready me for bed. Tomorrow I shall walk about and see if there are any more surprises for me.” She saw he was wearing a nightshirt.

“I must thank them,” he teased her gently. Knowing her history, he realized how tense she must be right now. However, he also realized it would do no good to encourage her fear by delaying the inevitable. He pulled the coverlet back and climbed into the bed next to her.

Lucianna stiffened. She didn’t want to, but she could not help it.

“You must not be wary of me,
amore mia
,” he said quietly. “I am not here to hurt you, and you well know it.”

“Do not, I beg you, make me feel any more foolish than I do,” Lucianna said to him. “Passion is not something I am familiar with, Robert. I have never known it, though I am twenty-two.”

“Yet your kisses tell me there is passion in you,” he responded, and as if to demonstrate, he gave her a long, deep kiss to which Lucianna eagerly responded. “See,” he said as he released her lips.

“Yes,” she agreed, “but then tell me why I feel like such a foolish maid when I am a woman long grown?”

“Yet still a maid,” he said softly. “I think it will be easier between us once your virginity is gone,” he told her.

“Then, my lord, you must relieve me of that impediment so we may be ourselves again,” Lucianna said to him.

Robert Minton laughed. “In time, my pet, in time.” His arms wrapped about her. “Just let me hold you, for the week has been a long and exciting one for us both. Now that you are my sweet wife, we will spend the summer months learning to know each other better, and enjoying the joys that both passion and Wye Court can offer us.”

His words were soothing and comforting to her. Now that the initial moment was over, she was beginning to seriously realize what she had done. She had wed a man who was really barely known to her. She had allowed him to sweep her away to the countryside, and cajole her into a marriage. He did not need her fortune. He might have asked the king’s mother to choose a wife for him, thereby binding him closer to the Tudors. Instead, he had picked the daughter of a Florentine silk merchant to be his countess, and permitted nothing to stand in his way to have her.

It was flattering, and yet she worried. Her husband seemed an honest man. He claimed he loved her. Love was not a word Lucianna really understood. Love, to her small knowledge, always seemed to lead to tragedy or unhappiness of some kind. Her oldest sister, Bianca, had given up everything for what was called love. She had deserted her family, her church, her city, without a moment’s hesitation to go to a man who already had two wives. Was she truly happy?

And what of her second sister, Francesca, who had first given her girlish heart to a Venetian gentleman who married another. And then that sister had the good fortune to find brief happiness as the Duke of Terreno Boscoso’s duchess. Until a traitorous servant had murdered Francesca’s husband and left her alone to raise their children. She had obviously had enough of marriage, for she refused to take another husband.

Lucianna, the third daughter, had been obedient to her family’s wishes and had wed an elderly man. Alfredo had been her friend, but never her lover, for he simply had not the stamina for it. Once widowed, she had never discussed it with anyone, even her mother. Only Robert, for she had not hesitated to tell him her whole story. He had not made a jest of her late husband’s inabilities, but had simply accepted them. Nor had he attempted to take advantage of her position to seduce her.

He had instead offered his friendship to her when she arrived in England. Introduced her to the king’s mother. Declared his love to her. Swept her away to Hereford, and convinced her to wed him. Her question to him broke the silence of their bedchamber. “Why have you wed me, my lord, when you could have made a more advantageous match for yourself?”

“Because I love you,” he said simply. “I realize love does not play a part in many marriages, but I love you and wanted you as my wife.”

“I do not understand this word in either your tongue or mine,” Lucianna told him.

Raising himself up on an elbow, the earl looked down into his bride’s lovely face. “The mere idea of anyone else claiming you for himself, touching you in an intimate manner, taking you to his bed, can send me into a black rage, Lucianna. From the first moment I set my eyes upon you, I knew that you were mine, and I, yours. Are you then already unhappy to have agreed to be my wife?” His look was very concerned.

“Nay, my lord,” Lucianna quickly assured him, reaching up to stroke his handsome face. “It is a good union between us. We are friends, which I have always believed a necessity in a marriage. Each of us has our own fortune. I know you did not wed me for my wealth, which reassures me that you do care for me and will respect me.”

“But you do not love me yet,” he said.

“I care for you, aye, I do!” she told him earnestly. “I just do not truly understand love.”

“Then I shall have to teach you,” he said with the confidence of a man—a man in love.

H
is sensuous mouth was suddenly possessing her own in a deep and passionate kiss. Lucianna wondered if toes actually could curl as she experienced the kiss throughout her entire body. She tingled with the sensation of both his lips and his hard body against her. When he released her briefly, Lucianna pulled her sleep chemise off even as he drew his own up, and, taking both garments, he tossed them to the floor.

She felt a blush warming her cheeks as his blue eyes devoured her naked body.

“God!” he groaned, “You are so very beautiful, my love.” He reached out to caress her gently, and his touch sent a thrill through her.

“How does a man in love feel?” she asked him, honestly curious.

“Like this,” he said, kissing her again, slowly, deeply.

She felt the emotion filling him, the rising need for her as he began to caress her tenderly, but Lucianna pulled away from him. “Is it more than just desire to couple with me, Robert? Is love just passion? Or can it be something else? Remember, there are those who will say, and rightly so, that you have wed beneath you, my lord.” She saw him swallow hard as he struggled to control the lustful emotions that had begun to fill him. What was the matter with her that she was, at this point, asking him to justify himself?

“Stop talking, woman,” he said fiercely. “You are more skittish than a new colt.” He tried to kiss her again. “I adore the very ground you tread, and I do not give a damn that anyone will dare to say I married beneath my station. I love you, Lucianna! And I would make love to you if you would but let me.”

The mixture of frustration, caring, and impatience was so plain on his face that Lucianna could not help but laugh. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I do not understand why it is I need so much reassurance, my lord.”

His hand caressed her red-gold head. He kissed her forehead gently and smiled into her eyes. “Because for all your experience in your father and brother’s world, and despite your previous marriage, you are still a girl, a virgin, and I have overwhelmed you by hurrying you into marriage, Lucianna. But I could not bear the thought of not having you, my beautiful love.” His lips lingered on hers in a kiss that gave truth to his words.

Lucianna slipped her arms about his neck. “My mother will hold Luca responsible for allowing this marriage without her,” she said. “He was supposed to
protect
me. My father, however, will not be unhappy.”

“We did not run away,” he said, enjoying the sensation of her body against his. “I just did not share my plans with anyone, but then I did not share them with you either. Your father suspected I wanted to wed you. Would your mother have preferred it if I took you as my mistress? I think not. I suspect she will not be unhappy to have her daughter a countess, even if I am an Englishman.” His kiss touched her slender throat.

“Make love to me, Roberto,” she said softly in her Italian tongue. His smile sent her heart soaring. He did love her. She could see it in his blue eyes. She was his wife, his mate until death parted them. And knowing that, Lucianna suddenly realized she was not unhappy or unsure any longer. He was hers, and she, his. As his hand caressed her, she felt herself thrill to his touch. The feeling was gentle, and yet at the same time possessive. She had never imagined such a sensation.

When she had instructed him in her native tongue, it had sent a thrill of excitement through him. It told him, as nothing else could have, that she was ready to be his wife in every way. Her body was exquisite.

It was slender where it should be, and fuller in equal proportion. He could feel his own heart beating wildly with the excitement he felt.

Her skin was like her finest silk, soft and wonderfully smooth. The very sensation of it beneath his fingers set him aflame with his need to complete his possession, but with supreme self-control he proceeded slowly. He was aware that removing a female’s virginity could be both pleasant and difficult at the same time. There was no easy way.

Her lovely round breasts were so tempting. A hand fondled them slowly, enjoying the enticing feel of the alluring flesh. She murmured a sound of pleasure that encouraged him further. Lowering his head, he licked at a nipple several times before taking it into his mouth and suckling upon it. Lucianna groaned low but made no move to stop him.

His mouth on her was arousing. She shivered with the deliciousness of it. The sensations arousing her now moved lower, first to her belly, making it quiver nervously, and then lower to that secret place between her thighs. Then suddenly his other hand moved to cup her there. Lucianna gasped with surprise and tried to pull away. Was she ready for such intimacy?

“Nah,
amore mia
, let me touch you there,” he murmured in her ear, kissing when his words ceased.

Lucianna said nothing but ceased her retreat. He was her husband. Her body was now his. He would not harm her. A single finger gently stroked several times between her nether lips before pushing between them and finding the most sensitive portion of her flesh. She wanted to resist, but the finger rubbing that nub took away all her resistance. Lucianna found she did not want him to cease. Her body, seemingly of its own volition, rose up to meet that probing finger as he pushed it gently into her body.

It was very much as he had expected. She was wet and ready for him, but she was also very tight. He considered the size of his own manhood, and as he withdrew the one finger, reinserted two and then after a brief time, three fingers that moved slowly, carefully within her.

By the time the three fingers had entered her, Lucianna was growing quite excited with a feeling she had never experienced. She heard herself moan but one word.
“More!”
When his big body covered her, she could scarcely contain her excitement. Then she felt his manhood beginning to enter her body. She gasped with surprise. It was nothing at all like his fingers. He was hard, and it was demanding of her as slowly he pushed forward until he almost filled her sensitive sheath. “Santa Anna,” she whispered, “it is so large.”

“Yet it fits you well,” he groaned, moving slightly on her.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Am I a woman then, Roberto?”

“Not quite,” he told her. “Your virginity is tightly lodged,
mia amore
. When you are ready, I will have it of you.”
Jesú!
He was dying to have all of her, but she must be more than willing. She must be eager.

He moved gently within her, stroking her excitement.

The sensation of him was wonderful, Lucianna thought, but there was more. Much more. And she wanted it. She wanted it
now
. Instinct instructed her. Wrapping her legs about his torso, she whispered fiercely into his ear, “
Sí
, Roberto! Now! Take me now!”

He thrust hard through the shield of her virginity, wincing at her cry of pain, and now fully lodged, caressing her, soothing her as he began to fuck her slowly at first, increasing his tempo as he felt her eager response. Her nails dug into his shoulders. Her gasps of open pleasure excited him wildly. Then suddenly he could not hold himself back a moment longer. His boiling tribute flooded her.

Lucianna sobbed, but her cries were ones of happiness. She was his wife in all ways now. Perhaps this first coupling would give them a child, but there would be many more such nights if she could have her way, and she would.

He rolled off her onto his back, gasping with his release and his pleasure. It had been a magnificent coupling, and unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was his love for her, he knew, that made it so. How different passion was with a woman you loved as opposed to just a woman willing to share her body. He had promised her he would take no mistress, and now he knew he never could after this night. “I love you, Lucianna, my beautiful Florentine wife. I love you!” he declared to her as he turned to look down into her face.

“Can we do it again?” she asked him ingenuously, smiling up at him. “It won’t hurt even a little the second time, will it?”

Robert Minton laughed aloud. “No, sweetheart, it won’t hurt after this first time. And yes, with a little time to recover my strength, we will most certainly do it again.”

They were late to arise come the morning, but finally Balia decided that enough was enough and came to see them roused. The happiness on Lucianna’s beautiful face both relieved and pleased her. Her mistress had survived the taking of her virginity in good spirits.

She wondered how long it would be before Lucianna would quicken with a child. “Master Luca has been asking after you all morning,” she told her mistress.

“My impatient brother has never had a wedding night,” Lucianna said, smiling.

The earl chuckled. “I saw him go off with that new housemaid. One can hope he hasn’t gotten a bastard on the saucy wench.”

“He should go back to London now that he has seen our marriage celebrated,” Lucianna decided. “I know he would enjoy spending more time here in the country away from the shop, but he must return to take on this new responsibility. I am content here, unless you go back to London and wish me with you.”

“You may need to oversee the shop until you are certain Luca is ready to take it over for your father’s guild,” the earl said.

“Baram Kira knows as much as I do,” Lucianna replied. “He was far quicker to learn than my brother. Poor Luca. He is really a soldier at heart. He has given up his dream because our elder brother cannot seem to manage what my father, and his father, built up. With Giorgio in Rome, poor Luca is the only son remaining to keep the Pietro d’Angelos’ silk business viable. My father cannot manage the Florence shop forever. Luca will have to return to do that, and I shall recommend to the guild that they take Baram Kira into their employ to manage this shop in London for them. It has done well, and the Milanese have not.”

“The Milanese hire no English, nor does the man they sent make any effort to encourage the London cloth merchants to friendship as you did.”

“With your help,” Lucianna reminded her husband.

He smiled in acknowledgment. “If you had not been successful, you would have had to return to Florence,” he reminded her. “I did what I had to keep you here.”

“And now I shall never return to Florence, except possibly to visit my parents with you,” she said softly. “I have chosen a future in England with you.”

He grinned. “So you have, madame. So you have.”

“Who knows of our marriage?”

“I told Lady Margaret I would do my best to win you over,” he admitted.

“The king does not know?” she asked.

Robert Minton shook his head. “Nay,” was all he said.

“Oh, Robert! You must tell him yourself, and quickly, before he learns of it from another. He trusts you, and what if he had another lady in mind for your wife? A lady who would have been of use to his family, and therefore to you.”

“Henry Tudor wed who he wanted to wed. I have but done the same,” Robert Minton answered her.

“Henry Tudor married the last king’s niece, the daughter of the king previous to him. She was England’s heiress. He has united two warring factions by that marriage, which is, praise God, a happy one if the gossip be true. How many years have the Lancasters and the Yorks quarreled over England’s throne? Wars like that are detrimental to a society, as any scholar of history can tell you.”

“You are a scholar of history, then?” he teased her.

“My father educated his daughters as well as his sons, even as I shall do,” Lucianna said proudly. “I do not want you to lose favor with your king, Robert. You must tell him of our marriage face-to-face.”

The earl sighed. She was right, and he knew it. “I will go to London with your brother. But I will return quickly. I do not intend our time together to be interrupted now that you are mine.”

She nodded, pleased that he had taken the first wifely advice she had given him. “When will you leave?” she asked him.

“Today,” he said firmly. He climbed naked from their bed, and Lucianna swallowed her giggles at Balia’s surprise. Especially when he turned to her serving woman and said, “Go and tell Master Luca to be ready to depart within the hour.”