The Letter (24 page)

“
Your house is beautiful,” she said, her cheeks pinking under his continued scrutiny, as if it mattered whether she liked his house or not. After all she would never live here. In fact, it was unlikely she would ever even see it again after this visit.

“
I was rather hoping you might like it,” he said as he moved closer to her, picked up her hand, and held it in his.

“
I do like it very much,” she said.

“
Then, let me show you the rest of the house.” Placing her hand on his arm, he then closed his other hand over her fingers. His simple, caring gesture took her by surprise. If she didn’t know better, she would believe that he cared deeply for her.

As it was she would place no significance in his loving gesture as he started the grand tour of his house.

The rest of the house continued in the same decorating theme as the first floor. The bedrooms upstairs contained the similar heavy mahogany elegantly carved furnishings with pastel bed coverings and draperies.

“
Did you decorate the house?” She asked, as they entered the master bedroom upstairs. His eyes glittered into hers like the finest diamonds.

“
Yes, I did. I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like, so I set about planning the building and decorating aspects. Of course, I didn’t actually do any of it, I just planned it and gave the instructions,” he said. “Are you surprised?”

“
Nothing about you surprises me,” she said sincerely.

The large master bedroom boasted a large fireplace. The vast, mahogany four-poster bed was elegantly carved and made up with a quilted bed cover of red checks and velvet pillows carefully arranged to fulfill inviting and elegant.

The curtains that framed the window were also a deep red, edged with the same checked material on the quilted bed cover. From the windows on either side of the bed, one could see endless rows of grapevines dancing in the gentle wind under the red and gold haze of the sinking sunset.

“
It is so magnificent,” Victoria breathed, going over to the window to look out over the fields where dozens of men were working between the rows and rows of lush vines. She could hear the murmur of their talking and laughter.

“
There is a household of servants to take care of the house and grounds. There is also a team of men who work the vineyards, but they live in cottages with their families about a quarter of a mile from the vineyards,” he said.

When they had finished looking over the house, William took her dining room where dinner was already being laid out for them by two exotic dark skinned women.

Through dinner and delicious flowing wine from his vineyards, William fielded her enthusiastic and fascinated questions about the process of wine making with equal relish.

William was charming, funny, intelligent and informative all while he consumed her with silent passion in his eyes.

Dusk fell while they finished dinner.

“
Let’s take a walk,” he softly demanded, standing up and coming around to help her with her chair. “Maria and Rosa want to clean up so they can go home.”

“
It will be dark soon,” she answered, her voice quivering. “Maybe I should help Maria and Rosa.”

“
They do not need any help, but I do urgently need your help,” he whispered.

Victoria’s body reacted with a quick hunger that almost overwhelmed her. This carnal desire, this deep passion for a man who was not her husband was wrong, yet each time he called her to that forbidden place, she went oh so eagerly.

“
Really William,” Victoria said quietly as a telling blush stole over her cheeks, “I should help them.”

He chuckled low, and then said, “Maria and Rosa make a fine salary and they would not like your help.”

She hesitated, eyeing him warily.

“
Come, sweet, no need to be afraid of the dark.”

“
I am not afraid of the dark, I am afraid of the wolves.”

“
The ones on four legs or the ones on two legs?” he asked chuckling low.

“
Both,” she replied.

He laughed while taking her hand and guiding her outside.

The evening was cool and the earthy smell clung to the air. His touch sent tremors of delicious anticipation rippling through her.

“
Are you cold?” he asked, looking down at her in the half moonlight of the evening. His silver eyes flared into hers. She wanted to cry out loud from the wave of desire that cascaded over her.

“
No, I am not cold,” she answered, futilely attempting to pull her eyes from his compelling gaze.

His voice dipped low. “Then what is it? Are you afraid? Or is it something else you feel, like desire? And passion?”

He had spoken the words of her heart out loud. Dear gracious, she should feel shame, but his words only fed her craving.

Finally successful in tearing her gaze from him, she tried mentally to shift away from his heat. He wanted her to do things she actually yearned to do, but most certainly things she shouldn’t want to do and let alone enjoy.

“
It is wrong,” she whispered, looking out at the rows and rows of grapevines that were now bathed in the clear, half-moonlight.

“
You mean standing out in the middle of a vineyard?” he asked innocently a smile edging his words.

She continued to scan the vineyard, refusing to meet his eyes.

“
You are making fun out of me. You know what I am talking about. I know the kinds of things you want to do and it is wrong,” she whispered. “It is shameful enough that I have agreed to be your paramour, but to make everything worse I am allowing you to do things that are beyond scandalous.”

His hand came up under her chin and he tilted her head with gentle force until she met his intense gaze.

“
What we do together is many things, but it is not wrong.”

With a featherlike touch he gently traced her trembling bottom lip.

“
It is only your upbringing that makes you feel it is wrong. To want a man, or to enjoy making love, is the most natural state for a woman.”

His eyes glowed with the heat of his words and like all the times before, she knew he would tease and pleasure her until she gave into this mad desire that consumed her.

“
I have been consumed with touching you since you first got into the carriage to come here.” His voice was raw and raspy with the confession.

She gasped.

He wrapped his arms around her encasing her in searing heat and continued, “I know you are confused and frightened by your own depth of passion, but I will lead you sweetheart and you will soon understand your own woman’s power.”

His lips arrested her open mouth with savage persuasion. His hands tangled themselves in her hair, sending her confining hair pins flying and her hair into a fast tumble down around her. Her body melted into his in instant surrender. Instead of resisting him, a notion that had fled with the touch of his lips, she met him and responded with equal fury.

He picked her up ignoring her half-hearted protests and carried her deep into the rows of vines until they were submerged fully within the lush vines.

Gently, he laid her on a grassy spot between the rows of vines where she was immediately assailed by the intoxicating earthy bouquet.

As he pushed her dress up and slid her undergarments down her legs, he murmured low, his voice and words sensually coaxing her past thoughts of resistance.

His tender, urgent lips worked instant magic, and the notion of feeble protests died on her lips.

His touched burned a path across her skin until he was between her legs, his mouth devouring her. Her mind and body were annihilated in the pleasure he was bringing her. Her shaking hands found his dark head and she tangled her fingers into his rich, waving hair.

Soft, low sounds came involuntarily from her throat as the intensity of her pleasure grew…taking her closer and closer to the utter bliss she knew awaited her at the end.

Then the world exploded in intense wracking waves. She cried out, uttering his name over and over.

Before she returned to sanity, he was inside of her…first low and deep, then fast and shallow. She didn’t know how long they were there. Time lost meaning in the ritual as old as time. There was only him in the world, the beautiful cool, misty, moonlit night, nestled among the fruit laden grapevines that grew all around them.

When he spilled inside of her, he murmured her name in a primitive, low growl of deep satisfaction.

For long moments, they lay in the stillness of the night. Victoria, protected by the weight of his body, and dazed by what had happened, kept her eyes closed.

If only she could stay here, under him, with him and surrounded by the grapevines. It was heaven on earth. She understood why he liked it here so much.

“
Victoria?” he asked, raising up on his palms and looking down at her. She did not open her eyes because she didn’t want him to see what she felt.

“
Open your eyes,” he softly demanded. Her lids slowly opened. And she knew that the truth of her feelings was there for him to see in the moonlight. Yet, she had no shame. She not only had participated in this total act of lustful abandon, she had been both willing and eager.

“
Tell me how you feel,” he softly demanded. His silver eyes glittered like diamonds in night shadows, hypnotizing her and drawing her into him for possession of body, heart and mind.

“
I feel ashamed,” she replied, an emotional dampness gathering in her eyes from the power of the moment’s emotion.

“
You are lying. There is no shame in your eyes, only denial,” he answered smiling.

“
I do feel ashamed. I do!” She insisted in a harsh whisper trying to look away from him. He gently cupped her chin so that she could not escape his intense gaze.

“
If I believed that, I wouldn’t touch you.” He traced a finger along her chin. “No darling, indeed, you want to feel shame but you do not. You feel what I feel. Your body tells me what your mouth refuses to say.”

She closed her eyes against his probing. He saw too much….knew too much. She couldn’t let him have all of her, or she would have nothing left for herself —
of herself
when it was all over.

“
This isn’t the last time we will make love in a vineyard,” he warned her, reading her thoughts. “I want you in every way possible.”

Her eyes flew open. The appalling truth was that she already wanted him…in all the ways possible.

She struggled under him with fervor of escape to prevent herself from repeating what had just happened.

“
Are you truly in a hurry to get away, darling?” he asked, his weight pinning her to the ground.

“
Well, we can’t very well stay here all night!” she replied, glaring up at him.

His eyes shimmered with knowing amusement.

“
I thought you might enjoy sleeping out in the vineyard,” he suggested, his breath gently blowing across her face, his smile warming her.

Unable to resist his charm, she smiled back.

“
I wonder what your servants would think about this behavior.”

“
If they knew how enjoyable the vineyards were they would certainly understand. Furthermore, I suspect more than one skirt has been lifted in my vineyards and I am sure anyone who guessed what happened out here tonight would be quite envious.”

Laughing he rolled off of her and up into a standing position. Victoria wasted no time pulling her undergarments back on, blushing to the roots of her hair as she smoothed her dress down. There was no shame in him, however, as he fastened his pants and readjusted his clothing as nonchalantly as he would dressing in his bedchamber.

“
Come, I suspect you want a nice bath,” he suggested.

“
A bath would be nice,” she replied, as he took her hand into his and they began to walk slowly to his house.

“
Only I think we should share a bath. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

Her mouth flew open and she stared at him, her body immediately responding to the tantalizing picture that came to mind.

“
I want to wash you from head to toe,” he leaned down and whispered into her ear. “I want to make sure you are very . . . very clean.” When she swatted him away, he threw his head back and laughed; the warm rich sound vibrating over the vineyard like wicked Satan.

“
I should like to scrub your mouth out with a very great deal of soap,” she replied, causing another deep laugh to erupt from his chest as he pinched her bottom playfully.

She jumped away from his playful hand. She should be angry and humiliated, but she wasn’t. Within a matter of moments, she would be in the bathtub with him….and in that bathtub … she would let him wash her from head to toe. She also knew that as much as he might need it, she would not be washing his mouth out with any soap.

And that was the truth of the matter.

CHAPTER 20

The following day dawned bright and cool. Having slept late into the morning, rested and at ease with the world, Victoria snuggled deeply into the sheets reluctant to leave the comforts of the fluffy but empty bed.