Caversham's Bride (The Caversham Chronicles - Book One) (17 page)

A
fter a delicious dinner, Cully and Flynn arrived bearing a deck of cards to keep the boy amused and assured Lia that her brother would be fine in their care. Ren then took the bottle of wine, and led her across to his room where he locked the door. Setting the bottle on the table, he reached for her and wrapped his arms about her lightly and rested his hands on her backside. It felt good holding her this way. It had been too long. At least since yesterday afternoon, and now as he stared into her eyes, he felt the familiar stirring in his loins. How was he ever going to return to his normal routine? Thoughts of bedding this woman filled his brain. At his age he shouldn’t be behaving as a great rutting beast of eighteen. He had to get this out of his system before he returned home, or else he’d be thought a hen-pecked fool, and he’d never be able to show his face at Jackson’s again.

Her silken brown hair fell loose about her shoulders and cascaded down her back in a tumble of waves. His fingers toyed with the ends that reached past her waist, and his lips ached to taste hers. So he’d be a fool for a few more days because this felt right.

She pulled away from him and took a few steps out from his reach. “You wished to discuss something with me?”

“Not particularly.” He stepped toward her, closing the distance between them.

“But during dinner you said...”

“I know what I said, Lia. Would you have me tell you, in front of your brother, that I desired your body?”

Her green eyes momentarily widened in shock, and her mouth parted in a wide O. Ren watched, fascinated with the tip of her tongue, as it darted out to moisten her lips. He kissed her, backing her toward his bed, and turned them before falling backward onto the mattress. Lia lay on him laughing. Holding her head, he brought her mouth down to his, and his tongue coaxed her open so he could plunder her depths. Tasting the sweet wine she’d just had with their dinner, his tongue explored the nuances of her smile. He considered himself fortunate to have found her. The woman was more intoxicating than the best bottle of single-malt he owned.

And tomorrow afternoon she would be his legally. He would have her in his bed every night until she gave him the heirs he needed, and even then he wasn’t sure if he would be done with her, though he intimated as much earlier to his uncle and cousins. No, for some reason he didn’t think he would ever tire of her.

Ren tore his lips from hers and placed a row of kisses along her jawline toward the highly sensitive area just below her ear. When his tongue touched it she arched into him, as she had each time since the first night, making him feel wanted and desired. As a man, not as a title, or means to an end. Her low moan fed his aching desire for her.

Her hands slid down his sides to pull his shirt up and placed her hands on his bare back, holding him tightly, making his cock ache. The feel of her hands on his skin was painfully arousing. There had been women he’d bedded in the past who were repulsed by the hair on his back and chest. His Lia was not. She never pulled away in fear or disgust. Instead her fingers played on him, titillated him, and tortured him. And he loved it.

In his opinion, after they were married they would have all the time in the world to explore each other’s likes and dislikes. Right now, her entire body naked and riding him was what he wanted. He began to work the row of buttons on the thin muslin and the sash tied at her back. When he reached her chemise, he groaned in disappointment because it blocked his feel of her smooth skin.

A
broodmare, that’s what he’d called her. The man thought of her only as a means to an end. Lia had to leave him tonight. Before she fell further under his seductive spell.

She would leave him tonight, but right now she was going to make love with him as though there was no end to their time together. As though her fantasy of a real, loving partnership, such as she’d seen with her parents, might actually exist between them.

Lia forced herself to remember every detail of this moment. The feel of his hands on her sensitive skin, and the way his soft lips sent shivers racing through her body as he covered her naked flesh with kisses. He used his fingers, lips, and other parts of his body to stir her desire for him, and stoke a fire within her so raging the only relief was his loving. These memories would warm her through the many long, lonely nights ahead. They would have to last the rest of her life, for after making love with this man surely no other could compare.

Her body sang as he toyed with her nipples through the bodice of her gown. She brought her hands to his chest, and began unbuttoning his shirt. When it was undone, she pushed it from his broad shoulders and traced her palms over the sculpted muscles of his chest and back. He quickly divested himself of the shirt and returned to her before her skin had a chance to cool. She brought her lips to one nipple, laved it with her tongue, and gently suckled him. Pushing him back to the mattress, she straddled him, her hair creating a curtain about his face, blocking what little light there was from the single candle in the room.

She leaned forward and kissed his chin, then traced her tongue along the length of his jaw, licking her way to the area beneath his ear, curious if it held the same effect for him that it did for her.

It did. His hardened shaft pushed upward toward her, but was trapped by the breeches he still wore. Ren furiously unbuttoned the row of tiny buttons on the back of her dress. That done, he bunched her skirt up about her waist while she continued to caress his neck and chest. Breaking away, she sat up and helped him tug the dress and chemise over her head. He tossed it across the room, but Lia didn’t care, for his lips were already on her breasts, his mouth sucking greedily first at one nipple, then the other. He stoked the fire in her as he stroked her waist and back, then grabbed her bottom and drew it up toward his face. Unaware of what he wanted, she was shocked when he parted her fleshy lips and his tongue began to work his magic on her most sensitive spot. She would miss this pleasure he gave her.

As his tongue tickled, his teeth gently nibbled. His fingers penetrated her, causing her to fall forward, grabbing on to the painted iron headboard as he brought her to her first climax that night.

While her inner body still convulsed, he guided her off him and quickly removed his breeches. He resumed his place beside her, drew her into his arms and kissed her, sharing her essence with her.

“I love the way you taste,” he whispered.

Knowing this was her last night with him, and knowing how much he had enjoyed it when she did it before, she broke the kiss and slid her body down his length until she knelt between his knees. She gently stroked the long, thick shaft in one hand, and caressed his sac with the other. When the first clear drop appeared she licked the head of his manhood, tasting him. Her tongue lapped around the head, and she raised her eyes to watch him. His eyes were shut tight, his lips thinned and he grimaced as though in agony. She shifted her position, her hand still stroking his shaft lightly.

Suddenly she felt the need to have Ren remember her after she was gone. She wanted him to wish it was
her
he was loving when he took another woman. She wanted him to miss her passion and intimate kisses when he married another woman one day. “Ren,” she whispered. His dark silver-gray eyes opened and met hers. She held his gaze as she lowered her head and licked the salty sweetness from him. “I love the way you taste as well.”

Lia took him deeply into her mouth and teased his shaft with her tongue for only a few seconds before she moved up his body to straddle him. She sheathed him with a swift downward plunge. His hands held her bottom and he moved with her as she began her frenzied ride. When she felt his body tense she quickened her pace, milking his climax from him as she joined him in ecstasy.

Lia collapsed onto his sweat-slickened chest, and Ren’s arms wrapped around her, holding her close. She felt his racing heart pound beneath her cheek as his palms caressed her back tenderly.

“That was amazing,” he whispered on a ragged breath.

She smiled to herself as she nuzzled the slope of his neck. After several minutes, Ren lifted her from him.

“I would like nothing more than to spend the rest of the night with you,” he said, “but there is a little boy across the hall that needs you, and I have an errand I must see to personally.”

She closed her eyes, saying a prayer of thanks. Unwittingly, he was making this easier for her. He must have mistaken the look for fear, because he added, “Will you be all right for a few hours? If you want, I’ll leave a man at your door.”

“No. We’ll be fine. I’ll lock the door and not open it for anyone,” she said, desperate to reassure him.

“Very well,” he replied.

They dressed, and Lia smoothed and rearranged her loose hair.

“Where do you go at this late hour?”

“I need to see a man about a noose.”

She gave him a quizzical stare.

“You will understand later,” he said, and planted a kiss on top of her head.

L
ia looked down at her brother and ruffled his curly black hair one more time before opening the door to the darkened hallway. If the maid had done her part, the door leading from the kitchens to the alleyway behind the inn was unlocked.

“Are you okay? You aren’t scared are you?” She wanted to be absolutely sure he was up to this before she risked his still fragile health.

“Nothin’ ever scares me,” Luchino whispered boldly into the inky blackness of the room.

“Good. Let’s go.” The door creaked open, slowly at first, then a little more, until it widened enough for Lia to put her head through and check the hallway. No one stirred. The entire inn was eerily quiet. She opened the door wider and stepped out of the room. With Luchino’s hand in hers, she led him through and slowly, silently, closed the door behind her.

Her heart pounded in her chest, as though she had run for miles. She led her brother toward the servant’s stairwell at the opposite end of the hall. As they passed the main stairs leading down to the lobby, she heard male voices from the inn’s tap room. None of the voices sounded familiar, nor did any speak English. She breathed a sigh of relief as she continued down the hallway to the steps, which would lead her to the back door. And freedom.

They proceeded through the inn’s small kitchen and found the exit without incident. The dim light from the coals glowed in the hearth, facilitating her search as Lia groped for the knob. Once located, she opened the door cautiously. She offered a small prayer of thanks before she looked both ways down the alley, then gave Luchino permission to come through. Both free, she leaned back against the wall and released a long-held breath.

Dressed as boys, they made their way down the steep alleyway and rounded the corner onto the street leading directly to the docks. The only light to guide their path down the narrow brick-paved street came from the nearly full moon which cast an incandescent glow through the low-hanging clouds above them. The streets were slick with a heavy dew, bleeding down the walls around them, and dripping from the overhanging balconies. The sound of water lapping against the pilings, and the smell of dead fish and tar from the wharf assured her that she headed in the right direction.

As they neared the first pier, Lia felt Luchino stumble and nearly fall. “Do you want me to carry you?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine.” He straightened and pulled his hand away. “I tripped, that’s all.”

They asked a man sitting along the dock if he knew of a ship bound for
Cittavecchia
. He hadn’t heard of one. She swallowed her fear. Lia realized the men she spoke with weren’t the gentlemen she was accustomed to, but she also knew she had no other options. They continued down each of the piers asking along the way, until finally they found one. By this time Luchino was riding on Lia’s back.

The moon was beginning its descent, and the fog was losing its eerie luminescence. Soon the sun would rise and dry the town. She and her brother would have to be on the ship, already hidden, in order to make good their escape. They could not walk on in broad daylight.

Hiding among the empty barrels and boxes piled along the edges of a warehouse, Lia tried desperately to ignore the scratching sounds of the creatures around them. Nearby a cat yowled and hissed, sending something running across her feet. Chills coursed through her body at the thought of what it might be. She fought the urge to scream over a mere rat. She must be strong for Luchino.

Lia scanned the dock for the next few minutes, waiting for the opportune moment to make her move. Finally, the last two drunken sailors boarded the vessel alongside the ship she and Luchino needed to board. With no one else about, they had to get on it quickly.

“Luchino, can you run, or should I carry you again?”

“I can make it, Lia.”

He didn’t sound convincing, but it was quicker and easier for him to run with her, than for her to carry him.

“We have to do it now.” With that, she and Luchino broke into a run for the boarding plank of the ship some twenty yards ahead. With one hand she held down the cap covering her hair, in the other she held her brother’s hand.

“
Aspetto!
” A voice behind her shouted.

“I think that’s them,” she heard a second man say, this time in English.