Chained (Chained Trilogy) (32 page)

His fingers were gentle, barely a whisper upon the silk of the bedrobe, as they slid down her shoulders and lightly caressed the small mounds of her breasts through the fabric. Gwen gasped and trembled, her nipples pebbling the instant his touch found them before moving on. H
is hands grazed her ribs, inching steadily downward until finding the belt at her waist. With one swift tug, the robe was open, and then in a pool at her feet as he snatched it from her shoulders. Caden’s eyes traveled over her, his jaw clenching as he traced the shadow of her body visible through the thin linen of her chainse.

As he drank her in with his eyes, she reached up tentatively toward the belt at his waist. She paused, her hands shaking.
Was this proper? Did the man undress the woman and then himself? Or should the woman assist him? Gwen’s brow creased as she realized she very much wanted to uncover the hidden secrets of Caden’s body. Yet, she wondered if her thoughts were too bold.

Caden grinned as his hand fou
nd her face, his thumb tracing the seam of her lips. “Do not stop now, wench.”

Gwen fought back a smirk. “You laugh, but I am un
sure of so many things. Are you certain it is proper?”

Caden’s smile turned wicked as he took her hand and placed it against the buckle of his belt. “We are going to many things to each other tonight, Gwen, and none of them will be proper. That is why I bolted the door.”

She giggled and he chuckled as she stilled her shaking hands and worked to free the black leather from its ornate fastening. It fell to his feet, the buckle clanking against the stones. Only then did Gwen bring her hands up to the laces at the front of his tunic, slowly loosening it and revealing a wide swath of his chest. Gwen felt her mouth grow dry at the sight of the exposed skin, golden from the sun and kissed by the glow of the meager remains of sunlight coming from the window behind her. She touched him, smiling as the fine black hairs sprinkled across his chest tickled her fingertips.

Gwen marveled at the warmth
of him, the softness of his skin and the hardness of the muscle underneath. She rose up on tiptoe and placed a kiss there, causing Caden to groan, his hand coming up to the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. Gwen knew enough to know that the sound meant he was pleased. She did it again, on his neck this time, and she felt a tiny tremor run through him. Satisfaction filled her, and Gwen grew bolder.

Caden allowed her to pull his tunic over his head
, depositing it on the floor beside his belt. Her hands explored him, running over the ripples and bulges of a body finely honed by swordplay and riding. Through his snug breeches, she could see the contours of powerful thighs and the hard ridge of masculinity between them.

“Gods, Caden,” she whispered. “There’s so much of you.”

That teasing smile of his appeared again. “A man does like to hear that,” he replied with a laugh.

Gwen shook her head. “I meant, all of you … from head to toe. You are …”
She trailed off because there were no words. She had seen only one man undressed and that was Gaiwan. While he’d certainly been impressive, her reaction to him had not been the same. Gaiwan was sleek and lean, whereas Caden was sheer power and might. Gaiwan seemed an intangible, untouchable thing, whereas Caden was warm and inviting, and for the nonce, hers and hers alone.

Caden reached for her again, his hold tight on her hips as he pulled her flush against him. His sex pressed insistently against her belly, a reminder of his desire. It was a heady thing, to know that he wanted her so badly. His hands fisted the chainse at her hips, bunching the fabric and slowly pulling it upward. Cool night air whispered over her
calves, and then her thighs, her belly, and finally, her breasts, before the garment was over her head and she stood bare before him. Caden’s breathing changed, growing heavier and faster.

“I do not believe in gods,” he declared as his eyes raked her nude form, “but you’ll make a believer o
ut of me yet, wench. Only gods could create something this magnificent.”

Before she could reply, she was being swept off her feet and carried toward the large bed in the center of the room. Caden laid her down and came over her, his weight solid yet comforting as he settled between her open legs. He overwhelmed her, his lips on her
s while his hips ground against hers, his fingers tangling in her hair, his body pressing hers to the mattress. Gwen exulted in it, closing her eyes as she burned every detail into her memory—the way his tongue made hot circles on her neck as he kissed and suckled there, the way her breasts responded to the touch of his lips and tongue, hardening and puckering, the pleasurable sensation it caused jolting through her like lightning that struck deep in her core. She came alive as he tutored her, unlocking the secrets she’d wondered about for so long.

Gwen had never known that just the barest of kisses upon her collarbone would cause her limbs to grow weak, or that the deep, suckling pulls of Caden’s mouth upon her breast could
trigger fluttering between her legs that caused her to ache for more—and she did not yet know what more was. The pangs of need resounded through her until she was breathless with anticipation, wanting more of what he’d already given her, yet aching for the next thing and the next. She squirmed beneath him as his lips continued on their downward path, his tongue flicking out to taste the skin of her belly before circling her navel. Gwen’s back arched as he kissed his way steadily downward; his hands filled with her breasts. He steadily kneaded them, his thumbs and forefingers tormenting the nipples with masterful expertise.

He lowered himself between her legs then, his hands gripping her thighs and pushing them even farther apart. Gwen flushed with embarrassment as he nuzzled the mound of her sex, but forgot modesty when his tongue came out to taste her. A sharp cry melted into a gasp of pleasure
when his lips found her, suckling hungrily at the tender pink flesh hidden within her most intimate place.

“Caden!” she cried, her fingers curling around the bedclothes as wave after wave of pleasure previous
ly unknown washed over her so swift and powerful, she barely had time to recover from one before another had washed over her, drowning her in a sea of ecstasy so intense she thought she might die from it. Her back arched and her hips bowed up off the bed as her first climax rolled over her, tearing another cry from her lips as she shuddered and fell apart in Caden’s hands. Spasms unlike anything she’d ever felt rocked her insides, causing them to pulsate throb swiftly, stealing her breath away. Slowly, they abated, and a languid sort of peace overtook her, causing her limbs to grow heavy, as well as her eyelids.

His mouth left her, but Gwen could not find the strength to protest, not when such a
languorous sense of satisfaction was filling her. He appeared over her again, a grin splitting his face as he peered down at her.

“Are you still with me, wench, o
r do you need a nap?”

They laughed together as Gwen reached for him once more, pulling him down to her for
a kiss. “Aye, I am still here. Though a nap would be lovely.”

Caden’s chest rumbled against hers as he chuckled, nuzzling her neck affectionately. “Oh no you don’t, wench. I have not yet had my fill of you.”
To punctuate the point, he held her close and rolled until he was on his back and Gwen was atop him. “This is to ensure you do not slip off into sleep. The beauty of the female body is that it can experience that pleasure again and again, many times in one night … with the right man’s touch, of course.”

Gwen straightened, her legs straddling him, her interest piqued. “Again?” The tho
ught of experiencing that earth-shattering pleasure so soon thrilled her.

Caden nodded. “Aye, only the intensity of it will be tenfold with me inside of you.”

Gwen shivered at the notion, filling with both trepidation and excitement as she thought of the organ pulsating between them, hard and insistent against the fabric of his breeches. Caden reached down between them, and Gwen shifted back so that he could reach his laces.

“I know your first bedding was not what it should have been,” he said
, his fingers deftly working at the laces and revealing himself inch by slow inch. “I will make this night the first bedding you should have had, I give you my word.” His eyes met hers and he paused, watching her closely. “Do you trust me, Gwen?”

She nodded. “I do.”
It was true, she realized. Caden had more than earned her trust.

He grunted at that, and went back to unlacing his breeches. “Good,” he murmured. Once he was freed, Gwen helped him out of his boots before easing the breeches down over his legs. Only his
braies remained, and he doffed them quickly, leaving Gwen stunned at the sight of him, as naked as she was. Between powerful thighs, his cock stood proudly, straining upward with a life of its own. Fear rose up in her as she remembered the pain of her first bedding, the feeling of suffocating beneath Gaiwan’s weight, and the humiliation when it was all over.

“Open your eyes and look at me,” he commanded, his hands finding her hips and pulling her back on top of him. Gwen gazed down at Caden as the engorged head of him pressed against her entrance. Pleasure melted away fear. “Don’t close your eyes again. Look at me, watch me.
I do not want you to think of him. I want you to see me, to remember me. The past is washed away in this moment. What has come before no longer matters.”

Gwen obeyed him, bracing her hands on his chest as he joined his body with hers, his entry made easy by the moisture his lips and tongue had coaxed from her. Her gasp of delight was smothered by Caden’s moan, deep and guttural as he eased her down until his hips met hers, filling her completely. She kept her eyes open and locked with h
is as their bodies moved, parting and joining in a rhythm that Gwen’s body instinctively seemed to know. Every stroke caused a ripple of pleasure to move through her, until she was drowning again, unable to stifle her cries of pleasure as Caden drove up and into her over and over. He rose until his back was against the headboard, his mouth latching on to one breast as his hands gripped her hips, controlling her movements so that every thrust left him buried in her deepest places.

When climax found her again, Gwen knew Caden had not lied about the intensity of it.
Her sheath tightened around him, pulsing with completion, and Gwen muffled a cry against his shoulder. Falling into him, and holding on as he pumped wildly into her, Gwen realized he seemed to strain for his own completion. She grew dizzy, but clung to him, melding her lips to his and swallowing his own guttural cries as he jerked and trembled beneath her, his fingers tightening on her hips when the hot splash of his seed filled her.

She gazed down at him in wonder, her eyes heavy-lidded
as drowsiness began to pull at her. The events of the day combined with the euphoria washing over her, and Gwen could do no more than rest against Caden, allowing him to shift and move her until they were lying together, her back against his front. His arm was tight around her, his body a warm and solid presence behind her. His breath tickled the back of her neck as he kissed her there, pushing her hair aside.

“Are you satisfied now, wench?” he whispered. “Even after you return home and marry your prince, I’ll never
truly be rid of you.”

Gwen did not answer
aloud, but in her heart she knew the truth … she would never truly be rid of him either.

Chapter
Fourteen

When Caden awoke, it was to find his mother si
tting in a chair beside Gwen’s bed. He blinked several times, certain that he had to be dreaming, but when he opened his eyes again, she was still there. Glancing down at the dark head resting on his chest, he was relieved to find that Gwen was still asleep. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her, sleeping so peacefully, her lips slightly parted, her hair a tousled mess. After he’d made love to her the first time, they had fallen asleep together, Gwen nestled tightly against him. Caden had awakened hours later, his loins hard and full again thanks to the round, soft bottom pressed against him. He entered her then and there, awakening her with slow, languid thrusts. He’d awakened her twice more in the night, unable to get his fill of her. He hadn’t been lying when he’d told her he’d never be rid of her. Damn her, but this night would remain with him forever, even after he’d taken a wife. It would forever remind him of the night he’d slept with his enemy.

Their one night was over, and now duty loomed over his head once more. Moving slowly so as not to wake Gwen, he slid from beneath her and gently laid her head upon the pillow. She sighed softly and shifted in her sleep, but did not awaken.
Standing, Lady Victoria thrust his breeches toward him. She turned her back as he slid from the bed and donned them, before pulling on his tunic. Once dressed, he joined her by the window where he and Gwen had sat the night before, well out of earshot of the bed.

“I know that you are not a fool, Caden,” she said, her voice low, though heavily laced with disapproval. “That is why I cannot fathom why you would do such a thing.”

Caden frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “How did you know I was here?”

“When you did not come to the hall for breakfast, I sent a servant to your room to ensure that you were not
hurt. I was worried—there was an assassin loose in this place recently, you know. When I was told that you were not there, I knew where to find you. I could see it in your eyes when you held her yesterday as she mourned her brother … you care for her.”