Lost Love Found (72 page)

“
That
is what it was like, Padraic!” Her bitter voice burned him. “Do you understand? That is what it was like to be forced against my will to yield to Cicalazade Pasha! I hated it! I hated him!” she cried brokenly, bursting into wild sobbing.

He felt almost as devastated as she must have felt. He did indeed understand—now. Padriac pulled his wife into his arms and comforted her as best he could. “It will never be like that with us, my hinny love,” he assured her. “It will never be like that because we love each other, Val, and people in love share their passions. Ah, sweetheart, do you not remember our time together when I soothed away the terrors of your brief adventure with Temur Khan?”

“It … it all seems so … long ago,” she sobbed into his neck.

“You are much too young, my love, to have so faulty a memory,” he teased her gently. “Let me refresh your memory. But first, my darling, I suggest we cleanse the evidence of this incident from our persons. Would you release me, sweetheart?” His voice was quiet, but there was a hint of laughter in it, for Padraic was quickly regaining his equilibrium.

Aware of what she had done, Valentina rolled off him, curling into a ball on the other side of the bed so that she might avoid looking at him. But Padraic would have none of that. He pulled her up and led her across the room to the fireplace, near which a silver basin rested on a table. In the hot ashes in the corner of the fireplace was a large earthenware pitcher of water. Filling the silver basin with the warm water, he took her hand and clipped it into the basin.

Valentina was beginning to regain her composure. “ ’Tis I who should be maiding you, my lord,” she scolded him.

“We will maid each other, hinny love,” he replied, kissing the tip of her nose.

Valentina took a soft cloth that was folded neatly beside the basin. She soaked it, then wrung it out and began to wash him. He stood perfectly still as she wiped away the evidence of his passion. When she had finished, she carefully washed her hands in the fragrant water.

As she laid the wet cloth aside, he drew her into his arms, saying softly, “I love you, Val. Never forget that.” Then he led her back to the bed where they cuddled beneath the plump down coverlet. “Now, my wife, we will
share
our passions with each other, as people who love are meant to do. If I conquer you, my beautiful Valentina, then so will you conquer me.”

She was trembling slightly as his hands tangled themselves in the dark mane of her hair. His mouth gently brushed against hers, and she touched his face with her fingertips. He smiled at her, his aquamarine-blue eyes warm, filled with tenderness. As she pulled his head down to kiss him, his warmth enveloped her and she began to feel safe at last.

“I want to make love to you,” he said softly.

“I want to make love to you,” she answered breathlessly.

His smoldering gaze made her feel weak with longing. He cradled her tenderly and began to stroke her breasts. She drew his head down again and kissed him, her fingers sensually kneading the back of his neck as her mouth worked against his. Valentina could feel her breasts tightening, her nipples tingling as he fondled her. She sighed deeply and suddenly found herself turned gently onto her belly so that he could kiss her back. Shivers of pleasure rippled up and down her spine.

“Ah, sweetheart,” he murmured, “you are so wonderfully soft.” His lips brushed over the hillock of a buttock, and Valentina closed her eyes, sighing into the pillows, letting the warmth of his adoration envelop her, feeling his lips against the back of her knee, against her calf, on the sole of her foot.

She turned upon her back again, and he kissed both of her feet, one at a time, his lips moving up her legs, nuzzling her knees, kissing both of her silky thighs.

“Love me
there
,” she said quietly, crying out sharply as he complied, his face burying itself for a long, sweet moment against her mont as he inhaled the wonderful, exciting fragrance of her. His fingers gently exposed her hidden secret, her little jewel, already wet, swollen, and throbbing with the pleasure of his touch.

He reached out with the pointed tip of his tongue and flicked it gently around and over her pearl. Valentina shuddered deeply, silently urging him in his reacquaintance of her most hidden treasure. It was almost as if her mind had separated from her body, and she watched him through half-closed eyes as he caressed her with his tongue and mouth until she was bursting with a tender pleasure that she knew now only Padraic could give her. This was a sweetness that came when a woman made love with a man she loved and who loved her in return.

“Padraic!” she whispered urgently. “Put yourself within me, my darling! I can no longer wait! I love you to distraction!”

Her direct and wildly erotic words excited him as nothing had ever excited him. He pulled himself up until his face was level with hers. His big body covered her slender one. His voice ragged with desire, he begged her, “Take me in your hand, my hinny love, and then guide me yourself through the portals of paradise!” Feeling her fingers close about him, he groaned aloud. She led him forward, and he felt the welcoming warmth of her as he pushed himself slowly into her, her sweet sheath tightening about him in an ardent embrace.

As their eyes met, it was as if time had stopped, and Valentina whispered, “Love me, my Padraic! Love me, my dearest husband!”

He began to move within her, trying desperately to be gentle but unable to move slowly, for she had aroused him far more than he believed possible. Fiercely he thrust in her, moving himself back and forth, and she met his blazing desire with her own, pushing herself up against him hard, her nails raking a trail of passion down his broad back as her head thrashed back and forth on the pillows. There was no turning back for either of them now. White-hot desire had hold of them, and where it would end, neither of them cared. They were together. Nothing else mattered.

She soared with him as she had soared those many months ago in a felt-covered yurt upon the Crimean steppes. Her heart was so filled with love for this man who was her husband that the horror of Cicalazade Pasha faded away. Aunt Skye had been right! Valentina was one with Padraic. Together they were whole as neither had ever been alone.

“Padraic! Padraic! Padraic!” she sobbed his name, a sweet litany.

“Ahhhhh, lovey!” he groaned. “Ahhhhh, you have stolen my very soul! How I love you, Val! How I love you!” His passion burst within her, filling her with exquisite sweetness.

Throughout the night they loved each other, desperate for the other’s kiss or for a caress. At last they fell into an exhausted slumber, their bodies entwined, content for the moment.

They awakened in the hour past dawn to find that it was snowing.

“Damnation!” Padraic grumbled as they sat in the Great Hall of Pearroc Royal breaking their fasts. “I had hoped to leave for Clearfields this morning.”

His wife shook her head. “We must go first to court, my lord. I promised the queen that I should come directly to her upon my return and instead I hurried home so that we could be wed. Besides, you have said that Clearfields has been closed up forever. With your permission, I should like to retire your two elderly house servants and appoint Nan housekeeper. When the storm has stopped, she will have the loan of some maidservants from my mother and she can go to Clearfields to put the house in order. She can hire girls and young men from your village and train them.”

“An excellent idea,” approved Aidan. “By the time you have made your courtesy call upon the poor queen and returned, Clearfields will be ready to receive you. It pleases me to see you show such common sense, Valentina,” her mother finished, smiling at her.

“I have run my own home before, Mama,” Valentina reminded her. She turned to Padraic. “Is my plan all right with you, my lord?” she asked sweetly.

Lord Burke looked somewhat befuddled, much to his uncle’s amusement. He nodded helplessly, and Conn could not refrain from laughing.

“Why,” he teased his nephew, now his son-in-law, “are you so surprised to find yourself outflanked, my lad? Having grown up in this family, you should be aware of how the ladies handle matters—the most important matters being their poor, helpless husbands!”

“For shame, my lord,” Aidan scolded him, but her eyes were filled with laughter.

“ ’Tis true, Aunt,” Padraic agreed, finally finding his tongue.

“Why, my lord husband,” Valentina said, “surely you are not feeling unloved?”

Padraic’s gaze locked with hers, and he smiled a slow, intimate smile. “Never unloved, madam,” he assured her. “A trifle overwhelmed by your tactics, perhaps, but not unloved.”

“What a pity,” Valentina continued innocently, “that it is snowing, else we might ride, my lord.”

Lord Burke bent low and whispered so that only she could hear him, “I would ride you, my hinny love. I can think of no better way to pass a snowy day than riding on your snow-white thighs.”

Valentina laughed softly. “You are bold, my lord,” she murmured.

“Come.” He pulled her from the table and, hand in hand, they hurried from the hall.

“If we do not have a grandchild from those two before this year is ended,” said Conn, chuckling, “it certainly won’t be from lack of effort. He can scarcely keep his hands from her.”

Aidan smiled at her husband. “Remember when we were first wed?” she reminded him. “You could scarcely keep your hands from me.”

“Not only my hands, sweetheart,” he teased her.

“Conn!” She was actually blushing.

“Aidan,” Lord Bliss told his wife—“I am not so old that I have forgotten the most pleasant way to spend a snowy day.” He caught her by the hand. “Come, wife! Why should our daughter and her new husband be the only ones to enjoy a delightful dalliance?”

“Conn! What if the children need us?” she protested.

“If I know our sons, sweetheart, and I do, Colin and Payton will spend their day sowing wild oats among the prettier of our housemaids. Jemmie will be in the kennels with the new litter of pups. Mistress Maggie will spend her time preening before her mirror and dreaming of the day we allow her to return to court. They do not need you, Aidan, but I do!” he declared passionately.

“Why, my lord,” she said, dimpling at him across the table, “have I not always been your good and most obedient wife?”

“Not always.” He laughed.

Aidan aimed a mock blow at her husband. “Villain! I have been the most perfect of wives to you,” she declared.

“Then how can you consider denying me now?” he demanded of her with a mournful look.

Lady Bliss got up from the table and sat down on her husband’s lap. “Why, my lord,” she murmured seductively, “who said anything of denial?” Her quick fingers undid the laces at his neck and she bent to kiss the pulse in his throat.

Conn growled low. Wrapping his arms about his wife, he stood up, cradling her. “Madam, you toy with me! I intend making love to you with every bit of the vigor our new son-in-law possesses!”

Aidan smiled up at him from the sanctuary of his arms. “Why should you not play the bridegroom, Conn, my love?” she said softly. “For all of our lives together, you have made me feel like a bride.” She brushed her lips over his, her soft gray eyes bright with love for him.

In a twinkling the Great Hall of Pearroc Royal was empty, the room’s deep silence broken only by the sharp crackle of logs in the fireplace, the icy wind that blew about the house, and the soft brushing of snow against the windows as it fell, piling up on the stone sills.

A serving wench entered from the scullery to collect the dishes and goblets from the high board. Surprised, she looked about. The Great Hall was always the center of activity, particularly on stormy days, and she wondered where everyone had disappeared to on such a bleak morning, but then she shrugged, remembering herself and her place. It was not her business to question what the gentry did. She gathered up the plates, goblets, and cutlery, anxious to get to the kitchen where Cook, in an excellent mood, was passing out the leftover wedding marzipan to those in her favor. The serving wench had heard a rumor that Lady Burke’s Nan was to be the new housekeeper at Clearfields and that Nelda had been appointed her ladyship’s chief tiring woman. Some folks had all the luck, the serving girl told herself as she hurried from the hall and down the stone stairs into the warm kitchen.

Chapter 17

P
adraic Burke gave in to his wife’s pleas. He suggested first that they go home to Clearfields and then, in the spring, when traveling would be easier, go up to court. But Valentina would have none of it.

“Spring will be too late!” she declared. When he asked her what she meant, Valentina looked puzzled and replied, “I cannot explain it, Padraic. ’Tis just a feeling. I must go now!”

“All right, hinny love, then we shall go now,” he told her, for Valentina was not a spoilt creature who must always have her own way. It was a reasonable request.

Lord Burke’s half brother, the Earl of Lynmouth, and his family, would be traveling south to their Devon home. They had come up for Christmas and stayed for Padraic and Valentina’s wedding. The brothers decided to travel together.