One True Love (29 page)

"Oh, yes, yes." She took his face in her hands and kissed him soundly.

Her mouth intoxicated him like a fine brandy on a cold day. Aware of the servants, he took her by the wrists and stood. "Perhaps we should finish this conversation upstairs."

"I think that would be a fine idea." Cassie took his hand and the lead. He followed behind, and watched her bottom swish back in forth in a seductive walk. As they made their way upstairs, it occurred to him that he would follow her to hell if that is what it took to keep her in his life.

William closed the door on the curse, on Winnington, on every blasted negative thought, as he shut the bedchamber door behind them.

Chapter Sixteen

As soon as the door closed behind her, Cassie turned into her husband's arms, linked her hands around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. "Hold me."

William's arms encircled her, and his chin rested near the top of her head. The warmth of his body drugged her senses, and the smell of sandalwood mingled with sensual man enthralled her. She pulled him tighter in an embrace, and relished the feel of his hard body against hers. His hands ran up and down the length of her back as they comforted and ignited her at the same time. She savored the moment, letting the essence of him burn into her memory.

"I have missed you," he said.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Stay with me like this forever."

He chuckled and kissed her hair. "We might need to eat on occasion."

"You are the only food I need." She lifted her head from his chest and smiled up at him. His eyes turned to the darkest chocolate. She licked her dry lips as he caught her in a kiss.

His warm mouth merged with hers, and she opened to him, invited him in, and he came. His tongue stroked hers, and the pressure of his kiss deepened, causing the smoldering in her most private place to burst into flames. She moaned and collapsed against him.

This is how it should be between them. On the way to Rosehill Manor she imagined various scenarios and conversations, but in the end, she did not hold back her words. She risked and triumphed.
For now.

William broke the kiss and trailed his lips across her jaw and down her neck. Her skin tingled with pleasure and anticipation. His hands moved further down her back and cupped her bottom. She ached for the touch of his warm skin against hers. Her fingers found his cravat and then the buttons of his shirt.

"Do you want me undressed, sweetings?" He started to remove his shirt, but she grabbed his hands and pushed them away.

"No. Let me." Cassie ran her palms along his chest, and took her time undoing each button, one by one. She brushed his chest hair with the tips of her fingers as she made her way down. When she reached his breeches, she pulled at his shirt until it came out of his waistband, then she ran her hands up his bare chest until she pushed the fabric off his shoulders.

Taking a moment to admire William's well sculpted chest and shoulders, she ran a fingertip across his muscles. She walked around him, and touched his arm and back, then moved to his front. She never imagined a man's body could be so beautiful. She placed a reverent kiss over his heart and let her hands wander further down. She took a deep breath, then looked up into his hazy, passion filled eyes. Confidence and power surged through her as she unfastened his pants and shoved them down over his hips.

Cassie drunk in the sight of his naked form with his male part hard, long, and thick. "Can I touch it?"

"You may do anything you please, my lady."

Her hand shook slightly as she ran a finger along his hard erection. She touched a bead of moisture at the tip then brought her finger to her mouth and sucked. His eyes widened and his shaft twitched and grew even longer.

He chuckled at her wanton act, but she did not care. She wanted this man, her husband. She wanted him inside her, in her bed, and in her life.

She giggled as he shuffled his feet with his breeches riding at the tops of his boots while he made his way to the bed. He had a fine backside with tight buttocks. The urge to explore every part of his body with her hands and mouth overcame her.

Heat flushed her from the inside out at the wild direction of her thoughts. She shocked her own sensibilities, then suddenly became shy and cast her eyes downward.

"Come help me with my boots."

She hesitated for a small moment, but completed the task as he commanded. She yanked off one boot and then the other, then helped William remove his breeches from his muscled legs. Her fingers grazed the dark curls around his calves. She studied the hair on his chest and followed its trail with her eyes as it made its way down his stomach, to his belly button, and to the curly mass where his thickness thrust out.

"Turn around." William said as stood up and unbuttoned her dress. She spent so many days and nights dreaming of this chance, that she worried it would never come. Now, here she stood, accepting his assistance as he removed her dress, stays, and chemise.

Once she was naked, he stayed at her back, and wrapped his arms around her. His warmth pressed into her, and yet, she shivered. He trailed kisses across her shoulders and down her back. He wrapped his hands around hers and brought them to her breasts.

"Touch your breasts. Feel their heaviness." He said this as his own fingers flicked the tight buds of her nipples, and desire burned a flame down to where she throbbed with moisture.

She was somewhat embarrassed to touch herself this way in front of him, to feel her own breasts, to give her own body such attention, but she let him guide her in this passionate journey. His hands left hers and moved across her stomach, hips, and bottom, then retraced the burning trail, setting her skin afire. He pleasured every place except the one for which she needed him to touch the most.

"Please," she begged.

"Patience sweetings. I want to savor every moment." His lips followed the trail he began with his hands. His tongue trailed down her spine, with his hands never leaving her. He kissed the round curves of her bottom, the backs of her legs, even her calves. She reached out to grasp the bedpost before she fell to the floor, weakened in the knees.

She spun and her hands hit the bed. She held on for dear life as his fingers made their way up the front of her legs, and past her tender spot where they grazed her ribs and captured her breasts. She cried out at his touch. She wanted him inside of her, now.

Cassie attempted to stand and turn, but he held her captive, and pushed his leg between her legs, then forced them apart. "What are you doing to me?"

"Showing you the many ways a man and woman can love."

One hand left her breast and ran down her stomach until he reached the apex of her thighs. A finger brushed her feminine curls and slid through her moisture. She gasped and moaned at the intimate touches. He continued to pleasure her there until he created a firestorm inside of her that she could not quench.

She nearly wept at the intensity of the uphill climb. Almost there, but not quite, as he flipped her onto her back and climbed onto the bed beside her. She desired his touch to take her the rest of the way, but instead, he traced circles on her breasts with his fingers. The unbearable ache in her body and heart overwhelmed her. She grabbed his hand and shoved it downward and silently begged him.

"Tell me what you want."

She closed her eyes, mortified to speak her desire for him aloud. She whispered, "I want you to touch me there."

His finger dipped into her. "Here?"

"Yes, please."

He did not give her what she wanted. Instead, he moved his hands to her breasts, then captured them both and squeezed before putting his mouth to one nipple. He laved it with his tongue, and suckled until she squirmed and cried and lifted her hips. He moved to her other breast and gave it the same attention. She thought she might die if he did not enter her soon.

Cassie scraped her nails down his back, dug her claws into his flesh, and punished him for unfairly torturing her body in the same way he toyed with her emotions. A terrifying thought crossed her mind –what if he worked her into a frenzy of want and need, then up and left her before completion. She held him to her, and made unfamiliar noises of passion, as he left her breasts and ran his tongue down her stomach, then stopped to dip into her belly button.

Her legs parted of their own volition. The weeks of frustrated tension mounted inside of her. She wanted him, needed him in the same way she needed food and water and the very air in which she breathed. He teased her mercilessly with his kisses and licked so close to the curls at her womanly core, that she writhed on the bed, as he reduced her to puddle of boneless mass.

William stopped and she nearly screamed and pounded his shoulders. He looked into her eyes, "You are mine. Mine." Then he did what she thought he would never do.

He dipped his head between her legs and used his tongue to lick across her pink bud. Her body exploded like fireworks on a summer night, and rose off the bed as waves of pleasure crashed over her again and again. As soon as the last tremor claimed her, he settled his body over her and entered in one, long thrust.

Cassie's scream must have carried through the entire house. William groaned and smiled into her eyes. He moved within her, and she followed his rhythm as they moved in symphony, hitting one crescendo after another until the final cords played. Together they soared to the heavens then floated back down to earth.

He stayed within her and rested. Afraid to say the words aloud, she mouthed, "I love you," as a tear slipped down her cheek.

***

William pulled out of her and rolled over. Never in his life had he felt anything like this. No mistress ever caused such a powerful orgasm. Weeks of pent up frustration powered every moment, yet he managed to control his body while he pleasured her to the breaking point.

He planned to wipe every trace of Winnington from her mind and body. He accepted her story of no affair with her former betrothed which released him from his anguish, but he still doubted her feelings. Despite her insistence at making their marriage work, she once loved Winnington, and love was not something easily erased from the heart.

He was determined to hold back a part of his heart until he was sure she eliminated Winnington from her heart and mind forever. He had originally planned to court her, and seduce her into giving herself to him, completely and irrevocably. Instead, he allowed his temper and jealousy to take over and interfere with his plans. It was a mistake he would not make again.

William's advantage over Winnington lay next to him. She was
his
wife. He had the right to have her in his bed every night, and even in the day if he so desired.

He hauled Cassie into his arms until their bodies fit together like two spoons. She sighed and rested against him. He kissed the top of her head, and ran his hand down her side.

"This is where I want to be, you know." Cassie's words came to his ears in a husky whisper.

"I cannot think of any other place I would rather be," he said.

"About the babe..." she turned towards him and peered into his eyes.

His chest constricted. The concern etched on her face stabbed him with guilt. He accused her of carrying another man's child. The distrust stood between them like a stone wall. He would break down the barriers, even if he had to remove each stone one at a time.

William reached down and laid his hand over her stomach. Amazement washed through him at the life that lay within her. For the first time, he noticed the slight roundness to her stomach. Her breasts were heavier, and he wondered how she would look when she was fully round with his child. The thought hardened him; painfully so.

He almost laughed. Never would he have expected to experience such an arousal by the very thought of a woman large with child. William rolled over, parted her legs and slipped back inside of her. Her shudder ran through his own body, and he thought of coming home.

He kissed his wife to keep from telling her he loved her. He wanted to be certain his feelings were returned before handed his heart over completely. He kissed her like a dying man drinking deeply from a well, and sank his member further into her warm body. His tongue danced with hers as they began a private waltz of thrusting and grinding. She cried out her release and he spilled his seed deep within her womb.