Rebecca Hagan Lee (19 page)

"What are you doing?" There was a note of alarm in her question and Blake forced himself to slow down. Go gently, he cautioned himself, one thing at a time. We don't have to do everything in one night. There will be other nights.

He raised his head and caught the look of concern and puzzlement that crossed Cristina's face. "I'm not going to do anything that you're not ready to do, sweetheart," Blake promised, softly. And to prove his good intentions, he reversed his path and began to place hot kisses up her belly, back to her navel. His hands, however, continued their downward trail.

Cristina heard herself gasp with pleasure as Blake lightly ran the palm of his hand over one naked thigh. He teased the baby-soft flesh before allowing his fingers to journey upward over that wonderful skin to the tight, reddish-gold curls guarding her moist, throbbing center. He explored her with his fingers until her cries reached a fevered pitch.

Overwhelming pleasure washed over her and Cristina clutched at Blake's hair, lifting his head from her belly, pulling him to her mouth where she kissed him with a passion that took them both by surprise.

"Do you like this? Or this, sweetheart?" he asked anxiously, his fingers feverishly massaging the pulsating mound of feminine warmth. "Talk to me. Tell me what you like."

"I... don't..." The electric quiver took her breath away. "Oh, Blake, I..."

Cristina felt another shudder well up deep inside, enveloping her until it was out of control. Her body shook violently again and again. Her heart hammered in her breast and her lungs seemed too small for her body. She breathed in short, panting gasps until all at once, her body relaxed. Her tense muscles turned to jelly and a warmth spread over her from head to toe. She cried out her tremendous satisfaction and her astonishment. She had never known anything could feel so wonderful.

"Relax and enjoy it, my sweet." Blake's deep voice sounded in her ear and Cristina opened her eyes to find him smiling tenderly down at her. He kissed the tip of her nose. "But don't go to sleep on me. It isn't over. The best is yet to come." Again his voice sounded in her ear, but this time Cristina recognized the excitement and barely controlled desire in his tender words.

She was much too relaxed and bemused by all that had happened to protest when Blake eased her thighs apart and positioned himself between them. "It's time, Cristina, I can't wait any longer." He brought himself against her, the hard male part of him probing the opening in her moist curls.

"Wrap your legs around me." Blake instructed softly as he nuzzled the valley between her breasts with infinite care. "I'll try not to hurt you, sweetheart, but if I do, I promise you it will only hurt this first time."

Cristina followed his instructions and slid her long legs over his outer thighs and buttocks and locked them tightly around his waist. She kissed the side of his neck to show that she was willing to accept a little pain along with the pleasure.

"Ready, sweetheart?" he groaned urgently.

She nodded her head and whispered, "Yes."

Blake moved closer. His placed his hands on her hips as he slowly entered her. The sensation was indescribable and Blake paused a moment to savor the exquisite feel of her.

Cristina braced herself but Blake had prepared her so well and entered her so gently that the pain she expected was a mere discomfort that disappeared almost as soon as he moved within her, inching his way inside her, filling her more deeply with each stroke. Probing ... enticing ... loving ... until Cristina moved with him.

She held on, pulling his lean hips to hers, instinctively meeting him thrust for thrust until the darkness surrounding them exploded in a dazzling display of brilliant lights. They fell through time together, gasping out each other's names as Blake poured himself into her.

"Cristina, my lovely, lovely Cristina...." His breathy whisper caressed her ears.

Cristina gently touched her lips to his, tasting the salt of lovemaking.

"Always," she whispered.

Blake sighed contentedly then tightened his arms around her, pulled her close against him, and kissed the damp curls framing her face before he closed his eyes and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Two souls with but a single thought,

Two hearts that beat as one.

--MARIA LOVELL 1803-1877

*Chapter Thirteen*

Cristina awoke to the feel of Blake's gentle kisses. She stretched lazily, then slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him as he lowered himself onto the side of the bed.

"Good morning," she said shyly, fixing her gaze on his mouth, remembering the magic his mouth wrought.

"Good morning," he answered awkwardly, staring at an imaginary spot on the pillows at a point above her left shoulder. Her bare left shoulder.

Cristina glanced at the bedside clock, then turned her attention back to Blake. He was, she noted, completely dressed while she lay naked beneath the sheets. "You're up early," she said. "It's not even light yet."

"I've a train to catch," Blake told her.

"Oh."

There was a wealth of disappointment in the single word. Blake stabbed his fingers through his hair, looked down at Cristina, and nervously cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to wake you," he admitted, "but I wanted to say good-bye before I left."

"I'm glad you did," she told him. "I should have hated to wake up alone without knowing... I mean, wondering if--"

"I hurt you," he blurted.

"What?"

"I was wondering if I hurt you," he said, his voice deep and laden with concern. "I didn't know if, perhaps, I was too rough?"

She shook her head. "You were perfect."

Blake's dark eyes crinkled at the corners and his face reddened slightly.

"That shows how much you know." He gave into the impulse and kissed the tip of her nose. "Innocent," he teased.

"Not so innocent anymore," Cristina reminded him.

"Still much too innocent for the likes of me." The expression in his dark eyes only hinted at the deeper emotions he kept hidden from view.

Cristina reached up and grasped the lapel of his black morning coat. "Then teach me to please you."

"Teach you?" Blake chuckled at her absurd misconception. "Did you think you didn't please me?"

Cristina blushed and resolutely fastened her gaze on the center button of his waistcoat. "I thought I did, but now I'm not so sure."

Blake lifted her chin with the tip of his index finger, tilting her face so that he could see her expression. "My dear Cristina, if you had pleased me any more, you would have killed me!" He leaned forward and gently, briefly covered her lips with his own. "And I'm a damned poor excuse for a lover if you couldn't tell just how much you pleased me." He stared down at her, a quizzical expression on his face. " 'Please' is a horribly inadequate way of describing what you do to me. Awe, enchant, enthrall, overwhelm, maybe, but please..." Blake couldn't keep himself from kissing her again--quickly--before he pulled away. A smile curled at the corner of his lips and a teasing light appeared in his eyes. "I don't think a mere 'please' will ever be sufficient."

"I do," Cristina disagreed.

"How's that?" he asked.

"Please," she whispered softly, entreatingly. "Please," she whispered, tilting her face up for his kiss.

"I stand corrected," Blake answered before he gave in to the overwhelming urge to kiss her once again.

"Stay," Cristina urged, fiddling with the buttons of his waistcoat when Blake would have pulled away. "Stay with me."

"I have to go," he told her. "I'm due at Sandringham this evening, and if I don't hurry, I'll miss my morning train."

"Oh."

It was there again. The feeling of utter disappointment Cristina managed to convey in one single syllable. Blake caught his breath at the sound. He didn't have to catch the first train out of London. There would be another later in the day. So what if he arrived at Sandringham a few hours behind schedule? Who would miss him in the hubbub of the arrival of all the other weekend guests?

Who would wonder at his delay? Whereas Cristina ...

"I'll miss you," she said simply, eloquently.

Would miss him. Blake slipped his hands under hers and began unbuttoning the gold buttons of his waistcoat. "I can catch a later train."

"Are you sure?" she asked, leaving the unfastened waistcoat to him while she worked on the buttons of his shirt. "I don't want to detain you. I'd hate to make you miss something important."

"Please," Blake begged before grinning unashamedly. "Make me late."

It was raining outside when Cristina awoke for the second time. She shivered in the cool morning air and automatically reached for Blake. She scooted over to his side of the bed, fitting her body into the curve of the mattress where he had lain, seeking his warmth. But he was gone. The indentation in the mattress and on his pillow and the fact that she lay in his bed were the only visible signs of the wonderful night and the exquisite morning they had shared. She let her gaze linger on the few stray black hairs that clung to the pillow slip, remembering the way she had run her fingers through his dark locks while she had eagerly returned his kisses. Cristina smiled at the memories and a blush crept over her face, staining it with color. She closed her eyes, sighing with pleasure as her mind replayed the events of the morning in glorious detail.

Blake had introduced her to the mysteries of her body and his own and had taught her the art of making love. He had been tender and caring and amazingly gentle as he worshipped her body. He had given her intense, mind-boggling pleasure and had taught her how to give that same intense delight to him. In his arms, she had come alive with passion. She had eagerly experienced the smell, taste, and feel of him with her lips and tongue and hands and eyes, adoring his body with the same single-minded determination Blake had used on her. They loved selfishly and unselfishly time and time again, exploring the realms of desire together--making love, sleeping, and waking to make love again until he left her in the first light of dawn, exhausted by their lovemaking yet supremely well-sated and happy.

She remembered protesting sleepily as Blake roused her from her delicious dreams to kiss her good-bye one last time after he had given in to her demands and made sweet love with her before leaving to catch his train for Sandringham. She had continued to protest as Blake tenderly washed away the remains of his lovemaking, then pulled the sheets up over her bare breasts and tucked her firmly into bed.

"I thought I'd find you in here." Leah opened the door and slipped inside the room without knocking.

Startled, Cristina looked up at her maid. "I can explain ..."

"There's no need for explainin'," Leah said. "I don't want details. I can figure out for myself what happened." Leah liked Lord Lawrence and she hoped one day to welcome him into the family, but she loved Cristina and, despite everything Mackie had told her, she didn't like the idea of her precious charge sharing a bed with this man before she had a gold wedding ring on her finger any more than she liked the idea of Cristina sharing a bed with a man of her mother's choosing. "I also figured you'd be needin' this." She tossed a brown dressing gown across the foot of the bed.

"Thanks," Cristina answered automatically, pulling on the robe as she watched Leah retrieving articles of clothing that had been carelessly strewn around the foot of the bed.

"Don't that man ever take the time to undo anything?" The maid grumbled as she surveyed the damage the green silk gown had suffered under Blake's impatient hands and the assortment of buttons littering the floor.

Cristina shrugged her shoulders, deciding that the state of her clothing spoke for itself. "Where is he?"

"He left an hour or so ago. He said he had to catch a train for the Prince of Wales's country house in Norfolk."

"How did he look?" Cristina asked.

"Pleased with himself," Leah answered. "Very pleased. He was whistling when he came into the kitchen lookin' for me."

"Blake was looking for you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Leah told her. "He pulled me to the side, real quiet-like, and told me where you were. He told me to let you sleep. Then, a few minutes later, when he was on his way out the door, I heard him ask Mrs. MacKenzie to keep the maids out of his room. He said he had work spread out everywhere and didn't want it disturbed." Leah glared meaningfully at Cristina.

Cristina smiled. "That was thoughtful of him."

Leah snorted.

"If Blake asked you not to disturb me, why did you?" Cristina asked pointedly as she snuggled back down into the covers to escape Leah's knowing eyes.

"The doctor is waitin' to see you."

Cristina sat up, instantly awake. "I don't need a doctor anymore. What's he doing here?"

"Well, I'm sure I don't know," came the sharp rejoinder from Leah. "And it wasn't my place to ask him. After all, I'm nobody special--just one of Lord Lawrence's many servants."

"Employees," Cristina corrected absentmindedly, knowing Blake disliked the term "servants." "And please save the lecture for later, Leah." She flipped back the covers, then stood up and glanced at the bedroom door before turning back to Leah. "Does anyone else know I'm in this room?"

"Nope," Leah answered. "As far as the rest of the household is concerned, you're sound asleep in your own bed. He waited until I was alone to issue his instructions." She draped Cristina's clothing over her arm, then crossed the room, opened the bedroom door, and surveyed the empty hallway. "If you keep this up, you won't be able to fool the 'employees' long," Leah warned. "And neither will he. But the coast is clear this morning. Come on. We'll sneak you into your room before anybody is the wiser."

Cristina nodded, then gripped the lapels of the dressing gown together against her body as she padded barefooted down the hallway and into the guest room. Cristina rushed through her morning ablution, wishing she had time for a full bath, wishing Nigel Jameson hadn't chosen to visit, wishing Leah hadn't barged into Blake's bedroom full of disapproval, but wishing most of all that Blake hadn't had to leave her alone. She finished bathing, dried off, and accepted the stack of linen Leah handed her. Cristina struggled into her undergarments, then crossed the room to stand in front of the armoire while Leah dropped a soft lavender morning gown over her head, settled it into place, and hurriedly fastened the buttons.