Reckless in Pink (26 page)

He pushed again, and then jabbed. She winced. He murmured her name, kissed her and tried again. This time he drew away farther and used his hand once more to hold himself as he drove through her maidenhead. He didn’t pause but forged a path into her body, only stopping when his groin touched hers and their stomachs pressed firmly together. His heat burned through her as she gasped, the lancing pain piercing right through her.

She shoved him, trying to get him away, but he didn’t budge. “No, we can’t do this. Can we start again tomorrow?” Perhaps it would be easier then, once he’d essayed her.

“It’s done,” he said. “I know you find patience difficult, sweetheart, but summon some now. We are committed to this act.” He kissed her softly, with delicacy. “You will feel better in a moment.”

Surprisingly, she did. He remained still and let her accustom herself to the feel of him inside her. She had read of the act, but she had never imagined the unutterable intimacy of it. Naked, touching from breast to toe, with part of his body actually inside hers—even in her most imaginative dreams this had never happened. Never felt so real. Indeed the world had disappeared, ephemeral and unimportant next to what they were sharing now.

He moved, and so did her world. As he pulled out of her, a new shard of sensation captured her, so close to pain but not quite, ending as absolute pleasure. She cried out in delight. “Oh, do that again!”

Growling, he pushed back in, drew out, and back in. The repetitious movement varied slightly when he rested his upper weight on his elbows and tilted his hips. “Lift your legs. Put them around me.”

His voice was lower. Gasping his name, she curled her feet around his calves, lifted her knees higher. Then she dared to stretch out and cup his powerful buttocks in her hands.

A wordless cry broke from his throat as he pushed in again, and then withdrew. He pushed her up, like when he sucked her but not quite, the sensation deeper and faster. It encompassed her whole body, swept away any remnant of pain from his piercing of her, bringing new heights of passion. Wrapping her arms around him, she held on and let him take her to paradise.

Or somewhere. Hard to believe in the celestial existence of something so earthly, so very visceral, but so sublime. Words poured out of her, but they were the same two. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop…”

The cry of effort that erupted from his throat every time he punched deep into her seemed involuntary, drawn by something deep inside him that bypassed civilized behavior. Anything less civilized she couldn’t imagine, and she loved it.

Her own peak broke and washed over her, but this time her channel pulsed around him, clenching his cock as if milking it. It had its effect on him. Sweat broke out on his skin, her hands sliding when he arched his back, thrust one more time, and buried his forehead against her shoulder.

Then he moved convulsively, dragged his body out of hers, and hot, warm pulses of his seed splashed against her belly.

* * * *

“Why did you do that?”

He’d found a damp cloth and gently cleaned her before joining her in bed again. He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “Do what, sweetheart?”

She snatched her hand away. “You know what. Am I not good enough for you?”

“What?” His eyes widened with shock and he went up on one elbow. Claudia drew the covers over her naked body. Now she’d had time to recover, she had thought long and hard. “A wedding night is a time to make children. How can we do that if you don’t…?” She paused, groping for the right words.

“Come inside you?” His expression hardened and he sighed. “I cannot. You deserve…better.”

“Better than you?” She scoffed. “I can’t think of anyone better.”

The sheets lay between them, channeled on her side, and solitude fell over her. After that—after they’d engaged in the most intimate activity she had ever shared with anyone else—he was cutting her out. She sensed his retreat, the way he was putting the experience behind him, placing in its rightful place in his mind.

He flopped down on to his back. “While matters are so uncertain, I do not wish to put anyone else in jeopardy. You or a child.”

“You married me.”

“You ensured that was inevitable.”

“You could have resisted. All I did was ensure you saw me. I gave you something to think about. To decide if you really wanted to let me go.”

Now she lifted up to glare at him. He didn’t avoid her eyes, but met them squarely. She could no longer read his expression. “I did not force you to anything. I did not lure you into a compromising situation, and I did not make my family compel yours in any way. I didn’t have my father visit your parents, for instance.”

A tiny muscle next to his eye twitched when she said “parents.” That was it. She waited for him to respond. She would absolutely not take the blame for his marrying her, if guilt had to be assigned.

He acknowledged her point with a small nod. “Every time I saw you, I wanted you more. I’ve never known an impulse like it. You enchant and infuriate me. I took to my club, but your family was there, even if you were not. They made me think of you.”

That was good. She hadn’t realized her family had supported her in her silent determination to get into his presence. “I just wanted to know one way or the other. Oh, yes, I wanted you, but not at all costs. I would not compel you in any way. Did I?”

He sighed and pulled his hand out of the blankets to reach for her fingers and twine them between his. “No, you did not. You merely made it impossible for me to forget you.”

“Good. I could see you were determined to walk away, but if you wanted me, I wanted you too. I did. I do.” Daring to take the initiative, she bent and kissed his lips.

He responded gratifyingly but drew back before their actions could turn incendiary.

“Dominic, you are you. I chose you, not your family or your connections.”

“I know, and I appreciate it. That was the only reason. No, that’s not true.” He grinned wryly, the lines beside his mouth deepening. “I wanted you too badly to see you with anyone else. I needed to make you mine.”

“You have nearly done that.”

When he would have rolled out of bed she trapped him by the simple expedient of rolling over him and lying on top of him. A length of sheet remained between their bodies. They’d made a complete tangle of the bedding. “I said nearly, Dominic, and you know why. Never, ever do that again. Don’t withdraw.”

He cupped her cheek, his palm hot and hard. “I must. I cannot create children when I don’t know what they’ll inherit.”

“I’ll leave them the house in Hart Street,” she said.

His mouth hardened. Clearly he had not found her pathetic attempt at levity funny. “I am not entitled to my parents’ honors and titles. I have put a search in place to find the next in line.”

Exasperated, she wanted to hit him, but clenched her fist. Her other hand remained clasped in his. “That is foolish. You know there is no heir to your father’s title. Your parents set up an exhaustive search before they…went to Rome.”

“And bought me.”

“They did not buy you! Don’t talk such nonsense, Dominic. Perhaps Maria Rubio loved you and her other children so much that she wanted them out of danger. Away from intrigue.”

His mouth flattened. “If she was involved with a Stuart, it is more likely that she was using us as pawns for power. We were sent away because we might become useful to her one day, and we were better alive than dead.”

She shook her head vigorously, her tousled curls bouncing against her shoulders and cheeks. “How do you know that? You don’t, do you? Plenty of people fell in love with the Stuarts. Look at Nell Gwyn! She loved King Charles, all the sources say so! Queen Henrietta Maria loved the first Charles quite desperately.”

Lady Claudia Shaw was in danger of doing exactly the same thing. No, she was Lady St. Just now. She left Claudia Shaw behind that morning. “Dominic, you cannot make assumption like that.”

He stroked her cheek, pushing back her hair, his expression softening. “You are very good for me, Claudia. I am deeply selfish for giving in to my impulses and marrying you, but I cannot be sorry. Not completely. What will make me sorry is if all this comes to light and I am exposed for the impostor I am.”

“You knew nothing of it. In any case, there are better ways of making amends than giving everything up in a massive sacrificial gesture. How will that help your father’s tenants when they find themselves under someone who never expected to inherit and has no inclination to do so?”

“Now you’re making assumptions.”

“Not at all.” She thumped her fist against his chest. “Be serious, Dominic! You were brought up to love the land and the inheritance and to do your best for it and its people. Just as my father is bringing up his sons. Responsibility and respect are vital, he always says, both for the owner and the tenants. Why, do you not believe that?”

He sighed, still stroking her hair. Catching a curl, he wound it between his fingers. “Yes, I do. But another person could be just as effective. Someone who has been cut out by my parents’ actions.”

“There was nobody then. It stands to reason that there is nobody now.” She wouldn’t let him look away, but put her hand on the side of his face and forced him to look at her. “I want your children, Dominic. I don’t care what you call yourself or what society calls you. This morning you willingly joined with me in marriage, and that makes us a unit. A potential family unit, one I intend to fulfil the best way I can. I cannot do that if you will not perform your side of the bargain.” If he would not accept her any other way, she’d make him stick to his side of the bargain. Honor. Let him think about that, if his precious honor was so important to him.

He sighed. “I have not yet decided what to do.”

She knew, but she was wise enough to realize that she could not force everything on him at once. She would speak to him again, though, that was sure. Honor went two ways. He should honor the people who behaved honorably to him. The world was not so easy. Neither were the choices people had to make. “Then forget it. We have this time. Let’s enjoy it, refresh ourselves, and go back to the lists ready to fight again.” Soldier talk. She put on a bright smile. “Besides, I want to do that again. I find I enjoy making love.”

His response was to burst into shocked laughter. “My sweet wife, you’ll be the death of me!”

* * * *

Dominic took her advice and accepted her determination, consoling himself with the consideration that most couples didn’t conceive after one night, or even two.

She might not be the death of him, but she exhausted him over the next day. Pausing only to eat the food servants brought to the room next door, sometimes reluctantly on her part, Dominic’s wife proved an able— no, an eager—pupil. She would not stay a pupil for long. Dominic had intended to order a bath for her, to take care of her and pamper her until she recovered from the loss of her virginity. But not to make love to her again. His Claudia would have none of that.

Dominic woke to the sensation of delicate, exploring fingers on his already burgeoning cock. “It’s a fine one, is it not?” she murmured from under the covers.

With a shouted laugh, he threw the sheets away and saw her, busily exploring, stroking him until he rapidly grew.

“I never imagined it would be so big.”

“Careful, sweetheart, or my head will swell, too. I am comfortably endowed, I think I might say, although I cannot add that I have compared myself in this state to other men.”

She met his gaze, a curious note in hers. “Do they do that?”

“I believe some do. I have never felt the need. I have what God has given me, and I strive to please the best I can. That is all I can do.”

Her hand was still busy, dancing over his flesh. He had never felt anyone stroke the tip as delicately. The slight scrape of her nail gave him a jolt, bolts of lightning running over him. “You should take care,” he warned her. “I meant to let you rest. Women are supposed to be exhausted after their first time.”

“I want to ensure it will happen again. Is it just the first time it feels this way?”

“What way?”

He shifted, trying to get some measure of ease, but she followed him. Her experimentations would kill him. Circling his shaft with her fingers, as best she could, she discovered the up and down movement that would drive him to his peak if she didn’t stop. As if she heard him, she did so.

As did his heart when she swept her tongue over the tip of his cock. Of course women had performed that act for him before, but they’d been practiced, the exchange purely physical. This was far more. This woman was learning the man she would spend the rest of her life with. Her curiosity was put to a better cause here than spying out houses of ill repute. Already he knew her better than to imagine she would give up any pursuits, or that he could keep her busy in bed for evermore.

Dominic accepted the inevitable. Claudia would take childbearing and motherhood in her stride. She would not be a stranger to his bed. To their bed, he imagined it would become.

Grasping her under her arms, he hauled her up the bed and settled her over him. Her eyes widened, and her sweet, reddened lips curved in a smile. “Are you still tutoring me?”

“I am. Come down on me. Put my cock in you.”

“Oh!” She shivered. “Oh, yes!”

She’d like that. Being in control suited her, but it suited him, too, so she’d have to take turns. “One thing,” he added, trying to keep his tones steady. “If it hurts, if you’re too sore, we stop. I want you for a very long time. That doesn’t include making our wedding night one that will keep you too sore to fuck me again for a week.” He closed his eyes and groaned. “I should not have used that word. I’m sorry.”

“No. I like it. It’s honest and so down to earth. Please.”

She could make him laugh even now. “Ride me, you witch, and stop drawing me to places I should not take you.”

Summoning up enough control to make her ease her body on to him steadily, rather than plunging down, he watched her take him. His cock disappeared inside her hot, wet passage, enclosing and embracing him.