Rexanne Becnel (19 page)

Her fingers pressed his chest still, but now they sought only to gather his warmth to her, not to push him away. She was aware of the crisp, curling hairs on his chest, of the hard, muscular stomach that pinned her to the mattress and the iron-hewn thigh that lay now between her own bare legs. She was also conscious of a twisting knot simmering somewhere inside her, and she writhed at the exquisite torture of it.

Her artless movement seemed only to inflame Corbett more for he deepened the kiss and pressed his body more intimately against hers. There was her simple kirtle between them, and his smallcloth as well, but neither of those could hide the thickening between his legs. Like the touch of a flame, it seemed to jolt Lilliane to her senses even as it increased the heat within her. And all the while his kiss was sapping her of any will apart from his own.

When at last he ended the kiss, she was completely breathless. His own breath was ragged and he smiled as he pushed a wayward tendril from her cheek.

“I should punish you for all the ways you have opposed me,” he murmured as he cleverly loosened the ties of her kirtle.

Lilliane lowered her thick lashes, unable to maintain such close and intimate eye contact with him. “And … and now will you?”

When he did not answer at once, Lilliane hesitantly lifted her gaze back to him. What she saw there caused her heart to flutter in alarm. Corbett already held her beneath him; his superior strength was indisputable fact. Yet at this moment it was not that physical strength she feared so much as the strength of will she recognized in his piercing gray eyes. He would not beat her; she knew that. But he had the ability—and the single-mindedness—to find other, more effective methods to bend her to his desires.

He lowered his head a fraction and stared intently into her clear, amber eyes. “And now …” His lips lifted in a faint grin. “Now I think it is hardly punishment I have in mind for you.”

She felt his warm, firm lips begin a trail along her jawline and the sensitive curve of her neck to the pulse point at the base of her throat. Oh, how she wanted to remain unaffected by his kisses! But as before, she was completely disarmed by the gentle power he wielded over her. He sapped her will, diffused her anger, and drove all thoughts of resisting him completely away with those clever, knowing kisses.

Then he slid ever so slowly down her softly curving length until he lay completely within her legs, his head upon her stomach. Lilliane’s heart was in her throat as she felt the warm tickle of his breath along her ribs and the heat of his hands upon her breasts.

In a matching tempo he circled her breasts, spiraling ever nearer her tensed nipples. Teasing her over and over again, he would stop just short of those aching rose-tipped buds until she was arching off the bed in silent plea. Lilliane was consumed with need for him. Like a tidal wave passion washed over her.

“Oh.” She panted desperately. “Please—” Then when he took each nipple between a forefinger and thumb, she moaned in response. Relentlessly he drove her on, planting kisses on her belly as he raised her to a fever pitch. When he moved his kisses up to her outthrust breasts, she shamelessly pressed her belly up to his.

“Oh, no, my fine young minx. You shall not find your relief so easily,” he taunted her as he swirled his tongue sensuously around first one nipple then the other. “You still have much to atone for.”

Lilliane wanted to ignore his words, but like the demon himself he seemed content to torture her with the promise of more and more pleasure.

“Oh, please,” she begged as she ran her fingers through his hair and tugged unsuccessfully to bring his face up to hers.

“Ah, now you say please.” He moved his hands to the side of her head and filled them with her chestnut locks. “But tell me, why did you not wear your hair loose as I requested?”

His words brought her eyes wide open and she stared at him in surprise. With agonizing slowness he slid his hard torso up along hers, making certain every sensitive portion of her flesh felt the strength and heat of him.

“I would have your answer, Lily.”

“I … it was only …” Lilliane floundered, not able to think or even remember now why it had been so important to her to thwart him by wearing her hair concealed.

“It was only that you must oppose me, in whatever way possible. Am I right?”

“Yes,” she breathed, torn between the terrible desire he inspired in her now and the deep resentment she still nursed for him. But instead of angering him, her answer seemed to increase his ardor even more. With his knee he brought her legs apart, and one of his hands slid down to her thigh.

“You were not my wife then,” he murmured hoarsely as he stared down into her heavy-lidded eyes. “So I will not punish you. But know that I expect absolute obedience from my wife.”

Lilliane wanted to block out his words. She did not want to obey him or even be his wife. But he seemed to have taken all control from her and made her body pliant to his will only. Was he a demon to practice such dark arts upon her?

The she felt the sensuous caress of his finger between her thighs, and she arched in passionate response. Back and forth he stroked until she was helpless and limp beneath his expert touch. She wanted him with an intensity that shook her to her very core.

“You will be … my most … obedient wife …” he said, panting as he too was overwhelmed by his own needs. She felt the probing length of him and a small cry of ecstasy escaped her.

“Say it, Lily,” he muttered hoarsely in her ear. “Say it.”

“I—I will,” she agreed, blind with the need for what only he could do for her. “I will be an obedient wife—”

With a groan he drove into her then, and Lilliane thought she would swoon from the sheer glory of it. Hot and smooth, like steel wrapped in velvet, he moved in long, determined thrusts. She was sure he touched her very soul.

His mouth came down on hers with such passionate fervor she thought she must die of pleasure. His tongue filled her mouth in a demanding rhythm that mirrored their other joining. Then she was no longer a passive receptacle for his passion. With a fire that matched his own, her tongue met his and was drawn enticingly to explore his lips and mouth. She wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders, reveling in the hot, slick feel of his skin. And with every possessive stroke of his body into her she rose in willing acceptance.

She was flying into the unknown, frightened and exhilarated as her body reached for some new indefinable goal. Then like some incredible explosion within her, she felt one exquisite wave after another wash over her. He had pushed her beyond all control. Then she was practically lifted from the bed as his body stiffened and he groaned against her neck.

“Ah, Lily … my God, woman …”

Lilliane felt the shudders that ripped through him, and she gloried in the knowledge that she had the power to affect him even as he affected her. But as he slowed his frantic pace, she felt a sudden sting of tears against her lids. He would pull away from her now, she realized. Although it was madness, she did not want him to go.

When he rolled to his side, taking her with him, she kept her face averted from him. She was bewildered by all he made her feel. She was supposed to hate him, but she desired him beyond all understanding. She had fought to be free of him, yet now she clung to him, devastated to think he might leave her so quickly.

But Corbett did not loosen his hold on her at all. Instead he nestled her within his arms, tucked her head neatly under his chin, and pulled the coverlet over them both. Beneath her ear Lilliane could hear the strong beat of his heart as it gradually slowed its pace. He sighed hugely and slid his hand down her arm, then kissed the top of her head.

“You will do very well, wife,” he whispered sleepily. “Very well.”

His breath stirred her hair and Lilliane felt a delicious quiver deep within her. Despite her wish for it not to be so, she was gratified by his approval of her. She did not like this strange reversal of her feelings, but she could not ignore it. Nor could she deny that her desire for him was stronger than ever.

For a long while Lilliane lay still within the embrace of her new husband. It was a strange feeling, to lie with a man so. She feared that despite her extreme weariness, she would never relax enough to sleep.

But oddly enough, she did feel safe in his arms. Safe and protected. With a small sigh she settled against him and, lulled by his soft, steady breathing, she slipped peacefully into sleep.

L
ILLIANE WAS BEING PRESSED
down beneath the most delicious of weights. She was heavy with the clinging after-effects of sleep, she truly did not wish to awaken.

Yet the warmth seeping over her was not to be ignored. Even as it forced her awake, it drugged her into compliant lethargy.

She was not all at once aware of Corbett’s presence in her bed. Her memory was still too clouded from her exhausted slumber. But the masculine feel of his hard, naked body was impossible to ignore. When his hand slid slowly down her side to rest upon her hip, she squirmed unconsciously against him, still resisting full awareness.

But when his lips began to nibble at her neck and his warm breath tickled her sensitive ear, she could not fight it. Her eyes slowly opened to the dimness of the early morning and the realization of whom she lay with.

“Sleep well?” Corbett’s husky words seemed to stroke some chord within her and she took a quick breath. He was half lying upon her; their bellies were pressed intimately together, their legs were entwined. Memories of the hours just past tumbled through her mind, and to her complete chagrin a wave of desire rushed through her.

Hesitantly she peered up into his shadowed face. There was little revealed in the dim light of predawn, only the massive size of him and the way he completely dominated her. But there was no force in his light touch; nor was there any tentativeness. He did not command, neither did he request that she respond. He only smoothed her tangled hair back from her brow then cupped her face between his hands.

Still, that was enough. Like a smoldering fire fanned suddenly by high winds, she felt the full force of her longing for him return. It was as if their previous joinings had only whetted her appetite, she realized as she succumbed to the exquisite torture of it. Against her belly she felt the insistent pressure of his arousal, and without thinking she pressed up hard against him.

“Ah, my little wife,” he murmured hotly against her lips. “How you drive me to distraction. I would sooner stay abed with you …” His mouth captured hers eagerly, drawing her tongue into a wildly passionate dance. She was ready for him at once, as if their previous lovemaking had not ended at all, but only melted into this new, freshening passion.

“Stay abed,” she whispered. She arched her neck as his lips moved seductively upon her tender flesh. “’Tis yet night. You need not leave.”

Corbett raised above her then. She could not clearly make out his expression, although she knew he stared at her intently. She thought he would speak. Certainly he paused as if something preyed upon his mind. But then it appeared he’d reconsidered for he moved down upon her. His knee nudged her legs apart and she willingly complied. Then he entered her with a sureness that took her breath away, so consummately did he fill every part of her.

“Oh, dear God …” She panted as he began to move rhythmically within her. Like a fire out of control her blood seemed to rush through her. She was his wife, she thought as she spun in dizzy circles. This was right and good in the eyes of God and the church. But, oh, she was so much more than merely his wife. In some inexplicable manner he had taken her entire will into his own. She who had hated him so violently did now willingly succumb to him. She wanted him. She felt certain she would die without his touch.

His thrusts had become most furious when she felt him begin to tense. He had reached the zenith of his passion, and she knew now that it would soon end.

“Oh, wait.” The words were a soft, frustrated whisper; she hardly realized she had said them. But as Corbett shuddered in passionate release, she knew he had heard.

Lilliane was mortified. Why had she said such a thing? Despite her new knowledge of what might occur between them—what might occur within her—she could not fathom saying such a thing. Her hands slid slowly from their grasp around his powerful neck and down his damp shoulders and arms. It was a wonder to her that she could lie so with a man. Especially
this
man. Yet honesty would not let her deny the pleasure she received from him. Still, to beg him to wait! It seemed the words of a wanton, not a wife.

When Corbett propped himself on his elbows and looked down into her face, Lilliane kept her eyes carefully averted. But he would not have it and firmly tilted her face up to his.

“I should not have rushed you so,” he began, his face earnest and intent. “I am most pleased with you, Lily. Despite all that has gone before, I think ours may be a marriage of mutual contentment. If I did not let you … If I was too … ah … too hasty with you, then my only excuse is that I find much more pleasure in my wife than ever I had hoped.”

He grinned then and she caught the flash of strong white teeth against his shadowed face. “A virgin and yet a woman of passion. You’re a rare find.”

She was uncomfortable with his direct words. But there was a vague disappointment too. His words of “mutual contentment” rang hollowly in her ears, and yet she knew she had no sound reason for it. Mutual contentment was as much as she could ever have expected in a marriage, and yet, now that she had it, it seemed a poor expectation.

But she was hardly going to reveal that to him. “Have you forgotten the main reason you married me?” she retorted defensively. “Have you forgotten that I’m an heiress?”

He laughed then and planted a lusty kiss upon her startled lips. “My passionate, virgin heiress. Yes, you will do quite well, Lily.” He paused and she felt his weight settle even more intimately against her feminine length. Then he slid slowly down along her and her heart began to pound.