The Bride of the Immortal (48 page)

Together they tumbled on the bed and even though he tried to catch his fall, he landed on top of her, forcing the air out of her lungs. In all the confusion there was one thing that irritated him the most: the way the perception of the softness of her breast overshadowed everything that should have been of more importance to him.

Embarrassed he tried to get up but Mairin forced him down. She refused to let him go, firmly grasping his shoulder and burying her fingertips in his back.

“Don’t get up!” she pled.

“I... what is this about?” he asked, ordering himself to ignore her entreaty look. Immediately he started another careful attempt.

“Don’t... don’t get up!” she repeated. “And don’t look down.”

Her second request was almost like an invitation and before he knew what was happening he had directed his gaze to where he wasn’t supposed to look. Adrijan only came as far as to her bare shoulders and upper arms that were adorned with silver lines and dots but it was enough to realise why she hadn’t wanted him to look at her.

It only took a moment for Mairin to notice that his eyes had been trailing off and she vigorously pulled him even closer, tearing at his clothes, forcing him yet again to bounce against her chest.

To make matters worse his body started to react to her. Soon, he was certain, she would be able to notice it too.

“I could simply close my eyes and get up.”

His suggestion earned him another pull, another push against the irresistible softness. Adrijan didn’t dare to move and with bated breath awaited her next idea of torturing him. He was desperate to gain some distance between them, to stay in control.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to.

“Let me at least shift my weight a little,” he begged her.

Mairin nodded, giving her consent but she hardly let him back away.

Vivian was in high spirits and his thoughts were still with his brother when he discovered Engelin near the kitchen. What was she doing there this late? For a moment he considered the possibility that she was spying around for her mother but dismissed it almost instantly. He thought it far more likely that her sneaky behaviour resulted from an intention similar to his own: to steal some food for a late midnight-snack.

Luckily the girl hadn’t noticed him yet and not wanting to scare her away Vivian decided to approach her slowly from behind.

He was certain that he hadn’t made a sound but only a few steps away from the kitchen door the girl suddenly faced him.

“Are you looking for some cake, princess?” he asked her, putting on a friendly smile.

Engelin looked at him as if he had lost his senses, turned around and started to run.

Mairin cursed herself for dawdling. She had been just about to slip into a shirt after taking off the negligee when Adrijan had stumbled into the room and thrown her off her feet. It was just her luck that it had to have happened in the few seconds she hadn’t been prepared for the immortal’s return – or anyone else entering the room for that matter.

At the moment though, she had different problems than to worry about the reason. Besides, putting two and two together she had already concluded that it had to be Vivian’s fault.

Even fully dressed, Adrijan didn’t seem to be any less embarrassed about the situation than she was. He clearly despised being near her but she wasn’t willing to let him get up to discover her being naked except for the nothingness of a slip.

“Mairin... please,” he begged. He had held his breath for several moments, but now it had turned heavier than before and every soft pant brushing over her cheek sent a tingling sensation down her neck.

Then she felt the warmth pressing against her lower body, against the only place where she was actually wearing clothes, and she realised that her assumption had been as wrong as it could have been. Feeling the heat rise to her cheeks she knew with certainty that her face was turning red and without thinking twice she put her arms around Adrijan’s neck and pulled him down, forcing him to put his head next to hers so he could no longer look at her.

“Are you deliberately trying to kill me?” he whispered into her ear.

Mairin was aware that he could have forced his way out of her embrace, yet he refrained from doing so.

“I’m... I’m not doing anything.”

It was a petty excuse.

She tried to keep her own breathing steady and ordinary but she would’ve had to deceive herself to believe that it was working.

“Adrijan…” she whispered. “What now?”

Engelin didn’t get far. Regretfully the immortal shook his head. Only a child would expect to be able to escape a grown up man. Even if she hadn’t tripped over her own feet he would have caught up to her in no time – if he had decided on pursuing her. Seeing the need to help Engelin now, he rushed to her side and gently helped the girl back up. Engelin silently whimpered but stubbornly proved to him that she was able to stand without his support.

“You didn’t have to run away, princess. There’s nothing in the kitchen I would miss.”

Despite his friendliness he discovered a sullen look on her face and he knew she would have continued running if she had been able to.

“What’s wrong, princess?”

Unaware of what it would do to her, the girl attempted to stamp her foot. Vivian quickly grabbed her upper arm as her leg gave in.

“I’m not a princess!” she complained in pain, acting as if she hadn’t even needed his assistance.

“Oh?” he asked, carefully letting go of her arm.

Engelin vehemently shook her head.

“I’m at least a queen,” she declared and the way she did he thought she certainly had the necessary demeanour.

“Shouldn’t you be with your wife?”

Vivian frowned. She was indeed a little queen.

“No, she didn’t want me,” he explained truthfully, curious about the child’s reaction.

“So I see,” she replied.

Vivian shrugged.

“Let me take a look at your ankle in the infirmary,” he suggested. “I’ll carry you there.”

Engelin turned up her nose at him. “I think not.”

“Don’t you want to ride on the shoulders of a king?” Vivian tried to tempt her.

She had kept playing the queen even though she had to be in pain and he couldn’t just leave her where she was.

Determined the little girl crossed her arms. “Shouldn’t you put on some clothes first?”

He hadn’t even thought about it but now that she had reminded him of it he realised that he was only wearing a pair of jeans.

“Lend me your shawl then, my queen,” he teased her and knelt in front of her to receive the piece of clothes. Children could certainly be difficult to deal with. At the moment though, he didn’t have anything better to do and the cake would still be there when he had treated the injury.

Engelin put her shawl around his shoulders and hobbled around him to climb on his back. Vivian carefully stood up and started walking.

“Don’t touch me anywhere funny,” Engelin warned him.

Vivian rolled his eyes. Did she take him for a paedophile?

“Don’t worry,” he sighed, wondering what had happened to his pleasurable mood.

Mairin’s voice lulled him in, as did the closeness of her body, the softness of her breast and the delicious smell that seemed to be caught in the sea of her curls. Adrijan blew a gentle kiss on her cheek, eliciting Mairin a sweet sigh. She turned her head away from him, perhaps still somehow aware of what was happening. Again he kissed her, this time behind her ear.

A quiet moan escaped her lips, making it increasingly difficult for him to hold back.

He sensed how her grip on his back had changed. She was still holding him down but her hands had become more demanding.

Adrijan wanted to continue. He felt that he would burst into a million pieces if he couldn’t, but just at that very moment everything came back to him.

The wedding was over. Mairin had accepted Vivian.

He had been asked to come because of the state she was supposedly in but instead of helping her he had ended up in… this. It was wrong to go on without clarifying various things. First and foremost he wanted to know why she was naked and why she was letting him do this.

Adrijan jumped up from the bed, meticulously making certain not to look at her and drew away the blanket she was lying on.

Mairin was forced to roll over and before she could voice a complaint she was covered up to her nose by the duvet. Her gaze was directed towards Adrijan who was standing in front of the door, facing away from her.

“Vivian fetched me because you weren’t feeling well. Is any of that true?”

He sounded hurt and the tone of his voice indicated that he was on edge.

Mairin thought about her response before replying.

“It’s true that I wasn’t feeling well, but by the time Vivian had left, everything had been more or less settled,” she admitted shyly.

“So… everything went well?” he asked. “Am I supposed to be some sort of side dish?”

“What do you mean?” she didn’t like what he was implying.

“The… wedding night.”

“For me it
did
go well,” she snapped at him. Why was he acting like this now? Wasn’t it the total opposite to what he had done only moments ago?