“I shall make you come with me,” she whispered. “I shall force you.”
“Force me?” he mumbled, nibbling on her shoulder. “And just how do you plan to do that?”
She answered him by reaching around to her back, undoing the stays on her borrowed dress. Scarlet silk cascaded like a waterfall to the floor, landing in a pile around his feet. The boned corset underneath grazed his armor and he laughed low in his throat.
“You laugh, my lord?” she said huskily. “Is something, perchance, humorous about my undressing before you?”
“God no,” he whispered into the white flesh of her upper arm. “But you are resorting to trickery to gain your ends and I find that mayhap I shall enjoy submitting to your ‘force’.”
She grabbed his great head, forcing him to look at her. He was shocked to see her eyes brimming with tears and he froze his onslaught, horrified that he had been so inconsiderate of her feelings. “Oh Remi, I am sorry,” he said softly. “I thought….I shouldn’t have pushed, but you removed your surcoat and... I should have been mindful of your….”
She put her fingers against his lips, silencing him. “This is what I want, Gaston. I want you to touch me, my love, and make me forget about… make me forget about everything.”
Her words were a plea from the soul and he was seized with passion and fury all over again. His lips slanted over hers, tongues searching and tasting, relishing each other in worship. He kissed her long and hard, his great hands roving her sweet body. To think of Guy taking her brutally brought rage beyond rage, but his passion for her won out.
Armor off, he took her on the baron’s oaken desk. Remington wrapped her body around him, weeping with joy and relief as he entered her with sweet force. He never stopped kissing her the entire time, thrusting his long length into her quivering body, becoming a physical part of her. She was already ingrained into his mind like a scorching burn, never to be removed andsomehow he imagined that their bodies were melting into each other and wishing that permanently, they would be of one form.
She came rapidly, in a blinding shudder of glory. He answered with a hoarse cry, whispering her name as his convulsions died a lingering, magnificent death. Still, he continued to kiss her, to be a part of her. Surely there was nothing sweeter on the earth.
“Damn,” he muttered, still suckling on her lower lip.
“What?” she still clung to him, still feeling his semi-arousal twitching within her body.
He shook his head, grinning. “Those damn pessaries are doing absolutely no good at all. I do not know why I bought the things.”
She laughed and he kissed her teeth because they were so beautiful. “I have probably conceived triplets this day, knowing how fruitful you and I seem to be together.”
“God, I hope not,” he mumbled. “I have enough trouble telling my daughters apart. Besides, I do not want any more children.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Want or not, we take what we are given. And considering we have made love the last few times without your pessaries, it may be possible that I have….”
“Enough,” he kissed her again, loudly, and withdrew himself. She moaned softly, her gaze hot on his semi-limp member as he moved for his breeches. She sat up as he dressed and managed to clutch her surcoat to her but not much more. She was fixed on his marvelous body as he moved in the light.
It was as if her entire abduction was a fleeting, unpleasant memory. No longer did she feel the fear or the terror, only a distinct displeasure. Her horror was vanished and she knew it was but for Gaston’s comfort and presence. Only he had the power to make her feel safe, like nothing else in the world.
He slapped a latch on his chest plate where it met the back armor and glanced up at her, noticing she was still nude but for the surcoat held against her chest. And she was watching him with the most amazing eyes. He smiled. “What is it?”
She shook her head slowly, her eyes raking all over his form. “Nothing, my love. Nothing.”
He looked puzzled a brief moment as he finished with the rest of his armor. “Get dressed then. We have things to do.”
She obeyed and he helped her with the stays of the surcoat. When she was finished and her slippers were donned, Gaston held out his arm to escort her from the room. She grasped his elbow with a smile.
“I hope we were not too loud,” she glanced at the desk behind them and then gasped when she saw a small wet spot on the surface. Quickly, she wiped her hand across it until it disappeared and he laughed softly.
“You worry overly, Remi,” he said. “The stain would have dried.”
Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment as he led her from the room, positive her host and his household had been witness to their joyous reunion.
Rather than ride in the dark back to Mt. Holyoak, Gaston graciously accepted Lord Ingilsby’s offer to stay at Ripley for the night. That evening they had a group of entertainers as the evening’s diversion and Lady Anne seemed to think a great deal of their skill.
Both Gaston and Remington were exceedingly tired but they remained in the grand dining hall after the meal had been cleared to enjoy the entertainment. There were jugglers, acrobats that walked on their hands and feet bent over backward, and a woman with a duck that, she said, divined the future. Remington watched it all with interest, completelyenjoying the feel of Gaston’s hand on her knee as he conversed with Alex.
She was relaxed and happy for the first time in many a day and she enjoyed the lightness and worry-free state. Considering their future together was still rather unclear, she was determined to enjoy the present. As far as she knew, Gaston was still intent on sending her to London without him and her heart sank when she thought of being separated from him. Again. Would it never end?
The woman with the duck came to the head table and stopped directly in front of Remington.
“Tell yer future, milady?” she asked pleasantly.
