He crooked a finger at her, and she went to him, cautiously, but he suddenly reached out and grabbed her. Giggling, she resisted, but in the end it was just too much. He slid a hand in behind her neck, pulling her mouth to his, and his gentle kisses increased in force very quickly. His tongue invaded her mouth, licking her, tasting her, and Elle was quickly succumbing. He was trying to disrobe her, and she threw caution to the wind and helped him, pulling off the surcoat and the shift, leaving her in nothing but her slippers.
Those came off, too.
Pulling her onto the bed beside him, he stroked her face tenderly, sucking on her jaw line. Elle was already hot for him, her body responding to his attention as it had done every day since their marriage. There was no longer any unfamiliarity or hesitation between them. If they wanted it, they took it or they asked for it. This time, she was going to ask for it. Taking his hand, she placed it on her wet heat, and he growled.
Curtis grew more demanding, and Elle came alive. The early pregnancy and usual nausea were forgotten as she responded to him without restraint. Curtis rolled onto his back, taking her with him, and her mouth left his before kissing his magnificent chest as his enormous hands wound themselves in her silken hair. He pulled the kerchief off and unwound the braid, letting that marvelous hair flow over him. She suckled at his nipples, slipping her hand between his legs to fondle his rock-hard manroot. The more she fondled, the more he groaned with pleasure.
Curtis could only take a few seconds of her touch before he was pulling her up by the hair, fusing his mouth to hers. They rolled sideways, kissing and fondling, until they nearly rolled offthe bed. Curtis actually ended up on his knees, on the floor, but he had a plan in mind. Turning Elle onto her stomach, he pulled her up so that she was on her hands and knees on the mattress. Grasping her hips, Curtis drove into her from behind.
Elle groaned loudly as he filled her with his body, gripping the coverlet as Curtis thrust into her repeatedly. She was already begging for release, putting her hand between her legs to feel him as he made love to her. She touched him, and touched herself, feeling his power as he moved. His hands shifted from her hips to her breasts, and his face was against her back as he fondled her nipples from behind. Her breasts were full and luscious now, just like the rest of her, and all he could feel was unadulterated joy in this woman who had become his entire reason for living.
She was the very air he breathed.
His hands moved from her breasts to the junction between her legs. But the moment he touched her, she shuddered with a powerful climax and collapsed forward. Curtis continued to hold her up by the hips, thrusting into her until he achieved his own exquisite release. Together, they fell onto the mattress, riding the wave of ecstasy down to the ground, back to the world of reality.
It was heavenly.
Elle must have dozed off, because when next she realized, Curtis was snoring into the back of her head. Opening her eyes, she could see that it was brighter in the chamber now, a sure sign that the morning was in full bloom. She tried to move, but she realized that Curtis had her firmly pulled back against him, one big arm around her waist and the other one underneath her, his hand on her left breast.
Carefully, she began to disengage from him. She didn’t want to wake him because he was clearly exhausted. She was able to worm her way onto her back, but he shifted in his sleep. His headended up trapping her left arm, and his lips were on her breast. He must have sensed it somehow, because he started suckling her left nipple. As much as Elle loved it when he did that, she had things to do that morning, and he needed to sleep. If she let him suckle much longer, she would end up on her back with him between her legs again, so she gently pushed his mouth away from her breast and continued to slide out of his grasp. In order to get completely free, however, she had to slither to the floor before she could stand up.
Curtis just lay there, spread out all over the bed, and snored.
Grinning at her husband and his sleepy-time antics, she put her clothing back on, fixed her hair again, and found her slippers. Grabbing the bundle of laundry and the sack of lavender and rosemary, she silently slipped out of the chamber and shut the door, leaving Curtis to sleep as the world around him went on.
With a smile on her face and a spring in her step, Elle headed down the narrow spiral stairs. She was quiet, not wanting to wake anyone who had been up long into the turbulent night before. The entry level to the keep had servants bustling about because Christopher had used the solar the night before and they were cleaning it out, but she moved past them and out into the bailey.
The servants were all from England, from Lioncross and other de Lohr properties, and at first they’d whispered with disdain about the Welsh wife of Curtis de Lohr who liked to sweep floors and wash their clothing. It had been a breach of protocol for them. But these days, they’d grown used to her heading into the kitchen yard to do her husband’s laundry. Some even thought it was a gesture of love and submission to the de Lohr heir, and that had drawn approval from even the stuffiest traditional servants.
Therefore, no one gave her a second look as she lugged the laundry bundle around.
They respected her for it.
The kitchens were smelling strongly of baking bread this morning as Elle entered the kitchen yard. The laundry area was ahead, near the yard wall and near the well, and she headed for it. What she didn’t know was that Melusine had seen her crossing the bailey through her chamber window and was hastening to join her down in the laundry area. If Elle was going to work, then surely everything was well again. Things could get back to normal and petty rumors could be forgotten.
The world moved on.
As Melusine was on her way, Elle set her bundle of laundry on the table that was near the well. She opened up the bundle and took out the garments inside, putting them into the ashy water. There didn’t seem to be enough water for her taste, so she asked a nearby servant to draw water from the well and add it to the basin. As the man with a shovel in his hand went to draw water, Elle went to the kitchen door and asked the cook for a couple of buckets of hot water, which were brought out by servants and dumped into the basin.
The servants retreated and the yard emptied as Elle focused on her laundry. Taking the rosemary and lavender from her sack, she tossed a few handfuls into the laundry and began to rub one of Curtis’ tunics with a clean rock soaked in the ashy water. She scrubbed it and soaked it a few times, lifting it up to smell it and realizing that it still smelled like her husband’s smelly, unwashed body. Wrinkling her nose, she scrubbed it harder, wondering if she should use the same soap she used for her body on the clothing. If it was good enough for skin, then certainly it should be good enough for clothing. Surely, it would work.
But that was her last calm thought before someone grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed her face down into the water, submerging it.
After that, the fight was on.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Melusine wasn’t ina big hurry.
She came scurrying out of the keep, following Elle’s trail to the kitchen yard, but the entire time, she was keeping an eye out for Asa. That enthusiastic, sometimes irreverent Englishman whose entire family was Jewish. Asa was something of an anomaly, determined to fight like a warrior because that was what he’d wanted to be his entire life, yet he had the delicate skills of a jeweler that his father had taught him.
Bold yet gentle at the same time.
The man had made his own sword with the help of a smithy, and it was the most exquisite sword anyone had ever seen. Christopher had tried to buy it from him several times. Curtis had also tried to buy it, as had Myles, and Douglas actually stole it from him once. When Asa caught him, Christopher gave him permission to punish Douglas, and he had—by throwing eggs at him for a solid hour. Douglas was covered in eggshells and splattered egg, forbidden to wash it off for a day and a night.
To date, he had never stolen again.
Melusine was very fond of Asa. As she had told Elle, she knew the man wanted to marry her, but she had neglected to tell Elle that he hadn’t exactly asked. His affections were clear, but he’dnever actually said the words. Still, Melusine knew what was in his heart. She knew that he very much wanted to marry her, and she wanted to marry him. She wasn’t afraid to convert to his religion, either, though he hadn’t asked her to. But she was confident that he would.
