“Do you think I could marry anyone else?” he said. “Nay, Alice, my heart belongs to you. It will always belong to you.”
“Is that true?” she asked softly.
He looked at her, nodding firmly. “I have never spoken those words to anyone but you. Do you doubt me?”
She shook her head. “Never,” she said. “But I would not blame you if you married another. It is I trapped in a marriage with a man who has only touched me once and that was upon the eve of our wedding. Even then, he insisted the chamber was completely dark and called me by his dead wife’s name throughout the uncomfortable event. Did I ever tell you that?”
Hallam grunted unhappily. “You did not,” he said, peering at her with an expression of pain. “He really did that?”
“He did,” she said, smiling sadly. “How ironic that the consummation was with a man who pretended I was someone else when I, in fact, was pretendinghewas someone else. I pretended that he was you. Only I was wise enough not to call out your name.”
Hallam simply hung his head at the very sad revelation. She’d never told him that before.
“I do not know what you want me to say to that,” he murmured.
“Say?” she repeated. “Say nothing. Put your arms around me and say nothing, Hallam. We may never have a moment like thisagain. Let me feel your arms around me. Give me something to live on for the rest of my life.”
He didn’t think that was too much to ask, as painful as it was to hear. The truth was that he wanted to feel her in his arms, too. This gracious, warm-hearted woman he could never have. Without another word, he pulled her into his embrace and buried his face in her neck. She was warm and soft, smelling faintly of roses.
In his arms, he could feel the gentle sobs wrack her body.
But he also felt something else.
There was an overwhelming need to kiss her, something he could not resist, and he pulled his face from her neck, his lips claiming hers, just for a moment. That was all it was ever intended to be. But Alice responded instantly, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him with all of the pent-up anguish and passion she felt for him. It was a moment they might never have again. But what began as something meant to be momentary grew into something more permanent.
Hallam couldn’t pull away, not now.
Instinct took over.
They had utter, complete privacy in Covington’s lush solar. Ironic that the man’s wife would be kissing another man here, taking advantage of that privacy, but it was generous retribution for the weeks and months of hell Covington had put her through. It was sweet vengeance in a sense, but this was no petty action. This was a moment of deep and abiding emotion.
Alice couldn’t stop, either.
She wanted him, too.
Covington may have claimed her virginity, but that didn’t matter. Her innocence had been something protected, something quickly lost to a careless man. But at this moment, Alice knew what it meant to be kissed by a man she loved, by a man who made her heart sing with joy. It was her right to knowHallam in the intimate sense. She’d loved him the moment she first saw him and she always would.
Even as Hallam kissed her furiously, Alice’s hands moved to his tunic, moving to pull it over his head. When Hallam realized what she was doing, he hesitated, but only for a moment. When the woman’s warm hands snaked into his breeches and sought out his semi-flaccid manhood, he knew he was lost. He couldn’t deny her.
He didn’t want to be denied, either.
Hallam had to pull his tunic off in order to remove his mail coat. Due to the cold weather, there was a myriad of clothing on his body and Alice helped him yank them off, unwilling and unable to wait. He was wearing a woolen tunic underneath everything, but it stopped at his hips, so he was unconstrained when Alice unfastened his breeches and they fell to his knees.
There was a powerful sense of urgency now, of a desire so fierce that they were overwhelmed with it. Hallam lifted Alice onto Covington’s big table, pulling her legs apart and wedging himself between them. She threw her skirts back and wrapped her legs around his waist, taking gentle hold of his already-rigid phallus and guiding it into her warm, slick womanhood. Rolling her hips forward, she was ready for his entry and he didn’t wait. Holding her tightly, Hallam impaled her upon his manhood.
Alice gasped with the ecstasy of it, her arms going around him, her nails digging into his back. It was the first time she had ever joined with someone she loved with all of her heart. It fed her soul as she could have never imagined as Hallam held her tightly, thrusting into her willing body. This was their moment, something they would remember for the rest of their lives, come what may.
It was everything she had ever hoped it would be.
Hallam was a man possessed. He couldn’t get enough of her fast enough, repeatedly driving into her as she gasped with joy.Alice’s hands found his bare buttocks, squeezing them, and he found it wildly intoxicating. With a few more thrusts, he spilled himself deep into her heated, lush body, stifling her cries with his mouth as she found her own release. He could feel her throbbing around him.
It was bliss.
As their passion cooled, their kisses transformed from wild and passionate to soft and gentle. Hallam tasted her deeply, his hands roaming as he gently suckled on her mouth, moving under her garment, which had been loosened, and up her torso to her breasts. He fondled her nipples as their kisses trailed off. Alice tossed her head back, her eyes closed as Hallam toyed with her breasts tenderly. He knew that this would more than likely be the last encounter they would have, and he wanted to remember everything about it.
About her.
“Alice?” he murmured.
