Alex smiled. “Many a couple has done without the caudle cup, Velvet. There are other things more important to a bridal couple on their wedding night.”
She snorted, but then a slow flush crept up her neck and into her face. “Oh,” she said helplessly.
Alex chuckled. “Go to bed, lass. The queen reviews the troops on the morrow, and that should be something to tell your gran-children one fine day.”
“Where will you sleep?” she asked, realizing his predicament.
“Out here on the floor by the fire,” he said. “I’ve laid my head in worse places in my time, lass. Good night.”
The night had grown chill, and Velvet wasted little time in unlacing her gown, removing it and creeping beneath the covers wearing only her chemisette. Outside the tiny window she could hear the cricket songs, soothing and cheerful. Beyond her door she heard Alex moving about for a short while and guessed from the friendly crackle that he had built up the fire in the little fireplace. She smiled wryly, considering the possibility of changing places with him: her cold bed for his floor by the fire.
She was just dozing off when a short, piercing cry rent the quiet. Trembling, she sat up, listening intently. It had been such a piteous cry. Where had it come from? Then she heard a low moaning and realized that it came from the other bedchamber.
With a little sob, she leaped from the bed and fled out into the parlor straight into a protective pair of warm arms. She couldn’t seem to stop shaking. Alex gently lifted her up, then cradled her in his arms as he sat down in a chair by the fire. He said nothing, waiting instead until she had quieted. Finally she gazed up at him, saying, “Did you not hear that terrible cry, Alex? Then I heard moaning through the wall. It gave me such a fright. Is this place haunted?”
“Nay, lass. ’Tis not haunted. I imagine the cry you heard was your friend, Angel.”
“Why would she cry out as if hurt? Robin would never hurt her!” Velvet protested.
“ ’Tis not a hurt a man inflicts willingly upon a maid, lass.”
“I don’t understand,” was her reply. “What do you mean?”
There was simply no delicate way for him to put it, and besides, he thought somewhat irritably, he should not be the one to have to explain such things to her, yet now he had no choice. “Your friend cried out when Robin pierced her maidenhead,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, God,” she whispered, and he could hear the fear in her voice. Then she began to tremble again.
“It only happens once, Velvet,” he said, helplessly attempting to calm her fears, and his arms tightened about her.
“I am so afraid, Alex,” she said. “I am so afraid of this wild Scots earl who demands marriage of me. My mother has never explained to me how it is between a man and a woman. Oh, I’ve watched the animals at the farm mate, but ’tis not the same for people, is it? Oh, Alex! I feel such a fool!”
“Velvet, Velvet,” he murmured at her soothingly. “ ’Twill be all right, lass, you’re nae a fool for not knowing what lovemaking is. You’re but a maid, and your earl will be glad of it, sweetheart.”
She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. She looked so very young and woebegone that his heart almost burst with the love he felt for her. Her next words startled him.
“Make love to me, Alex,” she said softly.
“Velvet lass!”
“Make love to me,” she repeated. “You’re my friend, Alex. You showed me kissing. Now I want you to make love to me so that I will know what to expect.” She was very serious, and he resisted the urge to chuckle bubbling within him.
“Sweetheart,” he said patiently, “it would not be right for me to take what is rightfully another man’s. A maidenhead can be only lost once.”
Now it was Velvet’s turn to giggle. “I didn’t meanthat,”she said. “Surely there is more to lovemaking than justthat.”She looked at him questioningly.
Alex felt his heart leap with excitement within him. Every time he was with her now, he found himself wanting more than just the sweetness of her lips. “Do you trust me enough, Velvet, to accept my word when I tell you we have gone far enough along Eros’s road?”
She nodded, her eyes wide, her face solemn as a small owl’s. Deep inside, he repressed a hard shudder. She was so damningly innocent and so incredibly tempting a tidbit. He envied Robin, who was now making love to his bride. This lovely girl in his lap was his betrothed wife under the law and he longed to tell her the truth, to take her into the other bedchamber and initiate her into the many arts of Venus. Instinctively he knew she would be an apt pupil.
“Well?” Her voice pierced his consciousness, and she looked up at him curiously.
Brazen little minx, he thought, amused. Then, with a swift motion, he opened her chemisette and, sliding it over her silky shoulders, bared her to the waist. Velvet gasped with surprise at this bold maneuver, and Alex’s head swooped down as his mouth found hers in a blazing kiss. A ball of fire burst within her stomach and spread flaming throughout her whole body. His lips worked on hers, teasing them open, and, with a swift movement, his tongue touched hers. Her heart hammered wildly in her ears as his tongue’s warm smoothness caressed the inside of her mouth, touching her sensitive flesh, running along her teeth. He had never kissed her likethatbefore, and Velvet, though a little bit frightened, found it wildly exciting.
Then his big hand began to caress her satiny flesh, smoothing the roundness of her shoulder, sliding down her long arms, moving up her bared torso to cup a breast. She thought that she Would faint right then and there. An incredible, aching warmth began to seep through her veins. When Kit Marlowe had touched her, she had wanted to die from the shame and frustration of her anger and helplessness, but this was different. Alex’s hand was gentle, loving. She knew that should she ask him to stop at any moment he would comply with her wishes. She did not, however, want him to stop, and that in itself was puzzling to her.
“Dear heaven, lass, but ye are so beautiful!” She heard his voice mutter thickly in her ear. Her head fell back, and his lips slowly kissed the long line of her throat; his hand tangled in her auburn hair, cupping her head as his lips found hers once more. She was conscious of his hand touching her breasts again, his fingers gently teasing her nipples until they thrust forward, throbbing with the sweet torment he was inflicting upon them.
Velvet shivered with pure excitement. If this was lovemaking, it was wondrously sweet. With a sigh of rapture, she tried to move closer to him. The arm that had been cradling her head moved down to encircle her waist. The hand that had played with her young breasts now slipped down beneath her chemisette. Then he slowly began to move it upward again, sliding it easily along the smooth skin of her long legs. For a moment, she considered the lightness of his actions, but honeyed heat once more raced through her veins, rendering her helpless to impede his movements. Her consciousness became peopled by a thousand small, fluttering butterflies, and she was only aware of the pleasure he offered her.
