She looked at him, amused. “I know, and instead he got a wench who ranfromhim instead oftohim. If I was such a disappointment, why was he so determined to marry me, Francis?”
“Pride for one thing,” came Bothwell’s reply. Then he stopped and looked down at her. “Love for another, Velvet. Do ye doubt it, lass?”
“Nay.”
“And ye love him.” It was a flat statement.
“Aye,” she answered shortly. “I do love him, but we’ll have no peace until he can treat me fairly as my father treats my mother, and not as a possession, Francis. Is that so hard a thing?”
“Velvet, my sweet,” said the Earl of Bothwell, “ye suffer from the same ailment that I do. Ye were born in advance of yer time. Yes, it is a hard thing for Alex to accept! Who ever gave ye such ideas?”
“My mother.”
“Jesu, I should like to meet her! She must be a fascinating lady.”
“She is.” Velvet smiled. “I wish she would come home.”
Alex leaned over as they reached him and slipped a possessive arm about her waist. With a sigh Velvet leaned against him. “Ye’re tired, hinny,” he said, concerned. “Let us go home.”
“Aye,” she answered him. “I am tired, my lord.”
Bothwell smiled. For the moment there would be peace between the battling BrocCairns. Velvet even dozed in the coach that took them fromHolyroodto Bothwell’s house in the Highgate. His eyes met those of Alex as they rode, and he nodded his approval of his cousin’s calm behavior.
When they reached Lord Bothwell’s mansion, Alex carried his wife into the house and up to their chamber. There he expertly played lady’s maid to her as she stood sleepily before him. His hands fumbled with the laces of her gown, undoing the beautiful bodice and the skirt. Carefully he laid them over a chair. Yawning, she helped him to undo her petticoats and her chemise, to slide from her silken undergarments. Kneeling, he peeled off her stockings as she kicked off her shoes.
He caught his breath as she stretched lazily, yawning again. He could feel himself hardening as his eyes swept her slender form. “Jesu, Velvet, ye could tempt a saint!” he muttered huskily.
For some reason she felt more relaxed with him now than ever before. It did not even bother her that she stood naked before him. She suspected that her little talk with Francis had acted as some sort of catharsis. Her eyelids were heavy, but she smiled softly at him. “Come to bed, my lord,” she said. And, turning, she held out her hand to him.
He stood rooted to the floor, completely surprised by her sudden softness. He was even more surprised when with a smile she moved to undo his kilt. “Velvet,” he managed to murmur, tongue-tied and feeling like an idiot. A small smile played at the corners of her mouth as her eyes caught his for a brief moment. Then she went back to her task of disrobing him. Within a very short time he was as naked as she, and his desire was obvious. He almost blushed for she had actually made him feel shy.
Reaching out, he caressed one of her lovely breasts. “Ye’re so beautiful,” he whispered reverently.
Stretching her hand out to stroke his swollen manhood gently, she whispered back, “So are you, Alex.”
They came together, their bodies touching lightly while their lips kissed tenderly. With a soft cry of triumph, he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the large bed with its red silk hangings. The sheets, scented with lavender, had already been drawn back by the maidservant. They felt cool and silken against her back and buttocks. Kneeling next to her, he bent his head to kiss her delicate rose-colored nipples. The touch of his mouth rendered them rigid with rising desire. Lovingly he teased each one in its turn, kissing it, licking at it, sucking sweetly and strongly upon it until she moaned low, an almost sobbing sound. His hand smoothed down her quivering torso, his fingers seeking eagerly for the tiny jewel of her womanhood, finding it, taunting it with delicate little touches until her head began to thrash upon the plump down pillows. How his slender fingers sought to take the edge off her passion, thrusting into her softness while his thumb continued to rub against her sensitivity.
Velvet gasped with each new sensation. They had been wed but four days, and tonight was the first time she had willingly participated with him in this marvelous sport called lovemaking. She realized that by not fighting him she was allowing him to give her the most incredible pleasure. Why had she not thought to ask her sisters about all this?
His lips moved with fiery kisses down the slender column of her neck to her shoulder, where the kisses turned to gentle nibbles of his sharp teeth. Velvet shivered with delight, and he moved his head up again to kiss her ear, growling softly into it, “I like my English rose without her thorns, lass.”
She wound her fingers into his thick dark hair and tugged playfully at it, answering, “I love you best when you are gentle, my lord husband.”
He swung himself over her, imprisoning her between his two thighs, and his hands moved upward to cup both of her breasts. He handled them like prized possessions until he felt Velvet’s eyes upon him, and then he bent to kiss each nipple tenderly. She laughed softly, and Alex flushed guiltily, muttering, “Ye canna expect me to change much in four days, if I can change at all.”
“I think Imaylearn to love you forever,” she answered him mischievously, her heart soaring with her small victory.
He saw the triumph in her eyes, and, still needing to be master, he thrust into her very soft and very willing body almost harshly. Surprised, Velvet gasped once again, but suddenly in a burst of clarity she understood him. Instead of challenging him further, she pushed her hips up to meet his downward movements, at the same time taking his head between her two hands and whispering, “Aye, Alex Gordon, my lord of BrocCairn,forever!”
His mouth covered hers in a blazing kiss of such incredible intensity that it left them both breathless. Hungrily he moved on her, drawing her forward with him into a web of passion that he wove about them both so tightly that for Velvet there was no beginning and no end to this lovely moment. She felt her own identity slipping away as her emotions became all, and then she could no longer prevent her descent into the fiercely throbbing vortex that reached up to claim her. With a little cry of sweet surrender, she offered herself completely into his keeping.
Afterwards they lay together talking, her back against his chest, his hands playing lazily over her breasts. A bond had been formed between them now. He kissed the top of her tousled head, saying as he did so, “Dare we disobey yer queen and my king and go home toDun Broc, lass?”
She sighed. “Oh, Alex, please understand,” she begged him gently. “I must go home to England. We must be wed with my family about us. I shall never be happy with you if we do not.” She turned her head up to him. “You know that you can be sure of me now, my wild Scots lord!”
“I had hoped to have our first child born atDun Broc, as all its lords have been born in past memory.” Then he sighed. “If we obey our rulers and return to England, it is very likely that our son will be born in England.”
“My lord, you have yet to give me a wedding gift. If I could choose anything I desired it would be that we would return to England. If I bear a child for you in the next year, Alex, at least my mother would be with me. As you have stolen her right to be at our wedding, you owe us both that much, my lord.”
