Nigel slid his hands down her sides and slowly caressed her hips. “There are a few things I have been thinking of doing since I began to regain my strength.”
“And what would those things be?” she asked, able to see exactly what he was thinking of from the warmth darkening his beautiful amber eyes.
“Weel, they may nay be too easy to gain now that I am a poor, weakened, and scarred mon,” he murmured as he kissed the gentle curve of her throat.
Gisele smiled against his skin as she bent and kissed the scar on his side and felt him tremble beneath her lips. For the last three nights she had not been able to stop herself from thinking about how it felt to make love with him. It had begun to rob her of much needed sleep. She had tried to cool her blood by remembering that he was obviously still in love with some woman in Scotland, but all she could think of was that that woman was not present. She had also tried to cling to the memory of what he had said just before he had been wounded, that puzzling remark about how any man would covet such a bounty, but her growing ardor made it easy to discard that as a callous remark intended to unsettle his opponent.
Inwardly, she shook her head in disgust over her inability to decide anything about Nigel except that she wanted him. At the moment, she wanted him very much indeed. She sorely missed the pleasure they could share, how it warmed her and made it so easy to forget all of her troubles, doubts, and fears. As she trailed soft, tender kisses over his taut stomach and heard his breathing grow heavier, she felt increasingly bold.
She found herself wondering what it would be like to make love to Nigel, and even though she felt herself blush she could not shake the thought. He had shown her how beautiful passion could be. He had always been the one to begin the seduction, to make love to her, teaching her and leading her. Now that she was no longer ignorant of the many ways one could make love and stir a lover’s desire, what harm could there be in employing that new knowledge by returning some of the delight he had gifted her with?
The more she thought about it, the more daring she felt. The more daring she felt, the more her passion rose. Gisele thought of all he had done to her to make her passion run hot, and suddenly wanted to do the same to him. She had no doubt that he desired her, but now she wanted to make him grow feverish and blind with passion, just as he had made her feel so many times. It would be a very sweet and pleasurable revenge, if he allowed it.
And that, she decided, was the only thing that made her hesitate to act upon her wishes. What if, by her boldness, she deeply offended Nigel in some way? What if she made him think poorly of her? She shook aside her sudden concerns. If Nigel showed any sign of shock or distaste, she would stop and claim ignorance. It would be the truth. No one, certainly not her husband, had ever taught her what she should or should not do with a man.
Nigel trembled beneath the touch of her long fingers as she slowly undid his braies. Only his weakness had kept him from making love to her since he had begun to recover from his fever. It would have been frustrating and somewhat embarrassing if he had begun to love her only to open his stitches and bleed all over her or, worse in his mind, find that he lacked the strength to complete the act. He had occasionally thought of trying to get her to do most of the work, but had hesitated, afraid he would shock her. Gisele was a widow, but he had quickly seen that she had learned little of the art of lovemaking from her swine of a husband. Now it seemed as if she were going to answer his wishes all on her own, and he held himself still, terrified he would say or do something that would make her grow shy and reticent.
When she slid off his braies, covering his legs with soft, heated kisses, he decided that lying still was probably going to be one of the hardest things he had done in a long time. He groaned his approval as she curled her long, slender fingers around his erection and began to stroke him.
The first touch of her lips made him cry out with pleasure. Then he softly cursed when she began to pull away, her pale face telling him clearly that she had misread his cry as shock and disapproval. Murmuring his approval, he threaded his fingers in her hair and gently urged her mouth back down. It was hard to think clearly, but he struggled to keep telling her how good she made him feel, urging her to continue. When she obeyed his soft request to take him into her mouth, he shuddered from the intense pleasure that tore through his body, and knew that he would not have the will to enjoy it for long.
Nigel suddenly pulled her away from him, and Gisele frowned, a little uncertain. He had made it clear that he enjoyed what she was doing to him, but perhaps she had finally gone too far. Although she had only done what he had asked of her, her readiness to do so might finally have dismayed him. Her passion was running so high that she did not really have the wit to figure out what he was feeling. He certainly looked as if he were also held tightly in passion’s grip, but she feared she might just be seeing a reflection of all she was feeling.
He slowly dragged her up his body. Gisele tried to stop when she straddled him and join their bodies, but he kept tugging at her. She gasped in a mixture of shock and anticipated pleasure when he pulled her all the way up his body. She guessed what he was about to do, but even as she thought about rejecting such a bold intimacy, his lips touched her heated skin and she relented.
A kiss on the inside of each of her thighs was all that was needed to make her open to him, to welcome his most intimate kiss. Gisele lost all sense of where she was, of what she was doing, was only aware of the pleasure coursing through her body. Even as she felt her release draw nigh and called out to him, he dragged her down his body and united them. Trembling, caught up in the force of her desire, she moved upon him with a nearly frenzied greed, finally collapsing in his arms even as he held her tightly against him. He groaned her name as he filled her with the warmth of his release. After a moment, he silently eased the intimacy of their embrace and held her in his arms, brushing light, almost sleepy kisses against her face as their breathing slowed.
It was a long time before Gisele could speak, even longer before she felt she could look at Nigel without blushing. She had behaved very wantonly. Many might even whisper that she acted no better than a whore. Gisele began to wonder if Nigel might also question her morals now that his blood had cooled.
Turning on her side, she ran her hand over his wound to assure herself that their lovemaking had not harmed him in any way. Then she studied him and smiled slightly, her fears easing. His eyes were closed, his features softened by encroaching sleep, and the hint of a smile was on his tempting lips. Nigel Murray certainly looked like a fully satisfied man.
“Nigel?” She lazily smoothed her hand over his broad, smooth chest.
“What, sweeting?” He tugged her a little closer and aimlessly planted a kiss on her forehead.
“I have a strong feeling that the penances we shall have to pay are piling up very high.”
He laughed. “Aye, shameless fools that we are.”
“Well, I have no need to worry.” She watched him closely. “I am sure that those penances shall pale in comparison to what I shall have to do to wash away the blood upon my poor, small hands.”
Nigel opened one eye and looked at her. Ye can be verra devious when ye have a mind to be, Gisele.”
She grinned. “Thank you.”
It did not surprise her that he had so easily guessed her ploy, the somewhat thin attempt to get him to proclaim her innocence in some gentlemanly attempt to ease her mind. It was odd, but his refusal to openly declare her innocent of murdering her husband was growing less troublesome by the day. She no longer felt that it was some deep insult, simply saw it as a small irritation. Gisele supposed it was hard to get angry that he believed she had killed her husband when he did not fault her or condemn her for it in any way. And, she mused, although she had not committed the murder she had certainly savored the thought of it time and time again. The church said that impure thoughts were sinful. She suspected ones about brutally murdering one’s husband were, as well.
She frowned as she suddenly realized that getting the DeVeaux to admit she was innocent might not be enough to fully clear her name. The hunting of her would stop, but would the whispers of her guilt? She doubted that, and felt a little sad. It would be good to be free, to not have to look over her shoulder every waking minute, but she realized that her life would never again be the same. Although she had accepted that all she had to do to stay alive would destroy her good name and place her chastity in question, she now knew in her heart that she would still suffer the blemish of being an accused murderess, as well. There really was no returning to the blissfully ignorant young girl she had been before her marriage.
“I shouldnae worry too much about what the church frowns upon, lass,” Nigel said, breaking into her dark thoughts as he closed his eyes again.
“How can you say such a thing?” She gave him a gentle, punitive slap on the chest. “Do you not worry about the state of your soul? Do you wish to go to hell?”
“Nay, I just dinnae think God wishes to crowd the black halls of hell with so many wee sinners when there are so many bigger ones, so many truly evil men who desperately need to go there. Howbeit, if it will make ye feel more at ease, once we are safe in Scotland ye may go and bruise your bonny knees praying at some altar for forgiveness.”
“Nigel! Your impertinence could carry a high price. Do you not fear losing your chance at absolution?” she asked, trying to act horrified by his callous attitude toward piety yet finding herself agreeing with it.
“Nay. I do all I can to follow God’s commandments. I praise Him, I respect Him, and I follow His laws as closely as my poor weak flesh will allow me to. As I see it, there isnae much else a mon can do.”
