“Shh, sweet Claire. It’s over now. You are forgiven.” He tangled his fingers in her hair and stroked the back of her head.
She sat within the circle of his embrace, her face pressed to his chest and her arms wrapped about his waist. Her shoulders heaved under her cries, and he murmured soothing words into her ear in hopes of helping her calm down. Gradually, her sobs turned to sniffles, and soon after that her sniffles faded altogether. Her breathing stabilized and she simply held onto him as themoments passed, and likewise he held onto her. There was nowhere else he wished to be in this instant in time, nowhere but in his chambers with his sweet lady wife.
“I cannot believe I behaved so outrageously in the great hall, Galien.” She peered up at him with red rings around her eyes.
“The matter has been dealt with, Claire. You did wrong and I punished you for it, and then I forgave you, my sweet wife.” He kissed her forehead and let his lips linger upon her soft flesh, inhaling her floral scent and never wishing to release her. Oh, she felt perfect in his arms.
She lowered her head and leaned into his chest again, and he strengthened his hold on her as warmth spread outward from his heart. Claire’s reaction to her punishment pleased him greatly. She had accepted responsibility for her behavior and felt repentant, and after her spanking she wasn’t sulking or trying to escape him. That she sought comfort in his arms after he’d punished her testified to her growing trust in him. His throat tightened with this realization, because her willingness to accept his guidance boded well for their marriage, and above all he wished for their union to be a happy one.
“Do you think Desmona will forgive me for getting her into trouble?”
“Aye, I’m certain she will. I’ve known her since she was a babe, and she has a kind heart. You needn’t worry.”
She drew back and met his eyes, and a blush crept over her face. “Are we going to sleep now, my lord?”
His cock shifted beneath her bottom as if protesting the very idea of sleep. He shook his head as he admired her innocent expression. “No, Claire, we are most certainly not going to sleep.”
Her blush deepened and she tried to lower her gaze, but he caught her chin and held it between two fingers, and a sharp tremor rocked her and caused her to wiggle atop his lap and the hardness encased within his leggings. Longing flared and he leaned down to claim her lips, clutching her face as he kissed her hard and deep, pressing his tongue into her mouth with all the urgency he felt rising within him. The little whimpers and moans she made as he kissed her drove him wild, and his desire spiked hot and dangerous the moment her tongue at last pressed against his.
When he finally broke away, she gasped for air and moved her bottom over his growing cock, and he caught her occasional wince as her sore flesh brushed too hard over his leggings. The state of her arse gave him an idea, and he pushed her off his lap and arranged her on her hands and knees on the bed.
She peeked over her shoulder at him, her long dark locks in complete disarray and her lips swollen and red from his kisses. “My lord?”
He looked from her questioning gaze to her bright red bottom and punished thighs. “Remain in this position, Claire.” Standing up, he worked off his boots, leggings, and tunic while she watched with wide eyes.
“My lord, please. I thought my punishment was over.” She trembled and bit her lip.
He crawled up on the bed behind her. “I’m not going to spank you, Claire,” he said, understanding her misconception with a pang of pity. The last time he’d forced her into this position had been when he’d taken his sword belt to her bottom, on their wedding night no less.
“Then what do you plan to do?” Her eyes remained impossibly wide, making her appear all the more tempting to Galien.
He rested on his knees behind her and grabbed her hips, bringing her center back against his aching cock. “I plan to take you this way, my curious wife.”
“But… but you can’t!”
He chuckled. “I assure you I can.” He dragged his hard cock through the wet folds of her quim, noting that her level of arousal rivaled that of two nights ago in the tent after her whipping. She shuddered and lifted her hips to meet his entrance, even as she uttered another outraged protest.
“My lord, you can’t! Notthisway.”
“Claire, I believe you’ve forgotten your place in this marriage,” he said, driving forward into her sweet tight cunt. “Sometimes your place is on your hands and knees, with your red punished arse up in the air, while your husband pounds his cock into your soaking wet quim.”
She cried out with the force of his thrust, and whimpered as he slowly withdrew his length from her tightness, only to trail the tip of his cock through her folds once more, teasing her with shallow plunges and the occasional touch to her nubbin.
“Galien, this is highly improper.”
“Is it?”
Though she still argued, her body surrendered to his ministrations. He pushed into her again and started pounding her hard, and her only response was a pleasurable moan as she lifted her hips to meet his thrusts. For all her hesitance and fighting, she enjoyed this position and the deep drives into her slick quim that it allowed. He pulled her bottom cheeks apart, exposing the pucker of her back entrance as he continued on, fucking her with rapid strokes.
He reached underneath her to circle her swollen nub, sliding her moisture over the delicate and engorged bit of flesh while she writhed beneath him in the throes of passion. She’d given up her protests and all resistance, instead giving herself over to her desires, be they proper or not. A cry leapt from her and her head tilted to the side, and she increased the movements of her hips. Her insides clamped down around his cock, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. He followed her into the warm pulsing sensation of a release, and when it ended they collapsed on the bed together, seeking one another out in the aftermath of their bliss.
“I believe I have conquered you yet again, Claire.”
He felt her smile against his chest. “I think I like this… this conquering.”
Chapter Seven
Time passed in a whirl of activity at Minrova, and though Claire had more responsibilities at Galien’s keep than she’d had at Diterich, she enjoyed the constant flow of visitors and goings-on. Desmona, who had indeed forgiven Claire, departed with her brothers not long after Galien’s father was buried, and not long after his aunt and uncle left as well. Only a handful of his cousins remained, many of them knights who helped safeguard the keep and all of Galien’s holdings. With Hohenzollern’s fearful shadow gone, people traveled and traded more freely, and various lords visited from time to time seeking respite from whatever postponed journey they’d decided to finally take.
