Michael grinned like a fool. He didn’t care. Let someone mention it.
The duke set his dark eyes on him and said with all seriousness, “You are a Pendragon, Son.” He sounded as if it were the most important thing he had to say. He’d said it once before. After Michael had told him everything.You are a Pendragon.
“Now that you are married to my daughter, there are things I need to discuss with you in private.”
“Not tonight, Father,” Charlotte said. “No serious discussions until tomorrow.”
She pulled Michael away and headed for Rosie. Michael would rather head for the stairs and their room, but they had all been through so much trauma in the last few days, Charlotte needed to spend time with her friends. He smiled and waited patiently while some of them gathered with the duke’s men and discussed how the new houses in the village would be built.
“Rosie is excited about her new house,” Charlotte told him when they made their way off to be alone again. “Thank you for doing this for her.”
“She deserves to have a place to live where she’s happy.”
“Aye,” his beautiful wife agreed. “She does.”
He leaned down and said softly against her ear, “When is it customary in the eighteenth century to leave the party and go to our room on our wedding night? I’m impatient for you.”
“I, too, am impatient for you,” she let him know with a slight flush. “If we are to leave, you must announce it.”
“Really?” he asked with a pained look on his face. “Why does everything need to be announced in this day and age anyway?”
She covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled as he cleared his throat. “Attention everyone.” What now? He couldn’t thank them for coming. They all lived here. He knew the instant he said they were leaving people would know why. His gaze caught her father’s. He looked away quickly. “Charlotte and I are tired and we’re going to—”
A cheer went up. Michael cringed. He pulled her by the hand out of the large hall and stopped to laugh as they reached the stairs. “I’d rather announce the beginning of a new plague than ever do that again.”
“I would rather have the plague than remember my father’s face when you announced it.”
When he swept her up off her feet and cradled her in his arms, she squealed with laughter and coiled her arms around his neck.
They would sleep in his room since it was larger. All her father’s belongings had been cleaned out by John and the others. Now it was bare, but soon Charlotte would add herself to it and make it livable for them. She’d invited him to help, and he promised to make time to do so.
The bed was made with fresh linens but the soft woolen blankets he’d been using were still there. Still inviting. He carried her to the bed and fell with her to the mattress. They kissed as they fell, excited and eager for each other. They tugged at each other’s clothes, wanting to begin, to see, to touch each other’s body.
She tore at his jacket and léine, pulling him free of constraint. He tugged at her stays, not really understanding how to release her from them. When she pressed her mouth to his bare shoulder, he unlaced her skirts from behind her back and then pulled them from her body. She was left in her hose, underpants, and her stays. He never wanted anyone so badly in his life. He wanted to cleave to her and protect her. “Would you rather be my lover and the mother of my children than a thief?” he asked, scraping his teeth over the milky white rounds of her breasts being pushed up in a bone corset.
“Aye,” she answered silkily. “Will you convert me?”
He groaned and pressed his hardened body against her legs. “Yes. As often as we can.”
They laughed and kissed and explored as they stripped each other completely bare, leaving nothing but tattoos, scars, and beauty marks.
He was ravenous and licked and nibbled her inner thigh. First one, and then the other. When he buried his face between them, she scooted back, startled, with laughter in her eyes and shyness in her smile. He watched her while he spread her wide and dipped his tongue into her then suckled her fiery nub.
He waited until droplets of inviting nectar fell from her, then he hoisted himself up on his knees and came down again, sinking deep into her. She was hot and tight. The feel of her made him want to explode. He slowed down, taking her gently, remembering that she was new at this.
He stretched her under him and moved up her body. He took her hands and held them over her head. He had to stop twice to keep himself from coming.
“Charlotte, you don’t know how you saved me,” he told her tenderly, kissing her chin, her neck. “I was ready to give up my life and then I met you.”
She clung to him as he pushed inside her, entering deeper He wasn’t sure how hard to push. She’d just lost her virginity and he didn’t want to hurt her. He moved slowly, taking his time with her, relishing every moment. He kissed her breasts and suckled each taut nipple, all the while sinking deep then slowly retreating. He felt the cascading rush of pleasure wash over him as she released herself with rapturous cries.
*
Charlotte couldn’t stopit. She didn’t want to. Her body was reacting to his, squeezing him tight, tighter. She roved her palms over the trembling muscles in his arms, her gaze over beautiful images and swirls that accentuated his physique.
Instinctually, she wrapped her legs around his, and then flipped him over.
Sitting atop him was like nothing she’d ever imagined. He filled her to the hilt and went still, wanting to keep her there forever.
