She eyed him skeptically. His attention returned to the problem on his mind.
“There is only one way to find out. Are you comfortable there, against that post? The wall might be better, in the event the experiment fails. Yes, I think so.” He took her hand and led her over to the wall.
It did not take long for her to be ready. She always experienced the pleasure more intensely when she remained upright. Raw physical sensations puddled low, incited by his penetrating kisses and wicked hands. He slid inside her, high and deep. She thought he would lift her to her toes before he stopped. The fullness made her gasp.
She felt him differently. He pressed new places, inside and out. Exciting ones. He moved once, twice, then paused. “It is cheating, but—” He lifted her left leg bythe knee and held it hooked over his hip. He moved again. “Better. Perfect.”
She would have agreed, if she could speak, but she could not stop gasping with amazement. He grunted each time he pressed up into her, each sound an affirmation of pleasure. It was the noisiest joining they had ever shared.
He did lift her at the end, so her legs circled him and his final thrusts slammed her against the wall. Carrying her like that, he staggered to the bed, where they collapsed.
CHAPTER16
Ives left the house through the terrace doors. He wanted to talk to the grooms about the horse Eva would ride. On exiting, he saw Lance standing near the steps, surveying his domain.
“Do you never sleep?” Lance asked without turning around.
Ives stopped walking. “Often and well. Thank you for your concern.”
“I suppose it is good someone does. I certainly did not last night.” He turned a pursed smile on Ives. “Someone kept slamming around one of the chambers above me, groaning from whatever exertions occupied him.”
“How peculiar. Perhaps you were dreaming.”
“It sounded like you.”
“My chambers are not above yours.”
“Miss Belvoir’s are, in part. Her bedchamber is above part of my dressing room.”
“I doubt she groans like a man, no matter what her exertions.”
“You might, however.”
“How could it be me? My chambers are across the way. If you are implying that I was in her chambers, that is not possible. There is an edict abroad in the land. Remember?”
Lance raised an eyebrow. Ives smiled.
“I will be riding out after dinner tonight,” Lance said. “Do not ask where I am going. Do not presume to lecture me on appropriate behavior. This infernal abstinence is bad enough, but to have to endure it while I listen to you pummel your lover into oblivion is asking too much.”
The pummeling had been fine enough that Ives experienced a spot of chagrin. “I do not think I will be noticing what anyone does tonight, Lance. If you sleep so lightly these days, a long ride might do you good.”
Ives continued on to the stables and had the chestnut mare brought out. All of the horses were spirited, but the head groom assured him that this one was not skittish or impulsive. “She’ll take an easy hand, sir. A lady should like her.”
“Bring them around in half an hour. Saddle the mare yourself, so I am sure there are no mishaps.”
Upon returning to the house, Ives went up to his chambers. He strode to the writing desk, opened a drawer, and removed a letter.
He looked down on it. It bore the seal of the high chancellor. He lifted a knife and sliced through it.
Only one word of the missive surprised him. As expected, he was being appointed prosecutor for the Crown in the case of Hadrian Belvoir. The Crown did not ask or request such things. That would imply one could decline one’s king, or would want to.
The rest of it did not read quite as he had thought it would. The charges, it explained, were counterfeiting andsedition. He wondered if any evidence of that had been dug up, or if he was expected to argue with nothing more than innuendo and supposition in his pocket.
He dropped the letter back in the drawer and slammed it shut.
***
“Istill think I am going to fall off.” Padua pouted with worry as her horse bore her over the field, slowly. Very slowly.
