She opened her mouth to protest and felt his tongue. She turned her head and he followed, his body impelled moreclosely against hers. “There’s no need for you to be caught up in this,” she whispered, and struggled again to free herself.
His hands left her hair, trailed her face sliding down her neck and shoulder, taking her fichu with them. “But I am caught up in this,” he whispered hoarsely, “caught up in you.”
Alix heard the triangle of laceshushto the floor behind her, heard a log pop in the fire, and stared up at Rafe in a haze of confusion. “The guard?” she asked, her voice rising in a question.
“No guard, Alix, just you and me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand either,” he said. “I just know that you’re all that I think about. I can’t face another minute in a room, or a carriage, or a shed, beside you without touching you. I want you Alix. Ineedyou.”
He pressed himself hard against her and the heat of his body seemed to sear through her clothes. She felt her senses flare in response, her clothes suddenly seemed hot and heavy, the layers of petticoats and wool coarse and cumbersome. And she knew that she needed him, with a raw aching need that burned away all thoughts of her father, Valcour, her mother, and England. She was tired of thinking, so tired of worrying. She wanted this moment; she wantedhim.
With an anguished sigh, she reached for him. Rafe’s arms tightened around her and he murmured her name, trailing hot wet kisses across her eyes, her nose, her mouth, down the curve of her jaw into the hollow of her neck. His knee pushed between her skirts, lifting her hips against his, and his body impelled her against the wall. His tongue dipped and played along her collarbone, swirling in the hollows, his teeth lightly nipping at the delicate skin.
She closed her eyes and leaned against the cool plaster,felt his hair brush against her chin as his mouth traveled lower. Soft fingers clasped her breast, a tongue rasped and suckled at her nipple, and a fierce wave of passion shivered through her, breaking against a thousand heightened nerve endings.
Alix didn’t know if she was waking from a nightmare or walking into a dream, and she didn’t care. She felt his hands working at the ties of her gown, easing it down off her shoulders, lifting her arms out of the sleeves until it fell, pooling around her knees. And then his deft fingers were at the satin laces of her chemise pulling loose the ribbons, unfastening the tapes that held it over her shoulders. The rough plaster of the wall bumped against the bones of her back as the chemise caught around her hips.
Rafe pulled her close, the thin linen of her chemise tangling around her waist, the hard shape of his erection pressed against her thigh. Its pulsing length frightened her and a soft whimper escaped her. A whimper that turned to a moan as he began to move against her, rubbing gently against the liquid ache that flooded her. Instinctively she rose to meet him, wrapping one slim thigh around his long muscular one, drawing him closer.
His breath caught against her neck. “And I thought you might not want me,” he murmured. Alix moved against him and he caught her hips. “Oh, no, my little hoyden, you’ve rushed me into any number of things since I’ve met you, but not this.” Rafe’s arm slid to her knees and he swept her up against his chest and carried her to the bed. Alix, still with her eyes closed, felt the drapes brush against her face and flutter across her body as he laid her against the pillows.
“Open your eyes, Alix,” he commanded huskily. “We’ll do this together, with our eyes wide open.” Alix’s eyes fluttered open, gray and smoky with passion. She watched as he removed his waistcoat, untied his stock and lifted hisshirt over his head, loosening his queue. Strands of gold glinted in the tawny hair that tumbled across his face and in the fine mat that curled across his chest, undulating in a chestnut V down the muscles of his belly and continuing lower. As if in tune with her eyes and thoughts, his fine long hands reached down, unfastened his britches and slid them and his linen drawers away. Alix stared at the evidence of his desire that jutted thickly from its nest of dark gold hair.
He seemed impossibly large; she’d heard that it could hurt, that she would tear, but at this moment, with the exquisite sensations roiling through her body, pain seemed impossible. And besides, she thought boldly, she’d had so much pain already, how could this possibly compare? Alix raised her hands to draw him down. And then he was over her, his hands and mouth resuming their earlier explorations. He caught her breasts in his hands, their lush curves spilling between his fingers. His kisses spiraled up and around, tracing a heated path to her nipples. Her breath caught when she felt his mouth latch on to the sensitive tip of her breast, and she moaned softly as he suckled.
She knew brief moments of sanity when he lifted his head and the cool air drifted across her fevered skin. She shouldn’t be doing this, giving herself to this man who had a legal right to her body, but had made no commitment to her soul. And then she felt his warm breath as he descended to take her other breast and the whirl of sensations that followed the path of his tongue and she arched upward so that his mouth could find her nipple sooner.
She heard a growl of pleasure low in his throat and then he raised his body and Alix once again felt the cool clarity of the night air. She felt a tug as he pulled her chemise down to her hips; the soft fabric draped between her legs and she wondered for a brief moment whether he might stop, if she might stop him. He sank back and began to nipand kiss the skin along her rib cage, at the same time she felt his hand begin to move along her leg, tracing the contours of her calf, tickling the back of her knee and then caressing her thigh. His long fingers prowled the skin of her inner thigh, closer and closer to the damp curls between her legs.
Alix moaned and shifted her hips, restlessly tense with desire. She felt his tongue dip below the fabric now bunched at her hips, at the same time his fingers found her moist folds. His fingers moved purposely, and she began to throb with need. Instinctively, she began to rock her hips, upward towards his hand. He obliged by sliding his finger deep within her. She moaned again, then whimpered as he withdrew his finger and stroked her sensitive nub.
Alix clenched at the sheets as her hips moved faster and tremors began to seize her skin, her body, her core. When she felt his mouth close around her nipple, and his finger thrust deep within her, she arched a final time, overwhelmed by the sensations that fizzed like champagne bubbles beneath her skin.
She sank back into the bed, unable to think, unable to move, limp with the pleasure. Rafe kissed her gently and she looked into his eyes, glowing like gypsy fires in the half-darkness of the alcove.
“Alix,” he whispered. “I want to finish what we’ve started. I need to finish. I need to come inside you.”
She shivered at the passion in his voice, at the implications of his words, at the ache that still burned deep and low between her thighs. Tomorrow she would worry about what it all meant. Tonight she didn’t want to think anymore; she wanted him, not just his touch, but the sweet oblivion as well.
“Come,” she murmured back. He stripped away her crumpled chemise and then his mouth found hers. She felt her senses begin to swim, as his body covered hers, the furof his chest teasing and warm against her breasts. Alix wrapped her arms around Rafe, needing to feel him close, needing to explore what he was offering. She scattered kisses along his face, nibbled at his ears, teased his neck with her tongue. Then, growing braver, she traced the shapes of his back, his ribs, and his waist, her hands surprised to find the skin covering his lithe muscles so soft. Her fingers fluttered tentatively toward his flanks.
She felt his hips shift, nudge her thighs apart. Then she felt the head of his erection hot against her thigh. She felt him reach down and position himself between her slick folds, felt him nudge his thickness forward. She rocked her hips slowly wanting to feel him, but frightened. She felt him slide farther in. It was good; it was what she wanted. She arched up, felt him press deeper, then felt the stinging shock of pain.
Rafe smoothed the damp hair back from her brow and kissed the tears forming in her eyes. “Only this bit of pain, sweetheart, then it will be better.” He stroked her breasts, teasing her nipples with the rough pad of his thumb, and desire set her hips in motion. “That’s it Alix,” he breathed, “open for me.”
Rafe felt her slick and tight and he shuddered. He wanted nothing more than to plunge deeply inside her and ride her until the dark passion that roiled in his blood was exhausted. But he wouldn’t hurt her. She was so giving, so trusting. A heady mix of power and protectiveness pulsed with the desire coursing through his veins.
He slid his hands down around the cheeks of her bottom, kneading encouragingly as he pushed himself inexorably deeper. She moved her hips tentatively upward and he pushed again until at last he felt her heat encompass the length of his throbbing member.
She was his, he thought triumphantly, the unique treasure he had found. He raised himself slightly to see thecurves of her body, slick with sweat, her skin flushed. Alix’s eyes were closed and her bottom lip was caught between her teeth. He began to move his hips slowly, determined to see her gray eyes open and filled with the same smoky passion he’d seen when he’d pleasured her with his hand. He saw her teeth lose their grip, saw the tip of her tongue leave her plush lower lip, and he began to move. Slowly at first, easing himself in and out, allowing her tender flesh to adapt to his fullness. He felt the tension in her body ebb, and her hips began to move to his seductive rhythm. He began to thrust faster, then faster and it was his undoing. He couldn’t help himself, he was losing himself in her heat, and her wetness, and the music of her soft moans.
Alix’s eyes flew open, locking with Rafe’s as he reared back and plunged. He needed her, needed to bury himself deep inside her. He felt his body surge and he no longer knew where his body ended and hers began. Alix’s arms and thighs wrapped tightly around him as they climaxed together, their bodies shuddering as if absorbing the aftershocks of an earthquake.
They lay together afterwards in a musky tangle of limbs, unspeaking. Rafe rolled off Alix, and pulled her close to his side, and she leaned her head against his chest, their breath mingling in shattered gasps. He wrapped the coverlet around them, and they nestled in the alcove, watching the firelight flicker behind the red draperies of the bed.
Towards morning,Rafe awoke, strangely pleased to find Alix’s arm thrown across his chest, one slim leg draped across his. Beyond the curtains the room was gray and cold, the fire just a memory of smoldering coals. But inside the air was still redolent with the heavy warmth of their lovemaking. Rafe felt himself stirring against Alix’sthigh. He smiled wryly. Last night had not cured his passion for the little hoyden.
