Chapter 29
“Do you still love me?” he whispered fiercely.
The corners of her mouth went up languidly. “With my heart, I thee love; with my body, I thee honor.”
He knew he possessed someone very rare. Here was a woman to cherish and savor.
Drowsily she asked, “Did you say something about Stowe?”
“I’m invited to Stowe for the next three or four days, so that’s where we’ll have our honeymoon,” he murmured, tucking her head beneath his chin.
“But isn’t Stowe a great mansion? The most important family in Cornwall, the Grenviles, live at Stowe,” she protested.
“Mmm, it is big and fancy, two footmen behind each chair in the dining hall and a ladies’ maid for every female guest. Only place that can decently accommodate the King and court, aside from Plymouth Castle, which is nothing more than a barren pile of rock.” He kissed her temple. “But I assure you, Jack and Bunny Grenvile are the easiest, most casual men in the world. No airs whatsoever.”
“Heaven be praised.” She sighed with relief, then as all his words filtered through her drowsy mind she sat bolt upright. “The King and court?”
He sat up instantly, drawing her down in strong arms. “In the morning you can collect your maid and your clothes and bring them over here. We won’t leave early. Whatever you need I’ll buy for you in Plymouth.”
“I … I let my maid go, she didn’t suit,” she murmured.
“You don’t much like servants do you, darling?” he asked, amused at such an oddity.
“I like Mr. Burke,” she said truthfully.
“And Mr. Burke likes you, my love. As a matter of fact I think you’ve taken the place of my mother in his affections. They came from Ireland together, you know. He was fiercely protective of her.”
“Ru? Must we go to Stowe?” she whispered.
“I’m summoned by the King, darling, and I’m certainly not going without you. You’ve met Charles, you’ve already made a conquest of him, so I don’t know why all the reluctance.”
That’s just the trouble, she thought worriedly, you don’t know. You don’t know that I’ve never dined elegantly or danced. I’ve never mingled with lords and ladies, earls and countesses, Kings and Queens. I don’t know which fork to use, or which dress to wear, or how to address a duke. And Lord God, I don’t know how I’m going to go running off to Stowe with Spider rotting in prison.
His low, rich voice brought her thoughts back to him. “Sweet, let me see you again.” He turned down the covers so his eyes could roam where his hands wished to follow. Her red drops of blood were scattered across the sheet like rubies. The effect upon him was instant and marked.
She watched his erection rise up hard as marble and knew she possessed a new and thrilling power over this magnificently powerful man. His hands roamed over her, teasing, caressing, exploring for a long time until she sprawled wantonly, letting the pleasure build and recede, then his lips and his mouth and his tongue played with her until she tossed and arched wildly in a fever of need.
He spread her thighs apart and entered her with one deep plunge. She responded to his thrusts immediately and wrapped her legs high about his back. She fulfilled all his erotic fantasies of being deep inside her, but he had never dreamed she would be this tight or this hot.
They wore each other out with passion, then with limbs still entwined they fell asleep, totally sated for the moment. Rarely had two lovers been so well matched or so deeply in love after only one night.