Page 92 of Love, Remember Me

"I said if he knew such a thing, then he knew more than I knew," Catherine told Thomas Cranmer. "I suppose Tom would have been a good match for me, but that the king fell in love with me."

The archbishop knew that the queen and her cousin had known each other since childhood. They had always been fond of one another. Culpeper was highly placed in the king's affections. Was it possible? Could it be? Was the handsome Master Culpeper involved with the queen? The opportunity was there for him to take.Had he? When the archbishop left the queen, he ordered Tom Culpeper's arrest. He had proof of nothing yet, but he certainly wanted to speak with the young man.

Culpeper was an ambitious fellow. He had come to court as a child. He was handsome and had a quick wit. The king was deeply fond of him. It was likely that in order to save his own skin he would tell the truth. But who knew what the truth was? the archbishop wondered. Had the queen committed adultery with Dereham? And would Culpeper know? Would his cousin have confided in him?

"Tom Culpeper has been arrested and taken to the Tower," the Earl of March told his wife as he entered the Duke of Norfolk's apartments. He had been playing tennis with Lord Melton when he had heard the news. It was already all over Hampton Court, for Culpeper was very popular among his peers.

"On what charge?" Nyssa asked, pale-faced.

"No charges have been filed against him yet. He has just been brought in for questioning," Varian de Winter said.

"If I found out, then someone else may have found out," Nyssa told her husband. "God help Cat Howard."

He took her in his arms and held her close. "It may be nothing, sweeting. You know that Cranmer has been prying hard. So far he has found nothing that would convict Catherine of anything but bad judgment in men, and a naughty itch she must have scratched."

Nyssa giggled. "You make it sound so bawdy," she said, "and it is very serious, Varian. You know it is!"

He smiled into her dark hair. "Fate has already set into motion whatever will happen, Nyssa. I cannot change it, and so if I do not see the humor in the situation, I will find myself in a depression from which it will be difficult to emerge. My grandfather's plans are about to be foiled for good and always. I am sorry for him, but we have our own lives to live, my darling. How long has it been since we have had a quiet moment together? I think it is past time, don't you?"

"I have been so fearful for Cat, and for us, that I have hardly thought about it," she said honestly.

"I know," he said, his voice rich with laughter. "I am afraid, madame, that like my cousin, I too have a naughty itch that must be scratched." He kissed the top of her head. "Don't you?"

Her soft body shook against his. "You are very bad, sirrah," she told him, but her fingers were unfastening his doublet, reaching past it to unlace his shirt. Her palms flattened themselves against his bare chest. She rubbed her cheek against his warm skin, inhaling his masculine fragrance. Spreading his shirt wide, she licked at his nipples teasingly. Then, sliding to her knees before him, she started to unfasten his top breeches buttons as he removed the upper garments that she had already undone. "Your boots," she said, realizing that they would impede her further progress.

He drew her up, and pulling her over to a chair by the fire, sat down. Her back to him, Nyssa took his leather-shod foot between her legs as he braced the other foot upon her bottom. "Push!" she commanded him as she pulled his boot off. Then repeating the process, she removed the other boot. Turning about to face him, she began to slowly divest herself of her own garments; first her bodice, and then her skirts. Her little pointed tongue flicked across her lips as she slipped off her petticoats, one silk, one woolen, and one cotton. Reaching up, she removed the caul about her hair and shook the soft, dark tresses loose of their confinement.

He watched her appreciatively, sprawled in his chair, his chest bare. "What if someone comes in?" he said.

Nyssa drew her chemise off, and cupping her breasts in her palms, she fondled them before his eyes. Naked but for her stockings, which were gartered with silk rosettes, and her elegant, bejeweled shoes, she walked across the chamber to turn the key in the lock of the dayroom. Silently he admired the long line of her back and her dimpled, rounded buttocks. When she turned about, the sight of her saucy, upturned nipples thrusting up from her marvelous young breasts set his blood boiling. Sliding to her knees again, she began to place small, hot kisses across his lean torso. She licked at his belly, burrowing into his navel. The tight, hard bulge in his breeches was growing more evident with each passing minute. She cupped a palm over the protuberance and squeezed him teasingly. "I want you too," she said softly to him. Then she lay upon her back before the fire, her legs up and spread.

Her wanton behavior almost took his breath away. Fascinated, he watched as she spread her nether lips with her hands and began to play with herself. Her eyes never left his. Somehow he managed to get to his feet. With equal restraint he removed the remaining garments he wore. Then he stood for a long moment above her, watching as she teased her own flesh into creamy readiness. He slid to the floor next to her, drawing her naked form against his. Her skin was burning with her desire, and when their lips met, she sighed deeply.

He kissed her slowly, feeling the texture of the lips beneath his, enjoying their softness, their passionate response. When he knew that her mouth ached as much as his did, he pressed soft, butterfly kisses across her face. Her eyes were closed in her ecstasy, the thick dark lashes fluttering against her pale cheeks. He nibbled upon an earlobe, licking about the shell of her ear, pushing his tongue suggestively into it to tickle her.

She arched against him, reaching for him to stroke his turgid manhood. "Please!" she whispered urgently.

"Not yet," he murmured back to her. Turning her upon her belly, he let his lips and tongue explore the line of her backbone. His teasing kisses swept across her buttocks and down her legs, then back up again. Pivoting her onto her back again, he nuzzled between her breasts, feeling her wildly beating heart beneath his mouth.

He was driving her wild with his deliciously erotic attentions. His pent-up desire for her should have made him anxious to possess her, but this time he seemed willing to wait, to tease her with sensual games. She liked it, yet she was hot to have him. "Now!" she demanded, sinking her teeth into his shoulder and biting him fiercely.

"Impatient little bitch," he growled at her, slapping her lightly. Then his mouth closed over a nipple and he began to suckle hard upon it even as he plunged two of his fingers into her hot sheath, thrusting them hard, making her whimper with pleasure.

After the first brief release, she realized it simply was not enough. She wanted him deep inside of her, filling her full of his throbbing passion. Angrily she struggled against him. "Now, damn you! Now!" she hissed. Her fists beat a tattoo on his back. In answer to her pleas, he fiercely pushed her down again upon her back. Eagerly, Nyssa opened her legs to him, but to her shock he grasped her, yanking her limbs over his shoulders, burying his face between her thighs, his tongue with unerring direction finding her little jewel. Slowly he flicked back and forth over the angry pink nub of excited flesh. She couldn't draw a breath for a long moment. Her whole being was suffused with a glowing heat that seemed to blossom from deep within her.

"Varian!" she moaned. "Oh, God, you are killing me!"

Relentlessly he continued the torture, until she was near to expiring with her own lust, and then as suddenly as he had attacked her, he released her, sliding his hard body over her, his manhood entering her slowly, then pistoning her with deep, slow strokes. "Now!" he breathed into her ear. "Now, sweet wife!"

She seemed to explode inside, but as he moved on her, the excitement began to build again, until she was unable to tell the real from the unreal. She was soaring, yet melting away. She clutched at him, her legs wrapping themselves tightly about his torso. They seemed to go on forever, and then suddenly he was groaning even as his loving tribute burst with a rush into her hidden garden. They shuddered simultaneously, clinging to each other as the passion eased away and they were both left gasping for breath.

Overcome by her emotions, Nyssa began to weep wildly. "Oh, God," she sobbed, "it was never like that before, Varian. Our passion for each other has always been wonderful, but never like this." She wept against his shoulder, her hot tears slipping down his skin.

"I know," he whispered to her, his voice shaking. What had just happened between them was as surprising to him as it had been to her. He had never loved her as much as he did in this moment. He held her close, his loving arms comforting her.

They lay together before the fire in silence for some minutes, and then Nyssa said softly, "I think perhaps we should put our clothing back on, my lord. What if someone comes to get into the room and finds it locked? I will wager that such a thing has never before happened in your grandfather's apartments at Hampton Court."

He chuckled. "Probably not," he agreed. "We will dress ourselves in enough garments to reach our bedchamber, madame, my love."

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