Page 79 of Wild Hearts

She sighed and relaxed against him, happy to remain safe and warm a while yet, and away from the prying eyes of others. However, Paris was now fully awake and not content with her back. He turned her to face him, smiling down at the disheveled picture she made: The tousled hair suited her; she was wildly beautiful.

He whispered, "I discovered a secret about you last night."

"What was that?" she blushed.

"You may correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you enjoy being kissed, excessively." His eyes hungrily focused on her mouth, making her aware of his desire to resume where he had left off in the night. His lips began by brushing hers lightly, teasing her deliberately. His lips strayed to her ears, then back to her mouth. He kissed her eyelids gently, then he sought her lips again. This time he got the response he had been trying to evoke. Her mouth fused to his, not letting him escape this time.

Very deliberately, his lips traced down her neck. His hands slipped the nightgown off her shoulders, and his lips followed, going ever lower until he had one breast fully exposed to his avid gaze and touch. As he kissed the tip gently, the nipple budded and stood erect, proof that she responded to his lightest touch. She hid her blushes against his chest; then, feeling his nipple beneath her lips, she kissed it and touched it with the tip of her tongue. Immediately, it responded exactly as her own had. He grinned down at her reaction.

The door opened, and Mrs. Hall bustled in with a breakfast tray.

"By God, woman, only you would dare!" he bellowed harmlessly.

"Forgive me, milord, but all below await ye. The new bridegroom is in a fever to get his bride to his own castle."

"I don't know why. The beds here are wondrous comfortable," he muttered, forgetting the servant and gazing at his beloved.

Tabrizia had felt his manhood arise-with their first kiss. Mrs. Hall's interruption had not dampened his ardor in the slightest, and she felt him now against her thigh, hot and pulsing. She was covered with shame to have Mrs. Hall find them in such an intimate embrace, and wished the bed curtains were pulled to conceal them. The older woman was not embarrassed in the least. "I thought I'd have to throw cold water on the pair of ye to separate you." She laughed.

Paris was thoroughly enjoying Tabrizia's embarrassed blushes but gallantly came to her aid by giving the older woman a taste of her own medicine. He threw back the covers and patted the bed, "Come on, Mrs. Hall, your turn now," he invited.

The older woman threw her apron up to cover her eyes from his nakedness. "Och, yer lordship, stop yer blether."

Tabrizia giggled as the servant ran from the room. She reached for the quilted bedgown, but he stayed her hand. "Please? Don't cover yourself," he asked her.

"'Tis chilly," she told him apologetically.

He bent to the fire in a-flash, poking it to a blaze and adding a great slab of peat. As he knelt naked before the fireplace, his magnificent body held too much curiosity for her, and she found herself admiring the muscles across the wide shoulders and back. As he felt her eyes upon him, he smiled a secret smile to himself. She would gradually lose her fear and shyness of him. Actually, he delighted in her modesty. Soon he would teach her to be bold, even wanton, but not yet, not now. First he would savor the precious innocence as a rare gift, which indeed not many men were granted. Keeping the scarred thigh away from her, he pulled on a pair of breeches.

He brought the tray of food to the bed. There were over a dozen eggs, a great mound of braised lamb kidneys and sweetbreads, a jug of hot ale and a platter of freshly baked hot scones with damson preserves. Tabrizia shuddered at the sight of so large a repast. She took a small scone and spread a little of the plum on it, then left it untouched upon her plate. She watched with unbelieving eyes as her husband finished all the food on the tray. She watched him bathe and dress with pleasure. He put on an embroidered shirt and a wine-colored doublet cut in the latest fashion. "I won't shave now. I'll wait until tonight, so I won't scratch your delicate skin!'

When Tabrizia came downstairs, the girls gathered around her to see for themselves that she was recovered from her ordeal, although they were careful not to probe for too many answers on strict instructions from Paris.

Shannon moved about like a whirlwind. "I want everyone to come with us to Douglas for the wedding, and you shall all stay with me for at least a month. I insist," decided Shannon.

James raised his glass to her. "There speaks my countess."

Paris told her, "Troy and Damascus can accompany you, but Tabrizia and I won't be able to come until the day of the wedding. I can't leave the castle unprotected in case there is a raid."

Tabrizia spoke up. "The twins can go, too."

Paris disagreed coldly. "The twins cannot go. They can travel down and back with us, so that I can keep an eye on them."

Everyone knew that Alexandria had gone on the raid, and all they knew was that she had returned safely. Paris had no intentions of divulging what had taken place, but he had in no way forgiven her behavior.

Tabrizia took his hand and pulled him into an alcove. "If you let them go, we can be alone and travel down to Douglas alone." She tempted him with eyes filled with promises.

He reconsidered. "You two can get your things packed, but be warned that I expect you both to be models of good behavior. For Christ's sake don't shame me further before the Douglas clan!"

Tabrizia wouldn't have believed it possible, but before midafternoon, the cavalcade of Douglas was under way, bound for home. It was due entirely to a superhuman effort on Shannon's behalf to organize servants, sisters and tons of household effects, to say nothing of all their personal clothing.

Paris marveled, "By God, James, your men look smart in their liveries. I'm not averse to a little pageantry myself. Why don't I ready fifty of my men, and we will escort you partway? Troy, get fifty men, full livery. I'll spur up and be with you directly." He told Ian he would be gone for a couple of hours and told him to post guards at every entrance. As Tabrizia watched Paris take a pair of pistols from their case, she breathed, "For God's sake, take care!"

He came to her and took her chin in his strong fingers. "No power on earth could keep me from you this night."

After they had ridden out for an hour, Paris bade his brothers and sisters Godspeed, and he and his fifty men turned east and headed back toward the coast. He was pleased with them about the raid on Huntly. When they returned to the barracks, they insisted he stay to dine, and he decided he owed it to them.

Tabrizia had been watching for Paris's return from the battlements. When she saw the long line of riders flying their pennants, her heart soared, and she dashed below to put on her prettiest gown and brush her hair up into an intricate chignon, held in place by the jeweled dragonflies she had found under her pillow that morning, She impatiently shooed Mrs. Hall from their chamber and awaited his arrival.

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