Page 40 of The Rebellious Countess
“Shhhh!” Her head whipped back and forth, the long strands of her hair lashing his jaw, as if she expected men to jump out of the shadows, and once again he regretted his harsh words. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against him before she fell from her seat.
Chances were there wasn’t anyone out there. At least he hoped there wasn’t. They were in-between towns, but they were at war, and more and more people who shouldn’t be wandering around at night, were. Like him and his bride. He’d kept them to the outskirts of the past two towns, but as loud as he’d been…he could have been heard by anyone.
He left the roadway and they moved along in silence for what seemed to be an eternity. They wouldn’t come across the next town until well after daylight. Máira broke the silence once more. “I just don’t understand why you couldn’t share our destination with me.”
He’d have to explain it to her or she would never cease asking questions. “If we are captured, I cannot risk you giving out more information than you already know.”
She gasped, as he knew she would. The affront was like a slap in the face, and he immediately explained, despite not wanting to. “They may torture you for the information. I can’t afford for it to slip.”
He heard her start to reply and then stop. She started again, and once more closed her lips without saying a word. Several minutes passed before she finally said, “I understand how important this is. Simon…Astley is much more valuable than I.”
“He’s not.”
“He is, and I understand now why you wouldn’t tell me.”
She had it all wrong. It wasn’t that Astley was more important, it was that Máira couldn’t tell a lie if she were protecting the King Regent himself. She was transparent in her subterfuge, andthe Frenchwould see her lie instantaneously. The war minister would do every nasty thing imaginable to her to get her to talk. Her closed lips would just mean that they would hurt her further. He wouldn’t risk death by torture for her. What she didn’t know, would save her life.“I won’t risk you in that manner. To hell with Astley.”
“You can’t mean that.” The disbelief was evident in her tone.
“I do.”
“You can’t. You were sent for him,” she argued.
“Not everything between us has been a lie. Is it not true that we have always wanted one another?” He rubbed his cock against the sweet cheeks of her arse, his desire undeniable to both of them. How he longed to rub it through those plump, round globes.
Máira stiffened and he almost stopped, until she pushed back against him, tempting him further with her luscious form, and he couldn’t resist rubbing the underneath side of her breast with his thumb. She had to know he couldn’t fake his attraction to her. It had been there from their very first encounter, threatening his resolve to walk away from her in the end.
Wrapped in darkness, except for the distant glimmer of the setting moon peeking through the trees, Máira let out a small sigh, a sound so faint it would have been lost in the song of the crickets if he had not bent over to kiss her neck. Her back arched, her buttocks grinding against him as her chest strained for his touch.
“This has always been real,” he whispered in her ear. For weeks he had longed to take her in hand, and somehow in this moment he could no longer control his desire for her. Something inside him snapped his restraint into pieces.
His lips trailed to the pulse point on her neck fluttering like a frightened bird trapped in a briar patch, except Máira was anything but trapped—she was free to soar. He ran his tongue across her jaw and loved the taste of her skin. Sweet and sultry, like a woman who prepares for loving and knows what a man likes. Máira had been the most innocent woman he’d ever known, and the need to torture her with ecstasy drove him beyond the boundaries he’d placed upon himself and their intimacies. He savored her taste, the smooth, silky feel of herflesh on the tip of his tongue. His fingers slowly traced the lace of her gown, and when she pushed her breast into his palm, he cupped it, squeezed it, and bit back the curse wanting to spill from his lips. She moaned into the night, her voice lower and more beautiful than any nightingale serenading its lover.
He nipped the tip of her ear as his fingers dipped into her gown. Máira gasped, the sound like the music of a siren to his cock, as it throbbed to the beat of his heart. His feet went rigid in the stirrups, and he ground against her, his body demanding more. More pleasure, more Máira. Her hips shifted as his thumb circled her nipple, taunting the flesh that seemed to glow in the night. He had to see more of her, and in an instant, he pulled down her gown, her corset and chemise—baring her full and beautiful lily-white breasts to the pale moonlight. Round and perfect in every way, they were too beautiful to not to be seen.
Elias had seen his fair share of breasts, small, large, some barely there, others large enough to fuck as a woman took him into her mouth. Dark nipples, pale nipples, he truly loved every breast he’d ever seen, but Máira’s—her breasts were like none he’d gazed upon before. Plump and flawless, her ivory breasts in perfect contrast to the primrose delicate jewels of her nipples, which were on display for everyone to see, and no one but Elias was there to enjoy the view.
Máira’s body was made for his, he knew it the first time he’d kissed her. It hadn’t been her first kiss, but it had been the first kiss that made him wish for something more than just sex from a woman. With Máira, he had always been in danger. Danger of losing himself and becoming too selfish to care about his mission. For the first time in his life, a woman had meant more than just a night or two of pleasure, and he suddenly couldn’t stop himself from seizing more.
Máira’s arm slinked around the back of his head, her neck curving to offer herself to him—exactly what he needed. Hedropped the reins, trusted the horse to continue the pace he had set and allowed his now free hand to pull up her skirts even further. The smooth curve of her thigh everything he had dreamed of, fantasized about. She was better than all the women he’d been with, combined and multiplied by a thousand. Ten thousand. Her murmurs and panting were about to make him explode in his trousers.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. He had never been so completely out of control. They were on a horse, riding on a dangerous mission in the middle of the night in enemy territory, and all he could think about was touching her there…where his fingers skimmed on delicate skin and found her hot and…bloody hell, she was wet. Her skin like velvet, her sweet juices coating his fingers as he explored her folds, and she writhed in front of him inviting him to do more. Her nipples were as hard as the gems he knew them to be, precious, breathtaking, desired by anyone who caught sight of them, and when he found the matching bead of desire between her legs, she cried out in pleasure.
At that moment, a part of him regained his sanity. The open countryside gave way to woods and he searched the wooded area around them, his gaze scouring the terrain as he listened for any foreign sound, or the silenced melody of the night creatures that had become accustomed to their presence, as his hands continued to explore the treasures he held. Assured that no one lurked in the shadows of the woods, his hand left her breast momentarily to turn her head toward his as he devoured her mewling song of ecstasy with his lips. Thrusting his tongue in her mouth in tandem with the rhythm of his fingers delving into her delectable quim.
His only regret, not being able to feast on her petite mort, because she was close. So close her thighs quivered, her body strained, her breathing as erratic as his own heart, and he feltas if a spell had been cast upon them. As if nothing and no one could penetrate their unbridled ride of passion. Máira nibbled on his bottom lip, he sucked on hers, her soft, sweet mouth tasting of a heaven he’d never dreamed he’d reach.
His thumb circled her bud, going faster and faster, his middle finger stroking in and out of her tight, wet core. He added a second finger and she screamed into his kiss. Her fingers clenched his hair down to his scalp as her body convulsed, milking his fingers, clamping and pulsing, pulling him deeper into her core. He curved his fingers and found that spot to drive her further into oblivion. Máira’s hips swiveled, her quim constricting tightly around his fingers as if she were choking the life out of him, except her pleasure was having the opposite effect. He’d never felt so alive, so aroused, and so in need of burying himself deeply inside the woman in his arms. She was so tight, if it had been his cock he would have expired from ecstasy.
When she finally grew silent, her breath rapid yet sated, a smile formed on her lips. Elias pulled at it with his teeth, wanting to consume every bit of this woman who tasted like joy and sunshine. She pulled back to gaze into his eyes, and despite the darkness, he could read the look of awe on her face as he pulled his fingers from her body and brought them to his lips. His own pleasure fell from his mouth in a raspy moan of delight. He never wanted to go without her scent on his body, her taste of bliss on his lips, the delectablejoie de vivrethat being with this woman brought to his life.
His senses returned. He had a mission to complete. A man to rescue.
Elias pulled his fingers from his mouth and smiled down on his temporary bride as he put her gown to rights, covering her titillating flesh from his view and he grabbed the reins once more. “Sleep. We have a long journey ahead of us and it will not be an easy one.”
Máira smiled and snuggled into the crook of his shoulder. “That was wonderful. I never…I never knew it could be so…so…rapturous.”
He reverently kissed the top of her head. “Neither did I, my sweet, neither did I.”
