Page 44 of The Pirate and the Pagan
She met Lady Anne Carnegie and Elizabeth Hamilton and learned from them that Barbara Palmer, newly created Lady Castlemaine, had arrived with an entourage of attendants but had retired for the afternoon. The King was in Plymouth with the Duke of Buckingham and the Scottish John Lauderdale and they wouldn’t be arriving until tomorrow.
The men crowded round Summer, offering to show her the pond, the medieval dovecote, and the great gallery with its magnificent plasterworks decorating the long ceiling, vividly depicting stories from the Old Testament, which had made Stowe famous.
Finally, Ruark’s scowls and black looks informed the eager men that if his wife needed escorting anywhere, he would do it and at the moment the only place to which he intended escorting her was to their private bedchamber.
The room assigned them on the third floor was elegantly appointed with gold brocade window curtains and bedhangings. The carpet was worked in blue and gold and the furnishings looked as if they had been brought over from France. “Oh, how lovely,” cried Summer when she walked in. A gilt slipper bath stood in one corner behind an ornate screen and a tall wardrobe with mirrored doors stood next to it.
“If this is more to your taste than our bedchamber at Helford, feel free to redecorate, darling. I suppose my room is furnished in very masculine taste.” He was being indulgent with her and she loved him for it.
“To tell you the truth the only thing I saw last night was you, Ruark,” she said, blushing. They were not yet alone. A maid and a manservant had been provided for them by their host and they busied themselves unpacking and hanging the clothes in the wardrobe. Servants always knew everything about guests by way of gossip, for they were in a position to know intimate secrets. The man and girl knew this couple was honeymooning and worked rapidly so that they could be left alone for a couple of hours. The manservant brought a decanter of wine and glasses and the maid drew the curtains and turned down the bed, murmuring about an afternoon nap, then they discreetly withdrew.
Summer threw wide the curtains to let in the afternoon sunshine, saying with scorn, “Naps are for babes and old people.”
Ruark’s arms slipped about her from behind and fastened beneath her breasts. “I think ‘nap’ is just a euphemism, darling, for other things we will do in bed.”
“Oh,” she said, realizing her naïveté. “But won’t we be expected downstairs? I know our host and hostess must have all sorts of things planned for our entertainment.”
“Nothing as entertaining as what I have planned,” he said, nuzzling her neck and biting her small ear.
“But Ru, if we don’t go back down, they will guess what we are doing up here.”
“Exactly! And every last one of them will be green with envy.” His hands cupped her breasts and pulled her back against his body so that she could feel he was ready for love. “Leave the drapes open, my darling, the first time I take you in broad daylight I want to see your body flush with passion.” He turned her from the window and took her in his arms.
The intensity of his kiss gave evidence of his starved senses. Her eager hands helped him as he undressed her then aided in his own disrobing. Each time she glimpsed their naked bodies in the tall mirrors, shards of excitement stabbed through her until the hunger of her loins became insatiable.
With a growl of passion he lifted her high then brought her slowly down his body. His crisp mat of hair rubbed first her thighs, then her mons and belly, and finally her soft round breasts as her body slid down his. He brought her down directly onto his up-thrusting shaft, impaling her with pleasure, then with his hands cupped beneath her buttocks he walked directly up to the mirror so that she could watch what he did to her. He played out the penetration game to its limit, knowing it was one of the most pleasurable parts of love play for a woman, then he carried her to the bed so that his body could fulfill its purpose.
Ruark’s mouth was unbearably tender as he kissed her face, lingering on her eyelids and along her lovely slanting cheekbones, then his mouth found hers and he began to kiss her less gently. Gradually his mouth became demanding, punishing with urgent hunger.
Summer knew he had been denied too long. She reached down toward his hardness.
“Don’t!” he ordered. “I’ll spill myself on you.”
His words aroused her further, knowing, as she did, that her hands could drive him as wild as his did her, and make him lose control of himself. Then all thought vanished with the impact of his hungry lovemaking and she learned the devastation of his possession when it was urgent and fierce and frantic.
When he was finished with her, she was only a heartbeat away from semiconsciousness and she fell deeply asleep in his arms.
* * *
After a small knock the maid entered their bedchamber and Summer scrambled behind Ruark and peeped over his shoulder.
“I weel draw your bath, madame,” the little maid said in her French accent. “If you weel tell me which gown you weel wear tonight, I can do your hair verry special to match, no?”
“No,” said Summer.
“Yes,” said Ruark.
The maid set the fresh sheets she was carrying on a small table beside the bed, and Summer blushed hotly at the fact that the maid had known the bed would need changing after their lovemaking.
Ruark said, “Madame will wear her white gown tonight as befits a bride.”
“Oh, Ru, ’tis so plain, did you not see the gorgeous brocades and satins the ladies wore downstairs? And that was just for afternoon. Imagine what they will wear tonight!”
“Sweet love, wear the white for me tonight and tomorrow I’ll buy you a dozen brocades and satins,” he promised.
The manservant brought them a light meal on a tray, for the formal dinner at Stowe would not be served until eight. The maid took out a busk for Summer to wear beneath the lovely white organdy and it made quite a difference to her appearance. The short, tight little corset forced her breasts high and took two inches off her waist. Then the maid showed off her skills as a hairdresser. She arranged kiss curls about Summer’s face and swept the rest up into a style known as “Heartbreaker.” When her dress was carefully donned, more than half of her beautiful breasts were exposed and she called Ruark to put on her rubies so she could gauge his reaction.
He was wearing midnight blue satin breeches and his arousal at the sight of her was quite visible. “Is it necessary to expose your breasts in that fashion?” he asked, frowning.
