Page 80 of Master of Paradise
"You know, don't you, that if I choose, youwill have to join me in this bed?"
She raised pleading eyes to his andnodded.
He lifted his weight from her and pulled herto her feet. "I'll leave you to freshen up, then I'll take you backto Virginia's," he said, not unkindly.
Charleston, in the grip of election fever,already reeling from social surfeit, was almost felled with thestunning news of Lincoln's victory.
Amanda bade Jennifer and her Aunt Virginia areluctant goodbye after her two week's stay
The drive home to Paradise Plantation was asombre one, with Nicholas much preoccupied, yet he was well awareof Amanda's coolness toward him. The quality of her silence toldhim she would have none of him.
The heat still held, then turned so sultryand oppressive with low, bruise-colored clouds, that even theanimals became restless and bad-tempered.
Nicholas stayed in the garden until aftermidnight thinking Amanda must come outdoors for a breath of air,but when she did not come, he reluctantly sought his room. He putoff retiring as long as he could. The last thing he wanted tonightwas another dream.
Amanda had known for two days a storm wascoming. It took so long to build, she knew it would be a bad one,and she dreaded it with all her heart. By the time bedtime arrived,her nerve endings were tingling with the old anticipated fear tothe point where she was ready to scream. She lay rigid in the bed,waiting, waiting. Then the first streak of lightning flashed acrossthe sky and with a cry she flew to the window and tightly closedher jalousies. The thunder rumbled in the distance, and her limbsbegan to tremble uncontrollably as she heard the next rumble comeunmistakably closer.
Nicholas had just drifted off to sleep whenthe first crash came. He sat up and murmured under his breath,"Mandy!" He knew how very real her fear was. He covered hisnakedness with a robe and moved quickly out of his wing and alongto his wife's room.
Her bed was empty and she was nowhere to beseen. On impulse he took up the hurricane lamp and opened hercloset door. He saw Amanda huddled on the floor with her armswrapped protectively over her head.
"My love, don't be afraid," he soothedgently. He quickly set down the lamp and reached to lift Amandafrom the darkened niche. She clung to him desperately, and his namecame out on a half-whisper, half-sob. "Nicholas."
He knew better than to start reasoning withher to dispel the fear. Instead, he held her very tightly so thatshe would feel secure. His lips brushed her temples, and hemurmured gentle words to comfort her.
"Don't leave me," she begged.
"I'll hold you all night," he promisedsoftly. Her closeness was playing hell with his senses. She'd neverbeen more desirable than at this moment with her tawny hair in wilddisarray and her golden eyes wide with fear. She was the classicmaiden in distress and he felt a surge of strength arise within himto protect her always.
In the middle of the room she clung to himdesperately, quick intakes of breath punctuating each crack ofthunder.
Whether by deliberate design or by purephysical instinct, afterward he was never sure, he began to intrudehimself upon her consciousness. He would fill her with his essenceto the point where there was no room for fear or storms or anyother thing. He would merge his body with hers until they becameone, not only in body, but in mind and soul.
With deft fingers Nicholas undid hernightgown and slipped it from her shoulders. His head dipped tokiss the high curves of her breasts that swelled so temptingly, allvelvet cream tipped with rosebuds.
For Amanda the fear of the storm began torecede as she became aware of her body and the pleasurablesensations Nicholas was provoking.
He shrugged off his robe and lifted her ontohim so that his cock was between her legs and the filmy material ofher nightgown fluttered down to cover their intimate parts.
She gasped with pleasure as the first littlebit entered and caressed her woman's center. As he lowered heruntil her feet touched the carpet, his hands slipped down her body,taking the nightgown from her limbs so that it fell into a silkenpool at their feet.
His mouth sought hers, and he tasted a tear,then a sigh, then the honeyed sweetness for which he'd thirsted solong. His kisses, gentle at first, deepened and began to take, thenthey plundered her mouth, and she thought she might die from thetaste and the feel of him. His wide, bronzed shoulders blotted outeverything in the room, everything in her mind, everything in theworld, until there was just his aqua eyes blazing their desire forher, and his whipcord arms possessively holding her captive.
He went on his knees to her in an attitude ofworship, and he drew her thighs gently toward his mouth. As histongue began to trace the soft folds between her legs, she criedout in protest, but it was drowned by the tumult above them.
She gave herself up to Nicholas's demandingmouth, arching her neck backwards at the exquisite pulsations hearoused, and her fingers threaded wildly through his crisp, darkhair.
Nicholas withdrew, stood erect and drew herup beside him. She leaned against him drained of strength, her eyesclosed and her rosy breasts quivering with each breath. He liftedher with infinite care and carried her to the bed.
When he stretched his body on the bed anddrew her toward him, the contrast of their skin was eroticallyarousing. Hers gleamed like a pearl dusted with translucent powder,while his was burnished bronze.
She was aware of how she affected him by theway his hungry eyes ate her.
"My God, you are delicious as sin." His handsstroked her, arousing her until she thought she would scream fromthe bliss of it all. Then he was towering above her, unwilling towait one moment longer to make her his.
A moment of apprehension rose up, but sheforced herself to trust him totally. Then she felt his hardboldness as the fire in his loins raged out of control, and he sliddeeply into her tight, scalding body.
They both cried out from the pleasure-pain.They were so hot, they almost burned each other. Then the heatedwaves of pleasure began to build and build, washing over them untilthey lost all sense of time and place. Their kisses became savageand wild, so that the storm that raged without paled in comparisonas the lovers were consumed by a mutual passion.
