Page 88 of Suddenly a Bride
“Did they find some?” she asked, her lovely brown eyes alive with excitement.
“That they did. ’Tis Castle Wintering’s future. I’ve told Edmund where it is. Why don’t the two of you go look?”
Edmund opened his mouth to protest, but it was too late. In their excitement, Gwyneth and Geoff crossed the great hall. His wife picked up a cloak from the chair by the door and wrapped herself in it before stepping out into the courtyard. He followed them.
The wind was cold, and the sky was muddy with clouds that hinted of snow.
“The weather might change, Gwyneth,” Edmund said. “You should remain here.”
Geoff entered the stables, but before she followed him, she turned back to face Edmund. “I want to be there with you for this. Mining could save our people, save our home, regardless of what this villain does.”
Our home.He wanted to share it with her, but all he could think of was the Langstons taking back all his hard work someday. When he died, all of his daughters and Gwyneth would be left with nowhere to live. Why did she not say something, so they could make plans together?
But her eyes called to him, her body drew him, and he could only watch as Geoff brought out Star for her to ride.
Two hours later, Edmund led his wife into a small cave, from which a stream of water flowed down the hillside to join the River Swale. He could barely stand upright, and when Gwyneth joined him inside, they were pressed close together. He could feel her warmth, smell the flowery scent of her. It had been a week since he’d been inside her, a week without her passion.
She touched his arm. “Edmund, where is the ore?”
He pointed to the stream. “Buried here. We have to dam the water to see the veins. Then we keep digging into the hillside.”
“This will help the castle, will it not?”
In the murky light, her eyes glittered. She pushed her cloak back from her shoulders, and he saw the curves of her breasts.
“Not this winter,” he said hoarsely, fighting the worry that simmered inside him. “We’ll have to ship it to the smelting mills in Richmond come spring.”
“But if it’s a good thing, why are you so upset?” When he said nothing, she nodded. “I know you’re thinking of the crimes against the estate. Surely we’re closer to discovering who is behind it.”
“It has to be Harold Langston,” he answered, transferring his anger to where it would do more good. “I want to shake the truth from him, to punish him with my fists before I send him back to jail.”
“Edmund, nay,” she said with dismay, grabbing the sleeves of his doublet as she leaned closer. “You mustn’t. No one has seen who the villain is. And as for fighting him, Harold is a trained knight, is he not? And you’re—”
When she broke off, he laughed harshly. “And I am lame. Think you I cannot take that puppy, even like this?”
“I did not mean—I only wanted—” She pressed herself against him, reaching up to cup his face in her hands. “Edmund, please, this is torture for me. I only want to help.”
“There is only one way you can help.”
The words sounded angry, even to him, but it was anger with himself, for he could not keep from kissing her. She moaned beneath his mouth, and her hands slid from his waist up his back. He could feel her grip his garments with a desperation he knew too well.
“Aye,” she whispered.
Her tongue tracing his lips induced a madness he no longer tried to control. She was his wife—he wanted her—she wanted him. He let passion thrust everything else aside. As his hands unlaced her gown at her back, he tasted her neck, sucked on her skin until she shuddered and moaned.
In a dazed voice, she asked, “Could someone see us?”
“Do you care?” He stared down into her eyes.
“No—just touch me, please.”
But he didn’t, not until he’d stripped every article of clothing from her body. She was fearless, and he admired that. He yanked at his own shirt, felt buttons at his neck pop free, and then let her hands push his aside. He couldn’t wait, but she worked just as feverishly as he would have. And the feel of her hands pulling on him raised his desire to uncontrollable heights.
When they were both naked, he pulled her down onto the pile of their garments and spread her out for his viewing. She lay on her back, trembling, reaching for him, but he pressed her arms above her head with one hand and looked his fill. With his fingers, he skimmed her breasts and belly, and she moaned and writhed for him. He cupped the heat between her thighs, and though she was already wet for him, he stroked her anyway, needing to see in her eyes what he could make her feel, this thing between them that she couldn’t deny.
He bent over her and suckled her breasts, still not allowing her to touch him. When she was so close that she couldn’t stop shuddering, he came down between her legs and entered her in one hot thrust. They gasped against each other’s mouth, and he felt her bare arms hugging his ribcage. As he braced himself on his arms to move inside her, her fingers teased his nipples. Her beautiful face was flushed; her breasts trembled with each movement of his body.
She was his, his body said, claiming her over and over. Nothing would separate them; he would find a way. He kissed her hard, and when he felt her woman’s pleasure shudder about his cock, he poured his seed—their future—into her.
