Page 70 of Saxon Blade Norman Blood
“Say you will marry me as soon as it is possible,” he breathed, his mouth at her temple. “Tomorrow if we can. I need you in my life.”
*
Rowena blinked a few times.
William just proposed to her?
“You want to m-marry me?” she stammered.
“Yes. I do not think I could bear to let you go, and as you know, I have no need of an interpreter. So stay. As my wife.”
She had not thought beyond this day, but of course she would never be able to leave him either. Never sleep in his arms again, never see his smile, never hear his voice… It was unthinkable. She would rather die.
And so there was only one answer she could give him.
“Yes. I will stay. I will marry you.”
His hazel eyes flashed. “I want you. And I will want only you for the rest of my life. I want to sleep with you in my arms every night. I want to see you swell with my child. I want to grow old with you by my side. I want everything, and the rest.”
She moved to settle herself more comfortably onto his lap, fired up by the notion that this man wanted her, in every way. He wanted to spend the rest of life with her, he’d just promised her fidelity.
And he desired her.
It was impossible to ignore the fact. Her eyes widened when she felt his hardness between her thighs, ready to plunge inside her body. Tentatively she edged closer and placed herself above it. Could she—
“Wait, my beauty. Not yet, not like that. Take your time.” William dipped his head to kiss the crook of her neck and only stopped when she let her head roll backward. “First let me prepare you for me.”
Rowena felt his hand slide along her hip then move over to the place between her thighs. Just when his fingers reached her most intimate part, his mouth, hot and wet, closed on her nipple. She moaned out loud, overwhelmed by a wave of sensations so extraordinary it threatened to engulf her. This was heavenly, not frightening at all.
He teased her in this way for a long moment, brushing the tip of his fingers against her feminine folds, circling a hard little nub at the center of it, sucking at her nipple, giving little grunts of approval all the while, as if he was enjoying the moment as much as she was. She could feel her whole body relax, and become slick. Then his movements changed.
Slowly one of his fingers eased itself inside her. She gasped at the newness of the sensation. This was wondrous, nothing like the intrusion she had dreaded for so long.
The hand stilled.
“Does it hurt?” William asked in concern, his mouth at her breast. He had not taken that liberty at Old Sarum.
“No, no it’s…My God,” she squeaked when he slipped another finger inside her.
Rowena’s whole body quivered and melted at the same time. William drew his fingers out carefully then plunged inside her silken depths again. She moaned. He moved again. She inhaled sharply. He did it again, this time more forcefully.
Rowena cried out loud when he flicked his thumb against the place at the apex of her thighs and a heartbeat later, her body shattered, squeezing around him. She let out a long rasp as the piercing pleasure ebbed into a delicious torpor.
“No, maybe it didn’t hurt after all,” William purred when her muscles clenched around him in one last, slow, delicious spasm. “And now, my sweet, you are as ready as you are going to be. As am I. Now I can make you mine at last.”
With those words he settled her above his shaft. He did not move, but let her adjust to the sensation of having his hardness poised against her flesh, ready to enter her. He waited for her to move first—and welcome him in.
Without the least hesitation she lowered herself onto him, stopping halfway down. He kept very still and gritted his teeth, as if fighting the impulse to move under her. She was new to this, but she knew that his body, used to pleasure, would be urging him to drive into her deeper, faster, to take what it needed.
Grateful for William’s restraint, determined to put an end to the awful uncertainty, Rowena gripped his shoulders to lift herself off him. Then she sat down and took him to the hilt. A sharp cry escaped her lips, and she grimaced. Perhaps on second thought she had been too forceful.
But at least it was done. And it was not the agony she had feared.
William’s face froze in consternation. “I’m sorry, I don’t…” he said in a breath, kissing her temple.
“It’s all right,” she panted. He’d not done anything wrong. This had been her doing. “I know.”
She did not move, waiting until the pain subsided. Eventually, she lifted herself off almost entirely before allowing him to plunge into her soft folds again, tentatively at first, then again, deeper this time. It was already better.
