Annie's Song (43 page)

Alex. Just once, she wished she’d heard his name so she might imagine it now. She loved him. She loved him so much.

Heat rushed to her cheeks when she recalled the things he had done to her body. At the memories, a funny, achy, tingly feeling spread through her lower stomach. A smile curved her mouth, and she couldn’t help but wish he’d wake up and do it all again.

To that end, she rolled over to face him. In the fire glow, she thought she’d never seen anyone so beautiful. His golden hair lay in tousled waves over his forehead, the wispy ends catching the light. In sleep, his carved features looked almost boyish, his lashes casting shadows over his bronzed cheeks, his lower lip relaxed and vibrating slightly with each breath he expelled. He pillowed his head on one bent arm, its underside a shade paler from lack of sunlight, the skin there stretched tight over thick muscle and tendon. Curious, she touched his chest, teasing the coarse tufts of hair to curl around her fingertip. When she grew bored with that, she gingerly explored one of his nipples, which were small and copper brown.

When she flicked one with her fingernail, it hardened slightly, but somehow she didn’t think it felt the same for him as for her.

She gave a start when she looked up and found that his golden eyes had come open. When their gazes met, he flashed a slow, lazy grin at her. “Why do I have this feeling my wife is refreshed and ready to go again?”

Annie dimpled a cheek at him and gave his nipple another flick. His grin deepened. “Is that a request that
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I return the favor?” he asked.

She shifted so the tips of her nipples grazed his chest. At the contact, they went instantly hard. She raised her eyebrows.

“You little minx.”

He drew his arm from over her waist to cup her breast in his hand. With a rub of his thumb, he coaxed her nipple more erect. Then he dipped his head forward to suckle her. Annie’s eyes fell closed. The pleasure she felt was so intense, she could have lain there forever, letting him kiss her.

Alex had other ideas. After only a few kisses, he fell back against the pillow and regarded her from beneath lowered lashes, his smile mischievous. “If you want more, bring it on up here. I’m tired.”

Annie knew he wasn’t that tired. The gleam in his eyes told her differently. Feeling suddenly shy, she gazed with yearning at his mouth. Noticing her regard, his shoulders shook on a chuckle, and he grasped her by the arm to draw her to her knees.

“Come here,” he said. “I don’t bite.”

As if to belie those words, he suddenly rose up to catch her gently in his teeth. One flick of his tongue was all it took to coax Annie closer. With an arm braced on either side of his head, she lowered her breasts to give him easy access. With lazy slowness, he accommodated her until she was trembling. She ended the torment by pulling away and covering his mouth with hers.

Catching her in his arms, he rolled with her, taking care not to crush her with his weight. Once on her back, Annie hooked her legs around his, thinking that he would make love to her again.

“Oh, no ... Not so fast, Annie, love. We have the rest of our lives, so why get in a rush?”

The rest of their lives ... Annie liked the thought of that. Night after night in Alex’s arms. It was a promise fulfilled, definitely forty times better than what they’d done that long ago day in the nursery.

The rest of their lives ...

Over the next few days, Alex thought of little else, dreaming grand dreams of the future that he and Annie could share. He saw no reason that those dreams couldn’t become a reality. In January, shortly after Christmas, their child would be born. From that moment on, they would be a family. Whether Alex could father more children was a question that remained to be answered and one that no longer even seemed important. Boy or girl, this first child would be his heir, and that was all that had ever mattered to him.

In Alex’s mind, the child Annie carried was his as surely as if he’d planted the seed. He no longer thought about Douglas and what he’d done. Now that Annie had put it behind her, Alex found that he was able to as well. The past was forgotten. The future awaited them like a brilliant promise.

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Loving Annie. To Alex, the girl was a precious gift. Given her experience at the falls, she had turned out to be a far more responsive lover than he could have ever dreamed possible, and he found it difficult to keep his hands off her. Fortunately, the feeling seemed to be mutual. Once she got over her shyness, she initiated love-making almost as often as he did and was sometimes far more creative. When it came to sex, she seemed to have no idea that there were some things a lady simply never did. One night while working in his study, he glanced up from his paperwork to find Annie’s naked bosom hovering just inches from his nose. The next thing he knew, his papers were scattered on the floor and his wife was sprawled across his desk.

Alex soon came to realize that Annie, who had never been required to follow schedules or been dictated to by clocks, was a creature of impulse. One night during supper, directly after Maddy had served dessert, she rose from the table and advanced on him with a seductive little smile that heated Alex’s blood so quickly his ice cream was in danger of melting. “What are you up to, you little minx?” With a flick of her hand, Annie shoved his dish of ice cream aside and planted her lush derriere in its place. Her lashes sweeping low over her eyes, which had turned a dark, sultry blue, she said, “I want to be your ice cream.”

“My ice cream?” Alex repeated in bewilderment. Curling her hands over his shoulders, she leaned forward and touched the tip of her tongue to his cheek, licking his skin and pretending to savor the taste, just as he had done with his frozen dessert just moments ago.

“Jesus Christ,” he said in a ragged whisper. “Annie, sweetheart, a—”

He was about to explain to her that a proper lady would never dream of making this sort of suggestion.

But then her hot little tongue found his ear, and he forgot what he meant to say. Not that he had really wanted to say it, anyway. What man in his right mind wanted his wife to be a proper lady behind closed doors? Alex knew that most husbands got stuck with prudish wives who were total bores in bed. It was his good fortune that Annie had come into their marriage with no preconceived notions of what was proper. He would be a million times a fool if he filled her head with a bunch of ridiculous social mores.

With deft fingers, Alex unfastened her bodice and made short work of unlacing her chemise. Her breasts spilled forth like plump melons tipped from a basket. Strike that, he thought, as his heated gaze settled on her nipples. They were more the delicate pink of strawberry juice mixed with cream.

While he was busy admiring her bounty, Annie was reaching behind her for his dessert dish. Alex watched in stunned amazement as she dipped a dainty fingertip into the fast-melting ice cream and then rubbed the cold sweetness on her nipple. Her pink flesh turned instantly hard and seemed to thrust toward his mouth, eager for attention. As if to demonstrate what she had in mind, she leaned forward again to lick lightly at his lips.

Alex, who had always prided himself on being a quick study, shoved up from his chair. In his recollection, he had never covered ground quite so quickly as he did that which stretched between the table and the dining room doors. After throwing the lock so no one could disturb them, he returned to accommodate his wife, who was now covering her other breast with sweetness.

Thoroughly aroused, but trying not to show it, Alex reclaimed his seat and waited to see what else she had in mind. When she looked up, her expression was impish. Locking gazes with him, she slowly and suggestively suckled each of her fingers clean. Alex’s guts knotted with yearning, but he was enjoying the display too much to bring it to an early end. Not just yet.

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As he hoped, Annie pressed her bare breasts upon him, teasing his lips with her warm, sticky nipples until he could resist the temptation no longer and began to lick the sweetness away. Her flesh went instantly hard and pebbled. She ran her hands into his hair and arched her back to make her breasts more accessible. Alex licked and suckled the sensitive peaks, smiling at her whimpering sounds of pleasure.

Her whimpering soon grew louder. Groping behind her, he located his discarded napkin and pressed it against her mouth. As if she realized his intent, she took it between her teeth to muffle her cries.

No longer concerned about the noise she might make, Alex was able to concentrate solely on Annie and pleasing her. While groping for his napkin, he’d bumped his dessert dish. He reached for it now and dipped his fingertips into the froth of melting ice cream. He repainted Annie’s nipples with the sweetness.

Strawberries and cream... Never had Alex tasted anything like it. It was deliciously wicked, the sort of eroticism a man dreamed of but never experienced. But with Annie, who was blissfully ignorant of the rules, there were none to follow. She was governed only by sensation.

That had always been fine by Alex, but never more so than now. Vaguely, he heard dishes clattering as he swept them out of the way to lay his wife upon the table. Feverishly, he fumbled with her clothing.

Skirts, petticoats, pantalets, garters, hose. Christ. Recalling the morn of their wedding, when she’d perched on the landing above him and displayed herself for his perusal, he wished she were wearing that simple attire again. Now that he’d gotten a taste of how delightful ice cream and his sweet little wife tasted together, he wanted to try the blend elsewhere.

When he had peeled away enough clothing to find what he sought, Alex leaned back a moment to regard her from under passion-heavy eyelids. The folds of her femininity glistened up at him, the delicate pink reminding him once again of strawberries ... which always begged for cream.

Above the crumpled napkin, Annie’s huge blue eyes sought his. Alex smiled slowly. She had started this game. Now he meant to take it to new lengths. As he dipped his fingertips into the ice cream, she seemed to guess his intent. Evidently even Annie realized that this was carrying things a bit too far.

“Aah...”

Halfheartedly, she tried to twist away. There was nothing halfhearted about Alex’s move to stop her.

After laving his fingertips, he found her hot, throbbing center with deft aim. Her shocked little cry was muffled by the napkin as he smeared the coldness over her silken folds. Her entire body jerked when he caught the sensitive nubbin of flesh hidden there between his thumb and forefinger. Giving it a hard roll, Alex watched her eyes drift closed. She moaned low in her chest and ground her hips upward, clearly overcome.

Annie, for dessert. It was the sweetest ending to a meal that Alex had ever experienced. If, in future, she found him more appealing than the food served for supper, he would be more than happy to make himself available. It was the least a husband could do for his sweet, biddable, insatiable little wife.

Annie ... For such a small woman, she had a very large presence in Alex’s life, filling his days with laughter, his nights with lovemaking, and his sleep with dreams of her.

Around the middle of December, Dr. Muir paid a visit, supposedly to see Annie, but in truth to speak privately with Alex. Afraid that Annie might become upset during the medical examination, which was, by necessity, more invasive than the one Muir had done during the early months of her pregnancy, Alex remained with his wife while the doctor was with her. Afterward, both men retired to the study to have a
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brandy and discuss the doctor’s findings.

Coming right to the point, Muir said, “Everything looks normal, Alex, so stop looking so worried.”

Alex smiled as he handed the good doctor a drink. Taking the chair catty-corner to him, he said, “Am I so obvious?”

“You’ve become very fond of her. That’s apparent.”

Alex rested a booted foot on his knee. “I am that.”

“And the lessons? How are those coming?”

“Very well. She’s mastered a goodly number of signs and knows her alphabet now. As of last week, we graduated to a first-year primer.”

Muir raised his glass. “Congratulations. That’s quite a feat.”

Alex lowered his foot to the floor and leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees. “I think so. To be honest, I was hoping the ear horns might be more of a help than they’re proving to be. Even though, with the horns, she seems able to hear me if I speak loudly, she can’t seem to reproduce the sounds correctly.

The few words she has actually tried to say are grossly distorted.”

Daniel nodded. “That’s probably to be expected. She lost her hearing at six. It’s been fourteen years since she’s been allowed to speak. She’s forgotten how. With a hearing disability, it’s bound to take time for her to relearn all she’s forgotten.”

Alex sighed. “So I keep reminding myself.” He shrugged and smiled. “Now that I can lip-read, we manage to communicate well enough.”

“What about when the child comes? It would be nice if Annie were to master at least a small vocabulary before it begins learning to talk.”

Alex considered that for a moment. “We’ll just have to see how she progresses.”

Daniel tapped his finger against his glass, eyeing Alex over its rim. “I know you want what’s best for Annie and the child.”

“Of course I do.”

“I was just wondering if you’d considered sending her away to school.”

“School?”

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “She needs special instruction, Alex. I know you’re doing wonders. I take nothing away from you. But to truly recover her speech, Annie should have specialized tutors, people who know how to help her. The school in Albany is reputable. Irene Small, the headmistress, is a fantastic instructor, and in addition to addressing her pupils’ educational needs, she sees to it they’re enriched culturally and socially. It would be very good for Annie to go there, at least for two or three years. That isn’t so long a time. She’d still be a young woman when she finished her instruction. And just think how much the experience would benefit her.”