Castle of the Wolf (25 page)

Cissy swallowed. “Do you?”

He laughed. “I even more enjoy watching you when you are awake.” He nudged the bedcover with his wrist so that it fell back to reveal her breasts. Her nipples were already puckered and tingling and awaiting his touch. He readily complied, leaning closer and bestowing a gentle kiss on one upthrust peak.

Cissy gasped.

As easy as that, she felt tingles spread through her whole body. It was the most curious thing, really, the way her husband made her feel.

“I meant to apologize for last night,” he murmured against her skin, kissing his way from one breast to the other.

“Apologize?” Abruptly, the pleasant sensations vanished and were replaced by apprehension. All at once he seemed vulnerable, and as if to physically shield him, Cissy put her hand on his neck, burying her fingers in his wavy black hair. “Whyever would you want to apologize?”

A rueful smile twisted his lips as he looked at her. “Because I behaved like an oaf, selfishly taking my own pleasure.” He sighed and rested his forehead against hers. “And not giving you anything back. I would have had your first time be different.”

“Oh.” Relief flooded her—and a warm rush of tenderness. Her hand stroked down to cup his cheek. “But there was plenty of pleasure for me.”

He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. “You are very generous. And yet you did not…finish. I should have been more patient.” A hint of bitterness crept into his voice. “Instead, I… You deserved more, so much more.”

Cissy searched his face, watched how his features briefly contorted as if he were in pain. And perhaps he was—not due to some external wound, but to inner torment. Last night she had hoped it banished forever. However, this was not a fairy tale; this beast would not be released from its evil spell simply by a kiss. He still needed loving, so much more loving…

Loving?

Her heart gave a peculiar lurch.

In her heart she had known it for some time. Yet it had happened so gradually, she had almost not noticed. It had begun at the first sight of him, when he had stood in the hall downstairs, his hair tousled, his face darker than thunder. Such a disgruntled beast he had been, so angry his isolation had been breached by a stranger.

Over the weeks and months it had grown, this feeling inside her, while she had caught glimpses of the man beneath the beast: when he had made his body a shield for her against the violence of his brother, when he had gamely stamped through the snow in search of the Christmas tree. He had made her heart melt when he had fumbled to tie silk ribbons into lopsided bows, and he had made her chuckle when he had given her that gothic novel—
Castle of Wolfenbach
—as a Christmas present.

Yet only glimpses, these.

His soul was still not healed, the beast not yet redeemed.

Her palm rubbed over his cheek, making his lashes flutter open. Surprise flickered upon his face. Cissy smiled. Surely there was enough loving in her heart.

“There was plenty of pleasure for me,” she insisted, her tone gentle. “So much joy when I touched you—and when you touched me.” She watched his eyes widen at her frankness, and her smile deepened. All lingering shyness was swept away by the assurance that this was right for her, that this was the place where she belonged. “So much joy, Fenris. And I did finish yesterday afternoon, if you remember.”

“I remember,” he mumbled.

“See? So it was only fair—one finish for me and one for you.”

He blinked several times, then his expression changed. “Ahh.” With a smothered laugh he turned his face into her palm and nibbled on her tender flesh, grinning when she squirmed in surprise. “Perhaps we should have another go, then, and see if we can manage to finish together.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Perhaps.” She aimed at nonchalance, even though the thought of ‘more’ made her heart accelerate.

“Good, then.” And he proceeded to place hot, openmouthed kisses on her collarbone. Already she felt herself melting against him. But almost immediately he raised his head. When suddenly cold air whispered over her damp skin, she shivered and murmured in protest.

Soothingly, he tugged the bedcover a bit higher, kept one hand cupped around her breast. “I seem to remember that you mentioned a deck of cards this afternoon.”

“Cards?” she echoed, utterly distracted by his kneading fingers and the thumb brushing over her nipple. “Hmmmm?” Sighing, she closed her eyes and arched against his hand. But to gain her attention, Fenris pinched her nipple, hard. She sucked in a breath. Her eyes flew open—and she found him grinning down on her. At that moment, he looked impossibly young, and her heart flipped over.

He waggled his brows. “
Erotic
cards.”

She blinked. “Oh.” She blinked again. “Oh, that.”

“Would you show them to me?”

“Show them…”

“Mmhm.” He bent his head to nibble on her earlobe while he continued to run his thumb teasingly over her aroused breast. “Please?” he breathed against her neck, his hot, damp breath nearly making her moan.

How could she deny him? Vividly, she remembered his jealousy and anger when he had thought she had slept with some other man. Did he feel threatened by this, too? Seeking to reassure him, she slung her arms around his smooth, broad shoulders and hugged him close.

He came willingly into the embrace, and once more she enjoyed how he fit against her, as if their bodies had been made for each other. When their legs tangled, his stump brushed along her thigh. At that, profound sadness washed over her: that he had had to endure this, that he’d had to go through it alone, all alone, for twelve long years.

He stroked her hair and played with the long strands that clung to his fingers. Cissy buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder and breathed in his unique scent: sweet sandalwood, overlaid by the muskiness of their lovemaking of a few hours ago. She closed her eyes and smiled against his shoulder. His symmetry might be disturbed, but not destroyed, never destroyed. And they fit well together.

Turning her head a little, she pressed a kiss against one stubbly cheek. “If you want to look at my cards, we need a bit of light,” she whispered.

“As my lady wishes,” he whispered back. Before he rolled off her, he captured her lips in a searing kiss, his tongue whirling hotly through her mouth. When he finally raised his head, he was grinning again. “To keep you warm.”

With a giggle, she shoved at his shoulder so she could wriggle out underneath him and leave the warmth of the bed. Immediately, gooseflesh took her skin. “Brrr.” She rubbed her arms.

Behind her, she heard her husband chuckle. “Oh dear, I see my warming-up technique leaves something to be desired.”

She looked back over her shoulder and caught him ogling her bare behind from where he lay among the rumpled pillows. She raised her brows in mock severity. “Enjoying yourself?”

His teeth flashed. “With you, always.”

Joy rose inside her like a golden bubble. He was quite wrong, she found: his warming-up technique left nothing to be desired.

She went to her chest of drawers, and at the same time she heard him rummaging for the flint box. When she turned, her small package of cards in hand, soft candlelight enshrouded the bed and transformed Fenris’s skin into molten gold.

He watched as she walked toward him, and under his gentle scrutiny she felt herself blush. Who would have thought this a few months ago: that she would ever walk around a room stark naked while Fenris von Wolfenbach watched, this smoky, hot look in his eyes promising undreamt of delights?

When he saw the fiery color suffusing her skin, his lips twisted in a tender smile. “Have I already told you how beautiful you are, my Cissy?” he asked. He reached out a hand.

By now Cissy felt as if her cheeks were on fire. She placed her hand in his, and his warm, strong fingers closed around hers. With a gentle tug, he drew her to his side. With his free hand he flipped back the cover so she could slip back inside.

“Beautiful, but freezing,” he laughed, as her icy limbs brushed against him. “Come here.” He wrapped her in both the cover and his arms.

“Mmmm.” She snuggled against him, luxuriating in the heat his body radiated. “The cards.” She held out the stack.

“Oh yes, the cards.” He kissed her wrist before he took them. Leaning on his elbow above her, he opened the box, and ivory-colored cards rained on the duvet. Clearly puzzled, he fetched up the ace of spades. “Didn’t you say it was an
erotic
deck?” He turned the card around. Frowning, he glanced at Cissy, who tried to smother her giggles with a hand over her mouth. “Have you been pulling my leg, sweet wife? This is a normal, plain ace of spades, as erotic as a broomstick.”

At his consternation, she burst out laughing. She took the card. “You have to hold it against the light.” She proceeded to show him, and as if by magic, the card revealed its secret.

Fenris’s jaw dropped. “Gracious!”

“As erotic as a broomstick, hm?” Cissy asked, amused.

Together they looked at the picture, which was of a man and a woman coupling on a settee. The man lay against a fat red pillow, his trousers down around his knees, while the woman, her skirts drawn up to display her bare bottom, lay on top of him, pierced by his large member.

“Gracious!” Fenris repeated, clearly thunderstruck.

Cissy giggled. A disconcerted beast was quite a novelty. “Rather… um…enlightening, don’t you think?” she asked innocently.

He shot her a dark look.

She batted her lashes.

“Minx,” he growled, and reached for the next card, the nine of hearts. A naked woman lounged on a chair, while in front of her, down on his knees, a man teased her cleft with his finger. “Ah. Proper supplication,” Fenris commented.

Beside him, Cissy shifted. A rather extraordinary feeling this, her husband’s hot body pressed against her, while they looked at these erotic little pictures together.

Reaching for another card, he threw her a look, his eyes glinting with sudden devilry, as if he knew that a pulse had begun to throb between her legs. “Have you looked at
all
of them?” he wanted to know.

This time the card showed a woman on her knees before a soldier, sucking on his manhood.

“Ye-es.”

On the next card, the king of diamonds’ enormous penis sprung up from among his loosened clothes. Fenris arched a brow. “Impressive,” was his dry comment. “If somewhat crooked. Don’t you think so?” His gaze returned to Cissy’s, pierced her.

Blood heated her cheeks. “Hm.” She fought hard not to squirm under his scrutiny.

His gaze shifted away as he chose another card. The seven of clubs: another settee, another couple. “Do you look at them often?” Fenris asked, his tone almost disinterested. But there was still that glint in his eyes.

Cissy swallowed. By now, her whole body tingled most uncomfortably. “Sometimes,” she croaked.

“Ah.” He sounded as if he had made a profound discovery. He turned the five of hearts to the light. “A nice one, that.”

Two women, this time; naked and kissing, and one of them was fondling the sex of the other, while in the background a man stood by and watched.

Cissy swallowed. The duvet rasped painfully over her puckered nipples. She bit her lower lip in the vain hope the tingling would stop.

Her husband’s gaze swiveled back to capture hers, like an eagle capturing its prey. Smiling, he leaned down. “And what do you feel when you look at them, my sweet?”

At the sound of his voice, dark and smooth like hot cocoa, Cissy felt the muscles in her stomach contract and a rush of scalding heat between her legs. She sucked in a sharp breath. “I…I…”

He nuzzled the hollow under her jaw. “Does it make you shiver and tingle?” His tongue rasped over the soft column of her throat. Ecstatic, Cissy closed her eyes and arched her neck to give him better access. “Does it make you hot, so hot…?” His teeth closed over her tender skin in the gentlest of bites. “
Hot
,” he breathed.

Cissy moaned. “Y-yes…”

“Does it? Does it indeed?” He stopped kissing her, and she thought she would die.

“Fenris!” She opened her eyes.

“That’s a nice one, too.” He held up another card. This time, the grin he gave her was decidedly wolfish. “A very nice one, the queen of spades.”

The queen of spades.

Cissy ran her tongue over suddenly dry lips.

His eyes fastened on that tiny movement. “A very,
very
nice one,” he rasped. He raised his eyes to hers, daring her. “Don’t you want to look at it?”

Temptation, that voice. It flowed over her like warm syrup, so smooth and tempting.

“I…” Of course she knew what she would find when she looked at the picture. “I…”

“Go on,” he invited, his eyes smoky and smoldering. “Look at it,” he whispered. “Look at the queen’s delight. Let the heat spread through your body.”

Helplessly, she followed his gaze as his eyes turned to the queen of spades, which he held flat between his fore and middle fingers. Flat, so the light glinted off the card, but didn’t yet reveal its secret.

“Behold”—a flick of his thumb and the card sprang to life—“the queen.”

The woman leaned nonchalantly against a small green table as if she did not care that her skirts were rucked up to her waist, revealing her rounded belly and thighs. And on the floor between her legs sat a man who…who…

“And what do you feel when you look at
this
?” Fenris whispered against her ear, making her shiver helplessly. “Can you feel the heat?” His lips caressed her temple. “So much heat…”

It was burning her up, the heat. A fire raged through her veins.

Transfixed, Cissy stared at the little queen of spades, at the man who sat between her legs and—

“Here.” Fenris pressed the card into her nerveless fingers. “Look at it, will you? Look at her delight, Cissy.”

Now free, his hand slipped under the duvet. She sucked in a breath as it reached her breasts, brushed over her aching nipples. Darts of delight nipped at her nerve endings.

“Fenris…”

“Just look.” He kissed her temple. “Look at her. So much delight, Cissy.” His hand stroked her quivering belly, and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from screaming. “A true queen, isn’t she? Just look at her, my sweet. Look.”