Grasso, Patricia (29 page)

"Do you need my help?"

"No."
She answered too quickly.

Richard smiled at that.

"I mean, the gown might wrinkle," Keely amended.

"Do you plan to wear it in the morning?" Richard asked, laughter lurking in his voice.

"No, perhaps a daughter of ours..." Realizing how absurd she sounded, Keely broke off.

Richard did chuckle then. "Do you possess some minor deformity of which I am unaware?" he teased her.

"No." Still, Keely refused to step from behind the screen.

"Are you a coward?" Richard challenged, hoping she'd respond to that.

Keely stepped from behind the screen. Embarrassment kept her gaze glued to the floor, but a telltale blush stained her cheeks.

Richard stared at his bride through emerald eyes that gleamed with desire. His breath caught raggedly in his throat at the sight of her beauty, and his manhood stirred with anticipation. Petite and curvaceously slim, she was even lovelier than he'd imagined.

Richard admired her shapely legs, the alluring curves of her hips, and the enticing duskiness of her nipples, visible through the gauzy transparent silk. Good Christ, all that he saw now belonged to him. In a few short moments he would bury himself deep within his beautiful bride and possess her body and—
he hoped
—her soul. The high blush coloring her cheeks reminded him that he needed to proceed slowly with her initiation into the joys of marital intimacy.

"Have you lost something on the floor?" Richard asked dryly.

Keely snapped her head up and nearly swooned at the incredible sight that greeted her. The earl wore an emerald silk bedrobe. While she'd been undressing behind the screen,
he'd
been undressing too. She hadn't expected that. Keely knew he wore nothing beneath that bedrobe—-and she didn't need her Druid's instinct to tell her so.

Pointedly ignoring her fascinated stare, Richard suppressed his smile and lit the incense inside the brass urn on the bedside table. Almost instantly, the delicate perfumed fragrance of jasmine permeated the air within the chamber. Then he poured a goblet of wine and sat on the edge of the bed.

Finally, Richard looked at her and patted the edge of the bed beside him. "Sit with me," he said. "We'll share the wine."

His invitation moved her into action, but it wasn't the one he'd expected.

"I need something," Keely told him, and hurried across the chamber in the opposite direction.

Keely rummaged through her belongings until she found what she wanted—two dried roots with stems. Turning around, she gulped nervously and walked toward the bed like a felon going to the gallows.

" 'Tis dragonwort," Keely explained, holding one root up before she tucked it beneath the pillows. She blushed and added in an embarrassed whisper, "Dragonwort promotes conception."

Richard's gaze softened on her. He nodded solemnly and asked, "And the other?"

"Yarrow," she answered, dropping it inside the brass urn to mingle and burn with the jasmine. " 'Tis known for keeping couples happily married."

Richard smiled then, but Keely never saw it. Instead, she whirled around and scanned the chamber in growing desperation. She searched her mind for something—
anything
—that would prevent her from having to sit beside him on the bed.

Knowing she was stalling, Richard watched her with tender amusement lighting his emerald eyes. In a deep husky voice, he ordered, "Dearest, look at me."

Keely turned around slowly. Filled with an emotion she was unable to identify, his emerald gaze mesmerized her.

"Sit with me?"

Keely cast him a nervous wobbly smile and sat on the edge of the bed. She stared straight ahead, as if frozen in stone.

Richard reached over and with one hand gently turned her face toward him, then waited patiently until she summoned the courage to lift her gaze from his throat to his eyes. "Keely, I am the man who sat in a garden and promised never to hurt you," Richard said. "I am also the man who willingly suffered a public humiliation by proposing marriage on bended knee in a hall filled with listening servants. Why are you suddenly afraid of me?"

"I—I'm not afraid," Keely tried to explain. "Not exactly."

Richard put his arm around her shoulder and drew her against the side of his body. "Have you ever been alone with a man?"

"Yes."

Richard snapped his eyebrows together. Her honest answer wasn't the one he'd expected. "Who?" he asked.

"Odo and Hew. And Rhys, of course."

Richard relaxed.

"And—"

"Who?" he demanded.

"Are you angry with me?" Keely asked, her eyes large with fright.

"Never answer my questions with questions of your own," Richard said, his voice stern. "With whom else were you alone?"

"I was alone with you," she reminded him, "at your house."

Richard smiled with immense relief. "Do you understand what we are going to do tonight?"

Keely nodded. She wished with all her heart that she didn't know what her fate would be.

"Tell me, dearest."

Keely stared at him in surprise, then asked, "Don't
you
know?"

Richard struggled against a shout of laughter and won. "Of course, I know," he said with a smile. "I wished to know if what you're thinking is correct."

"You're going to futter me," Keely blurted out baldly, her voice rising with her panic. "Just as you said at dinner."

Richard felt no urge to laugh now. His bride feared him, and he wanted to calm her in order to maximize her pleasure. Whatever happened in their marriage bed that night would color their relations for as long as they lived.

"I should never have said that," Richard told her. " 'Twas my courtier's dim wit coming to the fore.... Animals futter, sweetheart. Men and women make love together. 'Tis a sharing of their bodies, their hearts, and their souls." He searched his mind for a solid analogy she could understand. "What are the physical earthly things you love to feel?" he asked.

Keely thought a moment and then cast him a shy, thoroughly enchanting smile. "I love the dewy grass between my toes, warm sunshine on my shoulders, and a gentle summer's breeze tickling my face."

Richard smiled. His bride was the only woman of his acquaintance who would have given such a priceless answer. His heart filled with aching tenderness for this unaffected innocent he'd made his wife.

"Making love feels like all that
and more"
Richard promised.

That perked Keely's interest, and she cocked her head to one side. "Truly?"

Richard nodded knowingly and correctly read the shining interest in her eyes. He stood then and faced her, holding his hand out in invitation, as if he were asking her to dance.

Keely dropped her gaze from his gleaming emerald eyes to his outstretched hand. When she raised her eyes to his again, Richard saw that apprehension had crept into her gaze again. Her small white teeth worried her full bottom lip, an endearing nervous habit of hers that he'd noticed at other stressful moments.

"I'll stop whenever you say," Richard promised. "Trust me?"

In an unconsciously sensual gesture, Keely flicked her tongue out and wet her lips, gone dry from nervousness. She dropped her violet gaze to his hand once more, then reached out and placed her smaller hand in his.

When she stood and faced him, Richard reached out with both hands and slid the straps of her nightshift off her shoulders. The gown fluttered to the floor at her feet. Wearing nothing except for the gleaming dragon pendant, she appeared like a pagan princess.

Keely blushed furiously and bowed her head in maidenly shame.

Instead of reaching for her body as he wished to do, Richard tilted her chin up and said, "Let me admire your
proud
beauty."

Keely knew what he meant. She raised her head high like a beautiful pagan queen and squared her shoulders, which thrust her perfectly formed breasts forward.

Richard worshipped her with his eyes. His gaze dropped from her hauntingly lovely face to her dusky-nippled breasts and then traveled down to her tiny waist, her slim yet curvaceous hips, and finally her dainty feet.

When his scorching gaze returned to hers, he asked, "Do you feel the sun's warmth yet?"

Keely smiled at his words.

Without taking his gaze from hers, Richard began to unfasten his bedrobe's belt. "Stop," Keely said, panicking.

The instant she said the word, Richard stilled his hands. "As you stand naked before me, dearest, I would stand naked before you," he coaxed. "I need to feel your admiring gaze on my body."

A long silent moment passed between them. Finally, Keely nodded.

Richard shrugged his bedrobe off and stood proudly before her in all of his masculine glory. Unfortunately, Keely refused to drop her gaze below his neck.

Richard's lips twitched with the urge to laugh, but he controlled himself. Instead, he affected a slightly pleading tone in his voice when he said, "Look at my body, Keely.
Please?"

Slowly, Keely dropped her gaze from his broad shoulders to his magnificent chest covered with a mat of copper hair. Her gaze dipped lower to his tapered waist, but her eyes widened when she saw the apex of his manhood, which stiffened beneath her curious stare.

"May I touch you, sweetheart?" he asked, his voice a soft caress.

Keely lifted her gaze to his. For one awful moment Richard thought her maidenly fears would overrule her apparent curiosity. Then she nodded.

Richard stepped a hairbreadth closer. He reached out with one hand and caressed her silken cheek, then glided his fingertips down the column of her slender neck to her shoulders.

Everywhere he touched her burned. Keely closed her eyes and whispered, "I can feel the sun's warmth."

Richard smiled at that. Reluctant to frighten her by reaching for her breasts, Richard glided the tips of his fingers along their gentle swell and continued down her side to the alluring curve of her hips.

Keely sighed. "I do feel the summer's breeze," she murmured.

"If you wish to feel the dew," he whispered hoarsely, "then I must kiss you."

Keely opened her eyes. She smiled and nodded at him.

Ever so gently, Richard drew her into his embrace. Allowing her no time to think, he captured her mouth in a lingering kiss that stole her breath away.

Keely reached up, entwined her arms around his neck, and pressed her nakedness against his. For the first time in her young life, she experienced the incredible sensation of masculine hardness touching her female softness.
And she liked it.

Without warning, Richard scooped her into his arms and placed her on the bed. Then he lay down beside her and gathered her into his embrace.

As his lips hovered above hers, he asked in a seductive whisper, "Shall I stop?"

"Not yet," she answered without opening her eyes.

Richard smiled with tenderness. His mouth claimed hers in a slow soul-stealing kiss that seemed to last forever. Swept away by his passion, Keely returned his kiss in kind. And then some.

Richard flicked his tongue along the crease of her mouth, and Keely willingly parted her lips for him. He explored the sweetness beyond them, and she surprised him by following his lead. Their tongues touched tentatively and then grew bold, swirling wildly together in a primitive mating dance as old as time itself.

"Can you feel the sun's warmth?" Richard breathed against her lips.

"Yes."

"Me too."

Keely moaned. His words tugged at her heartstrings and inflamed her blossoming desire.

Richard sprinkled dozens of feathery-light kisses on her temples, eyelids, nose, and throat. He held her tightly as if he wished never to let her go. His mouth returned to hers, and they kissed for an eternity. Richard caressed her silken body from the delicate column of her throat to her thrusting breasts to the juncture of her thighs.

Feeling her shiver, he whispered, " 'Tis the summer's breeze, sweetheart."

Again, his lips claimed hers in an earthmoving kiss. His hands caressed her as lightly and gently as the summer's breeze, while his lips moved down her throat and then beyond.

Capturing one of her dusky nipples between his lips, Richard suckled upon it and ignited a heat between her thighs that banished all coherent thought from her mind. Keely burned to be possessed by her husband.

"I need—
something,"
she panted, her innocence making her ignorant of what she yearned for. But her husband knew.

"Spread your legs for me," Richard said, his voice thick with desire.

Without hesitation, Keely did as she was told. Richard kissed her thoroughly, and then, watching her face, he slowly inserted one long finger inside her.

Panicking, Keely opened her mouth to cry stop, but Richard was too fast for her. He covered her mouth with his own, drugging her senses with the urgency of his kiss.

When he judged her shock had passed, Richard inserted a second finger inside her. "Be easy, my love," he cooed to her. "Accustom yourself to the feel of it. You're so wonderfully tight. I want to make you ready to receive me.... Can't you feel the sun's burning warmth between your thighs?"

Without waiting for an answer, Richard dipped his head to her breasts and suckled upon each of her aroused nipples. His talented fingers began to move rhythmically and seductively inside her.

Keely relaxed, and catching his rhythm, she began to move her hips. She enticed his fingers deeper inside her writhing body and moaned her need. Her hips moved faster and faster. And then his fingers were gone.

"No," she whimpered, protesting their desertion, as her eyes flew open.

Richard knelt between her thighs. His engorged manhood teased the dewy pearl of her womanhood. Keely moaned at this incredibly sensuous torture and closed her eyes.

"Look at me, my love," Richard ordered, his manhood poised to pierce.

Keely opened her eyes and stared in a daze of desire at him.

"One moment of pain, my love," Richard promised. "Like a passing cloud blocking the sun's warming rays."

Richard pushed himself inside her with one powerful thrust and buried himself deep within her trembling body. Clutching him, Keely cried out in surprised pain as he broke through her virgin's barrier.