The Dark Knight (46 page)

She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his, sealing both their vows. He returned the kiss gently at first, rediscovering her lips as if it had been days rather than hours since they last kissed, and then she molded her body to his and the kisses began to burn with an urgency that went beyond physical need. He kissed her as he never had before, fierce, demanding, without hesitation or restraint. Tonight there was nothing to stop him.

“Whatever my future holds, you are a part of it,” she murmured, as his lips trailed down her neck. Even if he left her someday to take a wife and all that was left was a heartbreaking memory, the pain would be worth this happiness. She could probably live without him, but
without him there would be nothing to live for. The ledge beckoned. She had to make this leap of faith.

“Come to bed with me,” he whispered, and then she was on her feet. He took her hand and led her into the bedchamber.

She had expected more kisses once the door closed behind them, more urgency that would drive them toward the massive bed. Instead he moved methodically around the room, finding a flint and then lighting a brace of candles that was placed on a table near the bed. As there was still enough light coming through the window to see by, she assumed he meant to still be awake when it would be too dark to easily find the flint. Her muddled mind never would have thought that far ahead.

Next he went past her cold bath to put more charcoal in the brazier, and then he sat down on the bench at the end of the bed and calmly removed his boots. The braces and belt came off next. She watched in dumbfounded silence as, slowly and surely, his tunic and shirt followed.

“Oh, thank goodness.” She breathed a sigh of relief that he had stopped undressing, although it turned into a series of long sighs when her gaze lingered on his chest. The beautiful lines of his body never failed to fascinate her. If she didn’t stop breathing so fast, she was going to faint.

“What makes you say that?” he asked, his expression amused.

She had to think a moment to remember what she had said and why, and then she blurted out the answer. “For a moment there I thought you intended to take off
all
of your clothes.”

“I do intend exactly that.” He studied her face and then added, “Eventually.”

Her eyes widened. “Why?”

“Why?” he echoed, clearly baffled.

“You are going to be … naked?”

“Of course,” he said, with a note of gentleness in his voice that she found out of place.

Oh, she was definitely going to faint. “Avalene?” He was at her side in an instant. “People do this
naked
?!”

“It would appear you are not as knowledgeable as I thought,” he muttered. He made it sound as if her lack of knowledge was a disappointment.

“I am plenty knowledgeable,” she argued. “I just did not realize that people removed all their clothing to … I am sure that no one mentioned it. Is this some strange Italian custom?”

“Nay.” Now he was smiling. “Actually, I suppose it is an Italian custom, although the custom is just as common throughout the world.”

She looked at the brace of candles, and then at the bed. Her breathing sounded as if she had just run up a very long flight of stairs.

She knew the answer to her next question before she asked it. “Do I have to be naked, too?”

Now he was wary, realizing this was all unexpected news to her. “How did you think people could make love when they were fully clothed?” He shook his head. “Never mind. I suppose that question was answered last night.”

She gave him a distracted nod. The thought of standing naked next to all of his perfection made her heart do strange things in her chest. “I do not think we need the candles.”

His gaze followed hers to the candles and then back to her face. The tenderness of his expression melted the edges of her fear. “Tonight is not for darkness. Avalene, do you not yet realize that you are the most beautiful
thing ever to exist in my world?” His fingers slid down the curve of her neck, his touch feather-light, almost as if he were tasting her skin with his fingertips. “I do not want anything more to stand between us, not even clothing. Will you rob me of that pleasure?”

Well, put that way … She shook her head.

He leaned down and slowly kissed her ear. “I want to undress you myself, to see you reveal yourself to me one layer of clothing at a time. Will you let me?”

Never
. He did something to her ear that made her knees weak. She whispered, “A-Aye.”

His lips moved to her mouth while he untied the laces of her gown. His kisses had the curious effect of both soothing and exciting her, and more of the fear melted away. This was not so very different from the other times they were alone together. She knew how to fit her mouth to his, how to return the pleasure he gave her. At first she was hesitant to touch his bare chest, but soon her hands were skimming over every inch of bare skin she could reach. He was so different from her, so much larger, so much harder. His whole body was made of warm stone.

She vaguely realized that her gown had fallen away and she stood only in her chemise. He caught both her wrists in one hand and took a step away from her. His eyes locked with hers and she realized that he was breathing hard, panting between his parted lips as they stared at each other. He had already unlaced her chemise and now he reached out to brush the slender straps from her shoulders. His gaze lowered at the same moment she felt the fabric pool around her feet and she saw a tremor move through his body.

He stared so long that she began to feel self-conscious, and then he shook his head, as if physical movement was necessary to clear his thoughts. “I want to make
you understand how beautiful you are to me, but I have no words.”

He used his lips and hands instead, starting at her neck, moving down to her shoulders, steadily moving lower as he touched and kissed every part of her. She could hardly stand. He seemed to realize she was becoming unbalanced and he lifted her effortlessly into his arms. The feel of so much bare skin touching sent a shock of awareness through her and she knew he felt it, too, heard it in the catch of his breath. He laid her gently on top of the bed and covered her with his body, most of his weight braced above her on his arms.

“I—” Her voice broke and she had to clear her throat before she could continue. “I thought you were going to be naked, too.”

“I will be.” He smiled down at her. “I have waited all my life for this moment. Indulge me while I linger over it.”

The things he said seemed to be plucked right from her head. “That is what I thought when I saw you enter the great hall at Coleway. I stayed at the railing because I wanted to see your face, hear your voice, but somehow even then I knew that I had been waiting for you. Was it … was it anything like that for you when we first met?”

“Not quite,” he admitted, and her marvel faded a little. “I was appalled at my reaction to you. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. Long ago I learned to control my emotions, to never give away anything that might be used against me, and to always be aware of my surroundings. When I looked at you, a herd of belled cattle could have stampeded by me and I never would have known they were there. John and even Brunor knew immediately that I was besotted. It was embarrassing.”

She smothered a giggle. Ah, marvel again. He felt the same.

He made a face. “I think Brunor felt sorry for me.”

“Poor thing,” she murmured. She stroked his cheek, and realized she was no longer self-conscious about her nudity. This was Dante. She had nothing to hide from him.

His expression was suddenly serious as the tip of his finger traced her lips. “I never understood why history is filled with stories of men who waged wars over a woman they loved. There are many women in the world, and it was beyond my grasp what made one woman special enough to go to such extremes.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Now I understand.”

His lips found hers again and he kissed her with a passion that left her breathless, his body a welcome weight upon hers. He settled his hips between her legs and she could feel the hard proof of his arousal. His hand slid down the length of her back and then lower, pulling her closer even as he pushed against her. She arched toward him, helping his impossible quest to press her closer to his body.

He made a sound low in his chest and then moved lower, his hips no longer joined to hers, the weight of his body now pinning her down as his hands and mouth cherished her, kissing, stroking, caressing everywhere he could reach. It was shocking. It was pleasurable beyond bearing. She began to make small sounds of pleasure and impatience. And then suddenly his weight was gone.

She blinked once and saw him standing next to the bed, untying the laces on his pants. His eyes burned as he looked down at her.

“You cannot know how many times I imagined you in my bed at just this moment.” The knotted laces suddenly snapped in his hands and then he pushed the
leather pants to the floor and stepped away from them. She had little more than a glimpse of his stiff sex before he rejoined her on the bed. “My meager imagination did not do you justice.”

Again he had plucked the thoughts from her head. He found his place again between her legs, the cradle where he fit so perfectly. Her arms welcomed him as well, wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer. His hand moved lower until his palm pressed against her. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back as she gave herself over to the primitive emotions that raged inside her body, a body that no longer seemed her own but one that knew exactly how to respond to him, how to please him.

She arched her back, which thrust her chest toward him, and he accepted the offering. He leaned down to kiss first one breast and then the other, and then he started to do more amazing and shocking things with his tongue and mouth. The last shreds of her virtue fell away and her hands tangled in his hair, at times tugging hard enough to cause him pain when he tried to move on to a new torment before she had her fill of the last one. She urged him to do whatever he wanted, as long as he did not stop.

“Put your legs around my waist,” he said, his voice barely recognizable. He pressed a hard line of kisses from her shoulder to her lips. There was nothing gentle about the way his mouth slanted over hers, opening her lips, and then stroking her mouth with his tongue in a blatant echo of what he planned to do to her body.

He positioned himself so the length of his sex pressed against her slick, heated flesh. She could hear his labored breathing, the small catches in his breath when he moved against her. Her hips lifted of their own accord and he returned the pressure, not penetrating, but letting her
feel the length of him between her legs, his hips pressed tightly to hers. There was a sudden lack of air in the room. A tremor went through his body and the muscles in his arms and chest became even harder beneath her hands. The muscles in his neck stood out in stark relief as he began to move against her, the friction against her most sensitive skin a near unbearable pleasure.

There was a fire building inside her. Each movement of his hips seemed to move her closer to the heat. She wanted to tell him how he was making her feel but words were beyond her. Small moans were the only sounds she seemed capable of making. She had thought her body incapable of handling any more sensation until his hand cupped her breast and he roughly flicked his thumb across her nipple. She was on fire.

“Something is …” Her breath came in small gasps. “I cannot …”

“Let it happen.” His voice was a dark presence against her ear, his breath scorching. “Let yourself fall. I will keep you safe, Avalene. Trust me.”

He knew what was happening to her. She knew he would keep her safe. She let go of her last hold on sanity and let the flames consume her. She felt as if she were flying, soaring upward, and then floating motionless, stunned joy and a tempest’s fury all at once. She barely had time for the emotions to register when she felt his teeth sink painlessly into her shoulder. He shifted his weight, then with one long, powerful thrust, he was inside her. “Oh!”

“Forgive me,
cara
.” The words were torn from his chest. He buried his face against her neck and thrust himself even deeper.

“Oh!” Her nails dug into his shoulders, deep and hard.

He let out a hiss of pain, but only gathered her closer.

One arm wrapped around her waist, the other above her
shoulders so his hand could cradle her head. He held himself still for one long, breathless moment, then he drew back ever so slowly.

The sensations were invasive, foreign and raw, and yet she felt a strange sense of alarm that he was leaving her. A small sound of distress came from her unbidden.

“Shh,
cara
, I cannot stop.” There was distress in his voice, but he entered her again with a smooth stroke that made her gasp again at the renewed shock of his invasion. “Not yet. Soon. Soon.”

Instinctively she knew that he was trying to be gentle. His body was beyond his control now, just as hers had been only moments before. She clung to his arms, to muscles that had turned to marble. He was deep within her, his warm skin slick with his efforts to be gentle, his musk a lush blanket over her senses. He moved slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly.

The pain was beginning to fade when he began to thrust harder, burying himself even deeper until she felt his sex swell within her body. Suddenly he stopped, a statue frozen in a moment of time, a moment of such intense pleasure that it might be pain. A low, primitive sound came from inside him and his muscles convulsed as he held her impaled. He was looking down at her with those hypnotic, intense green eyes, as if words failed him.

In that moment she discovered her whole reason for being, the entire point of being alive. She was awed, speechless with wonder. The shudder that wracked his body vibrated through her, powerful beyond anything she had ever felt, as if he were imparting some measure of his strength to her. His eyes closed and small tremors began to run along the muscles of his arms, and then he crushed her to his chest, trembling and winded.