Virginia Henley (24 page)

He was tired of waiting for her to return. He considered himself a patient man, but his patience was not endless. This was ridiculous! He could feel the small measure of calm he had achieved desert him. Marcus cursed under his breath and strode to the door. He would wait no longer!

Diana lay abed feeling utterly sorry for herself. Why was she cursed? Why did she have to sleep alone? Even Kell and Nola were likely sharing a bed by now. She shivered. She fully expected Marcus to come and beat her. Beat her to a jelly for the insults she had flung at him. Why hadn’t
he come? Why was he drawing it out? Why didn’t he come and get it over with? Suddenly, she heard him at the door and closed her eyes in pretended sleep.

Marcus saw that Diana had fallen asleep with the lamp blazing. He dimmed it to a soft glow and looked down at her. His gut twisted as he saw her eyelashes were spiky from tears. What a brute he must seem to a little girl like Diana. Yet she stood up to him with all the tenacity of a terrier. A wave of protectiveness almost engulfed him. Still wearing his tunic, he got into bed beside her and very gently slipped his arms about her. “I cannot sleep without you,” he whispered against her ear.

As if she were rousing from slumber, Diana turned in his arms, lifted her lashes, and looked up at him. A sigh trembled on her lips.

His dark face softened as he looked down at her with adoration. With gentle fingers he lifted the teardrops from her lashes and lightly stroked the fine hair from her temples, then he bent his lips to feather tiny kisses across her brow. His lips touched her eyelids, her cheekbones, the corners of her mouth so tenderly it made her throat ache. He brushed the back of his fingers across her chin and cheeks as if she were made of fragile porcelain that must be handled with a delicate touch.

Her breath caught in her throat. She never dreamed her fierce Roman could be so tender and gentle. She lifted her hand to stroke his cheek, then softly traced his jagged scar with a fingertip. When he quivered at her delicate touch, she realized how sensitive his face was. She never realized such a strong man could be sensitive.

Marcus enfolded her in tender arms to cradle her against him while he whispered and crooned words of love. His gentleness allowed her to see how affectionate, softhearted, and sensitive he was capable of being. “I love you more than life,” he murmured. Diana melted against him, entwining her arms about his neck. “When you cling to me so sweetly, it doubles my strength. It makes me feel invincible,” he whispered. “Will you let me carry you back to our
chamber? I never want to spend a night away from you as long as we live.”

His whispers were so intimate and private, she knew he had never uttered those words to anyone else in the world. In these moments there was no one in the entire universe, except the two of them, sweetly clinging. She yielded herself up to him. “Take me back. It’s where I belong.”

Marcus lifted her from the bed and held her tightly against his heart. When he held her like this, in a warm cocoon of love, she realized she had never felt happier or safer. When he carried her into their sleeping chamber, the immense bed looked most inviting with the furs turned back.

Marcus climbed the steps, placed her gently on the bed, then sat down beside her. He made no move to take off her nightrobe nor divest himself of his clothes. Instead he covered her hand with his, then lifted it to his mouth to kiss each finger. “From now on I will believe whatever you tell me. I love you and I trust you, Diana.”

“Marcus, I love you too. I am devastated when we fight.”

He pulled her against his side, then with gentle fingers tilted her chin so that their eyes met. “I know you love me, my heart, but do you trust me?”

“I would trust you with my life, Marcus,” she vowed.

“That is what I am asking you to do, beloved. I am asking you to marry me. I am asking you to come to Rome to meet my father, while I get permission from the military authorities. When I have spoken to the Senate about replacing Paullinus, we will come home to Aquae Sulis where we are happiest.”

Her bottom lip trembled as she looked up at him with joy. Her heart was overflowing with the love she felt for this man. He wanted her for his wife, and surely she wanted him for her husband more than she had ever longed for anything in her life. She was terrified to go to Rome, but she would never hurt him by refusing. He had asked her to trust him
with her life. How could she not when she loved him and trusted him with all her heart and soul? She smiled tremulously. “Yes, I will marry you, and yes, I will come to Rome.”

Marcus lifted her into his lap and hugged her tenderly. “Oh, Diana, thank you. I was so afraid you would refuse me. You have made me the happiest man alive.” His lips traced her ear, then moved softly across her cheek until they found her mouth. He did not devour her; instead, his lips touched hers with heartstopping gentleness.

She reached up to caress his face and let her fingers drift down the column of his neck. His gentleness almost undid her. How could such a physically powerful man show such infinite tenderness? Her throat tightened with unshed tears. She pressed her face against his chest and felt the gold chain beneath her cheek. When she glanced down, she saw that something was wrong with his Caesar coin. “What happened to it?” she whispered huskily.

“I had it cut in half,” he murmured. Marcus reached beneath her pillow and pulled out the ivory box. He placed it in her cupped hands and held his breath.

Diana opened it slowly, and there upon a cushion of silk lay the other half of his Caesar coin with a fine gold chain attached to it. “Oh, Marcus,” was all she could say before the teardrops slipped down her cheeks.

“No tears, beloved, I beg you,” he pleaded hoarsely.

“They are tears of happiness. So long as I wear this against my heart, you will always be with me.”

He let out a long relieved sigh that it meant as much to her as it did to him. He gently lifted the chain over her head and watched it fall to rest in the valley between her beautiful breasts. “Wear it as a symbol of my undying love for you.”

She took his half of the priceless gold coin and fitted it to hers. “We fit together to become one whole.” She lifted a tremulous mouth to his in sweet seductive invitation and
Marcus slowly made them whole with the tenderest love-making they would ever experience. They fell asleep entwined together, knowing they had committed totally to one another, for better or for worse.

The following day, Diana resolutely thrust away all apprehension as she busied herself with preparations for the journey. As she and Nola packed her clothes, jewels, toilet articles, and cosmetics, she realized how many beautiful things Marcus had given her. She smiled ironically. How she had hated the restrictive fashions of Georgian times. Now she had the most seductive and erotic garments ever designed throughout history. Each and every item was made to enhance the female body for the sole pleasure of the male. When she analyzed it, Diana realized the concept was barbaric and yet, in reality, it was delicious to flaunt her femininity and exercise the power nature had bestowed upon the female sex.

Marcus decided he could manage without Kell while he was in Rome; his services were better employed here in charge of the villa and the household in Aquae Sulis. Marcus told Diana she could take Nola with her if she wished, but when she learned that Kell was to remain behind, she thought it would be a splendid opportunity for Nola and Kell to spend time alone together to explore the boundaries of their newfound relationship.

Marcus insisted that Diana have a bodyguard with her at all times, both on the journey and while they were in Rome. There would be many times they would be separated
and Marcus knew of her fears, though she valiantly tried to keep them hidden. He appointed Tor, who had acted as her groom, to be her personal slave and instructed him to stay at Diana’s back, as close as her shadow.

Tor could not believe the honor bestowed upon him. The other slaves envied his elevated status of bodyguard to the general’s lady, whom it was rumored was soon to become the general’s wife! Kell immediately began instructing Tor on everything from personal hygiene to how to prevent Diana from being jostled in a crowd. By the time Kell had finished with him, Tor’s head was spinning with the myriad duties he would be expected to perform and with the monumental responsibility of protecting Diana.

Kell presented him with his own leather flagellum and instructed him never to hesitate to use it on anyone who did not make way for his lady. Then Marcus took Tor to the fortress for lessons in the short sword. The general, of course, would take ten of his best soldiers as his personal guard, but lessons in weaponry wouldn’t be amiss for Diana’s personal body slave.

Only two days remained before they sailed. Marcus knew he would be late at the fort, packing supplies for the journey, selecting the centurions he would take with him, and instructing his second-in-command to take charge of the fortress in his absence. He would dine with his men and instructed Diana to eat without him.

When he arrived home, however, and found the triclinium in darkness, he realized how much he had missed her stimulating company over dinner. He strode into the bathing room intending to cleanse himself quickly and was overjoyed to find Diana awaiting him in the water.

“Have the gods gifted me with a water sprite?”

“I’ve seen so little of you these last two days, I thought I’d act as your bath slave tonight.” Her words were seductive as her beautiful body, as she floated naked in the pale green water.

He grinned down at her. “You’ll soon see more than
you bargained for,” he promised, growing enormous with anticipation.

“No! Don’t undress, master, let me do that.”

She came out of the water to stand before him and unbuckle his breastplate. She stood much closer than was necessary. A bemused Marcus murmured, “You always refused to serve as my slave, yet now that I have freed you, it amuses you to play slave girl!”

“Amuses me and arouses me, master,” she said, running her hands over the great slabs of muscle in his bare chest. He removed his cuirass of leather strips himself, leaving her to strip him of his linen undergarment. When she did so, she jumped back in pretended alarm as his swollen phallus sprang free of the garment. “I am an ignorant bath slave, master, instruct me in my duties.”

“Minister to my needs,” he ordered huskily.

“How?” she asked innocently.

“Touch me,” he commanded.

“Like this?” Diana slipped her hand between his powerful legs and allowed the tips of her fingers to trail up the inside of his thigh. His shaft stood up rigid at her touch. “And like this, master?” She cupped his heavy sac in the palm of her hand, moving it up and down with a slow rhythm. Then her fingers squeezed on him until she discerned the two spheres within the sac, and she rolled them one against the other.

He moaned with the sweet, heavy ache her manipulations provoked. With her other hand she placed one finger on the underside of his cock at the base and slowly traced its full length. His foreskin stretched, allowing him to lengthen another inch until the head was fully exposed and straining to lengthen further. When it could not, it began to pulse and swell until it was a bloodproud shade of vermilion.

“’Tis a formidable weapon, like a great gladius sword. What shall I do with it, master?”

“Sheath it!” he ordered, his voice thick with desire.
His hands cupped her bottom cheeks to pull her to him, but she slipped from his grasp in mock outrage. With her hands on her hips, she demanded, “Is this what your bath slaves do for you? You need a damned cold plunge!”

She slid into the water and in a flash he followed her, and caught her. From behind, his arms encircled her and he pulled her back against him so that his hard length rested in her woman’s cleft. She wanted to torment him further by rubbing herself back and forth upon him, but to her dismay she realized she was suspended on him and her feet could not touch bottom.

She smiled a secret smile, refusing to be thwarted. He was so long, the tip of his phallus protruded from the golden curls of her mons. With a deliberate finger, she encircled the swollen tip over and over until he thought he would go mad. Marcus grit his teeth against the erotic sensations.

“Two can play this game, little cocktease.” He held her immobile with one arm about her waist and unerringly placed his finger on her sensitive woman’s bud, directly above the tip of his cock. What he did with his finger made her squirm, then wriggle, then arch in frenzied arousal. He stopped abruptly and she cried out in protest.

“Finish me,” she gasped.

With his mouth against her ear, he ground out, “My will prevails. I will finish you when I am ready.” He hoisted her from the water, then with powerful arms elevated himself from the bath. He swept up a big towel and a flacon of oil, fully prepared to chase her down. But Diana did not run. She came against him and rubbed her soft body against his hardness. “Selfish brute,” she whispered playfully.

“Not selfish, beloved. I’ll be more generous than I’ve ever been in my life. I’ll give, and keep on giving until you can’t take any more.”

He swooped her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to their sleeping chamber. Then he spread the towel
before the fire and pulled her down to him. He poured the almond oil into his palms, warmed it at the fire, then began to massage her with long, powerful strokes.

“Your skin is so fair and so smooth, I hope the bitter winds of the sea don’t roughen it.”

Diana stretched like a feline who was being stroked. “You can do this every night to prevent it,” she purred.

He laughed at her naivete. “A ship isn’t conducive to long, playful sessions of lovemaking. A quick in and out against a cabin wall perhaps.”

“Mmm … that, too, might be interesting.”

“Enough to warm the blood perhaps, until we sail into the Mare internum where the glorious sun shines every day.”

“We call it the Mediterranean,” she murmured, barely able to carry on a conversation when she would rather give herself up to blissful arousal.

“Means exactly the same thing: inland sea,” he said, dipping the fleshy pads of his blunt fingertips into her cleft. He traced over each pink fold as if they were the petals of a flower. The fragrance of almonds was heady as the heat of the fire made the oil release its scent. She was gasping now, trying not to beg as her senses all became heightened.

“Why did you choose almond?”

“Because I love the flavor,” he said huskily, bending over to lick each nipple, then covering them with his mouth to feel them spike into sharp little spears. His tongue licked a burning wet path from her breasts, across her belly, and down to her high mons. Diana dug her nails into the palms of her hands to prevent her from screaming as his wicked tongue licked the almond from every petal of her flower.

“Marc … Marc … Marcus.” His name was a supplication, and as much for his sake as hers, he thrust his tongue deep, unable to deny himself another moment. He plunged and curled, plunged and curled, stroking her bud until it swelled to the bursting point.

Her fingers were buried in his thick hair, urging him on
to devour her. From beneath languorous eyelids she watched his black head between her legs and realized with a deep sexual thrill, it was the most exciting, intimate thing a man could do to a woman. She could contain her climax no longer and arched into his mouth with a piercing cry of pleasure.

Marcus immediately moved over her body so that his mouth could capture her cries. She tasted herself on his lips and it immediately began a new cycle of desire, only hotter and fiercer, that no teasing tongue could assuage.

The urgency of her need paled in comparison to his. He drove into her savagely, the powerful force of his penetration moving her dangerously close to the fire. She became so wantonly greedy with lust that she opened her legs wider and arched herself higher to take every fraction of his hard length inside her.

Marcus was ravenous as he drove into her voluptuous body with all the power of a virile male body at the peak of its strength. Yet still, Diana craved more, demanded more. Finally she lifted her legs high enough so that her ankles lay against his broad shoulders and she was wide open to him. He thudded into her over and over, endlessly, until they were love drunk, then love mad. The sensations each of them experienced were so heightened in intensity, their cries began a full half-hour before the volcanic eruptions of their orgasms began.

When coitus was finally complete, they collapsed together, spent in mind and body and emotion. They lay motionless for long minutes while the world stopped spinning and righted itself. Then some devil provoked Marcus to whisper, “Can you take more?” She was utterly slaked and knew he, too, was completely spent from the ferocity of their lovemaking. She couldn’t yet speak, so slowly shook her head.

“Neither can I,” he admitted, with a deep sigh of pure satisfaction. The same devil now pricked Diana and smiled her secret smile.

“That’s too bad, Marcus darling,” she whispered, “for I suddenly have a craving for the taste of almonds.” She sat up in one fluid motion and appraised his male beauty from beneath eyelids heavy from passion. With alarm, he watched her hand reach for the flacon of oil. He knew he could not achieve another erection without a protracted rest.

She knelt above him and trickled the oil into his navel, then with delicate hands, spread it downward across his ridged belly and onto his muscled thighs. With wicked fingers she stroked his flaccid member, which lay peacefully slumbering after its labors, and to his amazement it awoke immediately. It did not stir sleepily, but sprang to life with a vengeance, ready for any assault.

She dipped her head, running her tongue over her lips in anticipation as she said, “I want to play slave girl again.” She started at the base and ran her tongue up the entire length of him. When she reached the head, she licked delicately, then swirled her tongue beneath the crest, then dipped the tip of her tongue into the tiny opening to taste the drops of clear juice that flowed upward so readily. Then she repeated the sequence, managing to do it more erotically each time.

Her tongue slithered about him like a sensual snake, making him pulse and quiver in ecstasy. Marcus closed his eyes and opened his mouth to emit the sounds of pleasure that built in his throat. When she took him inside her hot mouth, he cried a warning to her. “I’ll come.”

She lifted her mouth from him only long enough to give him back his own words. “My will prevails. I will finish you when I am ready.”

When they awoke in the morning, they lay entangled before the ashes of the fire. Diana blushed profusely as Marcus murmured, “We didn’t even make it to the bed last night.” He kissed her nose. “I adore you.” He loved it
when she blushed, and she always did when she thought their lovemaking had been erotically wicked.

A message came that Marcus Magnus was needed urgently at the fort. When he saw Diana’s worried frown, he said lightly, “This is our last day. I’ll soon dispose of the problem, whatever it is.” On his arrival at the fort, he realized the problem could not be disposed of so quickly. His first cohort centurion awaited him with disquieting news.

“General, your brother, Petrius, rode in early and fell unconscious from his horse. He was carried to the valetudinarium to have his wounds tended.”

Marcus rushed to the hospital, fearing the worst, but when he arrived he found Petrius conscious, telling the procurator of his misfortunes.