“God,” he said finally, “she just tears me apart. They both do!”
“They are extraordinary girls, both of them,” said Annis, stroking his hair.
“It’s moments like these that I am so angry with Caro!” he said hoarsely. “That is what I can’t fathom. How could she do this tothem? Me, yes. I understand her wanting to leaveme. But notthem. They’reinnocent. They didn’t ask for this, and they don’t deserve it!” He swallowed.How much of it is my fault? If I had done something differently, would Caro have stayed?Not fallen in love with Greathouse? How could I have stopped it?He shook his head, choking back a sob. He didn’t know, and the pain tore a hole in his chest. An unaccustomed anger took possession of him. She had hurt his precious little girls, and he didn’t think he could ever forgive her for that or understand it.
“How can a mother leave her children?” he asked, bewildered. “How can I have been sowrongabout her?” His rage and confusion burst out of him. Tears trickled down his cheeks, and he wiped them away impatiently.
“I don’t know, my dear,” murmured Annis. “I don’t know how she could leave any of you.”
He clutched her close, burying his face in her belly fighting for composure.
“Thank God for you,” he murmured, after a bit. “You always seem to know the right thing to say.”
He was stifling in these clothes.
“Come to bed—I need to hold you.” He sat back and ripped off his neckcloth and tore off his jacket. Rising, he flung them away and tore off the rest of his clothing. Turning to Annis, he helped her off with hers, flinging things left and right, careless of where they landed. Annis let him, helping him to get rid of her clothes as fast as possible.
They fell into bed in a tangle of limbs, and he pulled the covers over them, hauling her close.
“You,” he muttered. “You are my sanity.”
“Oh, Emrys!” She buried her face in his chest as his hands roved all over her.
“Lift your head, I want to kiss you,” he growled in her ear.
When she did, he pushed her back into the pillows and kissed her, a devouring, deep, desperate kiss.This woman is my everything. After so much betrayal, her support, her patience, her kindness... what would I do without her? Will she leave me, too? Grow tired of me?Panic skittered along his nerves.
She responded to his kiss by wrapping her arms round him, her hands clutching at him, a whimper in her throat as his fingers slid along her slippery channel and plunged inside her. Reassured that she wanted him—she couldn’t fake a response like that!—he pulled her leg over his hip and finding her entrance with his cock pressed inside her with an easy, deep thrust. His hand between them rubbed her furiously.I need to feel her come.
His thrusts were steady, firm, and deep as he pushed her toward a rapid climax. This was not one of those moments to savor. He needed to come and quickly. Panting in her ear, he said hoarsely, “Come, Annis! Fuck, I need you to come now!”
She jerked and cried out.Thank fuck!He felt the flutter of her climax in her body, and a groan was ripped from him as her response ignited his own. A spike of pleasure, a rush of sizzling heat, and he was coming hard. Gripping her hips, he rode it out with repeated grunting thrusts. The wavelets of pleasure slowly receded, and his body lost its tension, going lax and floaty warm. His breathing and heartbeat slowly sinking back to a normal pace.
“Thank you,” he murmured, wrapping his arms round her. He was still inside her, and he stayed that way for some minutes until his softening flesh slipped out of her. He rolled onto his back, and she arranged herself on his chest.
“I’m exhausted,” he murmured.
“Hm, sleep,” she said softly.
“Hm...” He let his breath out on a soft exhalation.They would talk about Charlie in the morning.
*
Annis woke toEmrys wrapped round her as usual and lay enjoying it for several minutes, her thoughts roaming back overCharlie’s nightmare and Emrys’s response. It was clear to her that he felt some kind of responsibility, as if Caro’s defection was his fault. She clenched her teeth. Annis was generally a forgiving kind of person, but the thought of that woman brought tears of rage to her eyes.How could she hurt him and those precious babies so?It was beyond her comprehension howanyonecould reject Emrys. He was perfect, the most wonderful husband any woman could ask for. Her love for him, never far from the surface, surged up and engulfed her.I love him fiercely! And his darling children who are mine now to protect and love.
Emrys snuffled and stirred, his arms tightening round her.
“Thank God you’re still here,” he muttered.
“Where else would I be?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Hm?” He opened his eyes and blinked. “What?”
She smiled and patted his chest. “Nothing.”
He snugged her close and sighed. “What are we going to do about Charlie?”
“Be consistent and reliable,” Annis traced patterns in his chest hair with a fingertip. “She needs to rebuild her trust that adults won’t abandon her.”
