Page 105

“Please, my lord,” she whimpered, and he would have loved to delay, just to hear her beg a little more so prettily. However, he was already going to spend with an embarrassing haste if he was not careful. Reaching down, he took himself in hand and guided himself where he most wanted to be.

His chest was heaving like he’d run a mile, and as he felt the thick head of his cock engulfed in her tight, wet heat, his eyes rolled back in his head and he thrust inside her, once, twice, thrice until he was fully sheathed and had let out a yell far louder than he’d intended.

It was him that needed to cover his mouth, he thought dazedly as he slumped over her, striving for breath. My gods. “Aimee?” he asked shakily.

She reached up her hands and stroked the sides of his face. More shockingly, he did not feel the need to flinch away. Her thumbs caressed his cheekbones. She must feel the difference between the left and right sides of his face, he thought dimly, but could not bring himself to care.

“I wish I could see your face,” she whispered, and for some gods forsaken reason, it made him want to kiss her again. He remained hovering where he was above her a moment, just luxuriating in the feel of her. Even her breath on his face gave him gratification, and suddenly he could stand it no longer and had to start moving.

“Aimee,” he breathed, and capturing her hands, bore them to the mattress, pinning them to either side of her head and lacing their fingers together. She arched her back and must have planted her feet on the mattress to propel herself, for she met his thrusts with a vigor that threatened to take his breath away.

“Oh, my lord,” she gasped. “Oh yes.”

Konrad gritted his teeth. It was almost too much. Somehow the darkness made it feel more intense as it seemed to heighten his awareness of how good how it was. He was losing himself in her and it felt incredible. For the first time in his life, he did not temper his thrusts or worry that his large body might be overwhelming. His wife had made it clear that she reveled in his strength and power.

“Konrad!” she cried out, and he felt the blood rush in his head, pounding in his ears. “Konrad! Oh, Konrad! Yes!”

“Aimee!” he shouted, and fuck, he didn’t care if the whole damn field heard them.

27

Konrad woke in the early hours to the sound of light rain drumming against the roof of the pavilion and an unaccustomed feeling coursing through his large body. He lay a moment, blinking in confusion before he got some vague notion what it might be. Contentment, was that it?

Aimee was curled into his side, one arm wrapped around his waist, one curvy leg slung over his as though she were staking her claim on his territory. He had no idea why the notion should make him grin, but it did, damn it. Twice more he had taken her enthusiastically in the night, and he still felt relaxed and mellowed from it.

Shifting onto his side, he turned toward her and brushed the dark hair out of her face. This made her frown and bump her head against his chest. “Mmm. Keep still,” she complained. Then she blinked and attempted to sit up with a confused look on her face. He braced a hand against her stomach, preventing her.

“Shhh, it is still early,” he murmured. “Go back to sleep.”

Obligingly, she settled back against him, but he could tell she had not relaxed into sleep. “Is it raining?” she asked.

“Mmmm,” he murmured discouragingly. Then repeated: “Go back to sleep.”

There was a moment’s silence, then another question. “Will it come through the roof?”

Konrad sighed. “You are not going to go back to sleep, are you?”

“Most likely not,” she said wriggling to get comfortable. “I don’t tend to once I have awakened.”

He felt her fingers brush caressingly against his side and huffed out a breath. He really should sleep another hour or two. The joust was a demanding event, and he consumed a goodly quantity of wine the day before. Then, too, his sleep had not been undisturbed what with one thing and another. It had been late when they had returned from the hall and then there had been their enthusiastic coupling. It was a good thing their pavilion was a decent distance from anyone else’s.

All good reasons to close his eyes again and sleep, he told himself sternly, but then he felt her hand settle against his chest. “Aimee,” he warned without opening his eyes. “If you do not go back to sleep, then I will find something else for you to do.”

“Such as what?”

“You should have a damned good notion what, after last night.”

She was quiet a moment. “I would voice no objection,” she admitted, and Konrad gave up on sleep altogether. This time their coupling was lazy and unhurried, and he gazed into her eyes the whole time.

He took care to build up her pleasure slowly, slowly as his own climbed up his spine inch by inch, making his gaze flicker as he bit his lip to keep his strokes unhurried and leisurely, however much the temptation rode him to go faster and deeper and make his possession known.

The steady thrum of rain on the roof, Aimee’s hitched breathing, the beat of his own heart, all helped him keep the relaxed pace he wanted, helped him keep in check, until finally Aimee’s hands slid from his hips around to his arse. She gripped him there hard. “Please, Konrad!” she begged, and just like that, his body surged as though it were hers to command all along. He only had to drive into her hard three times, and they were both there, gasping and groaning and clinging to one another.

He rolled onto his back, taking her with him so she lay half on top of him. He did not want to pull out of her, so he stayed where he was for as long as possible, passing a hand down the length of her dark, tousled hair and wrapping his hand in its length.

“Your mother must have been very beautiful,” he heard himself say.

“Yes, apparently so.”