Page 73 of Indecently Employed
“And what then?” she asked.
“Oh, easy. Buy her trinkets, buy her gowns. Ply her with drink.” He nodded in the direction of the balcony. “Show her theview. Seduce her—first with words, then with touch. Along the jawline, the nape of her neck. Kiss her. Deeply.” He rolled over and caught her lips with his, finding himself unwilling to release her until he’d had his fill.
When he did, she pulled back with a happy sigh. “Well then, where is my drink? I don’t recall you offering any refreshment whatsoever.”
Ajax sat up, indignant. He threw a hand out toward the sitting area, where only an hour or so ago the hotel’s footmen had laid out a decent enough meal for the middle of the night. “Dinner arrived earlier,” he said, unable to keep from smiling, or from adding in a sarcastic tone, “my lady.”
She sat up, laughing so prettily that his heart contracted and he felt he might not be able to bear the sight, so wonderful and pure it was. But with even more certainty, he knew he could not live without it, day in and day out. She must always be happy, and laughing, and wonderfully, blessedly, completely nude and in his bed.
They went to eat after hastily throwing on enough garments to make it seem somewhat proper, even as Ajax tried to convince her otherwise. But Susanna refused to eat in the nude, her face flushing at the mere mention of such hedonism. Oh well, Ajax thought; he had plenty of time to drag her down to his own level of debauchery.
When they’d finally finished and washed up, they found themselves in bed once more, this time underneath the sheets. When Ajax made love to her the second time, it was slow and gentle.
In the darkness of the early morning, as they held one another with their legs still entangled, he reached out a finger to trace the line of her cheek.
“You know, you never told me what celestial body I remind you of. I’m a bit cross about it.”
She frowned, her mind working behind those brilliant brown eyes. “What do you mean?”
He tucked an errant curl behind her ear. “We were discussing Charlotte. You told me she was like Neptune, then educated me on the discovery of the farthest planet from the sun, and the one most resembling my daughter, cold and dark as they both are.”
He watched her expression as understanding struck her, and her face relaxed as she interjected. “And mysterious, yes! I recall now.”
“Well? You said you would think on it.” He nuzzled her ear, savoring her closeness, her openness. If this was what marriage was, he wondered why he had run from it at every turn. But then again, he had never known Susanna before.
She tucked her chin into her chest, hiding her pretty eyes from him as she thought. Then suddenly her cheeks reddened, but she did not speak.
“Alright. Let’s out with it. I’m a grown man, I’m sure I’ve heard worse,” he chuckled, tipping her face back up with a gentle hand.
Her eyes were glassy, her brows tilted up in an incredibly earnest look. He realized that no longer did they speak in jest.
“Hush,” he murmured, pulling her closer. “You needn’t say. It was only a bit of fun. My poor sense of humor, that’s all.” His heart hammered against his chest, worrying that something precious might be slipping away.
And then Susanna spoke, her lips against his cheek.
“No, it’s not that. It’s only…” She paused and pulled back, working her lower lip as she looked into his eyes. “You’re the sun. The center of it all. Well, for myself, at least. Warming us, giving us everything we could ever want or need. When we’re together I just feel…” She closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and released a deep sigh. “Safe. Warm. It’s where I long to be, with you, held in your regard.” She looked down shyly, reaching for his hand beneath the sheets, weaving her fingers through his.
Everything had stopped. His words fell away, and he forgot to breathe.
“Ajax?” She looked up into his face, worried.
Christ, but he loved her. He would love her until the day he died.
“So I’m akin to Edward IV, then? The sun in splendor? Never fancied myself a Yorkist, but I’ll take it.”
Susanna burst out laughing, batting at him teasingly. “No, you odious fool.”
Ajax caught her hand, a mischievous grin on his face as he rolled atop her. He then caught her mouth before she could further rebuff his kingly fantasies, taking it slowly and passionately, as if he hadn’t already had her twice that evening.
When he broke free, she stared at him, her eyes wide with happiness.
“Yorkist or Lancastrian, I love you. I do. You’re my sun.”
Ajax couldn’t describe what his thoughts were, only that he had to kiss her again, and again, until the thus slandered sun finally rose above the horizon, warming their room between the curtains that neither of them had bothered to draw before they finally fell asleep in the small hours of the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
True to his word,the next day Ajax dressed and left their rooms around midday, then returned after a time with an expectant look about his eyes as he urged Susanna to dress quickly so they might not upset the minister he had managed to scrounge up. They were then married, quite unceremoniously by a deeply uninterested clergyman, in the early afternoon in an odd corner of Bournemouth.
