Page 73 of The Unwilling Bride
By the time he headed for their bedchamber, he was perfectly sober and capable of having a rational discussion with his wife, if she wasn’t already asleep.
If she was? He’d crawl into bed beside her warm, soft body, conquer the needs of his own and deal with the trouble between them in the morning.
He walked slowly up the stairs, as if he bore a great weight on his back. Images of his bride danced in his head as he lifted his feet. Her bright eyes. Her smile. That look of sultry invitation. The low growl as the moment of ecstasy took her and she writhed and bucked…
She wasn’t asleep. She sat at the table bearing thepolished silver plate that acted as her mirror, combing her long, marvelous hair that fell about her like a golden drapery. Her thin white shift hid nothing and stretched tight across the curves of her breasts.
His breath caught in his throat, as if he were a boy again beholding the girl he would never forget. She was so beautiful, so perfect.
And he was so undeserving. He always had been.
“Close the door, please. There’s a draught.”
Commanding himself to remain calm, to remember that if anyone was in the wrong, it was he, he silently did as she asked.
She rose and faced him, her expression almost a blank as she ran her gaze over him.
Almost.
Whatever she thought of his decision, she still wanted his body.
It would be enough. It must be enough. He’d done what he’d done, and there was no way to undo it without telling her the truth. What good would that do now? They were married, man and wife, for good or ill.
She untied the drawstring of her shift and let it fall to the floor. Her nipples tightened in the cool air, but otherwise, her skin seemed to glow with heat in the light of the candles as she stood motionless, her eyes telling him…nothing.
If she stayed still, he would interpret that as rejection. If she made no effort to close the distance between them, he would go.
She stepped over her discarded shift and bent to pick it up, her hair flowing about her luscious body in a tantalizing curtain. Straightening, she laid her garment over the stool. “Are you staying, my lord?”
God help him, how could he tear himself away when she stood before him naked and beautiful?
“Do you wish me to?” he managed to say, his voice hoarse as he tried to control his growing desire while betraying nothing of his feelings.
She started toward him. “This is your bedchamber, my lord. You have every right to stay.”
Yes, he did, and as she came closer, he felt his control slipping away with every step.
She was his wife. She hadn’t barred the door, or ordered him to go. She was offering her body to him.
But even as his reason drowned beneath desire, he knew things were far from right between them. The perfect union they’d shared since their wedding had been marred. Tainted.
She stopped inches from him. She was so lovely with her shining blue eyes. Her lustrous hair. Her warm, full, rosy lips.
With a moan of surrender to the longing he couldn’t overcome, he tugged her to him and kissed her, his passionate need unleashed.
She made no effort to resist as he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed. She uttered no sound of protest as he set her down.
If this was the only way he could show his need forher, so be it. Because he did need her. More than she would ever know.
But there were no soft words, no gentle caresses, in spite of his intentions. Seemingly, she wanted none as she clutched at him with frenzied passion, her hunger spurring his own. Hoping this meant she did trust him, he tried go slowly, to be tender.
He couldn’t, not when she moved as she did, pulling him to her and into her as if she couldn’t wait. Or didn’t want to.
It was over in a moment, yet not before her cries of ecstasy filled the chamber, as did his own. He fell against her, breathing hard, when he was finished. Perhaps now all would be well again…or so he hoped, until she squirmed and twisted so that he had no choice but to move away from her. Then she turned her back to him.
Oh, God, had she offered herself only because she craved his body?
He rose abruptly and dressed. Without a word he left the room.
