“Why are you doing that?” Her voice was sof
t and warm and thin as a plume of smoke against his neck.
“Don’t you like it?”
“I don’t know. It’s very strange. Your tongue—I never knew that a tongue could be so very warm and, well, perhaps it’s also a bit stimulating. I remember feeling a bit stimulated when you kissed me right after the ceremony.”
“Stimulating, such a big word for what I’m doing and what I did in all innocence.” But this wasn’t at all innocent. This was seduction. His breath whispered into her ear. She actually clutched him, her fingers moving on his upper arms.
He was in a sorry state. Seduction was a trying business, and success was measured in such small steps. He left her ear, tangling his hands now in her hair, pulling the pins out and strewing them on the floor. He massaged her scalp, enjoying the feel of her, feeling her slowly ease. He began to wrap her hair around his hands, enjoying the softness of it, the thickness. He went back to her mouth, and to his utter pleasure, she opened her mouth for him.
He moaned into her mouth. He hadn’t meant to, but he did. The warmth of her, the sudden yielding and giving, it had done him in.
It had done her in as well. She leapt back, her hands over her breasts again, and she was as pale as a cleric’s collar. Then when she saw that he was looking at her breasts, she flushed, that lovely flush of hers that sent color to her hairline.
He’d scared her. He’d embarrassed her.
Well, hell.
He gave her a crooked grin, praying she wouldn’t look down his body because if she did she would see that he was quite ready to throw her on the bed and come into her. But she didn’t. She just stared at him, still scared witless, saying nothing, not moving, nothing.
“I’m sorry I startled you,” he managed to get out of his mouth at last. “You opened your mouth to me freely and naturally, and it delighted me so much I couldn’t help myself. A moan was the natural sequence of things after you did that. I didn’t tell myself to moan. It just happened. Surely a simple moan isn’t all that bad?”
She swallowed, shaking her head.
“If you turn around I will help you out of that gown.”
At her gasp, he added quickly, “I meant to say that I will free you so that you can put on your nightgown. I won’t leap on you, Susannah.”
18
SHE TURNED HER BACK TO HIM. HE STARED DOWN AT ALL that white flesh, trembling slightly when his fingers touched her. He unfastened the remainder of the buttons, then helped her free her arms. She was able then to pull the gown over her breasts. Too bad.
“You know, Susannah, you gave me fifty years.”
“No, I never agreed to any length of time, did I? Actually I really don’t remember what we agreed to. Was it an heir?”
“The heir’s a beginning. That could take ten years.”
“How could that be true? I became pregnant with Marianne almost immediately.” She turned to face him, her face no longer hectic with color, more calm now that her gown covered her. She was more certain of herself.
“Well, there is absolutely no way I will have you pregnant every year, Susannah. I don’t want my wife to become ill or worn out from too many childbirths. I don’t want you old by the time you’re thirty. That happens far too often. It will not happen to you. No, when you become pregnant it will be when it is appropriate. I am not a pig, nor am I going to put your health at risk with too many pregnancies.”
“But you said you wanted a dozen children.”
He smiled at her, lightly touched his fingertips to the tip of her nose. “We will see.”
“Then you’re thinking you will just keep me around without using me?”
“What a very strange thing to say. I will keep you around because I want you to be around. I hope that soon you will want me around you as well. By ‘using’ you, you mean having sex with you? Of course that’s what you mean. But you and I will make love until we’re exhausted and sweaty and grinning like fools at each other. There are ways to prevent conception, Susannah, and I will use them.
“We will see about children. Both of us will discuss what we want. But I will not have you pregnant every year.”
“My mother died in childbirth. It was a little girl. She died as well.”
“You won’t die. I won’t allow it. Now, you have done quite well. I will leave you so that you can change into your nightgown. When you are ready, you will come to me.”
“I don’t know if I want to, Rohan.”