“I only meant I didn’t enjoy it last time—”
“Thank you for reminding me of that.”
“—but I can see how it might be pleasurable.”
Henry smiled. “We’ll try again later.”
“Again? Today?”
“It’s trial and error. We should keep experimenting until we get it right. Yes?”
“I wouldn’t mind experimenting now.” Her hand roamed over his chest suggestively.
He groaned. “As much as I would like that, I fear I might fall asleep. Give me an hour or two.”
She yawned. “Very well. We should eat. I’m famished.”
“So am I.” And then he was drifting into sleep.
*
She woke andthe room was dark. At first, she wasn’t certain of the time or where she was. She wasn’t even certain why she woke until she felt Henry’s hand on her breast. She knew it was his hand. She’d know his touch anywhere. It was gentle, teasing, and irresistible. He circled her nipple until a stream of warmth shot down to her belly.
“Are you awake?” he asked.
“Mmm-hmm.” She wriggled her bottom against him, feeling his erection hard against her.
“It’s later,” he said. His hand slid down to her belly, then between her legs. She gasped at the pleasure she felt just from the brush of his fingers. “Already ready for me,” he murmured in her ear. His lips caressed her shoulder as he parted her legs and the hard member she’d felt on her back slid down and probed at her entrance.
Katie felt her eyes widen. She hadn’t realized he could take her this way.
“Do you want this?” he asked, his chest rumbling as his velvet voice resonated through her.
“Yes,” she gasped as he slid into her. He didn’t move at first, letting her adjust to him, letting her body relax.
She relished the way his fingers teased her until her breathing came faster. Then he rocked inside her, his fingersmatching his movements so that she was gasping with pleasure that was accentuated by the way he moved inside her.
When his fingers finally brought her to climax, she felt him swell and heard his gasp of pleasure. They didn’t move for a long time until her belly growled. He chuckled. “I’m not a very good husband, am I? I forgot to feed you.”
She wanted to argue that he was averygood husband. In fact, she wanted to pull him back when he moved away from her. A moment later, he lit a candle, and her mouth went dry. She couldn’t look away from his round, tight bottom as he sauntered to the bellpull. He yanked it, then bent over—she swallowed hard at that sight—and took a robe from his luggage. “Here it is.” He pulled it on, then turned back to her. His jaw dropped as he took her in. “Now that is a sight that will warm me on a cold night. You look perfectly delicious.”
She raised her brows. She felt perfectly disheveled. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and tried to sit.
“As much as I want you to stay right there, looking just like that, you’d better dress.”
She nodded, pulled the blanket around her, and went to her own luggage. She wasn’t quite ready to saunter naked around the room. Katie went behind the privacy screen to dress and wash and try to do something with her hair. Someone tapped on the door, and Carlisle opened it and told the maid to bring bread, cheese, soup, and a bottle of wine. Then the door closed again, and she stepped out.
“You should have seen how her eyes turned to saucers when she caught a glimpse of the bed,” he said of the maid. “She looked quite shocked.”
Katie looked at the bed herself. The bedclothes were flung half off and the pillows scattered everywhere. It was obvious it had been put to good use. Feeling her cheeks heat, she turned away. “What time is it?”
He smiled at her before turning to the bracket clock. “Almost nine. It’s usually light until much later this far north, but it’s been raining this evening. I hope it clears by morning.”
“What happens in the morning?” she asked, unable to keep her gaze from traveling to his eyes, his lips, his stubble. This man was her husband. A mere ten minutes ago, he’d been inside her. Now he was sitting and talking to her as though he hadn’t been making her feel like she was soaring off a cliff just a moment ago.
“We leave for Cumbria,” he said. “It shouldn’t be more than a few hours’ ride from here. My property is not far from Carlisle Castle. You’ve heard of it?”
Katie probed the recesses of her brain, still fuzzy with sleep and pleasure. “Mary Queen of Scots sought refuge there?”
