When she reached the end of him, she sat up. All of him was inside her. It felt full and slightly uncomfortable andright.
But what now?
Colin’s hands were still roaming her waist and breasts and all parts of her he could reach, but it was leisurely and proprietary. He was gazing at her from below, and she saw his eyes glitter like embers in the darkness.
“You feel so good, wife,” he said in a soft, gentle voice she’d never heard from him before. “Better than I dreamed of. Come here, kitten,” he urged as he pulled her into a kiss and then flipped them over so that he was on top of her without giving her his entire weight.
Elizabeth found herself wanting it, though. She wanted to be crushed by her lover’s body, so she arched into him while pulling his hips further into her.
“Colin,” she urged.
“You are the most surprising person I’ve ever encountered,” her husband said, but she had already started moving her hips below him.
She was mindless with pleasure. The coarse hair on his chest felt so good when she dragged her nipples over it, so she kept doing it.
“You are really enjoying this,” Colin breathed as he kissed her eyes and her face, his voice full of wonder, “I cannot look away from you.”
“Yes, Colin, God, yes,” she moaned as she turned her head from side to side and quickened her movements.
Colin soon matched her speed, and she experienced true rapture for the first time in her life. It was bliss. So many of her body parts were pulsing and tingling and contracting that she was almost oblivious to her husband’s primal scream of pleasure against her neck as he sealed the consummation of their marriage with his own release.
She did get almost all of his weight then. She wrapped her arms around him, pressed her cheek against his damp shoulder and closed her eyes. She listened to the crackling of the embers, his heavy breathing, and the loud beating of both of their hearts.
Neither said anything. After he softened and fell out of her, followed by a gush of his seed (the feeling of which gave her a wicked thrill of pleasure), Colin turned Elizabeth’s body towards the fire, pressed his body against her back, and, surrounded by warmth on both sides of her body even though she was still naked, she quickly succumbed to sleep.
*
“Wake up, wife,” she heard a rumbling voice close to her ear.
As she waded through the moors of sleep, the events of the previous day (and night!) became clear in her mind. She sat up with a gasp, only for her naked body to be assaulted by the cold morning air. She pulled the coverlet up to her shoulders as she felt around herself for her nightdress.
Talbot was lying next to her with his hands behind his head, his strong, hairy chest on display despite the cold, as he observed her with his usual dry smile.
“May I help you with something?”
“Where is my nightgown?” Lizzie snapped impatiently, still not awake enough to rein in her temper.
Colin lifted an eyebrow at her. He then yanked the covers off her body.
“No! It's freezing!” she screamed as she jumped to her knees and hugged herself.
“You made it sound like your missing nightgown was a matter of life and death,” he said, and she knew he was paying her back for her rude tone.
“I know you-” she started teasing him back, but was stopped by the look on his face.
She looked down at her body to see what had elicited it, and she saw that her thighs were smeared with a mixture of blood and his release.
Colin’s jaw was tense, and he looked angry, but his movements were gentle as he wrapped her in the covers.
“Pull the bed curtains closed,” he ordered her as he jumped out of bed, grabbing both of their night dresses from under his pillow and throwing her one.
She got a full view of his naked body (and his behind!) as he pulled on his shirt and breeches, donned his dressing gown and rang for the maid. Lizzie quickly closed the bed curtains and listened to him order a bath, and for some food to be brought up afterwards.
When the maid started listing the foods they had available, he impatiently instructed her to just bring up a bit of everything. She once again marvelled at the ability of these people to simply order things without ascertaining the price or worrying about it in any way.
After everyone who helped prepare the bath left and the fire was blazing, he opened the bed curtains again.
“Your bath is ready.”
