Chapter Thirteen

When I awake, it is to a brutal and sudden awareness. It is nothing like the gentle awakening that happens with a natural sleep. I reach out to Amelie for comfort, but her side of the bed is empty and cold. I bolt upright and look around the unfamiliar chamber, only belatedly remembering that we are in her rooms for the time being. Light streams in through the gaps around the curtains and I am sure it must be well past midday.

My fingers lift to the cut on my neck covered in a salve that seems to have dried into a coating that keeps the worst of the pain at bay. My eyes spot a fluffy woollen gown at the end of the bed with Amelie's handwriting flowing across a page in neat letters. I pick up the note and read the words.

"I had this made for your birthday, but I think it will comfort you to have it now."

Happiness swells in my chest as I slip into the woollen gown and wrap it around myself. I am quick to find the handy cord that ties up at the front, and I am pleased that the garment falls all the way to my ankles. It is certainly a wonder at keeping the cold at bay and with this, there will be no great rush to get dressed.

I step into the next room to find Arthur, William and Amelie all seated by the fire. Arthur and William immediately look at their feet, and I instantly regret my previous thought. I stand still, unsure what to do when the two men rise to their feet.

"We shall leave you for now," Arthur says looking anywhere but at me. "We just wanted to let you know that all guests and unnecessary staff will be gone within the next hour, and William shall be posted outside your door until they are."

"Thank you," I say as my eyes drift down to Amelie whose eyes rake over me in a way that sends a wave of excitement through my body.

"We have missed breakfast today, but will you still come to dinner?" Arthur asks tentatively.

"Of course," I reply, fighting to keep my responses to Amelie's gaze concealed.

The two men shuffle out and the minute the door closes Amelie says, "Do you like your new over gown?"

"I love it," I say with a grin and as Amelie smiles at me I am once more reminded of how I felt, when I thought I had lost her. The terrible image of her laying still on the floor raises unbidden in my mind. I take four brisk steps towards her, climb into her lap and press my lips firmly against hers. Consequences be dammed.

Amelie makes a brief noise of surprise but leans into the kiss gripping my hips and pulling me closer. My night gown prevents my legs from bracketing hers with the closeness I want, and I hike it up to my knees and allow myself to sit flush against her dark green dress.

The material is soft against my thighs, but the thought is fleeting as my brain tries to dedicate every resource it has to how her lips feel on mine, and the way her hands grip my hips over my gown.

When we break apart for air she whispers, "Elizabeth,"

But I cut off any further words as I lean in for another deep kiss. I roll my hips over hers and put all the emotion I have into showing her how I feel. Words have no place in this moment. I don't want rational thoughts. I don't want conversation about how this will affect my potential marriage. I want Amelie and I want her now.

I try to pour all of my feelings into the kiss and her hands wander down my thighs as I wind my hands into her ash blonde hair. Being careful to avoid the sore area near the back. Fingers graze the skin on my leg, and I let out a soft noise of appreciation. Hands retreat.

"Don't stop," I whisper against her lips. "Please."

Hands grip my thighs firmly before they slip under my shift exploring my skin without barriers. I rock against her, desperate for more. The dress drags against my most sensitive areas, and I let out a moan that spurs her on better than any words could have.

"As much as I would love to take you in this chair right now," she says, as my lips move to trail a line of kisses down her jaw to her ear. "This is not an appropriate place for your first time."

I am lifted in the air as hands grip my thighs and Amelie rises to her feet in an amazing display of strength. I wind my legs around her waist and continue my descent down her neck, kissing everywhere I can reach. Experimentally I suck gently, and the hands on my legs grip me tightly encouraging me to suck harder. Amelie lets out a groan that just about sets me on fire as the noise races through my body.

"You are not making this easy," she growls as she shuts the door behind us with her foot and hurries towards the bed.

"Go faster then," I say playfully.

I am lowered to the bed and Amelie is quick to crawl up my body and holds herself above me. I pull her down, demanding another kiss and as it deepens, I find myself desperate for more. I tug at her dress, trying to get more access to her skin without any success.

She leans back and with amazing speed, disrobes until she is bare before me. My mouth goes dry as my eyes travel the contours of her strong body. Her skin is pale and perfectly complements her light hair and stormy blue eyes. My eyes feast on her taking in everything she has revealed to me, but very quickly looking ceases to be enough. I lick my lips as I reach for her breasts unclothed for the first time and I lean forward to take a rose-coloured nipple in my mouth.

Hands lace into my hair and hold me firmly in place as I work my tongue over the stiffened bud, sucking and kissing as her body tightens under my fingertips. My hands travel down the lines of her stomach, and I gently graze the nipple with my teeth. The hands in my hair tighten as I am pressed more firmly against her chest, as the slew of noises that tumble from her lips give me all the encouragement I need to continue. She is so sensitive, I am sure with the right technique I could help her reach a height in pleasure this way.

I am pressed closer, and my eyes flick up to hers as she looks at me with darkened pools. Her hips rock against mine and I can tell she is racing towards something.

"Keep going baby," she groans rolling her hips into mine and holding my head and shoulder tightly. "Keep going," she breathes. "I'm so close."

I grip her hips and pull her down more firmly into my lap, feeling the wetness of her arousal spread across my thighs as she drags herself along them. I tweak the other nipple between my fingers as I gently press my teeth against the one in my mouth.

Amelie throws her head back and cries out, tensing against me in what is quite likely the best view I have ever seen. I try to continue to lavish attention on her nipple but as her body begins to tense again, she pulls away and tugs at my robe and shift.

"Off," she demands.

I am all too quick to comply, ripping the clothing off and discarding them over the side of the bed. She pushes me into the blankets and leans in for a kiss. Our bodies meet, and I can barely comprehend the kiss as every fibre of my being is consumed by the feel of her soft skin in mine. Breasts rub together and I can feel the heat of her centre above mine as my fingers dig into the strong muscles in her back.

I gasp at the feeling, and Amelie's mouth trails down my neck. Nipping and sucking all the way to my breasts where she takes one in her mouth and flicks it with her tongue. My back arches off the bed at the contact and she lavishes attention across my chest. No dream is even remotely close to this feeling and my thighs quiver in anticipation of what is to come.

"Amelie," I whimper. "Please, I need more," I say as I try to find friction with her body.

She slips a thigh in between mine as she flicks my nipple between her teeth. I cry out and as I arch my back, my centre grinds against her thigh almost sending me wild. Unabashedly, I rock against it, chasing the feeling. She works me over and try as I might, this position will not allow me to grasp the peak I am trying to reach.

Amelie looks up at me with a smile before she descends down my stomach, leaving a trail of kisses before she settles between my thighs.

"You are so beautiful," she says before she leans in and every hope of coherent thought shatters.

My body is wracked with waves of delicious pleasure as her tongue glides over me. My hips rock of their own accord and she throws an arm across them to hold them in place which only excites me further.

"You taste so good," she murmurs from between my legs and the vibration sends a different kind of pleasure through me.

I grope around looking for something to hold as my body quivers and my thighs shake. Amelie's hand slips into mine as my stomach tightens and I cannot stop the way my thighs clamp around her head as a wave of intense pleasure bursts through me. I cry out her name and lace my hands in her hair as the feeling seems to rocket from my core out to every limb in my body. Amelie looks up at me from between my legs and slowly runs a finger through my folds.

"Yes," I whimper, consumed with pleasure rolling through my body but somehow still desperate for more. She gently slides in, and my body tightens inexplicably as she rubs at the tender flesh within me. "Heavens," I cry slamming my eyes shut and doing my best to keep the wave of noises coursing through me to a reasonable volume.

Amelie on the other hand seems desperate to see that goal fail. She leans forward and sucks my sensitive bud as she pushes past the barrier within me and I bear down on her, desperate for more of everything this wonderful woman wants to give me. Another finger joins the first and the stretch feels so good. The feeling of fullness for the first time in my life rolls through my body as she expertly works me over.

She kisses my hips, sucking deep purple marks into the skin as she thrusts into me, the combination of pain and pleasure has me racing towards a precipice and it breaks over me like a tingling heat.

"Amelie," I cry as my body tenses and wave after wave of pleasure consumes me.

I am left panting and covered in a light sheen of perspiration as she crawls up my body, kissing here and there and leaving purpling marks up my torso as she goes. I pull her up and kiss her, moaning at the taste of myself on her lips.

Energy ignites within me once more and I roll us over, pinning her to the bed beneath me. She doesn't resist and the way she looks spread out over the covers is awe inspiring. Her ash blonde hair fanned around her head in a halo unlocks a beast within me as I nip and suck my way down her body. She was so gentle with me, but all I can want is to make her mine. To feel her body reach peaks as mine had. I revel in the way dark red and purple marks colour her body in a trail as I work my way down it.

"Baby, yes," she breathes as I head right for her centre, desperate to know what she tastes like.

I groan and make no delays as I lick through her folds and the light flavour that is so uniquely her, has me desperate for more and I do everything I can to get it. She cries out and twitches beneath me as I flick her with my tongue and her hands wind into my hair again.

"How are you so good at this?" she manages between moans.

I struggle to keep her strong body in the best position I can but when she bucks up again, I seize the opportunity to push my tongue past the ring of muscles where her flavour is the strongest. The muscles flutter around my tongue as I push in to her, loving her visceral response as thighs clamp around my head. She is making a racket that half the estate must be able to hear as she grinds her hips into my face.

"Elizabeth," she moans. "Elizabeth, baby I am so close."

I lift the pad of my thumb to flick her sensitive bud as I push into her again, desperate for more of my reward. Her thighs tighten around my ears as I rub the pad of my thumb over her. My own hips grind into the bed as her rocking becomes more erratic. My cheeks are flooded with her flavour, and I do my best to get as much of it as I can until she reaches down to stop me.

She tugs me up her body and I once more delight in the smattering of marks across her torso that marks her as mine. The kiss we share is intense, but it slows down until I rest on her chest listening to her heartbeat.

As I try to settle my breathing, I cannot help but feel the desire to continue course through me, the desperate way I still want her. I move to take the nipple closest to me in my mouth once more.

Amelie laughs, "Again already?"

"I have been waiting for weeks," I say as my hands travel down her body to settle between her thighs. I trace a finger through her as she groans.

She flips us over and looks at me with her piercing blue eyes. "Let's see if we can make up for lost time then?"