Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Celia was still moaning when he released her. Desperate to feel all of Keith now, to have that release as he had so described it, she just watched as he stepped off the bed.

He moved around to the bedpost where he had tied her wrists and released them both in one swift movement. Now that her hands were free, she used them to steady herself on the bed, but he was already moving back toward her, reaching for her gown.

“Don’t you like the dress?” she teased him as his fingers scrambled to undo the laces at the back.

“Too much.”

He undid the final one and then pulled the dress down her body. It fell about her hips, so he urged her to lay flat on the bed so he could pull it down her hips and off her legs. It was thrown somewhere at the side of the room as he next went for her corset, turning her on her stomach so he could undo the laces.

She kept bucking her hips, teasing him, and he responded to each one of those movements by either running his fingers across her bare cheeks or giving her a teasing flick between her legs that made her giggle.

When her chemise was pulled over her head and she was down to nothing, he turned her on her back again, then moved his body over hers.

He took her lips in a deep kiss. Thrilled to finally have the taste of him, she wrapped her arms firmly around his neck, holding him close. One of her hands went to toy with his dark hair as the other traced his shoulders through the shirt. He dominated the kiss in every way, making her tongue dance to his tune, and she loved it.

She was so distracted by his kiss that it took her a few seconds to realize that his hand had wandered. His fingers traced her hip before he took hold of her thigh and lifted it high around his waist.

Suddenly, she felt him.

She could feel his length just teasing her, pressing against her entrance, but still not quite sliding into her.

“Keith,” she said between kisses. “Don’t make me beg.”

“I like the sound of ye begging me,” he confessed, his voice deep.

She ran her fingers through his hair again, pulling. She feared she had pulled too tightly, but the growl that rumbled in his chest showed he had loved it.

“It will hurt,” he reminded her.

“I know.”

“Ye’ll have to hold on tight.”

“I intend to,” she promised, her other hand moving to grip his shoulder tightly.

He kissed her as his length nudged her entrance. He rocked his hips back and forward a little, but he still didn’t take her.

She groaned aloud into their kiss. Apparently, this time, the way she gripped his shoulders pleadingly was enough to make him act.

He thrust his hips forward, his length sliding into her entrance.

The sudden pain made her eyes water. Keith was big, and she could certainly feel the extent of his size as he stretched her body. She buried her face into his shoulder, holding on to him as she had promised she would.

He didn’t stop moving, but neither did he move fast or hard. He just rocked gently, ever so slowly, so that she grew accustomed to his size.

Then he growled into her neck, placing the palms of his hands on either side of her head. She could see that he was barely holding back.

The knowledge that he wanted more was such a thrill that she soon forgot the pain.

“Don’t hold back,” she whispered in his ear.

It was like a torrent was released.

He placed a hand above her head, steadying himself, and pushed himself up with the other. He gripped her leg, holding it wide open. This new movement allowed him to thrust into her faster.

Amazed at the sight and feel of him, Celia could do nothing but grip the sheets beneath her as she watched him. Each movement was now bold and long, as he practically pulled all the way out of her before driving back into her again. With thrust, he seemed to hit all the pleasurable spots inside her, making her body sing.

She tried to raise her hand to take hold of his shirt. She wished to feel all of him against her, and that meant getting rid of the shirt he still had on. She had barely taken hold of the shirt, though, before he caught her wrist and pinned it down to the bed. He took her other hand and pinned it down too, so he had full control of her body.

Completely at his mercy, she stared up into his gray eyes as he thrust inside her.

His shirt was damp with sweat now. Sweat was beading between her breasts too with the excitement of what they were doing.

She never wanted this feeling to end. The knowledge that this was all happening with him of all people was the greatest thrill. As long as he kept on doing this, then maybe their marriage could be a happy one. After all, what was there to worry about in the world when such feelings like this existed?

He shifted her wrists to one of his hands and then moved his other hand down, exploring her breasts and playing with them. He wasn’t soft but firm, and the thought that he loved watching her as they were doing this, that he liked looking at her so much that he had to touch her too, made her breathless.

“Keith…” She moaned his name repeatedly, interspersed with sounds she hadn’t known she was capable of making.

His growls grew louder too. Abruptly, he released her wrists, moving their position again. He sat back on his haunches, took hold of her thighs and dragged her further down the bed so that she was as directly beneath him as possible, and then pushed her legs up so that her ankles came up near her ears. Nearly folded in half, she watched him as he quickened his thrusts.

His cheeks were now red with the pleasure of it. His eyes seemed to be taking in every part of her, for they kept roaming over her and then coming back to her face.

In this new position, she felt completely undone. He had found a spot inside her she had not known existed.

Her body started to convulse. Her head thrashed from side to side as her back arched off the bed and she moaned his name. That climax was more powerful than any other he had given her before. It was somehow all the more complete, much more intense, for it reached every part of her body.

“Aye, Celia. Aye, ah…” His moans grew louder.

As she came down from her high, her body still singing with pleasure, he moved faster. Three more thrusts and he suddenly stilled, moaning her name again and again, sweat beading on the nape of his neck.

They both stopped moving, their hands tangled in the bedsheets as their pants filled the air around them.

Celia took many minutes to gather herself when she grew aware of the ache inside her. She was sore from what they had done, though she didn’t care. If such feelings existed, she could quite happily bear any pain.

She reached up toward him, pulling at his shirt. He seemed to hesitate, before she clawed at his biceps, pulling him down so she could kiss him. When he realized what she wanted, he moved faster. Their lips clashed together in a fiery kiss. She was still moving her lips against his when she lowered her legs around his hips and just held him.

He chuckled softly into their kiss.

“Happy wedding day, wife,” he whispered and then kissed her again.

There was an eruption of warmth in her chest. She was indeed his wife now, in every sense of the word. They had consummated their marriage, making an annulment impossible, though she couldn’t imagine ever asking him for one.

Why would I turn my back on this now?

A sudden hope filled her. If they could be like this together, if they could be as they had been at Lady Arundel’s house too, then maybe they could have a happy life as man and wife. She could perhaps forget in time that he had married her out of pity, and they could find a way to be happy together instead.

I’m not ready for this moment to end.

Determined to have everything she wanted, she kept on kissing him, deepening the kiss as she reached for his shirt again. He must have sensed what she was doing, for his hand came up to close around her own, stopping her from lifting his shirt any higher.

Irked, she bit his bottom lip playfully. He laughed into the kiss again, and that momentary distraction allowed her to lift his shirt higher around his waist. She broke the kiss and looked down, determined to see every part of him.

She glimpsed a toned stomach before abruptly, the shirt was pulled down again.

“Keith?” she whispered.

He pushed himself up, and his length slid out of her. Confused, she rolled over onto her knees and watched as he rose from the bed and reached for a cloth to clean himself up.

“What just happened?” she murmured in amazement. “Just like that, the moment is over? Surely not.”

He grabbed a second cloth, dipped it in a washbasin, and then moved back toward her. With surprising gentleness, considering all they had just done, he cleaned her too, mopping away the little blood that showed he was indeed her first.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He smiled. It was a genuine smile, not a smirk. She trailed a hand up his shoulder, trying to pull him down toward her again for another kiss, but when her fingers brushed against the material of his shirt, he recoiled.

“What is going on?” she asked. “All I want to do is take off your shirt. Is that really such a difficult thing to do after what we have just done? There is not a part of my body you have not seen now.”

“I know,” he practically growled as he tossed the cloths in the washbasin.

“Did you not enjoy what we just did?” She panicked. Had she been the only one to feel that thrill? He’d seemed to feel the same way. “Can you really cry out my name in such a way and not mean it?”

“Of course, I bloody meant it.” He rounded on her. “It’s just… this.” He paused and took the shoulder of his shirt, shaking it. “I cannot let ye see everything, sweetheart.”