Keeper of the Stone (9 page)

“Tell me you want me inside of you,” he whispered against her ear.  At her hesitation, he stopped stroking her wet cleft and she moaned in protest.  “Tell me you want me inside of you.”

The dazed passion in her eyes turned to anxious understanding.  He wouldn’t force her.  She would have to give herself to him.  That was what he promised her.  She clenched her legs together trapping his hand within her.  He smiled at her instinctive encouragement.  He slowly drew his hand away from her restraining legs.  Tears filled her eyes.  “But Nathan you won’t fit.  You’re too big.”

He bent and kissed the tears from her eyes.  “Trust me, love, we’ll fit perfectly together.  You belong to me now.  Your body was made to mate with mine.”

Rhiann’s body felt as taut as a string stretched across a bow.  “Please,” she begged him.

“I’ll give you what you need, wife, when I’m inside you.”

Rhiann bit her lip and uncertainty filled her glance as she met his.  He knew she could feel him against her tender body, was aware of the fear she struggled with.  He wouldn’t force her. She would have to give herself willingly to him and neither of them was leaving this bed until she conquered her fear and spread her legs in welcome for him.

“All right,” her whispered acquiescence tugged at his heart. 

“The words wife, I want the words.”

She raised sad eyes to his and said in surrender, “Come to me husband, I need you inside me.”

Nathan needed no further encouragement.  He rose from the bed and undid the ties of his breeches.  His male member sprang free like a wild animal released from its cage.  He quickly shed his breeches and came down on top of his wife before she could give in to the urge to flee he read in her eyes.  Rhiann went perfectly rigid beneath him, trying to prepare herself for the pain of his invasion. She held little hope he wasn’t about to tear her apart.  Her legs were clenched tightly together. 

Nathan summoned the last of his patience and set about calming his innocent wife’s fears once more.  He tried to kiss her.  She turned away and closed her mouth against him, so he let his mouth drift along her skin and take one straining breast in his mouth.  Her body responded immediately even as her mouth whispered a soft denial.

“Yes,” he countered, as his hand slid down and teased the skin just below the damp curls.

She wouldn’t open her legs.  He pressed one finger through her resistance until it slid along the wet cleft and sought entrance to her heat.  Her legs parted slightly, just enough to allow his finger entrance but not the part of him he so desperately needed to bury inside her beckoning heat.  He stroked the fire in her, but still she kept her legs closed tight against his hand.  He kissed her again.  She gave herself eagerly to his kiss. 

“Spread your legs, Rhiann.  Let me inside.”  He felt a tiny easing of the pressure against his hand.

“More sweetheart,” he encouraged her.  A little bit more and he eased a second finger inside of her, spreading her, preparing her for his invasion.  “A little more,” his whispered encouragement was accompanied with his thumb pressing against the nub hidden by her curls and his fingers pressing deeper inside.  She moaned and clenched her legs around his hand.  “No Rhiann, open up, let me inside.  I won’t stop; I’ll give you what you need.”  She spread her legs for him and he pushed her higher, closer to fulfillment.  She bucked against his hand.  “The words Rhiann, tell me you want me.”

Rhiann surrendered.  “Yes, Nathan, I can’t stand this torture any longer.  I don’t care if you tear me apart.  Just come to me now.”

Nathan felt the same way.  He couldn’t stand the torture of holding back another second.  He positioned himself above her, then took one of her hands and wrapped it around his burning erection and helped her guide him to her heat.  Rhiann was shocked at the heat emanating from him and the soft skin covering his burning sword.  She felt him part her, far more than his fingers had done and tensed against him.  “No love, relax, let me in.”  She tried to follow his harsh instructions, knew it would be easier on her if she could trust him.  His hands forced her legs farther apart as he pressed deeper inside her. 

“Nathan, it hurts.  I told you, you’re too big,” she whined, her pain and frustration and exhaustion getting the better of her.

Nathan hesitated at the shield giving evidence to his bride’s virginity.  Rather than continue this slow torture on both of them, without warning he surged forward in one powerful thrust.  Rhiann cried out in pain as he tore through her.  Nathan couldn’t restrain his own shout of masculine pleasure.  Tears filled her eyes.  “You lied to me.  You said you wouldn’t hurt me,” his wife protested and strained to push him away. 

“Sh, love,” he gathered his shredding control long enough to try to soothe his bride’s fears.  He suspected the pain of what she perceived as his betrayal was as great as the pain of this first joining.

“The pain will ease, Rhiann. It’s only the first time, because you were a virgin.”

“Of course I was a virgin,” she countered disgruntled. “Did you doubt it?”

He rested his head against the top of hers and hid his amused grin at her pique.  His hips rose slowly as he couldn’t resist the urge to move and slide back into her.  They both moaned when he embedded himself deeper into her liquid fire, but for opposite reasons.

“I’m no longer a virgin?”  He couldn’t tell if she was relieved or disappointed.

“No, you’re no longer a virgin.”  Once more, he thought, as he slowly retreated and sank into her heat.

“Then we’re finished now?” He couldn’t hide his grin at his bride’s hopeful question.

“No wife, we are definitely not finished.”  His movements became more forceful.  She grimaced with pain but no longer made any move to push him away.  He supposed she accepted she had no hope against his greater strength.  He was beyond rational conversation or reassurances or even trying to gentle his thrusts to give her time to grow accustomed to his size. 

She fit him like she was made for him; as if his maker knew when he formed her she would need to be able to accommodate his thrusting passion.  His hand reached down between them and pressed against where their bodies joined.

Rhiann’s cry of protest turned to one of staggering pleasure.  She squeezed around him.  He thrust harder.  She wrapped her legs around his waist to keep him inside her.  She couldn’t hope to restrain his furious thrusts.  They rocked the heavy bed with their frenzied movement. 

Nathan held back, needing to see to his wife’s satisfaction before his own.  She was panting beneath him.  She met his every action forcefully, extending and giving them both greater pleasure.  She whispered his name in an awed cry as her body instinctively tightened around him.  Her slender body went rigid in his arms and she threw her head back as the orgasm tore through her.  Her scream of release was echoed by his own fierce shout of surrender as the ripples of her release surrounded him, massaged him, tightened around him and he emptied himself into her.

In the aftermath of the storm they both struggled to draw breath into their straining lungs. Nathan knew the stunned look on his wife’s face would be echoed on his own.  She was the innocent, he the experienced one, but never before had he drunk so deeply of passion’s elixir.  By deferring his own pleasure, waiting until his wife found her own satisfaction, his own gratification was multiplied a hundredfold.  He still braced his weight against his elbows and he gazed down tenderly into his wife’s face.  Her lids were heavy and he could tell she was struggling to stay awake.

“Are we finished now?” She asked again in a soft voice barely a whisper.

He smiled and smoothed the tangled mass of gold curls away from her face.  “For now.”

“Can I stay with you?”

“Where else would you go?”

“I thought maybe you would want me to return to my own room.”

“You are in your own room, Rhiann.  You will sleep in my bed every night.”

“Are you going to insist on your husbandly rights very often?”  Nathan thought it safe to smile now at his wife’s drowsy expression.  She was barely coherent.

“Yes.”

She sighed and whispered, “I’m glad I married you.”

He smiled at her hesitant admission and waited for her to give in to her exhaustion.  “Are you sorry you married me?”

“No.”

She supposed he had to marry her to gain control of her father’s estates.  “Can we go home tomorrow?”

“No, Rhiann, we cannot leave until the king releases me from his service.” His hands still smoothed her hair.  She sighed and squirmed beneath him.  He still filled her and his body reacted instantly to the feel of her moving beneath him.  “Hold still.”

“Why?  I thought you liked it when I moved.”

He grinned. For some reason he found this bizarre conversation highly arousing.  The scent of their joining still whispered along the air.  This time he was the one who subtly shifted positions.  Her body tightened instinctively around him, resisting his retreat.  He fought the urge to grab hold of her hips and slam into her.  It was too soon for her.  He needed to put some distance between them before he could no longer fight the heady effect she had on him.  When he would have pulled away, she protested.

“No Nathan, not yet.  Stay with me.”

“I’m not leaving, wife. I just need to remove myself else I forget my good intentions and show you exactly how often I mean to demand my husbandly rights.”

“We can do it again?”

He groaned his frustration. “It’s too soon for you, wife.”

“But not for you?” She sounded irritated by his consideration. Her hands played in his chest hair.  Her touch was as light as a small child’s on his skin.

“You’ll be sore in the morning as it is.  If I take you again now, you’ll have trouble getting out of bed.”

“Surely you exaggerate, husband.” Experimentally she bent her knees and squeezed him between her.  She could feel him grow hard again within her.  She circled one of his nipples with her finger.

He trapped her hand against his chest.  “Stop that.”

She reached up a hand to pull his head down to hers.  He liked her show of aggressiveness.  He let himself be persuaded. Her mouth opened beneath his.  She lifted her hips in encouragement.  Nathan was no saint.  He slowly pulled free and thrust back into her.  He saw his wife’s grimace. “Should I stop?” Even as he made the offer, he wondered if he was insane for making it. Was this some new form of torment he was intent on inflicting upon himself?

Her nails dug into the skin of his shoulders.  “No, Nathan, please don’t stop.”

He couldn’t fight both of them.  He released the reins on his body’s natural urgings and let his lust take over.  His fingers tangled in her hair.  His hips pumped furiously.  Rhiann arched off the bed, her nails raked his arms as she urged him on, her body already finely tuned to his.  It took only short minutes to drive her up and over the edge.  She clung to him fiercely and surrendered to the ecstasy that washed over her.  She called his name as she gave herself to him fully.  She held nothing back and Nathan would give her no less than his own complete surrender. 

His bride went limp in his arms and he collapsed on top of her, his strength deserting him as he poured his life’s essence into her welcoming warmth.  She tiredly protested his weight and he reluctantly drew himself free and collapsed on his back. Contrarily, she objected to his retreat with a whispered denial then scooted close against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. 

He drew her closer with one arm, captured her legs beneath his and fisted his hand in her hair.  Stray tendrils teased and mixed with the darker golden hairs on his chest.  He reached down to draw the quilt over them both and smiled with satisfaction as his wife snuggled closer, sighed with contentment and wished him good night before falling asleep wrapped protectively in his arms. 

Neither of them moved until the following morning.  Years of waking before dawn pulled Nathan from a deep slumber.  He was surprised to find a soft, warm woman in his arms. Then erotic memories of the past twenty four hours came flooding back, reminding him the lady sprawled across his chest, her head resting against the side of his neck, her legs tucked between his, was his wife.

The soft skin of her stomach nestled his morning erection reminding him forcefully of their wedding night.  He would have to restrain his lust.  He used her less than gently the night before.  She was an innocent.  Her tight young body served his pleasure well, but for her there would be a price for the pleasure they gave each other.  Unfortunately he had no such discomfort to ease his body’s natural urgings.

He lay there for long moments torturing himself with his wife’s bare skin resting along his own.  He stroked her back, amazed anew at how soft she was all over.  Her full breasts pressed against his chest.  Her breath whispered along the side of his neck.  He let his hands drift lower to gently squeeze her fleshy buttocks.  From there it was only a short distance to part the full globes and slide his finger in between until he was probing her channel from behind. 

He gently stroked her, telling himself he was still in control of his body’s rising needs.  Her body responded even while his wife still slept, bringing forth the nectar of her response to drench his finger in.  He parted her further and slid his finger into the dark place between her legs.  His slumbering bride moaned softly in her sleep and moved erotically against his probing finger.  He parted her legs enough to insert a second finger.  Nathan felt his wife’s breath quicken against his skin.  She probably thought she was dreaming.  His wife slept like the dead.  He wondered if he could bring her to climax while she slept on.  Her body squeezed his fingers, her hips rubbed enticingly along his engorged flesh.  He applied pressure to her feminine nub and she woke on a scream of pleasure.

She slid along his hard shaft and he lifted her hips until she was straddling him.  She was still groggy and he had to show her how to take him inside.  She sank down on him and groaned with a mixture of pain and pleasure as he penetrated her.

He showed her what to do, how to slide up and down, rocking forward and back on her knees.  It wasn’t long before she surrendered herself into his keeping and collapsed against his chest.  He held her hips, his own still thrusting powerfully until moments later his own shout of masculine triumph echoed in the room.  His wife sighed audibly, then she snuggled closer in his arms and went back to sleep.