Authors: Multiple
Chapter Twenty
Beth was naive
to kissing; he could feel it when she fumbled the rhythm and he had to mold her
lips, bringing her back. It excited him. He was the first to feel her fledgling
passions and she eagerly followed his mouth. Her ripe curves flowed in his
arms, making him want to tear her clothes away and sculpt her lush body with
his hands. His thickening erection pressed into the cove between her thighs,
their clothes no barrier to the heat he could feel. He noticed her heart
beating, her blood flowing, and her veins pulsating. He snarled deep in his
throat demanding that part of his lust … back … off.
Beth mewled
weakly as his snarl vibrated their passionately kissing lips. He'd frightened
her. He tore his lips from her mouth on a hard pant. He throbbed. God, his
fangs throbbed. It wasn't for food. It was more carnal than that. Beth's lips
fell to his throat and he could feel her erratic breathing.
"I
need." His voice was hoarse.
Beth's rich
curves shifted against him as she lifted her head. "Need what?" she
asked softly and with attempt at enticement.
His forehead
tilted, pressing to her temple as their hitched breathing mingled. "To
stop," he finally managed.
"I'm not
good at this," she whispered. "I know you need better. I'm just very
ill-advised about it all." Trinity was having a hard time following. What
the devil did the woman mean? "Woefully unworldly," Beth muttered, as
they stayed temple to temple.
It finally
started to dawn on him. "I didn't stop because of inadequacies. I halted
because you've aroused my passions so high I feared I will lose control."
"Oh."
She sounded pleased and awed. Her hand stirred in his hair, stroking his scalp.
"My blood?" she asked shyly.
He pulled back
so he could look at her lovely face, flushed with his kisses. "Yes,
maiden," he said, letting his fangs show.
"Is it
b-bad?" she asked haltingly. "I would offer it freely …"
He wrenched away
from her. She fell back as he landed in a crouch with his predator eyes yellow
and flashing in the deep glomming of dusk.
Let her see the animal I am,
he thought, and he tossed a growl from his throat. Beth landed on her side
where he'd pushed her. She was propped on one arm with her black hair a river
falling halfway loose over one shoulder. Darkness on the moors was closing fast
and her delicate face held confusion, then turning to determination.
"Trinity,
you are not going to frighten me with …" She straightened and waved her
hand. "With this ferociousness."
He tilted his
head, lengthened his neck, and then glared at her. He wasn't certain if he
wanted her blood more or to taste her arousal. He thought they both would
affect him the same. Wildly.
"So I
imagine wanting any blood is the same feeling I have. Um, had," she
revised quickly. "In wanting your blood, which is an urge that feels
insatiable?"
He wondered how
she could speak to him with his yellow eyes and manner looking feral as she
talked of blood. He stood suddenly, obviously startling a gasp out of her. He'd
tempted his willpower far enough. They had to halt this erotic blood play.
"Come,"
he said, reaching his hand down to her. "I will guide you to the
manor."
Of course, he'd
forgotten about his claws. He didn't graze her with them because his instincts
were too finely honed at keep them from nicking anything. Nevertheless, she had
to feel the oddness as her delicate hand clasped his.
Beth felt the
curled claws on Trinity's hand as he drew her forward to follow him. That he
had them was a surprise overridden by the caution she realized he must use not
to claw her with them. She realized how much she trusted him not to harm her.
Halfway to the manor, she'd felt his claws recede and when he glanced back at
her she'd seen his eyes were no longer predator yellow.
Trinity brought
her into the manor with the servants bowing and greeting his arrival. Once
inside he ordered them to bring her meal and he turned to go upstairs to clean
away his hard traveling. Before he left her, he sketched a short bow attached
to an intent gaze that had the quality and heat to make her blush.
Was he really
going to be her husband then
, she wondered, after he'd left and she was
following Maven to the dining room? Was he going to stay with her as married
couples did? As she passed, she caught her image in a mirror near the entryway.
Her hair was windblown and the dark mass had fallen over her shoulders, while
her entire face looked glowing. She started to stop and fix her hair in a more
modest style, yet it occurred to her she was alone with her husband … and
newlywed. Instead, she patted her hair down, but she left it loose. He would be
her husband if she accepted him, she decided, turning to go to the dining room.
Beth ate the
soup Maven brought her, but she left the fowl, bread, and cheese untouched. She
was nervous and food didn't sound appealing. The wine did. She'd finished one
glass and was about to ring the dinner bell to ask for another when Trinity
walked into the room.
Her breath
caught with the bell raised. He'd obviously taken a bath, washed his hair, and
shaved his strong jaw. Like her, his hair hung loose, but his was still damp in
heavy, dark blonde streaks. He wore no jacket, but a loose white shirt opened
at the collar and tucked into brown trousers. The lord of the manor was
relaxing for the evening.
"I will
bring whatever you are set to ring for, maiden."
Beth set the
bell down, tingling head to toe from his deep seductive voice and the way he
called her, "Maiden" as though it were an endearment.
"Wi-,"
she stumbled out, and then she swallowed. "Wine," she managed
wondering what had happened to the quality of her own voice.
She'd never
been alone in a room with a man in an intimate setting before,
she thought,
except that night on the lawn with Trinity. The instant she thought of that
night, aches began throbbing centered between her thighs and she willed herself
not to squirm.
"Wine
then."
She watched
Trinity move to the sideboard and she couldn't help noticing what a strongly
made man he was. He was potent and so male. Most men of the
ton
were
nothing like Trinity or any of the Blacknalls, and she didn't think it was even
because they were vampires.
Trinity turned
back to her, bringing a bottle of wine and another wineglass. He came to her
first, pouring her wine and when she expected him to retreat to proper seating
at the opposite end of the long table, she was surprised when he pulled out the
chair to her right. She was further surprised when he sat and poured himself a
glass of wine.
"You
drink?" The question fell out of her mouth before she thought better of
it.
Trinity lifted
his wine glass taking a sip as his rich blue eyes studied her above the rim. As
it left his lips, he said, "I can drink and eat, but the food is a waste
of time."
He didn't seem
at all perturbed, so she took a sip of her wine, and asked, "Can you get
drunk then?"
He actually
smiled a bit. It was closemouthed with a slight lift of his masculine lips.
"Perhaps after an entire case." She raised an eyebrow in wonder, and
he added in a lower tone, "I could get drunker feeding on your blood after
you'd drunk the wine."
She wasn't
appalled at all. Her blush spoke of other feelings. When Trinity spoke of
sucking her blood, her body flushed with the same feelings that had heated her
that night out on the dark lawn … when he'd touched her between her legs.
Then, she did a
starkly brave thing for the meagerness of her world. "I am your wife. I
would think being who you are and who I am that it would be your right to feed
on my blood."
She dared not
look at him, but kept her head bowed and she saw his strong fingers clench
around the stem of his wineglass.
"You offer
again." His voice sounded as if sifted through gravel. "Why?"
Beth clutched
her napkin, looking up at him, then quickly away. Her gaze fell to his broad
wrist and she realized she was staring at it. Flustered, she glanced at him
quickly again, hoping he'd not caught her yearning stare. Of course, he had.
"Beth?"
he questioned again, leaning forward. She felt his hand sift through the hair
at the side of her face. "Any other woman I can mesmerize … hypnotize to
do my will," he said as his fingers touched her cheek and she looked up at
him in wonder. "But not you," he finished.
His knuckles
smoothed under her chin, then down her throat slowly. She felt suspended. She
felt entranced. When his knuckles reached the point under her chin again, his
thumb reached upward brushing over her bottom lip. The yearning aches inside
her leapt stronger. Yes, she would definitely call it yearning.
He lifted his
thumb away and he sat back with his dark blue eyes potent. "You're
beautiful," he said.
Her heart
flipped a beat as her fingers touched her lips where he'd touched them. She
knew the expression on her face was amazement that quickly turned into
disbelief as she slightly shook her head.
"You
are," he restated firmly to her disbelieving gestures as his fingers
tapped the table. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to stop if I taste your
blood." His words were flat and matter of fact as he turned his gaze off
into the distance of the room.
Beth assumed
that meant her death if he took too much of her blood. She could certainly
believe that, knowing how much she craved to taste his blood again, and how
hard it was to stop. She lowered her fingers from her lips and she settled her
fingertips over his tapping fingers … stilling their motion. Every piece of her
believed he would never harm her that way. He might not realize it, but he was
incapable of it.
"You should
sleep," he muttered, turning to look down at their fingers where they
touched. "We have exhausted our revelations for one day."
Chapter Twenty One
At midnight,
Trinity stood on the highest eaves of the regal manor. The constant wind from
the moors tugged at the loose edges of his shirt and the long strands of his
hair. Moonlight from a half-moon glistened over the sprinkled blossoms of
heather waving on the dark landscape below him.
He'd fed again,
glutting himself, even though he didn't need it. Just to be certain. The night
felt long and it had never felt that way to him before. Yet he'd found being
close to Beth again had eased the primitive urges he'd felt when apart from
her.
"Since the
vows," he muttered with the wind snatching away the sound of his voice. If
he believed in fate, he might think he'd found that one woman meant for him.
That would be so generous of life. It was hard to accept. Yet every turn he
took seemed to turn him back toward it.
He remembered
thoughts he'd had shortly after meeting Beth. A wish … maybe … "No."
But how could he lie to himself? He'd thought she would be the kind of woman he
could have wished to marry. "If I were human." He growled at himself.
Yet he
was
married to her. Now what was he supposed to do? He turned and he walked to the
top of the eave as though he were the most talented circus performer. If there
was one thing he'd learned in his overly long life, it was destiny didn't care
what you thought should be happening.
Moments later,
he quietly entered Beth's room. His night vision found her like a beacon,
sleeping on white sheets. Her long hair was inky blackness against the white,
frilly-laced nightgown she wore, which was sliding down one shoulder, baring
it, as she slept on her side. Urges and emotions tossed inside him at the sight
of her. The vulnerable and seductive sight of her. He fought the calamity
attacking him on all fronts. He was amazed he could even care that blood pulsed
in her veins as satiated as he was. The battle tightened his resolve and his
entire body into an unyielding wall.
He approached
her. She was fragile and soft. The curve of her hip beneath the sheet was full
and tempting. His body regretted she was so innocent of sexual couplings,
because it wanted her with fierceness that felt wild and untamed. Yet his mind
controlled his body and he wouldn't see her frightened or harmed.
"Trinity?"
By god, she'd
startled him. He'd been so intent looking at the top curve of her breast he was
completely unaware she'd woken. Damnation, that was unusual. He looked at her
eyes so dark in the lightless room.
His arousal was not capable of
entrancing her.
Trinity pushed aside the nagging thoughts as he realized
Beth wasn't certain he was really there. She didn't have night vision as he
had. He could back away without her realizing.
Unrealistic
urges opened his lips. "Hush, maiden, I just wanted to check on you,"
he murmured under his breath.
Guard your door, if not in here.
He turned
his head slightly at the protective thoughts that stabbed him.
"I knew you
were there. I don't know how," she said sleepily. Then she said so softly
he barely heard, "I dreamed of you." He moved closer as though she
lured him. "Where are you?" she asked.
"Right here,"
he answered. In one movement, he could be sitting beside her.
Her gaze
searched for him in the darkness. "In my dream you pierced my neck with
your fangs and you took my blood. I felt so …"
Damnation.
Was she out to seduce him to do it? His fangs lengthened in his mouth. Wicked
temptress, he thought. Hadn't he told her on a number of occasions how hard he
held back his feral desire to feed on her? How dangerous it was. Yet, she
continued to entice him.
Anger and sexual
desire clashed inside him. He'd proven to himself he could keep from biting
her, but not from coupling her. In a less compelling moment, he might have
thought the two were far too intertwined to try. At this moment, he was
provoked. Then he was on top of her, pulling her over and beneath him.
"Right."
Beth's voice was shrill, finishing on a high note, and he realized she'd ended
the sentence she'd started before. Her small fists pressed into his chest.
"You will
get burned," he warned, grasping her chin and turning her face to the
side, baring her neck to his fangs. "Is this what you want?" His
voice rumbled as he grazed her neck with his fangs, but not biting.
A delicate
feminine yelp leapt from her throat and her body bowed against his, rising to
where he held his body tautly above her. The fullness of her breasts flattened
into the hardness of his chest. "Yes," she panted, arched beneath
him. "If we don't do this you will live a tortured existence beside me,
but not with me."
He was
astounded, but no less provoked, by the temptations of her supplicated throat
and the mutual arousal he could feel burning between them. "How do you
know this?" he demanded, his breath hot against her supplicated throat.
"So much
knowledge came with the taste of your blood," she panted.
He could feel
the passion pumping through her veins and he licked her throat, opening his
mouth, fangs throbbing for her purity, just as his erection pounded for it. She
was splayed beneath him as his muscular body flexed and tensed.
"Kiss
me," he rasped, feeling as if he might break in half.
"Trinity,"
she whispered and she used her arms clutching his shoulders to pull her lips up
to his. Fire burned down his body as their lips touched. His hardening erection
knew how close it was to what it demanded as he kissed Beth's eager mouth.
She tasted of
trust and unfolding passions, so tempting and ripe. He wanted to lay his body
on top of her, to grasp her thighs and pull them open so he could settle
between. His thoughts taunting him with the knowledge of the little wispy thing
she barely had on. He could feel the tips of her nipples prod his chest at
different moments as she held on to him to kiss him.
Her mouth was
bolder and her small tongue tempted him, until he thrust his bigger tongue deep
into her mouth.
Like he wanted to thrust inside her.
The tightly
controlled part of him wondered how far he could go with this before his beast
gained control.
A rumble purred
from his throat. No, she was his and he would not go feral on her. He knew his
eyes were yellow and his fangs were out. Yet he was controlling it with a sense
of firmness he'd not felt before. Perhaps his little innocent was right and he
was incapable of harming her. She tasted right. She tasted of fresh storms
brewing. Her arms lost the strength they'd used to hold her upward to keep
kissing him and she fell to the pillows with her lips panting lightly.
Her hands rubbed
his sides, dragging his loose shirt in places. "You're my husband,"
she whispered.
His chest
tightened.
Yes. Please
. He knew she was offering herself to him.
"I'm not a gentleman," he managed; his throat was tight.
Her hand found
his bare skin, beneath his shirt, and stroked. A little sound of awe curled
from her throat. She liked the feel of him.
"I'm not a
fragile little girl." Beth's small hand flattened on the upper mound of
his chest muscle.
"Yes, you
are."
A soft yet rough
assertion as her fingers kneaded his taut muscles. Her other hand found the
bare skin on the side of his waist and she rubbed it, making his erection
throb. She sighed with a sound of relenting surrender to the fact he was right.
She was a vulnerable little girl. Just that thought scoured his body and he
nearly lowered it on top of her. He wanted to lick this little girl from head
to toe.
Beth felt every
side of herself in contradiction. She was innocent, yet at times she felt
worldly. She was afraid, but not afraid at all. She wanted her husband, but she
wasn't certain what to do with him. Then, at some moments, she did know. She
wanted him to come to her, to stop holding himself away, but she didn't know
how to make that happen. Perhaps he was right … she was a little girl and
didn't know anything.
Except, she
would think all those things and know them to be right, but none of it mattered
when she touched him. It was completely dark and she couldn't see him. It was
like a dream. He was like a fantasy above her. She felt the heavy strands of
his hair touching her bare shoulders and she felt the incredible strength he
used to stay above her.
She'd fallen
into the dream-like quality of it all and became brave through the darkness to
touch him. She'd fallen off a cliff into sensations so strong they made her
entire body yearn. Trinity felt like warm steel. There were ropes and ridges
beneath her palms, and it thrilled her to think a man of his quality and power
wanted her. Her, little plump Beth, who'd been unable to catch a husband on her
own … through two seasons.
Now she touched
strength like none she could imagine. He'd come for her, he held himself under
control … for her. Perhaps she was being cruel, trying to break his resolve.
Nevertheless, some feminine intuition told her this was the way to bind him to
her.
"Show me
your breasts." His voice was husky and raw.
She was
surprised, chased by guilty feelings of being indecent. Then little thrills
tugged her away from guilt, and to cover her flustered emotions, she blurted.
"You can see me?"
"Everything,"
his words rumbled above her.
A shudder of
shocked awareness shivered through her. She hadn't known. Her head tilted to
the side away from where his gaze might be. How could she just show him her
breasts? Her nails uncurled from his flesh where she'd clutched him too hard,
but he hadn't flinched away. Then, with immense dread and excitement combined,
she tugged her gown down, baring her chest.
They were too big.
"Perfect."
His voice was a husky purr and the tips of her nipples ached with twin pangs
that coursed into her belly and lower. Suddenly she remembered the feel of
Trinity's persistent fingers touching her loins. Heaven help her if he'd sucked
on her nipples too. She started to blank out those indecent thoughts, but then
a pleased sound etched from his throat. "You are getting aroused, little
virgin."
Heat flushed her
entire body, as she stammered. "I-I am not."
"If you say
so."
Beth felt the
bed shifting. He was moving. She braced herself for the feel of him grabbing
her gown to pull it up or the feel of his hands grasping the mounds of her bare
breasts. When neither happened, she tried to find herself in the darkness. She
thought with a bit of confusion that Trinity might be lying next to her. Had
she done something wrong? Was she supposed to do something now? Suddenly, she
felt his hands warm on her bare flesh as he pulled her closer, until the mounds
of her breasts were pressed into the side of his chest against his shirt. Her
hand floundered above him wondering where to fall, then he clasped it and
brought it to land on his chest.
Her heartbeat
thudded as his hand smoothed over her lower back. "Go to sleep,
Beth." His murmur was at odds with the tautness she could feel in his
body.
She was
completely surprised. She knew there was more to the marriage bed. Even out on
the lawn that seductive night he'd shown her naughty desirous things men and
women did together. She wanted to ask him why he'd stopped. Part of her wanted
to know and part of her felt as though she'd done such extraordinary things
already … like lying bare-breasted in her husband's arms. He wasn't leaving her
and that meant something.
Trinity felt
each pounding of his shaft echo through his fangs and deeper. It was an urge
that plucked at him incessantly as he forced his ardor to cool.
Not an easy
task.
He'd wrung it to such heights and the partially naked object of his
desire lay warmly against him. He measured his breathing, until he could once
again breathe normally. He
would
control himself.
He had to admit
he found it easier than he believed he would. However, he would continue to
test himself, until he was as certain as a vampire who believed in morals could
be, that he would come to Beth a mortal in conscience if not in body.