"Stop moving, Merry, or I'll not be responsible for--" His words ended on a gasp as she shifted beneath him again. Not only did her excitement pulse more sharply through her, but Merry was sure that he grew harder inside her. She raised her gaze to see that his eyes were now squeezed closed as if he was in pain, and his face looked tense.
Curious, Merry shifted her hips again, this time drawing a groan from his lips and forcing his eyes back open.
"Wife," he breathed in warning, but it was a warning she chose not to heed. Merry shifted beneath him again, raising her knees on either side of his hips so that she could tilt her hips more and make him surge into her. That was all it took. Alex's control snapped like a twig. A low growl slid from his lips and then he was raising himself up to kneel between her legs, taking her with him so that she found herself sitting facing him in his lap, her legs around his hips and his body filling her so completely she thought she might split from it.
"What--?" Merry began with confusion, unsure what she was to do in this position, or any position really, and then he clasped her by the bottom and raised her slightly and she breathed, "Ohhh" as his shaft slid partway out of her before he lowered her again and filled her once more.
Alex did this several more times, the angle rubbing him against the nub of her excitement, and then suddenly he laid her back on the bed. He immediately followed her down so that he could drive himself into her more easily. Merry had no idea what she was supposed to be doing, but dug her heels into the bed and arched herself into his thrusts, her hands moving down to clasp his behind and urge him on as he drove them both back to, and over, the brink once more.
chapter Six
Our wedding night."
Merry slowly opened her eyes to find herself peering at her husband's chest. She didn't fully recall how she had ended up there. While her mere touch had made him spill his seed earlier, once he'd gone hard again, he'd stayed hard a very long time and proven a vigorous lover. By the time Alex had screamed out his satisfaction, she'd found her own at least three more times herself and had been barely conscious when he'd rolled off her. She supposed he must have then pulled her to rest on his chest. Now she raised her eyes slowly to his face and took in his grim expression. It appeared to be time for explanations.
"On our wedding night," she began, and then paused as his eyes sharpened on her. This was probably going to annoy him, she knew. After all, he--and everyone else--had seen the blood on the sheets and jumped to the conclusion that he'd been overly rough. She truly should have explained matters to him sooner, but--
"Merry," he growled.
Grimacing, she lowered her eyes to his chest and began to toy with the hair there as she quickly explained, "When everyone left our room that night, they didna close the door properly. Ye got up to close it, stumbled on yer clothes on the way back, hit yer head on the bed and knocked yerself out."
"I did?" he asked with surprise.
"Aye." Merry nodded solemnly and then rushed on, "I kenned they'd come searching fer the bed linens in the morn and ye were unable to...er..." She shrugged and then continued, "So I cut meself and smeared blood on the linens."
"All that blood was from a cut?" he asked, actually sounding more dismayed now.
Merry nodded warily, and then gasped with surprise as he suddenly whirled her onto her back on the bed and shifted to kneel beside her, his gaze scouring her naked body.
"Where is this cut?"
Merry grimaced but raised one knee, making more of her injured leg visible. Her husband's eyes immediately shot to her thigh and widened with horror.
"Dear God, woman! What did you do? Stab yourself with a sword?"
Alex was now bending over to look more closely at the remnants of the cut, so missed the face she made at him. It had been three weeks. The wound was healed and now just a scar, a rather large and ugly scar, unfortunately, but a scar just the same. One that was more likely to remind her of this night than their wedding night, she suspected, as his fingers moved gently over the healed wound, sending a shiver up her back.
Trying to ignore that his face was down between her legs, Merry cleared her throat and explained, "I didna ken how much blood breaching a veil would cause and thought overdoing it was better than underdoing it."
Alex's head suddenly swiveled, his eyes stabbing her with accusation. "And you let me think I had caused all that blood on our wedding night?"
Merry bit her lip. "I would have explained, but ye always seemed drunk and--"
Her words died when he raised a hand for silence. A moment passed when she suspected he was too furious to speak, but after a moment he ran a weary hand through his hair and shifted to sit at the head of the bed, his back against the wall. Alex then caught her by the waist and lifted her to sit in his lap. Merry peered down at her hands and waited, unsure if he was angry or not. His voice did not sound angry, however, when he asked, "Did I hurt you very badly?"
Merry glanced at him with confusion, noted that his eyes were on the apex of her thighs, and flushed as she realized he meant when he'd broken her maiden's veil. Feeling her face heat with embarrassment, she shook her head. "It was barely more than a pinch."
"You cried out," he pointed out quietly.
Merry shrugged. "'Twas the shock. I kenned what ye were about to do, but it still felt very odd to have ye filling me, and then, too, I was expecting it to hurt like the very devil and was shocked that it didna."
"I see," he said quietly.
Merry let out a slow breath and peered at her hands, noting absently that she was wringing them like an anxious old woman. She wasn't terribly surprised. While she was glad he didn't seem angry, Merry was also terribly uncomfortable sitting there in his lap with the two of them naked. She supposed it was silly to feel that way after the intimate things they'd just done, but emotion was rarely logical, and to be fair, she didn't normally sit around naked in front of her maid, let alone in the equally naked lap of a man. Merry was trying to think of a way to remove herself and somehow scoot under the covers without it seeming as if she was too eager to do so when she became aware that Alex was running one hand up and down her back. It was a soothing gesture and really very nice.
"Merry."
"Aye?" She glanced at him reluctantly, a bit surprised to see that he was smiling, a soft glow in his eyes that she didn't understand.
"Thank you."
Merry glanced to him with confusion. "Fer what?"
"For seeing to the linens on our wedding night," he said, his words a soft growl. "And for tonight."
Merry glanced away with a shrug, aware that the blush staining her cheeks had darkened further. She had done little tonight but allow him to do as he wished, as a proper wife should. Well, unless you counted enjoying it. She'd done that, too.
"I know we started out poorly, but I hope this can be a new beginning for us. We can use the trip to Donnachaidh as a chance to get to know each other better. Will you give us that chance?"
Merry hesitated. Alex had said earlier that he hadn't been drinking and that he suspected his slurring of words and occasional stagger these last three weeks were the result of fighting off an illness like the men suffered. If so, the symptoms were not ones she'd heard of before. Still, it would be nice if that were the case. She had enjoyed what they'd just done so knew the marriage bed would not be a trial. And Alex had proven himself a hard worker these last three weeks, running about the keep trying to do the work of four men while his soldiers were ailing. That alone showed that he differed from her father and brothers in at least one respect. If he was telling the truth and his behavior these last weeks wasn't the result of drink...Well, she might just have herself a fine husband after all. It seemed only fair she give him the chance to be that.
Meeting his gaze, Merry nodded solemnly. "Aye. I'll give us a chance."
Alex smiled and then caught her face in both hands and pulled her forward for a kiss. Much to Merry's amazement, the moment he deepened that kiss she felt her earlier exc
itement stirring back to life again. Even more surprising to her was that she felt his excitement stirring to life as well as he grew hard beneath her bottom once more. Merry had barely begun to wonder if he could manage the bedding again when he caught her by the hips and lifted her, urging her to straddle his lap. He then eased her to sit so that his staff was caught between them, rubbing across her excited flesh.
"One more time," he whispered, breaking their kiss to trail his mouth across her cheek as his hands began to move over her body. "I have never wanted a woman with such an insatiable hunger as I want you, but only one more time and then we must rest for the journey tomorrow."
"Aye," Merry gasped as one of his hands found a breast and the other urged her hips forward so that she rubbed against his shaft, the action caressing them both. "One more time and then we must rest."
"Good morning."