Aria doubted very much she’d be complaining about Gray in the future.
A thread of panic coursed through her, and she pulled him closer. “Gray, promise you won’t leave me. No, no.” She fought to gain control over herself. “I have no right to ask that of you. I’m sorry. Maybe we shouldn’t do this. If we do, I’m afraid I might fall too deeply in love with you. We don’t know what’s going to happen—if we’re separated, I won’t be able to—”
“Aria, my darling, why are you worrying over things that will never happen? I won’t be separated from you. Take me as your husband and let’s let this whole place know it tomorrow.”
“No,” she shook her head. “I won’t marry you to spite anyone. Ask me again at another time.”
His smile deepened, watching her while she spoke. “Aria?”
“Yes?” She glanced at him as she wiggled out of her petticoats and hose under the blankets.
“I love you.”
She stopped and looked at his face close to hers. He was so handsome he stole the breath from her body.
“I’m more stunned than you are,” he confessed in a soft voice. “I thought no one could ever touch my heart again. I wasn’t even willing to let it happen. But you, you came roaring like a fearless little lion and tore away my defenses as if they were made of parchment.”
She tried kicking her legs out of her hose but to no avail. He laughed, and she was sure he crinkled his nose in the soft glow of the firelight. He helped her out of her binds, and she swore silently to help him with the same.
Free, she vaulted over him and smiled down at him. “Gray?” she whispered. “I love you too. I love you enough to throw the key into the estuary when we find it.”
“Aria,” he said, settling her atop his thighs. “I would never let you abandon your family.”
She didn’t doubt his words, and she loved him even more for them. She didn’t want to think about being apart from him now. But who would he be abandoning here? His father and his father’s horrible wife and her son? The villagers who’d raged to stone him?
She lowered herself and kissed his waiting, smiling mouth. She felt him beneath her trying to guide himself into her. She smiled like a cat and rubbed herself over him, encasing him in her fiery hot niche, almost taking him whole as he shot his hot lubricant into her.
She didn’t let him retreat when he was spent but held him down and pumped harder. To her surprise and delight, his stamina didn’t fail, nor did his appetite for her. What had been her victory quickly became his when he turned her on her back and spread her thighs with his knees.
She wasn’t sure how she’d taken him the first time. She wasn’t sure she could do it again, but he drove himself into her and made her drip around him and take him deeper.
They slept for a little while but soon he woke her again by drinking from her tight nipples. She could do nothing but smile as molten fire coursed through her and made her legs spread.
Turning her over, he mounted her from behind. He leaned over her and spoke close to her ear, telling her what she meant to him and how much he needed her in his life.
Pushing her down he slipped his finger under her and rolled her hard nub in his fingers until she cried out. His thrusts grew more urgent as she found her release in his hand, and he found his inside her warm body.
Aria wasn’t sure how many times they’d woken up tangled in each other’s arms. How many times they made love before he finally fell asleep for over two hours.
Aria was sore but ecstatically happy as she made her way to her chambers just before the sun came up.
She didn’t want Sarah to find her bed empty this morning, and she also wanted to let Gray sleep, so she slipped out of his bed without disturbing him.
She managed to get to her rooms without anyone seeing her. She smiled, opening her door and stepping inside. Hands came around her mouth right away and a hard body pressed up against hers.
“Scream and I kill him before I kill you.”
Mr. Cavendish’s voice against her ear made her want to scream and claw his eyes out. She wouldn’t scream but she would kick him in the—
Another set of hands appeared out of the shadows. One hand lashed out and punched her in the jaw, knocking her out.
*
Gray dreamed hewas a child wandering about in the forest. All around him animals foraged and prepared for the new day. None of them stopped to speak with him. When he tried to communicate with them, nothing happened. Panic and loneliness engulfed him. Suddenly, they began running for their lives away from him and out of the forest.
Wait! Why are you running? Can you not hear me?
They didn’t respond or even stop running. Then he saw Abigail the goose flying toward him. She quacked but he shook his head, not understanding.