Page 4

Newlyweds Awaken

M eanwhile, on a dhahab?yeh out in the river

The sound of footsteps overhead had Randy Forster, heir to the Gisborn earldom, emerging from a deep sleep. He reached out to ensure his new wife, Diana, was still next to him, grinning when she rolled to face him.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she whispered, her lips upturned at their corners.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” He leaned toward her and kissed her forehead. “What are you doing awake so early?”

She tittered, a sound he found as welcoming as he did amusing. As a woman determined to remain a spinster when he had met her atop the Acropolis in Athens, Diana rarely smiled, nor was she easily humored. For some reason he hadn’t yet sorted, Randy had been immediately attracted to the young woman.

“Trying to determine if it’s your brother or David walking about up on the top deck,” she replied. “I believe it’s Tom, but as to why he’s up there, I have to admit I am rather curious.”

“It’s Tom,” he affirmed, recognizing his younger brother’s cadence. He lifted his pocket watch from the nightstand, his eyes widening. “I am a sleepyhead,” he added. “It’s nearly nine o’clock.” He lifted himself onto an elbow and listened for a moment. “And it feels like we’re moving rather fast.”

“The wind is in our favor,” Diana remarked. “Our captain said this is the best time of the year to sail up the Nile.”

He scoffed softly. “Are we in a hurry?”

Diana once again tittered and stepped off the small bed. Given the size of their compact cabin, she had to shimmy sideways to reach her trunk.

Randy suppressed the urge to groan when she bent over to open it and retrieve some clothes. His very first view of her had been of her bum, the perfect upside-down heart-shaped derriere encased in a pair of men’s breeches.

She wasn’t wearing anything at the moment, due to the fact that he had stripped her of her nightrail the night before, prior to them ever climbing onto the small bed. She also seemed oblivious to the discomfort she was causing him and his manhood.

“Are you staring at my bum?” she asked, her attention still on the clothes in the trunk.

So... not oblivious.

“I am and you know it, you minx,” he accused, managing to inflect some humor into his otherwise serious response.

Despite what he wanted to be doing with his new wife—engage in the sort of bed sport in which they had enjoyed once he had her completely naked—he pulled on a pair of pantaloons.

“But if my brother is up on the roof...” He paused to listen and grunted when the sound resumed. “He must have seen something.”

“Agreed,” she replied. She held up a day gown next to a pair of breeches. “I can’t decide,” she added.

The daughter of Viscount Jasper Henley, Diana regularly engaged in her father’s avocation of archaeology. She was clever, too, and gifted—or cursed—with the ability to remember everything she had ever heard, read, or seen.

She also possessed a body Randy found irresistible.

Given all her traits, he supposed he’d had no choice when it came to convincing her to marry him.

Although he had offered to be her lover for life if she remained a spinster, he knew he would always regret it if she couldn’t one day be his countess.

As for if she was regretting marrying him, he reveled in the reminder of the words she said to him every night before they slept.

“I love you, Randolph Forster.”

For the first week after their civil wedding ceremony in Athens, she had added, “Please don’t make me regret it.”

Ever since, he had done his very best to improve upon his lovemaking skills—in seeing to her pleasure before taking his own. Other than having studied illustrations or read about lovemaking in books, neither one of them had any experience prior to their wedding night.

They had certainly learned much from one another since that night late in September.

“Mayhap neither,” he whispered, referring to the clothes she held out. He swallowed, his eyes darkening with desire.

Diana dropped the folded items onto the bed and turned around as if she intended to look for something else. Bending over, she glanced back at him. “Perhaps you should come help me choose,” she whispered. Instead of rummaging through the trunk, she braced her hands against the cabin wall.

The sight of her upturned quim had Randy gulping.

He quickly divested himself of his pantaloons before moving to stand behind her.

Gripping her hips with his hands, he gasped when one of her hands reached between her thighs to cradle his ball sac before guiding the tip of his manhood to her entrance.

“You’re already wet,” he whispered in surprise, inhaling sharply when he realized he was already half-buried inside her.

“I’ve been awake longer than you,” she whispered.

“We’ve not done it like this before,” he murmured, sliding his hands up along the sides of her torso until his fingertips brushed the tips of her nipples.

She gasped when he pressed further into her, and when she arched her back, he was suddenly buried to the hilt. She gave up her hold on his balls to press her palm against the wall, requiring both hands for leverage.

“I fear I’m going to come too soon,” he warned, pulling halfway out before he thrust into her.

He felt one of her hands cover his right hand to guide it to where their bodies met, and he understood what to do.

Pressing his thumb against her swollen womanhood as he pulled out of her, he felt her body respond even before he heard her soft cry.

Rubbing harder as he thrust into her over and over, he knew he couldn’t hold off his release.

At the same moment his seed spilled into her, her channel contracted around his manhood, pulling him deeper into her while her breath caught. To stifle her cry of pleasure, she turned her head to place her open mouth against her upper arm.

For a moment, Randy saw only stars as a maelstrom of pleasure gripped him and didn’t seem to let go. Dizzy and delirious, he lowered his face to the space between her shoulder blades, one hand cupping a breast as the other took purchase on the wall for support.

“Well, this is certainly a novel way to start the morning,” Diana whispered after a moment, her breathing finally returning to normal.

“If I died this very moment, I would miss you the most,” he whispered hoarsely.

Diana gasped and straightened, sending him falling backwards onto the bed. “Don’t you dare die on me,” she countered, turning to follow him down onto the bed. She ended up atop him, grinning in delight.

He chuckled, although he quickly sobered when the thumping atop the roof began again. “I won’t,” he promised. “I think it’s best I discover what’s going on out there, though.”

“Agreed,” Diana replied. She rolled off of him and returned to the trunk.

“The gown,” he said. When she gave him a look of confusion, he added, “Wear the gown. Save the breeches for when we reach some ruins,” he suggested.

She nodded, watching as he pulled on his smalls and pantaloons. “I’ll hurry, but I to need clean myself before I dress,” she said.

Pulling on a shirt, he nodded. “There’s water in the pitcher,” he said. “Will you need help with your gown?”

“I can manage,” she assured him. “But I’m only going to wear one petticoat. There isn’t enough room on this ship for these huge skirts,” she complained.

“I won’t mind,” he replied, grinning as he buttoned his waistcoat. “I’m going to forego a top coat.” Pulling on a pair of boots, he stood. “Do I look like you’ve just had your way with me?”

Giggling, Diana moved to stand in front of him, reaching up with a hand to spear his hair with her fingers, smoothing it into some semblance of order. “There,” she said proudly.

“Thank you.” He kissed her first on the lips and then on the forehead.

“You’re welcome. Now, be off with you. I need some privacy. If anyone asks, I?—”

“I’ll tell them you’re reading,” he said, gesturing to a small pile of books on the cabin’s only nightstand.

She lifted a shoulder. “Thank you.”

He winked at her and took his leave of the small cabin to discover whatever it was that had his brother up on the top deck.