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“Because it is true,” he said. “Ye had no home when ye were young. Ye were simply one of many in yer father’s family.

Then ye married an old man who treated ye like an object.

Ye were a possession tae him and nothing more.

Ye tried tae become useful by taking control of his family’s business, but that really belongs tae the man’s son.

Ye tried tae take back what legally belongs tae him and then my mother captured ye.

Now, ye find yerself in England and the wife of a Blackchurch trainer.

Ye’re not lost anymore, but it is going tae take ye some time tae realize that.

Ye canna always be a bit of flotsam in the sea, Astria.

At some point, even the flotsam settles tae the bottom and becomes part of it. ”

Astria.

That was the first time she’d heard him use her given name.

Her first name, Maria, was something commonly given to royal women, but it wasn’t meant to be used.

It was simply given in tribute to the mother of Jesus.

She’d gone by Astria her entire life, but she’d never heard it used in a tone that made her stomach quiver.

But his words seemed to incite something in her, something confused and resistant.

“You speak as if this was an arranged marriage and it was something agreeable to both of us,” she said.

“Do not tell me I belong here, because I don’t.

I was brought here as a captive, forced into marriage, and now you are trying to tell me that I belong.

I do not mean to offend you, but you are presenting a pleasant picture of an unpleasant situation.

I did not ask to come here. I did not ask to be married to you. I am not lost. I simply do not belong.”

She lowered her head, going back to removing her clothing and having no idea why his words had irritated her so, but they made her want to weep.

Weep because she had been forced to come here against her will and Payne was trying to make it sound like everything was sunshine and roses.

Well, it wasn’t. It never had been. But most confusingly, she’d never had such a lovely day in her life with Payne and then Athdara and Elisiana.

So perhaps there was some truth to what he’d said.

Perhaps she was lost after all.

“I understand that ye feel like that now,” he said after a moment. “But be patient. It takes time tae find yer footing.”

She looked at him. “Why are you so confident about this?” she said. “Your life is in upheaval, too. You’ve had a wife forced on you. Are you not upset about this?”

He shrugged. “I had tae marry sometime,” he said. “Why not marry ye?”

That wasn’t helping her angst. The shock of the captivity and marriage had worn off and now she was feeling some emotions about it.

Perhaps it was the fact that this important moment was upon them and she was helpless against it.

In any case, she removed her surcoat and hose, sliding them off her legs, before climbing into the bed and pulling the coverlet up to her shoulders.

She simply lay there, staring at the ceiling, waiting for him to come to her.

Removing his breeches, he did. The moment he slid into the bed, she pulled the coverlet up to her chin.

“I will again remind you that I do not know too much about what we are supposed to do this night,” she said. “You will have to tell me what you want me to do.”

The covers were pulled up so tightly around her that he was fairly certain he’d have to pry them away with an iron bar. He lifted himself up beside her, propping himself up with an elbow upon the soft bed as he gazed down at her.

“I want ye tae simply lie there and enjoy it,” he said softly. “But I canna do anything with the coverlet pulled over ye like a shield. Ye’ll have tae lower it, and it would be best if ye removed yer shift.”

Astria was a brave woman under most circumstances. But at the moment, her bravery was faltering. Hesitantly, she lowered the coverlet.

“Like this?”

It was barely down to her chest. “More,” he said.

It went a little lower. “This?”

He couldn’t help it. He snorted with mirth. “May I help ye with it?”

Astria nodded, and he climbed out of bed and walked over to her side.

Astria could immediately see that he was naked, his entire pelvic region, including his flaccid manhood, exposed in her full view.

Startled, she looked up at the ceiling again as he pulled the coverlet down to her knees, took hold of her arm, and pulled her into sitting position.

God help her, this put his manhood right about eye level at this point, and she was trying desperately not to look at it.

It was wagging in her face! He grasped both of her arms, pulled them straight up, and made her hold them there.

Then he grabbed the sides of her shift and lifted it up, over her head, nearly lifting her off the bed in the process.

She gasped in surprise as the shift was yanked off her body and then placed neatly on the stool.

As she sat up in the bed, naked from the waist up and her arms covering her breasts, he pushed her down by the shoulders so she was lying down again and then climbed back into the bed, resuming his spot beside her.

“May I begin?” he asked huskily.

Nervously, Astria nodded.

“Ye’re afraid because ye dunna know what is about tae happen,” he whispered, his gaze moving over her lovely face. “Do ye feel my body up against yers?”

Astria’s heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she could hear it pulsing through her ears.

But she could feel his heat against her right side, his skin warm against hers.

When Armand had made love to her the one and only time, he’d kept his nightshirt on.

He’d only lifted it up to his waist, so consequently, anything she felt was fabric and old-man body in her nether regions.

Even when he’d penetrated her, it had been cold and uncomfortable and very, very brief.

Everything about the encounter had been cold and detached.

But this…

It was all shades of hot.

Astria had never had a man this intimately close to her, and of all the things she had imagined it would be, pleasant hadn’t been among them.

But his flesh was against hers and the contact between them, of his body against her right side, caused her palms to sweat. She was trembling, but not from fear.

It was a giddy and overwhelming reaction.

“I… I feel you,” she murmured.

Payne had a smile on his lips, amused and pleased by her reaction to him. Very carefully, he brought up his enormous arms and wrapped them around her slender body, hearing her gasp as he did so. He squeezed, but not too hard.

Just hard enough to feel her against him for the first time.

“Have ye ever been embraced like this?” he whispered in her right ear.

Astria was very quickly collapsing. Everything was collapsing—her fear, her resistance, her ability to think clearly.

“Not like this,” she managed to mutter.

His smile grew. Then he dipped his head and planted a tender kiss her cheek, then her shoulder. Tremors of desire coursed through Astria so strongly that she emitted what sounded like a groan.

“That is a kiss,” he murmured, kissing her shoulder again. “Has a man ever kissed ye?”

Astria groaned again, this time for real, and her eyes rolled up into her head. “God… nay,” she breathed. “Never.”

He kissed her upper arm, gently. “Good,” he said. “I’ll be the first and last man tae ever do it. Is that clear?”

She couldn’t even open her eyes, spiraling with a sensation as simple as a kiss. “It is.”

Payne believed her. He kept his left arm around her as his right arm loosened and his hand went to her belly, and he ran it carefully across her velvety skin.

“This is my touch,” he said softly. “Does it frighten ye?”

“Nay,” she whispered.

He leaned forward, burying his face in her hair and inhaling deeply. It smelled of lavender and musk. Her musk. It was quite enticing.

“Yer husband’s touch is nothing tae be feared, lass,” he whispered. “I’m sorry that the old man never showed ye that, but I will. My touch will always be tender upon ye. Ye’ll never know it in anger, I swear it.”

Astria’s eyes were closed as he continued to caress the skin of her stomach.

But then his hand moved to hers, squeezing it, before he brought her fingers up to his mouth.

He kissed every finger gently before taking her index finger and suckling on it.

That brought a gasp from her, and the moment she did so, he slanted his mouth over hers, kissing her with all of the arousal that he felt. He simply couldn’t help it.

His passion took flight.

His big body rolled onto her, covering her, and Astria gasped as he suckled her delicious lips.

Payne’s big arms went around her, holding her against his nude flesh.

When his tongue gently probed her lips, she had no idea how to respond until he managed to push it into her mouth.

Then it was as if the flame of passion finally ignited and her instincts took flight.

Instincts to respond to everything he was doing to her.

Just as he was tasting her, Astria began to taste him.

She responded to his kisses, which were forceful without being overbearing, erotic without being sloppy.

But his mouth soon left hers, blazing a trail down her chest until he came to her full, tender breasts.

Astria hissed with shock when his hot, wet mouth closed over a tender nipple and he suckled her furiously, his arms wound around her as her body arched and bucked.

He was out of control at this point, lured by the taste of her flesh.

There would be no stopping him.

The harder he sucked, the stronger her bucking and twisting grew until his free hand moved to the tender center between her legs.

She gasped with surprise when he wedged his big body in between her legs and fingered the dark curls.

She was wet, her body preparing to receive him, and the realization had his heart pounding.

His erection was demanding satisfaction.

He continued to fondle her virginal lips as he nursed at her breasts, wanting his entry to be as easy as possible so she wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

He knew that he was basically dealing with a virgin, so he treated her accordingly, but the more he stroked her wet folds, the more her hips would thrust forward as if she were trying to capture his fingers.

It was the most arousing thing he had ever experienced.

He answered her call by inserting a finger into her to satisfy the need her body seemed to be experiencing, to mate as nature had intended.

Astria grunted at the intrusion, groaning softly as he thrust in and out of her, mimicking the lovemaking they would soon be doing.

He thrust another finger into her and she cried out softly, her hips meeting his hand as he moved within her.

She couldn’t seem to figure out what to do with her legs, because they’d been thrashing about, but now, they were spread open wide, giving him unhindered access.

Payne couldn’t wait any longer. He needed his manhood inside of her as much as she needed to feel him.

Now.

Very quickly, he removed his fingers and placed his erection at her threshold, coiling his buttocks and thrusting into her before she realized what he was doing.

When Astria became aware, for the feel of his manhood was different from the feel of his fingers, she started to tighten at the unfamiliar sensation, but Payne lay atop her and coiled his buttocks again, thrusting firm and hard this time.

The second thrust seated him fully, balls deep.

Beneath him, Astria was impaled on his big body, instinctively wrapping her arms around his neck as he thrust into her warm, wet folds.

Her body, so unfamiliar with a man’s touch, nonetheless accepted all of him easily.

No resistance, no fear. All she could do was hang on and experience her first true coupling, thinking that this was nothing like it had been before.

Something hot and carnal was sparking low in her belly.

Every time Payne thrust into her, sparks flew and the feeling grew.

Astria was in a haze. At one point, Payne propped himself up so that he could look at her, watching her in the faint light.

Eyes closed, feeling every sensation he was creating in her, her hands began to wander over her own body.

They found her breasts, touching them sexually for the first time, which made her cry out softly in ecstasy.

They wandered lower, timidly touching the junction where their bodies joined, and she discovered that if she touched herself there, the heat in her loins sparked wildly.

It felt good, so she expanded her touch, feeling his male member where it entered her body, exploring everything that was happening.

Payne simply let her. But when she touched his manhood again, he couldn’t hold back a release so strong that he bit his tongue in the process.

Astria’s body was so highly aroused that when she felt him throbbing within her, it sparked the fire that roared to life and she experienced her first climax.

She cried out as much in surprise as in pleasure.

Payne put his mouth over hers to quiet her cries, mostly because he found it wildly arousing to know she’d found so much gratification.

Even though he’d spent himself, he continued to thrust into her, more slowly, grinding his pelvis against hers and feeling her experience at least two more releases as he did so.

Each time, Astria stiffened and cried out, one hand between her legs, feeling him, and the other on his chest, her nails digging into him.

She left marks.

God, how incredibly arousing he found those nail marks.

His mouth left hers, kissing her neck, her chest, her breasts, his big hands moving between her legs again as he suckled her gently.

When his manhood became too flaccid, he put his fingers into her again, feeling what he’d put inside of her, imagining that she’d conceived a son already.

A strapping lad with his good looks and her strength.

He kept fondling her as long as she let him, and when his manhood eventually hardened again, he put it inside of her and made love to her, very slowly, as she lay beneath him and purred like a kitten.

Soft, gentle groans of pleasure told him that she was enjoying it as much as he was. No pain, no humiliation.

Only warmth and discovery.

It went on all night.