Page 34

One Week Later

H e was in her body again.

Flat on her back, Astria was nude as she gazed up at the ceiling, eyes half-lidded, coming down from the euphoria of her second climax that morning.

And the sun wasn’t even up yet. But Payne was lying on her, his body still joined to hers, and her ever-curious hands wandered down his big body, stroking his smooth flesh, before finding their way between them and touching the junction between her legs where they were still joined.

Her fingers touched his member and he groaned.

“I have duties tae attend tae this morning,” he muttered into the side of her head. “I canna stay abed with ye all day, as much as I would love tae.”

He shifted so that his weight wasn’t pressing down on her, but she wouldn’t let him withdraw from her body.

He ended up half on, half off her. Her breasts, free of the weight he brought down on them, were now available for her to fondle.

She did, one hand between her legs and the other on her breasts, until Payne’s big hand joined her in her exploration of her own body.

Something she’d always avoided until just a few days ago, when she and Payne consummated their marriage and she realized that touching her body wasn’t a bad thing.

Now, all she wanted to do was explore.

Payne finally pulled out of her simply so he could move to a more comfortable position and suckle her breasts tenderly.

Astria closed her eyes, feeling the pleasure of his mouth on her flesh, her hand still between her legs, touching herself where it was warm and moist. When Payne couldn’t stand being left out of it, he moved one hand between her legs and pushed his fingers into her, pleasuring her as she groaned softly.

When she finally climaxed, he pushed himself up onto one elbow, gazing down at her flushed, lovely face.

“I told ye that I have duties,” he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I swear tae ye that if I get punished for being late, I’ll tell them it was all yer fault.”

Her eyes opened sleepily and she grinned. “Would you really?”

“I would.”

Her arms abruptly came up, and she threw them around his neck, pulling him down to her seeking lips. Payne surrendered without a fight, but only until things started getting heated again and he forced himself away.

“Nay,” he said, leaping out of bed before she could grab him. “Ye’re a wicked, wanton woman, Lady Lismore, and I shouldna let ye seduce me.”

Astria sat up, bare-breasted, watching him grab for his breeches. “Mayhap not, but you did,” she said, smiling. “Are you truly so weak?”

He pulled his breeches over his hips, fastening the ties as he looked up at her.

“For ye, I am,” he said, eyes glimmering with warmth and affection.

“I never knew I could become so attached tae someone in so short a time. Now I canna remember when ye were not by my side, lass. Everything about ye consumes me.”

The smile on her face faded. “Do not say such things if you do not mean them,” she said. “You do not have to say them because you think it is what I want to hear.”

“I say it because it’s the truth,” he said. “Tell me something—have ye ever wanted yer marriage tae be more than a contract? More than marrying a stranger because yer father made a bargain with him?”

She wasn’t sure what he meant. “A marriage is supposed to be many things.”

“It’s suppose tae be happy.”

“How do you know?”

“Because my parents were happy. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“But she went to sea and left him.”

“Only out of duty tae her father,” Payne said. “My father loved her enough tae know she had tae go. And he let her.”

“And you want the same thing they had?”

He nodded before hunting around for his tunic. “I do,” he said. “I sound like a woman saying such a thing, but I reason that if I’m going tae spend my life with someone, then I want tae like them. Love them, even. I dunna think that is unreasonable.”

He found his tunic and Astria pulled the coverlet over her bare chest, thinking on what he’d said.

“I do not think so either,” she said. “But it is so very rare. I do not know if I’ve ever truly seen a happy royal marriage.

The people who seem happy are the ones who do not have the weight of important duties hanging around their neck.

Mayhap that is what makes them the happiest of all—no great responsibilities.

And their marriages are happy because they can focus on one another, not the world that demands their time and attention. ”

He found his tunic, pulling it over his head. “That is astute,” he said. “And mayhap there is some truth tae it. But I like tae think that if a man and woman like each other enough, and care about each other enough, a happy marriage will be important tae them both. Love can grow from such things.”

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned love.”

He looked at her. “Do ye think ye could love me? Just a little?”

She fought off a smile, averting her gaze shyly. “Mayhap,” she said. “You are rather handsome. And you are very kind.”

He plopped down on the bed, grabbing his boots from the floor. “That’s a start,” he said. “Do ye want tae know what I told my mother?”

“What?”

“I told her that ye and I were going tae have a love that would outlast the stars.”

Astria turned to look at him. His back was to her as he put his boots on. Crawling out from underneath the coverlet, she made her way over to him, gently putting her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder.

“Do you think so?” she whispered.

He put a hand up to clasp one of her arms. “I do,” he said quietly. “I truly do.”

“When will we know?”

He squeezed her arm. “That is the easy thing of it,” he said. “We’ll simply know. No one will have tae tell us. We’ll feel it in our hearts, our minds. We’ll just know. ”

He lifted her arm and kissed it, twice, before standing up.

As he went out of the chamber to collect another tunic from a storage chest, Astria climbed off the bed and found a long-sleeved shift, one of the garments that Margit had given her.

She pulled it over her head as Payne came back into the chamber, pulling on a padded tunic that was more like a vest. It was leather and fabric, and he began to fasten the ties on the front to secure it.

“What are ye going tae do about my mother’s invitation?” he asked. “She’s asked ye tae break yer fasts together at the Black Cock today. Ye’ve not said if ye plan tae go.”

Astria sighed as he brought up a subject they hadn’t discussed since Maude sent a missive the day before, one that Astria read and then put aside. But now, Payne was bringing the subject up and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

“That is because I do not know,” she said. “Although it has been about a week since she brought me here, my association with her has not exactly been friendly.”

“I know,” he said. “But she wants tae try tae make peace with ye, as my wife. Will ye at least give her the chance?”

“You think I should?”

He nodded. “I do think ye should give her the opportunity at some point,” he said.

“She’s my mother, after all. She’ll be in our lives forever.

And the fact that she captured ye… I suppose ye could say that it was her duty as a pirate.

And ye canna fault her for doing her duty.

I’m not defending her actions, of course, merely pointing that out.

Francis told me that she was never truly brutal tae ye as far as captives go. Would ye agree with that?”

Astria’s lips twisted pensively. “I suppose she was no more brutal to me than I was to her,” she said. “I fought the woman quite a bit, you know. I even kicked her in the face once. She could have punished me terribly, but she never did.”

Payne lifted his eyebrows. “I’m glad tae hear that,” he said.

“Love, I’m not asking ye tae forgive her, but she wants tae at least make peace because of me.

I dunna think she thought ye and I would become fond of one another, so that puts her in a strange position.

But if ye dunna want tae leave the past behind ye, that’s yer decision.

I’ll support ye, whatever ye choose tae do. ”

“I appreciate that,” Astria said sincerely.

“And I’ve thought about it. I’m not na?ve, Payne.

I understand the way the world works, and it is a brutal place.

I understand that what she did to me was an opportunity.

It wasn’t personal. I know that because I’ve done the same thing, as The Sea God.

But your mother did bring me to you, so for that alone, I suppose she warrants some forgiveness.

Had it not been for her, I would have never known you. ”

“True,” he said. “Then ye’ll see her today?”

Astria shrugged. “I suppose,” she said. “Truthfully, I’ve not seen her much over the past week. I appreciate the fact that she’s left us alone.”

“She’s been more concerned with Declan’s absence than bothering us,” he said. “She sent men tae check the ships at Combwich, but they’ve not returned yet. She’s afraid that Declan might be waiting for her on the road when she returns tae those vessels with the intention of ambushing her.”

The subject turned to Declan’s continuing absence, which had been weighing heavily on Maude as well as on Payne.

It was never a good thing to have an unhappy man, with violent tendencies, on the loose, and Blackchurch was still on the alert because of it.

It had been a long week of vigilance, but so far, no sign of the errant Matheson brother.

“I was wondering why your mother had remained here,” Astria said.

“And given that I know something of your brother because I’ve spent the past five months with him, I would say that her fears are not imagined.

Declan Matheson has a vicious streak in him, Payne.

I know he is your brother, but he is not a good man. ”