heavy skirts would allow.
'Don't lie to me again,' he said gruffly.
'I won't. I promise.' Her blue eyes were brilliant with love.
He wanted to touch the soft flesh beneath the layers of cloth and lace. He began to pull at the back of her gown, unfastening the ornate buttons, tearing off the resistant ones, tugging his way down until the whole mass of it loosened and she was gasping. Crushing the billows with his feet, he stood with her in the deep pink folds of the ruined gown as if they were at the heart of some gigantic flower. He reached for her undergarments, untying the ribbon at the neckline of her chemise and the tapes of her drawers. She moved to help him, her slender arms and legs emerging from the crumpled linen.
Her pink-and-white nakedness was breathtaking. The slim, strong calves were sheathed in white stockings tied with plain garters. It was unbearably erotic, the contrast of luxurious warm flesh and prim white cotton. Intending to unfasten the garters, he knelt in the soft heaps of pink muslin. She crooked one of her knees to help him, the shy offering distracting him insanely. He bent to kiss her knees, the silken inner thighs, and when she murmured and tried to evade him, he gripped her hips and kept her still. He nuzzled gently into the pale curls, into the roseate fragrance and softness, using his tongue to separate her. Open her. Her moan was soft and pleading.
'My knees are shaking,' she whispered. 'I'll fall.'
Kev ignored her, searching deeper. He lapped and sucked and ate her, his hunger surging at the first taste of female elixir. She pulsed around him as he thrust his tongue deeply, and he felt the response resonating through her body. Breathing into the plush folds, he licked one side of her, then the other, then straight between to the place where her pleasure centered. Entranced, he stroked her over and over, until her hands were gripped in his hair and her hips urged forward in tight undulations.
He took his mouth from her and came to his feet. Her face was dazed, her gaze distant, as if she didn't quite see him. She was trembling from head to toe. His arms slid around her, gathering her naked body against his clothed one. Lowering his mouth to the tender crook of her neck and shoulder, he kissed her skin and touched his tongue to it. At the same time, he reached for the fastenings of his trousers and undid them.
She clung to him as he lifted her and pressed her against the wall, one of his arms protecting her back from abrasion. Her body was supple and surprisingly light, her spine tensing as he eased her weight down and she realized what he meant to do. He settled her fully, watching her mouth draw into a soft O of surprise as she was impaled in a slow, sure glide.
The stockinged legs clamped around his waist, and she held on to him desperately, as if they were on the tossing deck of a storm-ravaged ship. But Kev kept her pinned and secure, letting his hips do the work. The band of his trousers slipped free of the anchoring clips of his braces, and the garment slid to his knees. He averted his face to hide a brief grin, momentarily considering the idea of stopping to take his clothes off… but it felt too good, the lust rising until it eclipsed every trace of amusement.
Win let out a little breath with each wet, rolling drive, feeling herself being filled, ransacked. He paused to kiss her hungrily, while he reached down with gentle fingers and teased the swollen lips apart. When the rhythm resumed, his thrusts grazed the little peak with each firm inward plunge. Her eyes closed as if in sleep, her intimate flesh working on him in frantic pulses.
In, and in, rooting deeper, driving her further to the edge. Her legs went tight around his waist. She stiffened and cried out against his mouth, and he sealed the kiss to keep her quiet. But little moans slipped through, her pleasure shuddering and overrunning. As Kev buried himself in the lovely milking softness, ecstasy shot through him, spilling hotly, gradually easing into helpless throbs.
Gasping, Kev lowered her legs to the floor. They stood, their bodies moistly locked, their mouths rubbing in soothing kisses and sighs. Win's hands slipped beneath his shirt and moved over his sides and back in gentle benediction. He withdrew from her carefully and stripped the clothes from his steaming body.
Somehow they made it to the bed. Kev dragged them both into the cocoon of wool and linen and nestled Win against him. The scents of her, of both of them, rose in a light saline perfume to his nose. He breathed it in, stirred by the mingled fragrance.
'Me voliv tu,' he whispered, and brushed her smiling lips with his. 'When a Rom tells his woman, 'I love you,' the meaning of the word is never chaste. It expresses desire. Lust.'
That pleased Win. 'Me voliv tu,' she whispered back. 'Kev…'
'Yes, love?'
'How does one marry the Romany way?'
'Join hands in front of witnesses, and make a vow. But we'll do it the way of the gadje, too. And every other way I can think of.' He took off her garters and unrolled her stockings one by one, and wiggled her toes individually until she made a little purring sound.
Reaching for him, she guided his head to her breasts, arching upward invitingly. He obliged her, taking a pink tip into his mouth and circling it with his tongue until it contracted into a tender-hard bud.
'I don't know what to do now,' Win said, her voice languid.
'Just lie there. I'll take care of the rest.'
She chuckled. 'No, what I meant was, what do people do when they finally reach their happy-ever- after?'
'They make it a long one.' He fondled her other breast, gently shaping the roundness with his fingers.
'Do you believe in happy-ever-after?' she persisted, gasping a little as he gave her a playful nip.
'As in the children's tales? No.'
'You don't?'
He shook his head. 'I believe in two people loving each other.' A smile curved his lips. 'Finding pleasure in ordinary moments. Walking together. Arguing over things like the timing of an egg, or how to manage the servants, or the size of the butcher's bill. Going to bed each night, and waking up together each morning.' Lifting his head, he cradled the side of her face in his hand. 'I've always started every day by going to the window for a glimpse of the sky. But now I won't have to.'
'Why not?' she asked softly.
'Because I'll see the blue of your eyes instead.'
'How romantic you are,' she murmured with a grin, kissing him gently. 'But don't worry. I won't tell anyone.'
Merripen began to make love to her again, so engrossed that he didn't seem to notice the slight rattle of the door lock.
Peeking over his shoulder, Win saw the long, skinny body of Beatrix's ferret stretching upward to pluck the key from the lock. Her lips parted to say something, but then Merripen kissed her and spread her thighs. Later, she thought giddily, ignoring the sight of Dodger squeezing beneath the door with the key in his mouth. Perhaps later would be a better time to mention it…
And soon she forgot all about the key.
Chapter Twenty-three
Although the pliashka, or betrothal ceremony, traditionally went on for several days, Kev had decided it would last for only one night.
'Have we locked away the silver?' he had asked Cam earlier, when the Gypsies from the river campsite had begun pouring into the house, dressed in colorful clothes and jingling finery.
'Phral,' Cam had said cheerfully, 'there's no need for that. They're family.'
'It's because they're our family that I want the silver locked away.'
In Kev's opinion, Cam was enjoying the betrothal process a bit too much. A few days earlier he had made a show of presenting himself as Kev's representative, to negotiate a bride-price with Leo. The two of them had mock-debated the respective merits of groom and bride, and how much the groom's family should pay for the privilege of acquiring a treasure such as Win. Both sides had concluded, with great hilarity, that it was worth a
