All the Sweet Tomorrows

soeur Skye! Why have we bothered to clothe you? The gown fits you like a skin, and if I know my brother you will not wear it long. Try to see that he does not tear at it in his eagerness.'

'The men are coming,' Musette said from the door.

'Quickly then,' Gaby cried as her wits returned, 'into bed, ma fille! I do not believe that Adam would appreciate others seeing what is for him alone.'

Skye climbed into the big bed, and with swift fingers drew the pins and silk flowers from her hair and handed them to Dame Cecily. Mignon was instantly there to brush the hair free of tangles. The door to the bedchamber burst open and Adam was pushed into the room by his half-brothers and the other male guests. He wore a silk nightshirt.

'He's as ready for you as he'll ever be, Madame de Marisco,' Alexandre de Saville laughed.

'If I had something that lovely waiting for me,' Yves chuckled, 'I would not have been so long in getting to bed!'

'Out!' the lord of Lundy roared. 'Get out, all of you!'

Gaby stopped to kiss her son, saying as she did so, 'You are both so lucky, mes enfants.'

The bedchamber emptied slowly as the guests straggled out through the salon back into the hall of the chateau. When he was sure that the last of them was gone, Adam firmly closed the door to their bedchamber, walked back over to the bed, and sat down upon it.

For what seemed a long moment they sat in silence, and then Skye said softly, 'My God, it is really true! We are married, Adam!'

He grinned almost boyishly at her, and her heart contracted painfully. 'I love you, Skye de Marisco,' he said quietly. 'I love you very much.'

'You don't have to sleep with me if you don't want to,' she said suddenly. 'I will understand.'

'Where else would I sleep, Skye?'

'You know what I mean, Adam!'

'Will it hurt the babe?'

'No.'

'For how long, Skye? You have to tell me these things, for I've never been a father before.'

You're not a father now! she wanted to cry at him in her pain. I can never give you, the man I adore, a child. This is a bastard I carry, and we both know it! Instead, she said, 'It varies with each child, Adam. When I get too big and the baby is low, we dare not, but for now there is no harm.'

'Good,' he said, standing up and pulling off the silk garment that they had dressed him in. 'For you see, Skye, I intend exercising my marital rights to the fullest.'

Skye swung her own legs from beneath the coverlet and stood up also. Then she turned and, smiling at him, asked, 'Do you like the gown, mon mari?'

His eyes raked slowly down her provocative length, and then he said pleasantly, 'If you intend to keep that garment whole, madame, you had best remove it quickly before I rip it off you.'

Slowly Skye slipped the gown from her shoulders, letting it fall to her waist. She hesitated a minute, allowing him a long look at her beautiful breasts before pushing the cloth over her hips and letting it slide to the floor. His mouth twitched appreciatively at her pretty performance as she stepped lightly from the puddle of silk at her feet. Then as boldly as he, she let her eyes sweep his long length.

'You like what you see, madame, I trust,' he said, amused.

'I always have, mon mari,' she returned. 'Do you like what you see?'

'I always have,' he chuckled. 'Now get into bed, dammit, little girl. I need very much to feel your softness against me!'

Slipping back into the bed, she turned toward him to find that his arms were already reacfiing out to draw her to him. Skye wrapped her arms about her husband's neck, and sighed with delight. 'Dearest Adam,' she whispered to him, 'I do love you! You are so wonderfully good to me.' Then she boldly sought his mouth, and he groaned at the hungry touch of her lips, feeling the sparks ignite instantly between them as the kiss deepened and grew until they both drew away breathless.

Pressing her back into the pillows, he tangled his fingers in the night cloud of her hair and kissed her again until her lips ached with the sweetness with which he was filling her. Her breasts began to grow taut with her rising desire, her nipples thrusting up sharply and tingling with their longing. He felt the rounded push of her against his furred chest, and reaching down with one hand, he caressed the warm little globe of flesh, cupping it in his big hand, rubbing against the nipple with his thumb. Skye shuddered with the pleasure his touch gave her.

Adam laughed, a low and intimate sound of equal pleasure. 'You are the most sensual creature I have ever known, ma femme. It pleases me that marriage has not turned you into a little prude.' His shaggy dark head dropped so he might take the nipple in his mouth. Slowly he sucked on the tidbit of tender flesh while her fingers kneaded at his neck with increasing urgency. Leisurely he played with both of her beautiful breasts, kissing and touching and loving them with growing ardor. Skye could feel the hot, hard length of him against her leg, and she shuddered again with delighted thoughts of what was to come.

He made love to her that night as if he had never before known her. Slowly he explored her silken flesh as if he had never touched it. 'Ma femme, my wife,' he called her. 'My beautiful bride. Sweet, sweet Skye!' His kisses burned across her body, leaving her shaken and yet yearning for more. Slipping his hand between her thighs, he stroked the softness of her sensitive skin until her legs fell open beneath his tender assault. Toying with her nether lips, he teased her with a single finger that rubbed at the very heart of her femininity until she was squirming and panting beneath his touch.

'Oh, my darling,' she begged him, 'let me touch you also!'

'Not yet, sweetheart, but soon,' he promised, and then he turned her over onto her stomach. Slowly his big, warm hands smoothed over her legs and her back and her buttocks and her shoulders, fanning the flames of her