‘I’m ready, husband.’
‘So you are, my lady.’
His eyes glittered with amusement as he strode to the bed and took off the linen cloth before climbing in and sliding next to her under the coverlet.
‘Now, what do we have here? A naked wife?’
Eleanor giggled nervously. ‘Not such a modest maiden after all?’
‘No...’ he drawled. ‘Not so.’
He kissed her, smiling against her lips, and his hands continued their exploration of her body. Touching, feeling, caressing. Skin to skin.
Saints above!
Hugh’s gloriously naked body pressed so close to hers suddenly brought a wave of awareness. Eleanor wanted so much to please him. She would be everything he wanted her to be. And yet she didn’t know what that was. These sensations were so new, and so different from what she had previously understood about intimacy, that she was unsure how to be what he wanted.
‘Eleanor, are you well?’
‘Of course—why do you ask?’
‘You are rigidly still,’ he whispered. ‘Am I doing something not to your liking?’ He smiled as he stroked and kissed her neck.
‘No, no, everything is well.’
‘Good,’ he said as he grazed his lips over her shoulders, collarbone and chest, moving further down her body.
Her breath hitched.
‘You’re doing it again,’ he said, nipping the inside of her palm.
‘I’m sorry. I’m not sure I’m doing this right.’
Hugh stopped and smiled at her. ‘Believe me, there’s no right and wrong. Not in this and not between us.’
Eleanor returned his smile. ‘Are you saying you’d rather I was ruthlessly dextrous here as well?’
‘Possibly!’ He chuckled, a deep throaty sound. ‘Tell me, am I to teach you about bed sport as well?’
‘Actually, yes,’ she said, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘I wish to know how to please you.’
Hugh lifted his head and gave her a tender look. ‘We could try to please one another.’
‘How do I...? Oh... Oh!’ Eleanor moaned as he kissed and caressed the tops of her breasts. ‘Hugh, it’s difficult for me to know what to think when you’re doing that.’
He continued to kiss and caress her, moving lower. ‘Then don’t think.’
‘But I don’t know...’
‘Hush, no more talking.’ His mouth brushed over her breasts, one and then the other, teasing with his lips and his tongue. ‘Just trust in every sensation, every feeling.’
‘You are still talking...’ she said breathlessly.
‘I’m allowed.’ His hands and mouth ventured further down, following every soft curve of her body. ‘I’m the tutor, remember?’ he whispered, stroking and caressing.
Every graze of his lips and tongue across her breasts, stomach and thighs wound her tighter as heat spread through her, rendering her speechless and without a single thought. Every touch made her lose herself more in a heady sensuality filled with carnal curiosity and raw need.
She heard a soft moan permeate the room, filled with pleasure, and realised the noise was escaping from her own lips. Her hands needed to explore, needed to feel... They ran down the smooth, hard contours of his shoulders, the sinewy muscles of his back.
He kissed her lips again as he slowly edged her legs apart with his own. ‘Look at me, Eleanor,’ he rasped, his eyes glittering with emotion. ‘We please one another,’ he whispered as he entered her, making her gasp. ‘Always...’
He stilled, allowing her to get used to him, and pushed aside a strand of hair that had pasted itself to her forehead. He stroked her cheek and Eleanor snaked her hands around Hugh’s neck and pulled him towards her.
‘Yes,’ she murmured breathlessly as she pressed her lips to his and tentatively dipped her tongue into his mouth.
Eleanor heard Hugh growl in response, meeting her tongue measure for measure, and then he started to thrust inside her.
She instinctively wrapped her legs around his buttocks, feeling stretched, arching her back. He was hard and frantic, surging and retreating, gathering pace, taking her to a higher plane, wordlessly asking her to be brave enough to give herself to him as he was to her. It was true and honest, their mutual ardour, and it made her want to shout out from the top of the castle battlements.
‘Open your eyes, Eleanor,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I want to see you.’
He kissed her, nipping and pulling at her plump bottom lip with his teeth so softly that she could have melted as the tension escalating in her body begged for release.
‘Hugh!’ she cried, and she suddenly felt as though she were floating in a whirl of ecstasy.
He continued to thrust inside her, his eyes locked with hers, holding on to the moment. Eleanor reached out and stroked his jaw with her fingers just as Hugh reached his peak, his body shuddering and collapsing on top of her.
Their bodies entwined, their breathing ragged, they lay there sated in a tangle, unable to move. Until finally Hugh lifted himself off her and kissed the top of her nose. He moved beside her, pulling her close and wrapping the coverlet around them.
A calm silence pervaded the room. The peaceful cocoon that wrapped around them was strangely comforting, and Eleanor was all at once aware of Hugh’s nearness—his smell, his touch, his body pressed next to her side. His arms tightened around her waist as she lay on her back, her body still reeling in the aftermath of what had just passed between them. She felt self-conscious, not wanting to expose more than she already had.
‘Well, that was...’ Hugh took a shaky breath, breaking the silence. ‘Unexpected, and yet...wonderful.’ He rolled onto his side and watched her. ‘Are you well, Eleanor?’ he whispered as he gently caressed her cheek.
‘Yes, I am.’ She turned her head and smiled, meeting his gaze. ‘And now the covenant of our vows is complete. We are truly married.’
‘We have been married for some time, sweetheart,’ Hugh said, kissing her forehead, ‘But, yes, we are truly married.’ He rose out of bed, pulling on his braies. ‘Stay—don’t move, Eleanor. I’m going to see about getting us some food. I have suddenly built up a huge appetite.’
‘Wait,’ she said, sitting up
