Lucy Gordon - Rinaldo’s Inherited Bride

Gradually she could feel the tension drain out of him. She parted her lips invitingly, letting him in to explore her. The feel of his tongue against the inside of her mouth stimulated her to fever pitch and she seized him with a hand on each side of his head, falling back against the earth and drawing him with her.

The light robe slipped away easily, then her thin nightgown. Beneath it she was naked and, as though the sight inspired him, Rinaldo began to strip off his clothes. She helped him eagerly. This was no time for false modesty. She wanted him and she wasn’t ashamed to let him know it. Her arms were wide open to receive him as he lay beside her, running his hands over her body.

‘I’ve wanted to do this for so long,’ he said hoarsely.

How could any man’s touch be so gentle yet so demanding in the same moment? There was fire in every caress. She turned her body this way and that, letting him know silently what she wanted from him.

The earth beneath was full of the scent of ripeness. The springtime and the long ripening of summer was over. It was harvest now, for them as for the land.

He kissed her everywhere, meaning to inflame her passion until she was ready for him, but she was already there, impatient of delay. When he moved over her she parted her legs in willing acceptance. Then he was inside her, his weight pressing her into the soft earth.

Her love possessed her completely, driving out all else except the feeling that this man was hers to cherish, to fulfil, and even to protect. Protecting him must be done in secret, for it was something he would not understand. But her passion need be a secret no longer, and she claimed him totally, with a full heart that was all his.

Afterward they lay together, shaking, clasping each other as if for safety. It took time to come down from the heights. The view had been lovely, opening prospects that would last all their lives.

Rinaldo kissed her tenderly. ‘Let’s go inside,’ he said softly. ‘We have only begun.’

He took her hand, drawing her to her feet and helping her on with her clothes. Quietly they slipped through the trees and across to the house, where they climbed the stairs to her room, and closed the door.

Alex awoke to find herself tightly clasped in Rinaldo’s arms. After keeping her at a wary distance he had finally abandoned his defences totally, drawing her in and making her a part of himself, as though he would never release her.

The night that had just passed was a fevered blur in her memory. They had possessed each other again and again, slaking a passion too long denied. After each loving they would sleep for a little and awaken with renewed desire. Their final sleep was one of exhaustion.

They awoke reluctantly, not wanting to let each other go.

‘I suppose we have to get up,’ he whispered.

‘Yes, it’s a new day.’

‘A new day for us. I shall never let you go. You do know that, don’t you. If you wanted to leave me, it’s too late now.’

She smiled blissfully. ‘That’s all right then.’

He kissed her. ‘It’s not going to be easy. I love you, but it isn’t going to turn me into sweetness and light.’

She gave a soft chuckle. ‘Good. I wouldn’t recognise you.’

‘It’s been so long since I loved,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I thought I’d forgotten how.’

‘I’ll always be there to remind you.’

Slowly they disentangled themselves and rose. Rinaldo pulled on his jeans.

‘Before I leave,’ he said, ‘you’d better check the corridor, to see if the coast’s clear. I don’t want Gino to see me creeping out of your room.’

‘No, he mustn’t find out about us like that,’ Alex agreed.

After a moment’s hesitation he asked awkwardly, ‘Will there be a problem about telling him?’

‘No, there was never anything really between us. Just him flirting with me, at your command.’

‘I didn’t exactly-’ he began uneasily.

Alex gave a burst of laughter. ‘Oh, my love, my love! You should see your face! Be careful what you say. Gino told me everything.’

‘Everything?’ he asked, even more uneasily.

‘Everything.’

His face was a delight. Alex could see that he wasn’t used to bantering, and he was all at sea.

‘Just what does “everything” include?’ he asked cautiously.

‘Well, if I say “two-headed coin” does that convey anything?’

He groaned and dropped his head in his hands.

‘I’ll kill him,’ he muttered.

To Alex it was joyously funny, but she reminded herself that this was a man with too little experience of humour. In the years to come she would have to teach him to laugh and be happy. That would be her pleasure and her privilege. So she hopped beside him on the bed and put her arms about him, telling him without words that it wasn’t the end of the world.

‘Look-’ he said desperately.

‘Darling, it’s all right. I think it’s hilarious. That’ll teach you to reject a lady before you’ve even met her. One part of me wants to say that you should simply have “taken your winnings”. But the other part says it’s better as it is. All that fighting we did-we needed it. We could never have got to know each other so well otherwise.’

‘I could never have “taken my winnings”,’ he said. ‘To approach you like that-’ he shuddered. ‘On the other hand I was angry enough for anything. Perhaps I-’

‘Stop this.’ She put her fingertips over his mouth. ‘You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I know you.’

‘Yes, you do, don’t you?’ he said slowly. ‘You’ve known me all through right from the beginning. That night you said I was lonely, and like a fool I shut you out because you’d seen to the heart of me. I’d kept my heart locked away for so long that I couldn’t take the risk of revealing it to you. So I rejected you, then I turned on you, accusing you of deviousness, to protect myself. And it was all useless, because there’s no protection from love.’

‘That’s true,’ she said, leaning her head against him. ‘There’s no protection for either of us, except each other.’

‘Except each other,’ he repeated. ‘I was so alarmed by my own feelings that I left the house that night, running like a coward. When I heard you’d gone I thought it was safe to come home, but that just made everything worse. I couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing you again. If you hadn’t returned I’d have given in and come seeking you in England. The night you broke in and we struggled-do you remember?’

‘Yes,’ she said with a reminiscent smile. ‘I remember everything.’

‘Feeling you against me, beneath me-I swear you weren’t safe. If Gino hadn’t been there I’d have-well, I wanted to, anyway.’

‘Mm! Me too.’

‘But I didn’t know what to say to you. You came back with flags flying, full of confidence. I knew you were free from that man, but I didn’t know how you felt about it. So many times I’ve wanted to take you in my arms and say that nothing else mattered. But it did matter, so I started counting on the harvest. And I got it wrong because I could only hear my heart, not my head. I wanted to pay you, and then face you with pride.’

He saw her looking at him with gentle understanding, and sighed. ‘I got that wrong too, didn’t I?’ he said ruefully.

‘You think all the wrong things matter. Love matters. Not pride.’

‘Is it really that simple, amor mio ?’

‘Yes, amor mio ,’ she said softly. ‘It’s really that simple.’

They kissed tenderly, but she could see that he was still troubled by one thought.

‘Are you sure it will be that simple for Gino?’ he asked. ‘I thought once he was in love with you. Now I don’t know.’