Gavin stepped toward her, and they were skin to skin, mouth to mouth, foot to foot. Before she realized it, he’d shifted them toward the bed and sank onto it with her.
The different textures of his body enticed her—coarse thatches of hair, rough callused fingertips, moist lips, sleek muscles, and soft hair—and Madelyne touched every part of him.
At last, he eased away, guiding her onto her back, and leaned over her to take one of her nipples into his mouth. He sucked gently, using the tip of his tongue to trace the sudden hardness there. She gasped at the sensation—a fire—that streaked through her, and her eyes closed as pleasure swelled and surged inside her.
“Gavin… ” she breathed. With a brief, wicked grin such as she’d never seen before from him, he glanced up at her, then returned to his gentle teasing. Madelyne sighed in delight, shivering with a heat she’d never expected to know…and then nearly leapt off the bed when she felt the warm weight of his palm covering the thatch of hair between her legs. “Gavin, nay…what… ” Her voice trailed off as a wave of throbbing heat started there between her legs and shot to the end of each nerve.
His fingers slipped in and through her private place in a teasing rhythm, gentle over the most sensitive nub that seemed to swell with every stroke. Madelyne found herself reaching inside, deep inside, for something that was…just…out…of…reach… And suddenly she was there, shuddering under his fingers and mouth and hands, sobbing with the shock of such pleasure, burying her face into the bedding to wipe the tears.
“Maddie, Maddie,” he whispered, taking her into his arms and pulling her close to his solid chest. “My sweet, my sweet…you are so lovely.” He kissed her on the top of her head, trailing gentle pecks along her hair and chin and to her mouth, where he covered her lips fully with hers. His slick tongue drove inside her mouth and he became more urgent, his hands pulling her hips, shifting them as he pressed her back onto the bed.
All at once, he paused, stilling in his position above her. “Maddie, do you know what is to happen?” he asked, his voice taut, his eyes searching hers. “Aye,” she breathed, thanking Tricky—who, for all of her talk, was as inexperienced as her mistress—for broaching the subject with Peg. “Aye, I am ready, Gavin.”
With a last, delving kiss, Gavin pulled back to ease between her legs. There was a smooth, sliding sensation and then, one sharp movement followed by a stab of pain. She gasped and he stilled, waiting for the surprise to pass.
He moved slowly, sliding in a sweet, warm rhythm. The pain ebbed, and as the numbness eased, something else began to take its place—that delicious, swelling sensation from before. Gavin’s breath came more harshly and Madelyne twitched beneath him. He shifted into a faster, more urgent rhythm, and Madelyne closed her eyes as the pleasure grew, billowing into that explosion of beauty once again. As she gave a soft cry of surprise— again! —he arched back, fitting deep into her with one last thrust.
She felt him shudder against her and saw the naked beauty on his face in that moment of pleasure, and his low, rough exhalation. As Gavin came back to himself, she gathered him close, closing her eyes and smiling at an intimacy she’d never thought to experience.
How blessed had she become.
The morn came too soon for Gavin, but he relinquished the blooded sheets to a squire so that they could be displayed as proof of Madelyne’s virginity and his own ability to consummate the marriage. There would be no chance of an annulment with such evidence.
Despite the fact that it was the day after his wedding, he was expected to attend Henry—and Madelyne to be present in Eleanor’s court room—so they rose and went about their business during the day.
But when the evening came, and they ate in the great hall together, Gavin could not keep his attention from Madelyne…and from the rising color on her face, he presumed that her thoughts followed the same path as his. He could not remember ever feeling happier or more fulfilled in his life.
Even in his early days with Nicola—when he’d believed they might share a love betwixt them some day—this self-same sense of contentment and pure peace was never part of his life. Madelyne had brought that depth of serenity to him, and he’d spoken truthfully to her. Somehow in the last weeks since he’d met her, Gavin had lost his death wish, his urge to leave this earth, his sense of carelessness with his life. Now…he realized he wanted only to make a life with Madelyne.
The only thing that kept him from being wholly contented was the knowledge that Fantin de Belgrume was still alive.
Later that evening, as they lay nestled together in a cocoon of bedding, Madelyne was just drifting off to sleep. Gavin’s hand stroked the length of her back while the other held her atop his chest. He toyed with her hair, and when he spoke, his voice rumbled deep within his chest, just beneath her ear.
“We shall leave for Mal Verne as soon as Henry gives his permission,” he told her. “’Tis dangerous still for you to remain at court. I have set spies about and there’s been no sign of him, but I know he has not yet given up the desire to take you. You will be safe at Mal Verne, and there you’ll be able to settle into your new life.”
She nodded against him, well content. Memories of the fortnight she’d spent at his demesne stirred pleasingly within her. “I look forward to working in the gardens, knowing that this time I will be there to see their yield.” Her mouth curved against his skin.
“I shall see Henry on the morrow about when we may leave. Mayhap we can be on our journey before week’s end.” He wrapped a thick hank of hair gently around his wrist, loosening and then tightening it absently. “I wish also to bring the queen her gift before we leave.”
“’Twas most kind of you to think of such a thing. She’ll be pleased with the necklet, I am certain. I will be working in her herb garden on the morrow, but surely word will come to me of her delight.”
“Aye. The queen does love her jewels as much as her husband loves his coin.” Gavin stroked her hair, and she smiled under the comforting weight of his wide hand.
Madelyne basked in contentment. Her father had made no move against her at court, though she’d felt a bit worried that he might hear of her wedding and object.
Mayhap he’d returned to Tricourten, and to his experiments, and would leave them alone.
Twenty-Five
Three mornings after their wedding night, Madelyne was in the private herb garden tending to the five varieties of thyme plants when Judith came rushing along the overgrown path, calling her name.
“Maddie! Maddie, oh, dear God, Maddie, Gavin has been arrested!”
“What?” Madelyne staggered to her feet, tripping over her skirts and clutching at the apple tree for support. She must have misunderstood. “What do you say?”
Clem, who’d been sitting under the tree, watching over her in his master’s stead, lurched to his feet. “What?”
Judith could barely catch her breath. Her face was white, and a lock of copper hair straggled into her face. Madelyne felt all emotion drain from her as her friend repeated the impossible words. “Gavin has been arrested.”
“Why?” was all she could think to say. Her heart was suddenly slamming in her chest, and her head had gone light.
“He has been accused of attempting to murder the queen!”
How? Why? Madelyne could only stare at Judith. She could not even voice the absurdity of such a thought. “How…how can this be? Is the queen injured?”
“He presented a gift to her this morrow,” Judith explained between short breaths as she tugged Madelyne toward the entrance of the garden. “In a wooden box, beautifully carved, and she did open it at once. But her head ached, and she passed it to Lady Therese, who wished to examine the necklet. When Therese pulled it out and placed it around her neck, she was pierced through the skin in three places. She became ill immediately, and, Madelyne, she has died .”