Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 102573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“Nay. Nay. I am good. I had little breath left in me after our extraordinary coupling and with your heavy weight upon me, breathing was difficult. When you failed to respond, I worried something had happened to you. Are you all right?”
She had worried about him when she had been unable to breathe. He shook his head. “I tell you truth, wife. I have never released with such powerful fury as I just shared with you.”
She smiled happily to know she gave him something no other woman had. “I have nothing to compare it to as you do, but I know it could never be as amazing as it was with you. And I look forward to sharing more pleasurable times with you.”
He kissed her quick. “And I will definitely make sure we share many, many more,” he said and rolled to the side to slip his arm beneath her back and scoop her up to rest her against his side.
Tavia snuggled there without protest, finding herself more than comfortable in his arms. Though a slight chill ran over her with her body beginning to lose the heat their coupling had generated.
Bhric felt her slight shiver and released her for a moment to reach down to pull the blanket up. That’s when he saw the blood on his shaft. He dropped back on the bed, taking her in his arms and pulling the blanket over them.
“I hurt you,” he said.
“Nay, not at all. I felt nothing. I was filled with far too much pleasure to feel any pain.”
“Are you sure? I have blood on me,” he said.
She gasped. “I am sorry. I did not know that would happen.”
“Nor did I, though I am glad to see I was proved right to trust your word. It makes me trust you that much more.”
His remark made her happy for it was start to a workable, good marriage, perhaps even a chance at love. “I can wash it off you,” she offered ready to sit up.
Bhric stopped her. “Nay. I might spring to life if you touch me there again.”
“You enjoyed how I touched you?” she asked.
“More than enjoyed, elskan mín,” he said as he hugged her tight against him, then realized he had referred to her as my love. Could it be possible? Could he have found love with this woman? He hurried to add. “You can touch me like that as often as you like.”
“I did enjoy it,” she admitted.
Bhric realized his wife spoke truthfully without thinking about it and he wished he could have recognized that sooner. He also wished he had paid more heed to her predicament, instead of laying blame on her. Her father had placed a heavy burden on his daughter’s shoulders and made it worse by making her fearful of speaking the truth. And he had only added to that burden, but no more. Their vows had been sealed, and nothing could separate them. He would make sure of it starting tonight.
“You sleep here with me in this bed from now on,” he said.
She smiled at him. “That pleases me very much.”
Bhric grinned. “And I will please you very often.”
“I would like that very much as well,” she said, her smile spreading. “I would not mind spending the rest of the day here with you.”
“We think alike, wife,” he said, pleased she said what he was about to suggest.
“Can we have food brought here? I am starving.”
“Again, we think alike. We shall feast and couple until we stuff ourselves with both,” he said.
“A perfect plan.” She snuggled against him, thinking that there was no denying what she felt, in her heart and even deeper down to her soul. She had fallen in love with her husband, and she wondered, hoped, her love alone could sustain them.
Bhric lay there more content than he had been in a while, looking forward to the rest of the day with his wife and even looking forward to a future with her. Things were different now. He even had noticed that the unrest that had plagued him had dissipated since spending more time with his wife. She was good for him. His mother had been right in her choice. All would go well now. He would see that he planted many seeds inside his wife for one to take root and grow and fulfill the promise he had made to his grandfather.
Aye, things would go well, and life would be good.
CHAPTER 18
Tavia walked beside her husband through the village, his hand solid around hers and a smile on her face. It had been a week since they had sealed their vows and she had never known such bliss. It was as if Bhric had become a different man, pleasant, thoughtful, and attentive to her. Each morning she woke, she looked at her husband sleeping beside her and touched him gently making sure it was not a dream that her life actually had turned pleasant. They spent much time together talking and surprisingly at times laughing.