Nan Ryan (35 page)

Her eyes flew open to see his hands go to the waistband of his tan trousers and with the speed of the lightning still dancing across the night sky, he was standing naked in front of her. She was allowed only the briefest glimpse of his slender, lightly muscled body before he roughly grabbed her and pulled her against him. His hand went to her hair and he cradled her head while he kissed her, his other arm wrapped tightly around her, molding her quivering, excited body close to the aroused hardness of his. The powerful closeness of his embrace, combined with the pressure of his burning lips on hers, made Kathleen momentarily fearful for her life when she couldn’t get her breath. Pushing on his chest, she whimpered until Hunter’s lips left her mouth and moved to her throat. “What, sweet?” he said and nipped at the soft skin with his teeth.

Her legs trembling beneath her, Kathleen again clasped his back and whispered, “Darling, I feel so weak.”

Scooping her up in his arms, he placed her in the middle of his bed, fluffing a pillow under her head. For a minute, he stood looking down at her. Her eyes traveled unabashedly over him and she smiled up at him and said softly, “This is much better, darling. Won’t you join me?” She raised her arms to him as he bent over the bed. Clasping her hands behind his head, she pulled him down to her. He stretched out on his side, resting his weight on an elbow. Kathleen let her hand run caressingly over the blond mat of hair on his chest while his hand went to the curve of her breast. Letting its soft weight fill his hand, he rubbed lightly with his thumb and bent to kiss her lips. Her tongue met his in sweet surrender and Hunter withdrew and allowed her to dart her sweet tongue into his mouth. Burning from his caresses, she raised herself up, twisting her mouth, pulling him closer, her body straining to his. Hunter took his mouth from hers and she looked at him with pleading blue eyes, “Darling, please, please …”

“Kathleen,” Hunter rasped as his mouth sought the soft, warm flesh of her throat. While he nuzzled there, Kathleen placed nervous kisses on his cheek and his hand slid from her breast down past her waist. He lightly caressed the silky stomach he’d kissed earlier and then his fingers strayed out to a rounded hip, finally to a warm thigh. Lightly stroking, Hunter moved his hand to the sweet inside while Kathleen willingly moved her legs apart.

His lips went back to hers to drink of her sweetness and Kathleen moaned and reeled under the heavenly pleasure his mouth and hands were bringing her. She looped her arms around his neck and began to move her heated body in slow, provocative circles against him. She could feel her husband’s aroused body pressing against her thighs and all at once the agony became too sweet, she could no longer bear not having him completely. Her small hand slowly slid down his chest, over his flat abdomen to the hardness against her stomach. Hunter moaned and bit his lip when her hand gently clutched him, stroking him tenderly.

Lifting his mouth from hers, he looked into her eyes and his hand covered hers as together they guided him into her waiting warmth. Feeling a blessed sweetness he never dreamed existed, Hunter knew that for the first time ever, he was home. He was finally a husband whose loving wife wanted him. He was the lucky man to whom the beautiful naked woman in his bed belonged. The warm, silky body moving under him was his own beloved Kathleen and she was willingly giving herself to him.

“Kathleen,” he whispered, “how long I’ve wanted you, how much I’ve dreamed of this night.”

“It’s here at last, my darling. Make love to me, Hunter.”

She raised her lips to his and her kiss was hot and flaming. She abandoned herself completely to desire and began moving wildly against him, thrusting her aching breasts into the curly blond hair of his chest, raising her hips tantalizingly. Trembling, Hunter began to move above her, slowly at first, then more desperately as the fire inside burned out of control and her erotic movements brought him dangerously close to fulfillment. Carefully guarding against such an occurrence, he held himself in painful check until Kathleen was writhing uncontrollably beneath him, the first, full violence consuming her. Only then did Hunter join her, casting aside all restraint, glorying in the full mindlessness of mutual rapture.

“Hunter!”, Kathleen’s eyes flew open and his name escaped her lips as the fury of her attainment rocked her with sudden, alarming completeness and she was buffeted by the depths of the tides washing over her with such ferocity that she was afraid of losing consciousness. She clung to her loving husband as tears of happiness and fright filled her big eyes and the only thing that saved her was his handsome face just above hers, whispering softly, soothingly, “Yes, my baby, yes. You’re safe here in my arms. I love you, Kathleen. You’re fine, darling. Cry if you want to.”

Feeling blessedly satisfied and extremely powerful, Hunter soothed her with soft, sweet kisses on her temple, her damp hair, her flushed cheeks, as she clasped him tightly to her, small tremors still shaking her. For the first time ever, he had brought his wife to the full and unmistakable pinnacle of passion and he was extraordinarily elated. He wanted to fling himself from the bed and rush to the balcony naked, shouting for the world to hear that he had made love to his wife and that she had been passionate and wild and that he had successfully and soundly satiated her, making her cry out in ecstasy. Instead, he moved to her side, gathered her now limp body into his long arms and softly murmured his love for her while he tenderly kissed the tears of happiness from her damp eyelids.

“Kathleen,” he mused quietly, his lips hovering close to her face, “never in all my life have I been so happy. If it were all to end tomorrow, there’d be no regrets. You have given me all I’ve ever wanted, darling, and the reality is even better than the dream.”

Calming now, Kathleen raised a hand to his temple, smoothing the thick blond hair with her fingers, “Hunter Alexander, I hope you will believe me when I tell you that it was just as wonderful for me. I love you more than you’ll ever know and, darling, it won’t end tomorrow. It will last for as long as you want me.” She raised her lips to his, kissing him lightly before lowering her head back to the pillow.

Unable to speak, Hunter, his chest aching with sweet pleasure, held her to him and together they lay in silent happiness while the spring storm continued, the rain growing heavier, pelting loudly on the roof above them. They lay completely still, secure in the knowledge of each other’s love, their minds and bodies finally in harmony. When a particularly bright bolt of lightning would bathe the room or a loud clap of thunder would break over the old house, Kathleen would bury her head closer into the warmth of her husband’s chest, but neither ever considered pulling the covers up over their bare bodies. Still unaccustomed to the beauty and touch of each other, they lay naked together, each lazily beholding the strange, dear unfamiliarity of the other.

Kathleen slowly raised her head and looked at this spectacular man. His soft brown eyes were on her and in them was a look of love and possession that thrilled her. She shivered when his hand went to her breast while he smiled at her with an easy, boyish grin.

Brushing his hand away, she bent over him and started kissing his lean chest. She felt his heart speed under her lips and she whispered against the curly blond hair, “Hunter, my husband, my lover.”

He moaned softly and put his hands behind his head while she rose on all fours, kissed him lightly on the mouth, then sat back on her heels and once again dropped her lips to his chest. Slowly, sensually she began kissing every inch of his chest until his breadth was becoming rapid and his skin was growing warm.

“Kathleen …” he began.

“Shhh,” she whispered, “let me please you, Hunter.”

Her sweet, searching mouth moved to the line of thick blond hair going down his middle. She could feel the muscles in her husband’s flat abdomen tightening under her probing, moving tongue. She kept kissing him tenderly while her small hands caressed him gently, timidly. He was moaning now and still she kept kissing, touching, loving as the fire began inside her and her own skin was growing heated once again. She feathered kisses over his stomach and let her mouth glance out to a prominent hipbone, then glide down to a bronzed leg. She softly kissed it and when she began to move her hot, wet lips to the warm inside of his sinewy thigh, Hunter groaned and reached for her.

Grabbing her under her arms, he quickly pulled her up over him, bringing her sweet, roaming mouth up to his. His lips were hot and hungry and he kissed her with urgency, plunging his tongue deep inside her mouth. His hands clasps her waist and, locked tightly in his embrace, his mouth never leaving hers, Kathleen was turned over in one fluid movement and Hunter was atop her. He lifted his head and looked down at her.

“Never begin something you do not intend to complete,” he grinned, passion clouding his eyes.

“I won’t,” she assured him. “Take me, Hunter. I want you again.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he moaned and bent to kiss her waiting lips as his hands slid to her hips and once again they became two burning, starving lovers, determined to taste all the carnal pleasures of the flesh. Mounting desire quickly consumed them and they gave themselves up wholly to the storm violently raging within.

The fury of the sudden raging storm was no match for the long pent-up, now unbridled emotions of the two lovers occupying the big feather bed. When a strong gust of wind blew out the lamp beside the bed and the rain pelted in the open doors, it was noticed by neither.

Hunter lay wide awake the next morning, a pleased, contented smile covering his face. Kathleen lay asleep beside him, his arm underneath her, her head resting on his chest, the soft blond hair falling around her delicate face, touching his skin. Careful not to move and waken her, he lay and watched her, love filling his chest, his happiness complete. The thunder and lightning of the night before had ceased and it was now raining steadily, a slow, soft spring rain, the sky still dark and gray. The smell of the fresh, welcome rain filled the big room and cooled the humid air. Hunter closed his eyes tightly and sighed, feeling the irresistible urge to laugh out loud. Suppressing the delicious urge, he bent and kissed the silky head resting trustingly on his happy chest, breathing in sweet fragrance, pressing his lips to its golden beauty.

A loud rap on the door startled him from the tenderness of the moment and before he could speak, Hannah’s enormous frame waddled in carrying a breakfast tray. Hunter quickly reached for the sheet, pulling it rapidly over Kathleen and him. The quick, jerky movement roused Kathleen from her slumber and she opened her eyes sleepily and smiled at Hunter.

“Hannah, just put that tray on the table, please and leave,” Hunter said, color rising in his face.

“Yes, suh, Doctor Hunter,” Hannah was smiling broadly as she continued to come closer to the bed.

Pushing her hair from her face and clutching the sheet, Kathleen said, irritated, “Hannah, when you knock on a door, you are supposed to wait until you are given permission to enter.”

“Shoot, Miz Kathleen, you forgettin’, honey, I diapered you when you was a baby, you don’t need to mind ’bout ole Hannah,” and she walked directly to the night table by the bed, where she placed the breakfast tray.

Kathleen saw her husband’s embarrassment, his hands clutching the sheet tightly up to his chin as though he were afraid it would be jerked away at any minute. She laughed softly and touched his cheek and once again scolded Hannah. “That may well be true, Hannah, but this is Hunter’s room and, although you never pay any attention to me, I expect you to respect his privacy from here on out. Do I make myself clear?”

“Why, sho, honey. Doctor Hunter, you jest relax, I jest be a minute,” and the big grin never left her face as she looked around the room and gingerly stooped over to pick up Hunter’s trousers from the floor and the blue nightgown a few feet away where it lay in a colorful heap. She clicked her tongue and giggled, further mortifying the already uncomfortable young man. She made a big show of neatly folding the trousers and draping them over the back of a chair. The nightgown she arranged with great care, then went to Hunter’s bureau and pulled out the middle drawer, placing the gown in with the stockings and handkerchiefs belonging to Hunter.

“Hannah, will you please get out of here,” Kathleen said to the bent-over back.

“Yes, I’se goin’,” but Hannah walked to the tall double doors and shook out the wet curtains, spreading them over the backs of chairs to dry out. “Sho is a pretty day, ain’t it?”

“Hannah, it’s raining and the sky is as black as midnight. Have you taken leave of your senses?” Kathleen shook her head.

Hannah turned back from the double doors and lumbered across the room, grinning and bobbing her head, “I think it’s a lovely day, don’t you, Doctor Hunter?”

Relaxing at last, Hunter had to smile, “Yes, Hannah, it’s as wonderful a day as I’ve ever seen,” and he winked at her. She ducked her head then and hurried to the door. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned back to look at them, “Now ya’ll eat yo’ breakfast fo’ it gets cold. Doctor Hunter be needin’ to keep up his strength, I’m thinkin.” Then the biggest grin of all split her face, the white teeth showing from ear to ear as she said, “I spects we be havin’ some more babies in this ole house fo’ long, yes suh, we be havin us a little sister for Master Scott. Uh huh!”

“Get out,” Kathleen shouted and threw a pillow at the disappearing back of the big black woman. She turned to Hunter and said, “I’m sorry, darling. I’ll have a talk with her, I promise.”

“Maybe you’d better, sweetheart. I didn’t even think to lock that door last night.” Pushing the sheet away, he crossed the room hurriedly and latched the door. He came back to the table beside the bed and picked up the silver coffee pot.

“Hunter, dear, what are you doing?” Kathleen got up on her knees and reached up to stop the hand before he could pour.

He looked at her and smiled, “I was going to bring you your breakfast.”

“Darling,” she said softly as her hand moved up his arm, “I’m really not very hungry, are you?” The hand dropped from his arm and she sank back to the bed, putting her arms up under her head and smiling.