The Heiress Read online

  Putting his fingertips under her chin, Jamie made her look up at him. “Where is your ‘Seize the day’?”

  “That motto is what got me into this mess in the first place,” she said in disgust.

  He laughed. “True, but I am glad of it. So, let us continue to live our lives day by day. We marry now, and if your guardian finds some way to annul it later, so be it.” Inside, Jamie thought, My death will be the only way this marriage will be annulled, but he didn’t say so, for he could see that Axia was very frightened of something. “In the meantime, we will enjoy each other as much as we can.” His voice lowered. “Or perhaps I am mistaken, and you did not like making love with me.”

  “Oh, Jamie,” she said, wide-eyed, “but I did. Oh I liked it ever so much. I like kissing and touching, and your body is very nice when you are naked, and I like—”

  He gave her a soft kiss to shut her up. “It will be difficult enough to wait until the service is done, but do not make it more difficult. Listen, if we marry now, we can spend the night in the same bed together. If we do not marry, you will have to sleep on the floor tonight.”

  As she looked up at him, her reason warred with her emotions. She should not marry him. She knew that. Without any doubt in the world, she knew that her father would annul the marriage even if Jamie’s baby was kicking inside her. Perkin Maidenhall was a law unto himself. But, truthfully, she didn’t think he would hurt Jamie and his family, not if she went docilely and did what he wanted her to, which was to marry a man who had paid for her. But in the meantime, before her father found out what she’d done, she would have these days, maybe even weeks, when she would be Jamie’s wife.

  His wife! she thought, and a thrill went through her. She took a deep breath. “I hate sleeping on the floor.”

  At that Jamie gave a one-sided grin. “Come on then, the vicar is waiting.” Standing, he held out his hand to her, and she put her small one into his. He clasped it tightly, and together they walked into the church.

  Chapter 23

  Smiling, Jamie watched Axia scurry about the chamber, straightening his clothes, making order out of chaos. Wherever she went, he thought, she seemed to think she had to buy her way into people’s hearts. Not with money, but with deeds, kindnesses, and help. She never seemed to believe that anyone was going to like her for herself. It was almost as though she felt she had to compensate for something that was wrong with her.

  But now, watching her, he knew that nothing in the world was wrong with her. With every movement she made, her hips moved, and he could see the outline of her breasts.

  “Come here,” he said huskily.

  “But, Jamie, I need to get this mud off your clothes, and I need—”

  “Here. Now.”

  After their hasty marriage, they had returned to the inn only long enough to pick up their belongings and a cooked chicken, which Jamie had torn in half, and they’d eaten as they rode. Now, hours later, as the sun was setting, they stopped at another inn, where Axia had gone into the kitchen to see to their dinner. Jamie had not been surprised when, moments later, the landlord had firmly escorted her out of his kitchen, for Axia had told him ways of better management, none of which he appreciated. “Keep her with you,” the landlord had said with a jaw firmly set.

  “Gladly,” Jamie had replied as he pulled Axia onto the bench beside him.

  “He is losing money through mismanagement,” she muttered, but Jamie only laughed and kissed her forehead. He truly loved that she was taking care of him in the way he had seen her do for others.

  So now, alone in their bedchamber, he pulled back the covers of the bed and held out his hand to her. Under the concealing covers, he wore not a stitch of clothing, and while he was undressing, Axia had turned her face away, blushing prettily at the sudden intimacy between them.

  Hesitating, Axia looked at his outstretched hand.

  “Come on, imp,” he coaxed. “Afraid of me? You’ve scarred me, burned me, cursed me. I am the same now as I was then.”

  As always, Axia never did anything halfway, so she ran to him, flinging herself on him. “Oh, Jamie, I am so very frightened. I do not know how to be a wife. Even a temporary one. You have known so many women, and every one of them has been in love with you. Heavens, but how can I compete with French women and ladies of the court? I am only a merchant’s daughter, nothing more. I think this will be an impossible task.”

  All the time she had been speaking, Jamie had been expertly removing her clothing, which wasn’t easy since she was cuddled into a ball in his arms. But he managed. And with each bit of skin he exposed, he kissed it.

  Axia stopped talking. “Oh, but that is nice, Jamie. You kiss so very well. Have you had a lot of practice?”

  He smiled, for all women asked about his other women, always wanting to know that they were special or at least different. “None,” he answered. “I am new at this, so if I make errors, you will have to tell me.”

  “You are a liar,” she said happily, her eyes closed as his mouth moved down her arm.

  “I learned how to lie from my wife.”

  When Axia giggled, Jamie smiled as he pushed her to her back and pulled more clothing off of her, flinging it about the room.

  Then Axia didn’t think anymore as Jamie’s lips were on her body, his hands seeming to be everywhere as he caressed her and touched her.

  “Show me how to please you,” she whispered.

  “You please me all the time, but you do not know it,” he answered, his lips on her neck.

  He knew that she thought he knew everything about being in bed with a woman, but the truth was, he’d never spent more than one night with any woman. He’d never wanted the complications or entanglements that frequent lovemaking invariably caused. And never had extremely experienced women appealed to him. So perhaps what he’d told Axia about being new at this was true. Other men would have laughed at him, but as his sister Berengaria often said of him, he was a true romantic, and maybe he had been saving himself for the woman he loved.

  For sure, he knew that he’d never had the time to enjoy a woman as he was now enjoying his lovely Axia. He wanted to touch all of her body, to get to know it as he knew his own, and as he ran his hands over her from her scalp to her toes, he liked to think that no one else had ever touched her but him. He even liked that she had grown up isolated, few men having seen her, and his possessiveness surprised him, as it was a new emotion to him.

  Now, on their wedding night, the first time he made love to her, he was too fast, but then he’d wanted her too much to allow any hesitation. So the second time, he took his leisure, toying with her breasts until she was arching under his body in a most provocative way. But he continued feeling her passion build, enjoying giving her pleasure, and when she began to give little biting kisses on his neck, he turned onto his back and pulled her on top of him.

  “Oh, Jamie, aren’t you clever,” she murmured, her eyes closed as she instinctively moved up and down on him, and he thought he might perish from pleasure when her hips met his. Helping her with his arms, she moved fast and hard against him, until he threw her to her back and came inside her with a violent explosion that felt as though part of him died.

  Collapsing against her, his sweaty body limp, she hugged him with glee. “I like this very much. Jamie, you haven’t fallen asleep, have you?”

  Laughing, he turned his head to kiss her. “we shall see who begs for sleep,” he said as he put his hand on her stomach.

  Yawning, Axia tried to mount her horse, but her eyes were so blurred from lack of sleep that she couldn’t quite focus on the stirrup. After she’d missed it three times, Jamie shoved her foot into it, then put his hands under her seat and pushed her up into the saddle. She was still yawning when he handed her the reins.

  Turning away, he couldn’t help smiling. As a soldier he was used to fighting for days with no sleep, but Axia was accustomed to regular hours and sleep every night. But for two nights now he’d made sure she had no sleep a