"There will be time enough tomorrow to talk about such mundane things. It's almost midnight. Can you try to sleep? No doubt the doctor will waken you sooner rather than later, but sleep, proper sleep will be beneficial." She began to fuss with his pillows. As she leaned across him to straighten the sheet, Perry couldn't resist. He stroked the shapely arse that presented to him. Her gasp and wriggle gave him hope.

  "Sleep? Hmm. Only if you sleep with me."

  Chapter Six

  Maggie tried to curl round to see Perry's face, but a combination of his hands holding her down as he rhythmically caressed her arse, and the way her gown twisted around her kept her captive. Even through her skirts his cock pulsed hot and hard against her quim. Somehow she doubted much sleeping featured in Perry's mind.

  "You're supposed to rest," she said breathlessly, and bit her lip to stop herself moaning in pleasure. One finger stroked the cleft that separated her buttocks, sliding the silk of her gown up and down and creating perfect tingles and shivers.

  "We can rest together. What if I need someone?" His voice was low and teasing. "I might, get out of bed and become disorientated. I might, oh have nightmares and need someone to cuddle me, and shoo the dragons away." Maggie sighed. It was so long since she'd seen this loving playful side of Perry. It showed rarely as he struggled with keeping his family together, and trying to uncover the spy ring that threatened their beloved country.

  "You might not," she said prosaically. "I will only be across the hall if you call out."

  "Not good enough. I might need my…" He paused and winked. "My hurts stroked away."

  His cock twitched under her, as if to remind Maggie that was a part of his body that loved to be stroked, and she was always happy to oblige. She giggled and wriggled against him as best she could. His hand tightened and he laughed.

  "I may have forgotten you, but my cock hasn't, it seems. So Maggie-mine, will you rest with me? Please?"

  The hangdog, hopeful look was her undoing. This was the private lover of past times. The one she often worried she would never see again. "If you let me up, then I'll move into bed with you." Once more he slid the material he held along the cleft of her arse, and then she was loose.

  "Naked." It was a command not a request. "Flesh to flesh. Breast to breast." He lowered his voice. "Cock to quim. I may be as weak as a kitten, and unable to act on my inclinations, but I need the contact. Just that."

  Maggie scrambled off the bed, and looked at him. Pain lines reappeared threefold across his brow, and perspiration dotted his skin. She judged it best not to argue.

  "I need a few minutes. I want to get a cool cloth, and some more medicine." She walked toward the door. "I, you, ah lord, we need you to be well my love. Then perhaps you will remember most, and we can tell you the little you don't."

  "I just want you, Maggie." As her hand went to the latch he spoke in a low voice. The pain he was in was evident in the uneven tone, and the little breaks between his words. "I've missed you … I know I've missed you. How?"

  What should she say? The doctor and Nash were both very explicit that he needed to recover his memory without help. She judged he saw her uncertainty, for he smiled in the most beguiling manner.

  "I need to know." His hand went to his throat. "We are wed?"

  Maggie gulped and her skin crawled. "Of course we are. You are my world. But aught else I have been instructed to let you remember without any aids or hints."

  He tilted his head to one side as, she guessed, he considered her words.

  "Hmm, well I'm cold." The look on his face indicated anything but, and a wicked grin flashed across his face. It was all Maggie could do not to giggle. "Oh dear, that will never do." She began to undo the buttons down the front of her gown. His eyes followed her hands as they moved down toward her navel. When she got to the last two buttons she stopped and held her fingers over the closure. Perry groaned.

  "Tease, you cannot stop there I need more. I want you naked next to me."

  Maggie couldn't resist. Indeed why should she when she felt the same? She pulled the last two buttons through their holes and let her dress slip to the floor before she climbed up onto the mattress and knelt next to Perry.

  He blinked. "I know you like this," he said in a hoarse voice. "You knelt next to me just so, and then, and then…" His voice trailed off and he put his fist on his forehead. "Damn, and then I do not know." He held his arms out and Maggie went into them gladly. Her body was on fire, for she well remembered what he did not … and what happened after.

  "Take one moment at a time," she said, somewhat breathlessly. Perry might not consciously remember what, but his body and subconscious did. As she settled next to him all thoughts of what she'd been going to do fled. Anything else could wait. One of Perry's arms went around her, and the other stroked her breasts. His cock was once more rigid and straining toward her, and he tangled her legs with his.

  Perry feathered tiny nipping kisses over her neck, and his breath swept hot and exciting on her skin. She smelled the brandy Nash earlier coated Perry's lips with, and the soft musk of the man she loved.

  "Show me, Maggie. Show me what we like, and help me to remember. Surely it's not mere sex, but love and excitement between us." He pinched her nipple just one tiny step short of pain, and Maggie melted. This was what she craved, and what Perry did so well. Nothing Nash, Felicity, or the doctor said was going to stop her helping them to achieve full release, and hang what happened after. There was no way something so good could be bad for him.

  "Ride me." He urged her to climb on top of him, and settled her on his legs just below his prick, which was now slick with his essence. "I may have forgotten so much, but my body seems not to." He gestured to his cock and grinned. It was such a carefree wicked look that Maggie felt her own essence gather and coat the curls that covered her quim.

  Thank goodness his body recognizes I'm the one. She raised herself onto her knees and shuffled forward until she was poised directly above Parry's groin, and guided his prick toward the entrance of her channel. As the tip brushed the sensitive nerves of her nub, her body filled with fire. Rolls and rolls of heat flooded her, and she was hard pressed not to succumb to the little death. It had been so long even that slight touch had her ready to let go and enjoy every last nuance and caress.

  Perry took hold of her hips and guided her downward until his prick began a slow slide inside her. Maggie gasped and took control. She needed him deep within her, filling her and creating those tiny stabs of friction that grew into great flames of fire that engulfed her. She pushed downward hard, and his cock filled her channel, touching her soul. Even as Perry held her firm on top of him, Maggie began to move, lifting herself against his touch, to withdraw him to his tip before letting him plunge deep and fast back inside her. His cock swelled, and the friction they created made her see stars. She hoped to all that was precious Perry was as aroused as she, because there was no chance she could prolong their love-making. Her climax built faster than ever before, and it was going to be a matter of seconds before she lost the little control she possessed.

  Even as she watched through eyes that seemed covered in a veil, Perry stiffened and urged her to move ever faster. His breath became labored and the pulse in the side of his neck showed its erratic beat. Maggie noticed his eyes were as glazed as she imagined hers were, and the veins on his temple stood out. The groan he gave held no pain, just deep pleasure.

  "Now, come for me now, Maggie."

  She needed no second bidding. Her body tensed and she tipped over into a climax so deep and strong she thought she might well pass out. Time seemed suspended, and the world spun around her in a vortex of colors. Deep inside her she felt Perry tense and try to pull back to be a gentleman and spill on the sheets not in her. She wanted none of it, not this time. A wayward thought told her she was being reckless, but her courses were only just finished, and for once she was going to feel every last pulsing beat of his climax.

  "No, we are wed and it has been so long, I am determined to feel you fill me, to let me hold you tight until you are spent." Maggie tensed her channel muscles to hold Perry there, and to keep him part of her as long as she could. Would it work? His eyes narrowed, but as she reckoned, he was too close to completion to be able to argue or dissemble. She began to loosen and tighten her muscles, mimicking the way his prick could move in and out and built up the rhythm, giving him no chance to argue or pull out. She decided long before, some of their deceptions wouldn't sit well with Perry, so she was going all out for what she wanted to do, not what undoubtedly she should do. After all to climax and release his tension could only be beneficial surely? She ignored the niggling little voice that reminded her the doctor said no stress and keep him calm. No doubt it would have been more stressful to both of them not to couple.

  Perry stroked her hair, and pulled her down until she was lying across him, her breasts crushed against his chest and his softening cock still inside her. It had always been one of their favorite ways to relax after making love. As he let one hand trace circles across down her back and across her arse, Maggie felt contented. His conscious may have forgotten so much, but his subconscious seemed to be working, even to the point in his ministrations where he tucked her hair behind her ears and rolled her ear lobe between his fingers. Perry had always been fascinated with the tiny lobes, saying they needed diamonds to make people aware they were there. The first pair of diamond drops he gave her were tucked away in her trinket box.

  "Where are your earrings?" he asked suddenly as his fingers tightened on her naked lobes. "You need them to make people aware… Maggie how do I know that? You have diamonds to adorn your ears, to show you have lobes. I remember I bought them from Rundle and Bridge. You wore them in bed and nothing else. We owned a blue coverlet that matched your eyes. I remember it." He took a deep breath. "So why can't I remember anything else?"

  Chapter Seven

  Maggie wished she knew what blocked the information to Perry's mind. Even though she worried about Perry's reactions when he did recover his memory Maggie wouldn't wish his situation on anyone. How awful not to know who you were, where you were, and why. She hoped their interaction helped and not hindered his chances of recovery.

  Perry stretched like one of the big cats she'd seen in The Royal Exchange menagerie, and the smile on his face was not dissimilar to one of those animals after a feed. The only way Maggie could describe it was that he looked satisfied, even if the colorful hue of a bruise disfigured one cheek. He touched it, and winced. "I know not which hurts more, my cheek my side or my cock. One minute, not my cock—that hurt is pleasurable and needs repeating as soon as it has garnered its strength once more. None of which is relevant in helping my brain to assimilate the past, but it has told me what I want to enjoy in the future. You in every way possible." His stomach rumbled under her cheek most unromantically and he rolled his eyes. "And food it seems. Is there any more broth? Or game pie?"

  Maggie laughed and sat up. In the past, Peregrine always enjoyed his food. How he stayed so fit and lean heaven only knew. She'd never known anyone with an appetite like him, and his other appetite for food of a different kind seemed to match this one for sustenance. "Broth I have, game pie you'll have to wait for until doctor has called again. Now If I bring an ewer of water as well, will you want it?"

  "I'd have a bath, except I don’t think there's enough water in an ewer to even throw over me, let alone soak in it." He chuckled. "Ah Maggie, it's so hard. I remember some unconnected things, but I'm oh so sure I've forgotten things I need to know." He sobered and the desolate look on his face was enough to send goose bumps over Maggie's skin. "What if I never remember?"

  "You will," she said with more confidence than she felt. What if he didn't? How long would they be able to keep him here, and keep their charade up? She turned away from him, and wrung her damp hands together as she swung her legs to the floor.

  "Where is, ah." She scooped her dress from the floor and wrinkled her nose as she shook it out. Dust mites floated into the air, and Maggie sneezed. "This needs a good shake, and the room a thorough cleaning. I'll sort it tomorrow." She slipped her gown up over her legs, and buttoned it up enough to stay secure. "Right, I'll go and heat some broth. You stay there."

  Perry nodded, however Maggie distrusted the gleam in his eyes. "I mean it Perry, you need to rest and recoup. Tomorrow." She glanced at the timepiece on the mantle. "Later today even, will be early enough to start worrying in earnest. Promise me you'll stay there?"

  He sighed and then dipped his head. "As long as you promise to join me. We may have broken my drought, but I'm still very thirsty." The wink he gave her was so Perry, Maggie choked back a sob. So many people thought of him as stuffy, but then who else ever saw this carefree, playful side of him?

  "Very thirsty," he said again in a plaintive voice, which was spoiled by the wicked grin he sent her.

  So was Maggie. She almost ran down the stairs, thankful the house possessed one of the newfangled closed stoves, which allowed her to heat the thick potato and barley broth quickly. As she stirred the food, her mind wandered back to what Nash told her. That someone seemed to have taken the bait, and had been followed on the road to Monksseat. So far no move had been made on him, and men from Perry's department were keeping a watching brief. All they could do was wait.

  Maggie owned she was not the most patient of people, although over the previous months, her attempts at patience improved through necessity. However she was getting tired of the subterfuge, and to be honest, of the ever present fear in their lives. Why people wanted to harm their homeland she could not comprehend, and it was imperative to stop any plans in that direction. However, why did it sometimes feel as if all the stopping was up to those close to her?

  The night outside the window of the kitchen was dark, as cloud scudded across the moon, and generated shadows that danced across the garden. There was enough of a breeze to make the trees that surrounded the house shake their branches and create eerie shapes that reflected on the ground. Maggie glanced outside as she cut thick chunks of the bread Nash brought with him, and waited for the broth to be ready. If she was of a fanciful nature she'd have said at least one of those shadows appeared human. It stretched across the tiny strip of lawn, long and menacing, and moved toward the house.

  Maggie put the loaf down, and grabbed the knife firmly in her hands. With her heart in her mouth and her skin damp, and she bit her lip to stop her teeth chattering.

  It was the worst feeling ever, not knowing whether to investigate whether the back door was locked, or keep checking the shadow through the uncovered window.

  The screech was so sudden and so un-human that she screamed, and dropped the knife, which clattered harmlessly onto the flags under her feet. Her pulse jumped and for one awful second Maggie couldn't breathe.

  Outside an owl flew past the window, the moon came out from behind the clouds, and the garden looked peaceful and tranquil. Maggie reached for the back of a sturdy kitchen hair and held on until her heart rate slowed, and her head stopped spinning.

  Just an owl, no bogeymen, nothing untoward. How then didn't she believe it?

  She shook her head, and then did check the door was locked and the heavy bolt pulled across. A sizzle and the smell of burning hit her, and she turned to see the broth bubbling over the edge of the pan and dripping onto the hot metal of the stove. Maggie yelped and dashed to the stove, grabbed a thick woolen cloth and lifted the heavy pan up and away from the heat. The aroma of singed potatoes and metal was stifling. Nevertheless, under no circumstances could Maggie bring herself to open the door or the window and let the stench out. She blew across the top of the pan and waited until the broth stopped boiling and once more simmered and then put it down on a thick wooden block.

  Idiot, stupid, imagining menace at every turn. She bent to pick up the breadknife from the floor and wash it before she poured some broth into a bowl.

  "Maggie?" She whirled round and the knife missed Perry by inches. He held onto the doorjamb and blinked, before he pulled the knife out of the wood a few inches from his head.

  "You didn't like our fucking? You prefer food and fight?"

  She laughed shakily, shook her head and rubbed her hands with the dishcloth. "You startled me, and my nerves aren't as steady as I thought. I'm sorry, I burned the broth, but there's plenty left. Why are you down here?" She noticed the white lines between his eyes. Silly man. "Oh sit down before you fall down." She took his arm and pushed him into the chair she'd used as a prop.

  "I like the idea of fu … fucking and food. The fighting is fine as long as it's to decide who’s on top," Perry said ignoring her question. "And the only falling is onto a bed with you."

  The words were enough to send messages to her quim, for her nipples to harden to the point of pain, and her juices to coat the top of her legs. The pictures in her mind sped her pulse up and her body heated with the flames of arousal.

  "Yes, well, for now it's food." Maggie ignored his chuckle and placed a bowl of steaming broth in front of him. "Eat this."

  "Then we can negotiate?" He bent his head to the bowl. "This is excellent. My compliments to the chef."

  She giggled. She'd nearly said she'd pass the message on before she realized that was a sentence Perry would be sure to query. Instead she smiled and filled another bowl and carried it over to the table and sat next to him.

  For several minutes they were both quiet. Maggie hadn't realized just how hungry she was until the aroma of the broth hit her. It seemed fear didn't diminish her appetite for anything.

  There are an awful lot of 'f' words flowing around my mind at the moment. She giggled and choked on her mouthful of potatoes. Her eyes began to stream, and she coughed as Perry thumped her back. By the time she could breathe again, he was on his knees and looking up at her in concern.

  "Maggie love, are you all right? Here, let me get you some water," He levered himself upright, and turned toward the large covered jug which Nash thoughtfully filled at the pump earlier. She tugged on his arm.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10