“You can’t, it’s mostly covered with hair.”
He ignored her, casting off her bonnet and turning her head this way and that.
“Satisfied?” Mina felt a little flustered, sat like this with her drawers around her ankles and Nye practically on top of her.
“There was so much blood,” he said uncertainly. “I saw it.”
“I imagine you know more about head wounds than I,” Mina pointed out. “They bleed a lot. After all your own eye has barely recovered from your recent boxing match.“
“It doesn’t pain you?” he asked gruffly.
“Barely at all.” She gazed at him, touched that his ardor had been so quickly doused by concern for her well-being. “And you were quite right,” she told him, taking the bull by the horns. “In what you said before.” When he looked blank, she added quietly. “Unless you’re by my side, then I won’t be happy, Nye. I happen to be in love with you, you see.”
He went completely still at that, his eyes growing dark with emotion. “Then I’d better make sure to keep you happy,” he said, his voice rough with desire, as he sank to the floor of the coach between her legs, shoving her petticoats out of the way.
“Nye!” she squealed, realizing his intent with dismay. “I’ll fall off the seat!”
He lowered his face to the juncture between her thighs and growled against her, making Mina feel quite weak. She reached up to brace her hands against the seat back as he opened his mouth directly over her and started placing open-mouthed kisses there. “Oh Nye!” she groaned. “Don’t let me fall!” He must have heard her as his grip on her thighs tightened and he pinned her harder into the seat as he feasted on her like a man half-starved. Mina closed her eyes and shivered. “Nye!” she whimpered. “Have mercy.” She thought he gave a stifled laugh, as she uttered a hoarse cry and came apart completely, with embarrassing haste.
She was only vaguely aware when he ripped open the bodice of her dress, scattering the buttons.
“This bloody corset,” he complained, as he unhooked the front to free her breasts. She should protest at such treatment, she thought dreamily. She would look a state by the time they reached the inn. Then again, she could just draw her cloak about her, and no one would be any the wiser. He was palming her breasts now. “Ah God, Mina,” he groaned. “You’re so beautiful.”
She blinked at this epithet. Beautiful? He must be the only person who thought her so. For a moment, she almost wished she were dressed in frilly undergarments to please him. Red stockings, she seemed to remember were to his particular liking. Maybe she would work up the nerve someday to purchase a pair?
“What did I ever do to deserve all this bounty,” he said huskily and lowering his face to nuzzle against her breasts.
She clasped a hand to the back of his head, stroking his dark hair as he worshipped at her bared bosom. She sent up a fervent hope that no other carriage would pass them on this country road, for if they chanced to glance through the window, they would surely get an eyeful. Then he opened his lips against the tender swell of her flesh, and she forgot such considerations in the delight of his tongue and the scrape of his teeth and the sucking depths of his hot, devouring mouth.
Pinning her to the edge of the seat, he reached down to free himself from his breeches and she felt the bold thrust of him against her belly. “Hurry Nye,” she implored.
He cast a wild glance out of the carriage window. “We’ve plenty of time.”
“That’s not what I meant!” she sobbed, crowding against him. “I can’t wait any longer. Please, Nye.”
He was still for a heartbeat. “Ah Mina, love,” he said thickly. “It needed only that...” He caught her behind her knee and hooked it over his hip. “Tell me again.”
“I can’t wait, I want you- oh! Oh Nye!” she keened as he thrust and her eyes watered as she felt him lodged within her, sinking into her slowly but surely. His hands were not gentle as he jostled against her, forcing his thick inches deeper, dragging her hips down as he bumped her against the seat, until she had taken his entire length and their bodies were tight and flush against each other.
He gave a harsh groan, his brow beaded with sweat and she realized he had been exerting some will after all, to temper his actions and not grow frantic. “Ah Mina,” he breathed. “God, I couldn’t ever give you up. I was lying to Faris, to myself even.”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, looking deep into his eyes. “Good,” she said simply, and he surged into her, making them both moan aloud. “Will,” she whispered, rubbing her hands across his shoulder blades. “I-I don’t want you to go slow.”
He gave a suppressed laugh again. “So, then tell me to go fast,” he recommended, illustrating with a hard buck of his hips. Mina uttered a yell, which startled her greatly and made Nye’s eyes flash. She tightened the grip of her leg about his hip, wishing she could wrap the other around him, but the tangle of her petticoats prevented her.
“Tell me, Mina. I’ll do anything you say,” he vowed throatily.
“Yes, yes faster,” she implored, tightening her arms over his shoulder. “Faster please! Oh yes!”
At this point, he illustrated so thoroughly an understanding of what she needed, that Mina lost her wits completely. She shivered and moaned and wailed her way through an orgasm that saw her lose control of her limbs and her inhibitions so completely that they ended up sliding from the seat into a tangle of limbs on the floor of the carriage.
She managed to pull herself together just in time to watch Nye’s own expression go from agonized, to ecstatic to spent. With a loud groan, he fell forward, his face burying into her neck where his ragged breathing tickled her sensitive skin there, as his shaft still pulsed inside her, flooding her with his seed.
She reached up and ran her fingers into his hair, her heart swelling when he closed his eyes, pressing his head closer as he not only allowed but showed every evidence of enjoying her caress. They lay a moment in each other’s arms on the floor of the carriage as it bumped and jolted along its way home. She didn’t want to speak. Didn’t want him to speak. Just wanted to lay there limp and happy and satiated.
Finally, he lifted his head to look down at her, one hand coming up to brush the hair from her face. “I love you,” he said. “Mina Nye.” A slight pucker appeared between his brows. “Did you know that already?”
“Not for certain. Not until you mentioned my blood on that rock,” she admitted. “And were so upset about it.”
“Don’t,” he said, closing his eyes a moment. “Don’t spoil this moment with that. I thought you were likely dead. That was why I didn’t care anymore.”
“About implicating yourself?” she asked softly. “I can’t believe you rode to fetch the Riding officers. It was practically an admission of guilt.”
He murmured an agreement. “It didn’t matter what happened to me,” he admitted. “Not at that point. I wanted them all to swing for it. For daring to raise a hand against you. No-one will ever do so again,” he vowed. “I’ll kill anyone who ever tries.”
“I know.” She thought briefly of Reuben’s crumpled body before shutting that memory away. If she could have cuddled into Nye closer, she would have, but there was not an inch to spare between them.