When those soft, warm lips touched the corner of her mouth, she recalled something else Claud had often said. She had once attempted to kiss him in the morning upon awakening and he had roughly pushed her away, claiming that in the morning she had breath akin to the bottom of a garderobe shaft. Arianna clapped a hand over her mouth and pulled away from Brian.
Brian tensed and looked at Arianna where she now balanced precariously on the far edge of the bed. His annoyance over what had appeared to be a rejection despite all they had shared before falling asleep turned to confusion as he studied her. She did not look as if she now regretted what they had shared, nor did she look angry. She looked nervous and just a little afraid, rather like someone who expects some sort of blow to fall at any moment.
“What is wrong?” he asked, fighting the urge to reach for her for, if she backed away again, she would topple right out of bed and onto the floor. He was also getting tired of the way she kept fleeing his arms.
“I need to clean my teeth,” she said, her hand still over her mouth muffling her words.
“Why? Ye did it ere ye climbed into bed and ye havenae eaten anything since then.”
“’Tis needed. Claud said I had foul breath in the morning.”
“Nay, ye dinnae.” If Claud were not already dead and buried, Brian thought yet again, he would gladly kill the fool, but only after beating him soundly first.
“How could ye ken whether I do or nay? We havenae kissed. Claud ne’er kissed me in the morning if we woke together for he said that my breath when I first woke rivaled the stench of the garderobe.”
“Claud was an idiot. Ye were sleeping with your mouth open, lass. If ye had breath that foul I was close enough that I would have smelled it. When will ye believe that the mon was probably angry that he didnae have the courage to tell his family the truth, that he had gotten himself caught up in a tangle of lies, and ’tis verra clear from all ye tell me about him that he wasnae a mon to shoulder his own blame. So, he spat his anger out at ye. I cannae say it enough. That was all it was, lies meant to beat ye down.”
“He ne’er hit me,” she said, cautiously removing her hand from her mouth.
“Aye, he did, and weel ye ken it, though ye seem to forget it quickly. All my words of wisdom cast aside like sad refuse,” he murmured, and almost smiled at her glare for it showed she still had her spirit. “He struck out at ye often, I am thinking. With words. Ye ken weel that they can hurt and scar as easily as fists.”
Arianna stared at him as she thought over what he had said. She had been casting his words from her mind, not really thinking much on them. Words could scar. She knew that in her mind, but deep in her heart Brian’s wise words had not yet taken hold. Constant criticisms could beat one down as thoroughly as fists. Claud was always criticizing her when he was not ignoring her or burdening her with all the work he should have been doing himself. The way he had so flagrantly favored his mistress over his wife had also left its scars, if only because such actions silently strengthened every criticism he had flung at her. Arianna was not sure how she could heal those scars for his sharp insults and unending criticisms still whispered through her mind. She had, after all, thought she had cured herself of Claud’s criticism of her worth in the bedchamber yet, with the rising of the sun, had fallen into the same old trap.
“Are ye certain he lied?” she asked, tentatively moving closer to him.
“Jesu, lass, I would tell ye if it was so bad that ye should clean your teeth ere I kiss ye. Foul breath in the morning curses us all from time to time and ’tis nay something to fret o’er but, I swear to ye, yours isnae foul.”
Brian pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She tensed as if she feared he would begin to gag and push her away, but quickly softened in his arms. The way she fit so snugly there, her silken flesh warm against his skin, had him hard and hungry for more of what they had shared last night. When she twined her slim arms around his neck and pressed her lithe body even closer, he decided there was no harm in lingering in bed for a while longer.
His body soon let him know that there would be no lingering. Despite his efforts to control his desire, it rose up fast and greedy. To his delight so did Arianna’s. Her body welcomed him with all the heat any man could want. He could sense her pleasure in her every sigh as he drove them both to passion’s heights. They reached that pinnacle together, her husky voice crying out his name music to his ears as he emptied himself inside her.