Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

the hall. When she would have moved defiantly into the corridor, two soldiers stepped in front of her, their bodies as effective as any prison door. It was a further humiliation. The entire palazzo would be abuzz with the gossip that the don had deserted his bride on their wedding night.
    Giovanni looked back once, his black gaze meeting her dark, mortified one. Cara mia. The voice was velvet soft, but Nicoletta refused its seduction and comfort, slamming the door and running to the bed.
    She was exhausted and embarrassed, unable to explain her own indecent behavior. She thumped the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    coverlet hard, vowing she would never indulge in such carnal behavior again. Confused and utterly weary from the day's events, she fell asleep with tears running down her face. But Nicoletta dreamed, and she dreamed erotically of the don.
    He returned to their bedchamber at first light. The room was a smoky gray, still caught between morn and night. He was tired, lines etched deeply into his face. He undressed, his eyes on his bride's sleeping figure, tearstains still on her face. His hard features softened at the sight of her, a tenderness creeping in to thaw the terrible ice in the depths of his soul. There was a scratch on his shoulder that had not been there before, a thin line of barely discernable blood.
    Giovanni stretched out beside Nicoletta, his hard body curved almost protectively around hers. His arm circled her, pulling her close to him. At first he lay still, simply listening to her breathe. He inhaled her scent.
    Nicoletta slowly became aware of her husband's presence, felt him taking the essence of her deep into his lungs, breathing her into his body. His lips were velvet soft as they skimmed her mouth to drift down along her throat. He nuzzled her until the warmth of his breath heated the nipple peeking out at him from the robe that had fallen open. She felt his tongue first, then the scrape of his teeth. Then he was suckling, his mouth hungry for her. Each pull set moist heat pulsing between her thighs. She moaned softly, an invitation, her legs parting restlessly.
    Giovanni seemed heedless of her aching need. He took his time, paying careful attention to each breast, tracing each rib, swirling his tongue in her navel, along her stomach. Finally his hands parted her legs, stroking her thighs until she arched her hips in demand. His palm pressed against her, finding her hot and damp.
    "This is wanting me, bambino," he said softly, inserting two fingers into her tight canal. He moved them as his body would move, in and out, until her hips rose willingly to meet him. "That is what you must do,"
    he said softly.
    His body moved over hers, large and muscular, pinning her beneath him, his knee pushing her thighs apart. He was hard and hot; she could feel him thick and long, pressing for entrance. He caught her buttocks in his hands, lifting her to meet him so that he could surge into her deeply.
    The movement drove the very breath out of her. He was large, and he filled her, stretching her until she gasped with the exquisite pain of it. He bent his head to capture her mouth, and his tongue began to match the movement of his hips, hard and fast, so that her sheath grew hotter and tighter. The friction went beyond her dreams, spilling into reality, so that she was gripping him, thrusting upward to meet him, the pressure building until she wanted to scream. Her body rippled with life, gripping his, dragging him deeper into her, milking him dry as she fragmented into a million sparkling pieces before settling slowly to earth.
    "That is only the beginning," he whispered softly to her as he reluctantly eased his weight off her. One leg was thrown carelessly over her thighs to lock her to him. One arm curved possessively around her waist.
    His head was beside the warmth of her breasts. "Go back to sleep, angelo mia," he whispered softly against her creamy skin. Her body was sated but sensitive, and she drifted off with his mouth, moist and hot, nuzzling at her breast.

Chapter Fourteen
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    "I do not understand why there is still no word on Cristano," Maria Pia greeted Nicoletta as she entered the kitchen. The older woman faltered when she saw that Giovanni had entered behind Nicoletta, his hand resting possessively on her back. Then Maria Pia lifted her chin belligerently,