The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 28

CW - a bit more NSFW at the Chapter beginning.

IXILLIUS DRESSED FAST, his internal clock letting him know Brasus would be arriving soon, and already knowing the day was going to be full. He noted, approvingly, that Alex had cleaned his knife prior to sheathing it and tying it back on her right thigh. She was sitting on the bed now, fully dressed and working at the knots in her hair with her fingers, still grinning and chuckling at having chased him from his own bed earlier.

        He would need to buy her a comb.

        He hadn't any defenses from her tickling without hurting her, so he'd strategically retreated to land with a hard thump on the floor, dragging most of the blanket with him. Which had then made his counterattack simpler, as her body had been laid bare to him and she was laughing too hard to move out of his grasp. Her hips fit in his hands perfectly, and his mouth had quickly turned her laughs to gasps.

        The taste of his own seed within her body had been almost as satisfying as seeing it running down her legs before they'd gone to the baths. He hadn't allowed her to orgasm from his tongue this time, though he'd brought her close. That he had saved for when he claimed her, their pleasure peaking together as she again cried out for him.

        He would have to thank Verus for that advice about a wise tongue, though. His Alexandria – his wife, he preened, she'd agreed and was now his wife – was very pleased with it.

        With only the few difficult fastenings left undone on his armor, he knelt in front of her and pressed her legs apart. He kissed his way from her left knee to her stomach, lifting her tunic to taste the drying sweat on her skin. He wanted to bed her again, but that would have to wait. He checked to be sure that the ugly bruise over the break in her rib was no worse than last night to assure himself that no further damage had been done from her nightmare fighting and the more pleasant activities this morning. She was his wife now, even more his responsibility than as his slave and lover.

        She stroked her fingers through his hair, smiling down at him.

        "Is good," she told him as he pulled her clothes back into place.

        "I must be sure," he replied.

        She didn't seem to understand his words, but kissed him anyway.

        "And once that rib is healed," he added, grinning slyly, once she released his mouth, "I promise that you will not send me from any bed where you lay."

        Her incomprehension was frustrating this morning after having her speak so clearly last night. He would have to wake for her dreams again. He'd questioned her lightly as they were washing before dressing this morning, seeing if she knew she'd spoken to him as fluently as any born Roman. She hadn't, but she'd admitted that she was starting to remember speaking with her father's words as a young child, the words and phrases of Rome popping back into her mind along with the early life memories.

        She'd also artfully dodged around using her father's true name again, but confirmed him as a citizen of Rome, which pleased Ixillius more than she knew, and could make the children born of this marriage legal citizens even if he didn't finish his twenty-five years of service. He was going to have to question more pointedly about her father later on, though, and learn what the man's social rank was. He assumed not very high, being as he had raised her to be the way she was, and knowing through Verus and Brasus how the high born were. He could see plainly that she was avoiding telling him about her father, especially since she'd been forthcoming with simple information about her mother, but he didn't yet know why she would be so. Hadn't she come here looking for her father? Having found the Legions, wouldn't it be wise to begin searching for him now that she was able?