Chapter 40

When Catherine returned to the salon after what seemed like an eternity to him, Stephane immediately saw some kind of change in her posture. But he couldn't quite put it into words.
"Is everything okay, ma Belle?" he asked slightly alarmed. He doubted that John was the cause for her concern, otherwise she wouldn't seem as calm as she appeared. No, it had to be something else.
"Of course, my dear. How are you feeling?" The smile she granted him with was brilliant. It let her brown eyes shine and warmed his heart.

"Much better, now that you're back," he replied smoothly and it wasn't even a lie. Her mere presence had indeed a positive effect on his well-being, of that he was sure.
"You're a hopeless charmer," she chided him with a mild yet playful tone in her voice. Was Catherine actually flirting with him?

"I think it's time we call it a day," she said, but did not break the intense eye contact with her husband.
His brother rose from his chair and wished them a good night. He seemed to feel the electric tension that had suddenly arisen between Catherine and Stephane and obviously wanted to give them some space.

When Raphael had left the room, Catherine approached him slowly and offered him her hand, on her lips a small and inviting smile.
"Are you coming?"

There lay so much more both in that gesture and her words than he had ever wished or hoped for. An apology and likewise forgiveness, an offer of peace and the promise of a future together as a married couple.

And while he stared in fascination at the slender hand she offered him, still thinking about the importance of her gesture, she just stood there and waited patiently for him to react.
Being completely bewitched by her soulful eyes, Stephane reached for her hand. He did not stand up immediately, but rather kissed each of her fingertips fondly. She didn't have to say another word for him to understand what Catherine was offering and how grateful he was for this opportunity. An opportunity he was eagerly willing to accept.
"There's nothing I'd rather do," he whispered against the soft skin of her hand.

It was time for him to return.
Return to their shared chambers and return to his wife.

So he let go of her fingertips only long enough to grab her hand and allowed his wife to help him back to his feet. He ignores the pain and the bothersome stiffness of his muscles as best as he could. Instead he concentrated on the pleasant warmth Catherine radiated and that slowly but steadily spread from his arm to the rest of his body.

Together they climbed the stairs leading up to their private chambers.
Catherine pushed open the door and led him to the bed. With a suppressed groan Stephane slowly sat down and his wife looked down at him in concern.
"Maybe we'd better send for a physician," she thought out loud and watched him more closely.
"I'm fine, ma Belle," he hurried to assure her and once again reached for her hand.
"No, you're not," she objected vehemently and an overly worried and very familiar expression lay itself on her finely chiselled features.
An expression he had last seen when she had desperately watched over her dying son.
An expression he never wanted to ever see again.

"Okay, maybe I'm in a bit of pain, but a physician could do nothing more than what you've already done, Catherine. What I need is my own comfortable bed, some sleep and my wife by my side. Preferably naked." Stephane raised his eyebrow and winked seductively at her. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her in his direction.
"Stephane", even though she tried to sound strict, he detected a tiny smile on her lips that slowly wided.
"What? I'm sure the latter would be very beneficial for my recovery." Stephane couldn't resist the urge to tease his wife a little.

"You're impossible," she chided him mildly with a loving undertone and gently freed herself from his grip. Then she went to the dressing room and returned with their nightclothes and robes.
"Guilty as charged, I guess." Stephane replied and watched her peeling down the torn trousers. Without further comment she helped him with his nightshirt.

Only when he let himself fall back into the countless pillows at her behest did Catherine turn away and began undressing herself. Stephen's eyes followed her every movement in fascination.
When she was left wearing only her tightly laced corset and a sheer chemise underneath, Catherine struggled to loosen the cords with her arms twisted backwards, the Lord Chancellor straightened up again in their bed.
"Come here." Not an order, but rather an offer that Catherine willingly accepted.

The moment she sat down next to him, his hands immediately began to loosen her corsage. When he was finished, Stephane gently stopped her from rising again and let his hands wander over her neck to caress her tender skin instead.
"Mhm," a throaty, sexy sound escaped Catherine's throat when he touched a particularly sensitive spot that send all his remaining blood to his southern region. When hearing this sound, the Lord Chancellor could no longer contain himself and spontaneously pulled her into his arms.

His sudden movement triggered a new wave of pain in his side that ebbed away rather quickly since he already was eagerly kissing his wife.
"Stephane", she mumbled after a few seconds against his lips and interrupted their kiss. "This is a bad idea."
"No, this is actually a brilliant idea, darling," Stephane disagreed and reached for Catherine's chin to pull her closer until the tip of his nose touched hers.
"You're hurt," she reminded him, her warm breath caressing his skin.
"And your mere presence takes away my pain." Stephane tenderly embraced her face and looked deeply into his wife's eyes. Her pupiles were dilated and reflected a renowned passion.

"Giving in would be unreasonable," Catherine murmured before her lips sought his once again.
"Then let's be unreasonable. Right now there's only one thing I want, ma Belle. And that's you."
Catherine laid her hands on his chest and surprised him by gently but firmly pushing him back into the pillows.
"Fine, Stephane. But I don't want you to overexert yourself. Let me be the one doing all the work, okay?" Her insisting gaze tolerated no opposition, so he just nodded in agreement. There were worse fates than his.
His wife rewarded him with her most beautiful smile and bent down to kiss him.

When it was almost impossible for him to control his desire, his hands began to wander. Burning with passion, Stephane intensified their kiss. His teeth eagerly started nibbling at her lower lip, prompting Catherine to wince. But what alarmed him most was a low and suppressed sound of pain that escaped her throat.
"Catherine," he asked worriedly, watching his wife intently who was running her index finger over her swollen lip and straightened up.

This movement drew his attention to her bare breasts, gently swinging from one side to the other. But that brief glance was enough to notice the giant bruise that adorned her right breast.
"Oh ma Belle," he whispered in shock. How could he have forgotten that not only he but also Catherine had been injured?
And like the insensitive fool he was he had even bitten her already maltreated lip.
"We don't necessarily have to..." he left the rest of his sentence unspoken.

"It's okay, just be gentle." His wife, who seemed to have other things in mind, reduced the distance between them and gently run her nails over Stephane's well-toned chest.
"My beloved, it's not okay if I have to fear causing you even more pain." Like before in the salon, Stepahne reached for Catherine's hand and kissed her fingertips. "We have all the time in the world." He would never forgive himself if she came to further harm by his own inattention.

But she unexpectedly and harshly freed herself from his grip and rose again. The look that Catherine de Medici threw his way was deathly.
"What," he asked in amazement, trying to put himself in an upright position as well. But his wife pushed him back into the pillows.
"What is wrong with you men and your damn double standards? How can you so easily brush off my concern for your well-being and at the same time mime the worried spouse on my behalf?" The wrathful expression in her dark eyes was breathtakingly beautiful and alarming at the same time.

Stephane decided to ignore her threatening gaze and stood up as well in pain.
"There you have it" Catherine hissed angrily.
"You can't compare one with the other," he tried to appease her, but rather achieved the opposite.
"Exactly, Stephane. You were stabbed. Twice. I only have bruises and a split lip. You're doing it again. You put your needs above mine." He watched Catherine talking herself into rage and reached for her hand.
"That's only because I love you and I want to protect you. Your well-being is more important to me than my own health," he explained and put all his feelings and power of persuasion into this statement.
"And what do you think it is that I'm doing?" his wife shouted at him in rage.

"You tell me, Catherine! Because I don't know. You're nothing short of a riddle wrapped up in an enigma for me." Now the Lord Chancellor had also raised his voice.
"I cannot believe that you even got to ask me that! I love you, you ignorant ass, probably more than you deserve and more than is good for me". His wife spit those words literally into his face, but despite her anger, all Stephane realized was her declaration of love.

He dumbly repeated "You love me?", still feeling stunned, while her words unleash a tremendous storm of emotion inside his rapidly beating heart.
He hadn't thought that her feelings for him could possibly arouse again, and he certainly hadn't expected Catherine to verbalize them. Not after all the things that had happened between them.

"Against all common sense, but yes." Catherine sounded almost angry about it and elicited an amused laugh from her husband with her reluctant confession. By the way her eyes darkened, he realized that she was about to raise her inner walls again because of his reaction, so he pulled her into his arms and kissed her affectionately.
"That's probably the most wonderful thing I've ever heard, ma Belle," he whispered a moment later once he had released her lips.

"The most wonderful thing?" Catherine's right eyebrow shot up, and she carefully appraised him. "More wonderful than your nomination as Lord Chancellor? More wonderful than..." She didn't get any further, because Stephane wrapped her body into his arms and stopped her verbiage with another kiss.
"More wonderful than anything I've ever experienced so far. Come, lie with me." He slowly sank down on the matress and patted the vacant spot on their bed, smiling contentedly when Catherine glided pliantly under the covers next to him.

Carefully he put his arm around her narrow waist and pulled her closer to inhale her well known and terribly missed scent while enjoying the combined warmth of their bodies. Stephane bent down to her and placed a loving kiss on her forehead. Then he put some distance between them in order to look at his wife more insistently.

Her warm, hazel eyes stared back at him and the intensity he spotted there spoke volumes and made words completely superfluous.
At this moment he didn't need anything else in his life.
Their mere closeness, the love they felt for each other and the prospect of a future together was enough to make Stephane Narcisse the happiest man in the world. Someday later in the near futre, after their physical as well as their inner wounds have healed, there would still be enough time for making love with his beautiful wife. Extensively and without any restraints left. But until then it was enough to just hold her in his arms.

Phew, one down and only one chapter to go (well to translate and to post). What a ride.

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