Fortunately, no blood was dripping now.
But it had been at the time.
“And you, Gory?”
“What? Me? I am in the pink of health.”
He snorted.
“I am,” she insisted.
She had earlier unpinned her hair that now fell down her back in a tumble. She carefully ran her fingers through the curls, trying her best to avoid her own stitches as she put order to them. Dr. Farthingale had planned to take them out tomorrow, but she was going to insist on waiting another few days so that nothing interfered with tomorrow’s wedding or her uncle’s funeral the following day.
She cast him a come hither look. “I want this, Julius.”
A slow smile swept across his face. “Lady Gregoria, are you seducing me?”
She chuckled. “I would if I knew how. I am hardly a temptress. But I do not see the point in waiting when I am willing and this big bed is right in front of you with me already in it. It is crying out to be used.” She playfully put a hand to her ear. “Can you not hear it calling out to you?”
“Loud and clear, love.” He set aside the chair and climbed into bed beside her, gathering her in his arms. He had kept his trousers on, no doubt on purpose, which meant he was not going to claim her tonight. But any disappointment she might have felt quickly melted away as he next positioned himself over her, propping on his elbows as he looked upon her with enough heat to melt her bones.
“How about a compromise,” he offered.
She nodded. “What sort of compromise?”
“This.” He proceeded to show her what she had been missing while ignoring all the marriage mart affairs, all the elegant balls and routs, and instead keeping her nose buried in books and research these past few years.
His kisses were slow and delicious, the soft grind of his mouth on hers deep and utterly decadent, as sinful as a Viennese dessert. Her heartbeat immediately quickened and hot tingles coursed through her veins. But it was the ache that came along with the delight that surprised her, this overwhelming need to share intimate moments such as this one over a lifetime together. Was this not exactly what he was offering? Each kiss and each loving caress represented his promise to love her, to build a life with her and protect her.
She melted completely when he said it aloud, his words a match to his actions. “I love you, Gory.”
Once, and then twice he put voice to his feelings and trailed searing kisses down her body. She echoed the same back to him, for after all these years of guarding her heart, pretending she could manage on her own and fooling herself into believing she never needed to find love, here was Julius offering this very gift of himself to her.
How could she not love him back with all the fullness of her heart?
She held onto him as his every touch scorched her and marked her as his, as his love brought goodness and trust, hope and dreams, and scrubbed away the evil taint of that dreadful night and the unhappiness of her past.
Julius was offering a new leaf, a new chapter, a new book of her life.
She was ready and eager when he untied the bow at the front of her nightgown and slipped his hand inside to cup her breast.
She cooed when he began to gently knead it.
She actually cooed like a little bird.
He cast her a wickedly affectionate smile and then ran his thumb across the taut bud of her breast in a light, swirling motion. “Make that sound for me again, love.”
Her eyes widened. “No, it is appalling.”
“It is beautiful,” he insisted, taking the bud into his mouth and…
Oh, sweet heaven.
She was going to bill and coo and squawk like a magpie if he did not stop. But he knew what he was doing to her, knew those slow, languid circles he was making with his tongue would leave her hot and mindless. “Julius,” she cried with a soft, wrenching moan.
Then his hands…oh, those beautiful, rough hands, slid down her body and one came to rest between her legs. He gave her no more than a moment to absorb the intimacy of the gesture before his sensual fingers began to stroke her there.
She clutched his head, not wanting him to stop whatever he was doing because these sensations he aroused in her felt so good and right, even though she did not think she was doing anything right herself. She purred and moaned, wrapped her fingers in his hair and tugged his head, pushed and wriggled against his hand as he continued his bold but gentle onslaught.
