She shrugged. “Time will tell.”
Rob grinned. “Perhaps the Silver Dukes will open a betting book on him. After all, his father is now the Duke of Weymouth and Aubrey is next in line. He may not have a dash of silver in his hair yet, but I expect Florence will quickly turn his hair gray if he ever chooses to pursue her.”
Fiona laughed as she glided into his outstretched arms. “That would be an interesting match, wouldn’t it? More important, I am glad they can now close the betting book on you.”
“They never should have opened it, for I was always yours.” He kissed her deeply, determined to be her duke and her starlight, for this was what she always claimed to feel whenever they coupled.
Starlight.
That night, when they left the revelers and returned to the privacy of Fiona’s home to share their first night as husband and wife, he carried her over the threshold and up the stairs to her bedchamber.
He kicked the door shut with his foot, not ready to set her down yet.
A lamp had been lit and left atop her bureau, casting the room in a soft, golden light. “First time for us,” he said, giving her cheek a nuzzle.
She laughed gently. “Rob, you and I have done this before. Were you not the one who claimed we were rutting like rabbits?”
“Yes, but never as husband and wife.” He set her down and began to undress her, for he was aching to have at her sweet body, aching to feel the softness of her skin against the hard expanse of his.
He kissed her as he untied the lacings of her gown. And kissed her some more as he drew the pins from her hair and watched the lush mane tumble like dark silk down her back.
“Let me help you,” she said once he had stripped her down to her chemise.
“Not tonight, love.” With a groaning laugh, he quickly undressed himself. “I am going to expire if I must wait another minute to have you under me.”
Within a breathless instant, he had disrobed. He now slipped the chemise off her body so that they stood naked before each other, each of them hungrily looking their fill.
He loved the shape of her body, the fullness of her breasts, especially. But she also had a prettily rounded bottom and long,slender legs. Her dark tresses were a gloriously untamed cascade down her back, the ends curling at her hips.
He continued to look his fill as he swept her back into his arms and settled her in the center of the bed. Then he doused the lamp, for he now wanted to see her by the silvery shadows of moonlight.
And amid the glow of starlight.
She reached out her arms to him.
He settled atop her with a soft growl, careful to remain propped on his elbows, because he was big and she looked slight and delicate beneath him.
His blood turned hot and pulsed through him like the thick flow of lava.
They were husband and wife.
She was his to claim in marriage.
His to love forever.
He cupped her breast, running his thumb lightly over the rosy bud and then lowering his mouth to suckle and tease it.
Sweet.As sweet as the apples they used to pick from her family’s orchard. This was her scent, apples and autumn spices.
He slid his hand down her body. She moaned and threaded her hands in his hair, tugging as she urged him to go faster.
He laughed. “Fiona, I do not want this over within a minute.”
“It won’t be,” she assured him, her breaths now coming fast and her eyes wild and shining with passion as he breached her threshold and embedded himself inside her. “Oh.Oh.Don’t you dare slow down. We can do this again all night. But I need younow.”
Hellfire.Their first time as husband and wife was going to be hot and ravenous, a molten explosion of heat and desire.
So be it.
