She tugged him gently toward the blankets, kicked off her slippers, and lowered herself to the plush arrangement. “What thwarted your plans?” she asked and wiggled her bottom. She hummed happily. The blankets must be inches thick; she could barely feel the stone floor beneath her.
Ash settled next to her, extending his stocking clad feet out in front of him. He pulled her to his side, tugged the blanket on her shoulders around them both, and pressed a kiss to her head before reaching for the glasses and wine.
He glanced back at her and said simply, “I saw you.”
Wine, the same color as the blackening sky, filled glasses that glinted in the flickering flames of the candlelight.
“You saw me?” Her brows came together, and she cocked her head.
He handed her a glass and swirled his own wine. “Sometimes I think every time I see you, I fall in love with you all over again.” He studied her as though he were attempting to solve a puzzle. “The moment you step into my presence—be it four years ago or just now—it’s like I can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t do anything other than stare at you, soak in the sight of you. And then my lungs remember to work, my heart starts beating again, and the need to get to you, to have you in my arms, overwhelms me to the point of pain. You would think with time…the intensity would fade.”
His eyes searched hers.
“But it’s like every time is the first time,” he whispered.
She blinked rapidly, an intoxicating fizzing sensation spreading through her chest like a bubbly champagne. Oh,oh.She thought she could understand what he meant. Because her lungs and heart seemed to be having trouble working at the moment—too overwhelmed by the warmth his words evoked.
“So, when I saw you tonight, my mind when blank, all my plans, everything I had prepared to say to you…” He shrugged. “Disappeared. And I could do nothing but tell you how I love you and pray you would agree to be mine as much as I’m already yours.”
She shook her head, smiling softly. Pray she would be his? As if she could be anything but. “Well, I can assure you that I suffered not a hint of disappointment at the turn your plans took. If anything, I think things turned out far better.”
“Yes?” he murmured before taking a sip of his wine.
“You think too much, Ash. You get stuck in that ducal brain of yours, trapped by the tenets in which you live your life, trapped by the terrors that still haunt you. I’m happy that you finally dared to let go, acted on pure feeling.” She turned herself so that she faced him and tucked her calves beneath her. “No barriers with us.”
“No barriers.”
She grinned and clinked her glass with his. They drank to the promise. The promise of a love and a life with nothing holding them back.
He leaned forward and kissed her, his free hand coming up to cradle the back of her head. She caught herself on his chest, her fingers digging into his lawn shirt. The soft press of his lips turned demanding, and she pushed into him, licking at the seam of his lips.
The sharp clang of glass meeting glass broke them apart.
Wine dripped down her hand. “Bugger,” she murmured.
Ash’s teeth flashed, and he hastily set their glasses aside. He took out a handkerchief and gently dabbed the wine off the back of her hand.
“Where were you all day today?” she asked.
He brought her hand to his lips and dragged his mouth over the top of her hand. Her breath caught. Then he slipped one of her fingers in his mouth with an appreciative hum, and her lungs stopped working altogether. He licked the wine straight from her, his tongue swirling dangerously. And while that tongue did dangerous things to her finger, dangerous things started happening between her thighs.
Her finger popped free from his mouth, and his lips curved in a wicked smile. “I went to the local bishop to secure a license.”
He slipped the next finger in his mouth.
“O-oh?”
“In the event you said yes, I wanted to be able to marry you as soon as possible.”
He moved on to her next fingers, his tongue trailing across the bottom. She squeezed her thighs together, her hitched breaths loud in the quiet night. This was most definitely wicked magic he was performing on her. Because she could swear she felt every swirl of his tongue between her legs. And shelovedit.
“Th-that was awfully presumptuous of you, Duke.”
Her last finger popped free, and a sinful grin flashed at her in the glittering candlelight. “I was prepared to be exceedingly persuasive.”
Her body trembled at his low, rich words. Who knew a voice could melt over you like honey? She groaned at the thought of giving him more things to lick off her. Oh dear. Time to speed things up. She was starting to believe she would never be able to take things slowly with this man. Everything she felt for him was far too strong for slow.
She frantically tugged at his shirt and pulled it free of his trousers. She needed to feel him, the heat of him, the hardness of him, the heart of him. Her hands flattened against his abdomen and coasted up over dips and valleys and hard muscle to rest on his chest. He hissed out a breath that ended on a contented groan.
