She was learning an entirely new language of love with Giles; her husband, partner, and now her friend. The shades had fallen from his eyes. He had shed his mask and come to her unguarded. For the first time in his life—Louisa realized—Lord Granborough felt safe. He was happy, and he waswith her!
Smiling drowsily, she turned in his embrace to press a kiss against his chest. She peppered her lips along his sternum, his across collarbones, and up his throat until she felt his low voice rumble beneath her open, panting mouth.
“Mmm.”Giles moaned. He stirred at her touch, tracing his fingertips over her skin in slow, seductive circles. He massaged her spine, cradled her skull, and cupped her bottom until she writhed his capable hands. He took her mouth in a sweeping kiss, murmuring, “Good morning, Louisa.”
“Good morning,” she said, climbing atop his thighs to straddle his hips. They kept the bedlinen draped around them, luxuriating in the little cocoon they’d created for themselves.
She felt his erection nudge her entrance, and when she dipped her hands between their twined bodies, she found his flesh hard and straining against her palm. Emboldened, Louisa stroked him in long, lazy fistfuls.
His hands and mouth were not idle. Giles caressed her face, kissed her lips, and plundered her mouth with his. His tongue danced with hers. Hot breath mingled as they stoked one another’s desire.
His hips surged upward, bucking, and grinding, and thrusting into her palm. “Please, Louisa, love, please…” He grew desperate for the warm, tight sheath of her body—forher,the only woman he would ever know for the rest of his life.
Claiming him felt thrilling. Louisa rolled her hips teasingly, placing him at her entrance only to pull away again. She rose and fell, swelled and retreated, arched and pressed until her husband was mindless with wanting.
At last, she guided him into her entrance. Louisa took him into her core. She welcomed him, deeply, into the very heart of her. She rode him slowly and steadily while he curled his fingers over her breasts, plumping and pinching, and bringing her nipples to tight, achy points of pleasure.
Giles lifted his head from the pillow to suckle her. He looked up at her with sharp blue eyes, so clear and sincere as he watched her make love to him. His gaze heightened her desire, and Louisa slipped her fingers to the place where their bodies joined.
Circling her fingers, she rode his length, conscious of his pleasure but chasing her own. He moaned against her bosom as she canted her hips. Feelings of love and lust, desire and gratitude, and—yes—smug satisfaction rose within her, for this was her husband; the man she wanted, wed, and waged war over. She had won him and would have him for all time.
Louisa confessed her love with every post of her hips, each pulse of her fingers, and the unfaltering rhythm with which she rode him.
“My God, Louisa! My dear!” Giles groaned. He gasped. He allowed her to keep the pace between them, tracing his palms over her ribs and down the slope of her belly to grip her hips beneath the bedsheets.
Climax came swiftly, nearly catching her by surprise. She curled over him, cushioned against his firm chest as the tremors racked her. She could do nothing but clench and cry out, over and over again until she felt dazed. Sated, yet utterly wrung out.
“Oh, Giles…”She shuddered and sobbed his name.
Louisa felt him thrust into her—once, twice, and again for a third time—before withdrawing. He came between her thighs, whispering sweet words into her ear as satisfaction washed over him. He’d taken great care not to spend inside her, and she felt glad to mean that much to him. The man she loved would wait to start a family with her, even though he wanted children. Even though he desperately needed an heir to secure the future of the Granborough estate.
Giles put her safety first, and her wellbeing over his own.
She kissed him. “I love you.”
“I love you, dear.” He hugged her to him, claiming her lips with his.
They dozed until the noise through their porthole windows grew too loud to ignore. Footsteps sounded on the deck beyond. Crew members shouted orders and winches groaned. Vibrations from the engines had ceased, and the ship no longer swayed with the rhythm of the sea.
RMS Campaniahad reached Liverpool.
Louisa crawled across the mattress, taking the counterpane with her as she ventured forth to spy her first glimpse of England. Through the circular pane of glass, an entirely new world opened before her, filled with new languages, customs, and cultures. The morning sun shone on the docks which teemed with stevedores, passengers, newspapermen, and curious onlookers.
Soot streaked the sheds and warehouses, and black smoke belched from the chimney stacks towering over the skyline. There were no trees, no parks, no green spaces that she could see. Liverpool was a sprawling industrial city, grim and gray, and intimidating.
Giles came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms, confessing, “I’ve never been fond of the place myself, but we’ll soon be on our way.” He tucked her head against his chest. “We shall be in London before luncheon and sleeping in our bed at Granborough by nightfall. I cannot wait to show you our home, Louisa—I feel certain you’ll love it. I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that you do.”
She smiled at that, for they would make a fine life together. They would work hard to restore the house and to return the estate to its former glory. His tenants, servants, and neighbors would prosper. Together, they would be better than their forebears. Despite the odds stacked against them, Louisa knew they would make their families proud.
“We should pack,” he told her, “if we’re to get an early start. Doubtless, there will be a queue at the purser’s desk, and the Marchioness of Granborough must have her jewels.”
The jewelry and trunks full of fashionable clothes were the least important things she’d carried with her to England. Louisa placed her naughty French book into her dress basket alongside Prissy the doll. She had left New York as an innocent young bride, but now she arrived on the other side of the Atlantic as a wife, a stronger and worldlier woman.
Louisa possessed many gifts in which to bestow upon her future children, and her daughters would not suffer the same fate, or feel that same ignorance that she had experienced on the first few days of her journey.
A lady’s destiny was her own to command. Happiness was hers to demand, and their offspring would never settle for anything less than the loving, trusting example that Louisa and Giles would set for them.
She rang for her maid in order to bathe and dress for the day. Lord Granborough summoned his valet to wash and shave, and then went to claim their belongings from the purser’s safe. Their morning was busy but exciting as they prepared to debark. Stewards came to collect their baggage, hauling their wardrobe trunks, hatboxes, and valises through the cargo passages and down the gangway onto the landing stage below.
