And still he moved inside her, stroke after relentless stroke.
It was too much.
It would never be enough.
“You are…” he murmured into the base of her throat. The same abandon that had seized her moments ago now held him within its unrelenting grip.
“I am what?” She needed to know.
But he’d lost the thread as he tensed beneath her, the thrust of his manhood, hard and demanding. Amelia could only hold on as he released a long groan and climax took him and he gathered her in his arms, held her tight, and settled back.
Somehow, through sated lips she asked again, “I am what?”
Eyes closed, he grunted.
Her chest pressed to his, she felt the sure beat of his heart, matching her own, each thud slower than the last.
“Unexpected.”
“Pardon?” she asked, her cheek now resting against the crook of his neck, eyes closed, her mind and body adrift.
“You are unexpected, Lady Amelia Windermere,” she heard, muted, as if from a great distance.
Pleasured and safe in his arms, she fell into complete surrender as never before in her life.
*
Dawn blinking goldenlight through parted bed curtains, Amelia stared unblinking at the frescoed ceiling above.
He was gone.
At some hour unknown to her, he’d deposited her into bed and didn’t join her.
Though she tugged at his arm.
Though she whimpered.
Of course, with morning returned sanity and a few rational thoughts. Like…
She was no longer a virgin.
Possibly no longer marriageable. Not that she cared aboutthatall that much.
While she wanted to be accepted back into proper society, she’d never been all that concerned with ensnaring a husband. Her family already had money and titles, after all.
Even so, she’d also never seen herself as the sort of woman who would take lovers, either.
And she most definitely didn’t want to beseenas the sort of woman who took lovers.
Just below family, reputation was everything, and the Duke of Ripon would be bad for her reputation.Very bad.
Her mind knew this. Her body, however, held a differing position on the subject of the Duke of Ripon, for it had learned something about him only hours ago…
How very, verygoodhe was.
She squeezed her thighs together and dragged a pillow across her face.
And groaned.
