When it ended, he allowed his head to drop back against the squabs, studying her, this wild, wonderful woman he had wed. “You remember?”
Her smile was secrets and seduction and Helena. He felt it in his cock.
“I remember everything,” she told him. “From the moment I first saw you. You were wearing tweed. You had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. I thought them more glorious than the sky and the ocean combined. I still do.”
Her revelation stole his breath. Made him feel like a green lad. He wanted inside her. Immediately.
Gabe clenched his jaw against a swift tide of desire. Now was neither the time nor the place. He would not fuck his wife in a carriage parked just outside their home as their staff listened on, suspecting every act in which they were engaged. No, indeed. He was going to do this the proper way. He was aiming to make up for everything he had missed, all this time.
Dozens of pretty phrases and flowery words swirled in his mind, clamoring for his tongue. In the end, he was lost to anything but Helena herself. His wife, his countess, his love. He had fought her for so long. But he intended to heal them both.
“Into the house,” he told her, kissing her again swiftly. “Now.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan,” she told him, kissing him once more before sliding from his lap.
For what was perhaps the first time in her life, his hellion had obeyed without a hint of protest. Nary a stubborn tip of her chin nor a cutting remark. It would seem he knew the way to tame her.
They disembarked, and Gabe cast propriety to the devil and took her up in his arms. Ignoring the astonished stares of the servants who quickly averted their gazes, he proceeded to carry his countess down the front walk, through the entry hall, and up two sets of stairs. She giggled and buried her face in his neck as they went.
By the time they reached his chamber, they were both breathless and grinning at each other like a pair of lovesick fools. He settled her on her feet and elbowed the door closed at his back.
“What do you suppose the servants will think of us?” she asked, grinning as if she did not give a damn.
Likely, she did not, and that was one of the qualities he loved about her best. It was also one of the qualities which had terrified him. She was unpredictable and wild, his Helena. But she was also sweet and good and kind. She loved him without reason. Had loved him all this time.
As he stood here with her, he knew, unequivocally, that love was not the path to ruin and disaster. Rather, it was the road to the future. His future. Their future. To happiness.
“I suppose they will think I have gone mad over my wonderful, beautiful, perfect wife,” he told her, shrugging out of his coat.
Her full, pink lips parted. “I am far from perfect, and hardly wonderful or beautiful.”
Gabe pulled at his necktie next. “You are the perfect wife for me, and you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known. As for the question of whether or not you are wonderful, the word hardly does you justice, but it will have to suit for now. My mind is having a difficult time managing fluent speech when all my body wants is you beneath me.”
Charming color tinged her cheekbones. “Oh.”
Her fingers went to the accommodating line of buttons bisecting the front of her bodice. One by one, she plucked them from their moorings as he tossed his waistcoat to the floor. His shirt was next, and then he toed off his shoes and strode for Helena, unable to last another second without his hands upon her.
“Yes,oh.” His lips settled over hers.
Together, they shucked her bodice, and then he found the tapes on her skirts, undoing them and the hidden button as he slid his tongue inside her mouth. Her petticoats and bustle went next, followed by her corset and drawers. Helena’s knowing fingers brushed over the fall of his trousers, unerringly finding his cockstand and palming him through the fabric.
Need surged, drawing his ballocks tight. He growled into the kiss, deepening it, wanting her so badly he ached. It was not enough. He wanted no barriers between them. He wanted skin on skin.
The next few moments were a blur of kissing, touching, and disrobing. They made their way to the bed together. Helena lay on her back, Gabe between her thighs. He took a moment to bask in the glory of her beneath him, all soft, smooth curves and delicious womanly flesh, her legs parted to reveal the pink folds of her sex.
“I love you, Helena.” He could not keep the words to himself as he began raining kisses all over her body, worshiping her as she deserved. “I love you so bloody much.” He kissed her knee, her thigh, all the way to her hip bone. He kissed the velvety curve of her belly. She shifted beneath him, arching, seeking.
He knew what she wanted. The air was perfumed with the decadent scent of her desire, musky and floral. His cock twitched and his mouth watered. He had to have her on his tongue. Caressing her hips, he pressed another kiss on the swell of her mound, just above the tempting bud of her clitoris.
“Gabe.” She writhed beneath him with her protest.
She was getting desperate for him.
Good.He wanted her out of her mind with desire.
“Go on.” He kissed her again, then grinned up at her. “Tell me what you want, darling.”
“You know what I want.” She was breathless, her verdant eyes glazed with desire.
