“So beautiful,” he murmured, rubbing her hip, gently moving her into even better position as he rose on his knees.
He allowed himself a moment to admire the sight of her in the morning glow, exposed and waiting for him to take her. Giving herself to him with wanton abandon.
“More beautiful than I deserve,” he added.
And then, he ran his fingers through her folds, making certain she was wet and ready. He slicked her dew over her opening, and she made a throaty sound that snapped the last of his restraint. Gripping his cock, he guided himself to her entrance and thrust. She was slick and hot and fit perfectly around him. She was Ellie and she was everything he wanted, now and forever. She was enough to last him all the way to perdition if need be.
Oh Christ, oh hell, oh damnation.
Must not spend inside her.
He thought his head might explode from the sheer pleasure of being buried inside her to the hilt, the novelty of this angle of penetration the stuff of miracles. It had been a long time since he had taken a woman in this fashion, but he did not want to think about that now. He wanted to think only of Elysande and the sweet scent of orange oil rising from her velvety skin, of the way she clenched around him in welcome, bringing him deeper still.
The breath had fled his lungs. Or mayhap he had been holding it. But suddenly, he was inhaling deeply, as if he had just run a great distance. He held himself painstakingly still, allowing her body to adjust. Her needs preceded his.
For her, he could be gentle. He could be soft and weak and vulnerable. He could put her before him in everything, and he would.
“Are you not going to move?” she asked, arching her back and pressing against him more firmly.
The dulcet voice broke him. He became aware of himself again as the urge to thrust in and out of her, to fuck, took control.Not fucking, said the voice in his head.Making love. This is different. This is Ellie.
Yes it was, and yes she was.
He withdrew from her almost completely with a slow, measured motion. The glide of his cock forced him to set his teeth on edge. And then, there was no more control. The dam burst. There was only the overwhelming need to mark her as his forever in the only way he knew how.
Later, he would worry he had been a rutting beast. But now, he was a man consumed. He thrust in and out of her, holding her hips, watching as his prick slid in and out of her sweet cunny. Faster and faster, until he was nearly where he needed to be, his release imminent.
She came with sudden force, clamping on him as she cried out into the tangle of coverlets, her voice muffled. One more thrust, deep and hard, and he withdrew completely, holding his cock as he spilled into the bed linens with an answering groan of his own.
She had felt so good wrapped around him. Heaven. Paradise. Perfection.
Heart pounding, he collapsed to the bed at her side, grateful he had summoned the restraint not to spend when he had been planted deep in her as he had longed to do. The possibility of a child would be most unfair to her now, the uncertainty of his future far too damning.
The sated glow that inevitably followed orgasm bathed him along with the steadily rising sun. For a time, there was no sound between them save their ragged breaths and the portentous ticking of the mantel clock across the room. All the words he wanted to say to her rushed into his mind yet eluded his tongue.
“You were right,” she said, still lying on her belly, her lovely face turned toward his.
He ran a hand over her back, caressing her. “About what?”
An impish smile curved her lips. “That it would be good for me.”
He brushed a stray tendril of hair from her cheek. “I am glad of it.”
“Youare good for me, Hudson,” she added.
He wanted to tell her she was wrong. That he was horrible. That all he had brought to her was empty coffers and danger. But she was gazing at him with such unfettered adoration in her expression, those honey-brown eyes burning into his, that he could not summon the strength.
“You are good for me as well, love,” he said instead, meaning it. “I would be utterly lost without you.”
She turned her head and kissed his palm. “Fortunately, you will never have to be without me. You are quite stuck with me.”
He hoped and prayed she was right, but he knew he would do whatever he must to ensure her future happiness. “I would not have it any other way.”
He allowed himself a few more moments of ease, lying there with her, basking in her presence. In the sweet intimacy of husband and wife. If he had known marriage would be this wondrous, he would never have entered it with such grim hesitation. What a fool he had been for believing himself trapped by inheriting the title.
When he had become the Duke of Wycombe, he had been granted the greatest gift of his life. Now, he had to fight to preserve it.
I love you, Ellie.
