Of course, his bold bride was undaunted by his hunger for her touch. She slid her hands up his chest and around his neck, twining them in his hair as she opened her mouth to him, surrendering to his embrace with a trust that humbled and thrilled him. She was in his arms in an instant and he carried her toward the bed without breaking his kiss. En route, he reconsidered his choice, knowing she would welcome a less conventional choice. He took a seat before the fire on the settee there, holding her in his lap. She laid back in his arms, the firelight gilding her, and smiled. He kept one hand beneath her nape and slid the other up her thigh, returning to tease that nipple again.
“And what do you know of what will happen this night?” he asked, watching her smile broaden.
“That it will be wondrous,” she said. Her own hand swept down his chest to touch him through his breeches. “That your greatest sensitivity is here.” She moved her hand and he caught his breath, a reaction that seemed to please her. “That the darkness of your eyes and the intensity of your attention can only be a good portent.”
He eased his hand between her thighs and claimed a kiss even as his fingertips moved ever higher. She felt like a goddess in his arms, so trusting, so soft and so willing, and yet she was his wife for this night and all others. There was only his bride and her delight in his touch, only this lady and the cultivation of her pleasure. He kissed her slowly, caressing her breast,mouthing the nipple to a turgid peak as she writhed beneath him. He eased his fingers up her silken thighs. Her lips parted in a silent gasp of surprise when he touched her, the dampness he found there casting his own reservations to the winds.
This was right.
This was true.
This was what he had been seeking, unaware of what he needed.
With Helena was where he belonged.
Joshua eased her to the settee, slipped between her thighs and closed his mouth over her sweet heat. She moaned as he teased her with his tongue and his teeth, and he felt the storm gathering within her. He kissed her and caressed her, building the storm and letting it ebb again, wanting her pleasure to be greater. He felt her skin heat and watched her flush. Her pulse leapt beneath his hands, she arched her back and moved with a vigor that fired his own desire.
But the lady would find her satisfaction first, even if the delay nigh killed him.
She was his lady and would be thus forever.
Joshua touchedher with a reverence that Helena found irresistible. He was both strong and gentle, protective of even her pleasure, that she trusted him completely. His fingers swept across her like an invitation to sensation, one she could not decline any more readily than his kiss. He kissed her lips, her ear, her throat, his mouth conjuring a response beyond anything she had ever felt—and Helena wanted only more.
She was startled when he moved to kiss her there, but then the sensation was so splendid that she did not want him tostop. His hands roved over her, the warmth and crackle of the fire made her feel that they two were alone in all the world. They had a haven in this chamber, one where they could explore each other and do whatsoever they desired. She trusted him completely to guide her on this journey, and loved the sound of her own unwilling moans.
She felt a tide rising within herself as Joshua caressed her, his touch so sure that she followed him willingly. Her body knew more of this dance than she, but Helena already found it enticing beyond all. His mouth moved against her and she felt her body respond to each stroke. Her fingers were in his hair, his touch making her melt with need. The spark awakened by him was stoked to a flame, then coaxed to a blaze that threatened to consume her. She found herself entreating him for a release, desperate for whatever pleasure he meant to give, though she did not know what it might be.
And when the tumult came, she was astonished by its power. It swept through her from head to toe in a majestic torrent, an unstoppable tempest that left her both trembling with satisfaction and wanting more.
She opened her eyes to find Joshua watching her, his eyes darker than she had ever seen them, his fixation upon her complete.
“Oh, Joshua,” she whispered in awe. “Tell me there is more.”
And he laughed aloud for the first time she had ever heard him do as much. He stood and unfastened his cravat, casting it aside with impatience. The waistcoat she would always associate with him as a highwayman was next, followed by his boots and his breeches. He unfastened his shirt, his gaze fixed upon her, and Helena rose to her knees, no longer content with just the sight of him.
“I must touch you,” she whispered.
“You are incorrigible,” he murmured, but he let her lift his hands away. He smiled down at her as she unfastened his shirt then opened it wide. She bit her lip as she surveyed his broad chest, then ran her hand through the thicket of hair she found there. She looked up to meet his gaze, letting her hand slide ever lower, watching as he grew taut with need. She explored him gently, closing her hand around him, noting how he caught his breath and what caresses he appeared to favor.
“Helena,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.
“I am yours, my lord,” she replied and he caught her face in his hands, framing it as he kissed her with a hunger that set her very soul afire. She kissed him back, feeling the heat rise between them, and she found herself caught up against his chest again. She kicked her feet and he gripped her closer, then lowered her to the settee again. This time, he followed her, bracing his weight atop her, staring into her eyes as he moved between her thighs. She gasped at the first feel of him then arched her back as she welcomed him within her.
He whispered her name again, pressing a kiss to her shoulder, then met her gaze once more, a question in his own.
Helena smiled. “I am full of you,” she whispered, then rolled her hips. She laughed at the way he caught his breath, then he moved deeper and she was the one who gasped in wonder. At his gesture, she wrapped her knees around his waist, feeling cossetted and cherished. And when he moved, she felt her lips part in awe, for the storm was conjured again, mustering with every stroke and every caress. It built within her steadily, as natural as a rising tide, as unstoppable as a great wave. She gripped his shoulders and reached to kiss him, loving the sense that they two became one, that this was but the first of many such unions, that an exile from what she thought she loved best had brought her precisely where she was meant to be.
With Joshua.
Forever.
He moved more quickly then, the tumult rising with greater and greater urgency, until Helena was certain she could stand it no longer. Suddenly the tide cascaded over her in torrents and she laughed aloud as he held her close and roared in his own release.
“Again,” she said into his shoulder. “Again and again and again.” And the breath of his laugher swept over her skin, his eyes filled with stars as he pulled back to survey her.
“You are a marvel, Mrs. Hargood.” He pushed a hand through her hair and kissed her roughly, his mouth open and his need undisguised. She kissed him back with equal passion to his own. “I love you, Helena,” he murmured in her ear, his confession making her heart leap.
“And I love you, sir, with all my heart.” It was a long while before she had the opportunity to say so much again.
