Violet tilted her head up from where it rested on his shoulder.“I can.She had been jilted by the man that she loved.And the duke swept in and probably lavished her with attention and presents.Made her feel wanted.I think he did love her.But his idea of love is about possession.”
Rhys pondered what she said.He always thought he didn’t know how to love.But that wasn’t true.He knew the difference between possessing something and loving something.His mother had shown him what love was; she watched out for him and cared for his needs in the best way she knew how.She always gave him a safe place to land, an ear that listened, and a warm embrace when he would let her.
He’d always thought love would ruin him.But the truth was that love was something you gave without expectation of return.There was no safe way to love.And that was fine because Violet was here with him now.He lifted her hand and kissed her fingers.
When they arrived at the inn, they were quickly shown to their rooms.He shut and locked the door behind him and turned to watch Violet walk about the room, running her fingers across the mantel of the fireplace, then the rim of the washbasin in the corner.She slid closed the drapes and wandered to the bed, sitting on the edge.“Soft.I approve.Ginny is probably crowing over having her own room.”
He smiled.“I bet she won’t be alone for long.Her and Jim are definitely fucking.”
“No,” Violet gasped.“You think so?”
He crossed to her.“Absolutely.”He reached out to twirl one of her blonde curls around his finger.Her hair was long and loose around her shoulders, the way he liked best.“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
“You didn’t know.I never had a doubt you would come for me.Although I had many moments of worry, waiting for you.”She rose and placed a hand on his chest.“Make love to me.”
“As you wish.”He bent and captured her lips.“Christ, I missed you,” he murmured against them.“I won’t ever leave you again.”
She threaded her fingers into his hair and looked deep into his eyes.“Good.I don’t ever want to be apart again.I love you so much.”Tears welled in her eyes.
He wiped his thumb across her cheek, catching a tear as it rolled down.“You do?”
“Yes, I love you.And it feels like a miracle because I never thought I would find someone to give my heart to.Then there you were, climbing through my window, watching over me, caring about me.Your care extends to everyone in your life.I see how you care for Louisa and Zeke and Matthew and all your widows in the neighborhood.I have never known a man with a bigger heart.”
She loved him.He laid his forehead against hers.“You steal my breath with your gift.I gladly accept it and give you my heart in return.I thought that love made you weak, foolish.But that was just my fears whispering lies.Loving you has allowed me to see all the beauty that the world holds.”He rubbed a hand across her belly.“All the miraculous possibilities.”
Violet grasped his cheek and pulled him down for another slow kiss.He growled; she was so fucking sweet.He fumbled to undo the buttons of her dress.Once he had them undone, he had her undressed in minutes.She pushed off his jacket and braces.Her lips never left his as the kisses grew frantic and messy.He toed off his shoes.Hopping from one foot to the next, he stepped out of his trousers.Violet laughed at him, and in retribution, he grabbed her under her backside and tossed her onto the middle of the soft mattress.
He needed to be inside her right now.He climbed onto the bed and spread her legs, enjoying his view of her sex glistening, opening for him.Pausing on his knees in between her luscious thighs, one hand on his cock, he drank in the beauty of her body laid out before him.
She gazed at him with hooded eyes, a sultry smile on her beautiful face.“Rhys, I’m desperate for your cock.Fuck me.”
Hearing her use such dirty words sent a spike of pure lust rushing straight to his cock.He grabbed a pillow and, lifting her hips, shoved it underneath.Without any further delay, he slid into her wet heat.Violet arched her back with a low moan of pleasure, and he was right there with her.Her pussy clenched around him, and he drew out and slid back in with a satisfied groan of his own.
“Rhys, I won’t break.I need you to fuck me,” Violet demanded.
That was all the permission he needed.He pulled out and, gripping her hips, he slammed back into her sex.He thrust into her over and over as she moaned and mewled beneath him.Her breasts bounced with the frantic rhythm he set.He bent over her belly and sucked one rosy nipple into his mouth.
Violet cried out his name.
He laved it with his tongue, and she ground her hips up against him again and again.Straightening, he looked down at her, her hair a wild mess, her eyes closed as she searched for her release.“Oh my needy girl, I have you.”He drove into her pussy and reached down to rub his thumb up and down over her clit.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted.Her eyes opened, and her gaze snared his in its molten depths.Christ, he could spend a lifetime drowning in them.Giving her pleasure, making her orgasm over and over.
Then she shattered around him.With a shout, he let himself fall over the edge as well, pumping her full of his seed.Gently rubbing her clit to prolong her orgasm, enjoying the small jolts as her pussy pulsed around him.Then Violet reached out for him.He pulled out and stretched out next to her, kissing her lips.Sipping leisurely at their sweetness, drawing her sighs into his lungs, filling his soul with the words of love she whispered against his mouth.
A little while later, he moved them so that he sat against the headboard and Violet leaned against his chest.He rubbed circles on the soft skin of her belly, which seemed to have grown even since he last saw her.She hummed with pleasure and intertwined their fingers.“If the baby is a boy, isn’t it ironic that you, the true heir, will be raising the presumptive heir?”she mused.
He stilled.“You want me to be a part of raising your baby?”
Violet turned in his arms to face him.Her brows lowered.“Of course.You are going to make an honest woman out of me, aren’t you?”
His heart, already so full, spilled over like a dam broken by her words.“You would marry me?”
“Is that your proposal?Because it could use some work.”Her eyes twinkled with laughter.“I know you are a man of few words—”
He cut her off with a kiss.“Yes, I will marry you.Yes, I will take care of you and this babe for the rest of my days.I will protect you and provide anything you need.But most of all, I promise to love you both with every breath I take.”
Violet leaned up and brushed a soft kiss to his lips.“Now that’s a proposal,” she murmured.“I accept.”
