“I’m unraveling you,” she whispered, tugging the cravat free, “one piece at a time.”
“Oh, love,” Henley growled low in his throat.“Then you should know—when I come undone, I take you with me.”Henley teased her chemise over her shoulders and gazed at the perfection of his wife’s form.Anna boldly pressed into him, forcing a groan from his lips.
“This is remarkably unfair,” she whispered against his bare chest.“For I am far more… unraveled than you, my husband.”
Henley chuckled against her hair.“Allow me to remedy that directly.”
“No… slowly.”Anna traced a finger down his arm and then laced her fingers within his before stepping back, her hair covering her breasts slightly, just enough to allow him to see yet still be teased by what was hidden.
“Whatever you wish.”He shed each barrier between them with slow, deliberate reverence, each piece a final relic of the man he was before she made him whole.
“I changed my mind.”Anna stepped forward, her gaze taking in the sight of him, now nearly naked.“Maybe next time we’ll go slower.”She sealed the words on his lips as Henley growled.
“Thank God.”
He removed the last of her clothing, and lifted her into his arms, carrying her to their bed, a delicious giggle echoing from her lips as he joined her on the soft mattress and kissed furiously from her lips to her neck, then lower, savoring the gasp of awe when he tasted her breast.As she arched against him, he slid his hands down, wanting to make sure this lovemaking was as good for her as it would be for him.Teasing her most intimate area, he waited like a man burning alive as she gasped and bucked against his hand, his mouth continuing to tease her with a wicked desperation for her to feel the need that surged through him.
“Hen—ley.”She all but whimpered his name, telling him it was enough.
When she came apart, he wanted to be inside her, feeling every wave of her pleasure.When she called his name with a breathless plea, he entered her with a reverence that stole his breath.He gasped, his body trembling with relief, joy, and a need so fierce it felt like worship.
“I—I need…” Anna’s eyes were unfocused, and she reached out, pulling him closer, sliding him deeper, as she wrapped her legs around his, holding him close.
Then Henley began to move.He swallowed her gasps of pleasure with his kiss, branding his love on her body as he teased her with the last shreds of his self-control.When she clung to him, her nails biting into his back with a delicious pain, he found his own release, shuddering with the power of it.He closed his eyes, the gratification of his own release and her climax joining in creating a pleasure he never knew existed.It was more than lovemaking, it was a soul sharing.And he’d never be the same.
He looked at his wife, the love, wonder, and adoration in her expression mirroring his own.
And with a grin, she reached up and touched his face.“Worth the wait.”
Henley chuckled against her chest, kissing her breast teasingly.“Indeed, it was… and thankfully, we do not have to wait ever again.”
Later, with Anna curled against his chest, her breath warm on his skin and her heartbeat echoing his own, Henley let his eyes drift shut.The world could wait.Tonight belonged to them—every whispered vow, every stolen breath.She was his, as he was hers.Not just in name, not just in law.But in soul.And now, he knew peace.
Epilogue
Ten months later
Anna blinked andstudied her friend’s bold expression.This was either going to be brilliant… or a disaster.She set her teacup down and folded her hands, bracing.
“Rakes,” Pere declared, “make the best husbands.”
Anna paused.“That’s… a statement.Not necessarily atrueone.”Anna drew out the words, curious.
“It is both a statement and a theory.”Pere lifted her chin.
“You burst in here like you had an announcement.”
“I suppose I do.”Pere tapped her notebook.
“Is there more than rakes make the best husbands, or was that the entire proclamation?”Anna’s lips twitched as she lifted her teacup again.
“You sound like my brother.”
“Oh?You’ve already told him this?”
“No.I thought he’d bewithyou.You two are so rarely apart.”
“We’re apart now.”
