“What is it?”
“A painting. Come, through there.” He pointed to another door. “So I can have my way with you.” His eyes darkened on her and he laughed and led her forward.
The next room was a parlor with cushioned chairs and a sofa upholstered in crimson linen.
“Are you trying to win over Prudence?” he asked her while she stepped around the sofa to open the shutters of a window.
“Yes. Should I not?”
He went to her and closed his arms around her. “I think it’s an excellent idea. I know Prudence can be difficult. Thank you for trying.” He bent his head to kiss her mouth.
He felt as if he were living in a dream. He was happy. He had truly forgotten what it felt like. Seventeen years of plotting revenge, training in order to carry out that revenge. He’d killed hundreds of them before and after he returned from Germany. How many more before his heart was satisfied?
But he didn’t think about revenge or fighting when he was with her. She made him care about living. While he branded her mouth with his, a fleeting thought crossed his mind about whathe was willing to give up for her. Today he cared less about fighting than he did yesterday, and less yesterday than the day before that. He only wanted to kiss her, breathe her, hold her–
And now they were finally alone.
He kissed her wildly, passionately while he pulled her out of her clothes, and she pulled him out of his. He stopped now and then to have a look at her, to gather her in, and reassure himself that she was his. When he set her naked body down on the sofa, she spread her legs to receive him. His heart thundered like a war drum in his ears. He loved her for wanting him. He’d make certain she always wanted him.
He moved over her then rested his chest against hers. “Do you feel my heart beating?”
She nodded and smiled. “Is that because of me?”
“Yes,” he told her softly while he pressed his lips to her chin and her neck. He stopped and looked at her as he sank into her. “You make me feel like I’m being reborn.”
He couldn’t look at her without almost falling off the edge of control. He didn’t want this to be over so quickly, so he closed his eyes. He lowered his head to drink from the breasts she offered him. His muscles trembled at her hold on him, closing tight around the length of him until he almost cried out.
He lifted her to him when he hovered over her and thrust deep into her over and over, slowing his pace, and then quickening it again. He kissed her and whispered things over her skin about how very beautiful she was to him, and how much she meant to him. Every promise to love and protect and honor her–and anything else she added–was sealed with a kiss.
When they almost slipped off the sofa in each other’s arms, they laughed and kissed some more. He let her turn over so that he was sitting up under her, his back slouching against the cushioned back, his erection pointing straight up.
She wasn’t afraid to climb right on him. He smiled and held her hips while she moved up and down, tossing her head back like some wild forest faerie sent to steal his heart and his virginity. He smiled and sucked in his bottom lip. He’d gladly give up both.
He watched her as she deepened her movements and clenched him tighter as he swelled inside her. They released their passion together, and when it was over, she fell over him.
He took his time catching his breath, though with all his practice on the field, it didn’t take long. He took her face in his hands and smiled into her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she replied in turn.
“I told Sudbury so that he could prepare himself,” Ben told her, “for when I tell Prudence that you and I are to be married.”
“Married?” Fable asked in surprise.
“Yes, Stephen has sent for the priest.”
“You’re really going to marry me, Ben? I’m poor.”
“Not for long.” He smirked smugly.
When she laughed behind her hand, he pulled her down for a kiss, then pushed her down on her belly and rose up above her. He smiled and bit his lower lip, then swooped down on her.
Chapter Fourteen
Fable woke alone in her bed, where Ben had carried her last night when she was just too exhausted to walk another step. She’d wanted him to stay with her but he told her their bodies needed rest, and if he stayed there wouldn’t be any rest to be had.
Did she dream that the austere duke, so still and stoic at court, was truly a pot of boiling passions spilled out for her? She shifted under her blanket and felt the sting of reality between her legs. Her lips felt puffy from all his kisses. Oh, but she didn’t mind. She loved him.
She smiled. He wanted to defy everything and marry her. Captain Benjamin West, His Grace the Duke of Colchester was in love with her. She let out a squeal of joy and disbelief.
