His thumb slid to where they were joined, right where she needed it.
“Blooming hell,” she gasped.
Her head flung back as she shot over the precipice, propelled into toe-curling, mind-melting bliss.
The next instant, she was on her back. Marcus was over her. His face dark with passion, he drove into her. The hard, pounding strokes fueled her rippling climax. The pleasure went on and on, and she didn’t know if she came again or if her orgasm simply didn’t stop. She hung on, riding the waves of it, and then his big body shuddered and he shouted out her name. His heat flooded her, warming her very core.
He collapsed onto the bed, rolled her atop him, keeping their bodies joined. He stroked her hair as she cuddled against him, her cheek pressed to his chest. Lulled by his strong and steady heart, his whispers of love, she drifted into a contented sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Four
1827
Marcus entered his wife’s bedchamber and smiled at the gorgeous picture she made. Sitting at her vanity, she was dressed in a vibrant fuchsia gown that emphasized her tempting figure. Her maid Jenny stood by her side, an open jewelry chest before them.
The maid tied a pearl choker around Penny’s neck, muttering, “No, that’s not quite right either, is it, milady?”
Apparently, he’d come just in time. He came forward.
“Marcus… you look splendid,” Penny said, her eyes meeting his in the mirror.
He loved the breathy quality to her voice when she said that. When she looked at him this way as if, to her, he were the only man on earth, and she saw no one else. It made him feel powerful and bloody lucky… and he had to stop thinking about how lucky he was or he would ruin the smoothly pressed front of his trousers with a raging cockstand.
Pausing at Penny’s side, he bent and kissed her cheek, breathing in the subtle allure of jasmine and neroli.
“I can take it from here,” he told the maid.
Jenny, being a longtime retainer, had a knowing twinkle in her eyes. Placing the pearls back into the jewelry chest, she closed its lid and, with a quick curtsy, scurried off.
Marcus removed the flat velvet box from his pocket and handed it to Penny.
“Our tenth anniversary isn’t until next week,” she said, smiling at him.
“I know. But since our Summer Soiree is about to begin and, knowing you, the house will be Bedlam and run over with eager guests,”—he winked to let her know he was teasing her—“I thought you might like to debut this tonight.”
“You’re the best of husbands,” she said, her voice tremulous.
He loved that she thought that—and she hadn’t yet seen her present.
“Open it, darling,” he said.
She did, and the gasp that left her lips was worth every penny he’d spent on the extravagant piece of jewelry.
“Marcus… it’s extraordinary,” she breathed. “I’ve never seen anything this beautiful.”
“I have,” he murmured. “Let me help you put it on.”
He lifted the necklace and set it against his marchioness’ satiny skin. He smiled in satisfaction at the reflection. The collar of large, deep red rubies connected by strands of flawless diamonds suited his Penny perfectly.
His eyes met hers in the mirror.
“For my wife,” he said huskily, “whose price is above rubies.”
Penny’s eyes shimmered. “It’s too much. But I love it. I loveyou.”
“As I love you, my darling.”
She came to her feet and threw her arms around his neck with a ferocity that might have knocked over a lesser man. He merely wrapped his arms around her waist.
