This man, who came second only to royalty, who was richer than almost any other man in England, listened to the needs of her body and hers alone, seeking to fulfill them. So long as she let him, he would worship her and guide her into worshipping him.
So long as she gave him her consent.
With that thought, or perhaps his ragged exhale, perhaps even his breathy curse as he rested his forehead against hers, she fell apart.
This sensation was greater than anything she had ever known. It felt as though she had died and gone to heaven, and this was what true redemption felt like. Her climax was a blessing. Whenshe slowly came back to earth still feeling him inside her, she wondered if she trulywasin heaven.
Is being with Maxwell in this way the greatest bliss I could ever find in heaven or earth?
He was still inside her, looking down at her with such tenderness that her breath almost caught in her throat.
“Maxwell…” She didn’t know what she wanted to say.
Did one thank one’s partner during… this?
That struck her as being perhaps slightly odd, but she felt so impossibly grateful that he had made her feel this good, and she wanted to express that the only way she knew how.
“How are you?” she whispered.
A smile caught his face, brief and lovely. “I’m well, darling.”
My sweet. Darling. The endearments sat warmly on her chest.
“Did you…?”
“Not yet.” He shifted as though he was in pain, but she knew better than that. It was not pain he experienced—just the urgency to move.Thatshe could understand because, as herclimax had approached, she had felt the exact same thing. “How does it feel for you?”
In answer, she rolled her hips, and he groaned, thrusting into her again with more fervor this time.
“I want you to…” She didn’t know the term for it. All she knew was she wanted him to feel the same agony of bliss she had, for them to be united in this way, at least. “Please, Maxwell.”
He groaned, holding her face between his hands and kissing her fiercely, as though she was the only thing in his world.
She felt the way he stiffened, the grunt breaking from him, and the way his body shuddered on hers. She drank in his pleasure hungrily, until finally, with one final sigh and a kiss, he rolled free.
Even then, he gathered her into his arms and pressed a kiss against the side of her head.
“When we get to Marrowhurst Hall, I have no intention of letting you out of my sight,” he said. “Out of our bedchamber, even.”
“I will still need to do my sculpting.”
“Then I will build you a room for that purpose,” he said, not seeming to realize the enormity of what he had said so easily. “And you will have no need to leave the house.”
“Perhaps for some fresh air and a walk?”
“You torment me with your sense and logic.” His lips curved into a smile. “And I suppose Ishallwant to show you my land.”
“Are you proud of it?”
“I’m doing my best to do my brother proud.”
Thalia stared at the ceiling, letting the words sink in slowly. He rarely mentioned his brother, and never in this way, unprompted. She understood how it felt for a departed brother never to be far from her thoughts.
“You must miss him very much,” she said.
“I do. He ought to have been the Duke. I was prepared to be the second son, to take an occupation.” His nose nuzzled her ear. “And it would have been for the best, I think. I make for a far inferior Duke.”
“I don’t think that.”
