“Not yet, love,” he cautioned.
“Please, Nicholas,” she gasped.
That undid him. He glanced down at the narrow bench in frustration. He refused to take her maidenhead on the floor, but—damnation, he should never have brought her to this place, not for her first time.
“Nicholas!” she beseeched him passionately.
He positioned himself and then leaned into her as gently as he could. He heard her gasp as her warmth closed around him. She surged forward until her maidenhead was reached. The pressure stopped her, but in their position, he could not breech her quickly enough to minimize the pain.
There was no help for it. He closed his mouth over hers to receive her cry and then, without warning, he lifted her up and pulled her down hard onto him. He held her like that, impaled.
It took only moments before her nails eased out of his shoulders and she sighed with pleasure again, relaxing against him.
“Nicholas?”
His name had never sounded sweeter. He smiled with relief and answered her without words, clasping her buttocks to lift her, then letting her slide back onto him slowly.
She quickly increased the tempo, clinging to him tightly. A thousand fires were ignited in her, joining into one flame that soon could not be contained. It washed through her, drowning her in sweetest fire.
Nicholas could not remember ever being so sated, or feeling such tenderness after making love. He wanted to hold Regina forever and never let her go.
“Was that…normal?” she asked dreamily.
He laughed. “After what we just experienced, you want mere normalcy?”
“No, I suppose not.” She lifted her head from his chest, sighing, “I suppose we must go back to the house.”
“Oh, bloody hell,” he growled. “I suppose we must.”
She gazed at him, love and longing lighting her beautiful face. “Nicholas?”
“Yes, love?”
“You don’t think they’ll guess, do you?” The truth was, she didn’t care if they did, but she believed she should ask.
Nicholas grinned at her. “No one would dare suggest we had made love out of doors. It isn’t done, love.”
Between dressing, teasing, and stealing kisses, it was another twenty minutes before they were on their way walking around the pond toward the house. Nicholas’ arm was draped over her shoulder, holding her close, when Amy rushed out at them from behind a wall of shrubbery.
“Oh, Reggie, I’m so glad it’s you!” she called breathlessly.
“Have I been missed?” Reggie asked, preparing herself for an ordeal.
“Missed? I don’t know. I’ve been out…walking, you see, and I didn’t realize so much time—” Amy started to cough, a bad acting job, as the shrubbery behind her began to rustle. “Marshall will be so angry,” she said. “Would you mind terribly if I told him I’d been with you?”
Reggie managed to suppress her grin. “Of course not, if you promise not to let the—time—get away from you again. Nicholas?”
“Not at all,” he agreed. “I know how easy it is to lose track of time myself.”
All three of them managed to keep straight faces as they hurried back to the house.
Chapter 14
THE engagement party, given by Edward and Charlotte Malory, was a complete success. The whole family and all of their close friends were there. Even Jason’s wife had been persuaded to leave the cures at Bath and be there for the event. Nicholas’ grandmother and Aunt Eleanor enjoyed themselves immensely, and Reggie got the impression that they had despaired of Nicholas’ ever marrying. His mother, of whom he never spoke, was conspicuously absent.
Nicholas was on his best behavior, and everything went beautifully. The party had taken two weeks to prepare, and all the meticulous attention to detail, all the effort paid off.
Alas, smooth sailing doesn’t last. Two months after the party, Regina Malory was at the very bottom of despair. It didn’t help that she had reached this level of misery by slow degrees.
