Was that amusement in his voice? The cad. She would just have to ignore him.
She caught the lamp with both hands this time—she wasn’t going to have him accusing her of being foxed—but then she had a terrible time finding the edge of the turned-down covers so she could scoot her feet under them. When that was finally managed, Nicholas had finished undressing and, with no trouble at all, stretched out under the covers at the same time she did. His weight dipped his side of the bed so much, Reggie had to grip the edge of the covers to keep from rolling into him. She lay, stiff as a board, trying not to touch him with any part of her.
“Good night, wife.”
Reggie frowned. “Good night, Nicholas.”
Less than a minute later he was snoring. Reggie made a disgusted sound. Didn’t snore indeed. How was she supposed to sleep with this racket? She waited no more than another minute before shaking his shoulder.
“Nicholas?”
“Have a heart, love,” he mumbled. “Once was enough for tonight.”
“Once…oh!” she gasped, startled to realize what he meant. He thought she was someone else, and that she wanted him to make love to her—again. The idea!
She fell back on her pillow in a huff. A moment later he began to snore again, but she just gritted her teeth. After a few minutes, Nicholas rolled toward her, and his hand landed alarmingly near her breast. One leg fell across her thigh.
It flashed through her mind that the chest pressing against her arm was naked, that the leg lying on top of her was naked that…oh, Lord, if she moved she might wake him. Yet this intimacy was bringing back feelings best forgotten, and she couldn’t sleep like this.
Very gently she tried to lift his hand. His reaction was to grip her breast. Her eyes flew wide open. Her breathing quickened. And he slept on, blissfully unaware of what he was doing.
Once again she tried to extricate herself, prying his fingers off her one at a time, slowly. When his hand was released, it moved away of its own accord, but not where she had intended. His hand slid slowly down her belly, across the mound between her legs, and all the way back up, stopping at her other breast. Just then, his knee moved enough to rest on her loins. The fingers caressed her breast.
“Very…nice.” His warm breath blew against her cheek as he murmured in his sleep.
The moan came from deep within her, surprising her and causing a deep blush. This was insane. He was sleeping! How could he make her feel like this when he was sleeping?
It was the wine. It had to be, for she almost wished she were the man and he the woman, so she could turn him on his back, straddle him, and ease her growing ache.
She had to risk waking him. She had to get him on his own side of the bed. “Nicholas?” she whispered. “Nicholas, you have to—”
“Persistent, aren’t you, love?” His hand snaked up and around her neck, drawing her face to his. “Come then, if you insist.”
Warm lips touched hers, softly at first, then passionately. The hand at her neck began to caress, softly, making her tingle all over.
“Ah, love,” he murmured huskily as his lips trailed over her cheek to nibble an earlobe. “You should insist more often.”
Reggie was overwhelmed with erotic delight. What did it matter if he wasn’t fully awake and didn’t know what he was doing? She curled a hand around his neck, exerting enough pressure to keep him close.
Nicholas wished he could shout in triumph. Accepting his kiss had sealed her fate. His lips moved along her neck with tingling heat. Quickly, expertly, he unlaced her gown and, in one swift movement, whisked it over her head and aside.
Reggie’s hand, yanked from his neck in the unrobing, fell back onto his shoulder. His muscles tensed where she touched him. She shivered with her own power. There was no turning back now. He was hers for the night, whether he knew it or not.
Her fingers glided over his back. The skin was soft, warm. She kneaded gently, then harder, then gently again, taking pleasure just in being able to touch him again. It had been so terribly long. And oh, he was making her remember how it was the first time. His lips burned a searing line from her throat to her thighs. Nicholas was becoming intoxicated by the smell and taste of her. Her skin was as firm and as silky smooth as the night he had taken her virginity. Her body had made no change since the baby, except for the fullness of her breasts, and those he was almost afraid to touch, though he yearned to. But they were the territory of her baby now, and he did not want her thinking of the infant just then. He did not want her thinking at all.
Reggie’s head moved from side to side, her pulse racing. If Nicholas did not quit the exquisite torture of his exploring fingers, she would soon be begging him.
He must have read her thoughts, for his long body slid over her, the weight so welcome. Her legs raised and wrapped around his hips just as his warm flesh entered her, filled her, thrusting to her depths.
His mouth closed over hers, smothering her cries of pleasure with fevered kisses. She met him thrust for thrust, her arms locked behind his head, fingers gripping his hair.
The climax took them together to shuddering heights, wave after wave washing over them. Pleasure met and savored. Passion spent. The world receded on the same tide, and they slept, wrapped in each other’s arms.
Chapter 32
NICHOLAS woke at a knock at the door, and became aware of two things simultaneously. He was lying with his limbs entwined with Regina’s, and the person who had knocked wasn’t going to wait to be invited in.
Finding his wife next to him was a lovely surprise, stirring wonderful memories. He turned toward the door and muttered a curse. Regina’s maid stood there, a candle in one hand, Thomas pressed to her shoulder with the other hand. A look of ridiculous surprise spread across her face.
