Their mutual inexperience and eagerness had made it short-lived and clumsy, and Philip would not have changed a thing. “It was perfect.”
“It was not, but it was lovely.” Eleanor looked thoughtful. “But I felt a little... sad, after.”
He knew what she meant. It was not like regret, but after, they knew it could never happen again. Philip pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We did a terrible job following through on our resolution to avoid one another,” he said through a laugh. “I should not have gone to Herefordshire, but as soon as Vaughan said you would be there, I had to join him.”
“I did not help,” she said, shaking her head. “Staying away from you was impossible.”
“I think that is what you said when you came to my room in January.”
She laughed, then leant closer and kissed his jaw, then the corner of his mouth. “I suppose we can do better tonight before you leave to call on my father.”
Philip dropped his hands from her. They had decided at dinner that he would go to town to ask her father. Eleanor was the Abbey’s nominal mistress. She could host guests, but it gave an odd appearance for him to stay without her father or brother here. Especially since they could scarcely hide their affection now that they had pledged themselves to one another.
He paced next to the bed. Calling on General Tilney was not an interview Philip looked forward to. Every speech the man made about his disinterested sentiments on the subject of money actually showed his complete obsession with it.
“What is the matter?” Eleanor asked.
“It will thrill your father beyond measure,” he said darkly. “I must hear all his effusions on how much he would love to have ‘His Lordship’ as his son-in-law.” He felt Eleanor watching him pace, and said, “Damn it, Eleanor, he shall be dreadful, you know he will.”
“It will be a difficult interview,” she said, “but I cannot see how it can be avoided.”
He felt some of his anger fade. “You know I won’t avoid it. I may not have acted before, but I am resolved to now, and I will do whatever I must to honourably remove you from Northanger.”
“Only honourably?” She smiled.
He exhaled a soft laugh. “No, not only honourably,” he said. “If General Tilney says no, then I will ride ahead of him back here, and we flee to Scotland.”
“You know he shall not refuse us. You are now the sort of man he would never refuse.”
Eleanor tried to embrace him, but he huffed and paced again. “He will be more pleased about the fortune and the title than my character or your happiness.” It was all so maddening, and he could admit it still piqued his pride. “And the whole time I shall have to endure his delight at your marrying a viscount with the knowledge that, in your father’s mind, Philip Brampton was not good enough for you.”
Eleanor gave him a long look before climbing onto his bed. “I don’t want to think about that now, not when I have the promise of genuine happiness for the first time in years.” She knelt and lifted off her night shift and tossed it to a chair. “I would rather enjoy tonight than worry about tomorrow.”
His frustration faded and he had trouble breathing. Eleanor was full-figured, and for all of their stolen moments and pushed aside clothes, he had never seen her entirely undressed. In January, she had been eager but shy and had refused to leave the candles lit. He had had only a few glimpses from the light of a dying fire.
“You are right,” he said, his voice sounding rough to his ears, “and you are absolutely perfect.” Philip properly admired her before climbing onto the bed and giving her a lengthy but not intrusive kiss. “You are certain that this is what you want? We can wait, you know.”
“What I want is for you to not ask every time you want to kiss or touch me.” Before he could answer, she went on in a rush. “And I do not want you to stop at the last like we did before. It hardly matters since we will be married before the end of summer.”
He blinked. He ought not to be surprised at how forthright his rational Eleanor could be. Philip cupped her breasts lightly before rubbing his thumbs over her nipples as a low moan escaped her.
“Any other demands?”
He had asked playfully, but she said, “Don’t be so hesitant with me this time” before kissing him.
Her enthusiasm was gratifying, and Philip took control of the kiss and claimed her mouth with his tongue. He ran his hands over the curve of her shoulders, across the outline of her breasts, and over the swell of her hips. She curled a hand around his neck, kissing him hard, while the other reached beneath his night shirt, her hand outlining his length before gripping tightly.
Panting harshly, he ducked his head and captured a nipple in his mouth while he rolled the other. When he raised his head to linger on her neck and the lobe of her ear, she gripped his hair to draw his lips back to hers. He exhaled in surprise at her rough treatment, but it made his ardour grow. His fingers twisted through her hair as he sank into her mouth while his other hand squeezed her breasts.
Eleanor eventually stopped stroking and teasing him to pull his shirt over his head. Finally, they were breast to chest, hip to hip, with nothing between them. After kissing her for a long while, his tongue winding with hers, Philip pressed her to lie back on the bed.
“I love you, Eleanor,” he said, knowing he was staring. “God, I have loved you for so long.”
No one else would know Eleanor like this—not Sir Charles Sudbury or any other man. No one else would touch her. Philip trailed his fingertips down her curves, following the path down her body with his lips, enjoying the feeling of her writhing under his mouth and the sound of her moans. Eleanor would be his forever. She would never grip another man’s hair, never feel the weight of another man on top of her, would never cry out in pleasure for anyone else.
After his name fell from her lips, he braced his elbows alongside her head and was posed to satisfy both of them. He paused just long enough to gain her nod of consent. He sank slowly into her, waiting until her tightly closed eyes opened and she smiled at him. Only when her movements beneath him became more demanding did he increase his pace, welcoming every sigh and moan Eleanor made.
Eleanor whispered things into his ear that he could never repeat, but he knew would warm his blood whenever he thought of it. Philip was certain everyone heard the low, hoarse yell he gave at the last moment as she trembled beneath him, her lips on the pulse of his throat and her fingernails digging into him.
