“You’ll see.”
She sighed but allowed the subject to drop. But then she got a sly look in her eyes and said, “How long will it take us to get there?”
Harlan dared to hope he understood what she was inferring. “A few hours.”
She reached out and closed the shade of the window. “That should give us plenty of time for what I have in mind.”
His cock immediately responded when she straddled his lap and rubbed her core against his pulsing manhood. He exhaled slowly, his senses coming alive. “I like the way you think, Miss Lindquist.”
“Call me Mrs. Mathis,” she purred. “I think I am going to like the sound of it rolling off of my tongue.”
His focus penetrated her. “I know something else I like on my tongue…” With that, he lifted her by the waist and laid her back down on the carriage seat, then he promptly disappeared beneath her skirts and found the heart of her desire.
As she writhed beneath his eager embrace, Harlan closed his eyes in bliss and pleasured her mercilessly, until she was crying out his name with her release.
When he crawled up her body, he loved the flushed look on her face and the way her breasts were nearly falling out of their confines. He couldn’t wait until he had her naked beneath him once more. Until then, he positioned his cock at her glistening entrance and slid all the way inside her. She moaned and reached out, digging her fingernails into his hips. His cock tingled on the brink of orgasm, but he wasn’t going to give in to the pleasure just yet. Waiting, he thrust into her time and time again until she lifted her hips as waves of ecstasy rolled through her.
When she was fully replete, he allowed himself to fall over the edge and directly into the arms of his love.
Epilogue
The next morning…
Leah stretched,her entire body humming with satisfaction. And not just the sexual kind, although Harlan had made sure she had plenty of that the night before.
No, it was the blissful kind of realization when one realized all the dreams she’d ever had were about to come true. But more than that, she had finally found a place to call home. As someone who had traveled extensively, Leah had always wanted to have permanent roots, and she smiled, knowing that Harlan offered her that and so much more.
The surprise on her face had been evident when the coach had pulled into a broad courtyard the evening before. A large, stone fountain sat in the midst of a lovely manicured lawn. Although she couldn’t see much beyond the neatly trimmed hedgerows, she could tell that the exterior of this place was magnificent.
She had time to gaze upward at a towering manor with gray stone, before she had been ushered into the front door, where a well-dressed butler greeted Harlan. “Welcome home, Mr. Mathis. It’s good to see you again.”
Leah had looked at Harlan with her mouth slightly agape. “This isyours? I thought we were just stopping here for the night.”
In reply, he’d waved a hand dramatically to showcase the rich carpets and lushly maintained furnishings around them. Leah had no trouble smelling the beeswax oils from the dark wood of the grand staircase. “Welcome to Dove Haven. My estate.” He paused and moved to wrap his arms around her. “Correction.Ourestate, just as soon as I can put a ring on your finger. I’m heading for a special license. I have no doubt I will be granted one with ease.”
To say that Leah’s head was spinning was an understatement. When Harlan had escorted her upstairs to his chamber, she turned to him curiously. “I don’t mean to pry, but since it will soon affect me as well, how did you manage to secure a place like this?”
In reply, he’d laughed and dragged her back into his arms. “You don’t think that I worked for the Home Office out of the charitable goodness of my heart, do you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, no, but still—”
He’d taken her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I have invested my money well. And my father was not a pauper when he died. I am not given to do anything in excess—gambling, drink, or women...” He’d lifted a brow at that. “Except, perhaps, for one lady in particular.” He’d set a light kiss on the tip of her nose. “She is welcome to anything that I have.”
Leah could feel the stirrings of desire starting to take over. She leaned into him, her breasts crushed by his hard chest. “I can certainly think of one thing you have that I am more than interested in.”
He’d lifted a brow. “Is that so? Then let’s not waste any more time granting your fondest wish.”
After that, no more words were spoken, unless they were uttered in the heat of passion.
Now, as Leah welcomed the new day, she was eager to explore her new home. And she couldn’t be more pleased to be sharing it with Harlan, the man of her dreams whom she hadn’t known to exist but was thankful that he did.
As if thinking about him caused him to appear, he walked in the door carrying a silver tray. She could tell that he was trying to be quiet, but when he glanced at the bed and saw that she was awake, he gave a regretful sigh. “I was hoping to wake you with a kiss,” he muttered as he sat down the offering.
She reached out a hand to him. “I am more than willing to accept that kiss either way.”
He walked over to her and granted her an embrace that left her yearning for more. “Will it always be like this?” she sighed.
“I will make sure of it,” he returned firmly. “You’re not escaping from me, so there’s no point in trying.”
