He brushed a stray hair from her face with gentle fingers. “And I’ll always have these bouts of melancholia. They will never go away. Can you still care for me despite that?”
Though his tone was light, she sensed the tension in his body as he held her. “Not only can I care for you, but I love you and I can accept that because it’s a part of you.”
His gray eyes shone with pleasure at her words. “You love me? Then I am more than content.”
“I might even be able to help you with your malady.” As she said the words, a treatise she’d read came to mind.
“You don’t have to help. I just need to know that you will be here when I come home, andwantme to be here.”
“I do want you, always.”
He smiled slyly. “I want you always, and especially now.”
He lowered his head, and this time when he kissed her, his tongue begged entrance, and she opened her mouth to welcome him in.
Chapter Twenty-One
Darius felt asif he were tasting his wife for the first time. Everything he’d thought he’d lost was once again in his arms, and he needed to show her exactly how much he loved her. Barely holding back his need to take her, he unpinned her hair from the back of her head and brushed his fingers through the long red strands, even as his tongue sparred with hers.
She tasted better than he remembered, and her unique, tantalizing scent filled his nostrils. It was her and a light fruit that he still couldn’t identify. Suddenly, it came to him, and he broke their kiss. “Apricot!”
Her eyes fluttered open. “Apricot?”
He grinned, very pleased with himself. “Your scent. It’s apricot, is it not?”
She broke into a wide smile. “It is! No one has ever identified it before. You have a most impressive nose.” She punctuated her statement by touching his nose with her index finger.
Immediately, he snatched her finger with his mouth and sucked.
“Oh.” Her eyes widened.
He slowly released her finger. “I wish to taste every part of you.”
She stared at her finger for a moment before a sly smile tilted her lips. “Not yet. I want to taste you first.” Her gaze moved downward between them.
A spike of need ran through his sac, causing him to harden beneath his pantaloons. “Why would you want to do that?”
She pulled from his arms and sat back on her heels. “Because I want to give you a Christmas gift, and I know you will like it.”
Doubt niggled its way into his contentment. “How do you know I will like it?”
Her chin lifted with pride, her smile rather smug. “I’m very well read.”
He raised his right eyebrow. Yes, she was intelligent and learned, but on such a subject? “You’ve read about how to providefellatus?”
“I have indeed. Of course, the duchess doesn’t know that we ladies found a particular book that is very educational in this area, and none of us plan to tell her. So, you must also keep our secret. For how would it be if Sophie or Georgie or Rose, or any of the other Curious Ladies, were to go to their marriage ignorant of the pleasures of the flesh?”
He pulled his head back, not a little shocked, even as his body reacted to her words, making his pantaloons downright uncomfortable.
“Now, if you will be so kind as to sit back, I will be happy to release you.” She laid her hand on his erection beneath his clothing.
He barely kept from pressing her hand against him. Beyond pleased that she would wish to taste him, yet still in shock, he found himself unable to move.
Luckily, that didn’t stop his determined wife as she moved her hand to the buttons of his fall. Recognizing her intent, he did as she asked and sat on the floor, his back up against the chair behind him. He gritted his teeth as she unbuttoned him, brushing her hand against his erection, but as the material loosened, he was able to breathe a little easier.
That lasted but a moment before Ellie expertly cradled him in her hand and set her mouth to his tip. Her tongue encircled his head, licking at the top before stroking the underside from the base to the rim.
He sucked in his breath as hot pleasure filled him. Then her lips encircled him, and she sucked him into her mouth. He fisted his hands at the exquisite feel of her moist mouth upon him. As she pulled up and moved down again, he ground his teeth, trying to stay in control of his release. Not only did he need her, but his need to act immediately was still with him, despite his holding off a day to come home, which now drove him to take herhard. He couldn’t do that with his wife.
