Slowly and with great deliberation, his clothing made its way down to a heap on the floor as her hands gently caressed, exerting firm pressure. She knelt in front of him and her lips found him. He groaned and she felt the shudders racking his frame.
She rose and stood in front of him and slowly began undressing in front of him. His eyes glittered as she bared her skin inch by inch. When she was fully naked, he eased her down to the bed. His body rubbed erotically against hers as he kissed her roughly, with mounting passion. Rolling beneath her, he brought her up to sit astride him. She opened her eyes in surprise at this change in position, then understanding dawned and she gave him a wicked smile.
She became a temptress, running her tongue over his abdomen and upward and then across his flat nipples. She raised her head and settled back watching him. It was a heady feeling of power seeing how she affected him.
His erection rested against the soft skin of her belly and she grasped it in her hands, slowly raising herself above him and then lowering herself over him, taking him inside her in delicious agony.
She watched the sheen of perspiration glow on his forehead, the strain in his face as he gritted his teeth. He moaned low in his throat and then closed his eyes and threw back his head as she slowly began moving over him, rotating sensuously against him.
Her own desire was becoming overwhelming, and she clutched his chest with her hands as she moved faster, matching his upward thrusts with the downward motion of her hips.
“Jillian!” he cried out as he convulsed beneath her. He grabbed her arms, holding her tightly against him as she threw back her head when her own release came.
She collapsed onto his chest, their bodies damp with sweat. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close against him. He kissed her hair as he smoothed it away from her face.
“Marry me,” he murmured against her hair.
Jillian sat up, hastily sliding off his chest and pulling a sheet around her. She looked at him in shock. “You cannot be serious!”
Justin raised his head, propping his body on his elbow. “I am very serious. I would hardly make light of offering for you.”
She stared at him, open-mouthed. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.”
She rose from the bed, pulling the sheet with her, wrapping it around her body. “It isn’t as simple as saying yes.”
“Why not?” he challenged, watching her from the bed.
“Justin, not six weeks ago, we could barely tolerate one another, and while I grant I no longer harbor such ill thoughts about you, it isn’t a basis formarriage. I can’t marry you,” she said softly.
Justin sat up, scooting to the edge of the bed. He drew her into his arms. “Has it only been six weeks? I feel as if I have known you, waited for you, my entire life.”
Jillian stared back at him. Oh, but it would be so easy to give in to him, to say yes. But she had vowed never to marry again. The idea of giving herself over to a man again in that manner frightened her immeasurably.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
He placed a finger over her lips. “Don’t answer yet. At least consider it.”
She wavered under his persistence. “I will consider it.”
A smile lit his face. “Now I must go about convincing you that we belong together.”
She gave him a dubious look but didn’t contradict him.
###
Justin made his way to the stables, hoping a vigorous ride would dispel his restlessness. How to convince Jillian to marry him? There was a possibility now that she could be pregnant with his child. The thought was far from unpleasant, but he wanted her to marry him because she wanted to, not because she had no other choice.
He dare not pressure her, though. After Penroth’s treatment of her, she had reason to distrust marriage. At least he hoped that explained her reluctance. The only other explanation was that she didn’t want to marry him, and he didn’t want to dwell on that possibility.
He rode out past the stream towards a sprawling oak tree that rested just before the woods. Two grave stones lay nestled against the base of the aged tree. Justin dismounted and knelt in front of the markers.
He brushed a bit of remaining snow from the inscriptions. Settling back on his heels, he gazed upon the names of his parents.
“I found my duchess, Father,” he said quietly. “I think you and Mother would approve.” He sat back in silence for a long period thinking about his parents and how things would be if they were alive today. His mother would have liked Jillian and would have taken her under her wing, treating her like the daughter she never had. His father...well he wasn’t entirely certain what his father’s reaction would have been to Justin’s choice of brides.
A gentle breeze tugged at his hair and he closed his eyes as he imagined it was his mother’s hand smoothing back his errant locks. A feeling of peace settled over him and he could see his mother’s smiling face, warming him with sunshine.
