Feeling her nails rake his back, he was assured she had.
In the aftermath, they lay quietly atop the rumpled sheet. Drawing up the coverings, Matthew was content to bask in satisfied fulfillment.
Then Purity’s sleepy voice reached his ears.
“How long before we can swive again?”
As it turned out, they both fell asleep, and it was dawn before they awakened to start the dance of desire once more.
With his lady wife riding rantipole at the time of their release, she now looked down at him with a thoughtful expression.
“The crimp on your earlobe,” she said while he played with her nipples. “Why did the woman bite you, pray tell?”
His eyes widened, then he burst out laughing, making her jiggle up and down atop him.
“I don’t see why my question is funny. The notion of some female mindlessly sinking her teeth into your earlobe isn’t amusing at all.”
At that moment, Matthew had the seed of hope that she loved him, for if he wasn’t mistaken, she was jealous — even though she was now the Baroness Foxford, a title no one in England could have ever expected Purity Diamond to have.
“There wasnowoman,” he said at last.
“But you said a lady’s teeth were involved.”
“I never did.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down to splay across his satiated body. “You imagined that all by yourself. Itwasa female, but a dog. My nursemaid left me sitting on the ground while she dashed back indoors for my coat. I wasn’t a baby, mind you. I was almost three years old. Nearby was one of Father’s hunting dogs. When it came over to play with me, I stood up and grabbed its tail. The nipper took a bite of my ear.”
Purity gasped. “How terrible!” She grasped the tender lobe between her fingers.
“I don’t remember it,” he said, “but as my mother tells it, she discovered me after I yelled, saw the blood, and fainted beside me on the grass.”
“That wasn’t very helpful of her,” Purity said. “I can imagine the scene though.”
“The nursemaid was sacked, I’m sorry to say, but the dog was still treated like a prince. And my father joked his beloved hunter mistook me for a young fox.”
Purity knew everythingwas going as well as could be expected in a household of the newly married. She and Diana got along like two peas in a pod. It was a delight to take her on outings, and Bri and Ray were very good with her too, as if she were a younger sister.
The Foxford staff adjusted to their new mistress of the house. Purity easily slid into the role of baroness as if she’d been born and raised for it, which naturally, she had. After all, one of the first books she’d ever memorized wasDomestic Management, which offered her much useful information on improving her staff’s manners.
They had remembered everyone they held dear in their stacks of “at home” cards, invitations sent out by her sisters as one of their duties as bridesmaids. Consequently, beloved visitors came in twos and threes to call upon Lord and Lady Foxford in their new domestic arrangement.
And at night, she and Matthew lost themselves in one another. She had no complaints in that regard, nor in mostothers. Purity had his admiration and his professed devotion. She shared his name, his carriage, his house, and his bed.
So why did she worry that something was missing?
The nagging in the back of Purity’s mind was starting to distract her. And any small thing that went amiss vexed her like a massive disaster. At that moment, she was trying to arrange flowers that Matthew had brought her when he’d come home for their evening meal.
After dinner, she’d spread them out on a piece of linen in her salon on the second floor and knelt beside them. Next to her was a household book open to the chapter on flower arranging. Yet still two vases stood empty, awaiting to be filled in an artful manner.
After a few minutes of cutting the stems too short and pricking herself on the roses, Purity sat back on her heels. She ought to have chosen something that held her attention better, such as playing the piano or reading.
Instead, her mind wandered like one of the kittens trying to make its way across the polished front hall. A funny sight to see, but her own helpless mental meandering wasn’t the least amusing.
Her thoughts leapt from the flowers before her to the sensual pleasure they shared, which was beyond what she’d imagined. Her husband’s kisses were as toe-tingling as before they’d married. However, they’d managed to get this far without once expressing that deepest of emotions. At least, not to one another.
Purity knew the longer time went on without either of them saying it, the more awkward it would become.Yet how could she be the first to blurt it, and when?
“Please pass the salt cellar and by the way, I love you.”
WasMatthewmadly in love with her?
