“I’ve been working on ‘Essence of Brilliance.’ I cannot seem to finish it, however. I know the longer we are together, the more I shall wish to add to it and change it because I keep learning more about you.”
He put his hand to her chin, tilting her face up and holding her still.
“Lady Brilliance Diamond, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Brilliance began to cry. She didn’t know how the depth of utter happiness snuck up on her or why it brought her to tears instead of laughter.
When he kissed her, she tasted her salty tears along with the champagne and then with relief, she began to laugh.
Unable to keep kissing her, Vincent rested his forehead upon hers as she continued to chuckle.
“I didn’t expect either reaction, but I should have. After all, you are the most unusual, unpredictable, changeable female I have ever known. And you haven’t given me an answer.”
“Oh, Vincent, I thought my answer was obvious.”
“I would not presume anything with you.”
She smiled. “Very well. I am honored to become your wife. We shall have a happy marriage and lots of babies. And you can compose music all day when you’re not in Parliament, or when we’re in the country. I’ll keep our children away while you do, and then you can play for us each evening.”
He started to laugh. “That sounds as though our marriage is all about me. What will you do besides birthing an entire audience of offspring for me?”
Brilliance wished she could think of something spectacular to tell him. Yet she couldn’t. Shrugging, she said, “I hope you won’t quickly tire of a wife who has no particular skill and cannot sketch or paint or play music.” She bit her lip. “Sometime, I shall show you what happens when I try to knit or do needlepoint.”
“I don’t care about any of that. I just want you to be happy and not bored. Maybe you will take to gardening or wood-carving. Who knows?”
Wood-carving!
“Kiss me again, and this time, I shall neither cry nor laugh.”
She set her glass down on the piano, which he promptly retrieved and set on the floor. And while she slid her hands up behind his neck, he put his hands on her back and pulled her close.
Brilliance would vow for the rest of her life that their kiss caused sparks on her lips. She swore they sizzled under his. And the heat of his touch as he caressed her through her layers of silk scorched a trail up and down her back until his hands came around the front of her. Slipping under her tunic, his palms fit perfectly over her breasts.
She moaned softly at his welcome touch.
At the sound, Vincent’s tongue sought access, and she parted her lips to grant it. As his tongue stroked hers, an insistent throbbing began between her legs, even as she pushed her breasts more firmly into his grasp. When he sucked on her tongue, her womanly core seemed to melt.
Gasping against his mouth, she quivered, and her fingers tightened in his hair.
“I want ... I want ...” She couldn’t put into words the swirling sensations making her body tremble. “I am beyond frustrated,” Brilliance whispered against his mouth.
“I know. Believe me, I know.”
“What can be done?” she asked.
And then his thumbs flicked her nipples, and she drew in a desperate breath.
“That’s a start,” she said, her tongue feeling dry. “Continue.”
He did as requested. Under his ministrations, she could scarcely breathe, nor could she credit how sensitive her skin had become, able to feel the silk sliding over it. As her nipples puckered, she squirmed on the hard bench. “I fear I need something more.”
“When we’re married,” he began.
She groaned. “I cannot live in this state of unbearable dissatisfaction until then. I am actually aching.”
“It will fade,” he promised, “if I stop touching you.” And he drew his large warm palms out from under her tunic.
“That makes it worse. My body wants you not only to keep touching me but to put your fingers elsewhere.”
