“No. Stay there.” He kissed, then licked at the dimples at the small of her back and caressed her bottom more firmly. Her hips flexed gently in time with the pulse of her growing arousal. He slid his finger along the cleft until he touched her deeply between her thighs.
Her lips parted and she breathed sweet moans. She parted her legs, and he caressed more fully. Hard now, impatient, his mind darkened to everything except the howling urges, he swung up behind her.
She needed no help, no instruction. Her primitive essence knew what to do. Her bottom rose to him as she lifted on her knees. Gripping the sheets, hugging the mattress, she offered herself.
He resisted the impulse to take her at once, even though every fiber of his body called for it. Instead, he savored the additional torture of waiting while her erotic position tantalized and teased. He stroked her and her breath caught. He kept caressing her swollen flesh, with this hand, with his cock, until each breath she gave carried a begging cry.
Finally, he joined in a deliciously slow thrust that sent exquisite pleasure throbbing through him. He pressed her legs together to make it tighter yet and stroked in again, harder. He felt her reaching toward her orgasm and shed the ties that still bound him to his mind. He held her hips and, in a long, hard taking, drove them both over the brink of sanity.
* * *
Cold woke her before dawn. The fire had died and she lay uncovered and naked. She began to reach for the cloths when she saw she was not alone.
He had stayed. Normally, he left while she slept or even before, when he had come to her. Now he lay sprawled where he had dropped after that last lesson. Arms crossed above his head, face half-buried in a pillow, he almost filled her bed with his strong, muscular form.
She dallied in pulling up the covers. She moved so the dim light from the embers and one low lamp showed his body. She bent down to examine that scar.
He had been lucky. The back of his knee had been spared. Above and below it, however, the skin showed long streaks of the waxy, hard texture common to bad burns.
It could be worse. She did not find it unsightly, but many others would. Like most things, experience changed one’s view.
She tugged at the covers and pulled them up. She made sure he was warm and snuggled in close beside him. She looked at his face, or what could be seen of it.
They would return to London soon. Her mission had been compromised by this marriage, but she did not dwell on that now. She wondered instead if the joy she experienced with him would continue. There was no other word for the emotions she experienced. Definitely at night, where their deepest intimacy took place, but even during the day, when she shared a meal with him.
That was not true. There was another word. One she dared not use because then she would have too much to lose, and to mourn, if it passed. And yet, in this darkest hour, she could not deny that her feelings had deepened so much that now, as she watched him sleep, she almost wept from how they moved her.
He stirred. His eyes barely opened. He turned. With one arm he gathered her up and brought her close to him, then fell asleep again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The young woman’s name was Bridget, and she was well along in her pregnancy. Word had come asking Davina to visit, because there had been some bleeding and Bridget feared for the baby.
“Your first?” she asked while she gently pressed her fingertips on Bridget’s belly.
“It is. We are very happy to be blessed.”
“Have you been pregnant before?”
“I said it was my first. Oh, you mean and lost it. No.”
Davina kept chatting, all the while pressing. She could feel the baby. Finally, she also felt a definite kick.
“Oh!” Bridget cried out, then laughed. “He must not like you doing that.”
“It was a good kick, wasn’t it?” She sat back. “Who is the midwife?”
“Mrs. Malcolm. She goes to all the ones who need help. She’s far enough that she may not make it here. My family is half a mile, though, and we have set up a big bell to ring if we need my mother.”
“I want you to ring it even if you do not think you need her. I am confident all is well with the child and that the small amount of bleeding is not a worry. It would be best, however, if you have another woman with you.”
Bridget struggled to her feet. “I feel better with you saying that. About it not being a worry. You must have some beer before you go, and I’ve a biscuit for you too.”
Davina accepted the refreshments even though she was not hungry or especially thirsty. Bridget smiled broadly after putting both down on the table and watching Davina partake.
“Who would think I’d be having a duchess eat my baking? I had no idea duchesses were as nice as you are.”
“The ones I know are very nice.”
