“I have Devil and Blade to protect me, along with dozens of others. You need not worry for me.” He could not wait another moment to get her naked. His hands grasped the diaphanous fabric of her night rail. “I want this off you.”
She helped him, hauling the gown over her head without a single hesitation. Then her fingers settled on the fastening of his breeches. Getting himself free of them took far more time than he preferred, and in the end, he had to tear them from his limbs. If he’d had an inkling that his wife wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her before they had settled into bed for the night, he damn well would have divested himself of every bleeding stitch.
At last, the breeches were gone, and there were no barriers left between them. Dom took her lips, kissing her as he guided her back to the bed linens. Her arms went around him like a benediction. It almost shamed him, how easily she welcomed him, how trusting she was. He did not deserve this woman.
But he was going to keep her anyway.
Dom dragged his lips from hers, pressing his mouth to her velvety skin. She was smooth and sleek. And warm. So bloody warm. He kissed to the peaks of her breasts, sucking hard on her nipples as his fingers dipped between her legs. Responsive, too.
She let out a breathy moan as he parted her folds to find her slick and swollen, ready for him. He circled her pearl, stroking her with quick, firm movements that had her body jerking from the bed to meet him.
Although he was desperate to be inside her, nothing could keep him from kissing lower, down the curve of her belly. All the way to her mound. He teased her slick lips with his thumb, opening her. The shadows did nothing to deter his enjoyment. He knew how pink and glistening she was.
He licked her.
As before, she tasted musky and delicious. And the husky mewl of pleasure that emerged from her—fuck, it made Dom wild. Wilder than he already was. He sank a finger inside her sheath. She was tight, gripping him with her heat. It was like coming home.
A reunion he had been awaiting three long months.
Yes, said the wicked voice inside him.More.
He drew her bud into his mouth, devouring her.
Mine, said the voice.
“Dom,” keened his wife.
He nipped her, softly, tenderly. Enough to incite pleasure rather than pain. He would not hurt this woman for the world. He, Dominic Winter, who had bloodied his fists in the street, who had fought with blade and bullet, who had never given a damn about anyone save his sister and brothers, would give his life for her.
She was his family now. Cleaved to him. Joined with him.His.
He licked down her seam, replacing his finger with his tongue. Diving deep into her slippery channel. Her hips bucked. As he worked her pearl and thrust his tongue into her, she came, shuddering beneath him, the most decadent sounds of surrender he’d ever heard shattering the night.
He could not wait another moment.
He was upon her in an instant, rigid cock in hand, guiding himself to her center.
“Tell me what you want,” he growled, needing her affirmation.
They were about to consummate their union. Later, he would worry about what was to come. How a duke’s daughter could exist in his world, especially after she discovered the truth. Now, all he knew was that he needed her.
Needed her more than his next breath.
“I want you, Dom,” she whispered.
He moved. One quick thrust, and he was inside her. She tightened on him, drawing him deeper into her silken warmth. She was as tight as he remembered, and the constriction of her cunny on his cock sent sparks through him. His ballocks tightened.
Sealing their mouths once more, he kissed her as he rocked inside her. Their tongues tangled, the taste of her lacing their frantic meeting of lips. Though he tried to control himself, she felt too good around him, bathing him in the wetness of her spend. His thrusts were faster. More frenzied.
But she did not mind. If anything, his bewitching wife spurred him on, wrapping her leg around his waist, using a foot planted on the mattress to meet his driving rhythm. He was already reaching the end of his limit, and far faster than he had intended, when she clenched on him, coming all over his cock.
He broke their kiss and threw back his head, pumping into her a few more times before he lost all semblance of control. There was a roaring in his ears, flames licking up his spine, as he poured himself into his wife, filling her with his seed.
Mindless, boneless, and spent, he collapsed to the bed at her side. His last coherent thought was that mayhap she would have his child. The notion did not terrify him nearly as much as it ought. For the second time in his life, Dominic Winter fell into a deep, dreamless sleep next to the woman in his bed.
* * *
Adele woke to the familiar chill of a winter’s morning, the fire having died sometime during the night. She had slept so soundly. She stretched beneath the covers, feeling sated and sore in strange places. As her eyes fluttered open to meet the light pouring through the gaps in the window dressing, she expected to find herself in the gold bedchamber at Abingdon Hall, where she had spent the last few weeks.
