“So wet, Cecilia. You’re so wet for me.” He rubbed and stroked her until her hips began moving in an insistent rhythm, then he held her steady and positioned her over his throbbing cock. “Come down on me, Cecilia…slowly, sweetheart. Take your time.”
Gideon gritted his teeth as she lowered herself onto him, fighting the urge to thrust into her seductive heat. But he held back, his hands shaking as she took him inside, her mouth opening in wonder as he slid deeper, one torturousinch at a time.
They both sighed when he was seated all the way inside her at last.
Gideon moved his hips in a restrained, shallow thrust, his gaze fixed on her face as he did, gauging her reaction. Her lips parted on a gasp, her body tightening instinctively around him. He thrust upward again, his eyes closing at the hot grip of her body around his cock. “Is it good? I’m not hurting you, am I?”
She shook her head, her eyes dazed as she gazed down at him. “No, I need…do it again.”
Gideon groaned as he thrust into her damp heat, setting an easy rhythm. “Move with me,” he whispered, his hands on her hips guiding her, showing her how to meet his thrusts. “Yes. So perfect, Cecilia.”
Her fingers curled into the slick skin of his chest as she quickened their pace. Gideon surged into her, his climax coiling in the base of his spine, but he held off, fighting against the pleasure that threatened to rush over him. “Take your pleasure, love,” he begged, working his hips against hers.
“Gideon, please, please…” Cecilia let out a cry and closed her eyes, throwing her head back as her release swept over her. Her body clenched around him, the sweet pressure tearing a guttural moan from his lips as his climax pounded through him. He held her tightly against him as they rode outtheir release.
When Cecilia went limp, sagging against him, Gideon gathered her into his arms and eased her onto her side. He buried his face in the damp hair at the back of her neck and draped a possessive hand around her soft belly. They fell asleep curled around each other, Gideon’s lips pressed to her nape.
They dozed for a bit—not long, perhaps an hour or so. When Gideon woke again it was dark still, but he could hear the faint stirring of the servants as they woke and began their work for the day.
Cecilia was awake, her hands folded on his stomach and her chin resting on her hands. “I should return to my bedchamber before someone appears to lay afire for you.”
“Soon.” He reached for her and gathered her close, burying his face in her hair. “Not yet.”
She sighed, but nestled into his arms and let him hold her until they heard the sound of doors opening and closing, and Mrs. Briggs’s voice in the downstairs hallway.
“Gideon.” Cecilia gently disentangled herself from his arms and slipped out of the bed, draping the coverlet over herself as she reached down and snatched her night rail from the floor. “I can’t be here whenAmy comes in.”
“No.” Gideon didn’t argue, though he wanted to weep with frustration as all the smooth, pale skin he’d caressed disappeared under her night rail. “Wait, Cecilia. Promise me you’ll remain in your bedchamber today.”
“Mybedchamber?” Cecilia had crept across the room to the connecting door, but she turned back, a frown on her face. “Gideon, that’s absurd. Ihave work to—”
“No, you don’t. Not today. You nearly froze last night. You needto rest today.”
Cecilia braced her hands on her hips. “I take back what I said that first day about you not looking like a marquess, Gideon. You look quite lordly when you’re orderingpeople about.”
“Then you won’t dare to disobey me, will you?” When Cecilia didn’t answer, his eyes narrowed. “Cecilia. Promise me—”
“I promise I won’t leave the castle. Can you makedo with that?”
Gideon was about to refuse, but she gave him a winning smile, and he shook his head, a return smile rising to his lips in spite of himself. “You promise it? Not one toe overthe threshold?”
“Not a single toe. I swear it.”
Gideon didn’t like it, but he gave a reluctant nod. She’d be safe as long as she didn’t wander the grounds. “All right. Haslemere and I have business to attend to that will keep us out all day. We’ll return for dinner, and when we do, I intend to find you and ask if you’ve keptyour promise.”
“Yes, my lord. As you wish, my lord.” She gave him a mischievous smile, but he must have looked as forlorn as he felt because her eyes softened, and she darted across his bedchamber, hopped onto the bed, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before darting away again.
“It’s fortunate you’re so quick. If I’d caught you, I wouldn’t let you go again.” He gave her what he knew to be a ridiculously foolish, infatuated smile, and waved his hand toward the door. “Go on then, before I change my mind.”
* * * *
Cecilia didnotbreak her promise to Gideon.Not this time.
She might have done so easily enough. By the time she pulled her gray work dress over her head, donned her apron, and bid Amy and Isabella a good morning, Gideon and Lord Haslemere were gone. Mrs. Briggs insisted she rest after her ordeal the night before, and chased her out of the kitchen after breakfast, so by mid-morning Cecilia found herself with a rare empty day on her hands.
It couldn’t have come ata better time.
Darlington Castle’s library was an impressive one. The bookshelves towered over Cecilia, stretching from the floor all the way to the ceiling. If she hadn’t had the great good luck to spyCulpeper’s Complete Herbalwhen she went searching for Mrs. Radcliffe the other night, she likely never would have found it among the thousands of exquisitely bound books.
