Chapter Eleven
Francis opened the door to his rooms. Clarissa’s familiar lilac scent hit him. He had endured a lonely andheart-soreweek without her. He’d been smitten with her since he met her, but it was now obvious he was completely and irrevocably in love.
All was silent except for the tick of his carriage clock on the mantelpiece. He strode to the bedroom, which he had been using again in Clarissa’s absence, and opened the inner door. Curled on top of the bed was his wife, dressed only in a silk wrap over her chemise.
His heart hammered in his chest at the sight of her. In a few strides he was beside the bed. He stroked his hand over her cheek while his eyes soaked up the wonder of her unblemished beauty.
Her blue eyes flickered open. “Frank. You’re here,” she murmured, her voice still thick with sleep. “I’ve missed you so.”
“And I you.” He leaned forward to buss her on the lips.
She eased her mouth away from his. “Wait, Frank. I want to tell you something.” She put her a finger on his lips to hold him at bay. “I’ve decided that I don’t want a marriage of convenience.”
He slumped down onto the bed and eyed her flushed face. She wanted to separate? When she’d told him immediately after their wedding that she was leaving London for a week with the cast, his heart had slowed at the thought of being without her even for a few days.
To lose her forever would destroy him.
But he mustn’t let her know how devastated he felt by her impending departure. He sat on the bed, body rigid, holding her gaze and steeling himself for bad news. “You don’t want to continue our marriage?”
She frowned at him. “No, yer mug,” she said lapsing into Duke Street Orphanage cant that elocution lessons hadn’t eradicated entirely. “I mean I want more from our marriage. I want you.”
His body flared. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He set his lips on hers.
She eagerly returned his kiss. Her response was every bit as enthusiastic now as during their parting kiss a week ago.
His heart pounded with hope.
“Understand now, Frank?”
“Mmhm. Clarissa, you’re telling me all I need to know,” Francis murmured against her lips. He deepened the kiss and for a few more minutes she returned each stroke, nip and lick he gave.
He leaned his forehead against hers. “I want to make you happy.”For the rest of my days.
“And I you.” You still don’t want babies, do you?
Clarissa shook her head. “Is there any way to avoid that fate?”
“There are several ways, some more successful than others. Trust me?”
“I do, Frank, I do. And I want you badly.” She pulled his head down for another kiss. Then her slender hands got busy untying the linen cravat around his neck.
Francis shrugged off his coat. Clarissa watched him with wide eyes as he flipped open the long line of buttons on his waistcoat, consigning the garment to the floor.
Clarissa sat up on her knees to pull his shirt from his pantaloons and tug the linen over his head. As her gaze tracked across his torso, she sucked in a breath. Then she reached out a hand to touch his broad chest and glide her fingers over the ridges of his abdomen. She let out a soft sigh.
He flexed his muscles. “Like what you see?” he teased her, gratified that she was impressed by his sport-hardened body. Just as well he had kept up with his brothers’ physical pursuits, necessary for their roles in the army and navy.
Her face flushed. “Oh, yes.”
He slid the silk wrap from her shoulders and it puddled around her on the bed. A dusting of freckles graced her shoulders like stars in a milky sky. He pressed his lips to each in succession, as he traced a path across her soft skin, leaving it flushed and heated.
Her hands moved to the waistband of his pantaloons to tussle with the placket buttons. His body tensed. He covered her hands to halt their activity. “Let me,” he said, and released the tapes that tightened the waistband. He heeled off his shoes and peeled the pantaloons and stockings from his legs, leaving him in only his drawers.
Clarissa leaned forward to untie the ribbon garters that held up her woolen stockings.
Francis slid his hand up her calves to stop her. He rolled off her stockings, one by one, placing kisses on the exposed skin of each bared limb as it was exposed.
Only her chemise remained. Holding his gaze, Clarissa tugged it over her head, revealing all her naked beauty. Francis’s mouth went dry at the sight of her luscious body.
