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Atlas grinned up at her and stood.

She looked momentarily confused, but then seemed to understand as he guided her to settle on top of the bed. At first she went to lie atop it, but he stopped her and urged her to perch on the edge. Then he bent again, pushing his shoulders in between her spread thighs.

“Lay back, sweetheart,” he told her, whispering against the soft skin of her inner thigh.

She did as he bid and then spread her legs a bit wider. He smiled and bent closer, encircling her thighs in his hands and holding her steady as he lapped at her cleft.

Philippa gasped loudly, reaching down to drag her fingers through his hair as her body undulated against his tongue. He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her. Could happily die in her warmth.

“Oh, Atlas,” she keened.

He slipped a finger inside of her wet heat, then another, even as he continued to lap at her most sensitive bud. When her body tensed, he didn’t stop his ministrations until she’d bucked and pulled at his hair as she found her release.

Standing, he toed off his boots and worked the fastening of his pants, shedding both, and then he gently scooped her legs into his arms and settled her fully on the bed. She smiled up at him, her eyes dazed, her expression both affectionate and fiery.

“That was…extraordinary,” she said, her voice husky.

“I’m very pleased you liked it,” Atlas chuckled as he climbed onto the bed and settled his body between her thighs. Then his smile deepened when she immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer.

For a moment, he got caught up in looking at her, her flushed skin, her glittering eyes, kiss-plumped lips. He wanted to ask her then and there to be his wife, to be with him until the end of their days.

But before he could, she reached a finger up and traced it along his lower lip.

“You do know, don’t you?” she asked quietly.

“Know what?” he said as he bent down and nuzzled his lips against her cheek.

“That I love you.”

The words rang in his mind and his heart felt warm, full of a syrupy sort of pleasure he’d never known before.

He raised his head and looked down at her. “Then you’ll be mine, Pip?”

Her eyes welled with tears, and she nodded. “Yes, if you mean it.”

“Oh, love.” Atlas smiled. “Let me show you how much I mean it.”

He slid into her slowly, not wishing to cause any pain. But Philippa only let out a lovely mewling moan and then bucked her hips gently against his as if to urge him on.

The love between them was as potent as the desire, and it seemed neither of them were interested in taking things slowly. As he joined their bodies again and again, she arched up to kiss him. She swept her tongue inside his mouth to taste him deeply, then nipped at his lip. The rhythm he’d built stuttered into thrusts that made her cry out as he kissed her neck, biting gently at her warm, silken skin.

“Atlas, please…” she begged, nails digging into his arm as her body tensed and then quivered beneath him.

His own release chased hers, and then he rested beside her, catching his breath as he pulled her into his arms.

For a long while, they simply laid contentedly together. He stroked his fingers through her hair; she drew circles on his chest that made him smile.

“The answer is still yes, isn’t it?” he finally asked because beyond the bliss he’d found in her arms, a little sliver of uncertainty still wound its way into his mind.

“What was the question again?” she asked in a teasing tone.

Atlas barked out a laugh. “Will you, Miss Philippa Morgan, be my wife?”

“Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully and shifted to perch on his chest, arms crossed in front of her. “What about the lady Lizzie told me you planned to marry?”

“Those plans have changed.”

“What about Douglas throwing a fit because I won’t⁠—”

Atlas couldn’t resist anymore and bent up to take her lips. The kiss turned immediately hungry and when he finally laid back, his body was ready to love her again.

“Nothing anyone says will alter my determination to make you my viscountess, Pip.” He swallowed hard. “I should have said as much that night in the garden.”

Her eyes flashed with concern and sweetness as she traced her fingers along his jaw.

“Let us not begin our life together with regrets.”

Atlas turned his head to kiss her palm.

“All that matters is that you’ve asked,” she said merrily, “and I’ve said yes, and we’ll find a way to face everything else together.”

“We will,” he told her, his heart filled with love and certainty. “Always.”