Page 77

“I wish they had told me. It made so much sense of—well, everything!” She sighed, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “They don’t hate me, they just wished for a boy and couldn’t have one.”

“No one could hate you, Em,” he said roughly, squeezing her. “You’re a ray of sunshine!”

She smiled up at him. “My darling grump!”

He kissed her then, and it was some time before either of them said anything.

“It’s only two days, but it’s going to feel like forever until our wedding night,” he said, husky voiced. “It will be different this time, Em. The words will mean something.”

“Yes, they will,” she said, snuggling in closer.

“Come on, we had best put these treasures away. I do hope they haven’t been damaged with all this mishandling. Then I’ll escort you to your room, which will be ours again very shortly.”

*

The tiny chapel was decorated with flowers and candles, and the scent of incense filled the air. The sun threw a multicolored streak across the stone floor through the stained-glass window above the altar.

Deo was right. It was different this time. And the words did mean so much more. When Emily had uttered those words the first time, she had been preoccupied with worry over the details of her name and age. She had also been thinking that it wasn’t a real marriage. They would part company at the end of the project, and she could get on with her life as an independent scholar out from under her mother’s thumb.

This time, she spoke the words with all her heart as she stood before the altar in the lovely dress the duchess had lent her. With her small hands in Deo’s big, blunt-fingered, freckled ones, she looked up into his dear face. His deep blue eyes blazed with the fire of love and set her heart fluttering.

Mama cried and her father hugged her and wrung Deo’s hand. She received the congratulations of her friends with a warm heart, for she truly felt that they were friends now after the events of the past few weeks, and she was charmed to receive the bouquets of flowers bestowed upon her shyly by the Ashfords’ youngest daughter and boldly by the eldest.

After the wedding supper and many toasts to their health and happiness, they were finally able to escape to their suite and shut the door on the world.

“You look so delicious, Em, I’m afraid to touch your gown for fear of ruining it,” confessed Deo.

“Well, I am not. Help me with the laces,” said Emily, turning her back to him.

His fingers pulled at the lacing of her gown and loosened it so that she could pull the bodice free and lift it over her head. Laying the gown down on a chair, she turned back to him in her corset, petticoats, and chemise. “There, now you may touch me to your heart’s content, for I certainly plan to touch you,” she said, walking into his arms and plastering herself to his front.

His arms enveloped her in a tight hug, and he murmured, “Em, I love you so much.”

“I know, I feel the same about you!” She looked up at him adoringly. “Now please, Deo, make me your wife fully before I expire of frustration!”

He grinned and kissed her. “With the greatest pleasure on earth, Lady Pendrell,” he said, scooping her up and carrying her into their bedroom.

*

Setting Em down on the bed, Deo knelt to remove her shoes and stockings, reflecting that the one advantage of the “practice” they had been having, was that he was remarkably free of nerves at the prospect of consummating his marriage—at last! He helped her stand and turned her so that he could loosen her stays. They fell away to reveal her slender form beneath. He looked at her, his wife, filled with anticipation and love. Two emotions that would have been foreign to him mere weeks ago. His big hands caressed her body with possessive delight before undoing her petticoats and letting them fall at her feet.

She stood clad only in her semi-transparent chemise, and he took a moment to appreciate her. Em had changed his life and him for the better, and he would never go back to the person he had been before, he could not. The old Deo was a stranger to him now. How he had lived his life in such a barren wasteland he didn’t know. It was like a life recalled without color, whereas now everything was as brightly painted as a sunrise. Illuminated by the sun that was Emily.

He gathered her close and kissed her. He could laugh at the man who had been afraid of kisses if it weren’t so pathetic. Yet he knew Em didn’t think he was pathetic. She loved him. It shone in her eyes when she looked at him and filled his heart to bursting. For the little boy whose parents never showed him any affection, Em’s love was a precious gift beyond price.

He let her go just long enough to remove his own clothes as rapidly as possible and returned to remove her chemise and bear her down into the bed where he had learned to pleasure her and learned what a true treasure she really was. Beyond their shared passion for antiquities, Em understood and accepted him. There was no greater gift.

Em’s hands roamed over his skin, sending tingles of desire to his cock, which was achingly hard. That he wanted to plunge himself deeply inside her was not new, but the notion that he was now free to do so as often as he desired was a prospect that took his breath away. The fact that she desired it as much as he was almost overwhelming.

He kissed her with increasing passion, and she met him every step with equal fervor. He dimly wondered what he had done to deserve such happiness and pushed away the thought. He was not going to allow his old insecurities to ruin this moment.

His hands squeezed and caressed her lovely, finely wrought body. She was a slender reed to his great bulk, yet she was strong, his Em—strong, determined, clever, and loving. He could not have asked for a better combination in a wife. She brought out the best in him and made him feel as if he could conquer nations just to make her happy.

Fortunately, all he needed to do right now was bring pleasure to her body, and he knew how to do that. Stroking her between her legs, he found her deliciously wet in anticipation of their joining, and it made him groan with longing for precisely that.

He had taken the opportunity yesterday to ask Emrys, red-faced, for a tip or two in regard to having a virgin bride and his friend had been most forthcoming on the topic. He applied that knowledge now by pushing a finger inside her, something he had heretofore refrained from doing. Em’s reaction was everything he could have desired.

*