Slipping a hand between them, he rubbed her sensitive nib, sending sparks of pleasure shooting through her body. She was close to release.
“Christian,” she sobbed.
He picked up the pace, thrusting into her faster, gripping the side of her hips as he ground the base of his hard erection against her. The overwhelming pressure built higher and higher. Erika closed her eyes, and in an instant her world shattered.
As wave after wave of orgasm hit, Christian silenced her cries of ecstasy with his mouth. He pounded into her, and it was all Erika could do just to hold on and let him take her. This was wild, raw and everything she had ever hoped sex could be.
He thrust in deeply one last time, then growled, “Erika, oh god,” before collapsing on top of her.
Christian was finally hers.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him as a slow smiled reached her lips. They had done it. If this first time was supposed to only be good, she couldn’t wait until they did it again.
They settled together under the blankets, cocooned in the tiny bed. Christian lay on his back, with Erika slumped across his chest. The steady thump of his heartbeat pulsed against her cheek.
His fingers toyed with her hair. “Tomorrow morning, we will have to go and see a few people.”
Erika lifted her head and met his gaze. Her father would of course be one of them. She wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised if Christian had got straight out of bed after having made love to her, quickly dressed and gone to speak with the count. She was glad he didn’t. “Apart from Pappa, who else do we need to speak to?”
“The Reverend Ferrner for a start. He will need time to make the wedding arrangements at the church. And then Baron von Rehausen to make sure we have his blessing on behalf of the king,” he replied.
Typical of Christian that he wasn’t going to waste any time in getting matters between them formalized. She loved that he was both impetuous and decisive. The tiger’s eye ring was already back on her finger.
“Once we have a date organized, you will have to attend to all those womanly wedding matters, such as your gown,” he added.
Erika softly chuckled. “And what manly things will you have on your plate?” she asked.
Christian shifted in the bed, pulling the blankets farther over their rapidly cooling bodies. Erika reached up and kissed him tenderly on the lips before laying back down and snuggling against the soft hairs of his chest. She could get easily used to cuddling him.
“I will have plenty to do, including composing a couple of letters. I shall have to write to King Charles and give him a full account of the trade negotiations. But messages will also have to go to my father. And Gustav.”
She didn’t envy Christian that last task. Knowing Gustav, he would not take kindly to the news of his brother marrying the girl he had chosen, and thought was his.
“I shall also write to your brother. Since we came to England, I have sent him only one letter and that was because my father pressed me to do so. I had hoped my silence might give him a clue as to my disinterest in a union with him, but it clearly didn’t. It is only fair that he hears from me, and that I apologize.”
Despite everything that had happened between the three of them, she would soon be part of the Lind family. Erika didn’t want the ongoing tension between the brothers to result in a permanent schism.
“Thank you. Hopefully by the time Gustav and I do see one another again, time may have helped to heal some of the things between us,” he replied.
Erika smiled. “You really have become quite the diplomat.”
“I still have a great deal to learn, but with you by my side I am sure I can be a success. No. We can be a success. I love you, Erika. None of it matters unless you and I are together.”
“I love you, Christian.”
Silence descended between them. Christian’s breathing slowed and became a steady rhythm. Erika glanced up at him, smiling at his peaceful face. Her fiancé was asleep.
Theirs was no longer a fake engagement. He truly was hers. And the promises they had made to one another tonight would soon be solemnized by their wedding vows.
Sleep well, my love, my handsome Swedish prince. You are finally mine.
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Epilogue
April 1817
Stockholm
