He dropped his head to the crook of her neck as he laid against her. Though he worried at first that his weight would be too much, that worry disappeared at the soft sound of her breathing and her hands gently rubbing across his back.
Good God. It was over all too soon. And yet, this too was enjoyable - the afterglow of his wife’s body, the sweetness of her hands upon him. He could live happily in this moment, he thought.
“I fear that if I stay here I may fall asleep and crush you.”
When he lifted his head, he was greeted with the rare sight of one of Augusta’s smiles.
“It would not be the worst death,” she said softly.
He smiled back, thinking the vow of forever that they had made that morning had not been in vain. Not at all.
She looked at him with something that none of his other liaisons had ever looked at him with before. It took him several long moments to realize that it was love. It looked wonderful on her, that expression.
He rolled off of her as the burn of guilt fired up in his chest.
“We ought to sleep a little, at least,” he said. “I suspect that tomorrow will bring even more vigorous activities.”
Her smile this time was cheeky. “Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”
Just like that, the guilt faded, and in its place was that intrigue, that curiosity he felt so deeply around her.
“Ahead? No, my dear. We have started terribly behind. We must catch up.”
*****
When Sebastian awoke, he was immediately aware of the soft, warm figure across which his arm was draped. As he slowly came to, the memory of his wedding night playing over in his mind, he felt the soft rise and fall of his bride’s chest.
It struck him all at once how wholly his fortunes had changed in so short a time. The few weeks of courting Augusta had seemed an eternity, as the outcome had been uncertain until the bitter end. Once he had secured her acceptance, however, it had all seemed to happen so very fast. Yesterday morning he had awoken in poverty, less than a month away from public ruin.
Now, his debts were hours away from being paid, his family accounts soon to be filled, and a lovely wife lay happily in his arms.
God, she had been so much more than he had expected last night. He knew, after spending some time with her, that herfigure was lovely, her company excellent. But in the passion of their wedding night, Sebastian had known what it truly was to become inflamed with lust. The way her lips had so delicately parted for him, the soft feel of her hips in his hands, all of it played in his mind and heated his blood.
A pang of guilt gripped his chest. It was a feeling he’d become quite acquainted with recently. This time, however, it was tinged with something more than the shame of his scheme. A new emotion unfurled alongside it - the awareness that perhaps, maybe, love for his wife was not out of the question. Perhaps his marriage could bloom into a true love match.
A love match that he, a terrible cad, did not deserve in the least.
Chapter Seventeen
It had been so heavenly.
Now, waking in his arms, Augusta wondered how any couples ever managed to leave the bliss of the marriage bed once they’d experienced it.
Certainly she would have to, eventually. There would be letters to be written to Doctor Pinkton. She needed to update him on her now-married status, and inform him that she would need some time off from their secret outings. She would have to write to Ginny as well, and inform her of how wonderful the night had been - though she’d already decided that she would be modest in her descriptors of the events. It felt good to have something private between herself and Sebastian.
It was most private to awaken with his body pressed against hers. Nothing separated them, so that Augusta struggled to know precisely where her body ended and his began. She did not know how much she believed in souls, but in that moment, she could easily be persuaded in favor of them.
Small bits of daylight crept past the edges of the chamber’s heavy drapes, but the room remained largely darkened. Should they choose to, they could remain in here all day, pretending that the wedding night had never turned to morning.
“You are thinking a great deal,” came Sebastian’s amused voice in her ear.
“I was simply thinking about how lovely things are,” she replied, surprised by the dreaminess in her own voice.
“They are, are they not?”
Rolling in his arms, she turned to face him. Even in the dark, she could see the handsome cut of his jaw and the piercing color of his eyes.
“Did you ever believe that marriage could be so blissful?” she asked, self-conscious even as she did so. Surely her husband did not want to be asked questions during his peaceful morning, but she simply had to know what was occurring in his mind.
