“It seemed important to you that I not know.”
“And when you told her you loved her?”
“I meant it. I fell in love with her the moment I met her, much as I did her mother. I set up a trust for her.She’ll never do without. I set up one for you as well that would go into effect if ever you lost what your father gave to you. I didn’t think you’d accept it otherwise. However, you won’t need it if you’ll have me as your husband.”
She looked at him with amazement and awe, her eyes filled with light, her smile soft with wonder. “What of the vow you made to the duke?”
“I made a vow to you first—I never should have turned my back on it. I’m sure the duke will issue threats, but I’ll handle him. I’ll hire guards to ensure my mother, you, and all I hold dear are protected from any vengeance he might seek. I recently read that passion is a fundamental necessity of our existence. Without it, how would we endure? Without you in my life, all I’ve done for five long interminable years is endure. Without joy. Without hope. Without a heart. Just a shell of a man. I love you, Reggie. I won’t give you up easily. Not again. You once accepted my offer of marriage. May I hold you to it now?”
Her smile rivaled the brilliance of the sun. “I suppose I am not my mother’s daughter after all. I find marriage to be a much more agreeable state than mistress.”
He thought a moment like this required, deserved, tenderness, but to know the dream they’d once held would become reality overpowered him and destroyed any resistance he might have had. He unleashed the passion she’d referred to in her letter and claimed her mouth as he intended to claim every aspect of her—with all that he was and would ever be.With her, nothing seemed impossible, and everything seemed perfectly right, even the breaking of a vow.
He lifted her into his arms, relishing the feel of her snuggling against his chest, her arms looping around his shoulders, her face pressed into the curve of his neck as she delivered kisses against his skin.
“I’ll obtain a special license,” he vowed as he started up the stairs. “Unless you want to wait, have a large wedding.”
She nipped at his jaw. “We’ve waited long enough. I want to be married as soon as possible.”
“Then you shall be.”
He would make her his, to have and to hold forever. Five years had taught him the torment of not having her in his life. While he didn’t regret the price he’d paid to gain his mother her freedom, speaking with her last night, the honesty of her words, had convinced him the duke was not a man to whom he needed to honor any vows made. He would give Regina the legitimacy and the family she wanted. She would never doubt that with him she was valued for herself. She would never question his love for her, not again.
He strode into his bedchamber, kicked the door shut behind him, and hoped his mother would have the good sense to ignore that particular slam. Then he was divesting Regina of her clothing and his own. They tumbled onto the bed in a frenzy of want and desire. And hunger.
Ah, Christ, the hunger. Open mouths crashing together, tongues tangling, exploring. Every aspect seemed new and yet somehow familiar. He rememberedhow he’d gone to her the night before they were to wed because he’d thought making love to her after they were married would be different, more proper, more tame, and he’d wanted one more night of sin, of debauchery with her. What a fool he’d been. Their circumstances were never going to reduce their need or their passion. He suspected what they felt for each other would only increase with the years. He’d never tire of having her. He’d always want her one more time.
God, he’d probably be on his deathbed and think,Justonce more.
And this beautiful, courageous woman would no doubt accommodate him. Although if she merely held his hand, he would be content. Strange, how the slightest touch from her had always been so incredibly fulfilling as though he’d somehow won, when he hadn’t even realized he’d been engaged in a contest or game.
He stroked his hand slowly over her body, one that had changed to accommodate her bringing his child into the world. It would no doubt change with the birth of more of his children. He would give her as many as she wanted. He would give her everything that was within his power to give her. While he knew she didn’t doubt his love, still he would spend the remainder of his life proving the depth of it to her. What he felt for her was a gift, to himself. It warmed him, gave him purpose. Joy and happiness.
She was his now, for eternity.
They were on their sides, facing each other. She swung a leg over his hip, stroked her mound against his cock, and he was aware of how hot and wet shewas. Groaning low, he flattened a hand against her bottom and pressed her up against him as he trailed his mouth along her silken throat. “You make me mad with wanting, woman. You always have.”
She laughed as she nipped the tender skin at his collarbone and then soothed the pinch with her tongue. “Only fair. You turned me into a wanton, you know.”
“Not so wanton if there was no matador or artist—”
Her hand covered his mouth and she shifted slightly to capture and hold his gaze. “I made you think there were others because I wanted only to hurt you. Let’s not dwell on the little hurts we inflicted.”
“The big and little ones made us who we are now, Reggie. I love you more deeply today than I did before. I appreciate you more. Want you more. Perhaps I needed to go through a bit of fire to be forged into the man who deserves you. I’ll never take you or having you for granted.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, Arthur. It might be careless of me to say it, but once again, I would do anything Lord K asked of me.”
“Then spread your legs, sweetheart, as I’m in the mood to feast.”
Regina thought she would never, ever grow tired of looking down to see Knightly’s dark head between her parted thighs or feeling his tongue stroking so intimately. To have her fingers buried in the thick strands of his hair and to have them tightening their hold on him as the pleasure began rippling through her.
She briefly wondered if she should be a little morerisqué in what she revealed in the second volume—and then decided she’d not dare. Besides, moments like this were only for them. When they were both free of all familial and societal restraints and could be true to themselves, true to each other.
No judgment at all. Whatever one of them needed, the other would provide.
As her thighs trembled and her breath came in harsh pants, he increased the frenzy of his ministrations. He knew her so well, read her so easily. The sensations built until she was crying out his name, arching her back, her body spasming as she came apart with the force of what he’d done to her. How could she ever be this liberated with anyone else? Or this vulnerable?
But when he lifted his head and his heavy-lidded smoldering gaze captured hers, she nearly came again.
