Then he was prowling up her body, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. Reaching down, she wrapped a hand around his cock, lifted her hips, and guided him home.
As she took him to the hilt, his eyes darkened, and he groaned low and deep. He began pumping his hips in a frantic rhythm, lowering his head to take her mouth, his tongue mimicking the actions of his lower body. He was raised up, supporting himself on his arms. She wound her arms around him and pressed him down until he was flattened against her, his chest caressing her breasts.
It was heavenly to have all of him moving in tandem against her. And to know she did in fact have all of him, body, heart, and soul.
She was aware of his muscles tensing, his entirebody beginning to go rigid. She dug her fingers into his buttocks. “Don’t leave me.”
He stilled, lifted himself slightly, and studied her. “I’ll never leave you again.”
When he spilled his seed into her, when that muscle in his jaw ticked, she kissed it before clutching him close, relishing that he was once again all hers.
Knight awoke to find himself still holding Regina, her finger drawing lazy circles on his chest. They’d both drifted off to sleep for a time. The momentous night had certainly taken a toll on them. Turning his head slightly, he pressed a kiss to her head. “When did you know you were with child?”
“I began to suspect about a month after we were to wed. I imagine it happened the last night we were together.”
With a groan, he slammed his eyes closed. “Why didn’t you send word to me?”
She sighed. “I thought you didn’t want me. Why would you want our child?”
“You had to have known I’d have provided for you.”
“I did. Or at least I assumed you would. But it wasn’t what I wanted. I had no desire to be like my mother.” She laughed lightly. “At least not until this morning. I never understood why she would settle for being only a piece of his life.”
“Even if we weren’t to marry, Reggie, if you were my mistress, you’d be the whole of mine.” He shifted until he could face her and cradle her cheek. “I love you so very much.”
“I love you, too, Arthur.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, the kiss one of gentleness and surrender. And victory.
He wasn’t the only one who had needed to go through a bit of fire to be forged into someone who could face life’s challenges without ever considering backing down. She’d been so sheltered, waiting for someone to free her from the tower. But in the early hours of that morning, she’d discovered she possessed the means to free herself.
And she’d known that in the doing, if she’d begun to fall, he’d catch her.
Just as she’d always be there to catch him, if needed.
With the years and maturity, they’d become more equal, better suited to each other.
Pressing her body up against his, running the sole of her foot along his leg, she embraced him more securely and deepened the kiss. He responded with a satisfied growl, a squeezing of her bottom, and a rolling over, so she was straddling him.
Rising up, holding his gaze, she took him into her body once more and set the tempo. A leisurely meandering, a saga that seemed to encompass the whole of their story. When they finally, sated and lethargic, collapsed together, she wondered if they might simply spend the remainder of their lives in bed.
But when their bodies had cooled and their breathing had slowed, he pulled her in tightly against his side and said, his voice low and with purpose, “I need to get you home, and then I need to let the duke know that in this contest of wills, he has lost.”
Chapter 24
My body burned with need. I could scarcely sleep for the wanting. I longed for the feel of his flesh against mine and the entwining of our bodies until we were very nearly one.
—Anonymous,My Secret Desires, A Memoir
July 7, 1875
Regina was once again in the garden, watching Arianna play, when Shelby approached, silver salver in hand. Only this time, two calling cards rested on it. They belonged to her father’s two other daughters. While she was tempted not to be at home to them because she was fairly certain they’d been allies in Bremsford’s attempt to reveal her identify and discredit her, she couldn’t bring herself to be quite that rude. Might as well let them vent their spleens now rather than at an affair she might attend with her soon-to-be-husband.
He’d brought her home only a few hours earlier. Then he’d left with the promise to return as soon ashe’d finished with the unpleasant task of confronting the duke.
With a sigh, knowing her guests were waiting, she rose. “Have tea brought to the parlor.”
As she walked, she tucked in strands of her hair that had come loose. As she had with their brother, she considered changing into a more elegant frock but in the end decided to greet them as she was, without artifice or pretense. They were family after all. Of a sort.
