She felt brave and bold with him.
“You’re so beautiful,” Hugh said. “And no one will ever know how beautiful you are because only I get to see you this way.”
Adele kissed him and reached for his breeches. She worked at the buttons there but found her fingers suddenly tangled and ineffective. He broke the kiss long enough to help her.
Minutes later, they were both naked and tangled with each other on the bed. “Recall what I told you about no shame, my lady. Be open and expressive. If you want me to do something tell me. If you want me to stop, tell me. But, God, love me. Love me with this beautiful body of yours.”
“Yes,” said Adele. “Touch me everywhere. I am yours, too.”
Hugh lifted his head and grinned at her before he dropped again and took one of her nipples into his mouth.
Adele found it hard to look at him without feeling like she might explode, but she moaned and thrust her fingers into his hair. She was surprised when he tailed kisses down her belly and then settled in between her legs.
She thought at first,No, he wouldn’t… why would he?
But then he did. He licked her between her legs and moaned like he was eating the most delicious feast. And… it felt amazing. His tongue was rough against her, but he applied a kind of pressure that made her squirm. Then it brushed right over—
“Oh,” she said.
He lifted his head. “Oh?”
“I didn’t know it would feel that way. But it…it was…do it again.”
He chuckled softly and bent to kiss her between her legs again. His tongue pressed against a spot that felt raw and exposed but also like it was the place his tongue belonged. Suddenly her body bowed off the bed and she felt like she was hurtling toward something.
“More…” she said, writhing against his mouth.
He touched her then, sliding fingers inside her, filling her, making her feel everything. She threw her head back and surrendered to it.
She slowly floated back into her body as Hugh crawled back up to lay beside her. He kissed her hard and she could taste herself on him, but was not put off by it at all. She put her arms around his shoulders and realized that he was hard against her leg.
She put her hands on either side of his face and lifted his head so that she could look directly into his eyes. He looked at her with such affection she was nearly undone by it. She could feel him in her chest, in her soul, and she knew that she did indeed love him.
“I love you,” she said softly.
He smiled. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Tell me again.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Hugh, I must ask something of you.”
“Anything, my love. I would give you anything.”
“I want you to… spend inside me. I want for us to… that is… I want a baby, Hugh. I’ve wanted a child for so long. And now that we’re married, I can have one. Is that… all right?”
*
Was it allright? Of course it was; the sole purpose of today’s ceremony was so that any children they had would be legitimate heirs.
But then he understood what she was really asking him. That they would have children was a given, considering that the mainpurpose of dukes and duchesses was to make more dukes and duchesses.
But she wanted to be a mother. She’d likely been thinking about having children since the opportunity had been denied her when her fiancé had died. She wanted to care for their children, to love them, and she was asking him if he would do the same.
He hadn’t given it much thought. He liked children, in theory, although he hadn’t spent much time around them.
And what Adele was asking him now was to have a child because they wanted one, not because they felt an obligation.
