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“Oh, this fellow here knows a few exceedingly useful tricks he’s playing on me!” He said, an expression of gratefulness on his round face. “I feel like a teenager!”
Aurelia laughed then, eyes straying to her husband, who directed his whole attention on her. Scalding heat washed her insides and flushed her face. She snapped her eyes off him for fear of doing something shameful in public, like devouring him. Her traitorous body found no qualms in wanting him even after what he told her.
The conversation turned to her father’s treatment and the contribution Doctor Morrison brought to its progress. The doctor and Conrad sat to talk together while she listened to her parents over tea.
Such a congenial afternoon, she realised, as they sat on the carriage, driving back to Strafford manor under a pouring rain. She should do this more often, she told herself, and promised she would.
Conrad entered his bedchamber in the evening rather late as he had been drafting ideas for the manor in the study and lost track of time. His bedchamber exhibited the fire burning in the fireplace, its warm light illuminating Aurelia’s form on his bed. His blood rushed faster in his veins. When it came to his wife, his desire always responded with prompt fuel.
In one of the lacy nightgowns he ordered for her, she lay on her side of the bed motionless, as if sleeping. Too motionless. She was not sleeping, he deduced, just shelling herself from him and his pig-headed, immature actions. Would she have accepted his marriage proposal if he had told her his reasons for asking? Not likely. His she-wolf would not have settled for less than she deserved. The consequence being she would have married someone else, god forbid it! Selfish as it should sound, he would have none of it. Out of his coat and boots, he neared the bed, removing the covers and lying at her back. Breeches, white shirt and all.
“Aurelia.” He muttered in her ear, pleased to detect goose bumps spreading on her skin.
She did not move.
“I know you’re awake.” His lips grazed the rim of her delicate ear, her breath caught.
Still no answer.
He did not bear the idea of her leaving him adrift, indifferent to him tonight. He wanted her, body and stubborn woman, damn it! Destiny hell-bent on a payback for his former actions and i
t did not feel good. Not at all!
“Don’t pretend to sleep.” His sensuous thin lips explored behind her ear. “You don’t need it.”
She moved at last, turning to him. God, but she was beautiful. The lacy fabric let him envisage through it, her skin and her delectable breasts.
He would never understand this… pull she exerted on him. It had been weird enough that the memory of her pursued him during his years in service. On the background of his married life, her residence imprinted an imperceptible impact on his own life. As if he got used to her busy-bee presence, running around his house always with a chore at hand. If someone asked him what exactly he remembered from that time, he would not be able to answer. He had been seldom home, recollections sparse since his carousing did not allow for lengthy nostalgia. Her inhabitancy, though, never left his reminiscences.
“What is it now?” She said, eyes full blast on his.
“Nothing in particular.” He tried to disguise his state. “Perhaps talk to my wife about the day’s events.”
“Go on.” She replied detached.
He took her shoulders and made her pivot to him as he lay on the pillow and brought her head to rest on his chest. Starchy, she let him do it, not holding him as he did her.
“In hindsight, I would have preferred poverty to marrying for the sake of marrying.” Distractedly, his fingers undid her long tress, revelling in the silky rosewood strands.
“You did, though.” She answered stiffly. “And I fell into the trap like a duck in autumn!” She frowned, regarding him dully. They exchanged stares, hers unyielding, his searching.
He gyrated to her, enfolding her in his arms. “It was my omission.” He eyed her beautiful face. “You accepted me in good faith.” He drank in her for long seconds.
“Much good it did to me.” Her splendid body relaxed a bit, as he held her gaze.
“On the other hand, I gained an exuberant bride, only I was too blind to see it.” He rolled a strand of her hair around his finger.
“There’s nothing one can do about past mistakes.” She stated, as it was the most obvious conclusion on the planet.
“No, unless one lives an eye-opening experience.” He devolved, trying to make her understand his actions. He nibbled the curve of her neck. To be close to her compelled him to touch her, he wished his hands on her for centuries to come. He also wanted to talk to her lengthy; both conflicted in him. In the end, the attraction to her overpowered him. No news there.
“Life will continue to happen. Dwelling on these matters is useless.” She would not give way, would she? Maybe she did not ‘dwell on these maters’, but they certainly kept her from trusting him now.
“You might be right.” He answered vaguely. He had no desire to convince anyone of anything. People must let the past rest and take the present as the rule. His lips roamed back behind her ear. A sigh came from her.
He lifted his head to fix her eyes, hazy with want. No man would resist her allures. Without taking his eyes from her, his hand undid the ribbon at her neck. He removed one side of the lacy thing, fastening his mouth on her delicious breast. She arched towards him with a throaty moan.
“Damn you!” Her hands held his shoulders. “Why do you have to be so…” She stopped when he nibbled her nipple. She held his head on her.
