Fulfillment?
Words failed, so his body spoke soundlessly of need, want, and delight. Then, he lost awareness of everything but the staccato release of his seed. He came back into his mind with a full body exhale, a profound sense of gratitude and…
Well, more than a little chagrin.
What now?
He kissed her cheeks again before withdrawing, rolling onto his back and then taking her hand in his. The floodgates had broken, washing him in relief, exhaustion, and…happiness?
Yes. Happiness.
He’d done something right.
He squeezed her hand.
In fact, bedding Cassandra may have been the “rightest” thing he’d ever done.
*
Thank heavens.
He’d moved. Cassie could finally breathe. The worst was over,and, while the bedding had not beenquiteas painful as she’d anticipated, more than anything in the wide world, the Duchess of Harbury wanted the Duke of Harbury out of her bed.
Now.
But demanding Harbury leave would be unforgivably rude, what with him collapsed at her side and his fingers threaded through hers. Annoyingly, he’d begun dragging his thumb repeatedly along her forefinger, as if, even though he’d withdrawn, he did not want to fully break their curious, alien connection.
That doesn’t mean he genuinely cares for you!
So, you break it! Snatch back your hand. Turn away. Bid him—in no uncertain terms—good night.
She worried her bottom lip.
She’d wanted him. Even after his outrageous behavior at Almack’s, she’d wanted him for her own. And yet startling, volcanic, and violently angry directives were erupting in her mind, splashing fury and heat in every direction.
What fiery, internal force had caused the disturbance?
Certainly nother! Everyone knew Cassandra Wainwright was the most dutiful and kind of the five Wainwright sisters, always accommodating and sweet.
Taradiddle and bilgewater.
She was no longer Cassandra Wainwright, but Duchess of Harbury. And Cassandra, Duchess of Harbury was currently hedgehog prickly and more bad-tempered than Eliza and Millie, her two most outspoken sisters.
And she didn’twantto be nice, even though sheshouldbe nice.
He’d been gentle, patient, anddevil take him, tender…which made her fury even more unacceptable. She had even, for an involuntary moment, been deeply joined to him, at the cusp of a revelation she had known would fill her with awe.Empty promise.
Just like her vows, though she couldn’t claim she was withHarbury against her will. She was here, in this bed, in this house, in this marriage as a result of an agreement she’d initiated.
Shehad proposed toHarburyvia desperate letter in the dead of night.
Of course, she’d done so only because Harbury had unthinkingly destroyed her reputation with a single, impulsive dance. And because her twin sister Eliza’s attempts to restore their family to respectability had, that very night, gone horribly, irrevocably awry.
Or so Cassie had believed at the time.
Another lie.
Elizahad believed her plans had come to naught.Cassiehad a strong feeling, even then, the Marquess of Redver had fallen as hard for Eliza as she had for him, which did turn out to be the case—so,ha.
