Page 69 of The Devil to Pay

“Oh. Sorry. I talk when I’m nervous. Shall I turn down the lamps?”

“No. I want to see you.”

“See me? Oh! I see. I mean… very well. If you are quite sure…”

“Quite sure,” he agreed.

She was perched on the very edge of the mattress, hands folded demurely in her lap.

“Will you combust if I take off your shift?” he asked her gently. “You may keep it on a bit longer if you prefer.”

She shook her head. “N-No, I am determined not to be silly,” she said, chin up as ever.

Jules put his finger to that proud chin and tilted her head. “You could never be silly,” he told her and pressed a kiss to her mouth, not letting her go until he felt her limbs become pliant and she gave a little sigh.

Satisfied, he took hold of her shift and tugged it up over her head. Jules stepped back a little, taking in the picture she made, sitting in her lacy white drawers, with her glorious red hair cascading over her naked breasts.

His breath caught, heat and desire burning through him and devouring all in its path.

“Davenport,” he said, a little unsteadily. “You really have been hiding your light under a bushel.”

She frowned, looking somewhat puzzled. “Well, I know you hated my gowns, but I really haven’t. I’m nothing out of the ordinary, I’m sure, and—”

He pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her. “Never, ever say that again. You are extremely special. More than you know. You are special to me, and I love you.”

She blinked, her eyelashes growing wet and spiky as her bottom lip quivered. “How do you say such lovely things so easily?”

“It’s easy when they’re true. Lie down now.”

She did as he asked, and Jules lingered, trailing an idle finger up and down between her breasts. His wife stared at him, her breathing increasingly erratic as his body throbbed with the urgent desire to join her but he was not about to rush her.

“May I?” he asked, tugging gently at the leg of her drawers.

Davenport nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

Swiftly, he divested her of her final piece of armour and allowed himself a moment to view his prize in all her glory, and glory she was, from the tips of her perfect toes to her fine, imperious nose, not to mention the splendid landscape of curves in between.

She darted an anxious glance at him, and he smiled.

“Beautiful,” he assured her as she returned a shy smile.

Quicker than he’d ever managed in his entire life, Jules disrobed, casting clothes to the floor in a manner which would have given Briggs an apoplexy on any other night. He thought he could be forgiven for such carelessness this once.

With more haste than grace, he climbed into the bed and lay down beside Davenport, who was still staring fixedly at the ceiling.

He smiled, stroking her cheek with the back of one finger. “Good evening, Selina,” he said, though it felt odd to him to use her given name. He much preferred Davenport. It was strong and just a little autocratic, like his beloved.

She sent him an odd look, and he grinned at her. “You were ignoring me.”

“I most certainly was not,” she objected. “I don’t see how anyone could.”

“Well, I’m rather hoping you won’t,” he replied with a chuckle.

There was a taut silence.

“I don’t know how to act,” she said, her voice constricted. “I hate not knowing what to do, Jules.”

He leaned in and kissed her ear and her throat worked. “Stop worrying about what to do and let me take over for once. Just be with me. Can you do that?”