Page 23 of Mistress of Darkness

With the tips of his fingers he tilted her chin up. “No shyness, no shame, Gwen,” he said, echoing his words from the previous day. “Not with me. Not ever.”

As she half rose, he thought that she meant to leave him, but instead she tugged the blankets up over their shoulders, and curled into his body. With relief, he wrapped her up in his embrace.

“No shame,” she whispered. “It’s just that I think I might love you.”

A grin burst across his face and his chest swelled. Though he knew he had to be smiling like a giddy school boy, he didn’t care. She had admitted what he’d known all along: that they were meant for each other.

She hid her flushing face against his chest, and Robert grinned again. Her shyness was adorable, and he could feel her smiling against him. As he looked down at her, stroking her hair, he noticed a small mark on her neck—from him. It stirred him, and he shifted against her. But as he nuzzled behind her ear, her stomach suddenly gurgled loudly in the silence of the room.

She clutched at it as though she could hide the fact. But then his did the same, as though she’d reminded him of how little they’d eaten.

Yesterday had been a whirlwind. First had come the tragic news that had devastated him, but then had come his beautiful Gwen and their glorious love-making. Only one matter still separated them.

“I know you have yet to give me your answer,” he said gravely. “But I’m afraid we have a more pressing question.”

She pulled back to look up at him. “Robert, what is it?”

“Who is going to cook the bacon?” he said, and then grinned.

“Oh, you,” she exclaimed and thumped his chest, as he laughed and pulled her atop him.