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He didn’t even try to answer this time, half wondering if he’d somehow fallen asleep and was dreaming. Surely only that could explain her asking him to undress her? If it was a dream, however, he didn’t want to wake up.
He did as she asked, untying the bow and easing the silken fabric away from her skin. Her skirts came loose with a swooshing sound, falling to the floor like a silvery pool around her feet.
‘Thank you for telling me the truth.’ She turned to face him at last, dressed in only her corset and undergarments. ‘I’m glad that you did.’
He kept his eyes fixed on her face, not daring to look any lower. ‘You deserve the truth, Violet. No matter what I’ve done in the past, I intend to act honourably from now on. That means towards you, too. I won’t break my promise.’
‘You mean seven years...’ She put a hand on his chest, spreading her palm flat over his heart. ‘What if I don’t want to wait that long?’
His mind seemed to go blank for a moment. ‘What?’
‘What if I don’t want to go away again either?’ Her fingers flexed against his chest as her gaze flickered up to his. ‘Unless you want me to go?’
‘I never wanted you to go the first time.’ His voice sounded hoarse, hardly like his own any more. ‘But I promised you your freedom.’
‘Can’t I have freedom and you, too?’
‘Violet.’ Somehow he managed to keep his hands at his sides. ‘Weren’t you listening to what I just told you?’
She looked straight into his eyes, her own bigger and bluer and more mesmerising than any he’d ever seen before. ‘Yes. You wanted to be punished. That shows you were sorry.’
‘That’s not the point.’ He shook his head obstinately. ‘I still deserve to be punished, Violet. Not just for that, but for Arthur and my father, too. I’m not worthy of someone like you. I don’t deserve to be happy.’
Her eyes flashed with anger before she raised her other hand to his chest and shoved hard. ‘Well, I do! And don’t you dare call yourself unworthy! You’re worth something to me. You gave me back a piece of me that was missing. You gave me my mother. Even if it doesn’t mean much to you, it does to me!’
She started to whirl away, but he reached up and clutched her wrists.
‘Wait!’
‘No!’ She glared at him. ‘I won’t live with someone who says he can’t be happy. I can’t bear it again! If you won’t let go of the past, then you really are like my father!’
‘Violet!’ He caught at her waist this time, hauling her back towards him so that her chest heaved against his. ‘Forgive me.’
‘Not if you won’t forgive yourself. You’re not that man any more! You don’t have to let who you were in the past define you now. You don’t have to let it destroy our marriage either!’
He leaned forward, lowering his forehead to hers. ‘I don’t want to destroy our marriage. I want it—I want you—more than I’ve ever wanted anything before.’
‘Then you have to let go of the past. Be my husband—my real husband.’
She lifted her hands and placed one on either side of his head, slowly drawing his mouth down to hers. He didn’t resist, hardly dared to move as her lips touched his with a sweetness that took his breath away. She tasted like lemonade, he thought inconsequentially, before he stopped thinking altogether and let feeling take over. Her hands slid up into his hair and he gathered her into his arms, claiming her mouth again with a need that caught him by surprise. She felt warm and yielding and irresistible. He wanted her. And she wanted him. Despite everything that she knew about him now, she still wanted him.
‘Violet?’ He moaned her name against her lips. ‘Are you certain?’
‘Yes.’ She murmured the word and he didn’t hold back any longer, his lips never leaving hers as he half lifted, half staggered with her across the room. She tugged at the arms of his jacket while he pulled at the lacings of her corset, tearing it away before they reached the bed and tumbled down on to it together.
Gently, he slid his hands beneath the rounded curve of her bottom, revelling in the softness of her skin as he pulled the full length of her body against him, tearing at the rest of her undergarments. It would make more sense, a small part of his mind argued, to move away and undress her, but he didn’t want to move away. He couldn’t bear to be parted from her, not for a moment. He wanted there to be as little space between them as possible. Somehow he freed himself from the remainder of his clothes, too, and then they were naked, side by side, arms and legs entangled as they explored each other’s bodies with a hunger that made his whole being ache with need.
He rolled on top of her and she tipped her head back, arching her back beneath him as he drew a hand across her thighs and then between her legs, caressing her gently until she moaned aloud. Then he nudged her legs apart, pushing himself against the apex of her thighs. She felt wet already and he had to stop himself from rushing, from taking her before she was ready. He wanted her to be ready. He wanted her to enjoy the experience, even if waiting felt like an unbearable torture.
Slowly, he trailed his lips over her throat, kissing and sucking and tasting her skin all the way down to her breasts, before gently suckling each nipple. Almost. He moaned as she ran her hands over his back, raking her nails over his skin as she squirmed and panted beneath him. Almost. She lifted her head to meet his, sliding her tongue inside his mouth, and he couldn’t wait any longer. He came inside her with one hard powerful thrust, holding her hips steady as he met some inner resistance and then pushed deeper.
‘Violet?’ He stilled as she cried out and stiffened beneath him. He’d heard that it was painful the first time, although he’d never slept with a virgin before. And she was so small, so delicate... Had he hurt her? He hardly dared ask.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes.’ She sounded breathless.
‘Should I stop?’
