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Not marriage, though.
A gentle breeze stirred the embroidered net overskirt of her lovely gown. Not Araminta’s castoff, but another reminder of Lord Nash’s generosity. This time, she was able to revisit her previous happiness by dwelling on the way Nash would rake his smoldering gaze over her naked body and lavish her with murmured endearments. She shivered, reminding herself yet again of how fortunate she was.
But by the time she opened her front door, her thoughts had returned to Lord Silverton and how he might be in danger.
Until everything was swept away by the astonishing vision before her. A trail of rose petals
led from the front door and up the stairs. Kitty followed, her heart growing fuller with every footstep, until she reached the bedroom, throwing open the door and gasping even louder at the sight of Nash reclining, naked, upon the counterpane.
“I thought you were at an important engagement!” Delighted, she ran forward and threw herself into his arms. He curled his body around her, and she rested her head upon his shoulder, spooned against him, shivering with anticipation as he stroked her cheek.
“This was my important engagement.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm, indicating the rose petals.
“Really?” She squeaked at the feel of his tongue tickling her ear and squeezed his knee convulsively, causing him to yelp and throw her onto her back.
“Yes, you irresistible siren!” His face, smiling above her, filled her with delight and warmed her to her toes. “But you have on far too many clothes.”
Kitty was more than ready to divest herself of the impediments. With Nash’s help, she was soon just as he desired her, naked but for her stockings, which he took in his teeth and pulled off her legs before returning north once more, tickling her flesh with his tongue and beginning a concerted onslaught upon her inner thighs. Soon her sighs of pleasure were moans as she writhed in growing ecstasy beneath him.
“Come inside me!” she gasped when she was nearly at the height of her pleasure, and he flipped her onto her stomach and entered her from behind, fondling her as he plunged into her depths with ever deeper, more intense thrusts.
“You are magnificent!” he gasped as he climaxed inside her, kissing her neck, her shoulders, and then when he’d turned her over, her breasts, as he lay panting on top of her. “The most magnificent woman I’ve ever met.”
Kitty, gasping, breathless, laughed with unadulterated delight. “And you are the most magnificent lover I’ve ever met.”
“And the only one.” He raised himself on one elbow and regarded her with loving intensity. “A virgin, and the most beautiful woman in London. I can’t believe my good fortune. You are mine. All mine. Why, to think that when you’d just arrived in London, you took one look at me, and lost your heart. And I was your first,” he repeated. He trailed his forefinger tenderly over her chest, circling her right nipple as he added almost thoughtfully, “And I want to marry you.”
For a moment, Kitty wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. She barely dared to breathe as she stared at him. “Marry me?” she whispered, sitting up, her face breaking out into a smile she thought would split her cheeks. “A real marriage?”
Nash nodded, curling her against his side. “A real marriage,” he confirmed.
“But...what of your family? They’ll never consent.”
“I don’t need their consent. I’m over twenty-one, and unlike our poor Royal Family, there is no Royal Marriages Act for peers which would prevent me from marrying whom I wish.” Still holding her with one arm, he reached across the bed to the side table and picked up an oblong velvet box. “Here. I’ve bought you a gift. A betrothal gift.”
Kitty’s hands were shaking as she opened the lid. First a marriage proposal, and now....
This. Her breath left her in a whoosh, leaving her, for a moment, speechless. “Oh Nash, I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, staring with wonder at his handsome, loving face.
“Go on, hold it. It’s real. Real diamonds and rubies.”
“Oh Nash, I can’t believe your generosity.” It was true. As she gazed upon the exquisite ruby and diamond necklace, his marriage proposal reverberating in her ears, she felt as if the gates to Heaven had opened early to admit her.
He rose onto his haunches, saying eagerly, “I thought it would complement your lovely golden and cream coloring. Here, let me.” He took the necklace from her and carefully fastened the catch, turning her in his arms to plant a kiss on her nose. “My family will love you. They will not be able to help themselves. But you’ve not answered me. Will you be my wife, Kitty La Bijou—whose name alone justifies such a glittering confection of jewels?”
“I will!” Kitty breathed, throwing her arms about his neck. “Oh yes, I will!”
He held her at arm’s length. “There is one caveat. We must marry in secret. I promise you, I am not trying to trick you into a sham marriage. You may have whomever you like as a witness to satisfy you that all is in good order, but the fact is that my grandfather is very ill, and I can’t risk hastening his end with a marriage that I know he will find difficult to countenance.”
Kitty put her head on one side as she took in what he was saying.
“Of course, we could have a proper ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance if you wanted to wait another two or three years. I am offering you that, too, my sweet.” He squeezed her hands. “I, personally, would prefer to marry you right this moment.”
Kitty raised her hand to trace the configuration of jewels that now graced her throat. Gazing into his face, she whispered, “You just tell me what to do and how it shall proceed, and I will be very happy to comply. Oh, Nash!” Again, she hurled herself into his arms. “I can’t believe it! You have made me the happiest woman in the entire kingdom.”
Chapter Twenty
“Is it not a little early to be going out in public, my dear?” Debenham raised one eyebrow as he fixed his gaze upon Araminta’s waistline. “It has been only two weeks since William’s birth. Apparently, too early to resume intimate relations, yet not too early to rejoin the hectic social whirl.”
