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In a fraction of a second, his hands were at my face, caressing lightly, holding tightly. His lips crashed down on mine, soft as a feather and hard as a mountain of stone. He invaded me, possessed me, took hold of me. Not just of my mouth, but of all of me. I could feel his hands letting go of my face, picking me up from the floor and carrying me away to…where?
I did not know. I didn’t really care.
Through the daze around my mind, I heard a crash. My eyes, closed in bliss up until then, flew open to see the double doors to the master bedroom swinging loosely on their hinges. A moment later, I heard the creak of metal feathers from beneath me and felt something soft at my back. The chaise lounge again?
But… wait just a moment! There was no chaise lounge in the bedroom. It was a bedroom. There was only one thing with feathers in here, and it started with a b!
The realization flooded through me like a whole bucket chain of cold water. I was in bed! I was in bed with a man!
You’re both still dressed, aren’t you? What’s the harm?
The harm? I was a feminist! I was supposed to despise men! That was the harm!
Well, you can despise him far better if you’re up close, can’t you?
Bloody hell, no!
Just relax. He’s still dressed, you’re still dressed - this is harmless. And oh… quite nice, by the way. Don’t you feel that?
That was the moment when I felt Mr Ambrose’s fingers at the buttons of my dress. They didn’t seem to be there to check how large the buttons were. No, his intent was an entirely different one. Looking up at his dark form above me, I saw that somehow he had managed to remove his tailcoat again. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, revealing the smooth, hard planes of his chest.
My breath caught.
‘So far, your acting hasn’t been bad, my love,’ he murmured into my ear, his breath caressing my earlobe. ‘But there’s one marital duty you’ve not fulfilled so far.’
A shiver raced down my spine, delicious fear and terrifying wonder in one.
‘Oh yes?’
‘Yes. We are on our honeymoon, after all. We still haven’t had our wedding night. Not a true one.’
His fingers opened the first button. My heartrate picked up, hammering a drumbeat of ecstasy against my ribs.
What was wrong with me? I should be screaming bloody murder! Instead, my heart was ready to explode, and the traitorous corners of my mouth were curving up in a smirk. Reaching up for his free hand, I led it to my lips and placed a single, nipping kiss on the tips of his fingers.
‘Indeed? But why should we? After all, Dalgliesh’s spies won’t know what we do or don’t do in private.’
His eyes caught mine and held them. ‘They might. They could be watching us right now.’
Another exhilarating thrill went down my back. Not that I truly believed they were, but…
‘Do you really think so?’ My smirk grew a bit wider, and I gently bit on the pad of his forefinger.
Out of the dark, I heard a cold hiss. ‘Definitely! We have no choice but to keep up the pretence, my love.’
‘Oh, well, if that’s the case…’
I was going mad - completely and utterly mad! That was the only explanation for the words that were coming out of my mouth:
‘In that case you had better get on with it, Dick.’
This time, the sound that came out of the dark was an infuriated growl. ‘I told you… Do not call me that!’
I laughed. ‘Why not, Di-’
My words were cut off by his mouth sealing mine. I wanted to protest - it was bloody rude to interrupt a lady! But his magic tongue started working, and I soon forgot about rudeness, I forgot about the letter r, I forgot about the whole bloody world! What the hell did I care if he was rude, if he could make me feel like this? If he could send flames through my veins and set fire to my secret, hidden pyre?
Without any conscious command, my arms went up around him, pulling him closer until I could feel his rock-hard chest pressing into me. Some part of my mind, somewhere, kept wondering what exactly was going to happen. Truth be told, I had no clue what happened between a husband and wife on their wedding night. My mother had died when I was five, not exactly the right age to share that kind of information with a daughter, and I had never bothered to ask anyone else. After all, why would I? I was a dedicated feminist! I would never give myself up to a man like that!
