“I wanted to make sure you were all right and help you get that mud out of your hair. I figure you can do the rest yourself, and your maid knows how to help you with your clothes.”
She licked her lips. How he wished she wouldn’t.
Emma swallowed and spoke in a rusty whisper. “Don’t go.”
“What do you mean?”
Her lips tightened with displeasure. His heart kicking into an excited gallop, he stared at her without moving. It took him far too long to realize that while she looked uncertain, she also looked…interested.
Alexander took her into his arms.
"Yes, the terms of our business arrangement,” Emma said, a slight quiver to her voice.
“I should hardly call making love a business transaction,” he said softly.
“Is that what we will do?” Emma asked hesitantly, looking at him with nervous eyes. “Make love?”
“Yes,” Alexander said firmly, kissing the top of her forehead, then the tip of her nose. “For I love you, Emma, and I want to show you how much.”
“Oh, Alexander,” she sighed in reply, and Alexander took her response as permission to proceed.
Hesitantly he brushed his lips to hers, but the taste of her – so sweet – had him plundering her mouth with wanton abandon in just a few seconds.
“Goddess,” he whispered, as he rained kisses down on her collarbone, then the soft swell of her breasts, before taking a nipple in his mouth, sucking hungrily on it.
“Oh, Alexander,” Emma cried, and he could bear it no longer.
Picking his wife up bodily, he carried her to the bed, where he deposited her most gently, as though she would break.
Steady, slowly – he counselled himself, as he removed every stitch of clothing he wore, and stood before her.
“Oh,” Emma looked down at his manhood, then back up at his eyes, her face a picture of fear.
“It won’t hurt, I won’t hurt you,” Alexander assured her, coming to lie down on the bed, gently pinning her under his body.
“Trust me,” Alexander said softly. He’d never imagined that introducing his wife to pleasure could carry such importance.
“Yes,” she said simply, and relief struck him like a blow. “I’ll be gentle,” he promised, praying that it was true.
He came down over her, balancing on flattened hands, and bent to kiss her. She met him readily, darting her tongue into his mouth with a daring that set his blood swirling with need. When she trembled beneath him, hot and feverish, he ran his hand across her belly and touched her between her legs. Triumph thundered through him when he found her slick and ready.
Carefully he slid one long finger into her, testing the silky heat, the tight muscles clenching around him. Another finger, gently stretching. She breathed in humid little gasps that fired his need. He rose over her and parted her legs.
Very gradually, he eased into her. He met the barrier of her innocence and paused, gasping for control.
She sighed and hooked her hands over his shoulders. “Don’t stop,” she whispered, so low he barely heard her. He could wait no longer. He wanted her so much. He tightened his hips and thrust. She stiffened and whimpered. Her nails dug into his damp, bare skin.
Then on a cry, she arched to meet him, bringing him deeper. In unmistakable welcome, she contracted around him. This time her sigh was long and saturated with enjoyment. She tipped back her head until her breasts brushed his chest.
Again he thrust, more purposefully. This time she shifted, changing the angle, and his hunger sharpened to the verge of agony. Still she stroked him, urged him on, told him with fluttering sighs and touches that she wanted more.
He abandoned himself to the fierce, vital rhythm. Fiery thunder shook his world as he claimed his wife. He’d think he acted the complete barbarian if not for her whispered words of encouragement and delight.
She shuddered on her climax and cried out, the sound sharp and triumphant in the firelit room. Then on a mighty rush, Alexander lost himself in a release unlike anything he’d felt before. He flooded her with his seed and forever united his life to hers.
“Emma,” he murmured then kissed her lips. “I love you.” “I love you, too,” she softly admitted. She probably loved him from the moment she met him but hadn’t realized it until now.
Raising his upper body on his elbows, he studied her face. “Do you?”
A smile tugged at her lips. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”
“I wouldn’t have either.”
“I believe you.”
He smiled in return then kissed her again, this one much more gentle, but just as intoxicating.
Emma watched her sleeping husband, with quiet delight. He had been so tender, and though it had hurt slightly when he entered her, she knew that it could have been much worse. “Stop looking at me,” Alexander growled, reaching out a strong arm, and drawing her to him.
Emma wriggled with pleasure as he pressed himself against her – surely he couldn’t be ready again?
“You are incorrigible,” she said with a laugh, as he began to kiss the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. “You are irresistible,” Alexander countered, his hands cupping her breasts, teasing her excited nipples.
“Shall I leave?” Emma asked with a giggle, and her husband growled again, rolling her so that she was once more underneath his powerful body.
“Never,” Alexander said with a wicked smile. “Never again shall you leave this bed, I won’t let you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Alexander,” Emma laughed, delighted with his proprietary air. “We shall have to leave at some stage, even just to eat.”
“No,” the Duke of Daventry gave his wife a wicked smile. “And there’s no use trying to fight me. Did I not tell you once before that I always get what I want?”
Emma smiled, he had, but staying in bed with him forever was something she wanted too.
“I love you,” she whispered again, as he slid inside her.
“I love you too,” Alexander groaned, his voice filled with need and desire.
How convenient, Emma thought, when it was all over and she was lying in his arms, that this marriage of convenience had worked out so well for all involved.
Epilogue
♠♠♠
The sun had long since set and the moon was on the rise. Stars twinkled in a clear sky, and a soft breeze brushed Emma’s skin.
She sat cross-legged in the big armchair that Alexander had pulled up to the window when they had first arrived in their cottage by the lake. She shivered slightly ... the breeze carried the remnants of the cooling, refreshing rain that had fallen all evening.
A sound behind her made her turn her head, and she saw her husband smiling at her.
“Come back to bed, my darling,” he implored her.
She chuckled. “I thought you were asleep,” she said, though she didn’t move.
“Who can sleep with the world’s most beautiful and desirable woman curled up in his arms? I am merely a man, my love, not a god!”
"I shall hold you accountable for keeping me entertained for the next seven or so months.”
His smile was slow and devilish and full of promise. “Deal.”
In one smooth move, he divested her of the foil and lifted her into his arms, making her laugh out loud.
“Alexander!” she gasped, clinging to his neck as he started back for the house.
“What?” he said mildly. “I take my promises very seriously. If it is entertainment you want, it is entertainment you shall have.”
She laughed outright at his silliness. She loved when he looked at her like that, as though she were the most precious treasure in the world. Because of that look, she had taken the biggest risk of her life and it had paid off beyond her wildest dreams. A husband who loved, respected, and cherished her, and a much longed for baby on the way,
Alexander pulled her down to his face for a kiss, and when he had her trembling in a quite satisfyin
g way, he asked, “Are you happy, my love?”
He stroked her hair as he spoke, and when she nodded, he smiled. “I will do everything in my power to keep you happy. I promise,” he said, “for as long as we live.”
Emma leaned up to see his face, and smiled back at him. She believed him. It was that simple. She looked forward to her happy-ever-after life with great anticipation.
The End
Table of contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
GAMBLE FOR LOVE Page 5
