Her small pants and moans told him she was close again, so he put his thumb on her nub while he kept it up with his fingers, careful not to go too deep. Her felt her walls clenching around him as her orgasm began and lifted his head to watch her expression as she went over.
Lips parted and eyes closed. Her face flushed as she cried out louder. He quickly covered her mouth with his to swallow the sounds. As she quieted, he pulled his fingers from her and settled himself between her legs, still kissing her. Settled between her legs, his prick rubbing against her clit, he stopped kissing her and put his forehead to hers, searching for both control and a way to tell her what was going to happen next.
“Lillian. The next part…it can hurt. I’m sorry. I will make it as painless as possible.”
He kissed her again and slid his cock down and slid into her tight folds, going slowly until he felt more resistance. Bracing himself to be ready for her pain, he surged into her then held still, swallowing her cries, then comforting her. “I’m sorry, so sorry, love. It will only be like that this once.”
She nodded her understanding. He held still as long as he could, even though his cock throbbed inside her. Then she wiggled her hips. All control flew out the window. He began to move within her, trying to go easy, to bring her back to the point of orgasm again.
With tender kisses, he kept up a slow and even pace, slowly increasing as he felt the tension from his breaching her barrier leaving her. Soon, the rhythm had him ready to bursting, but she wasn’t quite there. Desperate for her to have another climax after the pain, he clasped her breast in his hand and ran his thumb across the peak.
The walls tighten around his shaft, wringing out a moan from him. He tightened his forefinger and thumb around the peak, rubbing it between the two and hastened the pace. Soon, her groans matched his, and then she cried out, grasping his shoulders. His own climax couldn’t be held back any longer. With a shout, he spilled his seed into her, unable to stop pumping into her.
She came undone in his arms. In that moment, something in him shifted. Love combined with lust into something intangible and indescribable, hitting him right through his dark heart, spreading light into every crevice.
Finally, the last spasm ended, and he rolled to the side, taking her with him. He kissed the top of her forehead and cuddled her in. “Are you all right,” he asked, running his hands down her back.
“Hmmm, more than. I can now comprehend how it was that Hermione gave in to her passions with the marquess.”
He stilled his hands. “The marquess is the one who knocked her up?”
She stiffened in his arms. “Please do not tell her I told. I am sworn to secrecy. However, I find I cannot lie to you. Yes. It’s why I asked you for the revenge.”
His wife—he loved the sound of that—held many surprises. “You are as kindhearted as any person I have ever met. Many ladies in Polite Society, dare I say most of them, would have turned their back on her.”
“She…” Lillian stopped, and he became worried.
“She?”
“She wanted to stop, and he wouldn’t,” she whispered, as if afraid to say the words aloud.
Anger blossomed in him. “He wouldn’t?”
“No, my lord. I heard her crying and pounded on the door. She’d been sleeping in the room next to mine at a house party. After a time, he came to the door and rudely pushed past me. I rushed to Hermione, and she lay on the bed, face bruised, clothes torn.”
The tears in her voice had his own throat working hard. The sick feeling in his gut made him want to hunt down the marquess himself and murder him. “When we are back from our honeymoon, I shall make it my mission to ruin him. The only money he’ll have will be his wife’s, and I’ll help her set up a trust like I’ve done for my sisters’ so he has to beg her for every penny,” he vowed.
She laughed delightedly. “My lord, that is brilliant. Wait until I tell Hermione. She will be happy to know that he is not completely getting away with it.”
They talked of a few odds and ends, and he started getting sleepy with her settling in his arms. Then her remembered his other gifts. “Lillian, I have more for you.”
He rushed out of bed to the other room and came back with a large bunch of roses of various colors and a Valentine he’d bought especially for her. Nervously, he handed it over to her. “I bought these for you. The Countess of York”—he grinned at her—“Otherwise known as Lady Sarah, has a delightful greenhouse. Her roses are much sought after.”
She sat up and took them. The blue vase was a priceless one from the collection on the estates. She put her face in them and breathed deeply. “Clarence, they’re beautiful!” She slid the card out of the envelope. He’d put a simple sentiment, based on how they met and things she’d said to him before.
“I will always keep you safe,” she read aloud. He saw her throat working and was afraid he’d done something wrong. “Thank you,” she said softly. “This means more than you can understand. I’m afraid I have nothing.”
“You chose me.” He stared down into those emerald eyes of her and lost himself in the love he found there.
“Here, find a place for these, my lord, then come back to bed. I find I have need of your arms around me after such sweet gifts.”
His heart leapt for joy as he did as she asked. He pulled her back to him and held on, contentment filling him for the first time since his father’s death. Silently, he vowed to himself to keep her safe as he’d promised in the Valentine. It wasn’t just a sentiment to him, but a promise of a lifetime.
Epilogue
Lady Sarah carefully opened the first of the letters which arrived while she was out with Lillian. No name other than hers on the outside in an unfamiliar script. “A card? How lovely. Who would be sending me a card?” Despite the craze for Valentine’s, she’d not received any this year, probably on account of being at Hermione’s or helping Lillian for the time leading up to it. Truly, she did not mind. However, it was nice to know that others cared enough to remember her.
She pulled it out and sighed at the beautiful yellow roses. Most Valentines were red or maroon or pink. This had lovely yellows with touches of light pink as accents. Lace bordered the sides. A ribbon with her name sewed in it graced the center of a large heart with a cupid on it.
With a sweet smile across her face, she opened it up. “Your beauty outshines even the brightest of roses.” No signature. Heat flushed her face. Though unlikely, she knew whom she hoped it was from. The name sewed in meant this had been planned for and prepared for, and it felt good to know someone cared that much. She set it over the fireplace of her room, then opened the other one.
As she pulled it out, something fell to the ground. She stooped and picked it up. A black crow feather. She frowned and opened the card accompanying it. Screaming, she dropped it and kept screaming and stared as the card and its contents floated to the ground.
An animals ear and a spider were pinned to the middle of the largest heart with her name on it. Written above, it said, “Come into my parlor.”
Leona Bushman is a crazy writer taught by dragons and known as Dragon Queen of the North. She loves to write and paint, even when her muse tries to muck things up. She chases after the three out of the five children still at home, and sometimes after the other two and the grandbaby around her freelance editing jobs. She has many hobbies like SCA, painting, quilting, sewing, and gardening. Or, as one blogger succinctly put it, Leona Bushman is a whirlwind made of sheer will with a dash of clumsy to keep her grounded.
She can be found solving mysteries, exploring space, making art, and loving dragons and other creatures of the supernatural at these places:
Twitter: @L_Bushman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLeonaBushman
Facebook artist page: https://www.facebook.com/LeonaBushmanArtisteExtraordinaire/
Website: www.leonajbushman.com
Blog: www.lbushman.blogspot.com and www.lbushman.wordpress.com
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letter: http://madmimi.com/signups/374285/join
Books by Leona Bushman (romance):
The Ulfric’s Mate *
The Midwife’s Moon *
Bearly There **
Fox in the Wolf Den **
Pirating Christmas
The Shot: Traincoach of Death Series
Luck of the Draw
Winds of Fire: Eagle Claw series
Murder by Succubus
Magic and Weres anthology
Masked Pain
*War of the Weres
**War of the Weres Chronicles
Coming soon:
To Have and To Serve
Over a Dead Body
In For a Penny, Traincoach of Death Series prequel
Books by LJ Bushman (non romance)
Demons and Wraiths
Death’s Car
Coming Soon:
The Fight of the Sorceress
Mayhem in Mexico: Zombie Infestation***
***A Serena Rouge Novel
Darkest Valentine Page 21
