Page 53 of The Devil and the Heiress
“Violet,” he groaned, holding her hips when she ground herself against him in an unconscious movement.
“I want you inside me again.” Her eyes were heavy with her need.
His hips bucked, and he used his grip on her hips to hold her as he pressed himself against her damp heat, his body once again at odds with his mind. It would be so easy to push his drawers and her nightdress aside.
“We can’t.” He kissed her chin to soften his words, and he couldn’t stop, his lips trailing across her jaw to the perfect shell of her ear. “We don’t have sheaths. But I can still give you pleasure.” He would give her endless nights of pleasure.
She reached between them, taking him in hand. “Then I suppose you’ll have to marry me.”
He froze. One look at her face and he knew she was serious. Her eyes were hopeful and slightly wary, as if she harbored a fear that he would reject her.
“Is that what you want?” he whispered, hardly able to believe it even though his disbelief made no sense.
“More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
He let out a sound he didn’t recognize. Part joy, part relief. He held her against his chest as tight as he dared. She held him back, and in that moment he knew that whatever the future held, he would face it with her at his side. His hands roamed down her back to her arse, squeezing the globes until she moaned and leaned up, pulling at her nightdress in handfuls to get it off over her head. Her perfect breasts sat high on her chest, their nipples rigid. He sat up to get to her, holding her on his lap as he took one into his mouth, sucking deeply and drawing a gasp from her as she held his head to her breast.
Reaching between them, his fingers found her wet and sensitive to his touch. As he teased her clitoris between his thumb and forefinger, she bucked and moaned, her fingernails digging into the back of his neck. “Please, Christian, now.”
Setting her back slightly, he unfastened his drawers. Greedy in her need, she reached for him, squeezing him in a clasp that mimicked how her body would receive him. He groaned at the soul-shattering pleasure. He could never remember being this eager, this needful with anyone before.
“Guide me,” he said in a voice so heavy with desire he didn’t recognize it. Lifting her by her hips, he waited for her to notch him at her opening, then he slowly worked her onto him. Up and down, inch by inch, in a slow rhythm until her eager body accepted him and he slid into her fully. She was beautiful, her eyes squeezed tight in pleasure, gasps tumbling from her lips, flush stealing over her.
Pleasure radiated through him at the tight clasp of her body. This was Violet, the woman he loved. Somehow the knowledge put a finer edge on the sheer bliss of being flesh to flesh with a woman for the first time with no sheath between them. The sensation was nearly too raw and vivid to be borne. He knew he wouldn’t last. When all he wanted was to pound into her, he held himself still and teased herclitoris, working the swollen bit of flesh as she cried out, bouncing on him in her need.
“Show me how to please you.” Her voice was husky in her desperation.
She didn’t know that she did just that without even trying. “You’re perfect,” he whispered, her untutored movements driving him mad with pleasure. But still he waited to join her, teeth gritted in determination as he played with her until her hands tugged at his hair and her breath came in short pants, her orgasm nearly upon her. Only then did he grasp her by the hips and start fucking her the way he wanted.
“Violet,” he growled as the unbelievable pleasure took him over, prickling down his spine to where she clasped him so sweetly. She learned quickly, her hips working to meet his rhythm with each thrust into her.
She gasped in his ear, a soft hitch of pleasure that told him she was close. “Come for me,” he whispered, burying his nose in her hair so her scent surrounded him. Her fingernails pressed into his shoulders as she tensed, her passage clenching at him in spasms as she found her release. He let go of his control, holding her hips to receive him as he pumped into her over and over again until he exploded. Body and mind finally one, he cried out, certain that she had taken yet another part of his soul.
“I love you.” He held her against his heart as he struggled to catch his breath.
She pressed a kiss to his neck, tightening her hold. Even though he was spent, he was reluctant to leave her, and indeed was still lodged inside her, half-rigid in his insatiable need for her. He couldn’t stop pressing kisses to her face, the shell of her ear, her brow. This beautiful woman, with all her kindness and goodness, was his.
“When can we marry?” she whispered, pulling back just enough to smile up at him. He loved her smile. “I don’t want to wait another day.”
“As soon as you can travel we’ll go to Blythkirk. We can go by train if you want to hurry.” He grinned when she nodded at that. “We can be married when we arrive.”
Instead of appearing relieved, she frowned, a line of worry forming between her brows. “What if my father refuses to provide a settlement?”
“Do you think I care about that now?” He took her face between his hands and kissed her. “You’re enough for me, Violet.” He had been a fool to ever want more than her. “As long as you’re in my arms, I have all I need in the world.” Words he had never thought to utter in his entire life. Words that were truer than any he had ever spoken.
Chapter 20
The truth will set you free, but partial truth can burn you alive.
V. Lennox,An American and the London Season
The last two days had passed in a haze of sex and tenderness. Even the puffy white clouds that floated overhead reminded Violet of the hours spent with Christian in their tiny bedroom. One in particular appeared very phallic, while another could have been a single bosom tipped with a nipple. The very naughtiness of her thoughts made Violet blush as a smile broke across her face. She lay on a blanket outside with Christian after an alfresco meal of cheese and apples meant to celebrate her birthday. Mrs. Mitchell was baking a cake for the occasion, which they would enjoy that night, a final celebration before leaving for Scotland tomorrow. Christian had surprised her with a silver locket from the village that morning. He had said that he would get her something more suitable later, but that he hadn’t wanted her birthday to pass unmarked. She loved the locket and had pressed a tiny wildflower from the hillside within so that she could always remember this day.
“Your thoughts are debauched again, I see,” saidChristian, dragging a finger down her neck to tease a circle on her skin around the locket.
She wore one of the gowns Jacob had brought her. Though not made for her, it fit well with her corset with only a few modifications. She had decided that today she should get dressed properly, if only to assure Christian that she was well enough to travel tomorrow. He seemed inclined to wait even longer before leaving, and as much as she loved lingering here in this village where the world was at bay and they were simply Christian and Violet, she knew that it was not possible. Very soon someone would find them. She wouldn’t be surprised if Max and August had returned, an eventuality that had caused her some grief in the last several days. She should let them know she was fine.
“I would blame you entirely, but you should see what I’ve already written about Lord Lucifer.” She sat up and looked down at him.
