Page 106 of A Bride for the Forbidden Duke
“You do not need to be better,” she told him, brushing back a strand of his hair from his eyes. He looked devastatingly handsome, and Veronica’s heart swooped. “I only want you tobe. But Henry… the issue remains of how you feel about children.”
“I know what I have said,” he acknowledged. “But I want to start a family with you. These last two weeks have given me a great deal of time to think. I am not my father, and you were incredibly right to tell me so. I am tired of hindering our future just to hold onto the ghosts of my past. I want you, Veronica.” He let out a soft laugh. “I want you and our children and Christmas full of laughter and visits to the chocolatier because Heaven knows, I think at least one of our children will like chocolate. I want an entire future with you, however that looks.”
“You truly mean it?”
“With everything in me,” he said. “I am willing to change. I am willing to try.”
She drew him into a kiss, and his tongue swept over her lower lip. His hands cradled her head, and they kissed with every ounce of passion that these days apart had built up. He pulled her close to him, but he paused a moment before his hands skimmed her chest.
Henry pulled back. “May I touch you?”
Her fingers were already reaching for his shirt tucked into his breeches, wanting those hard muscles beneath her hands.
“You have gone through an ordeal,” he continued. “And I do not wish to assume I am right to touch you.”
“Please touch me,” she whispered, pressing her forehead to his. “It is your touch only that I will allow, that will take away any recollection ofhis.”
Pausing for a moment, as if wanting to make sure she was true, Veronica was the one to make the move towards him. She pressed their mouths together again.
He groaned into her mouth, murmuring, “I have missed you,” over and over, his tongue brushing hers.
That endless fire he always sparked in her flared once more, and she gave into it for a few moments before pulling away. YetHenry still found her neck, lathering it with more kisses, and she moaned softly. He took her weight as she swooned slightly.
“We must—ah, Henry—we must return to the ball.” His teeth nipped her throat, and she felt her arousal spike through her.
“Our guests can survive without us for a few more moments,” he muttered against her skin. “They are quite content without us, so let me indulge in my wife for a few moments.”
She drew his face back to hers, kissing him. “Only a few?”
“That depends on how quickly I can claim your climax,” he murmured, flashing a grin at her.
She bit her lip as he took her hand and led her back inside. They did not stop for anything nor anyone as Henry led her to the music room with intent silence, glancing back at her with a dark, promising smirk.
He pulled her in, closing the door behind her, and she expected to be pinned to it, but instead, she was pulled roughly to the pianoforte. She gasped in surprise as Henry pushed her back, over the closed lid of the instrument.
“Hands on the lid,” he ordered her. She heard the tugging of his breeches, and then his length was there, pressing against her clothed backside. Veronica shuddered with the authority in his voice as she placed her hands on the polished surface. Her knees rested on her new pink stool that had arrived earlier in the week.
She had been too upset to come in and play, but this was more than giving her a use for the stool.
Henry ground his hips against her, arousing himself as he yanked up her dress, and then her chemise, exposing her.
Her husband groaned, running his hands over the globes of her backside. He gave a small growl before he dived in, his teeth closing around the skin of one of them. She yelped before clapping a hand over her mouth.
“I wish I could hear you,” he purred. “But soon, Veronica. Soon. For every day we spent apart, I will take your climax, over and over tonight.”
The thought had her dizzy, and she nodded, moaning heryesas Henry used both his tongue and his fingers to prepare her. He spread her open, and she relished the small ache that the two weeks apart had given her in her intimate parts, for now, she needed him even more so.
Her knees spread as far as the pianoforte would allow her, and she arched her back, enticing her husband. He groaned.
“I am ready for you,” she cooed over her shoulder. “You have enforced a waiting time long enough, have you not?”
“Ah, it wasIwho walked away?” he growled, spanking her backside.
“You—you know what I mean.” She stuttered on a moan, shakily exhaling. And in moments, he was sheathed inside her, his breath hitching.
“Veronica,” he moaned, his voice rough as he tipped his head back.
She clenched around him tightly, her chest heaving in her gown, feeling scandalous with herself so exposed. Anybody could really walk in and see them, but she did care. She rather thought it would add to the thrill.
