Page 83 of Counting on a Countess
“Kit?” Tamsyn murmured, snapping him back to the present.
“Mmm.” He rubbed his lips over the crown of her head.
“You don’t need to tell me anything about the War,” she said softly. “I won’t ask. But if you do want to speak about it, anything at all, I’m here.”
No one had ever said such a thing to him. Not his family, nor his friends. Even Langdon and Greyland had merely clapped him on the shoulder upon his return and maintained what he imagined they thought was a respectful silence on the subject. So he’d been alone with his memories and his scars, shouldering their weight because he had to. It was either that, or collapsing beneath the burden of a thousand ghosts.
He’d never tell Tamsyn about the brutality of war. She shouldn’t have the knowledge that warfare killed a man’s sense of divine justice. No one needed to live with that poisoning their souls.
Yet her offer struck him to his marrow, humbling him.
“Thank you.” He wove their fingers together, and her touch pushed back the specters. “For now, this is all I need.”
They fell into an intimate silence. Her breath fanned across his chest where she rested her head, the soft puffs of warm air soothing him.
“Kit?”
“Yes?” It didn’t matter what she asked of him, he’d agree to it.
She sifted the fingers of her free hand through the hair curling on his chest. “I’d like to do this again.”
“Of course,” he answered. “We are married, after all. We can share a bed whenever we want.”
“No,” she said, raising herself up enough to turn and look at him. “I mean, right now, I’d like to...” Her cheeks flushed.
“Ah.” His body was ready in an instant. “You’re not too sore?”
“I am, a bit,” she admitted. “But I don’t want to wait.”
He bowed his head. “Your servant, madam.” Pulling her closer so that their mouths aligned, he said on a murmur, “I’m glad we took our time with this.”
“I am, too,” she said, her eyes soft.
They kissed, and he had the vertiginous realization that he could have thousands of nights with her, but it would never be enough.
Chapter 20
Tamsyn awoke with a deep feeling of peace, the kind of peace she hadn’t known in many years. As though all the storms that had been raging within her finally subsided and the sea was mirror calm and the sky was a deep, jeweled blue. It was odd and strange, this sensation, and she searched her memory for a reason why she ought to feel this way.
With closed eyes, she moved to stretch out her arm and her hand encountered something solid and warm moving rhythmically. Pressing her hand to this mass, she discovered it was a male torso.
Her eyes flew open and she turned to behold a very naked Kit sleeping beside her. A faint blond stubble shaded his jaw, and the blanket had crept down his chest, revealing a body she wanted to study for hours. She drank him in as though desperately parched.
Which she had been, in truth. For so long, she’d resigned herself to a life of responsibility and duty, a life of solitude. Then Kit had come along and while she’d found him handsome and alluring, she’d tried her best to hold him at arm’s length.
Yet he’d been so gentle, so patient and generous, giving her the affection and care she hadn’t realized she craved. Last night, she’d yielded to the demands of her body and her heart. She couldn’t regret her decision.
Tamsyn tamped down the urge to sigh blissfully, but it was a challenge. She’d fallen for her husband.
Her lips curved into a smile as she decided the best way to mark this significant moment was to kiss Kit awake. Then, as he stirred, she’d kiss him even more, rousing him to full awareness, and then... Her body heated at the thought as her soul welcomed their profound joining.
Tap tap tap tap.
Tamsyn frowned at the sudden sound. Rising up on her elbow, she looked around the room. Perhaps it was a woodpecker, or a leaky ceiling.
But no birds perched on the windowsill, and the ceiling seemed free of drips. Sitting up farther, she looked down at Kit, who slept peaceably on, undisturbed by the tapping.
She would have happily gazed at her handsome husband while he slept—but that bloody noise wouldn’t let up.
