Page 89 of One Wicked Secret
The searing clasp of her body around him, the pleasure that tore through his control. He gripped her hips, anchoring himself as she rose and fell with untamed grace.
Elsa bent to him, her breath a broken gasp against hismouth, her hands framing his face as if she needed to hold on to something before the storm of release shattered them both.
He slid a hand between them, finding her with a desperate touch. She tightened around him, whispering his name, and the memory of the first time he had made her climax—pressed against the old oak—seared through him.
Nothing else in life compared to this: her body quaking against his, her soft, broken cries spilling into the air as she shattered for him once more.
It was too much. It wasn’t enough.
He surged up, crushing her to him as he spilled into her, the woman who had ruined him for all others.
He had dreamed of her a thousand times.
But she was no longer an impossible fantasy.
She was his.
Shadowmere
Kingston upon Thames
If the devil had a palace on earth, it would be Shadowmere.
Castle-like in stature and spirit, it rose from the boggy earth like a curse laid in stone. Its walls were a weathered grey—its windows narrow slits to keep the daylight out. Its ugly spires stretched to the heavens, tall enough to taunt the angels.
Gargoyles kept guard above the vast oak entrance, their stone eyes fixed on every newcomer, their leering grins a silent warning to any fool bold enough to cross the threshold.
“Good heavens!” Elsa peered at the looming facade and pictured the castle inThe Mysteries of Udolpho. Perhaps the stories of Mr Hawke’s depravity amounted to more than idlegossip. “No wonder Mr Daventry insisted on accompanying us.”
Daniel flashed a smug grin. “I’m glad he did, or we’d have had the pleasure of Rothley’s company—and I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of you.”
“Or told me you love me.”
Nothing had prepared her for the moment those words left his lips. She had convinced herself he might feel duty-bound to make this marriage work, though the first time they’d made love hadn’t felt like a chore.
“Or lived an arousing fantasy of having you in the stables.” He adjusted himself in his trousers. “One we shall repeat when we return to Thorncroft.”
“Will we live at Thorncroft when this is all over?” she said with a sense of optimism she rarely felt these days.
“We’ll divide our time between Chippenham and London. With the shipping fleet expanding, I’ll need to focus my attention there.”
It was hard to imagine a life without problems and wicked secrets. “You won’t expect me to remain in Chippenham while you’re in town on business?”
His gaze roamed over her body. “I can’t make love to my wife when she’s a hundred miles away.”
“What about Clara? Where will she live?” The thought of Clara staying alone at The Grange made Elsa uneasy.
“I don’t want her to return to The Grange, but I agreed not to force her hand. She must decide for herself.”
Elsa prayed Clara would feel differently after completing her list of daring pursuits, and agree to remain in town.
But any discussion on the matter would have to wait. As per Mr Daventry’s instructions, their carriage drew alongside Shadowmere’s iron-studded front door, where stone gargoylesglared from great heights and a chill wind whispered through the spires.
“No matter what Hawke says, you will remain by my side throughout our visit,” Daniel said for the third time in as many minutes. “I dread to think what we’ll find beyond these doors. Only the most depraved men attend functions here.”
“Only men? Would that not make for a rather dull party?”
“You’ll find Cyprians, scandalous widows, and spinsters desperate to escape the workhouse—but be assured, you can trust no one here.”
