Page 61 of A Lady of Means
“I will be promising to love and honor andobeysoon.”
His voice was strained above her head.“Not if you don’t want to.”
She turned to look up at him and raised a brow.
He clarified, “The obey part.”
“Devyn Winter, I could get on my knees for you again hearing you say that.”
He answered her with a long, drugging, slow kiss.“Would you like me to get on my knees foryou?”
She wanted a release, but his arms were around her, his chest was solid and safe and warm.There was a fire before them.He’d pulled a plush blanket around them.Not that it was necessary given how warm his skin was, how warm he made her feel.His calloused hands were drawing tender little patterns on her back.His heartbeat beneath her cheek was steady.She could feel his breath on her temple, in her hair.
This was a brand of intimacy she’d never before been party to… until Devyn.
“I want you to stay just like this.”She wrapped her arms around his bare torso, holding onto him tighter, burrowing into his chest further.
“Whatever you want, Moria,” he said softly, and he held her, drawing patterns on her back, his hands playing in her hair, until her eyelids drifted closed.
* * *
And so here shewas now, lit by morning sunlight, in front of Devyn’s door, again.
He pulled it open before she could knock.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her inside.
He’d obviously been dressing.He was in his breeches and boots, but no shirt.The sight of him was like a strike to her senses.
She wrapped her arms about him, burrowing into his warmth and the smell ofhim.She was home, at Brookevale Park, but he was home to her too.
“I love you,” she said, against his pectoral muscle.
“Say it again.”
She heard the awed smile in his voice, and felt it against her ear.She held him tighter.
“I love you.Like…in a way that scares me so much, but it fills me up so full that I have to let it out.I have to tell you.Devyn Winter, I am so stupid, mad in love with you.And everything you do for me, everything you are, feels too good and too right for me.I don’t know how I’ll breathe when you leave me.Because I’ve tried to be so in control, but somehow, I’ve completely lost the plot.And yet it doesn’t matter that I’ve lost control of my head or my heart, because you are the best thing in my life.”
A tear collided with the top of her head.She craned her neck to look up at him, not slackening her grip on his waist.
“I love you back,” he said, pouring the words back into a fiery, desperate kiss.
It tasted like all the things she’d ever wanted and thought she could never deserve, spearmint, and tears.Hers or his, both, she wasn’t sure.She lost track of her lips, the rest of her body, the rest of time, in his kiss.
She pushed him backwards until his knees backed up against his large bed.
“We have somewhere to be today.We have plenty of time for that later.”
And he threw on his shirt, tucking it into his breeches.Moria let out a gasp, noting the color of his shirt.Tears pricked her eyes.He pulled her hand in his, planting a kiss on her knuckles.
“Lead the way to the church, my lady.”
“Your shirt,” she choked out, “it’s…”
“Pink,” he whispered, planting a kiss to the top of her head.“It’s Wednesday.”
Tears spilled out of her eyes.He wiped them away.He was walking out of his room, pulling her along behind him.She followed him to the stables where Challenger, the horse he was meant to be considering buying as pretense for his visit, was saddled along with her mount, Regina.They rode in mostly companionable silence, hands clasped between their saddles a taut rope holding them together, to the church.
