Page 20 of The Risk of Rogues
She gave herself up to whatever he was doing, because he obviously knew what he was about. Every inch of her body screamed with need for him. Every scintilla of her soul wanted more. Her heart and mind were panting with the urge to find whatever it was that made her hunger and thirst and yearn...
“Hart,” she rasped as he thrust into her, at the same time fingering her below while his other hand caressed her above.“Hart...”she said more urgently, wanting something, although she wasn’t sure what.
“My darling Anne.” His voice sounded frantic as he drove into her, so hard and fierce and commanding that she thrilled to it. “You are... all I ever wanted.”
His words bore the ring of truth, and she desperately wanted to believe him.
Then she couldn’t think anymore for the wild feelings rocketing through her, and she offered herself up to them, sensing that it was the only way to fullybewith him.
In that moment, when he was hers and she was his, her blood soared, her mind exploded, and she felt her body becomehisin a way she’d never thought to experience. They were part of each other. Together.
It was glorious. A conflagration of color and light and...everything. She’d never had a clue that being with him could be like this.
“Hart!” she screamed, and he swiftly stifled the sound with his mouth.
Then he collapsed against her, his heart beating so frenziedly that she feared she’d hurt him. Especially when she felt him jerking and then spilling something into her.
She was too replete to do anything for a few minutes while he shuddered against her.
When at last he stopped moving and she could tear her lips from his, she whispered, “Are you... all right?”
He uttered a strangled laugh. “Better than I’ve... ever been in my life.”
That cheered her. “Oh, good. Me too.”
It was all she could say for a while.
They stood there, wrapped around each other, his face pressed into her neck and her legs locked about his hips. Now he was softening inside her, but she still loved the feeling of him up against her down there, a reminder that he’d just been a part of her. She liked that.
Shelovedthat. She lovedhim. Could she really not marry him if he proved to be as reckless and untrustworthy as Papa had always said? Because the idea of being Hart’s wife was as tantalizing as the idea of having an endless supply of peacock feathers for her hats.
Yet there was that small, practical part of her that knew she could never be happy if she couldn’t respect him. Or if she thought he was gambling away the funds meant to go to their children. Or—worst of all, doing this profoundly intimate act with other women.
So what was she to do?
After a moment, he pulled back to gaze intently at her. “I hope you realize, sweetheart, that you’re mine now. Body and soul.”
She stared up at him, unsure what to feel. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’ll marry as soon as possible.”
Her heart leapt before she caught hold of it and yanked it back down to earth. “Not necessarily.”
That seemed to catch him off guard. “Why?”
“You still haven’t answered all my questions.”
“Anne—”
“I mean it.” She disentangled herself from him. “Ineedto know what your plans are for our future.” Swiftly, she straightened her clothes and hair. “How can I put my whole trust in a man who won’t tell me the truth about his profession? About what his hopes are? Especially if you also intend for us to have children.”
“OfcourseI intend for us to have—” With a muttered curse, he hastily buttoned his drawers and trousers. “Please, love, must we have that discussionnow?”
“I fear we must.”
Raking a hand through his hair, he said, “Very well. I suppose you’ll have to know sooner or later. But you must promise not to speak to Lord Fulkham anymore about it until you and I are married.”
She tipped up her chin. “You’re that sure of me, are you?”
