Page 77 of Romancing the Rifleman
Anne ran a charitable organization, The Ladies’ Society for the Relief of the Destitute, and the nature of her work occasionally brought her into rough areas of Town.“Oh?”
“I set her up with a little Queen Anne pistol.”He held his hands about eight inches apart.“They’re remarkably compact.Not nearly as cumbersome as carrying a rifle or even a dueling pistol.They’re still heavy, of course, but I’ll wager Mr.Kincannon could make you a holster.”
Mr.Kincannon was the village’s cobbler.She blinked at him.“Let me make sure I understand—your plan is to buy me a gun and holster.”
Harrington brightened.“We could have one custom-made to hold both your sword and the pistol.”He turned to face her on the couch, taking her hand and stroking its back with his thumb.“I know it will be an annoyance, having to lug a pair of heavy weapons around with you everywhere you go.But I wouldn’t risk you for the world.What do you think, darling?”
Diana did the only thing she could possibly do under the circumstances.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, crawled into his lap, and kissed him.
Harrington’s eyes went wide with something that might have been confusion.But then he groaned, placing his hands on the small of her back and pressing her against him.
When she lifted her head, they were both breathing hard.“What’s this?”he asked, swiping his thumb across her cheek, sweeping aside a stray tear.
“It’s not what you think,” she said quickly, dabbing at her other eye with her sleeve.“They’re happy tears.I was afraid your solution to my problem would involve telling me I couldn’t leave the house.”
He drew back in surprise.“Couldn’t leave the house?But that would make you miserable!”
“It would,” she agreed.
He rubbed her back with a warm hand.“But Diana, surely you know I couldn’t bear such a thing.”
She shrugged.“Marcus would tell you the same thing.And in his next breath, he would lock me in my room without a second’s hesitation.A paradox, my brother.”
Harrington shook his head.“You have good judgment.Probably better than mine, if you want to know the truth.I can’t imagine the situation in which I would have to force you to do anything.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.“And you don’t give yourself enough credit.I think your suggestions are excellent, and I mean to adopt them all.”
He brushed a stray curl back from her temple, smiling softly.“Do you want me to procure you a Queen Anne pistol, then?”
She slipped from his lap, sinking to the floor.“I already have one.”
His eyes flew wide as her fingers went to the buttons on the placket of his trousers.“You… you do?”
She smiled wryly as she flipped one open.“As I’ve mentioned, Aunt Griselda packed my trunk.I’m probably better armed than the King’s German Legion.”
He gave a breathless laugh.“I don’t doubt it.”He frowned as she popped two more buttons loose.“Say, Diana, you don’t have to, err…”
The final button gave way, and his cock, which was already fully erect, sprang free of his trousers.“Are you sure?You seem rather interested.”
“No, I mean”—he gasped as she wrapped her hand around him—“I am.”
She smiled, loving the way his voice had turned husky.“I feel a sudden, irrepressible urge to pleasure you with my mouth.”
He really was adorable when he was confused.“But… why?”
Because you’re not trying to lock me in a gilded cage.Because you asked me whatIthought.Because you respect me.
Because I love you.
She wasn’t quite brave enough to say all of that aloud.So instead, she said, “Because you are the best husband in the whole entire world, and you deserve a reward.”
As she uttered the compliment, he groaned, and his cock pulsed within her hand.“Say… say that again.”
Diana was not surprised by this request.She had noticed that Harrington seemed to grow excited—and by excited, she meant, sexually excited—whenever she gave him a compliment.
She decided an experiment was in order.
