Page 75 of Moonlight Encounter
Aidan approached her, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her close and gaze down into her face. “And what about you? Have you finally accepted the facts about you?” He raised a hand to brush her hair back from her face, his eyes staring deeply into hers, and Gwen’s skin tingled in helpless delight.
“Gwen, Gwen the Spotted Giraffe?” Her father had confessed after dinner to revealing her youthful secrets earlier that day in the interests of reconciliation, so she knew Aidan was aware of her past troubles.
Aidan leaned in to brush his lips over her freckled cheek. “I happen to like your spots, Gwen Abbott.” He rose to nuzzle at her temple, teasing her hair with his hot breath to makeher shiver. “And I appreciate your height.” He raised his head to stare deep into her eyes. “And your name is exquisite poetry.” Aidan stroked her mouth with the pad of his thumb. “Gwen.” He leaned in to steal a kiss. “Gwen.” He tilted her chin with his forefinger to gaze into her soul with impassioned chocolate brown eyes. “Gwen.”
Then he paused, waiting for her to respond while she weakly attempted to recall what they had been discussing before he had laid waste to her with his ardent attentions. Aidan’s whispered words weaved a spell on her senses, making her finally accept that his adoration was genuine.
“I”—her voice was thready as want rose from her belly to consume her with its flames—“have realized that those girls … might be wrong about my attractions.”
“Very wrong,” Aidan muttered, lowering his head to capture her mouth with his. Gwen moaned in the back of her throat as their tongues entwined, lifting her arms to grip him by the shoulders.
Aidan cursed, breaking their kiss to step back with a pained expression.
Gwen’s brows came together. “What is it … never say it … is this another secret?”
Her husband moved back another step, guilt painted on his features. He rubbed at his forehead, clearly reluctant to answer her. “I may have been thrown from my horse when I was following your father.”
She gasped. “May have?” Gwen stepped forward.
“I did … get thrown. Valor was startled and panicked in a congested street.”
Gwen stepped forward again. “That sounds serious.”
Aidan reddened, not willing to meet her eyes and making her grow suspicious.
“When did this happen?” she demanded.
Aidan rolled his shoulders, as if to shake off the pain. “Yesterday,” he replied in a small voice.
She sighed heavily. “Of course. That is why you closed the curtains and insisted we remain in the dark!”
He nodded.
Gwen bit back her irritation. “Let me see, then.” She gestured at his coat.
Aidan rolled his shoulders once more, then removed the coat to lay it out neatly on the bench at the foot of her bed. Next, he unfurled his cravat to lay it down beside the coat. When he yanked his shirt from his breeches, Gwen grew fiery in anticipation. She had only seen his naked body that first night, the night of their wedding, and it was still an unusual experience to watch a man undress. Her chest rose and fell in agitation as her blood heated up. Only for her to exclaim in horror when he whipped the shirt over his head to reveal his upper body.
“Aidan!”
His upper arm and shoulder were mottled with livid bruising. Reds, blues, and purples formed grotesque patterns upon his bronzed skin. Gwen quickly circled him with her hand held over her mouth. The hind part of his shoulder was even worse, with angry contusions covering almost a quarter of his back.
Which was the moment she realized that Aidan could have been lost to her forever. “You could have been killed!”
Aidan threw his shirt in a pile on the bench, coming back to take her in his arms and hold her to his bare chest. “Would that have been a bad thing, Gwen Abbott?”
Gwen’s vision was blurred when she looked up at him through the tears that had gathered in her eyes. “A very bad thing,” she whispered.
“Then I shall take far more care in the future.” Aidan lowered his head to capture her lip between his teeth,nibbling gently before he traced the edge of her mouth with his tongue.
“Hmm …” she breathed. “Is it true you have never lain with a woman before me?”
Aidan purred an affirmation, his mouth trailing kisses along her cheek to breathe softly against her temple.
“You demonstrated competency … for a man who was new to the activity,” she mumbled, finding it difficult to keep a thought in her head when hot sensation was pulsing between her thighs and up her belly.
“Little Julius instructed me in painful detail,” he admitted, before suckling her earlobe into the wet heat of his mouth.
“Well … we better save Little Julius … from his pursuers, then … because we owe him a … great debt of gratitude.” Gwen’s head fell back to expose the line of her neck, and Aidan quickly took advantage to trail his hot mouth down the curve of soft flesh to nip gently at her shoulder.
