Page 103 of The Earl Takes All
She slid her body down his. He moaned. She flicked her tongue over his hardened nipple. He growled.
Ah, yes, she could taunt and tease to her heart’s content. His other nipple received her attention. His breaths became labored, his stomach tautened. She kissed a path along his ribs, down his flat abdomen, which quivered beneath her lips. The tension radiating through him was palpable.
She took her mouth over his hip, across the scar, along an outer thigh to his knee, up the soft inner thigh, up, up until she reached her destination and closed her lips around him. His snarl was that of a man tormented as he held her captive between his legs, squeezing her tightly as his soles caressed her.
Lifting her gaze to his, she took immense satisfaction in the heat burning brightly in his eyes.
“You are a witch.”
Smiling, she returned her attention to revealing just how much of a witch she could be. He swore harshly as she took her sweet time driving him mad. Licking the long length of him, tasting, suckling. If this was to be farewell, she wanted to brand every inch of her over every inch of him.
In the morning, he would leave her bed for the final time. She didn’t know where she would find the strength to let him go, but she would somehow. Tonight would become a demarcation in her life, the point where her life parted. On one side was her life with him, on the other side her life without him. One was marked with laughter and love. The other with loneliness.
He would marry and she would find a way to survive it, to live with the knowledge that another lived her dream of warming his bed and bearing his children. Part of her thought it might have been easier to have never known what life with him could be, yet how could she regret a single moment when they would provide sustenance for the coming years?
Suddenly his strong fingers were in her hair, massaging her scalp. “I can’t go any longer without touching you.”
He shifted until he was nearly sitting, pulled her up until his mouth was nipping at hers. As he fell back down, she realized she was once again straddling him. Lifting her hips, he guided her until he was buried deeply inside her. She nearly wept at how wonderful it felt to be filled by him.
As she rocked against him, he kneaded her breasts, the sensations rolling through her like waves upon the shore. Crashing and retreating. Powerful, then calm. She braced her hands on either side of his wide shoulders, her hair draped around them, creating a further intimacy, blocking out the world. If only they could block it out forever.
He cradled her hips, providing the support she needed as his thrusts came more quickly, more powerfully. He raised his head, his mouth latching onto her breast, driving her mad as he tugged, as pleasure spiraled until she was crying out his name.
He lifted her up, set himself free, pressing her close against his chest until she was splayed over him, as his body bucked beneath her and he growled her name. He trembled as she quivered, as the remnants of passion had its way with them. Their breathing finally calmed, their bodies stilled.
“Why did you do that?” she asked. “Why did you leave me?”
“I can’t risk getting you with child now.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. It was an aspect to coupling that she’d never before had to be concerned over. “Does it make it less pleasurable?”
He kissed the top of her head. “No.”
Gnawing on her lower lip, she suspected he’d lied. “Does it make it less satisfying?”
“If you’re asking if I’d rather be inside you, of course I would. But we do what we must.”
She raised her head to look at him. “Are there other ways to ensure that I don’t get with child?”
“There is no way to ensure it. What I did lessens the chances, but there are no guarantees.”
Sighing, she settled her head back on his chest, listened to his heart thundering. “I’m going to miss being with you.”
“No more than I shall miss you.”
“Perhaps we’ll spend our winter years together, in secret.” When she was too old to have children.
His arms banded more tightly around her. “I shall look forward to growing old.”
The tears formed, and she let them fall, because this man deserved so much more than she could give him.
Chapter 25
Juliaawoke alone, his side of the bed empty, as it would remain for the rest of her years. She’d been fortunate enough to love two men in her life. There would not be a third.
Glancing at the clock on the mantel, she saw it was nearly one. She did wish Edward had awoken her before he left, for one more goodbye. But then after that one, she would want another. He had the right of it. Best to just move on.
It had been so easy at Evermore when it was only them, alone, not having to carry on conversations with people in Society. So easy to forget what was at stake, what mattered within the upper echelons they inhabited.
