Page 14 of 1797 Club 2nd Epilogue Collection (The 1797 Club #11)

H elena turned as Baldwin entered the parlor a few hours after she’d returned home from Charity’s estate.

She caught her breath, just as she always did when she saw him.

By God, but he was handsome with his short brown hair and soulful brown eyes that fell on her as his face lit up in a smile that could light up the world.

Once upon a time he had rarely smiled, but now it was a far more common occurrence, especially around their son and her.

“There is the most handsome man in all the world,” she said as she crossed to him.

He did not respond with words, but swept her up against his chest and pressed his mouth to hers.

She laughed with surprise and delight at his ardor, but the sound was lost as he deepened the kiss and for a moment she forgot everything but the taste of him, the warmth of him, the wonderful feel of him that sent shivers through her entire body.

“Goodness,” she said as he drew his mouth away without letting her escape his arms. “That is a very good way to start an evening. Your meeting must have gone well.”

He laughed and set her aside before he went to the sideboard and poured them each a sherry. “It did. Once again, our accounts will be filled with more fruits of Grayson Danford’s labor.”

“And yours,” she insisted as she took the drink and clinked the glass against his in a toast to their improving fortunes.

“Yes, Gray tends to agree, though I’m not certain I do.”

“You’re too modest.” She reached up to touch his cheek. “Which I love. But you’ve worked very hard to raise your fortunes and solve the problems left to you when you inherited. I’m very proud of you.”

He leaned in to kiss her again, this time more gently. “Then that is all I need. How was Charity?”

He said her cousin’s name with a playful drawing out that made her laugh. “The same as always, happy to be out of mourning.”

Baldwin’s lips thinned slightly at the allusion to her late uncle. While he had come to like Charity well enough, he had hated her father until the day he died. His loyalty meant so much to Helena.

“I assume she is buying a thousand pounds worth of new gowns for the Season.”

“Perhaps not quite that much,” Helena said. “Though you aren’t too far off. She also wanted to show me this outrageous ruby that Grifford bought for their anniversary. It is ostentatious, you will be blinded by it when she wears it next week.”

Baldwin’s gaze flitted away from her and for a moment Helena regretted mentioning the gift. She knew he sometimes mourned his inability to buy her those types of extravagances, no matter how often she told him she didn’t need such things.

“Hmmm,” he murmured as he moved to turn away.

She caught his arm and drew him back, lifting up so that this time it was her who planted the kiss on his lips. He softened to her immediately and tugged her closer.

“You know,” she whispered as he moved his mouth away from hers and down to the column of her throat, sending shivers through her entire body. “Since it is just the two of us tonight, we could have a cold supper sent up to our chamber in say…an hour? ”

Baldwin drew back, his eyes dark with desire. “Your Grace, how shocking. We need at least two for everything I’d like to do to you.”

She caught his hand and pulled him from the room and toward the stairs that led up to their chamber. “Then we best start now.”

A s Helena removed her gown and stood before Baldwin, outlined in the warmth of the fire across from their big bed, he could hardly breathe.

He had seen this woman’s wonderful form in all manner of ways.

Bent with tears of sorrow, trembling with laughter, arched with pleasure, tense with exertion as she birthed their son.

But every time he looked at her like this, he was still overcome that she was his.

Overcome by desire and passion and love for her.

He had already shed his jacket, unwrapped his cravat while she undressed and he moved on her, pulling her against his chest, feeling her body soften against his.

He didn’t kiss her yet, though, just examined her in the dim light, memorizing every feature, every flutter of desire and emotion that moved through her.

“By God, but I love you,” he whispered.

Tears filled her stunning green eyes at that admission and she reached up to touch his face, tracing the lines of his jaw, drawing a finger across his lips.

“Show me.”

He nodded and now he bent his head to take her mouth, sucking her tongue gently until she whimpered, massaging his fingers against the impossible softness of her skin as he drew her chemise away and left her naked for him.

He cupped her backside, kneading the flesh, rocking her against the erection that was rapidly growing as he anticipated what would happen next.

She made a soft sound of pleasure against his mouth, crooked her leg up against his hip so she could grind herself with more purpose against him.

Once she had been shy about her desires, troubled by a past that still made him see red when he thought of what she’d been through in America.

But now…now she was changed by the years together, by the pleasures they had shared and the trust between them that had only grown during their marriage.

And he wanted to reward that trust, always and forever.

He guided her back to their bed, lifting her on the high edge before he stepped away to unbutton his shirt and tug it over his head with one hand.

She shivered when he did so, she had always liked that action for some reason.

So he repeated it as often as possible just to see her face light up with need.

“Lay back, Your Grace,” he growled.

She laughed softly and did as she had been told, though she balanced on her elbows so she could still see him as he bent between her legs, draping her thighs over his shoulders.

Then he licked her, savoring the flavor of her desire and the way she jolted against his tongue with a low cry.

He repeated the action, long languid licks, slow and steady as she moaned and twisted beneath him.

Occasionally he gave her what she wanted, a few swirling caresses of her swollen clitoris, but only just enough to keep her on the edge.

He knew what would happen the longer he did that, the longer he teased.

Her explosion at the end would be all the more powerful and gorgeous.

And it was his favorite thing in the whole world.

She lifted against him, her back arching and her moans growing louder the more he began to focus on her clitoris. She ground against him, demanding what he would deny, her breath sharp and unsteady, her hands fisting in their bedclothes.

“Please,” she whimpered. “Please, please, please.”

He smiled against her wet body and shifted his focus entirely to her orgasm. He felt the change in her, reveled in how her legs began to shake against his shoulders, how her normally pale skin flushed a trail down toward him, almost like her pleasure was reaching for him.

He inserted two fingers into her gripping sheath and she was lost. His quiet, gentle wife became animal as she cried out.

Her body shook, gripping him in long, steady waves that increased every time he licked her now ultra-sensitive clitoris.

He drew her out as far as he could, only stopping when she collapsed back fully against the bed, her breath jerking out in pants.

He licked her one last time, then stood up and kicked out of his trousers.

He caught her thighs and tugged her further to the edge of the bed.

She squealed and laughed up at him, but the laughter faded when he began to rub the head of his cock back and forth against her entrance.

She gasped out his name, cried it out when he slid fully into her still trembling sheath with one long thrust.

It was coming home to him. Her body was his sanctuary, his temple, she his goddess.

And he treated her as such, collapsing over her so he could kiss her deeply, share the sweet flavor of her release with her as he ground into her with short, gentle thrusts.

Her fingernails raked across his back, lightly abrading his skin as she lifted to him, moans and sighs and sounds of love lost in their kiss.

She was shaking again, close to the edge and she drew back to look at him while the pleasure overtook her once more.

The squeeze of her pleasure on his cock was too much.

It milked his own release and he threw his head back, bracing himself over her as he poured into her with a broken, garbled cry of release.

She pulled him down to fully cover her, smoothing her fingers across his shoulders, pressing kisses into his neck as the warm glow of what they’d shared settled over the quiet room and, as always, he felt more peace than ever, more love than ever, more everything than ever because this woman was his.

H elena had no idea how long they lay together afterward, bodies intertwined, his wonderful weight pressed over her, making her feel safe and loved and claimed .

At last she pressed another kiss to his neck and said, “That is my favorite way to spend an evening.”

He rolled away, parting their bodies and gathering her close to his chest. Their heartbeats had settled into an almost perfect rhythm now and she loved feeling his against her own.

“As it is mine,” he said, kissing her temple. “Though I suppose there are other things to do together. I also enjoy taking in the park together. Or going to exhibitions of art.”

“Spending time with our friends,” she supplied.

He nodded. “Or at the opera or theatre.”

She tilted her head as she looked up at him. There was something a little troubled in his expression when he said these things. Something she didn’t entirely like. “We do all those things, Baldwin. Is there a reason you are laying them out right now as options?”

He put one arm beneath his head as stared up at the ceiling a moment. “None of our friends experienced the same kind of situation as I did, so I’m not so foolish that I’m not aware you are surrounding by duchesses who are endlessly spoiled and treated by their adoring husbands.”

She sat up a little now and slid a finger across his jaw, forcing him to look at her.

“And I’m pleased for them. There is nothing I like more than to see my lovely friends be adored.

But I never compare it negatively to our relationship.

Yes, we’ve endured more hardship and denial than they have.

But we have also had the great privilege to work together on thorny issues.

To work as a team to solve problems that would have been so much worse alone.

That has bonded us in ways I don’t think they could ever fully fathom, no matter how happy they are. ”

He seemed to ponder that a moment. “Yes, you’re right.”

“Baldwin,” she said softly. “Our life is just as I like it. You are everything to me.”

“I certainly hope so,” he teased now, his expression growing lighter. “Or else it will be a dour anniversary in two weeks. Do you have any thoughts about how you’d like to celebrate it? ”

She stared up at him, this man she loved beyond measure and then she shifted, partly rolling back over him. She lifted up, kissing him at first sweetly, and then with more power and passion. “This,” she whispered.

He laughed even as he caught her hips and made her straddle him, rubbing her up and down a cock that was already half-hard again. “Oh yes,” he agreed. “This and this and this again…”

But even as they tangled themselves in each other again, she hoped that he had truly heard her. Truly understood that he was more than enough for her. And that their future, whether it ever contained piles of jewels or expensive gowns or not, was everything she had ever dreamed of and so much more.