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

E mma had always loved the chamber she shared with James.

She had spent a great deal of time decorating it, choosing elements that reflected them both.

What she loved most though, about that beautiful big room, was the huge bed placed opposite the fire, but also with a beautiful view of the rolling countryside.

Unlike many couples in their station, she and James rarely slept apart. Oh, if one or the other of them was working on something, they might come in late and the other was already asleep, but he never went to his chamber and she to hers like strangers who shared only a name.

James set her on the ground next to that big, comfortable bed and stepped back, looking her up and down. Really looking.

“My God, how can you still be so beautiful after all this time?” he asked, more himself than her.

She smiled. It had taken her such a long time to see herself as pretty. James had been the one to convince her. And of her intelligence. And of her worth in general. And she adored him for that, as well as so much more.

“I often wonder the same about you,” she said softly .

He arched a brow and she was already smiling even before he teased. “Well, I do feel beautiful when you look at me that way.”

She laughed. “James.”

He moved closer and their laughter faded at the same time. “No interruptions,” he said softly as he turned her around so her back was to him. “No distractions.” His fingers stroked along her spine before he started unfastening buttons along her back. “Just you. Just me. Just us.”

She shivered as she bent her head and helped him ease the gown from her shoulders, down her arms. He pressed a kiss to the bare skin at her neck and she shivered with the sensation that raced through her.

He pressed his mouth lower, tracing her spine through her chemise as he pushed her gown over her hips and let it pool at her feet.

She gripped the edge of the bed, her breath coming shorter, matching his in the quiet of the room as he dropped to his knees behind her and slipped his warm hands beneath the chemise edge.

He pushed the silky fabric up and she whimpered when his mouth touched the bottom curve of her arse, tracing the crease where her thigh and backside met.

He'd always known just how to touch her and she gripped the coverlet in her fists, leaning further over the bed as he gently nibbled and stroked and nipped her sensitive flesh.

He pressed his hands to the back of her thighs and spread her wider, opening her for him as he shifted closer to her.

He licked her from behind, teasing her sex, spreading her with his thumbs.

She groaned his name, burying her head against the bedcovers to mute her moans. He chuckled against her flesh.

“That won’t do. I want to hear you, Emma.”

She arched her back, grinding back against him until he caught his breath, until his fingers dug harder into her thighs so he would mark her as his.

Then he shifted, pushing around from behind her to wedge himself between her body and the bed.

She moved back to grant him space and looked down at him.

Look down at this powerful man, on his knees for her, his dark stare locked with hers as he crooked one of her stocking clad legs to rest on his shoulder.

She whimpered, counting every millisecond as he leaned up and this time when he put his mouth to her, he swirled his tongue around her clitoris.

Her knees went instantly weak but he was there to hold her up.

And he did so, even as he began in earnest to lick and suck her.

She rocked against him, shamelessly riding his talented tongue, moaning and groaning and gasping his name in the quiet as he increased her pleasure notch by aching notch.

He knew how to do it. Knew how to play her body like an instrument. Knew exactly what to do to make her shake with release. He didn’t, at least not at first. He took his time with her, stroking gently, then harder, slowly then faster until she was wild with sensation.

“Ready?” he grunted against her body, the reverberations making her bark out pleasure.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Yes, yes, yes, please.”

He smiled against her body and slid his fingers up her inner thigh where he had been balancing her. He pushed her open wider, his fingers breaching her, thrusting into her as he started to focus all his attention on her clitoris.

She wailed, driving her hands into his hair as he brought her up to the edge of release, dangling her there as she gripped and ground against him. And then he let her drop, sucking her clitoris with long, certain tugs as she spasmed against him in ultimate relief.

He drew out the pleasure for a long time, watching her as she came.

When he released her, she stepped back, a little unsteady on her feet and that allowed him to stand back up.

He drew her in and kissed her, letting her taste herself on his lips.

She rubbed her breasts against him, murmuring her pleasure against his mouth.

“Get on the bed,” he ordered.

She arched a brow now, mimicking the look he always gave her when he was about to be in control. “I don’t think so, Your Grace. We’re not finished here. ”

He barked out a laugh that faded when she took to her knees before him just as he’d done for her.

She stared up at him, licking her lips like he liked, pressing her hands against his muscular thighs through his trousers.

She slid her palms up, over and across the hard cock that pressed along the fall front.

His eyes came shut and he let out a shuddering sigh.

“You’re playing with fire,” he said.

“Then burn me,” she replied and unfastening his fall front. “I dare you, James.”

“Fuck,” he muttered beneath his breath and she laughed. He hardly every cursed in her presence, so when he did she knew she’d pushed him over an edge.

She lowered the placket of his trousers and smiled as his hard cock came free.

Once upon a time she wouldn’t have even imagined how much she’d like the feel of a man’s cock in her hand.

In her mouth. This man’s cock. She’d been so innocent when they first met, so uncertain.

But now she knew exactly what drove James wild.

She brushed her cheek up his length, watching as his eyes fluttered shut and he gripped the mattress edge behind him for purchase. “Emma,” he breathed.

She smiled and let her lips follow the hard length of him next. A kiss that was closed mouthed and almost chaste but for where she had bestowed it.

“James,” she murmured against him, loving his intake of breath when his name reverberated against the sensitive flesh. She swirled her tongue around the head of him, reveling in the taste of him, the smell of his desire mixed with soap from his bath that morning.

God, but she did love this man, want this man.

She dove into the act of pleasing him, taking him as far into her throat as she could while she stroked the length she couldn’t manage.

He grunted as his fingers came into her hair, mussing the locks her maid had so carefully pinned and curled earlier that morning, but she didn’t care.

She loved the possessive grip of them against her scalp.

She sucked and licked and swirled her tongue around him, drowning in every growl and groan and gasp that her actions elicited.

It felt like she was racing him for control and she had no idea if he would allow her to fully control the moment or if he would go wild at the end and drag her into the bed so he could claim her body before he spent.

He answered that question at last when he caught her under the armpits and tugged her to her feet. He smashed his mouth to hers, hungry and focused in his desire. She dragged her nails lightly against his back through his jacket and his shirt and wanted more. Wanted his flesh against hers.

“Take it off,” she murmured against his mouth.

He pulled back a little and nodded. “Get on the bed.”

She did so and watched his divest of his clothing.

His jacket, his waistcoat, his shirt. When he tugged it over his head she caught her breath.

When he pushed the trousers down, she leaned forward.

Naked he was still a specimen. A little softer than fifteen years ago, but still so bold and certain.

He gave her a cocksure grin, the one that had made him the leader of every room he entered and then he crawled onto the bed, stalking her as he caged her in with a hand on either side of her head against the pillows.

“Hello, wife,” he said as he dipped his head to suck the flesh where her shoulder met her neck.

She buried her fingers in his hair again, writhing as he made her sensitive flesh tingle with his tongue.

He moved lower and brushed his cheek against the inside curve of her right breast. His breath warmed her skin and she arched beneath him, grinding her hips against his, asking for what he wasn’t giving yet.

He chuckled. “Patience, love. We have all day.”

The concept that he would wait all day drove her mad. Once upon a time he used to tease her like that. Keep her on edge for hours while he teased and tormented and made her crazed with desire. But it had been a long time since they’d had time for such long seduction .

And she didn’t think she could wait now.

She reached between them as he sucked her nipple between his lips and began to suck gently. She caught his cock and stroked, slow and just as tortuous. Together they groaned, made wild by the other. He lifted his eyes and held hers.

“Minx,” he grunted and licked her one last time before he pushed her legs open a little wider.

She positioned him at her entrance and lifted, taking him inside an inch. Both of them shuddered at the feeling. He held there, watching her, then pulsed forward a fraction more.

“You’re a tease,” she gasped, gripping his forearms with both hands and arching. “Please!”

“If it helps, I’m tormenting myself just as much,” he said and laughed as he took another inch, then two. “God, you feel good, Emma.”

She nodded. “So do you.”

He took her fully with a long, heavy stroke and then leaned down, kissing her gently, deeply. She felt his love, all his heart, pour into her as they lay there, joined but in no hurry. She slid her hands up, wrapped her arms around him, clung to him as they kissed and kissed and kissed.

When he began to move, he ground against her just as she liked, finding that sweet spot where his pelvis stimulated her clitoris and drove her wild.

She moaned against his neck, kissing him there, holding to him for dear life as she lifted to meet him.

They rocked together, focused only on their mutual pleasure, only on their connection and love for each other.

She felt the edge of it coming and at last he swept her away once more on a wave of pleasure so intense that she shook and cried out his name through the waves of it.

He followed soon after, like he’d been waiting for her and kissed her deeply as he came in long, heavy waves inside of her. “I love you,” he whispered against her mouth and she repeated it as she let her fingers dance down his spine .

They had done this hundreds of times during their life together.

She had loved every one, but today felt…

different. Special. And she held tight to him as the flush of pleasure faded.

Held tight to this connection that she never wanted to sever.

That she valued more than anything else in her full and happy life.

And hoped they could stay in the moment a while longer before reality came to take them away.