Page 29 of 1797 Club 2nd Epilogue Collection (The 1797 Club #11)

I t hadn’t been an hour when Kit and Sarah climbed the stairs together and moved to the carved door that led to his sister’s room. He hesitated there and smiled as he traced the sweet little wooden angels and flowers decorating the pale wooden face.

“My father had these done. He said she was his angel.”

Sarah nodded. “He used to say that to me, as well. Take care of my angel, Sarah. ”

Kit smiled. His father had hired Sarah as Phoebe’s governess before his death, bringing Kit together with her in the end. The old duke had always known Kit had feelings for her, despite a somewhat troubled past they’d shared. That last act of his father’s had led to such joy in his life.

He drew in a long breath and pushed the door to his sister’s chamber open. To his surprise, she was already in bed, her back to the door, her fire burning low.

Sarah exchanged a swift look with him and then shrugged. They stepped out and then moved to the door to the adjoining room. Sarah was the one who knocked and Miss Twitchell answered, a book in hand.

“Your Graces,” she said softly. “May I be of service? ”

“We’re surprised to find Phoebe already in bed,” Sarah said with a kind smile for the woman. “Was she feeling well?”

“She was a little quiet when she came up,” Miss Twitchell reported. “Not her usual bubbly self, but it was a long day. When she said she was tired, I offered her the option of laying in bed to read her little book and found her asleep just a few moments later. Is everything well?”

“We revealed Her Grace’s pregnancy to Phoebe tonight,” Kit said with a frown. “She didn’t respond with as much pleasure as we’d hoped.”

Miss Twitchell nodded. “I see. Should I wake her?”

“Oh, heavens no,” Sarah said. “Just be gentle with her for now. The duke and I will try to talk to her again tomorrow. In the end, it will be right, I know it. She’ll be a very happy aunt, she has no ability to be anything but.”

“Of course.”

“Good night, Miss Twitchell,” Kit said, still distracted, even as Sarah took his arm and guided him away from the woman’s door and toward their own.

They entered the room and passed through the antechamber to his bedroom.

Their bedroom, really. Although there was a duchess bedroom, Sarah hadn’t slept there even one night since their marriage.

“I don’t like this,” Kit said softly. “Phoebe has never put herself to bed early in her life that I know of.”

“She’s obviously upset,” Sarah said and reached up to untie his cravat.

“But why?” Kit asked, hardly noticing her unwinding the length of fabric, unpinning the diamond pins holding into place as she did so.

“Because she’s six,” Sarah said with a laugh. “And she lost her father less than a year ago. And she isn’t certain of her place in the world or in our family. But she’s very certain that a baby will get a little more attention than she will.”

“Well, she shouldn’t know that,” Kit insisted. He wrinkled his brow as she set the cravat aside and went to work on his waistcoat buttons. “We’d never treat her differently or love her less simply because we have a child that is our own. Why would she think that?”

“I repeat, she is six ,” Sarah said. “You cannot ascribe the logic of a man of thirty to a little girl. Although sometimes…”

“Are you saying I have the logic of a six-year-old?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Only after a few drinks when Robert is around encouraging you all to do very silly things,” she said and then her smile shifted as she tugged his shirtwaist from his trousers and slid her hands beneath to touch his bare skin. That dragged him to reality and he looked down at himself.

“Did you…did you undress me?” he asked.

She leaned back. “I did, Your Grace. At least as much as I’m capable when you’re standing there like some delectable granite statue not helping me at all.”

“Delectable granite statue?” he repeated and tugged his shirt over his head.

She let out a little sigh as she returned her palms to his stomach and stroked there. The reaction in his body was immediate and washed away all his other troubles.

She smiled. “We’ll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow. And we’ll make things right for Phoebe then. I promise.”

“Well, one thing I know about you,” he said softly as he drew his arms around her and slowly unfastened the buttons along the back of her silk dress. “Is that you always keep your promises. As do I. And now I promise to put all my attention on you.”

“Very good,” she said and shivered as he drew the dress down her shoulders. It caught on the swell of her tummy and she smiled as she pushed it past the bump and down around her feet.

He stared at her, clad only in her chemise, the soft curves of her body moving under the silk. He wanted her so much that his cock actually throbbed in time to his beating heart. And he loved her so much that he felt like he could fly. He wanted to make her fly first though.

He caught her hand and drew her to the settee before the fire. She leaned back on it, smiling up at him, her hand extended for him.

He dropped to his knees and kissed her outstretched fingers, down the length of the inside of her arm, up her shoulder where he traced the thin strap of her chemise with his tongue.

“Kit,” she whispered, lifting beneath him in the most intoxicating fashion.

“Mmm-hmmm,” he murmured against her flesh as he caught the strap with his teeth and drew it down her arm.

She didn’t answer with words, but lifted against his chest with a shaky sigh.

He tugged the other strap away and bared her from the waist up.

Her breasts were fuller now, her body changing with the life growing inside of her.

He loved seeing those changes, worshipping all the newness of her as they anticipated the day that would be one of the greatest joys of both their lives.

He licked one nipple gently and she dug her fingers into his hair with a grunt. “God, all these changes make me so sensitive there,” she gasped out.

He laughed. “A feat, since you were very sensitive here before.”

He sucked a little harder and she cried out softly. He switched attention to the opposite breast and she ground her hips to his, demanding what she wanted wordlessly.

He didn’t intend to give her that yet. Instead he dragged his mouth down her body, tracing her ribcage with his tongue and then the curve of her belly.

He sucked along the line of her hip and she twisted against the settee.

When he rubbed his cheek against her thigh, her back bowed and she fisted her hands.

“Ready?” he asked, letting the soft whisper of the words move against her slick sex as he widened her legs.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Yes, yes.”

He parted her outer lips, massaging there as she whimpered his name again.

Then he stroked his tongue along her length, reveling in the flavor of her in her pleasure.

She rocked against his tongue, rolling with him as he teased her, played with her and eventually focused all his energy on her clitoris.

When he smoothed the hood away and began to suck her, she barked out his name in the quiet.

He chuckled against her, knowing the vibration would only serve to drive her wilder.

When she came, it was with a great gasping cry. She gripped his head tighter, rubbing against him as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her, into him. His cock was so hard watching it that he was trembling with her, anticipating the moment when he would take the sweetness he had readied.

When she collapsed back on the settee, he kissed her thigh and then straightened up, shedding the trousers.

“Come to the bed?” he murmured.

“No,” she said, widening her legs further. “Right here.”

He looked at the settee. They’d made love here many times, with her straddling him, with him gripping the back of the couch, driving into her with all his might as she mewled out his name.

“In the bed I can be…gentler,” he suggested.

She arched a brow. “You won’t break me. Or hurt the child. I want you to take me, Kit. Claim me because I’m yours.”

He shuttered. Sarah was so soft, so gentle outside of this room. When she was demanding inside of it, it woke something animal in him. Something that would do anything to make her wild.

He shoved between her legs, draping one over the crook of his elbow and angled himself against her, rubbing the head of his throbbing cock over her. She dug her fingernails into his forearm with a gulping cry and he smiled.

“You are mine,” he said and then he took her.

The feel of her velvety softness giving way to the hardness of his cock was heaven every time and this night was no different.

She gripped his length with every fast stroke, rising to meet him, gasping for air and purchase as he swept them both away on a sea of mounting pleasure.

When she came, she gripped him so hard that his vision blurred and he lost all vestiges of control.

He drove into her body and came, joining her in panting, gasping release.

He leaned over her, kissing her neck. “Did I hurt you?”

“Never,” she said. “But I will take that bed now.”

He lifted his head and brushed his lips to hers. “Your wish is my command, Your Grace.”

He stood and swept her up. Her laughing cry of surprise filled his heart with joy as he carried her to their bed and laid her down on the covers.

And as he joined her there, drawing her into his chest to hold her, to memorize the curves of her with his hands, he knew that together they could make anything right. Anything at all.