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“Good girl,” he murmured, and she shuddered in pleasure at his praise.

He settled between her thighs, his lips trailing ever downward until he came to the thatch of dewy curls.

The first rasp of his tongue on her innermost flesh wrenched a delighted shriek from her. When he sucked on the bundle ofnerves that ached and throbbed, she saw light explode behind her closed eyelids.

“Hudson!” she moaned, writhing beneath him. “Hudson,please!”

But her husband was single-minded in the pursuit of her pleasure. Gently, he slid another finger into her, stretching her, filling her, as he tasted and licked at her womanhood. His wicked tongue was a thing of wonder, and he was an expert at putting it to such good use.

Her fingers speared into his hair, her moans becoming ragged pants as pleasure surged inside her, building up like a wave gathering speed…

And then she crashed on the shore with a triumphant scream, her body arching off the bed as he continued to thrust his fingers into her, his mouth fastened on her as she exploded into a million shards of light.

Still, he did not relent, and soon her body was wracked with another climax. Only when she had become a quivering mess on the sheets did he release her, his gaze somber as he stroked his length from root to tip.

Scarlett gazed at him in awe. In the firelight, he was like a burnished god—if gods tolerated scars on their unblemished skin. For her, however, they were marks of his valor. Of what it took for him to crawl out of hell and find his way to her.

If Hudson had not found the strength within him to do that… it broke her heart to think that she might have truly lost him before she ever got to know him.

She sat up and trailed her lips over the scar on his shoulder. His hands stilled when she covered them with her own.

“Where did you get this?” she murmured.

“From the war,” he said softly. “The shrapnel from the cannon tore through my shoulder. It was a miracle that I got to keep my arm.”

She kissed his scar as her hand stroked his length. “Show me how to pleasure you, husband.”

He groaned. “You are doing a very good job of it, wife.” He smiled at her. “Any more, and I fear I will expire from it.”

She smiled at him wickedly. “Come now, I thought we had already agreed that I very much prefer you alive.”

He pushed her down onto the bed, his voice hoarse. “I will come but only inside you, my sweet.”

He thrust into her hand with a growl, and she guided him to her entrance. The memory of the dazzling ecstasy that followed their first time gave her the courage.

“I… I want you inside me,” she told him shyly.

“Then you shall have me,” he groaned.

She felt the blunt tip of him prodding her entrance and sucked in a deep breath. There was no pain this time, only the keen sensation of being stretched.

Scarlett watched as her husband loomed over her, his eyes squeezed shut in concentration as he fought to control himself.

“Hudson.”

His eyes opened, hazed with desire. Bright with something that made her heart flutter in her chest.

Love.

He loved her.

Just as much as she loved him.

His smile was tremulous as he said, “If you keep looking at me like that…”

Her hands came up to his shoulders, and she tilted her hips to meet his, taking more of him inside her, letting out a sigh and wrenching a groan from him.

“You need not be so polite on my account,” she assured him. “I am not as fragile as you think. And,” she added with a smile, “I love it so much when you are being wicked.”