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“Back to that are we?”

“Here we will always be the infamous Mr and Mrs Caine. In America, we would simply be us. The beginning we should have had, the life we should have had. There, we are simply a wealthy couple from England, desperate to escape the bad weather, and to raise our family in a new country.”

Azriel sat up, looking at me wide-eyed. “Evie, are you-”

“No, not yet,” I said with a soft laugh. “But while you were recovering, I went to see a doctor who specialises in fertility. I… wanted to be sure there was truly nothing wrong with me. And there is not. I am healthy, and more than able to bear you children.”

Azriel kissed my hand, over and over. “Of course you can, and you will.”

“And for that very reason, I desire nothing more than a fresh start with you. Away from this place, from these crumbling walls.” I gestured around the room. “Away from yourfather’s ghost. All the ghosts, all the bad memories. We deserve more than what we have here.”

Azriel nodded, slowly mulling over my words. “There are so many ghosts in these walls. Even one of myself, the kind of man I would want to leave behind.”

I took his face in my hands, gazing into his clear blue eyes. “I love every piece of you. All of it. And I take you knowing what you are, what you have done. And if our union was borne of blood and darkness, then let it be so. I am yours. In blood and darkness, I am yours.”

His eyes darkened, and he rose from the tub. “Take off that dress.”

“Azriel, the doctor said-”

“I don’t give a damn what the doctor said.” He seized my chin, forcing his thumb against my lips, into my mouth, running it over my lip. “Now, take off that fucking dress.”

I backed away from him slowly, and he had to let go of me to get out of the tub. “I thought you knew I cannot take these dresses off myself.”

“Do I need to slice you out of it again, wife?” He snatched up a towel, giving his body a precursory rub, before stalking after me again. “I’m happy to.”

“I am rather fond of this dress though,” I said, running my hands over the blue silk. “It would be a shame to see it ruined.”

He charged at me, seizing me around the waist, his hands already tangling in the bindings at my waist. “Going to make me wait even longer are you?”

“You’re a resourceful kind of man, I’m sure you can take off a dress if you really want what lies beneath.”

With a growl he spun me around, untying the bodice of my dress far more nimbly than I expected him to.

“You seem rather experienced with all this, well doneyou,” I said with a gasping laugh, as he yanked on the skirt and shoved it down my legs.

“You’re not the first woman I’ve undressed, beloved,” he murmured against my ear, biting my earlobe. "But you certainly shall be the last.”

“You make this seem so easy.” I laughed as he stripped the last few layers of my clothing from my body, easily removing my corset. “You missed your calling, my darling.”

“No indeed.” He pushed me down over the window seat, and I caught myself with my hands. “I am precisely where I must be.” He kneeled behind me, his fingers tracing over my sex. “I am your servant.”

And serve me he did, worshipping me with a hungry mouth, devouring and licking, sucking my bud between his lips.

“Azriel,” I breathed, my hands shaking. “The door, it is-Oh!- it is not locked.”

Of course my husband was not the least bit perturbed by this information. He continued on, like a man starved, leading me to the brink then stopping as soon as my cries became high-pitched, knowing my need was taking over.

“I’m not done tasting you yet,” he murmured against my heated skin, chuckling as another long lick to my centre made me quiver. “And when I am done, I will fuck this little tight cunt of yours, and you had better scream for me wife, and let all of London hear you are my whore.”

My soul was as black as night, and I was damned for certain, for those words had me moaning, need humming through my veins. I tried to buck my hips against his face, leading him back to where I wanted him, seeking yet more friction, more heat, more of his tongue, more of him, but every time I tried, he drew back, laughing that dark laugh, knowing I needed him, wanted him.

By the time sweat broke out across my skin, and pleasbegan falling from my lips, he was groaning against me, and I knew he was almost as crazed as I.

He rose to his feet, positioning himself at my entrance, pausing until I whined, my fingers clawing into the upholstery as I begged him, “Please, Azriel, oh god, please.”

“Does my pretty little wife want to come?” His tone was teasing but taut, filled with his own need, barely able to hold back

“Please.” I choked out, gasping as he slammed into me, all the way and with no restraint. He did not give me a moment to adjust as he began to pound into me, and the release that had been so close, so deliciously close, now warmed every inch of my body, the sweet pressure building within me until it exploded, my back arching and my hands scrambling for balance.