Page 37 of A Scandal In July
Lenore laughed. It was clear he was desperate to continue, and the fact that he’d deny himself, even to the point of pain, just to reassure her of his honorable intentions, was all the evidence she needed that he was a good man.
Luckily for him, she was a verybadwoman, and now she had him here, there was no chance she’d let him go without finishing what he’d started.
“You can’t stop now,” she said, wriggling her hips so they both groaned at the delicious friction. “That’s like setting off on an expedition and giving up a few miles from the end. I want the whole adventure.”
He let out a breathless laugh. “Whatever the lady wants.”
He rocked forward, entering her slowly, then pulled back, watching her face for any sign of discomfort. She tilted her hips, instinctively seeking a better angle, and the next time he slid in a little further.
There was no pain, just a slight stretch, and soon he was seated to the hilt inside her.
“So good,” he groaned, sounding as if he was barely holding on to his control. “Hold on.”
Lenore wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as he started to move, slowly at first, then with ever-increasing speed. Her body clenched around him, and the friction of him inside her was even better than that of his fingers.
She stroked her hands along his sides, over the ridges of his ribs, then down to the smooth mounds of his backside, and he groaned against her shoulder when she gave his arse a cheeky squeeze, just as he’d done to her at the boat shed.
He quickened his pace, hitting a spot inside her that made her teeter on the edge of that wonderful drop again, and then she fell, arching her back and crying out as another surge of pleasure racked her body.
Her convulsions must have finished him off, because with a deep groan he tensed within her, and his whole body pulsed with his release. He groaned her name as he came, loud enough to be heard right across the island, and she smiled up at the canopy of trees above her head, entirely satisfied.
He collapsed on top of her, squashing her for a brief moment, then seemed to come to his senses and rolled to her side, withdrawing from her body.
Lenore felt wonderful, sated and tingling and utterly replete. She’d always suspected being ravished by Rhys would be delightful, but this had exceeded her expectations.
“Well, I’m definitely compromised now,” she wheezed.
Rhys let out a weary chuckle and rolled onto his back to stare at the sky. “Bloody Hell, woman. Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that?”
“Since the first moment you saw me,” Lenore chuckled. “You said.”
“It bears repeating. I didn’t even think you were real, at first. I thought maybe I’d dreamed you up. My perfect woman. But then you spoke, and told me your name, and I started being an idiot.”
“It’s only taken you a year to realize it,” she smiled. “And I did everything I could to show you I was interested. I wore the most beautiful dresses, encouraged a score of men fall in love with me, just to spur you into competing.”
Rhys let out a heartfelt groan. “I told you. Scrambled brain. You’re going to have to do most of the thinking.”
Her turned his head to look at her. “Where do you want to get married? Here? Or back in London? I don’t care which.”
“Here. I always thought the little church in the village was pretty, and I’ve never wanted a big public society wedding.”
“Done,” he said. “I wish we didn’t have to wait the three weeks required to have the banns read, but it can’t be helped. I think we Davies have used up our share of special licenses for a decade. The Archbishop of Canterbury must be sick of us.”
“Will we live at Trellech?” Lenore asked.
His brows rose. “Would you like that? I thought you’d want to keep traveling the world.”
“I’d like to travel a bit, but only with you. And I’d love to live at Trellech. Then, I could easily work in the butterfly house at Newstead.”
“In that case, yes. Although I do have quite a nice town house in London, just off Grosvenor Square.”
Lenore sighed in happiness. “I have a confession to make.”
His lips quirked in amusement. “Oh really? Do tell.”
“I asked the Aunts to contrive ways for us to be alone together. This entire treasure hunt was a way for me to spend time with you to see if I could convince you to love me.”
Rhys blew a lock of his hair off his forehead and laughed. “I needed no convincing. And, well, I have a confession to make too. I asked my siblings to take every opportunity to push us together. Morgan was kind enough to lock us in the boat shed, and even kinder to leave us here without any oars. I think I owe him a drink.”