Page 59 of A Scarred Wallflower for the Duke

Vincent chuckled, kicking off his trousers. “I am all of those things. And you love me for it.”

“I do,” said Georgina. “Desperately.”

He thrust inside her in one movement. Georgina cried out, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, unable to get him close enough. She wanted every inch of him. Everywhere his body touched hers felt alive, aflame.

They began to move together, slowly at first, then faster, a blissful rhythm that Georgina lost herself in. This was her life now, she thought distantly. This life of pleasure, and love—and the utterly unexpected. She closed her eyes, as the dizzying sensation overwhelmed her; as the blaze in her body intensified and filled the blackness behind her eyelids with stars.

Pleasure crashed over her suddenly and she cried out, clinging to Vincent, anchoring herself to him. Moments later, she felt him shudder inside her. Heard him groan in her ear. Felt him sink down on the bed and pull her tightly into his arms. They lay in silence for a long time, listening to their softening breathing and the irregular sigh of the lamp. Finally, Vincent planted a kiss on her lips and sat up.

“This is how I want to draw you,” he said. “This is the moment I want to remember. You, just as you are right now.”

Georgina smiled. “Yes. I want to look back at the drawing when I am old and gray and remember how beautiful I looked on my wedding day.”

Vincent leaned over her, drawing her into a long kiss. “You will still be beautiful when you are old and gray,” he told her. “And I will be there beside you, reminding you of that every day.”

The End?