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T he day of the wedding finally arrived.

Aunt Jocelyn gave them the green suite for their special night, and Mama blushingly tried to warn her about what to expect, but Fenella had no concerns about that.

She knew what the mechanics were, and Bear had already introduced her to pleasure.

She was confident she would enjoy it very much.

In one sense, her confidence wasn’t misplaced. What she hadn’t bargained on was Bear’s nervousness. After all, she was the virgin. She was the one who was supposed to be nervous. And it wasn’t lack of experience that made the poor man nervous either.

When he came into the bedroom from the dressing room in only a robe, she was ready for him and flung herself into his arms with joy.

“Bear, at last I get you all to myself,” she said with satisfaction.

He caught her to him, cupped her face, murmuring, “Fenella, my love.” And they kissed. And went on kissing, for quite some time. Breathless, hot and eager, she tugged him to the bed. “Shouldn’t we—?” she nodded at the bed.

“Yes. Yes of course.” He paused a moment, and she frowned up at him.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he confessed, flushing faintly.

She laughed and bussed his nose with her lips.

“Silly! I’m quite prepared for that. I’m sure if it does hurt it won’t for long, and I won’t even mind if it does, because it’s you and—” she blushed and said in a breathless rush, “I want you. So much, I’ve thought of practically nothing else since we met. Please don’t make me wait any longer!”

“Oh, Fen!” he said with a soft groan, his face creasing in a melting smile as he drew her closer. “I love you so much, sweetheart,” he murmured, kissing her again.

Impatiently Fen leaped at him, wrapping her arms and legs round him, and he caught her, staggering slightly.

“All right,” he said, laughing at her eagerness.

She giggled back at him, and he carried her over to the bed where he tumbled her onto the bedclothes and pulled the tie of his robe, shrugging it off.

She lifted the hem of her night gown. “We don’t need this do we?” she asked.

“Slow down, sweetheart. I want to savor you. We won’t get this opportunity again. Take it slow and enjoy it.”

“Oh, I plan to,” she said, putting her arms up to pull him down on top of her. He let her, settling his satisfying weight half on her body, so he could touch her and look at her in between drugging kisses that had her hot and pulsing for more.

Finally, he pushed her gown up and let her help him to take it off, murmuring appreciatively, “Oh Fen, you are so beautiful.” His mouth on her breasts made her mewl with delight as the tugging sent throbs to the place between her legs.

She couldn’t wait for him to touch her there, like he had before.

He made her wait. However, it was worth it as she melted under his electrifying touch. The slow stroking of his fingers roused her to a fever pitch, but then to her frustration he stopped. Instead, moving his lips down her body in a series of kisses on her skin that made her squirm.

“Bear, please!”

“Hush,” he murmured, then his mouth was there, warm and—oh so delicious, her body melted and arched in aching longing. So sweet, so—ooh!

She moaned helplessly while he committed the most wonderful act upon her body she had ever experienced—with his mouth!

His lips and tongue were instruments of pleasurable torture.

And when his fingers joined the fray, she spread her legs wider, with a whimpering moan, to allow him full access for whatever he wanted to do to her.

His finger slid inside her easily. She was so wet she barely felt any discomfort as he added another and another, while his mouth kept her body in a simmering fever of— almost . His fingers slid in and out gently, his tongue playing with her arousal.

“Beroald!” she groaned and whimpered and begged. Almost! Her frustration mounted as she teetered on the edge, and somehow, he kept her there. Little teasing throbs of pleasure, stopping short of the electric explosion she had felt before.

Finally, when she thought she would go mad if he didn’t do something, he lifted his head, wiped his face with one hand and repositioned his body over hers, settling into the cradle of her hips. She lifted her legs and smiled eagerly up at him.

“Now?” she asked.

He nodded. “I think you’re ready.”

“I was ready an hour ago!” she said.

He shook his head with a smile and kissed her gently.

He tasted of her, salty and a kind floral musk.

She chased his mouth when he withdrew it, and he let her kiss him, while he shifted his hips.

Then she felt the brush of the head of his cock against her swollen, wet flesh.

A pulse of need made her move toward him as he moved toward her, their bodies connecting.

Between one moment and the next they were joined as he moved inside her with barely a pinch of discomfort, and his hardened flesh pushed deep, filling her.

The sensation was strange but neither uncomfortable nor unwelcome.

“All right?” he asked, his breathing elevated. She could tell from the tautness of his expression and the rigidity in his body that he was holding himself in check.

“Yes. Yes,” she said, suddenly breathless in her turn.

“Good.” He eased his body and began a slow movement that very soon was as tortuously teasing as his way of arousing her had been. She moaned softly with each movement, taking his advice and savoring every stroke.

He touched her hair, grabbed her hands, kissed her lips, her cheek her neck, murmuring things she couldn’t catch, as he increased the pace and firmness of his stroke, his breath growing increasingly ragged.

She moved with him, urging him to go faster. She was approaching that edge again. The pleasure spiraled up and up, her breath caught on a moan. She flung her head back and her world shattered in a thousand shards of nerve-tingling pleasure.

He groaned with her as his body convulsed, and she felt his release deep within her, a hot pulsing flood that sent little wavelets of continued pleasure through her body.

Slowly he collapsed on her, panting, and he murmured, “Are you all right?”

“Yes, oh yes,” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes at the poignancy of the moment.

“Good,” he said again, and let out a sigh. His lips traced a kiss along her neck. “It’s gets better with practice, Fen.”

“How can it be better than that?” she asked.