Page 43

“ T hat was a rather uneventful ceremony,” Hugh remarked, and Selina turned to him in the carriage with a grin, all of her nerves singing a melody that she would float on for ages.

“That is because it was not interrupted. I dare say that if your metric for judging the eventfulness of a wedding is based on the last one you ‘ attended’ then you shall think them all rather dull.”

Selina smiled with a chuckle as Hugh leaned over in the seat, taking her chin and kissing her passionately. They were married. After a busy month of planning, apologizing to Magnus even more, and smoothing what ruffles she could with her friends and the ton, Hugh and Selina were, in fact, married.

And blissfully happy to boot.

Before his arrival into her life, Selina would have thought a marriage of love completely out of the question for her, and it was very nearly so.

Had Hugh not rushed into the church, she was not sure what the future might have held.

She was going to go after him herself, of course, but it was his display that had eased the priest’s tension surrounding marrying them.

He’d seen how genuine Hugh was, and it had “touched his withered, old heart.” His words.

So this morning, she had wed her true love in front of her family and friends—though her dear Ethel was still missing which pained her considerably—in the same church where she had been set to marry Magnus.

He was taking the entire thing rather well in fact.

He was disappointed that he would still require a wife to help care for Kitty, but he was not crushed or heartbroken.

She could remember the day when they’d spoken about everything, and the well wishes Magnus had left her with.

“I saw the way he looked at you, Selina.” Magnus squeezed her hand.

“I know love when I see it by now. After Charlotte and Frederick, Amelia and Richard, and now you, it has become increasingly easy to spot when one of my friends is head over heels in love with someone. I truly wish you only the best. I shall simply require a new partner to join me.”

“Thank you, Magnus.” She embraced him, kissing his cheek. “You are a dear friend, and I only hope that you, too, are able to find love.”

“We shall see.”

Selina made a mental note to herself to enquire with him again in the coming days. She would also reach out to Ethel because the worry surrounding her absence had grown monumentally.

The carriage bumped into a rather large divot in the road, and as the coach jostled, it launched Selina toward Hugh.

They laughed together, and he kept her there, holding her in his arms and pressing her to his chest. Time slowed as Selina looked up into her new husband’s eyes.

That familiar stirring of desire tingled through her entire body.

She wanted him, and they were so close to the estate.

“And just what are you thinking about, dearest?” Hugh cocked a brow as he stared into her eyes, his own already gleaming with mischievous intent.

“Hmm,” Selina hummed against him, lifting herself up so that she could brush her lips over Hugh’s, “that I would very much like to be alone with my husband.”

Hugh cast his glance around the interior of the carriage, smirking when he returned his eyes to hers and took her chin between his fingers.

“Are you not? I do not see anyone else but you, Selina dear.”

Selina chuckled, her insides flaring with heat as Hugh’s expression grew darker and increasingly lustful. His other hand traveled down her side where he held her toward her back, reaching lower and lower until his hand gripped the swell of her arse. He squeezed, eliciting a tiny yelp from her.

“You are terrible. We are in the coach, and there is only a short time before we reach the estate.”

Hugh grinned, but it was all hungry and wanton. “Not short enough.”

Crashing his lips against hers, Hugh claimed her mouth passionately once more, but it was so much more intense than the last kiss.

Selina melted into his touch, moaning quietly as the worry of being caught drifted into the background to become a slight buzz of concern.

It stood no chance against the boiling arousal that pumped through her as Hugh tangled his tongue with hers.

The state coach they rode in, a special choice for their wedding day, had only a single window in the door, and the privacy it provided was actually quite robust. Selina mentally thanked whoever had designed the vehicle because Hugh proved, yet again, that he was not a patient man when it came to his passions.

And he did have such a fondness for the thrill of potential discovery.

Selina was lost to the unending kisses, the way her new husband caressed her neck and breasts as he roamed his touch over her backside. After a few moments, she was desperate for breath and leaned back. It only served to open her neck up for him, and Hugh lavished her with kisses and playful bites.

“Hugh… oh, my…” Her eyes rolling closed, Selina allowed herself to drape backward, Hugh’s strong hold keeping her from falling.

“Shh, my dear,” he rumbled, his words thrumming against her skin. “I intend to have you falling apart for me at least once before we arrive home, and I shall require your discretion .”

“I am not sure if?—”

But her words were silenced as Hugh pulled her up to his mouth for a kiss, only to spin her around in his lap, bunching up the layers of her dress.

Her back pressed to his chest, and Hugh immediately dropped his lips to her throat, and his hands explored her thoroughly.

One gripped her breast, freeing her nipple from the fabric of her gown by lifting her breast out of the cloth prison.

The other reached around her hip and between her legs, disappearing under the skirt of her dress.

Selina was forced to bite back a moan as Hugh rolled her nipple between his fingers, his other hand searching out the growing heat and wetness of her core. Her legs splayed wide for him, and she was held so closely to Hugh’s body that she could feel the hardness of his manhood against her back.

A finger swiped across her seam. “Oh, precious. You are so ready for me.”

Hips bucking at the sensation, Selina quickly brought her knuckles to her mouth, biting them to keep herself from crying out.

Her mind was a swirling mess as the need inside her grew.

Her body seemed to move on its own as Hugh teased her, rocking up and down against his touch.

It didn’t take long for him to slip deeper, two fingers finding the sensitive bundle of nerves at her tip and pressing it hard.

“Ugh,” she whimpered against her knuckles, pain hitting them as her teeth closed down tighter.

“That’s it, my darling.” Hugh ran his fingers in circles around the needy bud, pinching her nipple as he murmured against her neck. “Seek out your pleasure. Use my touch as you will.”

“Hugh… I… oh, God…” Selina was already so close to the precipice of her desire; the sensations Hugh delivered were beyond incredible.

Without warning, Hugh plunged his fingers into her depths, his thumb resting against that overworked bud as he pumped in and out of her. Selina could remember the hallway of that party all those months ago, how wild and wonderful it had felt to have him take her in such a public setting.

She was realizing that his penchant for risky interactions was one she shared.

The carriage was filled with the sounds of her labored breathing, and Hugh never stopped working her, whispering deliciously filthy words to her as his own straining need was thick and potent behind her.

Selina rocked her hips as she sat with her legs spread so wide for him.

It drove his fingers deeper while offering the stimulation Selina was sure her husband was desperate for.

Whimpering as he did, Hugh thrust his fingers quicker, still twirling her nipple about in his other hand. He hooked his digits up into this amazing spot within her, one he seemed to find so readily, and pressed hard, drawing small circles against the needy flesh.

Warmth and wetness pooled in her center as Hugh claimed her with just his hand, and Selina’s eyes screwed up tight as she rushed ever faster toward the edge of that invisible cliff. She ground herself against his touch, achingly close now.

“Please… please, Hugh… I must…”

“Yes, darling. Let me feel you. Ugh,” he thrust into her harder, nipping at her neck, “the feel of you is utter perfection. I shall never tire of it.”

The words and sensations all swirled together to create something magical, and Selina flew off the edge of that cliff, soaring out into the sky as she fell apart around Hugh’s fingers. It was consuming, and she had to force herself to remain quiet with everything she had.

But that fact only seemed to heighten the bliss.

Selina rode the high of her climax for several moments until the carriage bumped over rougher ground and its speed slowed.

They were arriving at the estate. Quietly, Hugh slipped from her, rearranging Selina’s attire so that nothing was a miss.

She could hardly think during the entire process, and before she knew it, the tiger was at the coach door to help them descend.

Hugh stepped around her and then turned back to the carriage, meeting Selina’s lust-tired eyes. He grinned and reached for her, sweeping his new bride up into his arms before her feet could touch the ground.

“If you’ll excuse us,” Hugh said to the fleet of servants who’d waited at the estate steps to welcome them home, “my wife is quite exhausted from this morning’s adventure. We shall ring if we need anything, but for now, we intend to meet everyone at the celebration after a short rest.”

“Of course, Your Grace.”

Hugh carried Selina all the way up to their bedroom—once his that she would now share with him—and laid her down on the bed, glancing over her with a wolfish grin.

“You look so beautiful like this.”

Selina offered a crooked grin, furrowing her brow as she pushed herself up on her elbows.

“Like what?”

“Still glowing with the rush of pleasure.” Hugh’s words immediately made her blush all the harder, and then he was upon her again, crashing his lips on hers, and he fumbled with her ties and layers to get her naked. “But you look even better when you don’t have all the damned clothes on you.”

Selina chuckled, helping her husband to strip her bare. It didn’t take long with the haste of their movements, and she proceeded directly to Hugh’s clothes, working him free of them so that they could lie together finally.

“I have been thinking about this moment all day,” she whispered.

“Oh, and why is that?” Hugh dragged kisses along her skin, from lips to neck to chest and beyond. “We have hardly kept our hands off each other for the past month.”

“Yes, but—” a moan interrupted her words as Hugh’s tongue found her hips and then danced lower and lower. “Now we do this as man and wife. There’s a special energy about that.”

Hugh looked up at her from between her thighs and smiled. “There is, wife . And I plan to keep you here in our marital bed until we’re forced to go to that damned party.”

Selina laughed, shaking her head to herself. Hugh had hardly been the master of etiquette before they were together. Still, now that their relationship was official, he’d become even less concerned about maintaining proper decorum around her. She’d never admit it, but she loved it.

Worshipping her body, Hugh explored every inch of her before devouring her center.

He was miraculously skilled with his tongue, and in moments, she was thrust right back up to that edge of release.

But he paused, blowing across her overheated flesh to tease her.

They were home now, and Selina knew that her husband would take his time getting her to the edge and then backing off.

“Damn you,” she whimpered, her hips circling as she sought more sensation.

“You adore it, darling. You cannot lie to me.” Part of her did, it was true. However, with each trip to the edge, Selina grew more and more impatient, more desperate for the release that ached to be set free. “And your beauty only grows when you whimper and whine for me.”

Her cheeks burned, the feeling of being so observed by Hugh, but his praise lit her up inside. She allowed herself to make every sound of need and desperation that possessed her, hoping that at last, Hugh would give her the release she so craved.

At once, he crawled up her body, claiming her in a fiery kiss as his length speared inside her.

Selina cried out against his lips, overcome by the sensations and immediately climaxing.

Her devious husband pumped in and out of her, taking her so thoroughly, and Selina was lost to a land of perpetual bliss.

That was the truth of why she adored this.

When Hugh finally allowed her release, it would last until the very end of their time together, and his presence inside her felt all the more incredible.

He was thick and mighty. She was so wonderfully full with him inside her, and the nerves in her body hummed with intoxicating arousal.

“My wife,” Hugh whispered, “my sweet, sweet wife. Oh, how I love you.”

She smiled, undoubtedly still affected by the passion that overwhelmed her, and Selina pulled Hugh’s forehead to her own.

“And I love you, my roguish husband.”

Their pace quickened all the more, and then Selina was reaching the stars with the power of her pleasure, Hugh following along with her, a low grunting moan escaping him as his hips stuttered, and he emptied himself.

It was total bliss, and Selina would never tire of the way he delivered such pleasure to her. As their frenzy died down, Hugh lay beside her, cupping her breast as he idly swiped his thumb back and forth over her nipple.

“Are you happy, my love?” He glanced down at her, a soft smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Abundantly. More than ever before.”

Leaning down to kiss her, Hugh hummed before leaning back and lying against the bed, pulling her under his arm.

“Excellent. Then rest well, for I intend to make you abundantly happy at least once more before the party starts.”

The End?