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A handful went even further, sleeping next to their husbands on the bare ground, and searching for their fallen partners on the battlefield, sometimes while fighting was still going on around them.

It was far too easy to picture the dauntless Diana doing just that, an image that made his heart tighten and his vision go fuzzy around the edges.

He hit upon a convenient excuse. “Your brother won’t like it.”

That earned him a glower. “My brother is not my keeper.”

He snorted. “We can carve that on my tombstone after he murders me.”

She waved this off. “Don’t be absurd. He’s not going to murder you.”

He rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I’ve faced the French, and I am far more frightened of your brother.”

“Harrington.” She squeezed him again. “I’m not going to be rash. I’ve no intention of riding into the battle with bullets whizzing past my head like Susannah Dalbiac.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid you’ll do,” he muttered.

A slight narrowing of her eyes was the only sign she gave that she had heard him.

“But I believe it is possible for us to find some middle ground. Every moment of a deployment is not spent locked in combat. I have formed the impression that you spend most of your time sitting around, waiting for something to happen.”

Damned if he could argue with that. To be sure, there were long marches and the occasional battle. But soldiers spent upwards of ninety percent of their time waiting to receive orders.

He tried to choose his words carefully. “The problem is, the handful of moments when you aren’t waiting can be very, very dangerous. And the situation can shift quickly.”

She nodded. “And that is why it will be important for us to discuss the particulars of each situation. If danger is imminent, I will fall back to a safe distance.” She caught his gaze and held it.

“But you must acknowledge that there will be times when you’re billeted in a town a hundred miles from the enemy, awaiting orders, and there is no reason I could not be there with you. ”

He frowned. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.”

She did that thing with her eyebrow. “Are you suggesting that I have bad judgment?”

That brought him up short. “No. I know you have the best judgment.”

Her eyes flashed, and he knew this had been the right thing to say. “Then we must trust one another. We will discuss the particulars of each situation and make a rational decision. Together .”

He sighed. “I still don’t know.”

She crawled into his lap, and he knew enough about military strategy to recognize her shift in tactics. Her voice was husky as she said, “You must admit, there are some advantages to having me along.”

His breath had gone ragged. “Are there?”

“Mm-hmm.” She stroked his chest. “I’ve demonstrated my competence with a shotgun.

I’m sure at times there will be better game than seagulls.

” Her hand drifted lower, lingering on his stomach as she leaned forward and whispered, “Imagine returning to your tent after a hard day of drilling your troops to find a pair of pheasants roasting over the fire.”

As appealing as the image was, he wasn’t thinking with his stomach at the moment.

“I could arrange to have your laundry done. I could rub your back at the end of a long day. I could polish your rifle for you.”

Her hand lingered at the waistband of his trousers. His back and his rifle weren’t the things he was imagining her rubbing and polishing, as he imagined she knew.

Her voice was husky as she said, “There are so many things I could take care of for you.”

He gasped as she let her hand drift over his cock where it tented his trousers, and she began to stroke and tease him.

“Diana,” he gasped. “S-soldiers. Just over the rise. Someone will”—he made a strangled sound as she started flipping open the buttons of his falls—“h-h-hear.”

She gave him an arch look. “And what do other officers and their wives do during a deployment? When conditions force them to bed down on the ground together, or when only a thin layer of canvas separates them from their men’s listening ears? You can’t tell me their husbands don’t have… needs .”

Harrington shuddered as she slipped her soft little hand inside his trousers and wrapped it around his straining cock. “They do. Everyone can hear them coupling, of course. It’s unavoidable. But people tactfully pretend not to hear anything.”

He could hear the smile in her voice. “Fascinating.” She peeled the topmost blanket back and crawled inside.

He watched as if in a dream as she undid the wrapped tie on her gown, then pushed it off.

Her stays and petticoats immediately followed until she wore nothing but her shift.

God, but she looked beautiful in the moonlight.

She lay back on the blankets and lifted the hem of her shift, exposing the intimate flesh between her thighs to the starlight. “Take off your coat,” she encouraged. “And your boots. I want to make you comfortable .”

God help him. He was probably damning himself to hell. But he wanted her about as much as he wanted oxygen, and in spite of his good intentions, he removed his clothing with trembling hands.

“Good,” she whispered as he settled between her spread thighs. “That’s so good.” She arched her hips, eager for him. “Give me what I need.”

He shuddered. It was as if she somehow knew every one of his secret desires. How he loved to be praised in bed, how he longed for it.

Of course, the ultimate catharsis was to be told that he’d been good after he’d received a spanking, then been forced by his partner to “atone” for his misbehavior.

Preferably by placing his head between her thighs and giving her an absurd number of climaxes.

It was difficult to explain, but after a good spanking, he felt as if he had been absolved of his sins.

That was when he most craved praise and adoration from his partner, because for the briefest of moments, he could bring himself to believe all the wonderful things they said were true.

But hearing Diana tell him he was good made his heart glow, and even if the feeling wasn’t as intense as it would have been after a proper spanking, it was as much as he was ever going to get.

He would never ask her to spank him. It was important that she never find out what a degenerate he really was.

She reached down, taking his cock in her hand, and guided it to her entrance. He groaned as he found her already wet.

“That’s it,” she sighed as she helped him slip inside. “That’s so good. This is what it will be like. After a long day drilling your men, you won’t be alone. You’ll have me by your side, and in your bed.”

He moaned because that was everything he’d ever wanted.

This was all too much. Diana was overwhelming him with the tantalizing promise of comfort and caring and even love. Suddenly he was on the brink of his own climax, before he’d had the chance to bring her to pleasure.

He might not have access to his full array of tricks with half the King’s German Legion bedded down a few yards away.

But he would be damned if he didn’t make sure his wife found her pleasure.

Slipping a hand between their bodies, he found that special spot between her legs where she loved to be petted and gently circled his finger.

Diana gave a breathy gasp and spread her legs wider, giving him access.

Somehow, he managed to hold off until her thighs started to quiver and her fingers dug into his back. “Harrington!” she gasped in his ear. For a second, it made him feel like a king in a palace, instead of a humble soldier lying on the muddy ground, to know that he had brought her to pleasure.

Then it was his turn to groan and shake and tremble in her arms as white-hot pleasure burst behind his eyes.

Afterward, she pressed kisses against his jaw as she snuggled against him. “I’m going to make you see. I truly am happy being here with you. And our marriage is going to be an unequivocal success.”

Harrington felt peace wash over him as he drifted off to sleep beneath the stars.