Page 34 of Secrets of the Marriage Bed

Falling into bliss. He cursed the wayward thought when his shaft gave a little jerk of approval.

‘You are quite safe.’

She snuggled her cheek against his chest. ‘I know.’

‘Nor will I risk life and limb for the dubious pleasure of outdoor intimacy.’

‘Dubious?’ she questioned, her expression hidden, but not the doubt in her voice.

‘Uncomfortable.’

‘And high.’

‘That, too.’

Back in control, mostly, he ducked his head and brushed his lips across hers. She deepened the kiss and he savoured the plush feel of her tender flesh, the feel of her fingers at his nape, the small sounds in the back of her throat as a simple kiss once more brought them both the brink.

Not for years had he had so much trouble maintaining control of his base urges. Perhaps if he stopped remembering her wearing nothing but the Dunstan rubies...

The rubies and her sighs and moans and her delectable body.

And...once more he was harder than granite.

He lifted her so she sat between his legs with her back to him and herderrièrea few decent inches from his falls. ‘Do you hear the lark?’

She listened, her body alert, her head cocked to one side, the milky skin below her ear so very available to his lips, his tongue, his teeth. He resisted temptation. They were married. There was no need for sore knees and splinters in naughty places. No need for anything in a marriage that would never be consummated.

‘I hear it.’ She leaned back to look up into the deepest blue of the sky. ‘I do not see it.’

‘Nor me.’

A white butterfly fluttered past.

‘Not much of a kaleidoscope, that one,’ he murmured in her ear.

She gave a light gasp before a breathless utterance. ‘No.’

He held her loosely and still he felt her heartbeat against his chest. ‘Tell me more about your first husband.’ He held his breath as her back stiffened. He cursed himself for spoiling what up to now had been a perfectly companionable interlude, if a little fraught with another kind of tension.

She rested her head against his shoulder, gazing out across the tree tops. For a moment or two he thought she would not answer.

Her voice was soft when she spoke. ‘He paid my brother a great deal of money for the privilege of my hand. Very quickly he decided he’d got a bad bargain, as he never stopped reminding me.’

And that was the least of it, no doubt. Rage rose in his chest.

‘I am sorry,’ he said, hoping his anger wasn’t apparent in his voice.

‘If you don’t mind, I’d prefer never to speak of him again.’

‘Forgive me for asking, then.’ He kissed her temple, her cheek, the hollow of her neck. ‘Please.’

He sensed her smile rather than saw it. ‘Forgiven.’

Her generosity of spirit almost made him feel ill. He did not deserve her forgiveness. Or her kisses. He should never have married her.

‘We should go,’ he said, knowing if he did not leave now, his control might give way to carnal desires. ‘The horses will think we’ve abandoned them.’ Carefully he got to his feet. ‘Give me your hand and I’ll help you down.’

She stood up and bestowed a glowing smile upon him that was a tiny bit mischievous, too. ‘Thank you for bringing me here. I know this place is special to you.’