Page 20

When he let her up for air, Nancy shivered.

She wriggled into a better position then eased her hand downward to trace the hard bulge of his erection, and he nearly expired on the spot.

Had anything ever felt as sweet, especially after so long?

That daring touch left him gasping. “Explore all you want, love. We’re not going back.

” He grabbed her hand, moved it up and down his straining shaft.

When she smiled, his world shifted, tilted.

Never would he be the same. What would it feel like to bury himself deep into her honeyed heat and hear the sounds of pleasure she made while he thrust?

Soon, he would know.

His length pressed urgently against the front of his trousers, but he couldn’t stop kissing her, exploring her lips while brushing his fingers through the curls at the apex of her thighs.

At her gasp, he slipped his tongue into her mouth to duel with hers.

The deepening kisses were just as he’d hoped, and when she opened her thighs slightly, her moan twined with his.

Edward nuzzled the spot where her shoulder met her neck, and when she shivered, he grinned against her skin.

He adored how responsive she was. As he dragged his lips up the side of her throat, he further encouraged her thighs apart to dance his fingers along her heated flesh.

The acceleration of her breathing urged him onward, then he once more worried a nipple with his tongue and teeth while caressing her folds to draw forth her arousal.

“Edward…” Nancy furrowed her fingers through his hair, applied the slightest bit of pressure on his nape to guide him closer.

As if he needed encouragement. Moving restlessly against him, she again curled a hand into his shirt.

“I am becoming drunk on you; have craved you for far too long.” The whispered admission gave him the permission he sought.

Then she turned more fully into him, and his fingertips traced the rim of her opening. “Oh!” The little squeak of surprise tugged at his heart. “I’d forgotten how lovely this could be when I wasn’t dreading it.”

“God, you’re surprising, wonderful,” he whispered, seconds before he swiped his tongue over a nipple. And she was his.

She clutched at his shoulder, moving her hips, which only caused his fingers to graze along her more sensitive parts. “Make me fly, Edward, make me break. Replace my less than happy memories with better ones.”

It was all the permission he needed, but damn, he wanted to see her naked, burnished by the cheerful fire behind the grate. Perhaps another time, and still he continued to strum his fingers along her flesh, priming her.

Nancy smiled at him, and there was such heat in her gaze, need shot through his length and tingled in his stones.

“I need you here.” She laid a hand atop his and pressed his fingers against herself, near that swelling pearl at her center.

“Obviously, I have done this before, but with you, I feel it will be different… right.”

“I think so to, but I was giving you time to acclimate…”

“I don’t need it, for I am quite sure.” She met his gaze, and there was nothing but honesty in her eyes. “Claim me.”

“Ah, I…” he managed to choke out from a suddenly tight throat. The trust she’d placed in him left him humbled but with a sense of protectiveness for her. It was heady stuff indeed. When he furrowed his fingers through her curls, a moan escaped him from her readiness. “You are so ready.”

“Then you shouldn’t encounter any resistance.”

The wink she gave him, combined with her state of dishabille, the need in her expression, and the warmth of her flesh, sent him falling down a slippery slope he’d wanted to explore with her years ago.

And now he was here. “Right.” He sucked a pebbled nipple into his mouth while rubbing his fingers over that tiny, hidden button at the center of her pleasure.

“Oh!” Nancy jerked in his hold, but she moved her hand from his to rest on his shoulder. Her eyes opened wide reflecting wonder and hunger; she bumped her hips against his palm, and it was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen. “Do you know what you are doing to me?” she whispered in a choked voice.

“I have a fair idea.” Smug satisfaction burgeoned in his chest. As he worked, his shaft tightened to the point of pain, but he ignored his discomfort to bring her bliss. The faster he rubbed that nubbin, the more her breathing became labored.

Tiny moans and sighs left her throat, and each one pushed him farther to the point of no return.

She clutched at his shoulders while her body undulated against his, and every brush, each new touch was both heaven and hell.

He was perilously close to embarrassing himself, but he couldn’t stop—wouldn’t continue to other things—until he’d sent her flying.

Her thighs trembled. She pulled him closer and alternately tried to push him away. “Mmm, oh…” She writhed in a restless rhythm. “I will break soon; it’s been too long.” One of her hands drifted to a breast, plucked at a nipple. Was she even aware she did that?

How erotic was it that she wasn’t ashamed to pleasure herself while he touched her?

Was there anything more sensual than a woman on the edge of release?

“Fall over the edge for me, sweeting. Let me see you find bliss,” he murmured like a man possessed.

“Show me that you adore my touch, my fingers on you.”

“I do, and it’s even better than I imagined.” She panted, her hips gyrating into his hand, her body sliding against his as she moved restlessly. “Almost…”

He bent his head and kissed her—hard and deep—and at the same time increased both the friction and the intensity on her swollen button.

“Yes.” The whispered word, the way she nipped his bottom lip, the curl of her fingers into his shoulder sent need streaking through his shaft.

“I’m… Ah!” Her body stiffened. Her fingers flexed on his shoulders, the nails sending tiny pinpricks of pain through his blood, and then her back arched, her eyes closed, and she screamed as she hit bliss.

“Damn.” Quickly, Edward kissed her, took the remainder of the sound into himself to minimize alerting anyone from the house party that hadn’t gone on to church. She shivered and trembled in his arms.

Eventually, she came back to reality, and there was a flush over her chest and in her cheeks.

With a shuddering sigh, she collapsed—melted really—into the sofa and into his embrace.

Flashing an exhausted but satiated grin, she rested the back of her wrist to her forehead.

“That was beyond anything I have ever dreamed of.”

“Then you should truly enjoy what is next.” The hold on his control snapped. It was now or never. Shifting position once more, he settled himself between her legs that were bent at the knee. “Wrap your legs around my waist. This will no doubt go quickly, for I’ve been out of practice for a bit.”

“There will be other times for drawn out teasing.” She’d barely followed his instructions before he kissed her, showed her with his tongue what he would soon do to her body.

It was quite a powerful aphrodisiac, and he was nearly beside himself knowing he had years of this ahead of him with her.

A haze of passion and desire clouded his mind.

Then urgency compelled him to get on with it.

He penetrated her body, not stopping until he’d fully seated himself.

“Never will I tire of this. When I claim you, when I know you are mine, when you surrender to me… love me.” If he wasn’t careful, he would turn into a watering pot.

“I feel as if we were always meant to be here… together.”

“Yes.” This moment of pause while she rested, impaled on his thick length, made him truly realize how damned fortunate he was.

And then he couldn’t wait any longer, for his shaft squeezed in warning.

They communed in a dance as old as time itself.

Again and again, he speared into her, his hips flexing, and when she looped her arms about his shoulders and met each thrust, he had never been happier.

Deeper he went, perhaps in an effort to touch her soul, and she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, and still he worked her body, claimed it, melded them into one being essentially.

Then he changed his rhythm. His thrusts were more frantic, fast, deep. Nancy apparently gave up trying to match his strokes, for she clung to him. All too soon she tipped over the edge once more, and seconds before he lost himself, he thrust inside her again, then his shaft pulsed and jerked.

Edward uttered her name in a graveled voice.

He ground his hips into hers as he enjoyed that bliss.

Afterward, he held her so close the steady beat of her heartbeat was in her ears.

Never would he forget this night. “I am so damned fortunate to have finally won you,” he murmured against the satin skin of her neck.

She looked at him with love and joy reflected in her eyes. “I think you have always owned my heart, but this time ‘round, I don’t intend to lose you.”

As they lay together catching their breath and coming back to reality, the sound of the door adjoining the drawing room to the billiards room creaked open.

“Bloody hell.” He hadn’t thought to lock that door. “Stay silent.” Pulling Nancy closer into the protective shield of his arms, he pressed her back into the back of the sofa while peeking around the edge of the arm rest.

Then his sister came into view with Reggie. The unmistakable sounds of kissing commenced for a few moments before she spoke. “It’s our second Christmas together, darling.”

“Every day since the one I married you has been my favorite.” Reggie pressed his forehead to Kitty’s. “I can’t wait to make our announcement tomorrow.”

“Me neither.” She kissed him again. “Our life is about to change again.”

“Life has been surprising and amazing.” As Edward watched, she took Reggie’s hand.

“What say you to being intimate in my brother’s drawing room?

It’ll be a bit before the others return from church.

” As she spoke, he tugged on his hand, “Perhaps we should…” Then she gasped, for she happened to meet Edward’s gaze and her eyebrows rose.

Dear God. Would she keep his secret? He put a finger to his lips and looked at her with what he hoped was a silent plea.

“This is true.”

Kitty cleared her throat. “However, why don’t we go somewhere more romantic? The orangery is usually always decorated, and it will be as if we’re in the midst of the snow. A bit risqué but I think that fits in with our whole relationship, don’t you?”

“I adore how your mind works, Katherine,” Reggie said and then kissed her again.

Edward rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to hear any more pillow talk between his sister and his best friend.

“Good. Perhaps that means you’ll prove innovative and exciting tonight.” With a wink at Edward, she pulled her husband out of the room.

Seconds later, the soft snick of the door assured him they had fully left.

“I thought they would never leave.” As relief twisted down his spine, Edward relaxed into Nancy and softly kissed her lips.

After a bit, he sighed and moved her more comfortably into his arms. “I honestly think if Kitty hadn’t married, I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask you to marry me tonight. ”

She giggled. The sound went straight to his heart and shaft. “Then I’ll be certain to thank her tomorrow.” With a smile, she laid a hand to his cheek. “Happy Christmas, Armestead.”

“Happy Christmas, sweeting. I can’t wait to start our lives together.”

Indeed, it was sweeter the second time around.