Page 35 of The Lady of the Lamps (Vows in Vauxhall Gardens #1)

H is desire for her took over. They were married. It was done. Giving into his lust for this woman before him, his wife, would not do anyone any harm now. Perhaps he wasn’t the right man for her, but he was her husband, in the eyes of God and the law.

Her blond locks were clumsily pinned. He had seen her redoing it that morning in the inn, having removed them for sleep.

She did not have the perfect coiffure her maid usually gave her, but she was alluring, nonetheless.

The way her teeth worried at her bottom lip, and her cheeks flushed red at his words…

It sent a fire racing through his body that was in danger of overwhelming him.

Holding both her petite hands in one of his hands, he reached with the other to release her blond curls, until her whole head of golden hair was free and falling around her shoulders.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, and then leaned forward to kiss her. He made sure it was a slow, languid kiss, the kiss of a man who had all the time in the world. A man who was not afraid of being interrupted. A man in love.

She kissed him back with more confidence than he had expected, and pulled one of her hands from his so it could rest on the nape of his neck, sending shivers down his spine.

As his tongue swept against the seam of her lips, he moved them backward, towards the bed, his heart racing and his breeches growing uncomfortably tight.

He wanted to do this right. But God damn it if he didn’t want her so badly. He’d told himself he could not have her. That this life was not meant for him. And yet, here they were.

They fell onto the bed without breaking apart, their bodies pressing closer together as the kiss deepened.

This time, there would be no crash outside the door—and he had no chivalrous notion that he ought to stop before they lay together.

This time, consummating the union was the right thing to do.

In fact, it was necessary, in more ways than one.

Somehow he managed to unlace her dress one-handed, without breaking the kiss, and he pulled it down enough to be able to trail kisses down her neck all the way to her breasts, which he kissed through her chemise.

She gasped at the contact, and so he did it again, pulling her dress lower and lower until it slipped off entirely, leaving her in the thin chemise she had worn the previous night.

“I want to see you,” he said, breathless. “All of you.”

If it was possible, her skin flushed even pinker. “I’m nervous,” she admitted.

“You don’t need to be,” he promised, pressing a kiss to her clavicle before pulling at the hem of her chemise, until it sat around her waist. “You are exquisite.” He trailed his fingers up her inner thigh, stopping just before the curls between her legs, and then did the same the other side.

She gasped and wriggled her hips, and he could not help but smile.

“Can I take this off?” he whispered huskily, pulling at the thin white garment.

She nodded. “But this feels a little one-sided…”

He glanced down at himself, still fully clothed, his desire for her straining the fabric of his breeches. “Fair enough.” He eased her chemise over her head, smiling once more as she tried to cover her rounded breasts with her arms, and then pulled his own shirt over his head.

He loosened the laces of his breeches, but did not remove them entirely. He didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed by the evidence of how much he wanted her.

Spencer took his time appreciating her body, encouraging her arms out of the way and then trailing fiery kisses from her lips, down her neck, over her breasts and all the way to her navel. Her hips bucked and she groaned, and he praised himself for having any self-restraint at all.

And then, when his lips had traveled back to hers, he allowed his fingers to slide up her thigh once more, not stopping as they reached the juncture between her legs.

He watched her face color, her eyes close, and when she was struggling to keep still, he allowed himself to breach her opening with one finger, the heel of his palm pressing at the point that was most sensitive.

“Oh, God, Spencer,” she groaned, and he thought he might explode then and there like an inexperienced lad. But he wanted to do this right. He wanted her to know what pleasure could lie between them, before he took his own.

Because when he did, it would surely be over very quickly.

*

Beatrix had not known such pleasure existed.

Even thinking about what he was doing to her seemed scandalous, and yet the pleasure that was building inside her was undeniable.

She needed more. She needed to find out what it was building towards, because she thought she might be consumed by it if she did not.

He pressed his lips to her neck, and she closed her eyes, giving in to the sensations that were overwhelming her, listening to what her body wanted. And it wanted him.

“My Beatrix…” he murmured in her ear as his skillful fingers brought her to a peak she had not known existed.

His words, and the pleasure consuming her, made her heart feel like it might explode.

And then her whole body did. As the white flames of desire devoured her, she closed her eyes and felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

She did not know how long it took for her body to stop shaking, or the ripples of pleasure to stop pulsating through her, but when she opened her eyes, Spencer was lying beside her, a very self-satisfied smile upon his face.

“What—what was that?” Beatrix managed to say breathily.

Spencer chuckled. “Only the beginning.”

Their lips crashed together, and he pulled her close once more, and it was only then that she realized he had divested himself of his breeches and there was nothing between their bodies.

Her heart began to race even faster, if it were possible, but any anxiety she had was melted away by his lips upon hers, and the excitement of not knowing what else was to happen.

He covered her body with his, and looked into her eyes as though he was staring into her soul. “You are mine,” he whispered, and she nodded. “And I am yours.”

There was a little pain, that first time they joined together, but all Beatrix really remembered as they lay together tangled in the sheets was the sheer joy in her heart at knowing that she was his.

Forever.