Page 97 of The Study of Seduction

“Yes . . . more . . .” she cried as their motions reached a fever pitch. “Yes, my darling,yes!”

He drove up and spilled himself inside her. “Clarissa . . .MyClarissa!”

Mine.

With that exultant thought, she shot over the moon and into the stars.

It took some time for Edwin to come to his senses, especially with his lovely wife draped luxuriously over him.

That was amazing.Shewas amazing. And he couldn’t believe he’d finally made her his. Thank God it hadn’t taken a year; he never would have lasted that long. He’d have had to go live with monks for a while.

He nuzzled her hair, which had tumbled down rather spectacularly in the midst of their frenzy. It smelled of lilacs and lavender. So very sweet.

“It’s getting dark outside,” Clarissa murmured.

She was in a position to see out the window behind him. Fortunately, none of the servants went into the garden at this time of the day. They were too busy preparing for dinner.

Still . . . “It won’t be long before we can be seen easily from the garden. Unless one of us gets up to blow out the candle.”

She drew back to flash him a sultry smile. “Is that a hint that I should move? Am I too heavy for you?”

“Hardly.” He lifted her off of him. “Though you’re heavier than I would have expected for such a small woman.” When she laughed, he realized that he probably shouldn’t have been quite that honest. “I mean . . .”

“Don’t mince words with me,” she said as he rose. “You’re probably the only man I know who would have been as understanding of my . . . difficulties as you were. Besides, I’ll take your bluntness any day over a lot of insincere compliments.”

“Glad to hear it. Because clearly I am very bad at them.”

She chuckled. Curling up into a ball on the window seat, she watched as he went over to the desk fully naked. “You’re a very handsome man, Lord Blakeborough. And I am being utterly sincere.”

He snuffed the candle. “Keep saying things like that, Lady Blakeborough, and I’ll be wanting to ravish you again.”

She fell quiet. As he realized what he’d said, he shot her a concerned glance, but she wore a dreamy look. “It’s a pity it wasn’t you seducing me in that orangery years ago.”

It certainly was. How different their lives would have been. But . . . “It would never have been me.” He tugged on his drawers. “Gentlemen do not seduce young ladies. They court them, they secure their affections, and then they propose.”

A sudden gleam in her eye was all the warning he got before she rose to amble toward him with a most seductive walk. “So you don’t think I could have tempted you to seduce me?”

His throat went dry at the sight of her so rumpled and lovely. “Tempted? Yes.” He pulled her into his arms for a thorough kiss, then drew back to stare into her face. “But I would never have acted upon it.”

Her smile faltered. “Are you quite sure it doesn’t bother you that I . . . am not . . .”

“It doesn’t.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’mveryhappy with my choice of wife.”

She eyed him askance. “Even though I’m reckless and impudent and always getting into trouble?”

“I’ll take you any way I can get you, minx—reckless, impudent, and all.” Even skittish and wary. As long as he could kiss the fear from her from time to time.

A sudden knock at the door made them both jump.

“Milord, milady? Dinner is served.”

“Thank you, John!” he called out. “We’ll be there presently.”

“We can’t go to dinner yet,” she hissed. “I’m naked!”

“And you do look very fetching that way, too.”

With a roll of her eyes, she hurried to don her shirt. Or rather,hisold shirt.