“Oh, Lord. That was good,” he said, carefully easing out of her with a groaning laugh and collapsed atop her. All sweat. All heat. All glorious muscles.
She loved the sensation of his weight upon her, but he quickly moved off to avoid crushing her and fell back against the mattress with a grunt of satisfaction. He then drew her into his arms and grunted again. “That was really, really good, Syd. How do you feel?”
“Really, really good,” she replied, mimicking his grunts as she planted kisses on his chest. Her lips were still tingling from his kisses as she tasted the light sheen of sweat on his skin. “I love you, you big ox. I am yours forever and there is no getting rid of me now.”
“I never wanted our marriage to end. You and me, minx. Into our dotage.”
They never bothered to order supper brought up since they were too busy feasting on each other. Octavian claimed her twice more over the course of the night, but would not take her again come morning, even though they were both still naked and he was obviously aroused. “You’re going to be sore, Syd. I am big and we did not hold back.”
She meant to assure him that she could handle it, but the words escaped her when he leaned over and cupped her breast, smiling when the mound filled the palm of his hand. She gasped as he ran his thumb lightly across its pink bud, and was completely undone, lost to him when he closed his mouth over the bud and began to suckle and tease it.
Apparently, this is all it took to turn her wanton.
She was not even fully awake yet, but her body responded immediately and she reached her ecstasy before he had hardly started. Had even a minute passed? He had not even touched her anywhere else.
He regarded her with a smug, conquering grin. “Good morning.”
She snuggled against him. “You are a wicked lout.”
“Why? Because I know your body so well?” He kissed her on the brow. “I had such dreams about that glorious body of yours. Every night from the moment I met you. Agonizing nights because my heart was yours and there could never be anyone else for me. Because of you, I became celibate as a monk.”
This surprised her. “Not even to relieve your urges? We were more enemies than friends at the time. You owed me nothing.”
He groaned. “It made no difference to my heart. We Thornes tend to be one-woman men. There it was…I loved you and did not want to be with anyone else.”
“I had no idea I was such an enchantress,” she teased.
She had assumed he was continuing his rakehell ways because he had not shown any inclination to court her. In truth, she had died a little inside when rumor began to spread about his courting Lady Clementine.
Was she really as horrible as Octavian insisted?
How could Clementine be worse than her? She had behaved abominably toward Octavian. Riling him. Disobeying him. Defying him. And all along, he loved her.
She sighed, feeling ashamed of herself.
In her own defense, she had only been difficult because she loved him.
“Syd, why are you frowning?”
“There is something I need to tell you.”
He moaned. “Is this something you should have told mebeforewe had sex?”
“No.” She sat up and wrapped the sheet around her, as much as she could grab of it without leaving him naked. Not that he would care. He wasn’t a bashful man. “Lady Withnall mentioned that Clementine was not happy to learn of our marriage. Clementine believed you were courting her, and now she is angry.”
“But I wasn’t ever courting her. I shared a dance or two with her, escorted her and her father to the theater once.”
“And escorted them to a ball or two,” Syd added.
“At her father’s request, not my idea. I hadn’t even seen her for months before that night you tossed me off Sir Henry’s roof. Speaking of which, there is something I need to tellyou.”
“Oh?”
“Gad, you look pretty, Syd. Your hair’s in a tumble and you look adorably sleepy.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Sleepy? Not after that morning wake-up surprise you gave me.”
He laughed. “I couldn’t help myself. I am besotted.”
