Wedding Night With the Earl

by Amelia Grey

  Katherine knew she wasn’t as graceful as the other ladies, but she didn’t care. She felt as if she were. Just as in her dreams, she was dancing, flowing across the floor with Lord Greyhawke. The crowds blurred as she sailed from side to side in time with the music.

  When the dance ended, the crowd erupted in applause. Only then did Katherine realized they were the only two on the floor. Her aunt and uncles were standing in the front row, clapping louder than anyone. She heard shouts and cries of “Bravo!” “Well done!” and “Splendid!”

  She smiled at Adam, feeling as if she would burst with love and gratitude.

  “Give them a curtsy, Katherine,” Adam said. “They want a curtsy from you.”

  Adam continued to hold her hand. She held her dress out with the other and curtsied as the applause continued. All of a sudden, Adam dropped to one knee in front of her. The clapping stopped. The cheers from the crowd fell silent. There wasn’t a cough, a sigh, or a whisper.

  “Miss Katherine Wright, will you marry me and be my wife?”

  Gasps sounded all around the room again, but none was louder than hers. Katherine questioned him with her expression. Her heart felt so full, she could hardly speak. “You know I can’t,” she whispered thickly.

  “Let me rephrase what I asked. Will you marry me and give me sons?”

  She was stunned into silence again.

  “I accept your terms,” he said. “The thought of you having a babe scares the hell out of me, but I will find a way to cope with that. We will have all the children you want.” He smiled. “Besides, the thought of another man touching you scares me more.”

  Her heart leaped to her throat. “I don’t believe you.”

  “I wouldn’t be on my knees in front of two hundred people right now if it wasn’t true, my love.”

  “I don’t understand. You aren’t making any sense, because last time I saw you, you were so adamant.”

  “I think you knew I wouldn’t let anyone else have you. That I’d be back for you.”

  “No, I didn’t know. How could I? I don’t understand. What made you change your mind?”

  “You mean other than my love for you and mad, raging jealousy at the thought of anyone else touching you? It’s a long story and best told in front of a fire on a cold night when you’re wrapped in my arms. Marry me, Katherine. Say you will be mine. We will have as many children as you want.”

  “Say yes,” someone from the crowd called.

  “After that proposal, she had better say yes,” another person yelled.

  “How romantic,” still another commented.

  “I love you, Katherine. Say yes.”

  Katherine looked down into his eyes. “Yes. A hundred times yes.”

  He rose and stepped closer to Katherine. “Some have called me a beast, and they will surely think so after I do this. But your acceptance needs to be sealed with a kiss.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips.

  But far from cries of beast, scoundrel, and rake, there were shouts of laughter and cries of hooray.

  Chapter 29

  I was won …

  With the first glance …

  —Troilus and Cressida, act 3, scene 2

  Pale moonlight shone through the parted draperies. A bedside lamp bathed the room in a golden glow, and a low-burning fire warmed it. Katherine sat at her dressing table brushing her hair, waiting for Adam, feeling jubilant but a little anxious, too.

  The wedding had been a quiet affair at the duke’s home at half-past two. His dinner guests started arriving by half-past four. Though Katherine and Adam had tried to discourage it, her uncle had insisted upon a five-course dinner with dancing afterward to celebrate her long-awaited marriage.

  Aunt Leola had told Katherine she had personally inspected the china and as there was no chip in any of it, there would be no reason for them to exchange plates. The Duke of Quillsbury was intent on marrying her off in a grand style. They’d had to stay at the celebration far longer than either of them had anticipated or wanted.

  At last the bedchamber door opened and Adam walked in. An expectant rush shivered through her.

  He shut the door behind him and turned the key. Katherine rose from her dressing stool and faced him. For a moment she felt wary, but then their eyes met across the room and held for what seemed like forever. Her love for him seemed to swell in her chest and overflow around her, calming her.

  “Is Dixon asleep?” she asked.

  “By the time his head hit the pillow,” Adam answered, taking off his coat and throwing it onto the stool she’d just vacated.

  Katherine smiled. “It was a busy day for him, too. It meant a lot to him that you wanted him included in the wedding festivities.”

  Keeping his gaze locked on hers, he walked toward her, removing his collar and neckcloth. “I don’t think your aunt or your uncles were too happy about that. I think their brows were raised more than once at having a child at the dinner table, but as you so sweetly reminded them, Dixon is part of our family.”

  “They are old and set in tradition and manners.”

  Adam threw his neckcloth on top of his coat as he stopped in front of her. “Do you realize how inviting you are dressed in that white sleeveless gown standing in my bedchamber?” He paused and chuckled under his breath. “Of course you don’t.”

  “I do know that pleasing you makes me happy.”

  “I am deliriously happy, but I’m thinking we have been married seven hours now and I’ve yet to give you a proper kiss, Lady Greyhawke.”

  “You mean like a first kiss?”

  “That’s your favorite kind, isn’t it?” He slipped his warm, strong hand around to the back of her neck, pulled her gently to him, and brushed his lips across hers in a soft, brief kiss.

  Her brow wrinkled, but she laughed. He knew she wanted long, deep kisses, not the mere touching of lips to lips. “There should never be more than one first kiss.”

  “I agree.” Adam, pulled her close and gave her a long, passionate kiss that thrilled her all the way down to her toes, and contentment settled over her.

  He raised his head and looked lovingly at her. “I love your hair flowing around your shoulders like this.”

  “And I enjoy seeing you dressed casually like this, without your coat and neckcloth.” She ran her hands up his firm, muscular forearms and across his shoulders.

  Adam seemed to study over what she’d said. “I like your hair down. You like me without my coat. Yet neither is a proper way to be seen in Society. What should we do about that?”

  She pondered for a moment and started unbuttoning his waistcoat. “Perhaps we should spend a lot of time in our bedchamber.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” He unfastened the last two buttons for her, shrugged out of his waistcoat, and sent it the way of his other clothing. “You danced beautifully tonight.”

  “It was better than a week ago when you proposed to me.”

  “Tonight is a night I will always cherish. You surprised everyone but me. I knew you could do it.”

  One day she would try to explain to him just how much it had meant to her, too. Not only the dancing that she had long dreamed about, but that he had come to her and bent his knee in front of everyone, asked her to be his wife. He’d kissed her soundly on the lips. Someday, she would find the words to let him know how much she treasured that expression of his love and devotion.

  Adam looked around the room. “Where is your cane?”

  “I have no need of it in here. I left it at the top of the stairs.”

  A smile broke across his face. Adam pulled Katherine back into his arms and kissed her hungrily again before stepping back.

  “If I continue doing that, my love I will never make it to get undressed.” He tugged on his shirt, pulling it from the waistband of his trousers.

  Katherine helped him pull it over his head and toss it aside. She gazed at his strong, beautiful body. With an open palm, she reached up and caressed his shoulders
and across his chest. She ran her hands tantalizingly slowly down his rippled ribs to the top of his trousers and back up again. His skin was smooth, firm, and warm. She could feel the rapid beat of his heart as her hand skimmed over it.

  “You are a big, magnificent man, Adam. I have no fear of you or of one day having your child.”

  He looked deeply into her eyes. “I will have plenty of fear for both of us, Katherine, make no mistake about that. But it will not control me.” He reached down and caught her up in his arms, then carried her to the bed and laid her on it.

  With fascination, she watched as he stepped out of his shoes, unbuttoned his trousers, and slipped them down his legs before crawling in beside her. Katherine turned willingly toward him. He reached for the hem of her gown and slowly lifted it up and over her head and then flung it away.

  She lay on the bed completely unclothed for him. She watched his gaze sweep down her face to her breasts, her stomach, and lower, before scanning back up to her face. Appreciation shone in his eyes.

  “You are beautiful, my love.”

  Katherine took in his fine, masculine body with the same loving tenderness. “And so are you,” she answered.

  When his bare skin touched her breasts, a thrill of excitement and expectancy spiraled through her. The heat from his body immediately warmed her against the coolness of the air. His hardness rubbed against the soft, womanly part of her, and she welcomed it.

  Their lips met in a tender kiss. Her lips parted, and with her tongue she entered his mouth and tasted him. Adam moaned his approval. Their tongues explored and played together. He lightly ran his hand first over one breast and then the other, his fingers teasing her with feather-light caresses. He cupped one breast and squeezed it gently, softly, torturously slowly, causing her abdomen to contract in sweet pain.

  “I like the fullness of your soft breasts,” he whispered as he covered one nipple with his mouth. She gasped with pleasure and arched her back. Shivers of delight spiraled in all directions throughout her body and amazed her with sensation.

  He lifted, stroked, and molded her breast with his hands. He sought and found her nipples with his mouth, with his fingers, causing her to gasp with delight as a soaring hunger gripped her. She spread her hands over his wide shoulders, strong back, and down to the flat firmness of his stomach, loving the feel, the firm texture, of his bare skin.

  Their bodies entwined, they kissed and touched sweetly, lingeringly, for a long time, and each time enjoying the taste and touch of the other as passion and desire mingled and mounted inside them. They kissed fiercely. Their hands stroked endlessly from spine to waist, over hips and down thighs, sending chills of expectancy pulsing through them.

  He kissed her sweetly, longingly, letting his lips leave hers and kiss their way down her chin, along the column of her throat to the valley between her breasts. His tongue traced a hot, moist trail from behind her ear down to her nipple, where he caught it up in his mouth and sucked gently again.

  With loving hands, Adam caressed each breast before moving his hand down to her waist, over her stomach, down to her inner thigh, and over the most womanly part of her. She sucked in a deep but choppy breath at the new, glorious experience. He let his hand linger while they both enjoyed his touch.

  She didn’t know how long they kissed and touched, becoming familiar with each other, soothing each other, enticing each other with their caresses and murmured words of endearment. There were no inhibitions or hesitations between them.

  Katherine moaned and sighed as waves of pleasure tightened her lower abdomen and between her legs. Something deep and wanton stirred restlessly inside her. Her hands left the broad sprawl of his shoulders to the small of his back and lower, to the firmness of his buttocks, and she kneaded his flesh.

  She smiled when he moaned his approval.

  Adam rolled her onto her back and moved on top of her, letting his body stretch the length of hers. His lower body settled between her legs, and he fitted his hardness against her. A delicious, languorous warmth spread through her, and she lifted her hips toward his. With a gentle push and a bit of pain, he entered her and she became his.

  He started an easy rocking motion that was pure pleasure. She joined his movement, her arms circling his back and pressing him closer, harder, and deeper into her.

  Their hips moved slowly at first, and as their passions mounted and mingled, so did their movements. Suddenly Katherine’s body exploded into a sensation of pleasure that was beyond all comprehension.

  “Adam,” she whispered.

  “Katherine,” he answered as their bodies released and melded together as husband and wife.

  Moments later Adam whispered, “I love you,” as he snuggled his nose into the warmth of her neck.

  For a long time Katherine lay breathless, fully contented, enjoying the weight of her husband’s body on hers.

  Finally, Adam rolled off her and onto his side. He faced her and snuggled her close to his chest.

  Katherine gazed into his eyes and whispered with all the love she was feeling, “Thank you for saving Lord Rudyard from having to spend his life with me.”

  Adam rose up on his elbow and grinned. “You would have really married him?”

  In all seriousness she said, “I would have. I promised my uncle. I felt you were lost to me.”

  He raked the backs of his fingers down her cheeks. “I was. I was told no woman would ever be able to have my child, and I believed it without question.”

  “And now you don’t?”

  “I’ve spoken with several midwives and accoucheurs, and they have all assured me there is no reason to believe you will have trouble bearing my child. The problem was with Annie and her body’s inability to push the babe.”

  “I’m sorry for her and for your loss, too.”

  Adam nodded once. “And now I’m hopeful, but I will be cautious when your time is due. I may have to call in every midwife and accoucheur within one hundred miles of London to tend you.”

  Katherine laughed. “I promise you it will not take that many for me to birth your son, my lord.”

  “I believe that, too. I love you, Katherine.”

  “And I love you, Adam.”

  Epilogue

  The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none.

  —Venus and Adonis, 331–32

  Something disturbed Adam’s slumber. His eyes popped open. Through the slit in the draperies, he saw a faint tint of pink in the dark sky. Dawn was on the rise. He listened but heard nothing. Perhaps it was Katherine mumbling in her sleep. He smiled to himself and snuggled closer to her warm back and caught the fragrant scent of her hair. Carefully, he pushed aside her auburn tresses and brushed his lips to her nape. Her bare shoulder twitched at his feather-light caress and he smiled.

  Perhaps he would wake her and let her know he wanted her.

  Then he heard the noise again. It was a soft knock on the door. A knock he recognized. Deciding not to disturb Katherine, he gently threw the covers aside and eased off the bed. He stepped into the trousers he always kept on the nightstand and buttoned them as he padded over to the door, unlocked it, and opened it just a little.

  Dixon stood there, holding a candle. He looked up at Adam and said, “They’re crying again.”

  Adam rolled his shoulders and sniffed as he stepped out of the room and gently pulled the door around. “The twins?”

  Dixon nodded. “They woke me up. Again.”

  Adam frowned and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think about what he should do or say. “Really?” he asked, stalling.

  “The third time this week.”

  Adam knew. It was becoming an every-other-night occurrence for Dixon to find his way to Adam’s bedchamber in the dark of night and knock on his door to complain. He didn’t know why Dixon just couldn’t sleep through crying. Their whimpers didn’t seem all that loud to Adam.

  “Well, they are babies,” he answered, wondering what else he could say. “You know it’s nat
ural. Babies cry a lot. That’s all they know how to do. That and eat.”

  “How many more are you going to have?”

  The door opened and Adam felt his wife come up behind him and put her gentle hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know. That’s up to Katherine.” He turned, looked at her, and smiled. “But as many as she wants.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” she whispered into his ear.

  Dixon rolled his eyes.

  Katherine smiled at Adam and his heart melted. She was beautiful in her pristine white night rail, with her thick auburn tresses flowing across her shoulders.

  She moved from behind him and looked down at Dixon. “Did the girls wake you again?”

  Dixon nodded, paused, and then said, “Do you want me to go check on them for you this time?”

  She glanced at Adam in surprise. “Would you like to do that for me?” Katherine asked him.

  “I might as well. I’m already awake. I’m big enough now that I’m seven. The nanny can’t rock both of them at the same time. I can help her if you want me to.”

  “Thank you, Dixon. That’s very nice of you, and it will be a wonderful way for you to help. Tell Mrs. Foster I’ll be along in a few minutes to help out, too.”

  Dixon smiled and turned away. Adam called to him and he looked back. “You be careful carrying that candle back to the nursery.”

  After Dixon disappeared into the other wing of the house, Adam turned and watched Katherine walk to the foot of the bed. She still had a bit of a limp, but it was hardly noticeable anymore. He closed the door and turned the key.

  She picked up her robe and started to put it on, but Adam reached and gently took it out of her hands. He dropped her robe to the bed and slipped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her to him. The girls were almost three months old, and already Katherine’s shape was returning to normal.

  He’d worried every day when she was in the family way. All during her confinement, he’d stayed close by her side. And when her time came, it was quick. She’d not only given him one child, she’d given him two. And she’d had no trouble with either birth. She had been amazing.