Her response was incoherent, a quick catch of breath and small sounds without form or substance deep in her throat.
“Tell me,” he said fiercely.
Somehow, she managed to choke out the words.
Breast to breast, fingers laced above her head, they gazed without smiling into each other’s eyes. They were in thrall to the mystery that had set them apart from all possible lovers. She was his. He was hers. It was meant to be.
Their eyes glazed over and the world contracted to the next sigh and moan and the caress of a lover’s lips against bare skin. Desire quickened to a white-hot flame, consuming them in the relentless drive to be both possessor and possessed. At the height of the act, Leon muffled his cry of triumph against his wife’s breast. Emily wept softly into her husband’s neck.
A long while later, Leon eased himself from her body and gathered her close, with tongue and lips, he brushed over her face, absorbing each tender tear, savoring far more than the sensual pleasure of it.
“Holy water,” he said, teasing her, “sanctifying our marriage.”
Emily sniffed and sighed and snuggled closer. In another moment, she had drifted into sleep. It amused him to see that there was a smile on her lips.
Leon lay awake for a long while after. He was thinking that he would never forget his wife’s words to him when she had told him that she was with child. She hoped for a son who was in the image of his father.
As he leaned over her, love tightened his throat. “I want a daughter in the image of her mother,” he whispered.
Emily did not awaken, but she responded to something in her husband’s voice. Reaching over, she felt for his hand and carried it to her softly swelling abdomen.
By degrees, Leon relaxed against her, his forehead resting against her nape. The wind rattled the windowpanes, and he heard the lonely call of a wolf far off in the distance and the answering cry of its mate.
A new day was dawning and the taste of it was sweet.
More from Elizabeth Thornton
Tender the Storm (The Devereux Trilogy - Book One)
Zoe Deveraux is a fearless seventeen-year-old. Though disguised as a schoolgirl, when she is spirited out of France by Rolfe Brockford, Marquess of Rivard, her life changes forever. Posing as a Revolutionary, Rolfe is on a mission to rescue innocents from the bloody horrors of the guillotine.
Once in London, Rolfe finds himself unwilling to abandon the waifish girl and shocks polite society by taking her as his bride—in name only. What began as a marriage of convenience quickly grows into something altogether different. But Rolfe and Zoe face countless challenges—from political intrigue to their own pride, jealousy, and fiercely guarded secrets. Now, as the strife in Europe hits its peak, two stubborn hearts must make the ultimate alliance.
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As the newly appointed commissioner, Phillipe Dubet has the power of life and death over the local French aristocracy. In return for her family's safe passage out of the country, the breathtakingly lovely Claire Devereux agrees to be his mistress. She is to live in his luxurious quarters, to be seen with him about town, and to accommodate his desires whenever he wishes.
Claire surrendered her body to Dubet, but swore he'd never break her spirit. What she didn't know was that the real Dubet had been abducted, and his American twin brother Adam Dillon was installed in his place as a spy. And she was devastated to find that her body was not at all immune to the pleasures of "Dubet's" caress, nor her heart to his intoxicating company.
Cherished (The Devereux Trilogy - Book Three)
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Cynical and weary of matchmaking games, the Marquis is stunned by his own reaction to a woman so different from the docile, biddable beauties he much prefers. Catherine might be the only woman in London immune to his considerable charms, but that immunity convinces him she is the only woman he has to have. And as passion makes Catherine a prisoner of her own desires, she knows the time has come to teach this arrogant gentleman a lesson in the true meaning of love.
Fallen Angel
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Deveryn had his sights set on Maddy's castle and her tempting beauty—but not her affections. That changed as he found himself challenged by her wit, her guile, and her ability to turn the tables on his best laid plans, offering him a lesson in seduction that proved heaven does indeed exist on earth—and that perhaps only one thing can redeem a fallen angel.
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Scarlet Angel
Eleven years ago, Cam Colburne, Duke of Dyson, witnessed the unspeakable horrors of mob hysteria in a French prison as he watched his family condemned to death by the actions of an innocent young girl, the daughter of a French diplomat. Now, a decade later, Cam's moment of retribution has come. Lovely Gabrielle de Brienne is now his prisoner, held for ransom at Cornwall castle.
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Briony Langland had no use for the superficial games of the ton. She did, however, have choice words for London's most notorious rake when she caught him dallying with his flavor of the moment in her uncle's library. She never thought that her bold set-down would only inspire his lordship to employ his considerable charms to awaken her own deepest passions.
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The Worldly Widow
Ignoring the dangers still lingering in the aftermath of Waterloo, Annabella Jocelyn arrives in Paris on a mission—to purchase the publishing rights to a scandalous dairy written by a notorious femme fatale. An astute businesswoman, Annabella knows that securing this diary will certainly bring both fame and fortune to her fledgling press. All that stands in her way is a cadre of dangerous gentlemen determined to bury their indiscretions, and a brave war hero (and incorrigible rogue) determined to keep her safe, preferably in his bed.
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