“You’d better.”
“So am I still your love?” Shyly, her eyelashes fluttered down. “I…hope I am. Especially as you know I love you.”
He raised her hand and kissed her knuckles. The gesture didn’t begin to express the tenderness flooding him. “I’ve guarded those words like a talisman, darling. Don’t you know I love you?”
“I’d like to be convinced.”
He was relieved to note that with every second, she sounded more confident. “I fell in love with you at first sight, although it took me a while to recognize it. You wore blue at the Worthingtons’ ball and I said to myself, ‘That’s the woman I’m going to marry.’ Imagine my chagrin when I heard you were all but promised to what’s-his-name, that duke fellow.”
Her eyes shone with shy delight. “Truly?”
“Truly.”
“How lovely.” Her fingers tightened around his. “I fell in love with you last Christmas. I was horribly cast down to think you only cared about my fortune.”
“Now you know better, don’t you?”
Regret darkened her delicate features. “It’s a pity I couldn’t solve the Thorne family financial crisis. Given it’s now my family, too.”
Her allegiance pleased him. “We’re not quite on our uppers, my darling. You can have a new gown now and again, and we won’t have bread and jam for every meal.”
She laughed. She always reacted with surprised pleasure when he mocked her. He suspected jokes had been rare in her father’s solemn household.
“That’s a mercy.”
He sobered, wanting to set her mind at ease. “It may take a few years before I can drape you in diamonds, my love, but the Thorne fortunes have recently taken a turn for the better.”
“I like that.”
“The promise of diamonds?”
“No, the way you call me your love.”
“You will always be my love. I fought an army of dragons to win my beautiful lady. I intend to spend the next fifty years enjoying the spoils of victory.”
“I like to hear you call me beautiful, too.”
He curled one hand around her supple waist. “You’ll believe it before the night is done.”
She slid her hand up his chest with a naturalness that made his heart crash into his ribs. “Show me.”
“You’re not afraid anymore?”
“Hearing you say you love me has done wonders.”
“Well, let me say it again.” The humor faded as he looked into her eyes and saw a devotion that would last a lifetime. “I love you, Marianne.”
“And I love you, Elias,” she said with equal weight. “Now kiss me before I go mad.”
He laughed with an unfettered joy he couldn’t remember feeling before. “With pleasure.”
When his lips met hers, he was gentle. He was painfully aware that while he was ready to devour her in one mouthful, she was a virgin.
At least his intentions were pure. But she immediately opened and flicked her tongue across his lips in unabashed invitation. Her wholehearted cooperation made him desire’s fool.
She murmured her appreciation of his swift response and curved her body into his. He pulled her nightgown up, only stopping the kiss long enough to tug it over her head and fling it aside. Her warm, silky hair cascaded around him as he returned to the kiss. His hands traced soft curves, breasts and waist and hips and buttocks. All perfectly shaped for his delectation.
Heat spiked when she touched his chest through the red dressing gown. His heart slammed to a stop when those eager hands pushed the robe from his shoulders. As the garment crumpled to the floor, he basked in the heady friction of her bare skin against his.