"You would mind sleeping alone now that we are married?"
"You promised me I would never be lonely at night."
He stood her next to the bed and rid her of her nightrail before shedding his dressing gown, the only garment he wore. Her eyes reflected desire as her gaze traveled down his body
, stopping to linger on his rapidly swelling manhood. She shifted her gaze back to his face, and her smile turned wanton.
He wanted her so much that his body ached for the release he found when they came together, but first he wanted to talk.
No more teasing. "I'm proud of you."
She reached out and touched his chest, her fingers burning a path down to his navel. "I know. You're a very special man." She looked up and met his gaze. "My brother is different than I imagined."
"He was raised by your father, not your mother."
She nodded. "Yes. I know. I want to get to know him. I think that's what my mother wanted when she made me promise to take her journals to him."
"You are a woman of uncommon honor, Thea."
She said nothing, and he hated the feeling that tightened his chest. He was almost sure that she loved him—but did she still feel that she'd ignored her mother's last wish by marrying him? The pain of that thought hit him like a blow.
She slid her hands up and around his neck, then leaned forward and kissed one of his nipples. He needed her. Now.
"What's the matter?"
Her question barely registered as his rising passion overwhelmed him. He shook his head, not wanting to think about anything but the softness of her beautiful naked body so close to his own.
She wouldn't let it go, though. Twisting her face away to avoid his lips, she demanded he answer her.
He pressed his forehead to her temple. "I'm glad that you were able to keep at least one promise to your mother."
She gripped his face in her hands and forced him to meet her eyes.
Fierce intensity blazed at him. "I kept both promises to my mother. She didn't want me to marry a man like my father, and I didn't."
"You were afraid to marry me. Afraid I would turn cruel."
"That was foolish. No two men could be more different. You were right when you said that he allowed his pride to destroy our family. It was his weakness that hurt my mother, not his strength. You are strong, Pierson. So strong that sometimes it scares me. But not because I think you will ever hurt me. Because I fear sometimes I will fail to be the wife a man of your character deserves. You swallowed your pride, pursuing me even when I had rejected you."
Tears stood out in her eyes.
He brushed away the moisture from her bottom eyelids with his thumbs. "I had no choice. I love you, Thea. I need you."
Her head dropped. "You humble me."
He tilted her chin up and kissed her. Hard. "I love you."
He waited, almost not breathing, for her response.
"I love you, too, Pierson. I love your arrogance, though I would have thought that impossible. I love your gentleness, your strength, your stubbornness, your loyalty, your honor, but most of all, I love you for the way you make me feel."
He brushed one pink nipple with the back of his fingers. "It's a good thing I let you seduce me then."
She laughed. "I didn't mean what you make my body feel, though that is a most wondrous gift." She laid her hand over her bare breast. "I meant what you make me feel in here. You fill my heart up to overflowing."
It was his turn to feel humbled. He resolved to be worthy of the great trust she had given him, trust made more difficult to extend because of her background. He would never take her love or her trust for granted.
With a suddenness that knocked the breath right out of her lungs, Drake yanked Thea to him. She didn't even get out the smallest protest before his lips rocked over hers. Not that she would have protested. She had not been overstating the case when she told him she considered her body's reaction to him a tremendous gift.