Joseph thanked the girl, then hurried Ellen up the stairs, murmuring, “I certainly hope so.”
Ellen laughed as they rushed along the hallway to her room. Her heart felt so light that she could have laughed and danced and stayed up all night to do so. As soon as they were in her room with the door firmly shut, she held up the large, heavy purse containing her winnings.
“This is the largest take I have ever had from a poker game,” she declared. “And I want you to have it.” She held out the purse to Joseph.
“I couldn’t possibly,” Joseph said, his eyes going round. “You won that money yourself, and you should keep it. I barely knew the rules of the game when I sat down at the table this evening.”
Ellen nodded as if to say that was fair, then crossed to put the purse on her dressing table. She didn’t stop with the purse, though. She began to remove her jewelry and to pull the pins from her hair as well.
“Perhaps I could reward you for a job well done tonight in other ways?” she asked, arching one eyebrow.
Joseph laughed. “I should resist temptation, but as we are to be married as soon as I can have the banns read, why bother?”
“You cannot know how happy I am to hear you say that,” Ellen laughed.
They were much more practical about removing their clothes than they had been the night before. As they undid each other’s buttons and helped each other slip out of layers of restrictive clothing, they paused to kiss and touch and grin at each other. Ellen had no idea how she’d managed to accomplish something as wonderful as finding Joseph in the sea of noblemen who saw only her father’s money when they looked at her. Joseph saw her, the real her, and she would forever love him for it.
“Do you think Montrose is gone for good?” she asked once they had tumbled into bed and Joseph had her spread on her back between the cool sheets.
He’d dipped down to lay kisses on her neck, but when she asked the question, he muscled above her and looked down with a frown. “I have you precisely where I want you at last, and that is the question you choose to ask?”
Ellen laughed and rested her palms against his chest, feeling the heat of his skin, the tickle of his hair, and the beat of his heart. “I just want to make certain we’ll never have to deal with his menace again,” she said.
Joseph shook his head with feigned irritation. “We will never have to deal with him again, as you say,” he said, bending down to quickly kiss her lips. “I am quite certain that Montrose is gone for good.”
He kissed her again, letting his hands play across her sides and stomach as he did.
Just as he brought one hand to her breast to cradle her, and as he moved his mouth toward her nipple, Ellen asked, “And what of the Duke of Westminster’s promise to pave my way into the heart of society? Do you think he will follow through with that?”
Again, Joseph jolted slightly, then lifted himself above her. “Do you truly wish to be a part of society? To be friends with Lady Margaret?”
Ellen let out a breath and stroked her hands around his back and shoulders before moving her fingers to play with his nipples. “No, not really,” she said, watching the work of her hands for a moment before smiling into his eyes. “Do you know who I would like to know better?”
“I cannot imagine,” Joseph said, relaxing so that he could kiss and make love to her again.
“Mrs. Long,” Ellen went on. “I should like to know the woman who married Danny Long much better. She was quite wonderful that morning we spent in the pub together. She wasn’t interested in attending the Duchess of Westminster’s ball, which surprised me.”
“I imagine she has other friends, other social events to attend,” Joseph said, trailing kisses over her neck and shoulders again.
Ellen hummed and brushed her hands up his arms and buried her fingers in his hair as Joseph reached her breasts and kissed them in a way that sent shivers through her.
“Do you know who else I wish to know better?” Ellen asked just as she felt Joseph losing himself in the passion between them. She distracted him deliberately, of course.
Joseph let out a sigh and bowed his head, resting his forehead against her breasts for a moment. When he glanced up at her, he was frowning, but his eyes sparkled with humor and lust. “Please tell me that you wish to know be better, because I very much want to know you right now. In the Biblical sense.”
Ellen laughed, playing with his hair. “I was going to say I want to know those delightful girls we met in Darlington Gardens the other day,” she said. “But do you know, I think I would rather get to know you better as well.”
“I’m glad for it,” Joseph said, laughing, then continued lavishing her breasts with kisses for a moment. “Because I,” he kissed her stomach, “would quite like,” he kissed a bit lower, “to know you very well.” He kissed a spot just below her navel, then kissed a quick line back up over her stomach and chest so that he could kiss her mouth again.
It was wonderful, and even if Joseph was not the most experienced lover in the world, he had a new sort of confidence in him that made Ellen feel as though the two of them could give each other exactly what they needed.
As if to prove that point, she felt one of his hands slip between her thighs to explore between her legs. They both gasped as his fingers delved into the wetness of her sex.
“Guide me,” Joseph said with just a hint of question in his tone. “You know this part of you better than I do.”
Ellen hummed and wriggled. “I am quite certain that you will know it well in no time at all,” she told him with a wicked grin.
She took hold of his hand and guided it right where she wanted it, then taught him how to stroke her. He caught on very quickly indeed, and soon she was sighing and panting and arching into his touch as he gave her beautiful amounts of pleasure.