Caroline rushed to continue. It was important she tell him everything that sat on her heart. “You chose me. No guarantee of the future you wanted.” As if some of the chains binding her to her past fell away, she stared at him with a new respect and very different feelings than she’d previously battled. “I have been too afraid to see… you.” Her swallow was audible. “To see you and me together, but now…”
“Yes?” Such hope rode in that one-word question and sat in his eyes that shivers of anticipation went down her spine. “But now…” The cravat slipped from her fingers. She held his head between her palms and stared into his eyes. “Now I am not going to hide behind fear. I am going to be brave, to do something that frightens me.” She swallowed audibly. “You sacrificed your freedom for mine.”
“No.”
“Yes.” She tugged his head down and brushed her lips over his. “You hero are my, John.”
A red flush crept up his neck. “I only wanted to give you a chance to explore life on your terms.”
Another round of tears fell but this time John kissed them away. “You have, and now I…”
“Yes?”
“I want you as my real husband. Know you servants like think should we already do.” Of course, when it really mattered, her words were jumbled. She sighed. “I want to know you physically, as your wife.” Her eyebrows rose. “Please?” What if after everything, he said no? What if she was indeed too much for him?
“Oh, sweeting. Of course.” Pride twinkled in his eyes. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words, to know you’re comfortable enough with me in that way.”
Another few tears fell. “I’m here now.”
“Yes, you certainly are.”
Then she sighed, for John wrapped his arms around her and crushed his lips to hers.
Caroline’s world spun out of control the longer she kissed her husband. The storm inside her abated and in its place came other sensations, more pleasurable ones that swept through her blood, leaving her heated and aching with the sweetest longing. A yearning that wouldn’t cease until John touched her, claimed her, showed her what such feelings meant.
“Put your hands on me,” she asked in a whisper as she peered into his face. “Make me fly. Like you did before.”
Those gorgeous eyes of his had darkened. “You’re certain?”
“Yes.” She fumbled with the buttons on his jacket. There was nothing more that she wanted in this moment.
“Good.” Then he strode to one of the sheet-draped sofas, whipped off the dust covers, and waggled his eyebrows. “I suppose this makes as good a bed as any.”
Caroline giggled. “It doesn’t look like one.”
“I don’t guess you’ll critique the décor once we’re underway, my dear.” Slowly, he returned to her location. “Allow me to convey you.” He scooped her up into his arms and grinned when she squealed. “Ah, Caroline, we’re going to have such fun together.”
“You will sleep in my bed now?” She’d liked it all too much the other night when he’d stayed with her, when she could reach out in the night when something woke her or she was afraid and touch him, feel his warmth, find comfort to know she wasn’t alone.
“If that’s what you want. You only need to say the word and I’ll be there.” He kissed her again, and her world tilted, and as he laid her down upon the low sofa, she murmured a protest when their connection was broken.
But she needn’t have worried. He was right there, his big body coming over hers with a pleasant weight. The hard wall of his chest contrasted nicely with the soft cushions at her back, and he kissed her again with such gentleness, she wanted to always feel that contentment wrapping around her.
She ran her hands up and down his back. Daring much, Caroline put a hand to the tautness of his buttock as heat burned through her cheeks. Oh, he felt so good! So very different from her. The scents of the sun and sea infiltrated her nostrils. It made her feel giddy, drunk, even though she had no idea what that meant. Finally, she had the freedom to press her lips to the underside of his jaw where the stubble met smooth skin. Dear heavens, that disparity was extraordinary on her lips, her tongue! She tugged at his lapels in an effort to have him closer.
John chuckled. The sound reverberated deep in her chest, encouraging the butterflies in her belly to take flight. “I never knew you’d be so impatient.”
How could she not be when every part of her cried out for every part of him? “I want you.” There was simply nothing else to say.
That grin of his would drive her mad one day, for she adored it so much. “I want you too.” He peppered the underside of her jaw with gossamer kisses then dragged his lips down the column of her throat. While her heartbeat quickened, he followed the bodice of her dress and slowly, oh so slowly, he pulled at the fabric until he’d bared her breasts.
The relatively cool air of the room wafted over her exposed skin, prompting a shiver, but then he was there taking one of her hardening nipples into the warm cavern of his mouth. As he sucked on the bud, he rolled the other. Wild sensations bounced through her body, zipping between her breasts to between her thighs. Caroline cried out, her body shifting, her back arching, which put her more firmly into his care.
All she could do was clutch his shoulders and ride each wave of feeling as it broke over her. Everything was new and different—colorful, as if she’d previously lived in a world of black and white; everything he did, everywhere he touched rendered her both hot and cold. And beyond that, something deep inside her awakened, pushed toward the light as if it refused to stay buried any longer.
When she moved, restless, and one of her legs bumped the hard bulge between his legs, John hissed with discomfort. “Sorry, I don’t—”
“Shh. I know.” He resituated himself so that his legs were between her splayed ones, and as he did so, he tugged up handfuls of her skirts, bunching them at her waist, and all too soon the rest of her body was visible. Though he’d touched her there, between her legs that one afternoon at the duck pond, having him gaze upon her most private of parts left heat burning in her cheeks. “So gorgeous.” Awe lingered in his voice as well as showed in his expression. “And you’re mine.”