Page 58 of How the Duke Saved Christmas

She tensed at the discomfort of her body stretching wide to welcome his. But he carefully sank deeper until he lay completely inside her, until their pelvises met and the kerseymere of his trousers scratched against the bare skin of her inner thighs. Slowly, the discomfort faded until all that remained was the exquisite sensation of having him so close to her that she couldn’t tell where his body ended and hers began, that she couldn’t help but breathe when he breathed.

He gave a low groan and began to move gently inside her. Each retreat was a decadent slide that nearly had her sobbing at the thought of losing him from her warmth, only for her heart to soar with joy as each following thrust brought him fully inside her again.

“Closer,” she begged, her arms clinging tightly to him, her left leg wrapped around his waist. “I want you closer…”

“I can’t be closer than this, love,” he reassured her as he continued to rock into her.

A frustrated cry fell from her lips. She wanted all of him, body and soul. She wanted to imprint herself on him for all the years to come when he wouldn’t be with her, when they would once more be living separate lives.

“Let’s try this,” he murmured. So very careful not to harm her wounded leg resting straight against the mattress, he gently hooked his arm under her other leg and lifted it higher in the crook of his elbow, almost to his shoulder.

She caught her breath at the new position, but when he began to move again…oh, heaven! The new angle opened her even wider to allow him to glide smoothly into her, to let him sink even deeper than before.

She clung to him as his pace increased and his thrusts grew harder, and now, every slide against her brushed his pelvis against the sensitized nub buried in her folds that he’d teased to such exquisite release before. The ache inside her blossomed into raw need, and her thighs quivered around him as she arched herself to meet each deep thrust. She felt herself reaching again for that wonderful moment of tension and release, felt herself rising—

She broke with a cry. He swallowed the sound with a heated, possessive kiss. Then he thrust quickly and deeply…once, twice—he held himself buried completely inside her, his arms encircling her tightly. His body jerked against hers, and he poured himself into her.

The sensation rushed through her, and her folds quivered around him as she strained to capture every drop, to hold this most precious part of him inside her forever. She closed her eyes to brand this moment in her mind…the feel of holding him inside her, the pounding of his heartbeat as he collapsed breathlessly on top of her, the musky masculine scent of him that filled her senses, and the smoothness of his back and shoulders, dotted with perspiration, as she lovingly circled her fingertips across his warm skin.

Years from now, during another long winter’s night when she was old and alone, she would remember this moment in his arms and know that she was once loved.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Michael placed a kiss to Clara’s bare shoulder as she lay in front of him in bed, resting in his arms.

Dear God, she was heavenly, and he could hardly believe that tonight had been real, that he hadn’t fallen asleep during the vicar’s sermon and dreamt the whole thing.

He grinned against her flesh. If thiswerea dream in church, then he was certainly going to be punished for all the wantonness of it—and then offered complete absolution in the name of love.

“Are you warm enough?” he whispered.

“Don’t I feel warm?”

He caressed his hand along her hip, and with a deep sigh, she shifted to part her legs. He bit back a groan at that unwitting temptation to heat her blood a second time tonight. “You feel divine.”

A soft, happy laugh bubbled up from her lips.

She nestled deeper into his arms, and he pulled the velvet counterpane up to her chin against the chill of the dark night. Everything below the tip of her nose was hidden. But his hands were free to wander over her body beneath the covers, and he took full advantage by caressing lovingly over her hips, belly, and breasts.

After they’d finished making love, he’d left the bed only long enough to finally yank off his boots and strip completely out of the rest of his clothes. He hadn’t even bothered to stir up the banked coals, although truthfully he preferred the warmth of the bed created by their two bodies to the heat of a fire. He also wanted to keep the room dark for her sake. It was the first time she’d been with a man, and the last thing he wanted was for herto feel self-conscious about her leg or embarrassed over what they’d done.

She rolled onto her back to look up at him and tenderly brushed her fingertips through the hair at his temple. A happy, conspiratorial smile tugged at the corners of hers mouth, and her blue eyes gleamed even in the shadows.

He leaned over to kiss her, and her warm, supple lips held the promise of more wonderful experiences for them to share before dawn. But he slowly trailed his mouth down her throat and into the valley between her breasts where her two necklaces lay entwined.

Lifting his head, he brushed his fingertip over the ring on its long chain. “You kept your engagement ring.”

“When you gave it to me, I had to hide it from Anthony and Auntie, so I wore it around my neck and kept it tucked beneath my bodice. Remember?”

“Yes.” He’d been a damned fool for keeping their engagement secret. If he could have done it over, he would have shouted it from the rooftops. “Have you worn it all this time?”

“I never took it off.” A bit embarrassed, she confessed, “I should have given it back to you, I know, but I couldn’t bear to part with it.” Her voice lowered to an impossibly soft breath. “I couldn’t bear not to keep this part of you with me, always.”

His chest tightened, not knowing whether to warm with joy that she’d never stopped loving him or be pierced with grief that she’d pushed him away. “Now you don’t have to hide it any longer.”

Carefully, he unfastened the tiny clasp, slid it away from her neck, and slipped the ring off its chain. She frowned, puzzled, but didn’t stop him when he reached for her left hand and placed the ring on her finger.

“This is where it belongs,” he murmured.