Page 43 of Snowed In with the Runaway Bride

Unable to stand much more, he put his hand over hers again to direct her to move faster, grip harder, until the waves of pleasure overtook him and he shuddered in her arms.

He opened his eyes to see her watching him, and she leaned down to kiss him. Without another word, their hands still joined on his cock as it slowly relaxed, he used his other hand to tug her down to lay beside him, her head pillowed on his shoulder, her dark hair spread across his chest as he cradled her to his side.

With a deep sigh and a faint smile on her lips, Penny slid into sleep as the firelight flickered across her bare skin, her hand settling against his belly as she relaxed.

Hugo fought sleep for as long as he could. He wanted to savor this time with her for as long as they had it. He had not taken her virginity to allow her to move on and return to society, find a new man to marry if she chose, but he would never forget this night.

When he was back at sea in his lonely bunk, he would imagine her hand on him whenever he touched himself. Always her.

The reality of a naked, satisfied Penny in his arms was even better than his dreams, and he pulled her even closer as he, too, fell asleep.

Penny woke slowly, feeling sticky and a little sore, but pleasantly so. It was the way she had used to feel after climbing a tree or bathing in the sea. A feeling that she had used her body the way it was meant to be used. The first light of dawn was just beginning to brighten the room.

She was still wrapped around Hugo, their limbs tangled together as they slept. Unable to resist, she looked down and saw that his… male part was swollen, as it had been the night before. Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up and grinned at him as he leaned down to kiss her, his lips soft and gentle.

“Are you all right?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I should have known you would not be burdened with maidenly fears.”

To her surprise, she wasn’t. What was there for her to fear when it was Hugo she had shared her body with? He would never deliberately hurt her or frighten her. She knew that down to her bones.

She snuggled closer, feeling as though all was right with the world, and let her hand skim idly over his body.

“Be careful.”

“Oh?” She held his gaze and grinned at him, her hand straying lower. “Should I be careful of the insolent member that has been prodding my bottom every morning?”

He laughed, then gasped when she grasped him in her hand, toying with him the way he had shown her the night before. “It was not all your doing. It, er, happens naturally in the morning.”

“Really? Do you wish me to stop?”

His eyes were already heavy-lidded with pleasure as he pulled her head down for a kiss. His lips skimming hers, he replied with two words.

“Don’t stop.”

Eventually, the rumbling of their stomachs forced them to rise from their bed. Penny sat up in bed to watch Hugo wash and dress, contemplating the birds tattooed on his chest. Birds that were the same as the hand-carved one he had given her the first summer after her illness.

When he had walked into the drawing room of her family’s townhouse in London while she half-lay on the chaise, she had wondered for a moment if she was delirious again. Her mother had laughed at her.

“Now that Boney is safely on Elba, Lord Hugo is here on leave. Can you not say hello?”

“Hello,” Penny had said. At the time, she had thought Kendal must have sent him on a duty visit, but she was warmed by his coming at all.

He had bowed first to her mother and then to her. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Montgomery, Miss Penelope.”

“Good afternoon, Lord Hugo,” Mother had said. “How kind of you to call. Please sit down.”

They had exchanged only the briefest of commonplaces before Hugo looked at Penny. She had had a moment of wishing she looked more attractive. As it was, she had been propped into a sitting position on the chaise, a warm blanket over her lap and her short hair tucked under a practical cap. She despised being an invalid, having to be carried downstairs if she wanted so much as a change of scenery. Her strength was slow to return and her joints ached fiercely, and she had sometimes despaired she would improve at all.

“I brought you something,” Hugo had said.

Penny’s spirits had lifted. “You did?”

“Yes.” He had reached to his pocket and hesitated. “It’s not much.”

“I don’t care. Show me.”