Page 55 of Dangerous

She fixed him with an unfocused gaze as he pounded into her. “Come with me, Adam.”

Her words were the last straw and he convulsed against her with the sheer force of his orgasm, yelling out God-knows-what as he spent himself.

She laughed with breathless delight as she gave in to her climax.

Adam stared up at her as if poleaxed. He had never seen such a beautiful sight in his entire life. She was rosy and flushed, her glorious hair spiraling out in all directions. Her head fell back as if it were too heavy, her hands absently stroking her nipples before she dropped down beside him.

“Mm.” She snaked an arm around his torso and buried her head in his side. “I’m hungry. Can we have breakfast in bed, Adam?”

Adam laughed weakly. “You seem to be nothing but a collection of hungers.”

His hand found its way into her hair and he twisted a long curly strand around his finger, absently inspecting the result.

“Of course you may have breakfast in bed,” he said, the fiery red curl coiled around his finger making his chest tighten.

“Will you stay with me, Adam? And perhaps bathe me?” The words were sleepy, yet eager. He stared at the red twist of hair, groping for the right words.

“Adam?”

“I will stay.” Thank God she could not see his face.

She tightened her arm around him and sighed with contentment, snuggling closer. It took him a few minutes to realize she’d fallen asleep.

Adam listened to her soft, rhythmic breathing and stared at the riot of hair spread across his body. It was like a living thing, like the strong, seeking tendrils of red seaweed, and it wove and wrapped itself around him. Its hold was inexorable and he was slipping beneath the waves, without even so much as a struggle.

* * *

Adam let Mia sleep while he took care of several issues that couldn’t wait.

One of which was, of course, a fencing demonstration for his wife. After sending one footman to his fencing master, another with a draft for payment for the remainder of the work on the London building, and his groom to arrange the delivery of a new mare he’d purchased, Adam went back to his wife’s chambers to see if she was awake.

The only difference in the room was that she’d turned onto her other side.

Adam moved a tangled mass of curls from her face. The twist of bedding was barely covering her breasts. He drank her in with the hot greedy gaze of a lecher. Hundreds of tiny freckles dotted the skin of her chest and shoulders. Her lips were slightly parted as she breathed slowly and heavily. In the light of day he could see the lines around her eyes and the somewhat deeper creases around her mouth—smile lines.

Longing, lust, and fear flickered through his mind like quickly moving images outside a carriage window. She was so joyous and happy to please and be pleased. The impulse to hold her at arm’s length—a behavior he’d honed to near perfection—was strong. But now he’d enjoyed a taste of her warmth and he wanted more. And so had she, he told himself. It had been his wife who’d asked him to stay this morning. He hadn’t forced his company on her; she had asked for it.

You fool.

Adam ran the tips of his fingers over her delicate brow, smoothing back stray tendrils of hair. He leaned close to breathe in the spicy scent of her hair.

She opened her eyes and a languorous smile crept across her face. “Mm. Good morning, Adam.”

The sound of his name on her lips had the predictable effect on his groin.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“You proclaimed you were famished, told me I must wash you, and then dropped off to sleep.” He sat back and gave her what he hoped was a cool smile rather than the lustful, rutting leer that threatened to overtake his face the longer he contemplated last night ... and this morning.

“I understand how exhausted you may be after last night. And this morning.” His lips twitched. “But I wanted to get you out of bed just long enough to give you something.” He abruptly rose from the bed at the look of joy on her face, which threatened to unman him.

“A surprise?” She pushed back the covers, stretching and yawning, naked and unashamed.

Adam’s eyes dropped to the small green gem resting in the swell of her belly. He had a powerful urge to drop before her right now and bury his face in the tangle of red hair. Was he demented to be dragging her out of bed?

“Is there anything amiss, my lord?” She stood only a few inches away, twisting her hair quickly into a rope and then winding it into a knot as she blinked up at him.

Adam prayed he wasn’t gaping or drooling. “No, there is nothing amiss,” he lied. Her obvious comfort with her nudity was intriguing, disturbing, and arousing, among other things.