Page 109 of After the Abduction

“Shall I stop so we can dress?” he half growled.

“Don’t you dare!” She clutched his shoulders and tilted her hips higher, needing all of him inside her.

“I couldn’t if I wanted to.” He filled his hands with her breasts, teasing and arousing them as he pounded into her.

Sebastian thought he’d died and gone to heaven at last. Except he doubted that this was allowed in heaven.

Finally, Juliet was his completely. Forever. Or else he was dreaming. But despite the darkness, he couldn’t mistake that it was Juliet he held in his arms. No other woman smelled like an entire meadow of lilacs. No other woman was as soft and giving and open. And no other woman had ever made him feel like a king the second she wrapped him in her forgiving arms.

He lost himself in her sweet heat, rocking into her, grinding against the rocking of the carriage until she started uttering little heartfelt mews of pleasure. They echoed to the very root of his John Thomas. He drove harder, deeper, so primed from all her earlier manipulations that he feared satisfaction was only moments away.

Wanting to slow himself so they could reach it together, he leaned into her to kiss whatever he could find in the darkness…her delicate throat…the cusp of her stubborn chin…her always blushing cheek. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she anchored him to her. Then her sheath tightened around him, a satiny fist that squeezed him until with a roar, he reached his release.

As he strained against her, his seed pouring into her, she cried, “I love you, Sebastian!” and found her own satisfaction.

In that moment, when the unfamiliar words fell on his aching heart like a soothing balm, he realized he’d do anything to hear her say them again. To hear her cry them from the rooftops for the rest of their lives.

He’d do anything to ensure it—anything. Because pride and duty be damned, he wanted Juliet’s love. Even if he wasn’t sure he could reciprocate with those words.

And if he couldn’t? If he didn’t, would she stay? He clasped her close, feeling the thundering of her heart against his chest and her slowing breaths in his ear. “Never leave me, sweeting,” he whispered. “I couldn’t bear it.”

She drew back to smooth the hair away from his brow. “What makes you think I’d ever leave you, my love?”

There was that word again, that wonderful word he would never tire of. He hadn’t realized until she said it that it was what he’d been waiting for all his life. “I’d swear you were on the verge of leaving me tonight after we played chess. You were going home, and tomorrow you were heading out of town. And you did say you’d had enough—”

“Yes, of all your petty games. That didn’t mean I was leaving the field forever, for goodness sake. I just couldn’t be around you as long as this was going on. But I’ve always intended to have you, Sebastian Blakely. Whatever it took.”

“You might have told me and spared me some worry,” he growled. Drawing back from her, he tugged his drawers and breeches up and fastened them. Then he lifted himself onto the seat opposite her.

“Why?” She straightened her chemise and began to button it up. “Then you’d have been so sure of me that you’d never have seen sense. I’m not that stupid.”

Reaching over, he lit the lamp so they could see to dress, then murmured, “Some might disagree. They might say…you’re stupid to fall in love with me.” He couldn’t help himself. He had to hear her say those words again. “I mean, I’ve kidnapped you and treated you very ill—”

“You certainly have.” When his head shot up, she added with a laugh, “But I forgive you. That’s the beauty of love. A woman in love is quick to forgive her beloved. You see, love does have its finer points after all.”

She watched him solemnly, as if waiting for a response.

He should say the words now, but something held him back. “I’ll have to trust you on that one.” He held his breath, sure that she would tear into him for not responding with the words she expected to hear.

But she merely cast him a sad smile, then reached for her gown. “Well, no matter how much I love you—and I do—I hope you intend to stop this kidnapping business. It’s very trying.”

He slumped with relief. Yet he felt like a blackguard somehow. “You don’t know how seriously I considered kidnapping you tonight.” With a scowl, he tucked his shirt tails in his breeches. “Especially when that damned Havering opened his blasted mouth and started talking about taking you home.”

“You wouldn’t really have fought a duel, would you?”

“Should I ever have to fight one, it won’t be with a man who doesn’t even know where to point the pistol.”

“I knew you were bluffing.” She slithered her gown up her body, making his mouth go dry. Then she turned her back to him. “Do me up.”

His hands began to sweat as he did what she asked. By thunder, how could he want her again so soon? Would he ever stop craving her like this? “Boggs will have my head when he sees the condition of my clothes.”

She sighed. “I know. Only think of how long it will take to get all the dirt out. And with you on your knees, too!”

He laughed at her concerns. “I’m sure he’ll manage.”

“But what shall we do when we reach Lady Brumley’s? We both look a fright.”

“Why don’t you disembark in front of the house and sneak from the gallery into some private room, where you can freshen up? I’ll take a turn in the coach, then get out myself and do the same. Somehow we’ll manage to hide it. We have to. I can’t speak to your brother-in-law looking as if I’ve just been making love to you in the carriage.”