thing, filled with a mixture of excitement and impatience for him to take her.
Julius felt her escalating desire. All his cool control stripped away. Desperate for her, he pulled her beneath him as though he could not withstand another second of denial. Lifting her taut buttocks to receive him, he entered her.
Beatrice opened completely to him, moulding her hips to his as he began to move, presenting him with a gift of surrender, unwittingly driving him to unparalleled agonies of desire, her surrender answering something deep within his soul. Wanting all he had to give, something wild, raw and primitive and savage built inside her, racing through her veins with wrenching pleasure, the undulant waves of his taking increasing to a crescendo of resounding power. Nothing either of them felt was suppressed or hidden, there was just exquisite joy.
They reached their climax in wild, wonderful, burning unison. Julius’s body jerked convulsively again and again, and he clasped her to him, feeling the tiny, shudders of her body as she rung the last pleasure of her orgasm from him. Breathing hard against her cheek, his heart raging in frantic tempo with hers, his body merging into hers, his seed deep inside her, he was more pleased by what had just happened between them than by any other sexual experience of his life. It was also, he thought, the most profound moment of his life.
When reality returned and his breathing evened out, he moved on to his side. Beatrice’s hair spilled over his naked chest like a drift of satin and he raised a hand to smooth it off her face, feeling humbled and blessed by her unselfish ardour—and relieved that this time she didn’t turn from him. Content and sated, their bodies succumbing to the dreamy aftermath of complete consummation, they remained that way for several minutes, then Beatrice stirred and draped a leaden arm around his waist. Julius tipped her chin up so that he could gaze into her eyes.
‘How do you feel?’ he asked softly.
Beatrice’s long, curling lashes fluttered up and her eyes like two languid green pools gazed into his—this man, her husband. She had not sought his love, she did not expect it, and she certainly had no right to it, but at that moment, more than anything she had wanted in her life before, she wanted it.
‘I feel like a wife,’ she whispered. ‘Your wife.’
He laughed huskily. ‘Which is exactly what you are, my love. My wife in every sense. And I feel like a husband,’ he said, with tender solemnity. ‘To think I actually believed there was no such thing as marital bliss.’ Relaxing against the pillows, he revelled in the simple joy of having her in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. ‘How incredibly stupid I have been.’
‘No, you are not stupid,’ his wife declared loyally, turning her face up to his. ‘Although I would dearly like to know what has given you reason to think that.’ She observed a tightening of his features and something in his eyes warned her not to press, but she was not to be put off. Placing her lips against his shoulder in the gentlest caress, her heart aching, she wished he would open up to her. ‘As your wife I would like to know something of your past, Julius—your parents. Will you not tell me?’
‘Time enough for that,’ he replied, closing his eyes.
Beatrice wriggled on to her stomach and propped herself up on her arms, her face only inches from his. ‘Please be open with me, Julius. I want to know the nature of the man I married. I have always been forthcoming about myself—and you witnessed for yourself the misery of what my life was like at Standish House. I too find it hard to speak about my deepest feelings, but I would willingly do so with you. Despite all my efforts to keep you from seeing my many insecurities, you have a habit of pulling them out of me. I think that is because now I am your wife, I want you to know who I am. I know you are a very private person, Julius, and I respect that, but if you cannot open up to me as I am willing to do with you—even if it’s just a little at a time—then we have no chance of happiness until you can begin to share yourself with me.’
For a moment he did not move, nor did he reply. Then he opened his