Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons #6) - Lorraine Heath Page 0,134

room, I’ll spare you the Scottish version and give you words you can understand.” He lifted his flute of champagne.

“May the best you’ve ever seen

“Be the worst you’ll ever see.

“May a mouse never leave your pantry

“With a teardrop in his eye.

“May you always keep hale and hearty

“’Til you’re old enough to die.

“May you always be just as happy

“As your ma and I’d wish you always to be.”

He raised his glass higher. “Slàinte.”

“Slàinte,” echoed around the room as glasses were lifted and champagne sipped.

When Beast kissed his wife, cheers erupted.

Scotland

One week later

“I think I’m falling in love with Scotland.”

Sitting in the bed, with one hand behind his head, Beast smiled at his wife’s words, spoken as she stood nude before the window, gazing out at the early-morning mist blanketing the glen. His parents had stayed in London, giving him and Thea some time alone at the estate before joining them.

“I’m rather fond of the view myself.”

With a laugh, she swung around. “I thought by now you’d have grown tired of it. We’ve hardly worn any clothing since we arrived.”

Because they’d seldom left this chamber. The second day he had taken her riding to see the lochs, hills, and forests. In the early evening they often strolled through the gardens. But he seldom wore more than trousers and a shirt. She didn’t bother with a corset.

It made it easier to divest their clothing quickly when they returned to the room. They had weeks of abstinence to make up for.

“Will we live here, do you think?”

“Part of the year, but we’ll take over another wing. Can’t have my parents hearing your screams of ecstasy.”

Screams that drove him wild. Here they didn’t have to be quiet, and they weren’t.

After the first hasty coming together, they’d gone more slowly with the others, exploring each other as though every aspect was new and unfamiliar. In a way it was. Now there was a certainty to things. She was his wife, would always be so.

With slow, sensual movements, she strolled over, clambered onto the bed, climbed onto him, and straddled his hips. “My fire needs stirring.”

Laughing, he threaded his fingers through her hair and brought her mouth to his, claiming it with a thrust of his tongue. He still couldn’t keep his bloody mouth off her, which suited her just fine as she seemed unable to keep hers off him. They were perfect together. Their needs equal, their wants similar. Their desire to please the other identical.

With a moan, she lifted her hips and lowered herself onto his hard shaft. He groaned as she sank deep. He would never grow weary of feeling her muscles clutching him.

Then she was riding him with the Scottish sun filtering in through the windows, and he wondered briefly if it might kiss her backside and leave freckles there for him to kiss.

Her gasps began in earnest and he knew pleasure was taking hold of her just as it was him. They were so attuned.

When her cries began echoing around him, his grunts joined in, creating a melody he hoped to hear until the end of his days.

She melted over him, and he held her close while their breaths slowed and their bodies cooled.

It was several minutes before he was able to move and then it was only his voice. “Do you know what I thought the first time I saw you?”

Lifting herself up slightly, she captured his gaze and shook her head.

“She doesn’t belong here. But I was wrong, mo chridhe. You belong wherever I am.”

When she took possession of his mouth with a fervor that matched her love for him, he realized he belonged wherever she was.

Epilogue

Scotland

November 1910

With his arms crossed over his chest, the Duke of Glasford stood against a wall in the great hall and watched as his duchess began gathering the crowd of nearly fifty children, spouses, and grandchildren into some sort of order in front of the massive fireplace that had warmed the arses of kings. Thea was a miracle worker when it came to organizing the Trewlove clan for a family portrait.

Beast had been duke for close to two decades. His mother had grown weaker and more frail through the years. He couldn’t help but believe that all she’d endured to protect him had continued to take a toll on her and been responsible for giving him fewer years with her. Wearing a gentle smile, she had passed away with the two men who loved her each holding one of her hands. Beast had watched