“My son once told me you are like no one he’s ever met,” he said. “I must say I’ve rarely heard a truer statement.”
“We’ve only room left for truth, my lord,” Lydia replied, covering his hand with her other one. “And the truth is that I’m honored to be part of your family. I love your son with all that I am.”
She glanced at Alexander, who was watching her with a smile so filled with love that her heart somersaulted, a riotous combination of joy and expectation spilling through her.
“The girl.” Rushton’s voice was gruff. “Jane. Take good care of her. I’ve become quite fond of her.”
He gave her hand a brief but tight squeeze, a gesture that told Lydia all she needed to know. She embraced Talia and her grandmother, then bent to gather Jane into her arms.
“I’m glad you married him.” Jane hugged her tight. “It’ll be an adventure, won’t it?”
“Of the very best kind.”
After everyone had left, Alexander moved forward, and then Lydia was in his arms, her face against his shirtfront, the warm strength of his body solid against hers.
Jane was right. Their future in a new country would be an adventure—complex, unpredictable, exhilarating. Like her relationship with Alexander. Like life.
“Are you happy?” he whispered against her hair.
“Completely.” She looked up at him. “Are you?”
“For the first time ever.”
His weight lay heavy and delicious on top of her. His fingers gripped her hips. The coarse hair of his legs abraded the soft skin of her inner thighs. His breath heated her shoulder. Her breasts pressed against his chest. His shaft throbbed inside her.
God.
Lydia clutched Alexander’s back, her face buried in the side of his neck. His scent filled her head. She shifted, a moan escaping her throat as he pushed deeper. A low curse rumbled from him. She tightened her legs around his thighs. Her hands slicked down his back, smoothing over taut muscle and skin.
She arched her hips upward. Sensations crashed through her, centering on the juncture of their union—the pulsing, the yielding flesh, the spiraling pressure. He tightened his hold on her hips, then pulled back and thrust forward. Again. Again. Oh, glorious loving… again.
She moaned. Panted. Writhed. Then felt his body begin to tense, his long muscles coiling and flexing against her hands, his hips pushing…
“Oh, wait…” She gasped, shifting to ease away from him, her hands moving to seek his erection. “Wait, I… let me…”
He stopped, still embedded inside her. He planted his hands on either side of her head and lifted himself to look down at her, his eyes simmering with heat and the need for release.
“Lydia.” His voice was hoarse, thick with desire. “We’re married.”
“Yes, but…” She stared up at him, her gaze sliding over the sweat-damp angles of his face. The underlying meaning of his statement pierced through layers upon layers of love and urgency, striking her right in the middle of the heart.
Her breath caught in her throat. “You mean…”
His lips brushed her damp forehead, stirring loose tendrils of hair. He encircled her wrists with his big hands, pressing her arms to the sides of her head and immobilizing her. Then he thrust into her again, so powerfully that her whole body shuddered.
“Alexander…”
He responded with another push, another pull, an enthralling rhythm that had her blood burning and her need intensifying.
“Take me,” he hissed against her throat. “All of it.”
Her eyes stung with tears. She gripped his back, parted her legs wider, feeling that unmistakable surge toward bliss. And beneath the exquisite sensations, the pure carnal pleasure, anticipation sprang to life. Hope, love, and happiness swirled in her blood and merged into an outright joy that spread through her entire being.
“Take me,” he repeated, his voice barely more than a growl.
“Yes.” Lydia gasped, her hips bucking up against him as pleasure began to cascade through her body, shimmering and flowing. “Yes, I will… I want…”
“Now.” He thrust fully inside her as his body began to shake with release, his shaft pulsing.
“I feel it.” A cry ripped from Lydia’s throat. “Oh, yes, I… I feel it…”
She pushed herself closer to him, clutched him against her, pressed her cheek to his shoulder. Brilliant colors of purple and blue swept across her mind, reds and yellows surging through her blood as her husband spilled his seed into her body and made her his all over again.
Afterward, he pulled her into the crook of his arm and stroked a hand through her tangled hair. Lydia closed her eyes and breathed. She placed