Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,78
whatever sensations they shared, he felt them more than she did. Not because he was a man and she a woman. Because he was a man who had mastered concentration.
He opened his eyes and looked in hers. Intense. Warm. Such depths his eyes contained. Captivating. As if nothing else mattered right now, and no other world existed except this bed with the two of them in it.
He joined them finally. Slowly. She discarded her impatience and accepted the delicious fulfillment for what it was. He withdrew and did it again, only she could not remain so calm this time. Nor the next, when she murmured encouragement, asking for more.
Harder, then. Deeper. So deep, she felt the thrusts touching her deepest essence. Desire and pleasure left her oblivious to her own words and sounds.
He finished hard. Almost violently. The power of it left her thrashing, reaching for him, for her own end, for that heaven just out of reach. Breath rasping hard, and his body still hovering over hers, he reached down and touched her. She arched in response to the intensity. Her whole body and mind screamed for release from the torture. He kissed her cheek and said something, and touched her differently, and suddenly she was screaming again, only in wonder.
* * *
“I suppose if I made this marriage of convenience you proposed, I know at least one part of it won’t be horrible.”
Her words, spoken softly into the night, roused Kevin from the sleep starting to claim him.
His reaction, unbidden and unexpected, surprised him. Triumph.
An odd reaction, once he had woken enough to think about it. The thing about practical marriages was that they had base reasons behind them. Financial ones, usually. This one would too. He would marry her so she could not marry someone else who might interfere with the enterprise. She would marry him to obtain a higher station. A match did not get more practical than that.
And yet, as he lay beside her after she opened that door again, he knew a contentment that had no name he recognized. He decided that it was merely the reaction of a man sated with pleasure happy to know he would be so sated again and again.
Only it wasn’t just that. He could find that anywhere, or at least several somewheres. Better in a technical sense, because those women possessed expertise Rosamund obviously did not. Though they also lacked an element that he’d had with her, he had to admit.
“I can promise that much,” he said, because it was long past time to answer her.
“I thought maybe you were asleep.”
“No, no. I was enjoying having you in my arms.”
“Did I send you into deep thoughts with my small observation? Or perhaps you were already there and didn’t hear me.”
“I was deciding what to say that wouldn’t scare you off.”
She snuggled closer. Her hair teased at his nose. “I haven’t actually agreed to this.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“I’m only agreed that we might consider it. Then, after a spell, we will make a decision. You may conclude it is not really in your best interests. And I won’t do it unless my interests are protected.”
“How so?”
“I must keep full control over my inheritance, including my share of the enterprise. If you don’t accept that, there is no point in talking about it at all.”
She clearly didn’t know anything about marriage law. Of course he would control it. She would retain ownership, but her husband would have use of the share.
“I intend to talk to Mr. Sanders to see about an agreement on that,” she said. “One where you will accept that peculiarity in our marriage.”
Hell. The familiar old annoyance began worming into his head. Rosamund had a stubborn side to her, especially when it came to his invention.
“You can’t have so much control that you can sell it without my permission, Rosamund. If you can still do that, this marriage of convenience will be most inconvenient to me.”
She shrugged. “I expect Mr. Sanders will know how to fit in that part.” He felt her yawn against his chest. “Your family will be horrified. Once they make that clear, you may change your mind about the entire notion.”
“I am accustomed to their being horrified. That will change nothing.”
“There are some relatives you like, though. When they voice objections, you may think differently.”
He only liked Chase and Nicholas. They would see how this benefited him. Nor were either the sort to harp about Rosamund’s common birth or poor background.