She scraped her nails up and down his shoulders as he continued thrusting in and out, building up the spark inside her to another uncontrollable flame. If he would make his mark upon her, she would leave hers on him as well. A few bites of her nails to match the scrape of the carpet on her back.
He worked his way down to her breasts once more, sucking her nipple as he rammed into her. Hyacinth lost herself. On a cry, she went crashing headlong into bliss once more. Spasms of delirious release quaked through her, draining her dry. With a groan, Tom pumped deep, emptying himself.
The hot spurt of his seed filled her.
He collapsed against her, burying his golden head in her neck, his chest weighing down upon her breasts deliciously. She stroked his back as her thundering heart attempted to return to its normal pace, kissed the top of his head where his hair was thick and silken.
Never had she felt closer to another. Her life, she realized, before now, had been something of an endless tale of loneliness. Abandoned by her family to an unhappy marriage. Scorned by her husband, whose death had set her free.
“Thank you,” she said into the silence that had fallen in the aftermath of their furious lovemaking.
He raised his gorgeous head and kissed her again, this time swiftly. “You have nothing to thank me for, sweetheart.”
How wrong he was. She had everything to thank him for.
She brushed a lock of hair that had fallen over his brow, feeling such a rush of tenderness for him that she could scarcely speak past the knot in her throat. “I do, Tom. You have shown me tenderness and pleasure I never dreamed existed. I had no inkling it was possible.”
His expression turned grim. “He did not deserve you.”
She caressed his cheek, absorbing the thin prickle of his whiskers growing back in since his morning’s shave. “I was young when I married Southwick and quite naïve. My parents’ marriage was not a love match, and I had no expectations. I knew it was my place to obey my husband in all his wishes, and I was prepared to do so. He was more than twice my age, and, my father had informed me, far wiser than I could ever hope to be. But what I did not expect was for him to despise me from almost the moment we spoke our vows.”
Tom kissed her again. “I am sorry, sweetheart. The man should have been beaten to death for the way he treated you.”
She smiled up at him, trying to keep her impending sadness at bay. “In time, I understood it was not the way a marriage should be, but it was too late. I knew I must do my duty and not bring shame upon my family. And so, I did what was expected of me.”
“My God, Hyacinth.” Tom’s eyes glittered with what she suspected were tears. His head dipped for another kiss. “I am—” kiss—“so sorry.” Kiss, kiss.
“I am not,” she said truthfully, lifting her head from the carpet to initiate a kiss herself. “It led me to you, and I will be forever grateful for this time we have had together. You have shown me so much.”
“I can show you more,” he said, giving her the slow, wicked smile of a lover.
Breaking up the heaviness of the moment.
And she was grateful.
Tom was such a good man.
She knew suddenly that she could not stay the remainder of the night. If she did, her resolve would fade. She did not think she could bear to spend one more night at his side, listening to his steady breathing, absorbing his heat, knowing she would never again share this closeness with him.
If she burst into tears, she would never forgive herself. Her pride would not recover. No, she would have to somehow slip away from him. To flee without his knowledge.
The thought felt like a betrayal, even if it was not.
It is better this way, she told herself.
Our time is at an end. What is a few more hours?
What, indeed, if the cost proved too great? If she was too tempted to remain and prolong their arrangement? She was just delaying their inevitable conclusion. Tom needed to marry one day, to satisfy his duty to his family. And besides, had not the duchess informed her he had forever been taking care of others, starting with creatures small when he had been but a