and his heart nearly stopped as he waited, praying that she would agree.
“Oh, Eli,” she said, tears beginning in earnest now, “of course I will.”
He stood then, taking her around the waist and bringing her in close to him. He bent his head, touching his forehead to hers, the crowns they both wore clashing against one another, causing her to giggle.
“I have a secret of my own,” he whispered.
“Oh?”
“Before the festivities began, I made sure that the mistletoe remained above this doorway.”
“Oh, Eli,” she said pretending to hit him in admonishment, “you could be inviting the gremlins that way, leaving greenery up past Twelfth Night!”
He laughed, long and loud, in gaiety that he had been missing for a long time now.
“I’m willing to risk it,” he said, “but if you’re that concerned, I promise to take it down, after first putting it to good use,” and then he leaned down and took her lips in his, no longer able to hold himself back.
Oh, how good she tasted, he realized as he moved his lips over hers, licking the seam of them until she opened to him and he swept his tongue inside, exploring, plundering, promising a lifetime and more.
She clutched his shoulders as she returned his kiss with equal measure, and he ran his hands down her back, pressing her in against him, so that they were as flush as could be between the layers of clothing that separated them.
Clothing that suddenly seemed to be far too cumbersome, too numerous between the two of them.
But first, he sunk his fingers into her hair, tilting her head so that his mouth just brushed the soft skin between her ear and her jaw. He nibbled, tasted, then feasted as he she hummed her approval.
His other hand lifted, his thumb brushing over her plush lips, and she opened them slightly and allowed it in before sliding it back and forth from one corner of her lips to the other.
He trailed his mouth down her neck to her collarbone from where it began at her shoulder to where it ended at her throat. When she moaned, he lifted his hand to follow the path his mouth had traveled, until he reached the top of her bodice and finally slipped his hand beneath it, shoving aside the stays and chemise until he found what he was looking for.
The hunger in Joanna’s eyes mirrored his, and he released her hair, needing to rid her of this infernal costume — although he did appreciate that it highlighted the queen she truly was.
“Joanna,” he murmured, “my queen, no matter what you are wearing.”
And with that, he went to work on the hooks and eyes, longing to rip them down the middle, but knowing how hard she had worked on this costume — on all of the costumes.
Beads of sweat broke out on his brow from his concentration on removing each tiny, infernal fastening that he suddenly felt she had sewn just to tantalize him. She laughed lowly, apparently sensing his dismay, as she moved against him, and then, finally, he decided enough of this, and he pushed the bodice down as far as he could until her breasts were free.
It would do — for now.
Joanna had been tempted to help him.
But, as agonizing as the wait was, it had also been all too amusing to watch Elijah’s struggle with the back of her dress.
And then his patience had worn out.
Finally, when her breasts were free, he sat back on his heels and stared at her, blinking.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, looking up at her, his eyes dark with need.
She cupped his chin in her hands. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she said with a laugh, reaching down to untie the top of his breeches on the costume that she had fashioned herself.
Swallowing any nerves, she congratulated herself on her bravery as they fell away, and he stepped out of them, shucking them to the side as she swallowed at the sight of him. She had seen all of him before — had felt all of him before — but somehow it was still a shock, to think that this beautiful man before her was hers, that he wanted her, that he thought her as attractive as he apparently did.
“I love you, Joanna,” he said, stepping close to her, catching her against him. “I love everything about you.”
He lifted her skirts high and then gripped her hips beneath them, so his bare fingers were upon her. In one