When the Earl Met His Match (Wedded by Scandal #4) - Stacy Reid Page 0,57

of feeling him reach around her shoulder to deftly unbutton her nightgown that had her faltering into alarming stillness. Phoebe couldn’t breathe. She dared not breathe. Oh, but how her heart trembled as she welcomed his touch. She offered no protest; in truth, she was not capable of speech.

The silence in the darkness of the chamber felt thick and perilous.

Phoebe’s chest rose and fell erratically when he eased the nightgown from her shoulders. She even helped him when he encouraged her to rise slightly, so he could ease the material from her other shoulder. When she realized the action would bare her breasts to the night air, she gripped his hand, which still held a bit of her gown. Her action had both their hands resting against her bare skin, right above her cleavage. She hadn’t worn a chemisette to bed, not liking the friction it caused against her breasts that were increasingly tender and sensitive.

She bit down on her lower lip, gripping the front of the unbuttoned nightgown. “I…I…I am naked beneath the gown,” she said huskily.

Hugh offered no response—of course he could offer none, she thought inanely.

He shifted closer, and she closed her eyes as he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. The contact jolted her, and her entire body trembled for a second. Birds took flight in her stomach, and with a sigh, she leaned back against him. She bit her lips even harder when he turned his head and brushed another kiss right at that spot below her ear…then down to her neck. Her trembling fingers released his hand and her gown, which fell and was only stopped by the high rise of her belly.

The chilled air rushed over her skin, pebbling her nipples and raising fine bumps on her skin. Phoebe had never been so aware of another person in her life, and the dull ache in her heart almost felt unbearable as she waited with helpless fascination for him to act.

Her belly went hot with a frightful surge of hunger when he coasted his hands over her shoulders and down, dragging her nightgown with it. She gasped when something cold touched her skin, and that breathy sound transformed to a moan as his fingers started a deep massage into her lower back.

The pleasure of it was incredible, the ache which had been a torment these few nights easing immediately. Her maidservant had tried to assuage her pain and discomfort, but her fingers lacked the strength of Hugh’s. Several pillows supported her as she lay on her side, so scandalously bared as her husband spent several minutes kneading her back, and sometimes even up to her shoulder. All the tension leaked from her, and peace seeped over her entire body.

“Hugh, I am falling asleep,” she murmured drowsily, her lashes fluttering closed.

He paused, and Phoebe smiled when he pressed a kiss atop her shoulders as if to say, Sleep, then. Then he resumed his ministrations, just a bit more tenderly this time, but just as relaxing and sublime.

Something indefinable turned over inside of her. Phoebe hoped she was not still that silly girl who longed for sweet sentiments. The old dreams of the forever kind of love she’d always hungered for, the one that would allow her to live a life of joy, was forever from her reach. This man did not believe in fate or love. The simple fact was their marriage was only built on the use they had of each other to save their family. Nothing more.

Do not be silly, Phoebe! she told herself fiercely. Do not go wishing for more than he will ever be able to give. The possibility of feeling more for him, only to never have those sentiments returned, sent a painful jolt of apprehension through her.

That way only led to heartache, pain, and disappointed expectations. And I am smarter than that. Dear God, please let me be smarter than to fall hopelessly in love with Hugh Winthrop.

Chapter Eleven

Phoebe slowly came awake, the warm rays of the sun heating her cheeks. Her lashes fluttered open, and she froze. Oh! Somehow, she was in the very center of the large bed, her head pillowed on a chest, and a gentle but unbreakable clasp on her shoulder. Hugh breathed deeply and evenly behind her.

The urgent need to tend to her morning ablutions had her wiggling against him as she sought to turn around. She managed to extricate herself from his hold and was about to shift and face him when