“I don’t think I ever thanked you,” Randolph murmured once he and Angelica had retreated upstairs to their private apartment after wishing their wedding guests a good night. Standing near the fireplace with a glass of recently poured champagne in his hand, he watched her intently as she approached. “Had it not been for you…” He shook his head roughly.
With her heart racing against her breast, Angelica set her own glass of champagne on the mantelpiece and stepped closer to her husband. “As I’ve already told you, you aren’t to blame.” He opened his mouth as if to protest, but she placed a quick finger against his lips. “However, there is still one thing you should know, and that is how deeply I love you.”
His eyes flared with renewed brightness, and champagne sloshed from his glass in his haste to set it aside. Before she knew it she was in his arms, surrendering to the most passionate kiss he’d ever bestowed. Hands slid over her every curve, working buttons and untying ribbons with half-frenzied movements until, quite abruptly, he paused with his face pressed into the curve of her neck. Everything slowed – his progress, her heartbeats, and time. A shuddering breath escaped him, and she felt his hands tremble as he clutched her tight.
“I love you too,” he whispered hoarsely against her throat. “More than I could ever hope to describe. And when I believed I’d lost you I… I just knew what I felt for you surpassed all else.”
Tears crept along the edges of her eyes until they spilled onto her cheeks. He kissed them away while taking his time to undress her, then kissed his way down the length of her spine, over her hip, and across her stomach until the heartfelt emotions he’d stirred were replaced by intense longing.
“Randolph.”
His eyes burned hot as he rose to his feet and stepped back to better assess his handiwork. “God, you’re stunning.”
A curse followed as he struggled to untie his tricky cravat and again when his fingers slipped on his waistcoat buttons. By the time he swept her into his arms, his body as naked as hers, the tension straining his muscles could not be ignored any more than the nerves clutching her stomach or the heat creeping under her skin.
“So are you,” she whispered, because even in this intimate moment, or rather because of it, honesty mattered.
Another kiss increased her yearning for more as he settled her on the bed. His mouth left hers, kissing a sensual path that left no part of her body untouched. Her breaths grew ragged. An insatiable hunger assailed her until she could stand it no more.
“Please,” she gasped while he slid one hand up the side of her leg. “Show me what I want, what I need.”
A growl shook the air as he settled above her. His dark eyes gleamed. “Have I ever told you—” his mouth burned her skin with another exquisite caress “—how much I adore your boldness?”
“Indeed you have.” And just to highlight the point, and also because she was both impatient and curious, she touched him as he’d touched her.
“Bloody hell…” His curse was followed by words of praise, another deep kiss and then finally, blessedly, by the feel of him joining his body with hers. “I love you,” he told her once they’d found their shared rhythm. “God, how I love you.”
Gripping him hard, she held on tight and followed his lead. “I love you too. Randolph I…”
“Yes.” The word hissed between his teeth. “Surrender and let yourself soar.”
And so she did, delighting in the sensations he stirred in her heart, body, and soul while relishing the fact that she affected him likewise.
“I’ve never known anything like this before,” she told him later when she was wrapped in his arms.
“I should bloody well hope not,” he muttered.
She slapped his shoulder. “You know what I’m trying to say.”
“That this was the most exquisite experience ever?”
Turning her head, she touched her lips to his. “Precisely.” She reached for his hand and twined their fingers together. “I’m very sorry Katrina died, but I’m glad she led me to you.”
When he answered, his voice was hoarse with emotion. “Me too.”
Angelica knew he’d loved his wife, and that with everything he’d uncovered, the anger and hatred he’d felt toward her had been replaced by aching regret. But Angelica also knew he loved her, so fiercely she had no room for envy or any kind of resentment. For