Now.”
She didn’t let him go, but did as he asked with her free hand, shamelessly revealing the most intimate part of her body. Widening her legs, she wondered how she, a small woman, could mount him, a tall man. He answered her without words when he put his hands on her bottom and lifted her to carry her to the nearest wall.
Pushing her against it, he took her mouth again, briefly, roughly, before dragging his lips away to speak to her. “Put it there. Guide me to your cunny.”
Oh, such wicked words! She’d heard that and more in her army years, but to hear the language in the refined tones of a man of fashion made her body turn to liquid. Her desire for him rocketed out of control. With him supporting her at the right height, it didn’t take much to bring his shaft close to her—cunny—and push the tip barely inside. She could do no more. With a sighed “Yes!” he did the rest, driving so deep she could have sworn nobody had ever visited that place before. If she pushed her shoulders against the wall, she could lift her legs and wind them around him. It said a lot for his strength that he held her without seeming difficulty, for she was no ethereal lightweight. He thrust in and out of her like a battering ram against a fortress gate.
“Scream if you need to. I want to hear your response, Faith. No holding back.”
This house was so much bigger, that in itself afforded privacy such as she’d never known before. He rammed into her, giving no quarter and she took everything. As he filled her, every drive brought her closer to her culmination, rising inevitably in her body.
Her body thumped the wall behind her as he pounded into her.
She’d never dare evoke that sound in her home for fear of bringing Amelia and the servants running. Here, nobody heard, or guessed what was happening and didn’t disturb them.
All that passed through her mind as he bellowed her name, and she felt the hot wetness of his essence gush deep inside her. She leaned against the wall, her legs around his waist, and allowed herself to revel in the sensation of being completely sated. She could stay there forever.
Not that he wanted her to. He lifted her off him, as tender as he’d been ruthless a moment before. His juices wet her upper thighs when he lowered her gently to the floor. She didn’t have much time to enjoy the feel of the carpet against her toes before he lifted her.
He carried her across to the bed, where he drew back the sheets and laid her down with as much care as if she were fashioned from fine china. Before he replaced the covers, he stripped her, then himself, then he joined her. She went into his arms with a happy sigh.
“I have to apologise,” he said, touching his lips to her temple.
“Why?” She nuzzled his chest, tucked her leg between his. He felt remarkably warm.
He touched her chin and kissed her. “I used some unforgiveable language.”
Her smile must have told him how she felt about that, because he smiled back. “I forgive you. Do you think I’m a society lady, offended by naughty words?”
He shook his head, the expression in his eyes soft. “You’re a remarkable woman. You should take offence. I treated you...”
Suddenly shy, she dropped her gaze. “I liked it.” The hot flush that coursed through her body when he said it, the sudden height of arousal—if she didn’t tell him it pleased her, he wouldn’t do it again. She really wanted that to happen again. “You handled me like a woman, John. A real woman, not a precious possession or a worthless piece of nothing. Please don’t stop.”
When she lifted her gaze again she saw an expression she’d never seen in him before. Understanding, wonder, maybe something else she dared not consider, even now. Oh well, she might as well tell him everything. After all, she had nothing to lose. Not even him, for he didn’t belong to her to begin with. “I used to watch you in camp.
You’d stride out of your tent as if you had no doubts. The men appreciated that. But you’d stop and listen, and the way you noticed everything—I was glad we were with your company, and not another.”
He laughed. “An infantry regiment? Not all my men felt that way. Far better a glamorous dragoon or a cavalry officer. But thank you. I tried.” He paused. Hell, she’d just commented on his sharp perception and then let him see her face close-up. “You watched me?”
“Only when you weren’t looking.”
“I saw you, you know.”
That came as a revelation to her. “I thought you never noticed me.”
He stroked her hair, his palm a soothing weight on her curls.
“Oh, I noticed. I did my best not to. Your husband was a good officer. He got the job done. I didn’t want to risk upsetting him. In any case, I never—damn, Faith, it’s too easy to talk to you.” He gave a half smile, self-deprecating. “I didn’t believe in polluting my own back yard.”
“Is that how you saw it?”
“Very much, when I desired the wife of one of my officers.”
Their eyes met in total understanding. For that reason, she wouldn’t have taken him up on any offer. But only because of that.
No other. If she told him that, he’d feel more beholden to her, because men of honour didn’t turn their backs on women who cared for them. More than she had a right to, even now. “Now he’s not here anymore.”
She nodded. “No, he’s not. He died at Waterloo.”
“Which reminds me.” He touched her chin, all business now, except that his cock nuzzled her bare flesh and his eyes held remnants of the glorious passion they’d recently shared. “We can’t say that. Everyone knows my history, or think they do. I was badly injured at Waterloo, enough so I lost my memory for a month. So we wouldn’t have had time to marry if Smith died there, too. I’ve always found it best to stay as close to the truth as possible, so I thought of a story.”
“I never thought it would be so complicated.” She hadn’t considered that part much at all, to be honest, but acted from sheer panic, then found herself caught. How to explain that to him?
Better if he didn’t know that part.
“Lies can lead to complexities we are better avoiding, but we have to explain how you could have married two husbands so quickly. We’ll say that John Smith died just before the great battle, in a skirmish. That will leave his battle honours intact. I married you that night because I didn’t want you left alone. How does that sound?”
“Strange.” It did, it sounded odd. Would a commanding officer automatically do that? She’d never seen it or heard of it happening.
“Then we hint at a longstanding attraction. It sounds as if we had that without realising it.” He tilted her chin and kissed her again, this time making it longer, more luscious, tasting her and encouraging her to do the same to him. When they ended the kiss, their bodies had heated and they were both breathing heavier. He smiled. “See? Nobody seeing us now would doubt it.”
They would not. She knew it was true, but it astonished her that he felt the same way. “You never showed any sign of noticing me.”
“I worked hard not to. I took less notice of you than the other women, because I wanted you. When Stephen told me I had a wife, I first thought I’d to condemn you out of hand. Then he gave me your name. Faith.” He whispered the word like a benediction, his heated breath sweeping her cheek. “I didn’t dare believe it was you, but I met you and it was.”
“How do you know we didn’t marry as you said?” If he didn’t remember, how could he be sure? His story of her first husband dying before the battle sounded real, believable enough to have actually happened.