"I do know what's best for you." she said with a smug smile. "I'll prove it to you."
"Be my guest, lass." Hugo linked his hands behind his head and watched her face, enjoying his own passivity as much as Chloe was.
"I suppose," she said, running her flat palms over the ridged muscles of his abdomen, "I suppose you'll want to keep control of my fortune."
"Oh, I'm sure we can come to some satisfactory compromise," Hugo said, the green eyes sparking.
"But…" Her hand moved behind her, sliding between his thighs. "But I don't imagine you'll compromise over my wardrobe?" Her fingers moved wickedly, deftly.
"No…" He closed his eyes on an exhalation of joy. "That's one area in which you patently don't know what's best for you, so there'll be no compromises."
"Not even when I do this?" She put her head on one side, regarding him with narrowed eyes as her fingers pursued their intimate course.
"No, you crafty little fox." Gathering her against him, he rolled with her until she was lying beneath him. "I can be cozened just so far." He laughed down at her rather startled expression and kissed the tip of her nose. "But don't let that stop you from trying, lass."
"As if it would… as if anything could," she said softly, no longer mischievous. She touched his mouth with the tip of a finger. "I love you."
"And I you, little one. With every breath I breathe."
Holding her gaze with his own, he moved within her until it seemed her breath was his and his hers, until their blood flowed as one, and the future purged of the past was born of the transcendent glory of their fusion.