And still he wanted, needed more. He’d waited so long for her that he was almost afraid what would happen when he finally let go of his control. Nothing but instinct. Nothing but her.
He gave himself to pure sensation and wondered for a moment if he would die from the intensity. He found release in their fierce mating and attempted not to crush her beneath his weight as he collapsed. He thought he would come forever. His heart pounded erratically in his chest. He was stricken with a gratitude he could not express, a concern that made him fear his unbridled desire might have been more than she’d expected. It was more than he had hoped for. If ever a woman had been worth waiting for, it was her.
“How do you feel?” he whispered, kissing her softly on her shoulder.
She rolled up against him. “Wonderful. Broken. Worldly. What about you?”
“I think love has given me a fever,” he mused. “You are indeed a woman of the world.”
She sat up and placed her fingers against his forehead. “And you are warm.”
He laughed. “Aren’t you, after what we just did?”
She didn’t answer, but through his half-closed eyes he noticed her gaze travel the length of his nude body. Her interest gave him another erection, which he intended to put to good use after he rested for a moment. He turned onto his right side, smothering a groan.
“What is it?” she asked in alarm. “Are you in pain? Did we do something we weren’t supposed to?”
“Damn me.” He laughed again, drawing a deep breath. “You’re already acting like my wife.”
“Open your mouth, James.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What for?”
“Let me give you a dose of that medicine.”
He looked at her with gratitude and perhaps envy. Here this goddess sat with her steady hands and voluptuous body sticking in his mouth a brimming spoonful of the soporific before he could seize the moment.
He shuddered. “Why did you do that? I shouldn’t have let you force it on me.”
“How does it taste?”
“Like a dead toad’s spleen.”
He wasn’t sure how she managed it, but she brought him a glass of water, reapplied the ointment and bandage to his arm. Then, with no cooperation on his part, she rummaged in his wardrobe for a nightshirt and dressed him in it like an oversized doll. If he didn’t adore her, he would never have tolerated such humiliation.
“Ha,” he said. “You’re still naked.”
“You’re still impossible.”
He grabbed her around the waist, aroused and possessive even as Morpheus worked his insidious magic. What a feeling. James wanted to throw the bottle in the fire. “I’ve never killed a toad,” he said. His eyelids felt like lead. His body felt relaxed and still aroused. “I’d kill to keep you, though.”
“I hope that is the medicine talking.”
“No.” He laid his head against the pillow. “It’s the aristocrat.”
She wriggled out of his arms. “Do you love me, James?”
“I must.” He closed his eyes. “I asked you to marry me and I let you dose me with poison.”
She slid off the bed. “You need to stop playing and settle into bed.”
“I’ve only started to play.” He frowned. “You’re the one who needs to settle into bed.”
“Would you be quiet for a moment? I’m very upset. There’s something wrong with you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said admiringly. “That was the best f—”
“James.”
“I was going to say it was the best fun I’ve had in my life.”
She looked at him in vexation. “Well, it won’t be the best moment in mine if anything happens to you as a result of what we did.”
“You have severely underestimated me if you think I will expire from a single act of sex.”
“And you’ve overestimated me if you don’t think I’ll die of shame explaining this to your doctor.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Promise?”
“Hmm.”
“What—” The woman had pulled the carpet out from under his arse. No, the counterpane. They weren’t on the floor this time. God, his brains felt addled. He opened his eyes. She was dressed and bent over the bed, smothering him in covers.
“What did the physician tell you that I missed?” she asked sharply. “Obviously I didn’t hear everything he said.”
“He ordered me to stay in bed for two days straight. He didn’t specify what I could or couldn’t do while I was here. By the way, I don’t need a governess. Did I disappoint you?”