Lucien(55)
He kissed her shoulder, her neck, the base of her ear. “I made up for it this morning.”
“Yes, you did.” She turned her head to meet his kiss. “Which is why I know you’re not two timing me.”
“I’d never and you trust me,” he murmured into the hollow of her throat.
“Mmmm.”
Luc cupped her breasts, kneading them before lowering his mouth to the nipples. “And you adore me.”
“I do?” Elise arched herself into his mouth.
“Yeah.” He raised himself over her, grinning. “You do.”
“Oh.” She smiled and framed his face with her hands. “And do you adore me?”
Luc caught her legs and shifted her underneath him, reaching down to caress her into accepting him. “I love it that all I have to do is kiss you and you’re ready for me.”
Elise gasped from his ministrations. “I answered your question.”
He kissed her long and hard, driving into her with one swift stroke. “Ah darlin’, you are so very… adorable,” he rasped, then covered her mouth with his and erased all thought from her mind as he loved her until she could barely breathe let alone think.
Afterwards, Elise lay half on, half off Luc’s chest, idly tracing her fingers along the muscular lines of his abdomen. A stray thought worked its way into her mind and rooted. Too tired to argue with a nagging thought or follow the string of tangents it would produce, Elise decided it was time to stop playing the middle man for her mind and let her husband argue with her overactive intellect. “Luc?”
“Yes, darlin’?” He combed her hair down her back.
“Have you had a vasectomy?”
Luc froze. “What?”
Elise pushed herself up and onto her elbow. Luc started laughing and she sighed. “I’ll take that as a no.”
His gray eyes gleamed and teared with mirth. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because you don’t seem too concerned about getting me pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Luc sobered. “Are you?”
Elise sucked in her bottom lip. His expression was unreadable. “I… I don’t know. I could be.” She hesitated a second then asked, “Would it bother you if I were?”
“No,” he answered quickly.
“Well, it shouldn’t considering that you never once asked me about birth control.”
“You’re not on the pill.” A funny look entered his eye. “Are you?”
“For goodness sake, Luc. Until a few weeks ago, I was a virgin.”
“Oh. Right.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Do we have to talk about this now? Can’t we talk about it tomorrow? Over breakfast? Or lunch? It’s been a long week and this is the first Saturday that—”
Elise’s jaw dropped and her temper soared. “Over lunch? Do you realize how this is going to change everything? How it may have already changed everything?” She threw back the covers and grabbed the first thing she found, his shirt, then shoved her arms into it and stood up, giving in to the urge to pace. “I could be pregnant. And I don’t—”
“Elise.”
“—even know how you feel about it? I mean, I want children, but you? I’ve never heard you mention wanting—”
“Elise. Come back to bed.”
She turned on her heel as her mind veered off on another tangent. “Luc, I’ve been thinking about this. A lot. And I’m… starting to have doubts.”
“Doubts about what?” he demanded.
Her shoulders slumped and Elise sank down onto the bed. “About everything. Especially the money.” She drew in a deep breath and turned towards him. “I thought I didn’t have a problem with taking your money, but I do. What it boils down to is that I sold my body to you. I did the one thing I promised my brother I wouldn’t do and… it makes me feel kind of… well, dirty.”
“Dirty,” he repeated in horror.
“Maybe dirty isn’t the right word,” she said quickly.
“Just say what you mean, Elise.”
She drew in a deep breath. “I don’t want you to give me any part of your inheritance. I don’t feel right about being paid to be your wife. I thought I could, but I can’t take the money.”
He stared at her for a minute, his expression a mixture of strange emotions. “If that’s what you want…?”
“It is, but that’s not all. I want to pay back the money you gave me to save Mom.”