Anne sat up and removed her nightgown. As she sat naked before him, the peaks of her breasts firm and alert, she was aroused beyond any dream or fantasy, and wanted—no, she needed—to feel him inside her now... Now. She couldn’t wait any longer.
His lips found hers again and he kissed her, more gently this time, slowing the frantic, ragged pace upon which they had begun.
“Lie back,” he commanded, and she readily obeyed.
He leaned up on elbow beside her and ran the pad of his thumb across her nipples, then slid his palm smoothly down the center of her flat, quivering belly to the juncture between her thighs.
She was aching with need by this time and the wet fire between her thighs was tingling, begging to be explored. His hand slid into the damp folds, stroked her for a moment or two before he slipped his middle finger inside.
Anne arched her back and groaned as orgasmic sensation flooded her body. It was too soon. They’d only just begun, but her mind had been filled with sexual visions for days now, and she simply couldn’t hold back. He thrust his finger in and out of her a few times until she cried out, stiffened and convulsed with searing, trembling pleasure.
He continued to slide his hand around, pleasuring her until the climax eased off and her body relaxed to the smooth thrusting sensations. She opened her eyes and looked at him, worried that she had behaved too wantonly, but he was gazing at her with fascination.
“Anne...” He rolled on top of her.
She spread her legs wide, wrapped them around his hips and lifted her head off the pillow to meet his kiss. She felt him down below—the firm but velvety tip of his erection pushing against the entrance to her womanhood. His skin was warm against her breasts. She couldn’t seem to get close enough. She wanted more, to hold him tighter. Oh, how she reveled in the pleasure of his mouth kissing the side of her neck. His tongue darted out to probe into the hollow beneath her collarbone. It was all so dreamlike.
He slid into her then, and she cried out at the overwhelming invasion of his body into hers. He filled her completely. She could barely breathe.
“Are you all right?” he asked, moving slowly within.
She answered him with a nod and a kiss as she pushed her hips upward to meet each of his deep rhythmic thrusts. He moved carefully at first, as if he were fighting against some primitive need to push into her like a beast, then gave in to his impulses and made love to her with deep penetrations that took her breath away.
He braced both hands on the bed on either side of her, arched his back and shut his eyes as if in tortuous pain. Then he shot his seed into her with a spectacular throbbing, drenching rush of heat and wetness.
Anne wrapped her arms around him as he collapsed on top of her. She couldn’t seem to hold him close enough or tight enough. Her heart was racing. She hadn’t known it could feel like this. She felt both astounded and awakened. How was this possible? And what was she going to do?
She had only one more week with him. Then what? Would she be able to accept the loss of him?
She could not bear to imagine her world without him.
Without this.
Chapter Ten
A light snow fell during the night, but by morning the family woke to milder temperatures, a clear blue sky, and the sound of water dripping from the eaves. By late afternoon, however, the temperature dropped as quickly as it had risen, and all the puddles turned to ice.
Garrett lay alone in his bed, staring up at the canopy, recalling all the sensual pleasures he’d enjoyed in Anne’s bed the night before, and wondering if she would be agreeable to more of the same this evening.
Again, he had slept all night with her. There were no dreams of stormy seas and drowning faces. Only peace and...well, exhaustion.
He was about to get up and visit Anne in her bedchamber for a brief time before tea when a knock sounded at his door.
“Come in,” he said as he swung his booted feet to the floor.
A footman burst in to the room. “My lord. Her Grace is asking for you. She is in the duke’s chamber. She said to hurry.”
Garrett flew off the bed and followed the footman.
A moment later he was striding into his father’s chamber where his mother was pacing back and forth in front of the window.
“Garrett, I’m so glad you are here. We cannot locate your father. Dr. Thomas is scheduled to arrive at any moment for their regular appointment, but now your father is missing.”
“Did he not want to be examined today?” Garrett asked.
“He never wants to be examined. I told him to stay in bed, but when I returned he was gone. The servants have searched all the rooms, but we haven’t been able to find him.”
Garrett strode to the window, pulled the curtain aside with one finger and scanned the courtyard and snow-covered lawns in the distance. “What was he wearing? Did he take a topcoat?”