The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(349)
"Do you really? He was right, you know. We would never have met on the road if you hadn't been trying to go up to see him before he left."
She looked sheepish. "I was actually going up to beg him not to leave me in charge of a guardian. The good Lord only knows what would have happened to me if I hadn't been."
Blake lifted her into her arms and brought her over to the bed. "Don't even think about. You were, and we're safe and happy. And we have a lovely new home here with the Jeromes."
She shook her head. "Maybe in the future, but not now. We need to get to London quickly. You have your appointment at Horse Guards, and Philip is getting married," she said, sounding unutterably weary for a moment.
"Philip? Have we had another letter from him?"
"No."
"Then how do you know…" He frowned. "How is it possible? He never mentioned anyone special."
"He was my guardian too. He was the guardian of my person against Adam. I should have seen it. And you were the guardian of my heart. Now you can guard both, especially where we're going."
"Now, Arabella, we said we would talk about this--"
"No more talking," she whispered, as she moved to divest him of his clothes. "I love you. The rest can sort itself out one day at a time. So long as I have you guarding me, I'll be safe."
"You're the guardian of my heart now, love. It's all yours, given freely and for all time," he vowed, loosening her wrapper to lay his head between her breasts.
"I'll treasure it always, my darling Blake." She stroked her hands down her husband's hard body, thrilling them both as they worshipped each other.
"As I shall treasure you forever, my dearest Arabella."
Arabella woke with the dawn. Despite her husband's bleary-eyed protests, she wrapped each of them in a sheet.
"Trust me, my love."
"I do, always."
"Then come, darling."
They crept hand in hand down the servants' stairs and out the back of the house, onto the great wide expanse of fields, over toward the stream and the small flower-filled meadow she had been thinking was really the perfect place for them to build their new home in the future.
The dawn was just peeping up over the horizon, and though there was a chill in the air and the grass underfoot was soaked with dew, she felt only warmth and life.
Blake sensed it too. For as he looked around in the dim half-light of daybreak he realised he had seen it all before. Seen it, and felt awed.
Seen it the first night he had ever met Arabella, and every night since. And now it was here at last.
They stroked the sheets from one another's bare bodies and knelt on them on the grass as though in supplication.
He could taste dew, smell freshly mown grass, feel the glorious sunshine upon his face, the warmth penetrating his bones, his soul… A new life.
Spring was the season, flowers, bees, pollen, everything fresh and new, like her skin, her hair...
Unbound, flowing over Blake's bare body like a river as it cascaded down her shoulders, covering her voluptuous breasts, which peeped through the raven tresses.
He noted the stark contrast, the pink, white and black. Then Arabella was cradling his head against her, one nipple sliding unerringly into his mouth to nurture him, fill him with longing…
Blake trailed kisses along her bare shoulders, so creamy and soft, her slender throat. He kissed them all, then her rosy lips as his legs moved over hers.
He moved inside the warm circle of her arms, her body.
The rising sun blazed anew in all its glory, blinding him with its brilliance as she shimmered all around him, hot, wet, loving, a taste of heaven on earth as he poured out all his pent-up yearnings into her….
Forever.