Her eyes widened. "Do you mean I can't ride for seven months?"
Seeing her half-anxious, half-mutinous expression, Dominic couldn't repress a smile. "I didn't say that. I merely want to approve your mounts."
"You'll probably give me only broken-down nags," Brie muttered, although she realized the wisdom of curtailing h
er activities somewhat.
Dominic raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't be insulting, my love. There isn't a horse in my entire stable worth under two hundred guineas, unless you count that bay of yours."
"But Jester has improved, Dominic, even you have to admit that."
"He hasn't improved enough to carry my most precious—my two most precious possessions," he amended, covering her stomach again with his hand. "And if I catch you near that animal, I'll beat you till you can't even sit a horse."
Somewhat mollified by his concern, Brie raised her arms and wrapped them around Dominic's neck. "Very well," she replied meekly. "I won't go near Jester."
He frowned, suspicious of her sudden capitulation. "I mean it. Brie. I don't want you endangering our child. I'll forbid you to ride entirely if I must. And just in case you are planning to use those feminine charms of yours to try and convince me otherwise, let me warn you this is one subject where no amount of persuasion will make me change my mind."
When Brie's eyes started to flash, Dominic though it wise to head off a direct confrontation. "As for this morning," he said, changing the subject, "I was hoping to have your company. A friend of mine in Wrotham has a mare who might be a good match for Diablo, and I'd like your opinion. Why don't you drive over with me? We could invite Sir James along, and my mother, too. We'll make a day of it."
"I'd love to," Brie admitted grudgingly, "but I think I'm being out-maneuvered. You just mean to keep me from riding."
The grin Dominic gave her was slow and wicked. "Not at all, chérie," he said huskily as he again lowered his lips to her throat. "In fact, I insist you ride this morning. My only stipulation is that you choose me as your mount."
Before she could reply, he had parted her robe fully, baring her breasts to his heated gaze. With his arms on either side of her, his weight braced on his elbows, he cupped the pale globes in his hands and bent his head. His mouth captured a taut nipple, making Brie gasp as a lightning bolt of sensation shot through her body.
"Your parents . . ." she reminded him breathlessly as he tantalized the sensitive nub. "They will wonder what has happened to us . . . if we aren't at breakfast."
"They won't wonder for long," Dominic replied, showing not the least concern. Shifting his weight in order to push down the sheet, he divested Brie of her robe and tossed it on the floor. Then he stretched out beside her, letting his gaze roam down her naked body. Following his gaze with his hand, he slowly caressed every inch of silken skin he could find.
Feverish with longing, Brie arched her spine, pressing closer to Dominic's hard, masculine length, trying to find release from the delicious torture he was inflicting on her. But when she raised her arms to draw him down to her, Dominic smiled lazily and pressed her hands back down at her sides.
"Let me look at you," he ordered huskily. Taking his time, he spread her hair across the pillow in a flowing wave. "You're like autumn leaves," he murmured. "Flaming and vibrant and beautiful." He bent his head again, letting his mouth work its magic on her breasts once more.
Brie sucked in her breath as Dominic first nipped a turgid nipple with his teeth, then let his tongue swirl soothingly over the swollen peak. The faint stubble of his jaw chafed her sensitive skin, but the pleasurable rasping only aroused her further.
"Dominic," Brie murmured, clutching at his shoulders. But he continued to lave her breasts, heightening the tension in her body with each tender caress. When she was aching with need, he moved lower, pausing to press a dozen loving kisses over her belly where his child lay safe and protected, before letting his lips glide down to nuzzle the curls between her thighs.
Brie shuddered. "Dominic, please," she begged, her hands gripping the mattress.
He seemed unconcerned by her plight. "You taste like autumn, too," he remarked thoughtfully. "Rich, earthy, and sweet."
Ignoring Brie's plea, Dominic positioned himself between her thighs, slipping his hands beneath her buttocks and raising her hips off the bed. Then leisurely, he lapped and nibbled at her soft flesh, drinking her sweetness until she was whimpering and pleading with him to take her.
At last, when she was writhing frantically beneath him, her breath coming in sobbing gasps, Dominic suckled in earnest, possessing her with his tongue, claiming her totally. He drove her over the brink into a swirling sea of sensation.
Brie returned to earth slowly, only to find Dominic kissing her damp brow and smoothing her hair away from her flushed face. Lifting her lashes, Brie regarded him with languid, passion-glazed eyes. "Devil," she whispered, hardly having the strength to voice the accusation. He laughed huskily, lowering his lips to the fragrant hollow between her breasts and starting his maddening caresses all over again.
Brie wasn't taken in by his casualness this time, however. She could feel the tension in the rippling muscles of his body and the heat of his skin wherever it touched her own sweat- dampened flesh. His masculine hardness was pressing hot and urgent against her thigh, loudly proclaiming his arousal.
Somehow she summoned the energy to push against Dominic's chest with her hands and make him roll over on his back. "Oh no, my handsome husband," she murmured, giving him a triumphant smile. "You promised I could ride, and I mean to hold you to your word." Draping her body over his, Brie stretched on top of him full-length, shamelessly pressing her slender hips against his throbbing loins and rubbing her breasts against his chest.
Dominic groaned, closing his eyes. "I am entirely at your disposal, my love," he said shakily. Belying his words the next instant, he grasped Brie by the waist and lifted her up to straddle his thighs. Then slowly, he drew her downward onto him, shuddering as he was sheathed in warm velvet. "Oh . . . Lord . . . Brie," he ground out in ragged gasps. "My sweet vixen. . . ."
Any thought of prolonging the exquisite moment left him when Brie began to move her hips in an ancient, rhythmic motion, and when she arched her back in wanton ecstasy, Dominic's rigid self-control snapped altogether. His arms came around her in a crushing embrace, pulling Brie down to him. He thrust into her again and again, his powerful hips surging upward, while his lips claimed hers fiercely, his tongue plunging hungrily inside her mouth, demanding everything she was willing to give and more.
Brie surrendered joyously, clutching at Dominic's shoulders and returning his kiss with a fierceness that matched his. She could feel his hard flesh throbbing inside her, filling her, igniting her senses.
When the explosion came, it showered them both with burning embers. Brie cried out as Dominic made one last searing thrust, and when the violent shudders that shook his body lessened, she collapsed against him, hardly hearing his ragged, rasping breath in her ear.