“I was not faithful to you,” she confessed.
He glanced away, his jaw clenching. “But you said you and Ellicott had not…”
“Another man.” She shivered under the weight of his shocked expression. “I needed to feel again, but it was not right with him.”
Felix kissed her temple without saying anything against her decisions. She was grateful because she regretted that one night of rash judgement enough as it was.
“I missed you, Felix,” she whispered. “I missed you so badly.”
He nodded and held her in his arms without saying anything about what she had done.
Her relief in his acceptance was staggering. She leaned her head against his chest and allowed him to finish loosening her gown. She stood and stepped from it and then dragged him to his feet. She pushed his waistcoat aside, revealing the man of her dreams and nights to come. He was so broad in the chest that he overwhelmed her a little at times, though she hastened to unbutton his shirt so she might run her fingers over his skin. When she unbuttoned the fall of his trousers, he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it aside.
Sally ran her hands over his hard chest possessively, relearning his body. She pressed her face to his warmth and inhaled the scent of him. How long had she waited to be reminded that desire began with a first glance and grew until all she could do is feel?
All her life.
“You make a man weak at the knees, my love,” he whispered as he caressed her breast.
“You are still standing.”
“Not for long.” He picked her up easily and carried her to his bed where he gently laid her down before he finished undressing himself. He climbed in beside her, naked, and cuddled her against his long body. He seemed in no hurry to strip off her remaining clothes.
Sally, however, was not so complacent. They only had tonight before he might be lost to her. She turned her back to him. “Unlace me.”
“Gladly.” He fiddled with the strings, and she sighed as the garment went sailing across the room to land with a thud against the windowsill. He eased her chemise from beneath her bottom and slowly crept it up to her waist, taking his time. “I always loved this moment.”
“So you already said. I could get used to it too.”
He laughed and threw the chemise away to join the corset by the window.
He cupped her breasts from behind, and she tossed her head back against his chest and moaned at the pleasure of his touch. He tugged her so she reclined fully against him, his hands shaping her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples.
It was heaven in his arms. This was the only place she had truly belonged and wanted to stay.
But pressing against her back, hard and hot, was the part of him she had longed for most.
She turned in his arms and drew him down on top of her. She was impatient and needy, and Felix did not seem to mind that about her.
He parted her thighs and settled his hips between them. Sally tugged him up until the head of his erection rested against her sex. She met his gaze and tears filled her eyes at the emotions on his face. “Lover, come into me.”
“As you command, sweetheart.”
He eased into her body slowly, a little at a time, and when he was fully seated Sally was panting and climbing out of her skin. It felt right with him. It always had.
He eased one of her thighs over his and slid deeper. When he withdrew, she held her breath, counting the seconds until his next thrust. He built her arousal slowly, a touch at her breast, her hip, the brush of his thumb across her lower lip between kisses that drove her wild. Sally clutched him, spellbound by her feelings, captive of his careful loving.
When she came, sobbing as her body clenched around his erection, he held her so tight she knew she would never give him up no matter the obstacle. She quieted and eventually he drew back.
His eyes were soft and full of love. “I will always love you, Sally, even if you marry that fortune hunter of an earl. I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy now. Like this. With you.”
“And if tonight is all we have left?”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “It will be time well spent. I love you, Felix. You are the only man I could love.”
He drove into her hard. “Say that again.”