“I had noticed that,” she whispered. Warmth filled her soul. Happiness. Contentment. She liked what they did together. She liked that she could drive him wild so often. She loved being bound and punished too.
As her breathing slowed, William shifted off her and then eased her into bed, wrapping her warmly against the cold. He moved to the windows and peeked out. “A large group is coming back.”
Matilda smiled. She had love, she had desire and discipline, and exquisite pain from the one man she’d never expected to care about her. She curled her bound hands under her cheek and admired the man she’d married. When William had demanded she pretend to love him she had never intended to. She had thought a few turns about a society ball would be all that was required of her. But a fake marriage to William had become all too real. Too tangible. He had invaded every moment of her life and shown her how to live in his world.
She had once resented the Fords’ easy, undemanding, pampered life, but there was nothing easy about loving William and nothing she would do to change him. “Will I be punished for unlocking that chest?”
“Undoubtedly, but not too soon,” William said, coming close to fiddle with the knots to release her wrists. His eyes glowed as they held hers, warm with love, and desire betraying his heightened emotions. “There is a lovely spot not far from here where I can take you over my knee again before we go home if the weather is agreeable. The spot is on the edge of the woods, protected from casual notice. No one goes there in winter, not even the hunters. You’d like to be spanked in the outdoors, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, William.” Truthfully, Matilda didn’t care where they were as long as William was with her. There was darkness in his soul, but she wasn’t afraid of him—his darkness excited her beyond reason. She craved more adventure with him like tonight—his hand burning her skin, his body thrusting into hers, passion exploding from every nerve as he made love to her with wild abandon.
Matilda bit her lip as her body responded to her thoughts. “I’d like that above anything, Billy.”
“Matilda,” he growled as his eyes darkened with lust. “I already asked you not to provoke me again tonight.”
“But it is Christmas. A time for giving.” She smiled and fluttered her lashes at him. “I think I would enjoy making love in the outdoors as much as I enjoyed being tied up, Billy.”
She laughed heartily as William drew close and pressed the gag lightly to her lips again. She really did love to provoke him. “I really do love you, Billy,” she mumbled around the cloth before he stopped her talking by making love to her until the sun rose the next morning.