Page 140 of A Much Maligned Miss

No sooner had she spoken than his mouth was on hers, warm and wet and teasing. Caroline wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him in close. Their kiss deepened until he drew back panting.

“My God, I’m mad about you,” he groaned. “Tell me it’s mutual.”

Caroline gazed up at him. “Yes, I like you too,” she sighed.

“Like?” he yelped. Apparently, it was his turn to sound indignant.

She squinted up at him. Why had he stopped kissing her? “Well, we scarcely knew each other at this point…” she started to remind him, but he made a sound of disagreement in his throat.

“I know you well enough to be seriously considering marriage, madam. The least you can do is assure me of your affection.”

“Considering marriage?” she repeated in a severe fashion. After all, he liked her to be commanding. “I have told you, my lord, that you are marrying me with all due haste. If not, I will not hesitate to bring a civil action against you.”

“Is that so?”

“Neither of us know it yet,” she added loftily, “but I do actually have a solicitor.”

He looked amused for all of thirty seconds, then lowered his head to her ear. “Tell me to please you, Caroline,” he said, his hands bunching up the nightgown at her hips.

“Yes, Gervaise,” she breathed and hooked an exposed leg over his hip. “Show me what a good husband you will make me.”

His eyes flashed, and he whisked her nightgown up to her waist, resettling against her. “Lift up your arms.” She did so, and he drew the nightgown up and over her head, flinging it over the side of the bed.

Finally, they lay naked in one another’s arms. “You do realize once we do this that your fate is truly sealed, and you are mine?” Gervaise enquired silkily.

Was that what he thought? Caroline wondered. Maybe that was why they had never taken this final step before. He stilled, his eyes searching her face. “Tell me what’s on your mind, Caroline,” he said softly.

“It’s just…I suddenly wondered if that was why we never did this before.”

“Why do you think?”

“Because we weren’t married.”

He smiled faintly. “Clever girl.”

“You wanted us to wait?”

“I did. I wanted us to belong together first. It seems at the end of the day I am a conventional creature after all.”

She smiled. “Well, we are married,” she reminded him, placing her left hand on his chest so he could see the rings she wore on her third finger. His eyes fastened on them at once with satisfaction.

“Yes,” he agreed on an exhale, looking relieved they had dropped the pretense.

“So…we can now proceed with perfect propriety,” she prompted him, giving a little wriggle.

He drew in a sharp breath. “Whoever would have thought propriety could be so exciting,” he murmured throatily. “I want to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“The last time we lay together…”

“Yes?”

“I was trying to shock you and failed spectacularly.”

“Why were you trying to do that?” she asked in surprise.

“Because I am a fool in love,” he groaned, kissing down the side of her neck. “And I wanted to inspire a hankering for respectability in you. Instead, you utterly took me apart.”