Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
M ichael could have watched Adelaide sleep all day.
He would have liked to have allowed her the hours she needed to catch up and had hoped that the nap Mabel had fallen into in his arms would have lasted long enough.
But, alas, after a couple of hours, the baby woke and was no longer quite as happy that the face staring down at her was not her mother’s. Michael tried to soothe her, but eventually, her cries woke Adelaide, who waved away his apologies.
“She’s hungry,” Adelaide said. “There is certainly nothing you could do about that.”
In all his years, Michael had never witnessed a mother like Adelaide, but he supposed that was due to his lack of a female presence in his life and the noble inclination not to provide a young one any care beyond that which could be employed.
It was the first carriage ride of any length he could remember actually enjoying, but when it ended, he was not disappointed, for it only meant more time with Adelaide and Mabel.
The servants had not been expecting them, with Michael and Adelaide’s decision to come having been so hastily made, but they welcomed their arrival, even if many seemed suspicious of their arrangements. Likely so, since most only knew Michael by reputation, for it had been so long since he had spent any length of time at Mandrake Hall.
Of course, they all doted on Edward, the most benevolent employer any could ever ask for, and were pleased to hear that he would be arriving in due course.
Adelaide requested her meal in her room so that she would have time to prepare herself and the baby, and it wasn’t until a few hours later, when Mabel was sleeping for the night in a cradle that had been rescued from the attic and now sat in Adelaide’s room, that Michael saw Adelaide once more.
He knew immediately that the knock on his bedroom door was hers due to its hesitancy. He reminisced on the last time she had arrived at his bedchamber, when the scenario had been the complete opposite, and she had nearly knocked it down with her enthusiasm.
“Michael?” she called out. “Can I come in for a moment?”
“Of course,” he said, standing and meeting her halfway across the room. She could come in for as long as she would like. A moment. The night. The rest of his life.
But he would start with this.
“Are our rooms connected?” she asked.
“They are,” he confirmed. “I left the door shut for your privacy, but I wanted to be close, so that I would be here if you needed me.”
She shut the door to the hall behind her and opened the one that adjoined their rooms together. “So I can hear Mabel if she cries,” she explained, and he nodded in understanding.
She turned to him, smoothing her hands over the rough fabric of her blue dress as though she was embarrassed of it, but of course, she had no need to be, for she was beautiful in anything she wore.
“Is something amiss?” he asked, concerned that perhaps she already regretted coming here with him.
“No, not at all,” she said quickly. “Everything has suddenly changed, and I feel… unsettled.” She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed while he decided his safest bet was one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. She twisted her hands against one another, a rare set of nerves overcoming her. “I am sorry I pulled you into this. Now I can add making you leave your home to the list of things that getting tangled with me has meant.”
“It’s an adventure,” he said with a slow-spreading grin. “But isn’t that what life is? I told you that I was bored before, but now, Adelaide, I have purpose and enjoy every moment of it. There is no one else I would rather race across the country with to escape counterfeiting schemers trying to capture us.”
She let out a shocked laugh. “You cannot be serious.”
“Oh, but I am,” he said earnestly, leaning forward. “In fact, I am more concerned about you. You’ve had a lot constantly change on you.”
He sensed there was another reason she was here in his bedroom. She’d had time enough to apologize on the carriage ride here, and apologize she had. Was she lonely?
“What do you need, Addi?” he asked in a softer tone. “What can I do for you?”
Eyes locked on him, she rose from the bed and took slow steps toward him, stopping just before his chair. He swallowed at her nearness, not allowing himself to believe that this was going anywhere beyond a conversation.
“Do you remember the night we were together?”
Did he remember it? He only revisited it in his mind every night that he lay down to sleep, getting him through all of the days and nights without her by his side.
But he didn’t want to appear too desperate.
“Of course I remember it,” he said, his voice husky.
“That night,” she said slowly, her eyes downcast, her lashes fluttering over her high cheekbones, “was the first time in a long time that I set aside all that had been holding me back and just allowed myself to be me. To have fun. To remember everything I loved about… well, life, before Jack and his father stole that from me.”
“I’m glad I could help you remember,” he said, unable to stop himself from reaching out and taking her hand. “I would do anything for you.”
“I know I am being selfish in asking you this, after what you’ve shared with me,” she said. That he loved her. She didn’t say it, but they both knew to what she was referring. “But I was wondering if, tonight, we could just… well, we could just pretend that we are back there, in that night? That we are other people? That there is no past between us, no future to worry about, that we are just two people taking enjoyment in one another?”
His jaw went slack as he realized what she was saying. He also knew that she was right. It was selfish of her to ask because it would make him want her all the more.
But he also knew that he could never deny her. Especially in this.
He stood slowly, not wanting to scare her away as he leaned in and cupped her cheek, which molded perfectly into his large palm.
“Of course,” he said. “Anything you need.”
“This time we should probably skip the pregnancy part,” she whispered. “Do you think you can stop in time?”
He solemnly nodded. “Yes. I promise.”
Her eyes locked on his, she stood on her toes, lifting her chin toward him. He took it between his thumb and index finger, slanting her face to the right so that it was at the perfect angle, and then he claimed her lips with every possessive bone in his body that wanted her with a desperation he couldn’t put into words because that would surely have her running out the door and all the way back to London, the risk of Jack and his pals and all be damned.
So, instead, he plundered her mouth mercilessly, not going slow as he should have, no easing into it, but taking up right where he had left off, his tongue diving between her lips to find hers, stroking the velvety softness as he committed her taste and feel to memory.
She was strong, determined to take care of herself and look after everyone around her, but she also allowed herself to be vulnerable and accept his help.
And, damn, was he happy to be the man she needed right now.
Last time they had been together was hurried, passionate, but tonight, despite his promise that they would pretend they were other people, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He would make love to her the way he had been desperate to for months now.
With the full depth of his emotion, to show her what she truly meant to him. He would take care of her in every way he knew how, and by the end of this, she would understand what it truly meant to be loved.
He broke their kiss only to bend down and pick her up, his hands beneath her knees and her back, before he carried her over to the bed and laid her down gently upon it.
Their eyes met, a silent understanding passing between them. Overcome by the intensity of emotions he had never felt, Michael whispered, “I want you never to feel alone again. If nothing else, we will always know this.”
Adelaide’s eyes widened but her gaze never left his as she nodded in response, causing Michael’s heart to pound in anticipation.
She reached out, her soft fingers tracing the contours of his face as though committing them to memory, and Michael pushed away the thought that she was saying goodbye to him. “I trust you,” she murmured, her voice sincere.
Michael’s hands roamed Adelaide’s clothed body, caressing every curve and valley with worshipful devotion. He trailed his lips along her neck, savoring the softness of her skin and the way she shivered beneath his touch.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured against her collarbone before pressing a tender kiss against the bare skin that was calling to him. “I will make you feel incredible, Addi. I will show you how much I adore you.”
His breath caught as he worried that he had said too much, that she would back away when reminded of what he felt for her, but his shoulders dropped in relief when she sighed in pleasure, arching into his touch.
“Yes, Michael,” she breathed. “Give me everything.”
He captured her lips in a deep, sensual kiss as his hands found the ties of her dress. Slowly, reverently, he undid each fastening until the garment slipped from her shoulders. Adelaide helped him, shrugging out of the dress, revealing her bare form to his hungry gaze.
Michael drank in the sight of her, from the swell of her breasts to the curve of her hips. “Perfection,” he declared hoarsely. “You are perfection.”
Bending down, he took one pert nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the sensitive bud. Adelaide gasped and threaded her fingers through his hair, holding him close as he lavished attention on both her breasts until she was writhing beneath him.
Adelaide arched into his touch, soft moans escaping her lips as he swirled his tongue around one nipple.
“Michael,” she sighed, tugging on his hair. “That feels wonderful.”
He glanced up at her with a roguish grin. “I’m just getting started, love. I want to taste every inch of you.”
Continuing his sensual exploration, Michael blazed a path down her soft stomach with his lips and tongue. He dipped into her navel, smiling against her skin when she twitched and gasped. Settling between her parted thighs, he pressed a reverent kiss between her curls.
“You are exquisite,” he murmured, inhaling her intoxicating scent. “I could spend hours here.”
“Please, Michael,” Adelaide whimpered, undulating her hips in a silent plea.
Unable to deny her, he parted her glistening folds with his fingers and laved his tongue over her sensitive pearl. Adelaide cried out sharply, fisting the sheets beside her. Spurred on by her response, Michael delved deeper, thrusting his tongue inside her while his thumb circled her bundle of nerves.
He licked and suckled, stoking the flames of her desire higher and higher until she was writhing beneath him. Her moans of pleasure were the sweetest music to his ears. Relentless, Michael added two fingers, pumping in and out of her slick heat in tandem with his tongue.
“Yes, don’t stop!” Adelaide panted, her fingers digging into his shoulders, telling him she was sitting on the edge.
With a skillful curl of his fingers inside her and a firm press of his tongue, Michael sent her flying. Adelaide shattered with a cry, her inner muscles clenching rhythmically around him as he took satisfaction that he was the one who could bring her to this place, that she was his – for now, at least. He gentled his ministrations, coaxing out every last tremor until she lay boneless and sated beneath him.
Michael kissed his way back up her body until he claimed her lips in a deep, passionate kiss.
“I want to make you feel good too,” she said huskily, rocking against his straining erection.
He straightened up just long enough to divest himself of his clothing before settling his naked body over hers, both of them groaning at the slide of skin against skin. Michael rocked his hips, his hard length nestling against her slick folds.
“Are you sure, Addi?” he asked, searching her face, needing her agreement even in his haze of desire.
“Yes,” Adelaide replied without hesitation, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Make love to me, Michael.”
Nearly undone by her declaration, Michael aligned himself at her entrance and slowly pushed forward, joining the two of them. He stilled for a moment, in awe of how she enveloped him perfectly, as if they were made for each other.
“Addi,” he rasped, beginning to move in deep, purposeful strokes, knowing that his mouth was running away from him but unable to stop it. “You are beautiful. Incredible. I’ll never stop loving you.”
That was too much. He knew it the moment he said it, his eyes meeting hers. Her blue eyes glistened, a tear seeping out of them as she didn’t respond but nodded, telling him that she understood.
They rocked together in perfect synchronization, giving and receiving in equal measure. Soft moans and whispered words filled the air as the world narrowed to the two of them, lost in their passion.
Michael angled his hips to hit that sweet spot inside her with every stroke, determined to bring her back to the edge.
Adelaide’s velvety walls fluttered around him as he drove into her again and again. She clung to his shoulders, nails biting deliciously into his skin as she arched to meet his thrusts.
“Yes, Michael, yes!” she cried, throwing her head back in abandon. “Harder.”
Growling low in his throat, he complied, snapping his hips forward with increased fervor. The bed creaked beneath them as their bodies came together, urgency building with each stroke. Sweat glistened on their skin, the air heavy with the scent of lovemaking.
Michael dipped his head to capture one rosy nipple between his lips, swirling his tongue around it. Adelaide held his head in place. He lavished attention on her breasts once more, suckling and nipping until she was writhing beneath him.
Releasing her nipple, he crashed his mouth against hers in a bruising kiss, tongues tangling with need as he continued to plunge into her willing body.
“So tight, so perfect,” he rasped against her lips, finding himself sitting on the edge, but willing himself not to fall until she did again. “I never want to stop making love to you.”
“Then don’t,” she returned breathlessly, undulating her hips to take him even deeper.
His control snapped at her impassioned plea. Hooking her legs over his shoulders, he pounded into her, the new angle allowing him to penetrate to the hilt. Adelaide cried her approval, fisting the sheets as he set a relentless pace.
“Let go for me, love,” Michael commanded, reaching between their sweat-slicked bodies to circle her swollen pearl.
“Michael!” she screamed.
Her inner muscles clamped down on him like a velvet vise, milking his shaft and nearly triggering his own release. He gritted his teeth, holding on as long as he could before he pulled out of her and with a hoarse shout, spilled his seed on the blankets beside her, wave after wave of blinding pleasure crashing over him.
They clung to each other as the aftershocks slowly ebbed, hearts pounding in unison. Michael rained tender kisses over Adelaide’s face, whispering words of love and devotion against her skin. He waited for her to pull away, but she sighed contentedly.
Carefully, he withdrew from her warmth and rolled to the side, gathering himself and passing a hand over his face.
He had been right to fear that he would fall even deeper for her.
He hadn’t thought it would be possible.
But the idea of walking away from her now nearly tore him in two.