Chapter Nine #2
They’d had a lovely afternoon at a tea café and then walked the shore where they met briefly with Inspector and Mrs. Bright.
After making plans to meet with them before they headed back to London in a few days, Caroline and Felix had gone back to the cottage.
He’d wanted to relax in the drawing room while she’d gone upstairs and ordered a bath.
By the time Felix came into the bedchamber they shared, Caroline set aside the book she’d been reading and rested it on the nightstand. The evening sun made everything gilded, and it was glorious to feel it on her face.
“Have you sufficiently reviewed your notes thus far?”
“How did you know that’s what I wished to do?”
“This isn’t our first case together.”
At some point during the past two hours, he’d removed his jacket, collar, cuffs, and cravat. The effect was quite devastating to her peace of mind, for she wanted to eat him up since he had the look of a devil-may-care man about Town.
“Quite right.” He nodded, and the sunshine made his blond hair as golden as a Greek god’s. “It is far too early in the investigation to make an assumption as to who is guilty.”
“Of course. We have many more people to interview.” Though she’d been glad that another woman stated how much of a horrid person Lord Danforth truly was. “As soon as we solve it, you can enjoy what’s left of your holiday.”
“As well as our honeymoon,” he said in a low voice as he perched on the side of the bed. “However, I intend to enjoy our time here in Brighton regardless. We are, after all, newlyweds.”
“We are indeed.” Heat curled low in her belly as she drew back the bedclothes. “Will you join me, then?”
“That was my intent, of course.”
“Mmm.” As awareness tingled over her, the carriage-style clock on the bureau across the room chimed the eighth hour. “I have missed you in that regard.” It seemed an age since they’d coupled before the wedding, for so much had happened.
Shadows flicked across his face. “I shall do better as a husband.” Then he stood and offered her a hand. “Let me help you undress.”
“Only if I am afforded the same reward.” Truthfully, she hadn’t yet had enough of seeing his deliciously hard and honed form, but this was only the beginning of their adventure together. The knowledge sent tingles of need down her spine.
“I’ll wager as soon as I have that lovely nightgown off your body, I’ll prove distracted.
” After he tugged her from the bed and into his arms, he kissed her.
“I hope you have an idea of how much I love you,” he whispered against her lips as he manipulated the tie that kept her lace-lined robe of bleached lawn closed.
Since her mother had ordered most of her wedding trousseau, she clearly had considered Caroline still an innocent, but the garment was pretty.
“It is no doubt as much as I love you.” If her voice shook, she couldn’t help it, for he rarely waxed emotional.
Taking refuge in the task at hand, she relieved him of his waistcoat.
It fell to the floor with a whisper. Then she pulled his shirt tails from the waist of his breeches.
Seconds later, Caroline pushed the garment off his body, and sighed, for the sight of his wide chest with its sprinkling of blond curls was enough to render her temporarily speechless.
“Our union might have begun on rocky ground, but we will rapidly make that foundation solid.” As he removed the robe from her person, the major kissed her with such intensity she wanted nothing more than to take greedy advantage of him.
A sigh escaped her as he tugged the matching nightgown from her body, and when the cool ambient air wafted over her skin, her nipples tightened. “Will you tease me this evening, Major? I haven’t had nearly enough of you in the capacity of my husband.”
There hadn’t been enough time to acclimate to that knowledge, and she smiled, for it was the first time she’d called him that.
“What is life without a bit of teasing? Give me a moment.” While he stepped away to remove his boots and breeches, she watched him as carnal hunger circled through her insides.
He kept the prosthetic leg attached, as he always did, but hopefully once they were more comfortable with each other, he’d let her see him at his most vulnerable.
Once he was as naked as she, Felix returned to her, spun her about so that her back was to his front.
“Ah, Caroline. I still can’t believe I’ve finally won you, despite parental machinations. ”
“None of their opinions matter.” Tears filled her eyes, for he knew just how to comfort her, how to support her, and he knew how to reassure her even if it came from his rigid views of right and wrong. “If it’s a choice between them or you, I will always and forever choose you.”
“So will I.” Seconds later, he put his hands on her shoulders, kneading and massaging the tension from the muscles there. “I am sorry I let you believe I thought you guilty of killing Lord Danforth.”
“It was frightening but understandable.”
“Mmm, perhaps.” He nuzzled the crook of her shoulder, slid his hands to her breasts.
The warmth of his fingers on her skin sent tremors of desire through her veins.
“I never thought I would find a man of honor until I met you.” She shivered as he lightly danced his fingertips over her breasts, teasing her as if he had all the time in the world, circling her nipples until she thought she might go mad if he didn’t fully touch her.
“Until you spied on me bathing in a pond, you mean.” The deep timbre of voice against the shell of her ear tickled through her chest. “I should have known in that moment you would have bossed me and led me a merry chase.”
“Well, someone had to. You were far too grouchy to be on your own.” The words dissolved into a sigh of contentment. Her back arched of its own accord, which put her breasts more firmly into his hands, and she moaned.
“Are you desperate, Mrs. Kourier?”
“Quite.”
A chuckle followed, which only loosed more tingles in her lower belly.
With his palms, he caressed those buds, teased and tormented until pleasure zipped between them and her core.
“I suppose I should get to the business of pleasuring you, then.” His words coupled with his actions sent need pulsing between her thighs.
“Aren’t you doing that now?”
“Yes.” But he didn’t change his leisurely pace.
She wanted him to take her in a firmer grip, but he never did.
The man continued to tease her breasts with the lightest of touches, apparently in a bid to drive her insane.
“Felix, please…” The words came out on a breathless whisper as he continued to bring her to the brink of pleasure through her breasts alone.
“Begging so soon into our session?” The insistent press of his aroused length against her arse betrayed how much he enjoyed the preliminary teasing.
With his lips at her nape, he caressed her breasts, her nipples again, in a never-ending cycle, and this time, the friction and heat from his skin, the callouses on his fingers, the crisp hair of his chest against her back, the insistent prod of his erect shaft all worked to add another layer of sensation to the play.
“Send me flying, Major.” Caroline’s eyes shuttered closed and once more her back arched.
Need throbbed through her core; her breath came in shallow pants.
Fires replaced her blood. Good heavens, she was nearly at that edge, hovering, waiting, teetering, seconds away from finding bliss, and yet he still held back.
“I need more from you,” she gasped out and lifted a hand to wrap around his nape, encourage his head closer to hers.
“Soon. There is an art to giving a woman release.” Each word worked to hurtle her closer to that edge, and he’d barely done anything to bring her to that state. “It has always been like that between us, that connection, that attraction.”
“That mutual respect and love.” Then his hand was between her thighs, and every thought in her head flew out away.
“I have never found this with anyone else.” He furrowed his fingers through her curls while the other hand he kept at her breast, rolling a nipple, plucking it. As he strummed those talented digits along her flesh, she whimpered.
“Felix…” Caroline put a hand over his guiding him to where she needed him, and immediately he found her swollen button, encouraged it out of hiding, and then applied friction to that nubbin as if that was his only purpose in life.
“Oh, oh…” Shivery sensations raced along her spine, pushed into every nerve ending.
Holding his fingers to her pearl, she clutched his nape with her other hand.
He kissed her neck but didn’t leave off with his frenzied friction, glided his lips over her cheek, and when he bit her earlobe, streaks of need slammed through her core to heighten the feelings already crashing through her body. “Ah!”
“Fall, love.” The warmth of his breath drifted over her cheek.
Slightly crazed, she wriggled against him. The hard ridge of his arousal pressed against her arse. “I’m trying…” Words proved too much for her, and her knees almost buckled.
“God, I want to be inside you.” The cheeky man pinched her nipple, rolled that hardened tip. The pleasure-pain sent her hurtling toward that glimmering edge. His chuckle was all too satisfied as he increased the pressure… everywhere. “I can’t do that until you fall.”
Those words made her shatter, and the more she shivered, the greater the wave of ecstasy smacked into her, carried her into that sparkling world where sound and light didn’t exist. “Felix!” Caroline screamed out her pleasure, belatedly remembering the open window of the rented cottage.
“So beautiful,” he murmured and once more dragged his lips down the side of her throat. “I adore seeing you thusly.”