Epilogue
OCEAN CITY, MD
“It’s insufferably hot,” Lion grumbled, “and I’m reasonably certain I spied a mosquito earlier that was the size of my head.”
Addy gave him a playful swat on the arm. “Oh, do stop fussing. It’s the midst of July. Surely you didn’t expect it to be cold here in the summer.”
Beyond them, the ocean rhythmically crashed on the shore and seagulls called overhead.
They sat on the covered porch of the cottage her father had gifted them—one of many wedding gifts, all of which had been woefully extravagant, in true Cornelius Fox fashion.
Ocean City was a relatively newly incorporated town situated on the beautiful beaches of the Maryland coast. Her father had invested in it a decade earlier, purchasing property as he so often did, along with building a towering hotel that had been recently constructed.
She and Lion had decided to honeymoon here for a month, taking the rail from New York City through Pennsylvania and Delaware.
A ferry had brought them across a placid bay, the sun glinting off the waters, and Addy had breathed deeply of the salt air, taking in the rugged beauty of the surrounding land with its pine trees and white sand.
Dandy had stayed behind in the city with Aunt Pearl to watch over her, and although Addy missed her beloved companion, she was grateful for the time to devote solely to her new husband. Even if he was grumbling about the weather and the mosquitoes.
“Does the sun ever cease shining?” he asked wryly.
She waved her fan at him. “I hope not. I adore it.”
“What I wouldn’t give for a snowball fight.” He sighed wistfully.
Addy chuckled. “I can best you at a snowball fight any day.”
“I shall demand a rematch when we are back at Marchingham Hall this Christmas.”
“With pleasure.”
They had married in New York City before their families and friends and the cream of high Society.
The latter had been Mama’s doing, of course.
She had been overjoyed to see her daughter marrying a duke, and no expense had been spared.
Addy had allowed her mother to run wild with her plotting and planning.
She hadn’t cared about the dress or the flowers or who was invited.
All she had cared about was that she was marrying the man she loved and that her best friends in all the world, Lila and Letty, were now her sisters in truth.
The plan was to honeymoon at the Ocean City cottage for a month, followed by a trip back to New York City before Addy, Lion, and Dandy returned to England and spent some time settling into Marchingham Hall.
True to his word, Lion had made certain that the vast funds settled upon Addy at their wedding remained hers.
But she had already determined that they would restore his estates together.
She was more than happy to see her dowry put to good use.
“This is a beautiful place,” Lion admitted at her side. “I will own that whilst I didn’t expect it to be quite so hot, I can well see the allure. The seaside is magnificent.”
“It is magnificent,” Addy agreed softly, but it wasn’t the Atlantic Ocean that was captivating her at the moment.
Rather, it was him.
The breeze was ruffling his burnished-gold waves, and he hadn’t shaved that morning, leaving the glint of whiskers on his angular jaw. He turned to her, his icy-blue gaze darkening as their stares clashed and held.
“Do you know, I think I’ve heard of a cure for the Maryland heat,” she told him, a wicked idea flaring to life.
He raised a brow, looking ducal and irresistible all at once. “Oh?”
“Yes.” She rose from her chair, moving toward the cottage’s front door. “It involves the removal of all one’s clothing.”
Lion was out of his seat as well, following in her wake. “I think we should give it a try, my love.”
They made it through the door giggling like children, and then they were in each other’s arms, kissing and tearing at their garments.
His mouth was hot and possessive on hers, and he tasted like the lemonade they had been sipping on the porch, sweet and tart.
They kicked off their shoes. She moaned and undid the buttons on his waistcoat before moving to his shirt.
Lion unhooked her bodice and untied her skirt.
A path of discarded clothes trailed behind them as they burst into their bedroom. Her corset and drawers and his shirt fell away. Stockings came next. Finally, his trousers. But when she reached for his cock, rigid and ready, Lion scooped her into his arms instead.
Addy made a startled sound, wrapping her arms around his neck as he gently deposited her on the mattress. She had a moment to admire his lean, muscled form before he settled on the bed at her feet.
“I’ve heard of another cure as well,” he murmured, caressing her.
“Oh?” she asked breathlessly, opening herself to him.
“Mmm.” Lion’s big hands glided up her inner thighs, his gaze hot on the flesh that had been revealed to him. “Licking one’s wife’s cunny.”
A different kind of heat arced through her at his wicked words. Lion had a deliciously naughty side she’d only just begun to experience now that they were husband and wife. Hearing his proper aristocratic voice utter vulgarities was havoc upon her ability to resist him.
So she didn’t even try.
“That sounds like an excellent cure,” she breathed as he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her sex.
His tongue swiped lovingly over her pearl. “The best.”
Lion hooked her legs over his shoulders and cupped her bottom, pulling her to him as if she were a feast he intended to devour.
Her head rolled back into the pile of feather pillows, luxuriating in the pleasure of his mouth on her, the sea breeze wafting gently through the open windows, the sunlight glinting in his hair.
He sucked and nipped at her, and she moaned. “Lion.”
“My love.” He licked her seam, then found her entrance.
Oh, dear heavens. The slick glide of his tongue slipping deep inside her was nothing short of glorious. Splendid. Incredible.
I am going to run out of words, she thought weakly as bliss danced up her spine.
“You don’t need words,” he murmured against her. “Just feel.”
Had she said that aloud, then? Apparently so. But it didn’t matter. She was more than happy to obey her husband—at least in this regard—and to surrender herself to the mindless pleasure he was visiting upon her.
And oh, what pleasure it was. He licked, sucked, nibbled.
Just when she thought she couldn’t withstand any more, he gently flicked his tongue over her bud, wringing new sensations from her as he sank two fingers into her.
Each deliberate swirl of his tongue took her higher, building the pressure in her core as he thrust in and out.
With a cry, she came undone, her orgasm washing over her with as much force as the waves of the ocean. Lion’s mouth remained fastened upon her as he somehow worked a second orgasm from her, lapping up her spend and suckling her sensitized nub before he finally rose, aligning his body with hers.
“You were right about a cure for the heat,” he murmured as he rained kisses on her breasts, simultaneously slicking his thick cock in her wetness. “I suggest we remain naked for the rest of the day, and perhaps tomorrow as well.”
She threaded her fingers through his hair, arching her back when he sucked a nipple into his hot mouth. “How about for the rest of our honeymoon?”
He released her nipple and grinned at her, a lock of hair falling rakishly over his brow. “Perfect notion.”
“I am generally quite perfect in all ways,” she teased breathlessly, thinking him impossibly handsome. “It is a universally acknowledged truth on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, you know.”
He flexed his hips and sank deep inside her in one delicious thrust, filling her. He groaned.
“I know, darling,” he rasped. “I know.”
He began to move, sending pure ecstasy careening through her, and Addy held him tightly as they made love to the rhythm of the waves pounding on the beach.
Thank you so very much for reading The Duke Who Ruined Christmas!
I hope you consider this book a warm holiday hug from me to you.