Chapter Thirty-One
Adaline’s hands trembled as she undid the laces and pins that held her dress in place.
Yes, they needed to dry their clothing. But that was just a convenient excuse.
They were alone. Really and truly alone.
On their way to be wed. And she had been dreaming about what this moment would be like for months.
She would not squander the opportunity. Not when he was standing before, his hungry eyes devouring her as much as hers were likely doing to him.
“Adaline,” he said, his voice gruff with an emotion she couldn’t quite name. But that made a delicious shiver run through her.
She didn’t answer, but merely pulled the last pin holding her gown to her stays and let it fall.
Hugo watched in rapt wonder as her gown puddled at her feet, leaving her in her petticoat, stays, and chemise.
With every layer of clothing that she removed, she grew more bold.
More confident. It was difficult not to when the man of her desires stared at her as if she were Aphrodite herself disrobing before him.
When she stood in nothing but her chemise, she moved toward him.
Then lifted her hands to push his coat from his shoulders.
She pulled his cravat from his throat, smiling when he swallowed hard.
Her fingers trembled only slightly as she worked at the buttons of his waistcoat, her eyes never leaving his.
She pushed it from his shoulders, along with the braces that held his trousers up. When she began to tug his shirt from his waistband, he stopped her, his hands encompassing hers.
“Are you certain?”
She smiled up at him, tamping down on the nervousness that threatened to undermine the confidence she’d found. “We travel to be wed, do we not?”
“As quickly as I can manage,” Hugo said with a smile.
“Then a few days will make no difference.” She shrugged.
“Merely traveling alone with you, not to mention spending the night alone in this cottage, is enough to ruin me. Even if you were never to lay a finger on me.” She pulled at the cotton fabric of his shirt, biting her lip when her hand came in contact with the bare skin of his stomach.
He sucked in a hissing breath, the sound making things tighten low in her belly. She untucked the rest of his shirt and skimmed her hands up his bare chest beneath it.
“If we are to be damned no matter our actions tonight, there is no reason not to do what we most desire,” she said, trailing kisses up his chest as she lifted his shirt and helped him remove it.
Hugo sucked in a ragged breath and crushed her to him. He was done objecting, it seemed. His mouth worked over hers until she moaned against his lips. He ground his hips against her, and she gasped at the hard length she could feel rubbing against her core.
Lucy had revealed some of the secrets of the marriage bed to her.
Far more than her mother had ever divulged.
Adaline was an educated and curious woman who enjoyed reading novels that were considered scandalous by most. And Lucy had been helpful in answering some of the questions Adaline had had over the years.
She knew the basics. Knew what occurred between a man and woman when they lay together in the dark.
But knowing it, and feeling it, she was discovering, were two entirely different things.
Nothing could have prepared her for the sheer sensations that were cascading through her.
The utter bliss of his mouth licking and nipping and kissing its way across her exposed skin.
The fire that would follow the wake of his hands as they skimmed across her skin and caressed parts of her she had scarce dared touch herself.
She whimpered, desperate for more, as his teeth grazed a trail down her neck.
He picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist as he carried her to the hearth, and the makeshift bed she had created of the old blankets.
He gripped her hips, and she gasped, tightening her legs around him so she could press herself closer.
She had never felt such a sensation. Such hardness against her softness.
Even when she’d hesitantly touched herself, the sensation had never come close to what she was experiencing now. And she wanted more.
He groaned as she writhed against him and kissed her again, sinking to his knees until he could press her to the pallet, his mouth and hands stroking her into a frenzy. Her blood raced, igniting every nerve ending in her body.
He sucked at her nipple through her chemise, and she struggled for breath.
“If you want me to stop, at any time, you need only say so,” he said, his hand massaging her other breast, rolling the nipple between his fingers.
She flung her head back, her body twisting under the delicious torture his mouth and hands were inflicting.
“Do not stop,” she begged. “I…I do not know what I want. I don’t know what to do. But…” He rocked against her again and she moaned. “Please. Do not stop.”
He sucked her earlobe into his mouth. “I want to see every inch of you trembling for me,” he breathed into her ear.
She choked out a breathy laugh. “I believe you already are.”
The heated smile he gave her set her on fire. “Oh. I think I can do better than that.”
He stood to unbutton his trousers, and her mouth went dry as she stared at the expanse of muscle he revealed.
And the evidence of his desire for her. She’d heard of it.
Read of it. Seeing it was another thing entirely.
And feeling it… She trembled again, her body already aching for him in ways she didn’t quite understand. Yet.
She grabbed the hem of her chemise and pulled it over her head, leaving her kneeling in front of him, wearing nothing at all.
His eyes widened as he took her in. “You are so beautiful,” he said, his gravelly voice sending another shiver through her.
He leaned back over her, pulling her with him onto her side and hitching her thigh over his leg.
She pressed against him again and let out a strangled gasp when the hard length of him nudged at her entrance.
He kept her at bay, not letting her get too close, though every instinct she had screamed for him.
Her body arched against his, trying to bring as much flesh into contact as possible.
“Not yet,” her murmured against her lips. “Your first time, you will likely feel some pain. I want you to feel pleasure first.”
More than this? Was that even possible?
He chuckled, and she realized she’d said that aloud.
But before she could be embarrassed, his mouth left her breast and trailed down her body, settling near the apex of her thighs.
His hands slid up her legs, pushing them farther apart, gripping her hips to keep them still when she squirmed beneath him.
His tongue circled, once, twice, before slipping inside.
Her hips left the bed and he licked her in long, sure strokes, holding her hips against him so she couldn’t escape, tormenting her with every touch of his mouth until she came apart.
He sat up, hauling her back beneath him and kissed her until she whimpered. The taste of her on his lips made her quiver beneath him while he continued to drive her mad.
“Hugo,” she said, clutching at him.
“Easy, love,” he said, kneeling between her thighs. “Are you certain?” he asked again.
“Yes. Please.”
Perhaps she should have thought about it longer. Perhaps she should be more prudent, wait until they were actually wed. But she didn’t want to wait anymore. She was tired of waiting.
This man had slowly become everything to her. First her enemy, then a cautious friend, now…a lover. Soon, God willing, her husband.
She’d left her home, willingly put her future in his safekeeping.
Perhaps it was a mistake. But for her, it was too late now.
She fully intended upon marrying him. But if something were to go awry…
Whether they walked away from each other or continued on to Gretna Green, she wanted this moment with him.
She wanted something she could hold onto for the rest of her life.
Whether this was the start of a lifetime of happiness, or a small moment of beautiful bliss that could sustain her through a dark future without him, she needed this moment with him.
When he finally pressed himself home, she sucked in a gasp at the pinch of pain. He murmured to her, sweet words of love and encouragement she didn’t quite hear above the pounding of her heart. He kissed her and stroked her, rebuilding that heat that threatened to consume her.
And when it finally did, when that overwhelming sensation finally crested into another explosion that made her head spin and her heart shatter, she held onto him. Her anchor in the darkness. Her safe haven. Her enemy. Her friend. Her confidante.
“Beloved,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her lips so sweet, it brought tears to her eyes.
She didn’t know if she’d spoken the other words aloud or if, as always, he just knew her mind enough to know what she was thinking. How she felt. It didn’t matter at the end of it. All that mattered was him. This moment.
“Beloved,” she whispered back, wrapping her arms about him as she drifted off into sweet oblivion.