Chapter Nine #3
Over and over, he drove like a man possessed.
She held him to her, kissed whatever portion of his body she encountered.
When that wasn’t enough, she shoved the lawn shirt up and off his body so she could caress her hands over the plains of his chest. The scrape of her nipples against the mat of coarse hair there added another layer of acute cognizance to their actions, as did the friction put on the button at the center of her pleasure, for her body was opened to him and nothing was uncovered.
“Oh, yes…”
A grunt was his only response, while his ragged breathing echoed in her ears. His fingers dug into her hips with a savageness that would no doubt leave bruises. Sweat dampened his forehead, his upper lip, and as she kissed him, the taste of salt came away on her tongue.
“Surely tonight is the night I’ll perish because of you,” she said in a choked whisper.
“I hope not, for I’m selfish and want many more years with you.”
Her heart squeezed, and she couldn’t love him more.
When he delved a hand between their bodies through the petticoat and shift, and he strummed his fingers over that swollen bud, she sucked in a breath.
Before the scream could leave her throat, he kissed her again, took the sound into himself.
Quite simply, they shared a few breaths as their bodies worked to become one.
All too soon, the pressure building and circling in her lower belly broke, for the sensory overload and the teasing she’d given him had finally overwhelmed her.
Dear Lord, it was all too easy to fly when she was with Bright, and equally easy to lose all sense of who she was in him as well.
I need to remind myself I am my own person too.
“Mmm… ah!” Contractions fluttered through her core as pleasure swamped her in ever-increasing waves.
Mary dug her fingers into his shoulders.
She whispered his name as if in prayer, buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, and still the bands of release kept coming.
There was no relenting, no cessation, and she feared her body would break apart.
Such as it had always been with them.
Another two thrusts sent him into the vortex with her.
The inspector claimed her mouth in a hard kiss that completely swept her off her feet and separated her from reality.
As he ground his pelvis into hers, he lifted her up, and she locked her legs around his waist as the warmth, the aftermath of his release filled her core.
Completely spent, she collapsed against him, and he did the same to her until they were draped against the wall, panting in the shadows with the few candles they’d lit guttering in an errant draft.
This man was her everything, the reason her life had turned inside out and upside down, and she would defend what they had to hell and back.
Eventually, her heartbeat returned to normal, and her breathing evened out.
When Mary came back to her senses, Bright eased her down until her feet touched the floor.
“Can I assume this coupling was satisfying? Worth the wait?” he asked with amusement and exhaustion threading through the inquiry.
“You know it was.” With a snort of laughter, she shoved at his shoulder. Her knees threatened to stop supporting her. “Come to bed with me.”
“I want to go over some notes…”
“Not right now.” Taking his hand, she pulled him into the adjoining bedchamber then gave him a bit of a shove toward the bed. “Give me a few moments to refresh and change into my night dress. I’ll join you after.”
After she’d slipped behind the privacy screen to do the necessary then dab at her face and chest with a rag dipped in cold water, Mary donned a silken night dress in a blue hue lined with soft lace.
The garment was a favorite of her husband’s, yet the glide of the luxurious fabric over her still-sensitized skin sent another contingent of shivers through her core.
Bringing the matching robe with her, she moved toward the bed, dropping the robe on a chair along the way.
“You make quite the fetching picture laid out like that, Bright.” As she climbed onto the bed and went beneath the sheet and counterpane, she couldn’t help but admire his nude body.
“I appreciate your appreciation.” With a chuckle, he blew out the candle on his bedside table. Seconds later, he was under the covers, and his arms were around her. “We are a good team, love. Are you certain the attack earlier didn’t harm you?”
“I’m certain. Don’t be a worrywart.” On the heels of a sigh, she snuggled into her husband’s arms. “We’ll resume work on the case soon enough.”
“Indeed.”
Silence reigned for a long time after that while Mary hovered between sleep and wakefulness.
The soft sound of rain reached her ears, for the fair weather of before had apparently come to an end.
Just as she was about to drift off, an insistent knocking on the corridor door shattered the feeling of peace in the room.
“What the devil?” Clearly, Bright wasn’t pleased with the interruption.
When another barrage of knocking came again, he cursed beneath his breath.
“I’m about to give Collins a dressing down, if he’s the one responsible for this.
” With a huff, he released her and then rolled out of the bed to stride across the room without a stitch of clothing on.
She levered up onto an elbow. “For shame, Gabriel, wear a robe.”
“If whoever is at the door doesn’t want to see me naked, they shouldn’t have called upon me after hours in my private quarters.”
There was no argument at that, but she couldn’t help but admire his taut backside as he wrenched open the door.
“What?”
The butler stood in the corridor beyond. In the illumination of the candle he held, his face was drawn and his eyes reflected concern. “I apologize for the lateness, Inspector, but you have been summoned, most urgently, by Bow Street.”
Bright frowned. “What the deuce for?”
Collins gave him a sealed envelope. “The courier who brought this impressed upon me that I was to tell you the Duke of Boddingford was found dead in his bed an hour past.”