Chapter 26
Finally ensconced in his bedchamber, Drew dismissed his valet and proceeded to shed his shirt.
Dinner had been a brief but tense affair.
Gentilly made conversation awkward with constant dismissive and disgruntled noises from his side of the large dining room table. There did not seem to be a single topic of discussion in which the man could find a positive thing to say. Not politics. Not religion. Not science. Not literature. No matter the topic he or Marianne raised, their visitor disagreed with every point made.
How could one person be so constantly contrary?
A quiet tap on the adjoining chamber door broke his contemplation and gave him pause. It could only be his wife, Marianne.
He sighed heavily, not knowing what could possibly happen next. Though he had tried to be civil with the man, could Marianne be angry with him for the stilted conversation at dinner? “Come.”
She floated into the room like an angel of summer, her hair down and loosely braided, her batiste nightrail a drift of translucent snow over her smooth, pale skin. He caught his breath as every cell in his body flared to life, every desire he ever had diminished in comparison to the want, the need, he had for his wife at that very moment. “Marianne,” he said on a soft sigh.
“Drew . . .”
She stood before him, her hands at her side, her left hand fidgeting with her wedding ring, a nervous habit he had noticed right after his return. “Yes, my love?”
“I want to apologize for Robert. I have never seen him so obtuse, so contrary, so rude. He has never been like this before. I am so sorry he has been so unappreciative of your hospitality, especially since he arrived without invitation and unannounced.”
She continued to fidget but now she looked toward the floor, her face tinged with a blush of embarrassment.
Walking to her, he lifted her chin to gaze into her sorrowful eyes. “Marianne, his behavior is not your responsibility and is in no way a reflection upon you. He has been inconsiderate the entire time he has been under our roof. It surprises me since he most desperately wants you to leave me and go with him. I don’t believe it is a wise choice on his part.”
“But I don’t want to go with him.”
Drew stilled. Had he heard correctly? She had made her decision? Her choice? She would stay? “Do not let me misconstrue, Marianne. This is too important for me, for our daughter, for the future. You have chosen to stay with us? To give Gentilly up and let him go?”
Still looking at the floor, still spinning her wedding ring, she whispered, “Yes, Drew, if you still want me. If you’ll have me.”
Without hesitation, Drew swept her into his arms. “Of course, I’ll have you. It’s what I’ve wanted since my return. It’s what Andrea wants, for us to be a family.” His mouth descended on hers with the force of relief and joy he could barely contain.
He placed his hands gently on each side of her face as he plundered her mouth, her skin soft and warm against his calloused palms. She opened readily to him, sighing as his tongue touched hers and the heat of their kisses intensified.
He felt her hands, still tentative in their untutored knowledge, glide up his arms until her fingers slid into the hair at his nape. Her fingers spread wide and she kneaded and tugged gently among the strands as if urging him on.
He pulled back to gaze into her pale blue eyes now heavy-lidded with desire. He pulled the ribbons of her nightrail, then gently pushed the gauzy fabric off her shoulders.
She moved her hands to the tie of his robe at his waist, then gazed up as if needing permission. He nodded and was gratified to see her tug the belt free and peek down to his aroused manhood. “I want you, my love.”
She lifted her gaze to his. “Yes.”
He shed his robe, swept her up into his arms, and strode to his bed, the magnificent Elizabethan bed where generations of Saxtonby viscounts and Reignsfield earls had been conceived, and slid her between the silk of the sheets. Without hesitation, he climbed in with her and drew her closely to his chest. “Marianne, I swear, I promise to do everything in my power to keep you and our children safe and to provide you with every happiness for the rest of your life.”
“Drew.” She rested her hand against the side of his face. “Since your return, I have never doubted you. It has only been myself who has had to resolve the dilemmas your absence had presented. If I am honest with myself, I know now that I would never have been truly happy with Robert. He is a good man and has been kind and steady to me but there has never been any heat, any passion, between us. Your return has made me face those doubts. Though I initially felt a loyalty to him because of his constancy and support, it is you who has given me the daughter I cherish, the lands I value, and the depth of love and passion I never knew I could possess.”
“Marianne, I would give my life to protect and love you and our daughter.”
He tightened his hold on her as he kissed her deeply and memorized every touch, every moment. Shifting slightly, his hands found their way over the warmth of her skin as it glowed from the firelight without and the burning of her passion from within.
His lips left hers only to blaze a trail of wet kisses down her throat, over her ear, taking the lobe gently between his teeth and suckling the tender skin. He sighed contentedly when she gasped for breath and tightened her hold on him, her nails biting gently into his back.
“Tonight, I will love you everywhere, Marianne.” His lips moved down to take a nipple into his mouth. Suckling, nibbling, her small gasps and the twinges of her body confirming she relished his attentions.
He moved to the other breast to give it an equal share of intimate devotion.
“Drew . . .” she whispered on a sigh.
“Shhh . . . my love. There’s more.”
Rubbing his hands against her skin to keep her warm and to savor the feel of her, he slid farther down in the bed. Gently he spread her legs and moved between them. But, despite his desperate desire to impale himself inside her, he slid his hands beneath her hips and raised her most intimate place to his mouth.
He blew gently on the soft fur there and felt the shiver shudder through his wife’s body. He placed his lips against her skin, felt the warm wetness waiting for him, breathed in the musky scent of her that made his desire even more urgent.
He ignored his own needs and, instead, placed his tongue against her core.
She flinched wildly then her hands flew into his hair as she groaned, “Drew, what . . .”
“No worries. Lay back and enjoy.” This time he laved her sensitive pearl with his tongue, licking and suckling, his hands holding her hips gently but firmly so her gyrating responses would not tear her from his grasp. He quickened his pace, deepened his explorations until his tongue teased between her nether lips and into that most intimate sheath.
Her breathing rapid and heavy, Marianne called his name, tugged his hair. She was close, so close to her release. And, he swore she would have it before he took her.
His tongue returned to her pearl and he suckled it once more, rewarded when her body tensed, her fingers ripped hairs from his head, and a sound escaped her lips that could be nothing less than a deep-throated moan of passion and release.
He stopped, letting the after-glow take her for a few moments, before he moved over her and sheathed himself in the hot wetness he had created.
He slid in easily, his shaft hard to bursting, relieved when she pulled him closer. “Yes,” she murmured in a sleepy voice. “Take me. I am yours.”
So, he moved. Slowly at first, with ever increasing need, desire, passion, until he could hold back no longer. As her legs came up to wrap around his hips and he dived that much farther into the heat of her core, he lost himself totally as the universe expanded infinitely around them and her body contracted once again.
As his wits slowly returned and he rolled to gather his sated, loving, beautiful wife into his arms he thought, truly, no man could ask for more than this in his life.