Marriage to a Mister (A Daughters of Regency #1) (28 page)

They stayed that way, under the lighted canopy, tentatively kissing one another, until finally the cold forced them inside. As they walked back to the cottage hand in hand neither said anything. They did not need to.
 

Evan opened the front door to the cottage and placed his hand on the small of her back, ushering her inside. He lit another candle from one already burning and handed it to her.
 

"You go on, I'll be up directly," he said, wanting to give her time and privacy to ready herself for bed.
 

To his surprise, she shook her head and took his hand,
 
and led him up the stairs into their bedchamber. Once there, she led him to the bed and he sat down upon it, she standing before him.
 

Fleur lifted her hand to run fingers through his hair. "I do not wish for you to stay away at night anymore, Evan. I want you to stay. I want you."

He looked up into her eyes as his hand moved towards her hip slowly. Worried he had mistaken her meaning, he hesitated until she nodded her approval. Then he felt the soft curve of her waist before he moved his hand around to her back, bringing her to him, resting his head on her stomach.

Turning gently, he placed a kiss just beneath her breast. Her breath quickened under his lips, giving him courage to pull her down into his lap. Elation coursed through him at the feeling of her wrapped in his arms, holding her as he had imagined so many times before.
 

Her breathed in slowly, his senses clearing as he remembered himself. "We should wait. You deserve to be courted properly, Fleur," he whispered, punctuating his words with kisses to her cheeks and the curve of her ear.
 

"I've had enough of wooing and courting," she said, her breath heavy, hands balled into fists, crushing the shoulders of his coat.
 

He kissed her temple, moving down to lick the soft flesh of her lobe. "Are you certain?"
 

She felt his breath, a warm soft breeze upon her neck, and unable to think or answer with words, she nodded instead.
 

Evan lifted her as he stood, turning to set her down gently upon the bed before stretching out beside her. He looked down upon her, leaning to kiss her fast and fiercely. His free hand found her hair, unpinning and shaking it loose to fall in soft waves around her face.

She trembled as he moved his lips down her jaw and onto the hollow of her throat; she gasped and swiped at her hair to uncover herself, wanting more, needing to feel his lips upon her neck.

As the back of his hand moved slowly down and across her décolletage, her breathed hitched, and he hesitated at the swell of her breasts. She looked into his eyes, searching his face, wondering why he had stopped.
 

"Fleur, I need for you to be absolutely certain. Is this what you want?"

She blinked, confused. "What? Why are you asking me questions?" she asked breathlessly as she grasped the back of his head and pulled him back down to her.
 

He laughed and kissed her again, winding his arms around her as he rolled until he was on his back, and she lay nearly on top of him. Fleur ran her hand down his chest and watched as he gasped for air, feeling the beat of his heart as fast as her own.
 

She smiled when he grasped her hand and pulled her down once more. His lips were warm on the crook of her neck, and she moved her head aside, inviting him in as he pulled the string of her laces, untying the back of her dress and corset.
 

Fleur felt a slight shock of connection as Evan trailed his hands up her arms before pushing her silk gown down, the front falling away to reveal her shoulders. He rose, kissing first one shoulder then the other. When he moved his mouth down and across the top of her breast she held her breath, releasing it once she felt his tongue move in between her breasts, surprised at the strength of her own excitement.
 

Suddenly he raised himself further, moving them both as they stood from the bed. Her dress slipped down to her ankles, leaving her in only her shift. She watched him, heart pounding, and he gazed upon her as she stepped slowly out from her dress, the thin fabric of her shift hiding nothing. Standing before him, she felt both beautiful and exposed, apprehensive yet left wanting more.

Evan looked at her long, unmoving, and when she could take no more she bravely reached up and untied his cravat with trembling hands, determined. The sound of linen swished as she slowly pulled the fabric from around his neck.

He reached up, making to remove his coat and she stopped him, sliding her own hands onto his shoulders, and like he did before, sliding his coat down his arms. She pulled his shirt from his pantaloons and he shrugged off his remaining coat, grasping his shirt from behind and pulling it over his head before throwing it to the ground.

She reached up slowly, placing her hands on his chest before moving them onto his shoulders again, and as he stood half-naked in the moonlight she explored him. She felt him gasp slightly when she ran a hand over his nipple and stopped, looking up at him, wondering if she had done something wrong.
 

"Keep going," he whispered, in no frame of mind to explain further.

She trailed her hands lower, hesitating only for a moment before she tried to unbutton the waist with unsteady fingers. "I don't know what I am doing."

Evan took control and rid himself of his bottoms, kicking them off to the side and out of their way.

Fleur took in the sight of him as her breath and will left her. "Oh, God," she gasped.

His hands wound around her waist, pulling her to him, and he touched her cheek. "Don't be afraid."
 

She could feel the length of him hard against her with only her shift to separate them, and as he trailed his hands down, heat followed in their wake, exploding when he gathered the thin fabric in his hand and pulled it up enough to brush the bare skin of her thigh.

She sighed at the connection she'd wished for, not knowing how she'd needed him as he caressed her thigh and hip. His fingers clenched, pulling her into him hard, and he kissed her again, deeper, feverish, until she gasped for breath.
 

Her arms raised, and he took the cue to remove the offending fabric, her body trembling; there was finally nothing between them. He walked her backwards, and when he felt the back of her thighs bump the bed, he halted.
 

Before she could react, he placed his hands around her waist and lifted her, her legs parting and wrapping around his waist as she clutched his arms, steadying herself, pulling her to him as much as she was able. She held on, looking down into his eyes before kissing him again, this time slowly, on his lips, his neck, anywhere she could reach, her kisses no longer shy.

He climbed upon the bed, she still clinging to him, and after he laid her down, he rose and looked down at her.

"Beautiful," he muttered.

Her face burned, and his eyes settled on her, and when his hand skimmed out from under her thigh and moved down towards her knee, he fumbled uselessly with her garter.

"I suppose I don't know what I'm doing either."

She laughed, relieved at knowing they could learn together. She reached down to unfasten her garters slowly, Evan watching her, and once freed, he slipped her stockings off, one by one.

Leaning down, he propped himself up between her legs and kissed her, moving his hand up her inner thigh, and she opened to him, breath held as he slowly stroked upwards. She counted the seconds until he finally touched her, his thumb sliding through wet heat as she jolted from surprise and from the sensations of his hand upon her.

He circled his thumb, and she grasped his shoulder hard as he moved against her. Cupping her, he parted her and slipped a finger inside, slowly. Unable to handle the targeted sensations alone, she pulled him to her.

"Kiss me?" she asked.

He nodded and touched her lips with his own, tentatively, slowly, much more so than he had before, and she felt his care for her as he slowed to the tune of her body.

She sighed, finding pleasure in the slow rhythm, and when she'd caught her breath, he took her hand in his and placed it gently onto himself, moving with him as her guide. When she circled her thumb around the slick head of his crown, he gasped into her mouth, and the excitement of the action thrilled her.
 

He slipped another finger inside, pushing into her more fully, and when she palmed him with a twist of her hand, they neither one could wait a moment longer.

He released her and laid both hands on her hips, looking down to her as he pulled her towards him. He covered her mouth with his own once again, shifting to move between her legs, spreading them wider with his hips. She felt him move slightly, guiding himself up, then down, stroking her blissfully, and her fingers flew to his neck and tangled in his hair as he pressed forward, finally breaching her.
 

He moaned as he slipped inside, both of them trying to breathe and failing. She was tight around him and he waited, whispering soothing words of love in her ear. His hand cupped her breast, thumbing her nipple, and as the sensations battled against pain, she felt the need to move against him. So she did, and he took her.
 

He moved deeper into her, pulling back only to take her deeper with every new movement. Her only thought was of him, and he was everywhere, gripping her hips, breath against breath, inside of her, and she wrapped her legs tighter around him, bracing herself to take him deeper, needing more of him. Needing all of him.

Her breath shallowed, her body tightened, heart beating harder with every thrust until her neck rose off the bed with a snap, and she shattered. She cried out, realizing only then what had happened, and at the same time, she felt him let go, pushing with one final flex of his hips as he buried himself inside her, deep, gasping her name.
 

Leaning his head on her shoulder, she moved her hand up and down his arm as he held her, their breath still charging like stallions, her legs still draped around him, he still inside her. She closed her eyes, rested her head next to his own, and sighed.

After a moment he moved from her, gently lying beside her as she turned to face him.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, caressing her hair that cascaded down her arm and shoulders.

Smiling, she raised her head to look him in the eye,. "Only a little."

He stroked her face as they gazed at one another for a long moment before she laid her head on his chest, closing her eyes. Knowing she was almost asleep, he woke her.

"I have something for you."
 

"Again?" she asked, her voice teasing.

He laughed and shook his head, kissing the top of her head before reaching over the edge of the bed and grasping his coat, bringing it over. He reached into the pocket and pulled out the small object.
 

She raised up, watching him, tucking the blanket under her arms so it would stay, curious to see what was in his hands.

He took her hand and turned it upwards as he placed the miniature into her palm.

She turned it over and gasped. "Oh, Evan, it's you, but from when we were younger?" she asked, looking to his face.

He nodded. "Remember on your sixteenth birthday I came to you and told you I had a gift for you?"

She moved her thumb over the smooth enameling, the painting within detailed and accurate. The silver surround tarnished with age. "Of course, and it was this portrait? But it's an odd sort of frame, isn't it?"

Evan smiled. "That's because it's not a frame; look closer."

She turned the piece over, inspecting until she found a latch and it opened with a click. "It's a timepiece! It's so beautiful."

"Much like the original," said Evan, laughing when she gave him a look.

"And what is this on the inside, I cannot make it out, is it engraved?"

"Yes," he said simply.

She moved the piece towards one of the candles on the bedside table and saw that there were four dates etched within.
 

"What are the meanings?" she asked.
 

"Can you not guess?"
 

"Well, the first is my birthday, the third as well, though a different year, that is odd, isn't it? The second date I am unsure of, but the fourth ... Evan, it is the day we were married. How did you manage this?"

He watched her face knit in confusion before reaching for her, pulling her down, her back upon his chest. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips.
 

"The first date, as you noted, is your birthday, the day you entered this world and also the day we met. As you know my mother tended to your mother's confinement, and since I was a strapping young boy of only three, I accompanied her. The fourth you guessed correctly as the day we married. I had it engraved in town after I acquired our special license."

She smiled, still turning the piece in her hands. "And the third, what does my second birthday represent?"

"That was the day I was supposed to give this to you."

Remembering that day as one of the worst in her life, she now smiled. "The day you were to propose."

"Yes," he said simply.
 

Fleur pulled the blankets up higher to cover her shoulders as Evan rubbed her arms, trying to warm her.

"What about the second?"

His brows knitted. "The second?"

"The engraving, the second date."

Evan took a deep breath, placing his hand on her face, his thumb moving along her jaw. "That was the day I first realized how much I loved you. I do, you know, love you, I always have. There has never been another, Fleur, not in my heart nor my bed. It was always you."

She laid her hand on top of his and smiled before leaning in to kiss him. "I love you too, Evan."

Evan glanced down at Fleur, her head upon his chest, and wondered how on earth his greatest wish had finally come true. For so long he had despaired, had felt bereft at the loss of her, and now here she was, his own. He knew their history would always be there, but it could no longer create uneasiness nor pain.