Her words warmed his very soul. Giles placed the key to his heart around her neck, then fastened the chain. Unable to help himself, he trailed his lips across the back of her neck and down her spine before nipping at her lush bottom.
“Ah,” she squealed and jumped.
Giles captured her and brought her back into the bed.
Juliet laughed as he pulled her against him, her back pressing to his front. “What about our guests?” she asked.
“They can wait until after I have made love to my wife.” He grabbed her hip with one hand and positioned her so that the hard tip of his cock rested against her quim. She wriggled, inviting him in, and he took her all over again.
A slow claiming born of love and full of deep emotion. The sort of lovemaking that branded one’s soul and tied two hearts together.
And as he moved in and out of her, he knew he would never let her go.
He was home—heart, body, mind, and soul.
Juliet was his everything.
Epilogue
Dover, England
Clear River Run, six months later
June 25, 1812
Juliet tipped her head back, allowing the sun’s warmth to bathe her face. It was a glorious day, and the first truly warm day they had had since saying their vows. In order to enjoy the fair weather, Giles had brought her to their favorite place: the clearing.
He had once told her that summer was his favorite time of year to visit the forest encircled pond. He had also made her a scandalous promise. One she had never forgotten and fully intended to collect on.
During the six months of their marriage, the two of them had visited the spot often. Their visits started the day he brought her here to collect mistletoe, and since then, they had returned to ice skate, watch the wildlife, fish, row, and picnic nick. It had only taken one visit for the space to capture her fancy.
But of all the things they had done here, there was one thing he had promised that they still had not done, and she desperately wanted to. Turning her gaze to Giles, she asked, “Do you think it is warm enough today?”
The green flecks in his hazel eyes darkened as he gave her a devilish grin. “Come here, duchess.” He bent one finger, beckoning her to him.
Juliet gave a saucy smile as she slid closer to him. For a moment, she wondered at the wisdom of making love in the open air. After all, the two of them did not have the best of luck when it came to scandalous endeavors.
Or perhaps they did. It was a scandal that brought the two of them together, and she could not be happier. Giles was a wonderful husband. He loved her deeply and spoiled her to no end. So what if they caused tongues to wag on occasion. They were in love.
And she wanted to feel the sun’s warmth on her naked body as he thrust into her.
Giles wrapped his arms around her and eased her back to lie beside him in the blanket they had spread over the grass. “I wondered if you remembered my promise.”
“It was the first thing I thought of when I felt the warmth of the air,” Juliet admitted. “I crave you, Giles. I want to be laid bare here in our spot. I desperately need to be ravished.”
He trailed his fingertip along the neckline of her gown. “What else do you want, darling?”
“I want to feel your cock heavy and hard, filling me,” she said without a hint of shame or embarrassment. There was no need for such emotions between her and Giles. They were friends, lovers, soul mates. With him, she was entirely at ease and free to say and do as she pleased without fear of judgment.
In fact, her husband encouraged her wanton nature. She daresay he even reveled in it as he often encouraged her to behave in such a way.
“And what of my hands, duchess?” he asked, his voice thick with desire.
Juliet swallowed, her eyes fluttering closed. “I want you to touch me everywhere. And I want you to kiss me too. Set my blood on fire, Giles.”
“You are a wicked woman, darling.” He brought her hand to the fall of his breeches and placed it over his hard cock. “See what you do to me?”
She curved her fingers around his erection, her quim pulsing with need as she stroked him.
Giles tipped his head back and moaned. The primal sound of his passion filled the clearing, and she stilled. “You do not think we will be caught?”
“It is much too late to worry now. Not after you have worked me into such a frenzy,” he said, then captured her lips with his.
All trepidation fled her mind when Giles’s lips took hers. He pressed his hard cock against her, his fingers exploring her as he plundered her lips. His kiss, his touch, sent intense pleasure clear to her marrow.
The sensations rendered her utterly helpless in the most deliciously wicked way. Her tongue parried with his on equal terms as he worked to unlace her gown.
Desperate with need, she trailed her fingers across his abdomen and lower, tracing the hard contours of his erection before reaching for the fall of his breeches. The desire to feel his warm, satiny skin drove her wild as she worked to free his cock.
He trailed kisses down her throat to her breasts as her gown came away. Giles sucked and licked her tender nipples as he pushed her dress further down her body.
Juliet moaned her pleasure as his hand came to rest on her mound. She bucked, encouraging him to touch her where she most desired him.
His lips burned a track ever lower until he paused to rub her slightly rounded belly. They were expecting their first babe in November, and her body was showing the evidence. She worried her lip for a moment, then asked, “Does it make me less attractive?”
Giles lifted his head until his gaze locked on hers. “You are as stunning as ever. I want you as much, if not more, now than I ever have.” As if to prove it, he lowered himself, placing his head between her thighs. He captured the tiny pearl at the top of her sex between his lips and suckled the tender nub.
White-hot lust took her in its grip, and her moment of doubt gave way to the passion that fully engulfed her. She threaded her fingers into his golden hair and held him in place as she writhed beneath him. Juliet moaned and sighed his name like a benediction as he worked his wicked tongue between her thighs.
Giles licked and suckled until her passion reached a fevered pitch, then he eased one finger into her quim, nearly sending her over the edge.
She tugged on his hair, urging him away from her sex. “Join with me. I want to come apart with you buried deep within me.”
Giles moved away long enough to pull his shirt over his head and remove his trousers. Then he positioned himself between her legs, his hot, hard cock pressed to her quim. He took her mouth in a hungry kiss as he thrust into her.
Driven by an unstoppable need, she bucked against him, her fingers digging into his back and legs wrapped tight around his hips. The urgency she felt pushed her closer and closer to the edge of desire as he thrust faster, deeper.
As her orgasm claimed her, she arched her hips up, drawing him deeper and tossed her head back on a moan. Wave after wave of sheer delight swept through her as she clung to Giles, her heartbeat rapid and breaths shallow.
He took his own pleasure, finding his release soon after, then gathered her close.
Juliet closed her eyes and reveled in the afterglow of their lovemaking as the sun-kissed her most private of places. Bird-song filled the air and the wind gently blew over her heated skin. Best of all, Giles was beside her, his skin pressed to hers with no barrier between them.