could tell by his breathing that the faint touches of her nipples against his skin were as arousing to him as they were to her. He reached for them, pulling her breasts up and cupping them in his hands so that he could take them into his mouth again, rubbing them against the front of his teeth and nipping suddenly, then releasing them to blow them dry with his breath until they felt tight and cool.
She sat up and slid away from him again, running her hands down his abdomen, settling them upon his member and stroking it from base to tip, holding it against the skin of her belly in a way she knew he liked.
He let her work over him for a few moments before bringing his own hands down his body to meet hers, grasping her around the crease at the top of her thighs until his thumbs met between her legs, stroking her. ‘Slowly,’ he cautioned, while speeding up his own hands. ‘Let me last. I want to enjoy you the whole of the night.’ His hands came around her body, grasping her bottom. ‘Slide forwards. Onto me. I want to be in you.’
She glanced at the chair across the darkened room, thinking one last time of the sheath in his pocket. ‘Did you want …?’
‘Do not think of it,’ he commanded, as though he could guess her thoughts. Then he pulled her hips up his body so that he could rub himself against the wetness between her legs. ‘This will be better. If you still wish it.’
‘Yes,’ she answered, guiding him even closer to where he belonged. She bent forwards and kissed him and rose up on her knees so she could touch herself with the tip of him, as though that were a kiss as well. Then she eased forwards, just an inch, and felt the beginnings of satisfaction as he began to slip inside.
‘So good,’ he whispered. ‘But I want more.’ He reached behind her again, trapping her hips and forcing her suddenly down and on to him in one quick, smooth stroke, until he filled her completely. ‘There.’
She gasped in shock. She had forgotten how big he felt, resting inside her. And this sudden entrance was nothing like the cautious way he had thrust when he had last done this. Then he had seemed afraid to frighten her.
But tonight there was none of that. Before she could catch her breath, he was moving under her, into her. His hips rose and fell, bucking and grinding against hers as he sought release, making her tremble with excitement at the ease with which he controlled her body.
He slowed for a moment, seeming ready to withdraw. So she pressed against him again, guiding him farther, letting him slide deeper into her until she was sure that he would not change his mind. ‘You did not want this from me, Adrian. What has changed?’
He groaned, but did not pull away. ‘Am I hurting you?’
‘No. It is so good. I want it.’
‘Then nothing has changed. Say the words you said to me last night.’
‘I love you, Adrian.’ She tried to give an answering thrust, but he held her in place against his body. ‘Take me. Please, Adrian, make love to me.’
‘Yes. Again.’ He sank into her, sighing in satisfaction. He was stroking slowly now, in and out of her, making her forget that it could be any way else.
‘I love you.’
Then he slowed even more, skin sliding against skin, his hands on her back, moving to clutch her so that he could push with more force. She leaned forwards to lie on top of him. Suddenly, he rolled with her, over and onto her.
She dug her fingers into him, raking his back, afraid that he was trying to escape, and terrified that he would not finish what he had started.
And he laughed at her, as wicked as he had been that first night, straddling her as she had him and pumping hard into her until she lay breathless under him. She was close, so very close now, and he knew it. And he stopped to touch her face.
She nipped at his fingers, begging him to finish her, and he felt her eagerness and pulled his hand away and left her body.
She reached for him, flailing in desperation, and he grabbed her hands and rolled her onto her side. ‘No, my darling,’ he murmured. ‘I will give you what you want, soon enough. You promised this morning that I would have whatever I liked from you. There are other ways to join. And tonight, I mean to try as many as I can.’ He was entering her again, from behind, pushing up and down, and pressing hard against places inside her body that had barely felt him before. His hands were on her breasts now, circling the nipples as he thrust, his lips on her ear. ‘Does this please you?’ he growled, holding her tight.
‘Yes,’ she gasped, totally possessed by him, totally in his power.
‘I am going to make you mine, soon,’ he said close to her ear. ‘And then I will do it again. And again. I will love you until there is nothing left in you but need of me. And then I will love you again.’ He thrust harder and her climax began at the thought of having his seed inside her. And as she relaxed, satisfied that he would finally be hers, his hand came down to press between her legs and rub against her special place. He moved his thumb there in little flicks, keeping time with his thrusts until she broke again and again, mindless and helpless, shaking in his arms, crying his name.
And he felt her surrender and followed her, releasing deep inside her with a cry of ‘Emily’.
The joy of it shot through her in a final spasm. He knew her. In this most intimate moment, without sight or words, he had recognised her.
Then he groaned and pulled away, shuddering and covering his face with his arm, as though he could hide himself from her by the act.
She rolled to lie close to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling at his hand until she could see the faint glitter of his eyes in the moonlight as he stared, sightless, towards the ceiling.
At last he spoke. ‘I am sorry. I did not think. But I have saved myself for her for too long.’
‘Your wife?’ she asked softly.
‘When I could not stand to be alone, and availed myself of the services of some nameless woman or other, it was her I imagined. Always her.’
He reached out to touch her hair. ‘This week has been different, I swear it. But tonight, when it should have been no one but you, I used what you felt for me. I lied and pretended to be what you wanted me to be. And while I did it, I thought of her. I did not mean to say that name. You are precious to me. It would not have been thus, were you not. And I do not wish to hurt you.’
‘It is all right,’ she said, trying to gain understanding of what had just happened. The man beside her was racked with guilt over feeling just what she wanted him to feel for the woman he had left behind. She rolled even closer to lean over him and put her hands on his face, kissing his eyes and his lips, and whispering words of love. ‘It is all right. It changes nothing between us. I understand. She is with you, even as my husband is never far from my thoughts.’
‘She is in London. She will hear of my visit to White’s. She will hear about my eyes.’
‘Rumours, perhaps,’ she answered. ‘But it will be better if she hears the rest of it from you.’
‘And I have heard things as well,’ he whispered. ‘But not rumours. More truth than I ever wanted to know.’ He pulled her down on top of him, into his arms, crushing her cheek to his chest and she could feel the pain in him in the vibrations as he spoke. ‘She came to me, on the day we
