She caught his hand and kissed it, feeling the hard, shiny skin of his burns under her lips. When had she and Edmund become so physically demonstrative with one another? On their honeymoon, they’d rarely ventured much past the marital act. Her fears had crippled her, inhibited her natural impulse toward showing affection.
Was it possible that her husband, for all his worldly experience, had felt a similar diffidence? Difficult to imagine dashing Edmund Sherritt as shy, but looking back with the advantage of maturity, she wondered if that might explain their mutual awkwardness.
“You’re not a careless brute. And I love what we did.” She blushed, which was ludicrous, given her recent passionate responses. “I hope we’ll soon do it again.”
A smile curled his lips, and he kissed her. Who knew he was a man who liked to kiss? Certainly not the woman who had married him so many years ago.
“It’s a safe wager that we will. I was in such a goddamned rush to have you, I missed a few things that require attention.”
In this bed, he’d transported her to another world. She couldn’t imagine feeling more wonderful than she had on that wild journey through the stars. Yet now it seemed she had more to discover. How thrilling.
“Oh?” Anticipation heated her blood. “Such as?”
He cupped her breast and brushed his thumb across the peak with an idle caress. “Every inch of your body deserves a week of admiration.”
Her nipple beaded into a tingling point, and that swirling restlessness in her belly stirred anew. How on earth could she be interested in love play, when she’d only just found rapture beyond her wildest dreams? “A mere week?”
“On my first foray.” Sitting up, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He wasn’t quick enough to hide a wince of discomfort.
“Edmund, I forgot about your leg.” Felicity scrambled out of the bed and darted around to kneel in front of him.
“To be frank, so did I,” he said roughly, rubbing the long scar.
“We should have been more careful.” She brushed his hand aside to check if the wound had opened. When she saw no blood, she sighed with relief. “We could have done serious damage.”
“Wanting you and not having you was more painful than anything the Frenchies could do to me.”
Her unthinking dash from the bed proved that she had aches and pains of her own. She’d adored the headlong urgency of Edmund’s passion. Now a few twinges reminded her that she was unaccustomed to having her body stretched and pounded.
When she studied Edmund, she didn’t mind. He looked tired, but happy. And younger than the man who had ridden in yesterday afternoon. Her hand tightened on his thigh above his wound. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Leave you?” He frowned in puzzlement. “What rubbish is this? I’ve only just come home.”
When she shook her head, her unbound hair slid against her newly sensitive skin. “Now.” The word was a thread of sound. “Don’t leave me now. I’ve wanted you for so long, I can’t bear to be apart from you tonight.”
Comprehension lit his eyes, and he stroked her hair, stretching his long legs out on either side of her. “I’m not going anywhere. And ne
ither are you.”
“Good.” Giddy with relief, she kissed his thigh, just below his stirring rod. A wicked thrill sizzled through her, gave her the nerve to place a kiss on the part of him that had offered her such superlative service. Her senses opened to a deep musky scent and the salty taste of his skin.
“Hell’s bells,” he gasped and plunged his hands into her untidy mass of hair, tipping her face up. “Where on earth did you learn to do that?”
Felicity flushed and regarded him uncertainly. “Didn’t you like it?”
A strangled laugh escaped him. “I liked it beyond measure.”
“It seemed a natural thing to do.”
He bent down and this time, his kiss was urgent. “You, my wife, are a gift beyond price.”
“When you kiss me like that, I can’t think.” Flustered, she pulled back and rose to her feet. With every movement, she felt the slickness between her thighs.
Edmund relaxed against the pillows and watched her with drowsy pleasure. “Come back to bed.”
She sent him a quick smile. “Not yet.”
When Felicity picked up her nightdress and hauled it over her head, he groaned and rolled his eyes. “You tease me.”