The Mystery of Mr Daventry (Scandalous Sons 4)

Desire and love fused to make the inner ache unbearable. “Lucius,” she breathed. “Don’t wait. I need you now.”

In desperation, he fiddled with the fall of his breeches, gripped his erection and pushed into her body.

Sybil groaned aloud.

Oh, God. It was so exquisite she almost cried.

His head fell back against the squab as she sank down on his solid length. A deep hum left his lips. “God, love, you always know what I need.”

“Fill me,” she muttered. “Fill me again and again.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist, locking them together. “We’re joined in the most primal way, yet our connection is more than physical.”

“Yes,” she said as his hands moved to grip her hips, to help her find a slow, intoxicating rhythm. “You were right.” She sank down, sheathing him to the hilt.

He sucked in a sharp breath. “Love, you’re so hot, so wet, so damn hungry for me. Right about what?”

“When you said I would never give myself to a man I didn’t love.”

He stilled, held her impaled. “What are you saying?”

She hummed. “That I’m in love with you, Lucius. I love everything about you. Your strength. Your devotion. The streaks of blue in your eyes that sparkle when you’re amused.” She rocked on his erection. The slightest movement flooded her body with waves of pure pleasure. “I love the way you kiss me, the way you care for me, the way you drive hard into my body. I love you.”

Lucius stared at her, his slow smile spreading. “You love me?”

“More than I could ever explain.”

His eyes shone with emotion, every beautiful blue fleck filled with joy. He responded by threading his hands into her hair, anchoring his mouth to hers.

He broke contact on a gasp. “God, Sybil, I’ve loved you for so long. When I saw you on the stairs that night, you stirred something inside me. Something so profound, I’ve held you in my heart ever since.”

A rush of happiness made her lean forward and kiss him softly on the mouth. But then a sudden urgency overtook them—the need to show their love in the physical act that brought such immense pleasure.

One minute she was astride him, the next she was bent over the opposite seat as he pounded into her sex with a fervency that spoke of love as much as lust. The slapping wasn’t loud enough to convey the depth of her feelings. The whimpers and moans weren’t deep enough. The rocking not wild enough.

When the muscles in her core convulsed and clamped around him, she cried, “I love you, Lucius.”

“God, I love you,” he gasped. “More than I could ever explain.”

Chapter Nineteen

Lucius gathered Sybil closer to his chest and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. She slept soundly, breathing softly, despite the wind rattling the leaded windows in his bedchamber. The bed hangings swayed as if a spectre stood tapping from the other side. That, coupled with the chill air, served as an ominous warning of what was to come.

Unlike him, Sybil had been unperturbed when he explained that his mother wanted to meet him at the Black Swan. One would expect the reunion to take place during the day, over a meal and a tankard of ale. Where his mother would produce a hundred heartfelt letters written to her son, but never sent. What reason could Julia Fontaine have for insisting he come under cover of darkness?

She must be terrified of the duke, Sybil had said.

Yet Lucius suspected a sinister motive.

Instinct said his mother was the missing piece of the puzzle. A puzzle he was desperate to solve. After twenty years, her sudden arrival couldn’t be a coincidence. Surely her choice of coaching inn, and the place she had made her first appearance, carried some significance, too.

Sybil stirred at his side, and her hand came to rest on his chest.

God, he loved her.

He was so in love with her, his heart ached.

It took strength of mind not to imagine a bright and glorious future. He would marry her, raise a family, be a loving husband and father. But what about his loyalty to Atticus? What about his work for the Order?