“Indeed. Likely he will be on the lookout for any scandalous behavior on my part. He trusts me even less after you threatened to bear my by-blows.”
“I only made that threat as a last resort, to make Papa see reason, but I meant every word,” Sophie declared.
“I know, but I want no question about our firstborn’s legitimacy.”
“Nor do I.”
Shifting his hand, Jack brushed her lips with his thumb. “I promise you, the next time we make love, it will be fully and completely.”
Sophie’s nerves sparked at his touch, while anticipation left her lightheaded. “Waiting will not be easy,” she lamented.
“It won’t be much longer, love. And we have our whole future ahead of us. Passion is a Wilde family legacy, and I want to explore every facet with you.”
His eyes had turned breathtakingly sensual, blazing with intensity. And when Jack pulled her against him, letting her feel the heat of his body, desire flared up in her.
“Waiting will be pure torture,” Sophie amended breathlessly.
“But fulfillment will be pure pleasure.”
“Please, Jack … pleasure me now. At the very least, kiss me. We need to make the most of the time we have left before my father comes searching for us.”
“I am delighted to oblige, my love.”
At long last, Jack lowered his mouth to hers. Sophie gave a contented sigh at the scorching fire he kindled inside her, although her impatience persisted. She deeply relished his enchanting, enthralling kisses, but she would be counting down the minutes until they could do more.
Montagu Place, London, July 1816
They woke slowly as dawn crept into their bedchamber. Lying in Jack’s arms, pressed against his warm bare skin, exchanging heartbeats, Sophie felt blissfully content.
They had made love three glorious times during their first magical night together as husband and wife. And each time Jack claimed her, he’d spilled his seed deep in her womb, giving her the most profound sense of completion she had ever known.
The rawness of desire was sated for the moment, but Sophie knew from delectable experience that their carnal satisfaction would not last long. She also knew that Jack was set on quelling any possible doubts about the depth of his ardor for her.
His breath stirred wisps of her hair as he brushed a sleepy kiss over her temple. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” he murmured for the fourteenth time. “Just so there’s no question.”
Sophie smiled into the warm curve of his neck. She had demanded that he repeat his declaration of love frequently during the night, and now she had no uncertainty whatsoever that his heart belonged to her. And no doubts, either, that he wanted her keenly.
Just now his fingers were lazily stroking her back, but her body was so acutely sensitive to his touch, she could detect the heightened desire in even that light caress. Likewise, she could feel the thick, hot length of him swelling against her thigh, which was draped across his taut abdomen.
Fresh arousal set her breasts tingling and her center thrumming with imploring need.
Raising her head from his shoulder, Sophie took in the beautiful sight of him. The look in his eyes was softer now, yet still fierce, mirroring the powerful hunger she felt for him.
Yearning to fill herself with him again, she eased her leg over his body and straddled his hips. When she cradled the hardness of him snugly against her woman’s heat, Jack fastened his smoldering gaze on her face.
For a dozen heartbeats, Sophie savored the passion on his beloved countenance before bending to meet his lips. Her hair was a wild curtain around them as she took his breath into her mouth and sank into his kiss, his touch, his embrace.
Their tongues danced in a languid mating ritual while his hands caressed her bare breasts lovingly. Then Jack shifted beneath her, his loins seeking to join with hers, and Sophie opened her body to the slow thrust of his manhood.
When he slid into her wordlessly, she took his impaling length fully inside her and raised herself up to sit astride him. Then holding his dark gaze, she arched her back and began to move with him, riding him in a sensual rhythm.
As expected, their languor did not last. His arousing fingers tightened on her nipples, and just like that, the tenor of their lovemaking changed from sensual to insistent. Tension vibrated between them; heat, friction, cadence all increasing.
Sophie rose and fell with quickening eagerness, and Jack matched her stroke for stroke. His hands moving to clench her hips, he drove himself upward into her body, hard and deep. Soon her whimpers turned to moans. Fever sang in her veins, while the naked hunger on his face stole her breath.
He was fierce, demanding, almost savage, but she welcomed his urgency. Each time he thrust, a bolt of fire shot through her, so intense, so consuming, she thought she might burst into flame herself.
Eventually she did burst. Her cries echoed in the quiet bedchamber as she shattered and dissolved in a crescendo of pure joy. Jack caught her when she fell forward onto his chest, an instant before the explosive fire swept over him also.