“Quite certain. I could be content to live anywhere as long as I have you.”
“You will have me, sweeting, for a long, long while. Will forever do?”
Vanessa smiled, dazzled by the warmth in his voice. Damien was determined to prove the adage that reformed rakes made the best husbands, and thus far he was succeeding admirably. “Forever will do nicely, I think.”
His lips grazed her temple as his hand slid lower to caress her abdomen. “We should find something to keep you from being lonely while I’m occupied with mundane governmental affairs.”
“You don’t find them mundane in the least,” she replied with amusement. “I know very well that you relish your new challenge, spinning gold from dross for the good of the country.”
“Quite so. But perhaps you need a new challenge as well, now that you’ve succeeded in taming a wicked rake. Would a child or two
fit the bill, I wonder?”
Her heart welling at the thought, Vanessa turned to gaze up at Damien. Moonlight poured through the window, highlighting the sculpted contours of his face. “Having your child is the only thing that could make me happier than I am at this moment.”
“Then we must give it our sincerest efforts, my angel.”
She searched his face. “Damien, are you certain you want the encumbrance of a family?”
“Absolutely certain. I’ve been alone and lonely far too long. It’s high time I gave up my wild ways and settled down.”
The slow smile Vanessa gave him was provocative. “Then we needn’t use the sponges any longer?”
His gaze burned deeply into hers as his thumb stroked her jaw. “No. No sponges.”
He reached beyond her to draw the draperies shut, enclosing them in intimacy. Slowly he bent down to her. His mouth moving upon hers, he kissed her so softly, so deeply, that a silky fire flowed into her, smoldering and spreading. Vanessa sighed with pleasure and pressed closer, murmuring his name.
“Patience, wife,” Damien admonished in a husky whisper. “We have forever-and I intend to enjoy every single moment.”
They undressed each other slowly, pausing frequently to taste and explore. Vanessa’s eyes darkened when she saw the scar in Damien’s shoulder where the bullet had lodged, but he captured her mouth and drove away all her dark thoughts of the past. They had only a glorious future ahead of them, a future that began at this moment.
Having been deprived of each other for so long, the deliberate delay was a delicious form of torture, yet they drew out the sensual mating dance to its fullest. Their lips met often as they indulged in the utterly consuming need to touch and be touched. When finally they were both nude, Vanessa marveled again at the elegant, virile grace of her husband’s body, while his eyes swept every tempting curve of hers.
Their gazes held as he removed the pins from her hair, beginning with the exquisite diamond roses he had given her as a wedding present. With reverence he spread the shining mass around her bare shoulders. Joyously, then, Damien swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.
As he lowered her to the silken sheets, he kissed her again hungrily, smothering her low moan between their pleasured mouths. The rhythm of his heartbeat turbulently echoed her own as he followed Vanessa down to lie beside her.
Desire was a desperate need inside him, yet Damien forced himself to go slowly. He wanted to savor the moment when he made her his wife.
Shifting his weight, he raised himself on one elbow to search her beloved face. He wanted to see the desire and love in her eyes, and he found what he was seeking. Liquid radiance shone in the dark depths.
Tenderness ran through him, still startling in its wonder. “You intoxicate me,” he murmured.
His fingers sculpted the lovely planes of her face, treasuring the velvety texture. His caressing hand moved lower then, as he bent his head to taste her. He felt her delicate shudder as his lips found her throat.
He tongued her sensitive flesh, pulse point by pulse point, while his hand roamed lightly over her bare skin.
“Everything about you entices me, excites me…” he murmured, touching, fondling. “I love your breasts… The sensuous curve of your spine… The silken hollow between your thighs.”
Heat throbbed through Vanessa, strong and insistent, reverberating with each sensual caress.
“I love your grace and courage…”
She moaned softly as his fingers lightly stroked the lips of her sex.
“I love your pleasure sounds…”
She pleaded with him. “Damien… please.”