‘Yes!’ Lucian drew in a ragged breath. ‘I admit I had begun to think of marriage these last few months. But in a detached way. A sedate wife who would make no demands upon me, who would live at my estate in Hampshire, and whom I would visit occasionally when the mood took me.’
‘To beget your necessary heirs, no doubt?’ Grace drawled derisively.
‘Yes,’ Lucian acknowledged ruefully, as he easily recalled their conversation that first evening at the inn.
Grace’s expression was pained as she gave a sad shake of her head. ‘No wonder you have been so disheartened by our betrothal. You knew I could never be that sort of wife.’
‘I have discovered these last weeks that I want no such wife,’ he assured her firmly. ‘The only wife I want—the only woman I will ever tolerate for my wife—is you! And the only man I will tolerate as a husband for you is me!’ He shook her slightly, his expression darkly frowning as she looked unconvinced. ‘I love you, Grace! I love you so much that the thought of any other man—’ He broke off, teeth clenched. ‘I love you utterly and completely, Grace. I love you until I can see, hear and feel nothing else but you!’
Grace stared up at him wondrously, hardly able to believe what Lucian was telling her. Lucian loved her. He loved her! ‘I love you, too, Lucian. I believe I have loved you since that first night when you stumbled into my bedchamber and kissed me so passionately.’
He shook his head, a dark frown upon his brow. ‘How could you, when that night you witnessed my nightmares first-hand?’
Her hands moved up to cradle each side of his face as she looked up at him. ‘I love all of you, Lucian. With every part of me. I see, hear and feel nothing else but you!’
His eyes darkened. ‘You cannot love a man who may wake in your arms shouting, protesting at the bloodshed and—’
‘I love you, Lucian,’ she assured firmly. ‘Everything about you. Including the scars you bear so valiantly inside.’
Lucian released a shuddering breath. ‘Perhaps there will be no more nightmares.’ He frowned. ‘The only dreams I have now are of you. Of being with you. Of loving you. Of making love with you.’
‘I am glad, Lucian.’ She rested her head against his chest. ‘Tell me of those dreams, Lucian. Share them with me.’
His arms tightened about her. ‘First tell me you will marry me, Grace. That you will soon become my wife!’
‘Yes, I will marry you, my dearest love!’ she assured him joyously. ‘Tomorrow, if that is your wish!’
‘As soon as ever it can be arranged!’ Lucian’s arms came about her as his head lowered and his mouth claimed hers.
Hungrily. With a hunger that Grace more than matched. There had been too many occasions between them when their desire had been aroused but not satisfied for either of them to be gentle with the other now.
Lucian threw off his jacket to allow Grace the freedom to unbutton his shirt and strip it from him, so that her hands might explore the hardness of his chest. The muscles rippled beneath her touch even as his mouth explored the hollows of her throat and the soft curve of her breasts. He drew one of those hardened peaks into the moist heat of his mouth to flick his tongue against the soft material that covered the turgid nipple.
Grace felt the heat between her thighs, hot and damp, as she arched against him, groaning low in her throat as Lucian took her breast deeply into his mouth, before slipping the straps of her shift down her arms to bare her to the waist, so that flesh touched flesh.
‘Let me pleasure you this time, Lucian!’ she groaned achingly, taking one of his hands to lead the way to a closed carriage.
His other hand held the lamp aloft, and Grace waited for Lucian to sit down upon the carriage seat before helping him to remove his boots and strip off his breeches, her gaze darkening hungrily as she gazed down at his thrusting hardness.
Grace felt only awed fascination as she saw how long and thick he was, so beautiful in the lamplight. She moved to her knees in front of him to caress and stroke him, her eyes widening as he grew even larger, his hardness moving against her hand, and she heard Lucian’s groan of pleasure as she lowered her head and kissed him there, taking several engorged inches into her mouth, drawing him into her as she licked and sucked the length of him, tasting him on her tongue as his juices began to flow.