She shook her head. “No, but…”
He put a finger on her lips. “You promised to obey me, wife. Obey.”
Her head lowered in silent assent, and she waited for his command. It came quickly.
“Onto the bed, please. Head on the pillow, lying on your back.” He helped her mount the tall bed, and made sure her hands were as comfortable as possible, given her position. “Good. Good girl.” He leaned over and kissed her, a long deep mingling of tongues and lips and breaths.
Kitty’s heart swelled at the embrace, and she took a deep breath as he finally took off her necklace and held it up to the light.
“This could have been made for you. My grandmother would be proud.”
A sting of unshed tears made her blink, and then she jumped as the diamonds touched her nipple. He was dragging the gems over her skin, each one a cool, unyielding, sharp-edged bite of arousal. The moan crept from her throat and she could not hold it back. But it seemed to please him as he played with her nipples and her jewels with equal pleasure.
Each caress sent shivers of sensation darting low in her body and eventually she could no longer keep still. The moisture was dampening her thighs and she ached with the emptiness between them.
“You are needy, my sweet.”
She glared at him.
“Perhaps my fingers would ease your need.” He stroked downward, over her belly, to find the soft curls at the junction of her legs, letting the necklace slide away. “But that would leave your breasts untended. That will never do.”
His head lowered, his mouth opened, and he sucked, strongly, eliciting a cry of pleasure from her throat. At the same moment, he slid a finger inside her, moving it around, teasing honeyed liquid from her inner darkness.
It was sensual torture, and her hips responded by lifting from the bed toward him, an unmistakeable plea he was apparently going to ignore. At least for now.
He withdrew his hand and gave her swollen sex a tiny, sharp slap.
She gasped. “Ow…” Then subsided, breathing hard, as the area he’d punished heated and grew incredibly sensitive.
He suckled her again, hard, nibbling at the hard nipple as he delivered one more slap to her pussy. “Mmm.” His murmur resounded throughout her body, stoking the fire that was already burning, hot flames licking down her limbs as she moved restlessly against the onslaught of his desire.
He climbed up onto the quilt, pushing her legs wide. She parted them with alacrity, hoping that now he would put his own hard flesh inside her, rather than his fingers.
He paused, looking at her, sprawled helpless before him. “My wife.”
The words surprised her, since they were more of a whispered thought than a command.
She nodded. “Yes. I’m your wife.”
He reached for her hips as he knelt above her, pulling her forward, lifting her and finally thrusting his cock deep within her slick folds. “My wife.”
She struggled, her bound wrists an annoyance that was becoming a severe cause of distress. She wanted to touch him, to join with him on equal terms. This night of all nights should be filled with mutual pleasure.
He smiled as he saw her fighting to free herself. “Wait.”
She eased, wondering what would come next. But instead of some new punishment, he leaned forward and lifted her into a sitting position, tucking her legs around him as he moved his to a more comfortable position. Kitty found herself sitting on her husband’s lap, his cock inside her, and their chests all but touching. His arms went around her and untied the cravat.
“Oh thank God,” she whispered, slinging her arms around his neck. “Better.”
Catching on to this new position, she tightened her legs around him, working their bodies into an embrace that locked them together.
Thus joined, she stared into his eyes, knowing the fire would explode before too long. “I must tell you something.” She breathed the words into the inches of space between their lips. “I love you, husband.”
His arms tightened around her and he leaned his forehead against hers. “I love you too.”
Then he moved, as did she, and it was passion, whispered sighs of limbs moving faster and faster to a crescendo, and finally cries as both Max and Kitty let themselves go and clung to each other as the raging inferno claimed them.
They collapsed in a heap, caring not which leg ended where or whose hand was trapped beneath whose shoulder.
“Ouch.” Max groaned and shifted, reaching beneath him. “These are pretty, but I think they just stabbed my arse.” He extracted the necklace cautiously from the tangled linens.
“They weren’t designed to be treated so cavalierly, you know,” observed Kitty as she settled herself between the covers.
“Everything is designed to be treated cavalierly, if you know the right way to do it,” answered Max, with a tired grin. “Even wives.”
“Especially wives.” She cuddled close, knowing he’d turn her and pull her into his arms.
They were quiet for a while, regaining their breath, and simply enjoying the calm after the storm.
“I meant what I said, Max.” She pulled his arm more tightly around her. “I can’t put my finger on the moment it happened, but today…there it was.”
“Yes,” he murmured. “That discovery hit me over the head with a brick today as well. We are well matched, love. Fate put us together, perhaps knowing we were already half-enamored of each other.”
“Possibly.” She sighed. “Shall you like having a wife?”
He chuckled. “I think so, yes. And I will try and make sure you like having a husband.”
She smiled into the pillow. “Just keep doing what you did tonight, and I will like it very much indeed.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The next morning began a little behind schedule, due to some quite understandable occurrences between a couple so newly married. However, they managed to drag themselves to the parlor for breakfast only an hour later than usual. Something which, given their morning activities, might have been considered quite speedy.
“You two look like…” Grace hid a laugh in her napkin. “Well, let’s just say you look married.”
Perry, who was finishing off his toast, nodded. “Agreed. I was rather surprised to get your note this morning. I’d assumed, mistakenly it would seem, that you would both be recuperating from yesterday.”
“We were.” Max poured tea, and helped himself to eggs.
“Hmm. I’ve not heard it called that before.” Grace raised an amused eyebrow.
“Grace.” Kitty sat down. “I’m shocked.”
“Enough,” sighed Max, knowing this banter would continue unless he put a stop to it. “I wanted you both to be here, not because I can’t get enough of your witty comments, but because I have information I think you’ll find quite surprising.”
“Oh yes,” Grace sat up. “The ball. You were going to find Miller-James’s mistress, weren’t you?”