She
did
trust him. Completely.
So what if she didn’t know so much about him? She had the rest of her life to spend learning all she could. All she needed right now was him.
“I keep forgetting you are a virgin,” he grunted, as his hands moved from her arms toward her breasts. “You sit here in my lap looking at me like a trained seductress, with your swollen lips parted and inviting and your gray eyes black and passionate.”
“Oh.”
She gave him a surprised face, as this was news to her, and he grinned and gave her a fake suspicious look in return. “Because you are, right? A virgin?”
She laughed over his joke, and threw her arms around his head in a joyous hug. She felt his face against her breasts and tried to lean back, feeling a little embarrassed over her wanton behavior.
“Ah, my little minx,” he smiled wickedly, showing her without words how much he enjoyed her wanton behavior, and all her discomfort disappeared. This time she didn’t stop him when he let his hands slowly lift her skirt, caressing her knees and her thighs until he found his hot goal. Instead she kept her head back and closed her eyes as she let him have his way with her.
Without thinking about what he was doing, he pushed her down on her back, got rid of all the fabrics between them, and pressed his manhood against the junction of her legs, feeling the soft tissue stretching to make room for him. Her sudden cry made him stop, and he closed his eyes, begging for patience and restraint.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered to her, as he made the final thrust through her maidenly barrier.
He caught her shout in his mouth, kissing her until he could feel her responding to him again. When she was moaning with passion instead of crying out with pain, he started to move with his hips again, and was rewarded with a gasp of pleasure from her.
Faster and faster he thrust, until he could feel her tremble beneath him. With a growl, he made one last powerful move that sent him all the way to the stars and back.
When they both could breathe normally again, he sat up, not wanting to crush her with the weight of his body. When he saw the blood between her thighs, he winced.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She gave him a slow smile, filled with contentment and shook her head slowly as she sat up. As he got dressed he glanced at her, not knowing really how to behave.
Her forlorn behavior when she’d arrived in the library earlier had spooked him. It had made him feel strangely unsure of her. Her passion had caught him off guard, and although he had already promised himself not to touch her before their wedding night, he hadn’t been able to withhold his passion.
“Well,” he said slowly. “Now I guess you won’t have a choice but to marry me, and preferably as soon as possible.”
She turned around, now fully dressed, and looked at him seriously. “I will marry you, because I think I can love you with all of my heart when I get to know you better, but at the same time it scares me. I can’t help wondering if I ever will…”
Devlin froze as her voice trailed off.
“Don’t you think you can love me?” he asked hoarsely, not really wanting her to answer his question, as he was too afraid of the answer.
She rolled her eyes at him in a very Darling way, and he relaxed. “No, stupid, I am more than halfway in love with you already—and stop the smirking. What scares me is the feeling of not knowing you.”
He couldn’t stop a relieved laugh. “My dearest Fanny, you must be joking. Of course you know me.”
“No, I don’t. Not what you truly think about anything, not your feelings about a variety of subjects.”
He could see this was extremely important to her, so he sat down and put his feet on the table in front of the sofa.
“All right,” he drawled arrogantly. “Question me.”
She couldn’t stop herself from giggling as she settled again on the sofa at the other side of the table, facing him. She chewed on her lower lip, and to his surprise he felt himself hardening again.
“Stop it,” he whispered.
“Stop what?”
“The chewing.”
She looked at him blankly.
“It’s rather enticing, and if you don’t want to have me all over you again, you need to stop.”
This time she understood what he meant, and she blushed prettily. “I wouldn’t mind,” she finally admitted shyly, and before he could stop himself he jumped over the table.
He ripped her clothes, aching with the need to penetrate her, and sighed loudly with contentment as he slid into her. She was still wet, and he soon had her losing control and screaming his name into his mouth.
This time they were too loud, and they barely had time to straighten their appearances before George and Caroline came through the door to find out what Fanny’s answer had been. Her shy, happy smile told them everything, and they hugged her closely.
Caroline immediately started to talk about the wedding, wanting Devlin to say what his preferences were, and she exclaimed at her luck when he told her she could do whatever she wanted, as he trusted her judgment.
Caroline slapped her husband’s arm when he mumbled, “Are you really sure you do?” to Devlin before she bustled out, hunting for paper to do lists about everything, including a list of her lists.
George pounded Devlin on the back and invited him to White’s for a drink, and Devlin couldn’t say anything but yes, as he was practically dragged away by his future father-in-law.
Fanny just smiled and shook her head, a bit relieved to have her solitude, because she needed time to think. The passion she had felt in Devlin’s arms was starting to fade, but this time she didn’t let herself fall back into her earlier misery.
Devlin had said he would tell her everything she wanted to know, and she believed him.
Being her mother’s daughter, she rushed to her room and started to write down a list of all the questions she wanted to ask him.
She wasn’t going to forget anything.
Chapter 20
The following months were the happiest in Devlin’s life. Every day turned out to be more precious than the day before, and it all was because of the wonderful minx to whom he was betrothed.
Even Fanny’s colorful family was happy for her, although her brothers and uncles were patronizing whenever they had a chance. His patience seemed to be endless, though, because he only smiled at them, not once showing how irritating they were to him.
It wasn’t the constant bantering that disturbed him, because he knew exactly how to close his ears to their nagging voices. No, it was the way in which they effectively made sure he and Fanny had no time alone that he found most disturbing.
Even Fanny had agreed with him, as he sighed over the obnoxious crowd that followed them during an innocent stroll down Rotten Row. Sometimes her family was a little too much.
The passion of the proposal day still haunted him, both day and night. A couple of times he had even dreamt about her—so vividly he had stained his linens. She was such an odd mixture of innocence and sultriness, and he sometimes thought she must have a secret twin sister.
They spent most of the days together under the surveillance of one or more of her relatives. She held on to his promise of honesty with an admirable stubbornness, and asked him every question she could think of, and he answered her truthfully, as promised.
He told her about his job for Lord Saxton, with his commander’s blessing. It had caused him more than a few bad moments, though, as he had to convince her it wasn’t a good idea at all for her to start working for the war ministry too.
The mere thought of her in danger made him nauseous, and he even thought about quitting completely himself, so she wouldn’t do anything stupid, like trying to save him if she thought he was in danger.
In the
ton
, the engagement between the Duke of Hereford and Lady Francesca Darling was a sensation without end. Wherever they went, they found themselves the object of gossip.
Fanny shrugged everyone’s excitement away, only intriguing Devlin further. Her indifference toward the pettiness of other people was something fresh for him, and her honesty was like balm on his scarred heart.
As the Season passed and May turned into June and then July, it was soon only a couple of days until the wedding, and they travelled to Chester Park. To have the ceremony performed at the family’s country estate had been Fanny’s only demand. Her Grand-Papa Hannibal would prefer not to make the trip into London, she had declared. He never liked to leave the castle’s grounds.
It had been harder than ever to find solitude together with Fanny at the castle. Hannibal Darling, the Duke of Berkeley, was even more patronizing than all his offspring together. His cold eyes, under those bushy eyebrows, didn’t miss a thing, and every attempt Devlin made to spend some time with his fiancée alone was met with failure.
Not until the last day before the wedding did an opportunity present itself. Hannibal had invited all the servants and everyone living on the vast lands surrounding the castle to a wedding party. The evening was calm and amazingly warm, and the dark blue sky was full of twinkling stars.
In the barn, close to the stables, long tables had been set and decorated with loads of flowers. Such enormous quantities of food had been placed on the tables it would have taken at least three times as many people to eat it all.
Children were laughing and running everywhere, and the adults grew louder and laughed more easily the more ale they drank.
The Darling family sat in the midst of the tables, interacting with the servants as if all were equals and not masters and employees.
As the evening grew darker the dance started, and the bride and groom were ushered up onto the dance floor for the fastest country dance ever played. One after another, more couples joined, until the floor was filled with a twirling mass of happy, laughing people.
When Devlin realized they all were too busy having fun to waste time watching the soon-to-be-married couple, he grabbed Fanny’s hand, giving her a wicked grin. She blushed, but he need not have worried whether she was willing to go with him, as she practically dragged him outside, where they disappeared into the darkness outside the barn, away from searching eyes.
Silently they ran together over the dewy lawn until they came to the small gazebo hidden among large magnolia bushes.
Fanny giggled as she climbed the two steps. His hands were already on her clothes, undressing her. Hot with passion, he turned her to face him, and she threw her arms around his neck, pressing him closer to her as her lips found his.
Waves of passion hit him, and he moaned and gave up undressing her. Instead he lifted her, pressed her against the wall, and in one swift motion thrust inside her. He felt her bite into his shoulder, and he knew she was trying to keep quiet as passion overtook her body and mind. But when the ecstasy reached its climax, she couldn’t stop herself, and her scream mixed with the groan that left his own lips.
They fell to the floor together, panting, their hearts racing, too content to care about the cold, hard wood beneath them, where they lay still until their breathing became even, and they could move again.
Devlin lifted his hand and felt a strand of Fanny’s hair, enjoying its velvety softness. In the moonlight filtering into the gazebo he watched her as she lay with closed eyes, and he savored every second of their solitude in this special moment.
As he had many times before, he sent a thank you from his heart to whoever had put Fanny in his way. She was such a lovely young woman, and he adored how she continued to surprise him every day.
And he adored how she truly enjoyed making love, not only for the passion but for the closeness it gave them, the intimacy they shared. He could hardly wait for the rest of their life together, where moments like this would be his as often as he liked.
As if she had the same thought, Fanny sighed happily, and Devlin couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You look like a cat that just ate a mouse,” he said with a laugh.
“I feel so good right now, I can’t help it.”
“My pleasure, I assure you. Whenever you need me, I’ll be at your service.”
“Well, how nice of you.” She winked. “And as I intend to need you for the rest of my life, you had better go and get some rest, because starting tomorrow you are all mine.”
Something warm filled his chest as he looked at the young woman beside him. He felt an overwhelming urge to hold on to her and never let her out of his sight.
It was amazing how she completed him. She was the last missing piece in the puzzle of his life. He could hardly believe she had been at his side for only a couple of months. He seemed to have known her forever.
He enjoyed her company much more than he had ever thought possible, considering she was a woman. Deep inside, he sent out a heartfelt wish for it to take some time for her to get pregnant.
He really didn’t want to live without her. Somewhere during the last months he had fallen in love with her, something he had thought impossible earlier this year. She had knocked him off his feet, and now he was standing here eagerly waiting to fulfill her every whim.
“Starting tomorrow, my dear, it’s only you and me,” he murmured, and kissed the faint freckles on her nose. And he just had to kiss the freckles on her cheeks, too. When he tried to kiss her mouth, she laughed and pushed him away. He let out a disappointed growl, making her laugh even more.
“No, no, my dearest almost-husband, don’t you start kissing me again. I’m still unwed, and as such I must live by my parents’ rules. And the most important rule right now is to not stay out of their sight too long!”
He gave her a wicked grin, and tried to reach her again, but she slipped away with light laughter. Before he had a chance to react, she was on her feet, straightening her clothes.