12. Epilogue

Epilogue

3 months later

J uliet could hardly contain her excitement. She had a present for her husband and only hoped that he would like it. She had carefully draped it with fabric in order to prolong the surprise when she gave it to him. It was positioned in the middle of the art studio that Theo gave her as a wedding gift. It was perfect, with most of the room lined with windows, so she had plenty of light to work from at various points in the day. He had arranged the whole thing as a surprise for her when they returned from their month-long stay in Scotland.

Marriage suited them quite well. She recalled how her father only questioned Theo’s intentions for a few moments but could see the love that radiated from him. Her father had given Theo some input on his estates, which he had welcomed and appreciated. The pair had become close, and it warmed Juliet’s heart that her husband saw her papa as a fatherly figure.

Eliza had been shocked when Juliet wrote to her about her betrothal to Theo. Nick and Theo knew each other from their university days, so they had quickly become close friends. Theo deserved to have family and friends in his life who cared about him almost as much as she did.

His confidence seemed to grow more by the day regarding estate management, and he even talked as if he was beginning to enjoy it. Not as much as drawing, of course, which he still made time for.

When she wasn’t tending to household matters, she was usually in her studio, or being driven to distraction by her handsome husband. His satchel was full of drawings that only the pair of them could ever see, but the memories of him completing each of them would forever be etched on her heart. Especially the memories of the things he did to her afterwards.

She grinned at her thoughts and looked towards the door. She had asked Theo to attend to her as soon as he finished his correspondence. Tapping her foot, she fought her anxious energy. She had been waiting for just the right moment to give the gift to him, and she couldn’t wait any longer .

Juliet started towards the door to retrieve him, but he finally came striding in, meeting her right at the doorway.

“There you are,” she said, releasing an exasperated sigh.

“Here I am.” He reached for her and pulled her against him. He kissed along the globes of her breasts and cupped one with his hand. “Please tell me this is what you summoned me here for,” he said, moving close to her neck.

She shook her head, forcing herself not to get distracted by his wicked attention. “No,” she replied. “But perhaps afterwards.”

He leaned back to look at her. “What is it?”

Clasping his hand, she pulled him with her until they stood before the sheet, which covered the gift she had for him.

“I have something for you.”

“Sweetheart, you didn’t need to get me anything.”

She rolled her eyes. “Will you just remove the sheet and see what it is?”

He eyed her curiously and stepped close to the present. He glanced back at her one last time and then clasped the side of the sheet and carefully removed it, and it fell from his hand as he took in what was on the easel before him.

“Jules,” he whispered. “This is…this is…I love it.”

She stepped up beside him to look at the painting with him. It was a full body painting of Theo in his finery, looking every bit the aristocratic marquess. She believed she had captured him perfectly, with just a hint of the mischief that always lurked in his eyes.

“I began working on this right after I first showed you the painting of the woman with child.”

He smiled as if recalling the memory. “And we were soaked from the rain.”

She nodded. “Somehow, I knew then that you were going to be important to me, and I had to paint you. I wanted you to see yourself the way I see you.”

“Does this one have to go to the gallery, or can we keep it here?” he asked, but she already knew which he would prefer.

“I painted it for you. It is yours to display wherever you wish. I get to see the real version every day.”

He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I’d like to hang it in my study, right next to the painting of Thomas.”

She wiped a tear from the corner of her eyes, understanding what that placement meant to her husband. “Perhaps you should check the name of the piece. I wrote it on the back.”

He picked up the painting and turned it around and read it out loud. “Father to our…child.”

Theo looked up at her. His eyes shone with nothing but love and joy. “You are? We are? ”

She nodded, grinning back at him as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. He set the large canvas down carefully and then pulled her into his arms. “I love you so much, Jules.”

“I love you, Theo.”

He placed his hand on her stomach. “I don’t think there is anything in this world that could make me happier.”

“Perhaps if the babe is a boy?” She laughed.

He shook his head. “I don’t care. As long as we are a happy, healthy little family, that is all that matters. Speaking of which, when should we tell your father?”

She nudged him towards the settee by a line of windows. “No more talking, unless your words are dirty, husband.”

She turned so her back was to him and clasped his hands to pull his arms around her. Once she felt that familiar bulge against her bottom, she rubbed her cheeks harder against his member in the way that always got her what she wanted. It hadn’t been difficult to figure out the simple things she had to do to get him in any manner she wanted him.

“Jules,” he ground out. She grinned and her core throbbed, anticipating what he would do next.

He urged her to lean over the settee. She rested her knees on the cushions and gripped the back, spreading her legs apart, a position she had been in countless times on the sturdy piece of furniture.

She glanced over her shoulder to see him working his falls. She laughed, noting they hadn’t even bothered to close the door.

Theo moved closer behind her and leaned forward to kiss the back of her neck, lifting her skirts to rest high on her back. He inserted two fingers inside of her sheath.

“You have been planning this, my beautiful siren,” he said, smirking. “You aren’t wearing any underclothes, and you are dripping.”

She wiggled her bottom to move against his fingers. “I’m wanton for my husband.”

He released a low growl and removed his fingers, replacing them with the head of his cock, then pushing into her with agonizing slowness.

She moaned, loving the way he felt inside her from that position. She rocked back against him, gripping the wood trim of the back of the settee. He clasped her hips and thrust into her.

“Touch yourself,” he ground out, thrusting into her again.

She slipped one of her hands between her legs and teased her nub, and he continued his slow, hard thrusts. She circled the sensitive flesh with her fingers and then let her head fall back against him when she came for the first time, clenching hard around his cock and rocking harder against him.

“That’s it. Always my good girl,” he whispered, kissing and sucking her neck before increasing the speed of his thrusts.

She used both hands to clasp the settee again, supporting herself against the intensity of his fast, hard, delightful movements.

Theo’s breath became labored, and she reveled in the power of his thrusts and how feral they had become. Juliet approached the cliff of ecstasy again and cried out when she leapt over the edge, knowing he would always catch her. She moaned and rocked, that climax far more intense than the first. Theo thrust into her one more time before he shifted to short, deep thrusts as he spent inside of her, her name escaping his lips in a soft whisper.

He released her hips and pulled her skirts back down to cover her again. He plopped onto the settee, pulling her to sit across his lap.

“How did I get so lucky for all my days to be like this?” he asked, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. He shifted his hand to rest on her stomach, lightly rubbing her with the tips of his fingers.

Juliet placed a tender kiss on the lips of the man who would forever make her weak in the knees. “The rake surrendered to his muse.”