Chapter Thirteen

L ennox climbed the stairs two at a time with Flora held in his arms. Her soft laughter floated around them. God, how he missed the sound of her happiness. From that day forth, he swore to never cause her heartache of any kind.

“Lord Hepburn, you will give the servants room for gossip,” Flora teased.

“Impossible, Lady Hepburn. For I ordered them to make themselves scarce this evening.”

Flora grew warm from the fiery blush spreading across her at his statement. With Lennox’s orders, it was only obvious how their evening would end. A sense of mortification should overcome her. However, her only thoughts centered on Lennox and how he would wrap her in his arms while they made love.

Lennox kicked the door to his bedchamber closed and slid Flora along the hardened length of his body. Her body trembled in excitement when he discarded her coat and peeled her gloves away. Once her hands were free, she sank them into his soft mane, knocking loose the band at the back of his head.

Lennox moaned at her touch. He grew impatient at needing her to explore his body with her caress. However, even if it would kill him, he must know if she held the same desires as him. Because if she held even a smidgen of unsureness, he would halt until she was ready. No matter how long it took.

He tugged at her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “I ache to spend the evening with our bodies entwined but only if you are a willing partner. I do not want to rush you if you still find displeasure with me.”

Lennox’s integrity reminded Flora of why she fell in love with him. It wasn’t because of his dashing looks or because of his wicked sense of humor. Nor how desirable he made her feel from a simple kiss. Not that they weren’t all enticing attributes. But it was his honor. Even when he had betrayed her, she had recognized he was an honorable gentleman who empathized with her and his common man.

“I share your ache and wish for the same,” Flora whispered.

Flora didn’t want to discuss her displeasure with him or anything from their past. There would be time later to discuss the rift between them. Only now she needed his lips to caress her everywhere she ached for him. And he didn’t keep her waiting long after she answered him.

Once Flora reassured him she desired the same, he ravished her lips. They weren’t the type of kisses a proper gentleman gave a lady. No. They were the kind of kisses that stole a lass’s breath away. They left her swaying in his arms and clinging to him as she welcomed his kisses with open abandonment. His tongue struck out against hers in a relentless pursuit to quench his need to connect with her again. Lennox couldn’t even describe his hunger for Flora.

Lennox wasted no time in divesting them of their clothes. It was only when Flora reached out to slide her hand along his chest that he stilled. Her touch singed him with a fiery heat, and he welcomed the burn. His gaze raked her form, perusing her with slowness as his eyes wandered from the tip of her toes to the seductive smile gracing her lips. She was a goddess, perfected only for him. His gaze drifted from her lips to the pearls dipping in between her breasts. The image before him was an exquisite sight he seared into his memory.

He slid the pearls back and forth across her nipples, admiring how they perked at the attention. Lennox lowered his head to draw a bud between his lips and sucked on it as if it were a succulent fruit. She brought forth a wicked smile from him at her slight gasp. He slid his palm under the other breast and pinched the bud between his fingers as he continued to pleasure the other nipple with his tongue and the strand of pearls.

Soon Flora slid her hands through his hair and guided his lips to her other breast. She was no longer the innocent bride unsure of her needs but a woman who would demand her pleasure. Lennox backed her toward the bed until she sank onto the mattress, and he followed down beside her. He pulled his lips away to trail a path where his hands wandered, caressing her delectable body.

Flora trembled from Lennox’s caresses. Her hands fluttered against him in her need to touch him. She ached for his heat to press against her. However, he remained elusive because of his relentless pursuit of kissing across her body. Whenever he settled in a spot to love, Flora would reach out for him, only for him to wander away. Even in the throes of lovemaking, her husband was most exasperating.

“Lennox,” Flora moaned, reaching for him.

If he so much as let Flora focus on him, he would combust. Her silky body against him set him on the edge enough to send him flying off the cliff and exploding into a million pieces. He wasn’t ready to join their bodies as one, not when he needed to worship every inch of her with a thousand kisses or more. They had years to make up for, and he swore he would devote himself to her pleasure until she cried for him to stop. Even then, he would be too desperate to cease with his devotion.

His lips nibbled at her throat with the tiniest of kisses before reaching her ear, where his rough whisper elicited a breathy groan from Flora. “I plan to savor every drop of your essence before I join us as one. In the meantime, I need you to hold your hands above your head, my lass. If you dare to touch me before I finish, I cannot be held responsible for how I will dominate your senses.”

Flora’s eyes widened at his husky tone and what he required of her. Her only experience with lovemaking had been on their wedding night. Lennox had been as gentle with her as possible. However, now he barely controlled his desires with his demands. His scandalous suggestion had her obeying him like a dutiful lover. Only because her selfish needs hungered for him to send her over the edge.

As she raised her hands above her head and linked her fingers around the headboard rails, she slid her foot along the length of his leg. His growl gave Flora the satisfaction that she drove him as wildly insane as he did her. She wrapped her leg around his hip and pressed her wet core against his cock. What prompted her to act with wanton abandonment, she held no clue. She let her passion guide her.

“Anything else you require of me, Lord Hepburn?”

Lennox was a doomed man if Flora’s seductive smirk held the promises it expressed. Her sass turned him inside out, and he couldn’t wait to show her what he required of her. Her total capitulation to his decadent wishes.

Lennox lowered himself between her thighs and blew out a soft breath against her core. “Only your surrender,” he declared.

He inhaled her heavenly musky scent before he flicked his tongue against her swollen clit. She pressed her hips up, enticing him to devour her whole. Instead, he teased her by pressing a soft kiss against each thigh, causing her to squirm with her built-up need. He slid a finger between her folds, enjoying the soaking sensation of her desire, before inching deep inside. With each slide of his finger in and out of her pussy, Flora’s sass disappeared, only to be replaced with soft whimpers. To ease her ache, he stroked his tongue across her wetness, drinking his fill of her sweetness.

Flora’s whimpers turned into moans of delight with each swipe as he demanded she surrender to his passion. Her swollen pussy pulsed around his finger the closer he pushed her to the edge. His tongue dipped and swirled, capturing her juices with each release of her desire. Flora’s thighs pressed against his head as she arched into his mouth.

Still, she kept her hands above her head like a mindful lass. He stared up at her body and captured her gaze as he slid his tongue against her folds with slow precision, savoring each delicious drop of her dew. Her eyes darkened with uninhibited desire. Lost in the sea of emotion she expressed, he paused to understand what she kept hidden from him. For a brief second, he swore he recognized the emotion as love, but desire clouded over, leaving him lost in how to reach her.

Lennox’s intense gaze caused Flora to lose what resistance she held. She could no longer keep her hands away from touching his magnificent body. She ached to hold his brute strength under her fingertips. Flora wanted him to unravel, to lose his sanity as she had at his touch.

As she raised her hips and pressed her core against his mouth, Flora plunged her hands down to hold his head against her. With each pump of her hips against his lips, her fingers tightened in his hair. She felt herself flying off a cliff as Lennox pressed his finger deep inside her with his tongue slashing out to devour her wetness.

“Lennox,” Flora screamed, lashing her head back and forth against the pillow as she surrendered to him with her body and soul.

And secretly with her heart.

Flora floated as she rode wave after wave of the aftermath of Lennox branding her as his. His mouth caressed her body with gentle kisses as he slid above her. He brushed his thumb across her lips before kissing her deeply, a slow mind-drugging kiss to keep her under his spell. As long as he never stopped his devotion, Flora would willingly remain spellbound.

Lennox hesitated above her, and she fluttered her eyes open to see he held himself back, still unsure of her decision. With a touch as soft as a butterfly, she brushed his hair back from his eyes as her legs wrapped around his waist.

She pressed a soft kiss against his cheek before whispering in his ear, “Love me.”

No two words besides Flora saying “I do” held more meaning to Lennox. She would never understand how they showed a promise to win her heart. He wasn’t a fool to know Flora would never offer her body without her heart firmly attached.

Lennox slid inside Flora with a slowness to sear the memory onto their souls forever. Never had he experienced a connection so earth-shattering with anyone else than he had with her. When she left him, he had lost his other half, heart and soul. Her absence impacted him more than anyone understood. Only since they had reunited had he felt like himself again.

Now, with him deep inside her and Flora wrapped around him, he found home. With each pull in and out of her, they found a rhythm to their reunion. She no longer held back from touching him. She unleashed herself, running her hands across every inch she could reach, while she pressed hungry kisses along his shoulders to his chest. He relished every second of her attention.

“Flora,” Lennox gritted out.

The thrill coursing through Flora at Lennox unraveling under her touch intoxicated every one of her senses. She pressed her breasts against his chest; the pearls created friction, tightening her nipples into rock-hard buds that ached for his lips. She guided his head back to them, and he eased the ached with each teasing flick of his tongue as he sucked them into his mouth. Their passion built to an inferno of spectacular heights. Each flame flickered higher to reach the pinnacle of their desire.

Lennox pressed his cock in and out, harder and deeper as their passion spiraled out of control. Her pussy gripped him with a fierceness that left him without the capability to hold on. Her fingers dug into his arms as she pushed them into the flames, taking him with her to protect her, as he was meant to since the day they met.

He rolled on his side, bringing Flora into his embrace. As their breathing slowed into a steady rhythm, Lennox brushed his fingers across her body. He wanted the moment to last forever. Flora’s hold loosened, and her body softened against him as she relaxed into sleep. He closed his eyes as he savored the intimacy between them.

Tomorrow, they would discuss their future. Lennox only prayed Flora wanted to start anew and that it wasn’t an act of giving in to their desires. Or that when she awoke tomorrow, she didn’t regret exploring their passion again.

Hopefully, luck remained on his side.