he confessed a little shyly, ‘and I know how euphoric intimate relations can be.’
This came as no surprise to me. Judging from that little seduction, he knew exactly how to please a woman.
‘But this…’ He breathed deeply, so overcome that I feared he might pass out. ‘Wow! I feel like I’ve just been shot into the cosmos.’
I looked to the smashed bottle and glasses. ‘If I caused them to levitate—’
‘Well, I can assure you that I didn’t,’ Devere said with amusement.
I cocked an eyebrow to accept his point. ‘Then my psychic energy was stimulated by my arousal, and being so close to me, perhaps some of it transferred and was absorbed by you.’
‘Like a chemical chain reaction?’ Devere was beginning to see where I was coming from.
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘I can honestly say that I could feel energy emanating from you.’ He pulled me onto his lap. ‘It felt every bit as empowering as it obviously was.’
‘Not really what you bargained for when taking a wife, I suspect?’ It was scary to imagine how inheriting my talents in adulthood would affect a psychic novice; I suspected it could be a very adverse and overwhelming experience indeed. ‘I’ll understand completely if this is just too weird for you.’
‘I love weird. I love you.’
I hugged him for the reassurance, thinking that any other man would have disowned me, or had me committed. ‘That is well, Mr Devere, for it seems I am falling in love with you too.’
We slept that night, and the next day Devere was like a child walking around in an entirely new world. During the carriage ride that marked the final leg of our journey to the Chateau de Vere, my travelling companion was wide- eyed and full of questions. His new talent of seeing etheric energy had not ebbed at all and he marvelled at everything he saw—and everyone! Whirling chakra centres, auric hues, light-bodies, and elemental beings: it was all incredibly fascinating for him. Subsequently, Devere was doubly excited about our liaison this night; I’d opened the door to another world and he was more than ready to step right into that new dimension.
It was wonderful to finally arrive at the chateau. The stately country manor had fallen out of the hands of the Devere family late last century. The place had been looted and gutted during the Revolution, and then fully restored after the fall of Napoleon. This was where Lady Charlotte had been basing herself before she’d been my governess and I could tell she’d had a hand in the refurbishment of the structure. The artworks were strong with hidden esoteric content, and the decoration of the chateau reflected the harmony and beauty of the Dowager Countess herself.
It was also a real blessing to be coming to a stop for a while and to have accommodation of our own. All the way here we’d been somebody’s guests by arrangement, but this night we dined only with our brothers and sisters and it was a very merry meal. Everyone was in such fine spirits that no one noticed that my husband was observing everything a little oddly, nor that he was in an especially expansive mood.
When dessert was polished off, Lord Devere posed a poignant question. ‘So, shall we adjourn to the drawing room?’ Everyone went silent and looked at someone else to make the decision. ‘Or are we all so weary from our journey that we are ready to retire at this unfashionably early hour?’
The ensuing laughter and garbled confessions of fatigue indicated a unanimous response to the latter suggestion.
Once it was agreed, Devere and I wasted no time in bidding all goodnight. We raced each other up the staircase and, at the top, he swept me up to carry me into our quarters. We encountered Nanny Beat in our boudoir, stoking up the fire. She was quick to rise, bid us goodnight and make an exit. She knew as well as I did that my monthly dilemma was over and that tonight I would lose my virtue.
‘I’m quite sure she’s psychic too,’ Devere uttered with good humour as he watched Nanny close the door behind her and he continued into the bedroom.
‘Just observant,’ I assured him.
Although the bed was turned down, Devere laid me on the lounge chair in front of the fire and then sat on the floor beside me. ‘Are you apprehensive?’
How could he ask after our previous passionate encounter? ‘I am far more concerned about how you will survive this union…for myself, I am determined.’ I lured him to a long and luscious kiss.
My breasts were bypassed altogether this night. His hand was already clearing a trail through my petticoats, up my inner thigh and straight to the site of my elation yesterday. His lips left mine, though I barely noticed until his mouth, and the kisses therefrom, replaced his fingers in the exploration of my most private places and his hands were thus at leisure to part his target wide. I died and went to heaven in that moment—that powerful place inside myself, deep and dark like an abyss, and yet full of cosmic promise and my own infinite possibilities. The pleasure in my body eventually drew me back to my conscious self; the physical sensation was so intense, but release was imminent.
Devere emerged from my skirts and slid himself between my open legs. We made eye contact and it was plain that he was off in his own little world too. I hoped that I would make this experience as pleasurable for him as he was making it for me.
Unlike the day before, Devere proceeded with painstaking care and by the time he was fully inside me, we both collapsed into rapture at once. The mirror over the fireplace shattered and various pictures and ornaments around the room came crashing to the floor.
I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so otherwise emotionally detained. ‘I can see we are going to have to nail down our bedroom furniture.’ I kissed Devere’s neck.
He chuckled, but as he’d yet to recoup his sensibilities he didn’t raise himself.
‘Are you still with me, Devere?’ I brushed the blond curls from his face, hoping to find his eyes.
‘Only just.’ He drew a deep breath, and attempted to stir himself from his euphoria.
‘Shall I help you over to the bed?’ I did hope that was not going to be the end of our fun and games this evening.
