How to Seduce a Bride

would surely pound out of his chest.

“Show me now,” she said against his mouth. “Please.”

He did.

This time, she didn’t pull away. Not when he kissed her mouth, or when his lips sought her throat, or her breasts. Certainly not when he finally helped her out of her thin gown, which she suddenly found too tight, too warm, and far too concealing.

She paused only once. “Take off your robe,” she whispered. “I want to know what you were talking about, Lee. Oh, I do so want to know.”

“At your service, my lady,” he said. “So do I.” He opened his robe and flung it away.

He cupped her bottom so he could hold her closer against himself, laid her against the pillows, and followed her down to the bed. She felt his excitement, and wasn’t afraid; she was too busy learning how amazing kisses could be and reveling in his caresses.

She wanted to know what he tasted like, she had to touch him as he was touching her, not because it was only fair, but because she had to. He obliged her, as, body to body, they sought each other.

Only once did she startle, when he touched her as no man had ever done before. It felt too wonderful; she was as shocked as thrilled. His hands were gentle; she didn’t even worry when she felt one long finger begin to explore her intimately. She only wanted more. But he stopped when he felt her body leap.

“No, no,” she murmured disjointedly, her face buried in his neck, “Don’t stop, don’t. It’s just that it’s so good and I never knew.”

“Know now,” he breathed in her ear, and kissed her as he went on touching her.

She shivered with pleasure and then gasped for breath, as she felt a spasm of pleasure she’d never imagined. He waited until she realized she wanted even more.

It was more than he’d hoped. She was all fire, and now, all readiness. But she’d obviously listened to what he’d said.

She reached for him. “My choice,” she breathed. “I want the same for you. Like this?” she asked as she finally gently measured his length in her hands. The size and power of him astonished her. He went very still.

For one second, before he answered, she wondered if she’d gone too far, or not far enough. She’d only touched Tanner when he’d been too drunk and unable; when he’d commanded her to ready him, and do it fast. She didn’t want to mishandle this man.

“Any way you touch me is right,” he breathed. “That’s good, that’s fine, that’s perfect, yes.”

He finally stopped her, and moved over her. “That’s wonderful,” he said. “But there’s something even better.”

She lay back, trusting him. He kissed her before he probed her intimately again. He couldn’t believe his luck. She was ready, and she was, at last, greatly willing.

Slowly, carefully, though he was afraid he’d perish if he didn’t hurry, he entered her. She sighed, and shivered, and stretched her whole body beneath his, accepting him, moving to accommodate him.

He moved with her, glorying in the heat and sweetness of her, murmuring love words into her ear, holding back because he’d be damned if he’d leave her before he satisfied her, even if his heart burst from the effort.

And then she finally rose against him and shuddered, gasped, then shuddered again and again. Only then did he allow himself to join her in ecstasy, crying out her name as he did.

They lay quiet. Her body still quivered from the vastness of the sensations she’d experienced. He was totally fulfilled, and yet, still yearning. His hand stroked her hair where she lay now, against his heart.

She was the one to speak first. “Thank you,” she said. “I never knew how I could feel. This was nothing like… Oh, thank you.”

He could feel her lips curl against his chest as she smiled.

“Now I don’t wonder at your reputation of a seducer,” she said.

His hand stilled in her hair. “No,” he said softly. “In fact, I never seduced anyone before. What a revelation. What an oversight. I didn’t know what I was missing. It was lovely. Thank you, my love.”

She didn’t answer, but he felt a drop of moisture fall from her eyes.

“Here now,” he said, pulling her up so he could wipe that tear away. “No more of that! We can make love in the water, it’s actually quite entrancing, or so I’ve heard. But not now.”

She giggled, then she laughed.

He joined in. “Now,” he said. “Shall we get on with our lessons?”

“You can?” she asked in wonder.

“Well, I think so. Care to help me try?”

“I’m so glad we came in from the maze,” she said a moment later. “Imagine if anyone had stumbled on us doing this?”

“They wouldn’t have,” he answered absently. “I gave orders to keep everyone away.”

She drew back. “Oh, you cheat!” she cried. She caught up a pillow to swat him, then she lowered it. “Thank you,” she said, and stilled his laughter with a kiss.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The honeymoon couple spent a week discovering each other’s bodies, finding how gloriously they fit together. Then, the next week, they passed their time also learning how their minds did the same.

Daisy told her new husband about her trials from the first moment of her father’s arrest to her arrival at Botany Bay. She tried not to talk too much about Tanner, but Leland asked, and so she did. One day he stopped asking, and soon she realized she’d almost forgotten Tanner, because she never had to think of him again. Her new husband had eclipsed him in every way, erasing bad memories, replacing him, until Tanner seemed like a person from a bad dream she’d had long ago and far away.

Leland listened to what his new wife said, and wondered at her courage and buoyant spirit. She’d survived the terrors of being a young girl imprisoned through no fault of her own, facing the horrors of Newgate prison and transportation, and then the consequences of being sold into marriage to a man so far beneath her that if the world had been run right, she’d never have even chanced to see him passing her in the street. Daffyd and his foster brothers and the earl had come through similar trials intact, but Leland couldn’t think of any woman who could have survived with such spirit and grace.

They walked and talked, made love and talked; they danced and sang, rode and drove around the surrounding countryside. They fished in streams and swam in the lake, and slept locked in each other’s arms in the night, even when they didn’t make love. And daily, they thanked each other for being there.

Though Leland joked about it, Daisy heard how his childhood had been plagued by gossip about the adventures of his errant mama, and plagued by his cold martinet of a father, and his mother’s continuing disapproval.

“I had the bad fortune to look like my father,” he explained.

She wondered how he’d survived with such decency and charm. Daisy came to understand at last how his sense of humor had saved him, and she silently vowed that he’d never have to use it for strength again, not if she could help it.

In short, she fell madly in love with him.

He came to respect her as well as continuing to adore her.

They were so happy, they didn’t want to think about returning to London. But they remembered she had an enemy, and they knew they’d never really know peace until they discovered who had falsely accused her and tried to drive her out of the country again.

They returned to London on a sultry morning, and immediately wished they’d stayed in the countryside. An unusual bout of hot weather had settled on the Town, just before the end of the social Season, and it curtailed activity just as surely as a blizzard might have done.

As they drove in through the gate near the Bull and Mouth, they could see London’s streets were simmering.