Struggling to focus on what she was saying, Max forced his attention away from the bare skin that was emerging, inch by inch. “Uh…alright. Yeah, sure.” Personally, he wasn’t certain Vanessa—who was not just vain but had said such cruel things about Roland’s brother—deserved happiness. But at that moment, he wasn’t going to start an argument with his wife. “Whatever will make ye happy, my love.”
Abruptly, Ember turned her back to him. “It would make me happy, husband, if ye’d finish with these buttons. I need this gown off me.”
Max’s mouth went dry.
As he stepped up to her, she reached for the pins holding her glorious red curls in place. She hadn’t worn a cap today, and although he knew she’d have to pin her hair up when she worked at Oliphant Engraving, he vowed to ask her to wear it down when she was at home.
His fingers felt overly large as he fumbled with the tiny buttons, but he was rewarded as each victory revealed more of her.
She hummed quietly and tilted her head to one side so her hair could cascade over her shoulder. The motion brought her neck tantalizingly close to his lips.
“I ken ye said ye were worried about this gown, Max,” she murmured, “but I suspect an hour or two on this clean rug willnae harm it.”
It was as clear a blessing as he was going to get. When the last button popped free, the sudden surge of joy wrenched a little cry of victory from his lips, and he pushed the gown over her shoulders and down her arms.
Before it could pool around her legs, he’d stepped forward, pressing himself against her back, so her luscious rear end cradled his hardness. As his lips dropped to a bare spot on her neck, she moaned and dropped her head to one side, giving him better access, and his hands found her corset hooks.
In a moment, that too joined the gown on the floor, and when he cupped her breasts through the thin cotton of her chemise, they both groaned in pleasure.
“Max!” she gasped, pressing herself backward against him, her arms reaching over her shoulders to twine her fingers in his hair, “I need ye!”
“And I need you too, wife.” In one quick movement, he’d spun her around, and although he gasped in surprise, she didn’t hesitate to reach for the pin holding his ascot in place. The thought of her undressing him made him even more desperate to have her.
As she pulled his jacket off his shoulders, he lowered his lips to her skin once again. Her little mewling sounds had his cock pulsing against his trousers.
“Ember, are you sure you’re ready for me?” he gasped.
To his surprise, she pulled away, but only just far enough to meet his gaze. Then she took his cheeks in her palms and smiled softly.
“Max DeVille, I married ye because ye’re a good man, and ye’re making all my dreams come true. Our pasts dinnae matter.”
He managed to nod, despite her hold on him. “Our pasts don’t matter. I’m not a prince, or a cowboy. You’re not a lady, nor a drudge. Only our future matters, and we’re going to work together to make it a happy one.”
Her smile grew until it was near blinding. “I love ye, Max.”
“I love you too, Ember.”
“Excellent.” She pulled him closer, and his arms instinctively went around her waist, pulling her flush against him and his readiness. “Then kiss me, husband. I’m ready to be yers. Forever.”
Forever.
* * *
“What! That’s it? Why’d it go all black like that?” Broca slapped the crystal ball. “It just…faded to black? Is it broken?”
Willa sighed. “We were just getting to the good part!”
Evangeline snorted softly and nudged the seeing device toward Seonag’s carpetbag. “I turned it off.”
“Ye turned it off?”
“Whazzin fr’at?”
“Oh, Evangeline, really?”
The leader of their chapter sniffed. “Because they’re newly married and deserve some privacy!” Not that spying on old married couples in bed would be any better. “And watching them consummate their vows is not necessary to a godmother’s job.”
“Nay, but it’d be fun.”
Grisel burst in. “What did I miss? What did I miss?”
“Nothing more than the rest of us,” grumbled Broca. “Evangeline turned off the crystal ball just as ‘twas getting to the good part.”
“Aww!” Grisel plopped down into the open chair. “Did she give ye the lecture about privacy?”
“She said it wasnae necessary to a godmother’s job.”
Grisel winked at Broca, then turned and did the same to Evangeline. “Nay, but it’d be fun.”
Evangeline glared. “Look, you degenerates, if you want to use the crystal ball to spy on couples in flagrante delicto, then you can do it on your own time. And do not tell me about it—it’s a blatant disregard to the godmother’s code!”
“Ooh!” Willa straightened. “We could charge admission!”
“It’s illegal!” snapped Evangeline.
But Broca scoffed. “There’s a law on the books which says we cannae use a magical crystal to enjoy a bit of voyeurism?”
“There should be!” Evangeline pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled, then dropped her hand and pierced them each with a glare as she evoked the authority she knew they’d all respect. “Besides, it’s forbidden in The Book.”
“Oh,” sighed Willa.
Seonag tapped out her pipe. “Wooden stap hander can.”
Broca folded her arms with a scowl, and Grisel patted Seonag’s arm. “Well said, Grandmother.”
Evangeline struggled to regain control of the meeting. “Since we’re all here, we might as well start discussing our next project. Willa, since Vanessa is your assignment, would you like to begin?”
Their shyest member cleared her throat, her gaze locked on the table. “As ye ken, we arranged for Vanessa and Roland to meet. They were both smitten, as intended, but she’s managed to alienate him. She’s no’ a bad person, but he thinks she might be.”
“So the plan’s in place?” Grisel encouraged.
Willa risked a glance up as she nodded. “I believe Roland’s idea will work to prove a lesson to her.”
Broca nodded. “And it’ll bring them closer together.
