When the shudders subsided, he stood up began to unbutton the flap of his trousers. “Lean over the desk.”
The spark of interest that flared in her brilliant eyes as she complied caused his cock to swell to nearly painful proportions. He swallowed thickly, for the sight of her creamy, bare bottom alone nearly sent him over the edge.
He couldn’t wait any longer, but set himself at her entrance and pushed inside of her. The ecstasy of their joining caused stars to dance in front of his vision, but he didn’t stop. If nothing else, her pleas urged him on.
“Falcourt…” she panted.
“Hunter,” he corrected as he quickened his pace. “I want you to call out my name.”
And she did. Over and over she murmured his name until finally she quivered around him. With a hoarse shout he emptied his seed inside of her until he had nothing left to give, until the room faded away into darkness and nothing but the pleasure remained.
Afterward he collapsed, his hands barely holding his weight on the desk on either side of her. When he regained his equilibrium, he reluctantly moved away from her. Without his support, her legs slumped slightly as her skirts resettled into place, so he gathered what remained of his strength and lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the settee where he sat down and cradled her on his lap.
The delicate sigh she gave caused his heart to thump madly. “I wonder if it’s always like this,” she murmured almost dreamily.
“No,” he whispered against her enchanting red hair, where he breathed in her delicate, feminine scent. “I’ve never felt anything like this before,” he admitted before he had a chance to recant the words.
“Truly?” she whispered.
“Never.”
When all was silent for a time, he thought she’d gone to sleep, but when she said his name, he realized she was still awake.
“Yes?”
“Are you still planning to send me away?”
His arms instantly tightened around her. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Good.” With that, she snuggled closer to him.
Chapter Seven
“What do you say to a ride this afternoon?”
Sephy glanced up at Hunter where she’d been eating her breakfast in a companionable silence. The past few days had been absolute bliss and she was starting to feel secure with her place in Hunter’s life. While she was under no illusions that her position would be indefinite, at least she would have something to carry in her heart when the time came for her to leave, especially their sweet night with the honey.
“I think that sounds lovely.” She smiled. “But it’s the height of the Season. Are you sure you want to scandalize everyone by showing off your mistress so blatantly on Rotten Row?”
He took her hand and lifted it to his lips for a kiss on her bent knuckles. His dark eyes smoldered with an intensity that she was coming to recognize quite thoroughly. “If you’re asking if I want to make everyone jealous that I’m with the most beautiful woman in England, then absolutely.”
She laughed and then delicately wiped her mouth with her napkin. “My, how you turn a girl’s head with your flowery praise, Your Grace,” she murmured. She allowed her other hand to linger near the edge of her bodice, running her fingertips along the swells of her breasts. She was rewarded for her efforts by the slight flaring of his nostrils.
“On second thought,” he said huskily. “We might not make it anywhere today.”
As he reached for her, she willingly went into his arms.
Twenty minutes later, with a wineglass toppled onto the floor and a chair overturned, Hunter glanced down, and then back at her with a lazy brow. “If that was our only calamities then I’d say we did rather well.”
She shook her gown until it fell about her ankles once more, and then she put her arms around his neck and murmured, “I suppose we can mark ‘dining table’ off our list now.”
“There’s a list?”
He sounded so intrigued that she couldn’t help but laugh. “There can be.”
“Vixen,” he growled.
Sephy didn’t disagree as she swept from the room and returned to her chamber where she took a long relaxing bath. She could no longer deny that she was in love with Hunter, and she intended to confess all to him that evening. Even if he didn’t return her sentiments, she prayed that he would at least set her up in some quaint cottage somewhere by the sea so that she could live out her days in peaceful harmony without her harlot past dogging her every step. She would pretend to be a young widow, for she would certainly be mourning the loss of the one man she’d ever cared about.
But until then she intended to enjoy their time together and make the most of this time that they’d been given. It could be the last that they ever shared, but neither could she continue this charade without telling Hunter how she truly felt.
As she stepped out of the tub, she wrapped a robe about herself and then walked over to her dressing table. She sat down and looked at the reflection of the woman staring back at her. She could see no visible, outward changes to her appearance, and yet, the true differences from that seventeen-year-old girl who had first peered in this mirror were like night and day.
She took a deep breath and rose. It had been a day or so since she’d gone down to see Henry in the stables and check on Lady and her puppies. If anything was sure to distract her from focusing on Hunter’s reaction that evening, it was the sight of those five fluffy babies.
Donning a mint green muslin, she
