Page 57 of Cora
She didn’t know. He’d ruined her brother’s bank, and he was on the cusp of saving it. Paperwork. The missing countess. He would deal with it later. In this moment, all was right in his world. He held his sleeping woman in his arms.
Until the next time he awoke, and she was gone.
Gideon sat bolt upright. He was alone in his massive bed. Had he imagined the whole thing? Had she somehow discovered what he’d done?
A motion from the corner of his eye was all the warning he got before a small wet dog in a too-tight red-and-white jacket bounded onto his lap.
“Oof.” He grunted. Titania attacked his face with licks. “You have terrible breath.”
“If someone didn’t feed her table scraps all the time, then maybe she wouldn’t,” Cora admonished gently. She bustled into his room clad in her nightgown and the white cloak she had worn to their wedding. Gone was the frozen distance she had worn like armor that day. In its place was warm affection that made Gideon’s pulse quicken. She removed the cloak and draped it over a chair, then collected her pet and locked Titi in her private chambers.
“I thought you’d left me.” He reached for her hand. When she took it, he pulled her down into the bedclothes.
“Titi couldn’t wait any longer, and this is Miss Marnie’s half day. I took her into the garden. I wasn’t going to horrify your mother by parading around Belgravia in my nightgown.”
She dropped a soft kiss on his lips. “You looked so exhausted. I couldn’t bear to wake you.”
He scrubbed his face. He’d been losing himself in work for weeks trying to avoid the guilt and heartache of having won Cora’s hand but not her heart. Now, he had both. Her hand covered his heart, and he placed his over hers. She laid her head on his shoulder.
You should tell her what you did.
Yet he couldn’t bring himself to pop the bubble of this blissful moment. Instead, he brought her in for a kiss and reveled in her softness.
“Must you work today?” she asked.
Gideon thought of all the papers on his desk waiting to be dealt with. He thought of his new business partner’s ceaseless efforts to reassure his depositors and quell the panic. Of the gray smudges beneath Eryx Wilder’s eyes and the haunted fear in those of his wife’s, that had only just begun to ease as the bank’s condition improved. By midsummer, this would be a forgotten incident, but its memory would scar their first year together forever. If Mrs. Wilder passed in childbirth, a risk every woman took with pregnancy, their brief time together would have been marred by the crisis Gideon had manufactured.
All because he couldn’t work up the nerve to apologize for his own actions, or face Cora’s condemnation.
What was done, was done. He was already undoing as much of the damage as he possibly could. No, he would stick with his original plan. As long as she never found out the truth, everything would be fine.
“Have I been neglecting my wife,” he teased. A smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. “Your brother can handle matters. I would much rather spend the day here with you.”
“All day?”
“As long as you’ll tolerate me.”
He gripped the fabric on either side of her hips and inched the fabric upward. She twisted, aiding him, until he could strip the dress over her head and toss it aside. Gideon was already naked, having slept that way, and the glide of her smooth skin against his made his cock surge with need.
“Tolerate you.” She chuckled. “Believe it or not, I enjoy spending time with you, Gideon.” Her smile broadened into a grin. “Especially this part.”
She squeezed his cock. His incipient erection turned rock-hard at her touch.
“Come here. I want to show you another part of me that you’ll enjoy spending time with.” He wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to taste her again. Cora allowed him to guide her leg over him until she straddled him, then inched her toward his face. “Sit.”
“You won’t be able to breathe.” She gripped the headboard for balance. “How is this supposed to work?”
“Watch.” He parted her folds and inhaled deeply as her perfume wafted over him. Cora’s eyes widened as she stared down at him. He brought her lower with a gentle stroke along her outer thighs. She obeyed.
He loved it when she obeyed his commands. He loved it when she fought him, too, resisting out of pride and defiance, but her surrender was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted.
Her thighs trembled when he licked her glistening pink flesh. Her hips tilted; her gasp muffled but her eyes still fastened wonderingly upon him as he feasted.
There’s a good girl,he thought. Cora’s delicious, needy whimpers sent his blood pounding through his veins. He added his fingers to the mix, tracing her slit reverently before thrusting two fingers inside that tight, velvety place. His cock ached. He moved his free hand down to stroke himself.
“Oh! Gideon.” She squirmed. He repeated the pattern he had made on her clit with his tongue and she sank down further. Her climax came quick and hard, her legs tensing, her belly trembling as she gasped for air with his name on her lips.
When she was finished, unclenching bit by bit, he nipped her inner thigh and worked his way out from under her.
