Page 96 of The Moonstone Marquess
He looked down at Phoebe, who was fast asleep and still clinging to him.
Her skin felt warm to the touch, and her lips were a rosy pink from being thoroughly kissed. He stared at her soft, round shoulders and the light swell of her breasts peeking out from under the sheet. She had fallen asleep to the left of him, to the side of his missing arm. Yet she seemed so untroubled by it.
“Thank you,” he whispered, looking upward, and still having no idea what he’d ever done right to deserve her.
“You are overthinking things again,” she muttered, apparently not asleep either.
“I wasn’t thinking. I was rejoicing. There’s a difference.”
She cast him a sleepy smile. “What were you rejoicing about? As if I didn’t know.”
He rolled her under him and began to kiss his way down her body. “I love you for reasons other than just your body.”
“Which I might believe if you were not telling me that while swallowing a mouthful of my breast.”
“Shall I stop, love?” He kissed his way lower.
“No, you naughty man. And why do you have such a deliciously evil grin on your face?”
He nudged her legs apart. “Because I am about to do something quite wicked to you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Be patient and you’ll see,” he said, slowly and torridly kissing his way down her body.
Chapter Nineteen
Phoebe gasped andalmost tumbled off the bed as Cormac… Was such a thing allowed by law? Not that it mattered, since no one was going to spy on them in their bedchamber.
But…Mother of Mercy!
She clutched the sheets to keep herself grounded as he touched her in a way that shot her to the stars and beyond. How could he have such power over her body? Not that she minded, for his every touch, every kiss and intimate stroke, was done with love.
He may have power over her body, but she had power over his heart.
Perhaps this was why she responded to him with a mindless abandon, for she felt safe with him and knew he would never hurt her in any way. Quite the opposite—she was his treasure and his salvation. Whether she had earned this respect was irrelevant, for he had taken her into his heart and meant to keep her there forever.
He knew how to arouse her body, and she was helpless to resist his touch, especially the soft lick of his tongue…or the rough pads of his fingers…or the possessive fire of his mouth. Nor did it help that his muscled body made her ache just looking at him.
He held her as waves of pleasure swept through her in a flood tide. “Cormac,” she said in a breathless whisper.
“I know, love. And you are my love. My sweet, precious wife.”
Once she had calmed, he slipped his arm out from under her and rose to stride to the windows overlooking the sea. He was a big man, but his body was a sleek line of taut, lean muscle. “I have another idea,” he said, turning to her with a wicked smile she found irresistible.
“I am hardly recovered from your first bright idea.”
He laughed. “The sky is clear and the mist has already burned off the water. Would you care to take a swim with me? It is early enough that only the scullery maids will be up at this hour. We can sneak down in our robes and be back before Gunyon or your maid knock on our door. If you prefer, we can don clothes. But we’d only need to take them off before we dive into the water, so there really isn’t much point to the effort.”
“We are going to swim without our clothes?”
“That is the gist of it. Do you ever see dolphins or whales don clothes when swimming?”
“No, but to compare us to those creatures is ridiculous.”
“Why? They swim naked. We’ll swim naked. I could compare you to a lovely mermaid, but that would still leave you clothes-less.”
It did sound delicious. “Point taken. All right. But we wear robes and bring towels.”
