Page 45 of Loving Mister Stratford
This was what Jem had been willing to die for…what George had learned to live for.
This caring and sense of devotion, this woman who saw past his flaws and was the only person who hadn’t tried to change him into something she felt fit better into her life.
Odette was beautiful and sweet and well-meaning in every action, and he’d grown quite used to having her as a part of his daily life.
And now he couldn’t imagine life without her.
Odette was everything he’d been missing in his life; she made up for his faults, and then some. She was something he hadn’t even known he lacked.
She pulled his head down to collide with hers in a bruising kiss; he met her greedy lips with his own. Angling his hips, he reached between their sweat-slicked bodies and stroked the pearl at the crux of her sex. Three deep strokes and her body clenched around him as wave after wave of her climax broke. It wasn’t long until he followed Odette into oblivion.
*****
The next day, Odette was exhausted by the time luncheon was finished. Simon had been insatiable—not that she was complaining aboutthat, of course, but she could have done with a few more hours’rest.
To be fair, he had offered to let her sleep when he rose to begin his day, but she’d been too mortified after he’d practically chased off Mary when she’d come by to make up the bed and help Odette dress.
“Simon!” she’d hissed with burning cheeks as he strode naked back to the bed, gloriously unashamed by his nudity.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy,” he’d chuckled.
“But now she’llknow.”
“And you think she didn’t know what we’d been up to before now?” She’d silently admitted that he had a point, but that didn’t stop her flare of embarrassment.“We are newlyweds,” he added very matter of factly;“it’s expected.” He then proceeded to kiss away her self-consciousness.
Exhausted and deliciously sore, she proceeded to go about her day when Simon finally released her to return to his work. If she’d learned one thing about her husband in their brief time together, it was that he applied his single-minded drive and determination toabsolutely every aspectof his life…the bedroom included. He was brilliant and talented, to say the least. He didn’t stop until he found what made her sob in pleasure and then he would continue until she was breathless and weak, as if her bones had been melted down to molten gold. As reserved as he was in the outside world, he unleashed a whole other side of himself when it was just the two of them behind closed doors. He was sensual and confident; unerringly talented and ravenous. It was amazing. Just thinking about it heated her skin fair to steaming.
“A caller has arrived for you, Mrs. Stratford.” Odette jumped from her reverie when the butler arrived in the sitting room. Newly decorated in shades of emerald and cream, it was one of her favorite spaces in the house with its warm sunlight and comfortable furniture. The space beside the hearth also happened to be the very spot where she and Simon had christened their new home…
She had to avert her eyes from that spot to prevent another blush.
“Who is it?”
“She provided no card and insisted her name would be sufficient: a Mademoiselle Auclair.”
Odette sat a little straighter.“You may show her in.”
What could her mother possibly want? Now that she thought on it, this was the first visit her mother hadinitiated in recent memory. It was perhaps less kind than a daughter should feel toward her mother, but Odette couldn’t help but wonder what she wanted.
Mademoiselle Auclair, ever stylish and a force to be reckoned with, garbed in a Grecian dress of gossamer sky-blue material, floated into the room like Aphrodite on a wave of sea foam. Unbelievably elegant and perpetually youthful, she still had the power and presence to make Odette feel frumpy in even her new ivory morning dress.
A prick of uncertainty prodded at her mind. A part of her still felt bad about what she’d said about her mother’s past relationships, but Odette still stood by the intentions behind her words. Her mother had trapped a good man into a marriage and stolen both Simon and Odette from a rightful choice.
Still…her mother’s machinations had brought them together…and there was no denying that Odette was deliriously happy—much happier than she’d ever hoped for from a marriage.
“Ta maison est magnifique!” her mother sang, complimenting her home and greeting her with three kisses to her cheek as she held her in place by her shoulders.“I’d never dared to dream of such an address for you. Imagine, my daughter, neighbors toton, and one of them!”
“Thank you,maman,” Odette replied, gesturing awkwardly for her mother to sit.“We still have no idea as to the identity of the gifter, but we’ve settled in quite nicely. I’m happy to provide you with a tour should you desire.”
Her mother waived away the offer.“Perhaps another time.”
Odette found the declination a bit odd, but she didn’t press.“Might I offer you refreshments?”
“Merci, non,” she replied.“You know how I watch my figure during performances.” She executed a familiar tilt of her coiffured head.“Though it looks as if you have settled into married life quite…comfortably.”
Odette barely suppressed the urge to flinch. She’d gone how many weeks without being made to feel poorly over her appearance? Simon blatantly cherished every one of her curves in the same way she reveled in his body. She refused to allow her mother beneath her skin now.
“And how is the performance?” Odette smoothly shifted topics to one of her mother’s favorites.“I haven’t had a chance to read the reviews yet—is it being received well?”
