Page 8 of Pregnant With His Majesty's Heir

‘Shh.’ Her finger on his lips stopped his words. ‘I know this is only for tonight.’ She hesitated a second then added, ‘I’m leaving here too. I don’t think I’ll return.’

It was the first time she’d said it out loud. It felt like crossing into unknown territory.

Whereas, remarkably, planning to have sex with a man she’d met just hours ago felt perfectly normal.

She needed this, needed Lucien with a force she couldn’t comprehend yet couldn’t doubt. Whatever the reason, this felt real and right.

For once she’d do something for herself, not because it was demanded by others. Just as, later, she’d move from the only town she’d known and begin the new life she’d dreamed about.

For one slow, delicious moment their gazes held and time stood still. Then Lucien bent his head and his mouth brushed hers, soft as a drifting snowflake, teasing her lips. Aurélie looped her arms around his neck and rose on tiptoe, responding, inviting, urging.

A second later her body was plastered against his, pulled close by strong arms lashing her to him. Lucien delved into her mouth and she welcomed him, stroking tongue against tongue, feeling a churning hollow ache low in her body as their kiss moved from tantalising to erotically charged in seconds.

His naked torso, the solidity of those hard thighs against her own, the absolute certainty of their kiss, as if they weren’t strangers but lovers who’d been apart too long and came together instinctively—all made her long for more.

Aurélie had no recollection of moving to the bedroom. But stripping Lucien,thatwas clear in her mind. The sound of his zip louder than her drumming heartbeat. The drag of fabric down his hips to pool at his bare feet. The phenomenal heat of his lower body. That glimpse in the half-dark of his erection that made every feminine part of her soften in readiness.

His hands on her clothes were deft yet gentle. Her ears echoed with whispered words of praise as he eased off her shirt, kissing the bare flesh of her shoulder with a desperation she felt with every snatched breath.

Briefly she considered suggesting they take this slow, wondering if her limited experience might be a handicap. But the idea dissolved as his naked body touched hers. She didn’t care about lack of technique when he lowered himself beside her, flesh against searing flesh.

Maybe it was Lucien who made this seem inevitable and perfect. Maybe it was a feminine instinct she’d barely been aware of previously. But there was no fumbling, no uncertainty.

Instead of covering her body with his, Lucien explored her with hands and mouth, learning what she liked. Which was everything, including the slide of his strong body down hers, making her pulse thrum and her breath catch. He worshipped her breasts with his mouth and watching him loosened something inside her, making her shudder with the need for release.

But she wasn’t submissive. She was curious about his body, pleased when he let her push him onto his back so she could explore.

He was perfectly formed, taut, silky skin over muscle and bone, and she wanted to feast on him. Lucien gasped when she bit his earlobe and trailed her fingers across his hipbone. She moved lower, discovering the taste and texture of him. When she licked his nipple he muttered something gruff and unintelligible into her hair as his whole body trembled.

Aurélie took him in her hand, fascinated by the combination of velvet softness over iron-hard arousal. Trailing touches gave way to deliberate caresses, a tighter grip that made him sigh and his hand close over hers, guiding her. She loved giving him pleasure, watching his big form grow rigid. She was bending to take him in her mouth when he hauled her up his body, his hand between her legs turning her protest into a sigh of delight.

They didn’t speak beyond fractured gasps or groans of pleasure and encouragement. Through it all ran a sense of rightness, that their coming together was as natural as spring following long, cold winter.

Aurélie blossomed beneath his touch and his tenderness. When, finally, Lucien sheathed himself and settled between her thighs, his gaze holding hers as their bodies merged, it was so easy it felt like coming home.

Home to a wonderful place where every yearning was satisfied.

For long moments neither moved.

Then, abruptly, it was too much, the need for completion too overwhelming.

Lucien moved and she rose to meet him, soles planted on the mattress as she lifted into his caress. Murmuring words of encouragement, he slid his hand beneath her, bringing them into even closer alignment. Control shattered. Their movements quickened, his thrusts taking him deeper than she’d thought possible as she clung to his wide shoulders.

Her brain scrambled, bombarded by so many sensations. The one constant was that amber gaze, holding her safe, as his body took her higher and higher till their climax engulfed them simultaneously.

Passion escalated from glorious to sublime. The world fell away and they became the whole universe, hearts beating in unison, mouths fused, bodies clinging as rapture stormed in, shattering them and then reforming them again.

Her body, her mind, and even her soul, basked in glory. And through it all she held Lucien close, needing him but wanting to protect him too.

Lucien’s heart raced, his whole body wrung out from ecstasy, yet despite the exhaustion he felt triumph and gratitude to the woman already fast asleep in his arms.

He should sleep too. They’d spent the whole night making love, tenderly then urgently, then with laughter and finally now, as grey dawn lightened the sky, with a silent, hungry passion that scoured him to the bone.

Because their night together could only be that, a solitary night.

It seemed preposterous when, with Aurélie, the woman whose surname he didn’t know and never would, he’d discovered more than solace from grief. He’d found, somehow, the part of himself that had gone missing when he’d heard of Justin’s death. He wasn’t healed. His grief was too big for that, but Aurélie had given something of herself, or perhaps they’d created something miraculous together, that filled the gaping hole in his heart. At least enough for him to face what must be faced.

He smiled against her hair, inhaling her delicate floral scent, enjoying the way her unbound curls tickled his skin.

---