Page 47 of To Redeem an Earl

He did not want to talk; he wanted to cut off the endless thoughts running through his head while the investigation into the source of all this pandemonium proceeded.

Sophia turned her face back to him, scrutinizing him. She gave a deep sigh. “I will leave the matter to you, but know that I am here and ready to discussanythingyou need to discuss.”

He gave a nod. “First thing is to summon the doctor. Then we should rest.”

She turned her hand to clasp his. “That sounds lovely.”

* * *

Richard bathedwhile they awaited the doctor’s arrival. It soon turned out his face was badly bruised, but his nose was intact. He had suspected this was the case, but he allowed the doctor to be summoned as a small mercy to his wife. She appeared relieved at the doctor’s pronouncement and agreed that it was time to go to bed.

He undressed with the help of Shaw before donning his nightclothes and robe to join Sophia in her chambers. When he entered her rooms and saw her lying in the bed, the light playing across her face and golden-red hair, he experienced a moment of revelation not for the first time since he had met her.

Sophia was an angel. He would do anything to defend this woman, who had come to mean so much to him. He had been a fool when he denied his love to Halmesbury, because in that moment he knew his heart would stop beating in his chest if anything happened to her because of him. Just as he knew, he was not worthy of such a woman. She brought peace and grace to his home, where he had only ever brought fallen women and pursued his own selfish pleasures.

It was no longer about hiding his shame. It had become about proving himself worthy of her so that she might one day grow to love the gentleman he aspired to be and not the rascal he currently was. One day, he would be worthy of the title husband—and father—and until that day came, he would not rest in ensuring he completed his reparations and uncovered the threat that was plaguing their household. This was his duty to take care of, and until he did so, he was not worthy of earning her love.

Blazes!Maybe he needed a drink to clear his head of these maudlin thoughts?

Fuck!No, he was reforming and this small request from his wife was the only one he could currently honor. He must bear the burden of his past actions and soldier on, one step at a time.

His wife raised her head. “Are you coming?”

To his relief, she seemed in a lighter mood than she had been since the predicament at the Drury Lane Theatre. When he approached, she drew a deep breath and blurted out a question.

“Do you think there will be another caricature of what happened with Lord Stanford?”

Richard threw his head back and groaned. “I guess that would be better than the last one. Mayhap it will distract the gossips from Ethan?”

She furrowed her brow in thought. “That is a good point. Well, in that case, I hope there is another print!”

They chuckled together while he disrobed and pulled back the covers to slip into her bed. She turned onto her side, a hand tucked under her cheek. “It is good to laugh about it. I now look forward to another illustration depicting the infamous Balfours.”

He smiled, happy to see her relaxed again. The way she had been the first couple of days of their burgeoning marriage. She lifted a hand and trailed it over his chest, tracing the curves and indents of his muscles. His pulse increased in response to her exploration, and he was reminded of their first morning together, when she had explored him in this manner before Radcliffe interrupted them.

Was she remembering the same, caressing her fingers over his pectoral muscles before splaying her delicate hand over his abdomen and sliding it down to his belly? Her slight touch stirred his loins, blood rushing in when her hand slipped even lower to fire his lust once more.

He might be exhausted beyond belief, but his wife was an irresistible minx. Her sweet curiosity mixed with the sensual admiration in her eyes called to something primitive in his soul. There were lovers in his past more experienced, more adept at the art of lovemaking, but Sophia’s sincere interest in him made his heart beat like a drum. The primal urge to devour this woman,hiswoman, beat rhythmically through his veins while he held himself still under her searching fingers. There was something fundamentally healing in experiencing this sweet demonstration of her curiosity in him as a man.

So he waited while she played her fingertips with incredible, heart-stopping tenderness over every inch of his torso. Each pass of her delicate hand brought her exploration lower, lower, until he found himself holding his breath, his shaft straining in anticipation of her touch.

When her fingers brushed over his hardened length, he could no longer lay quietly under her ministrations. With a growl, he grabbed her hand. She looked up at him with a question in her gleaming blue eyes while he lay panting with intoxicated desire. “It will be over too soon if you continue in that direction,” he explained.

Thinking for a second, he pushed the covers back to find that his wife was naked. He groaned, his greedy eyes consuming the sight of her silky skin. Her pert breasts. Her rosy, pebbled nipples.

His head swam with lust. Reaching out, he stroked his palms over her soft curves, brushing up to cup her creamy globes where he thrummed his thumbs gently over the hardened pink tips with an ardent hunger that he was still growing accustomed to since he wed this intriguing woman.

His wife was far more captivating than he initially predicted when he had decided to pursue her. She had become a vital part of his very being. Reverently, he leaned down to take a turgid nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue and flicking it over her swollen bud to growl his craving when she moaned and grasped his head tightly to her bosom in yelping delight.

Richard reared up, yanked his cotton nightshirt over his head, and threw it away. His hands gravitated to her curved hips to lift her over him. Her face scrunched in brief confusion before she straddled his body, her slim legs bracketing his hips while her slick core descended to make contact with his hard cock.

Sophia’s eyes widened in response to the contact, and she emitted a sensual purr, leaning down to lick playfully at his lips in an echo of his previous kisses. His lips parted in invitation, and she wasted no time tangling her velvet tongue with his in hungry enthusiasm. His wife was savoring the reversal of roles, the heady power of taking the lead in their bed sport, her breathing ragged while she gyrated over the ridge of his arousal.

Richard smiled in anticipation. She had no idea how good this was going to feel, how muchmoreshe was going to feel when he reached down between them and guided his shaft to her wet entrance to impale her with his length.

“Ride me,” he commanded in a hoarse voice. She looked puzzled, but after a brief hesitation, she moved her hips in a bobbing motion. Flinging her head back, arching up, she hissed in delight. Richard chuckled, knowing she had just discovered the advantages of their current position; the exquisite friction of her nub against his pelvic bone while his straining length filled her tight channel.

He pushed up into her, but she quickly took the motion over, her hips beating a frantic tempo to rub against him. The sight of her, of her curved body undulating above him while her breasts and tight nipples drew his gaze to the magnificence of her womanly form, was overpowering. Richard had enjoyed the position with his former paramours, but no one like Sophia. She was a goddess in her sensual beauty and sincere passion. The flames of his craving consumed him as he watched her, felt her working his body toward her orgasm, growling when she hit her peak, her intimate muscles milking his shaft in the aftermath before she collapsed back down onto her haunches.

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