Velvet Embrace (74 page)

Lady Harriet herself was a delight, and Brie had greatly enjoyed getting to know her. She had
an intelligence
and a propensity for mockery that reminded Brie of Dominic, although the sarcasm and the sardonic wit, coming from Lady Harriet, had a gentler
mein
.

"I like your mother," Brie observed, remembering Lady Harriet's many kindnesses to her during the past month.

Dominic pulled idly at one of Brie's russet curls. "So do
I
," he replied soberly. "My biggest regret is that I spent all those years refusing to see her or even to speak to her."

"But she has forgiven you, Dominic."

"
Mmm
," he murmured noncommittally. "At least she seems happy now, married to Sir James."

Brie raised herself up on one elbow and gazed down into her husband's eyes. "I'm happy, too, being married to you. I never thought I could be this happy."

Tenderly, Dominic drew a finger along Brie's cheek to her lips. "Nor I," he said softly. "I never thought I would love anyone the way I love you. You fill my life completely, making me forget the void that once was in my heart. I couldn't live without you, you know."

Brie smiled, his admission making her heart swell with joy. But then Dominic tilted back his dark head and chuckled. "What is so amusing?" she asked him curiously.

When he met her gaze, his gray eyes were dancing with laughter. "Jason once said something like that to me about Lauren and I sneered at him. Now I find myself spouting the same sentimental drivel and meaning every word of it. What have you done to me, Brie?"

Pleased to think she had affected Dominic as much as he had her, Brie relaxed against him. But she listened with growing alertness when Dominic spoke again.

"All I need now is to become a father. Jason has already chided me unmercifully about what a model husband I've become, but I expect he would really have something to crow about then."

Brie threw him a concerned glance. "Would next spring be early enough?"

For a moment Dominic lay very still. Then he grasped Brie's shoulders and held her away to stare at her. "A baby?" he asked, sounding shocked. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

She searched his face, trying to decide whether he was pleased or not by the news. He seemed a little stunned. "Your mother guessed somehow," Brie said hesitantly. "Yesterday, when you were fishing with Sir James, she had your doctor examine me. I'm nearly two months pregnant."

Dominic stared a moment longer, then rolled Brie over, pinning her beneath him and entangling her legs in the sheets. Almost reverently, he loosened the belt of her wrapper and slipped his hand next to her skin, holding his palm against her abdomen. "A child," he breathed. Then his gaze sliced back to Brie. "You've known for a whole day and never told me?"

Brie fought the urge to squirm in his penetrating gaze. "Last night was my first formal dinner and it hardly seemed the right time to tell you with so many guests present. Besides, I wasn't sure what you would say. I was a little afraid you wouldn't want a child."

"Why the devil would you think that?"

Relieved by his puzzled frown, Brie trailed a finger down a corded muscle in his neck to the fading scar on his shoulder. "I suppose because you never mentioned wanting children. And you still haven't told me how you feel about becoming a father."

"Feel?
Why . . . I'm delighted . . . I think. I was hoping to have you all to myself for a little while." Then Dominic's mouth suddenly twisted in a grin as he did some rapid calculations. "Two months? I'll wager it happened while we were in the mountains—that night in front of the hearth."

Remembering the particular night he was referring to, Brie blushed in spite of
herself
. It had been a wild, delicious time she would never forget. She and Dominic had spent the entire night making love beneath luxurious furs in front of a roaring fire, for even though it had been summer, the evenings were chilly in the mountains.

"I wonder what he will be like," Brie mused, realizing that their child might have been conceived in a guerrilla's hideaway.

Dominic had been following that same line of thought and his grin deepened. "Staid and proper like his mother, I imagine.
Unless it's a girl.
Then she'll probably be feisty and uncontrollable."

Brie might have pointed out that she was no longer feisty or uncontrollable, and that she too had mellowed since their marriage, but just then Dominic lowered his head and began planting light kisses along the side of her neck.

Brie arched instinctively, giving him greater access to her throat while she curled her fingers in his dark hair. She had not meant to linger in bed with him after telling him her news, for they had guests who would be expecting to see them at breakfast, but she found it difficult to move. The sheet had somehow twisted around her legs, and one of Dominic's muscular thighs was draped over hers, holding her prisoner. Even then, Brie might have escaped with a little effort, but his nibbling kisses were drugging her senses and lighting fires in her that were impossible to ignore. She could feel the heat of his naked body through the silk of her robe and knew she would shortly be feeling his bare skin against her unless she stopped him at once.

"We should get up," she murmured halfheartedly. "Your stepfather invited me to ride with him after breakfast."

Unknowingly, she had hit upon the one subject that was certain to grab her husband's attention. Dominic immediately ended his amorous advances and raised his head.
"One moment, ma belle.
Don't you think we should talk about this?"

"Talk about what?"

"
Your
riding. It could be dangerous. You might injure yourself or the child."

Brie searched Dominic's face, finding only concern for her in his gaze. "But the doctor said it was safe, at least until the baby starts to show."

"All the same I don't want you near any of the fractious beasts you are so fond of riding."

Her eyes widened. "Do you mean I can't ride for
seven months?"

Seeing her half-anxious, half-mutinous expression, Dominic couldn't repress a smile. "I didn't say that. I merely want to approve your mounts."

"You'll probably give me only broken-down nags," Brie muttered, although she realized the wisdom of curtailing her activities somewhat.

Dominic raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't be insulting, my love. There isn't a horse in my entire stable worth under two hundred guineas, unless you count that bay of yours."

"But Jester has improved, Dominic, even you have to admit that."

"He hasn't improved enough to carry my most precious—my
two
most precious possessions," he amended, covering her stomach again with his hand. "And if I catch you near that animal, I'll beat you till you can't even sit a horse."

Somewhat mollified by his concern, Brie raised her arms and wrapped them around Dominic's neck. "Very well," she replied meekly. "I won't go near Jester."

He frowned, suspicious of her sudden capitulation. "I mean it.
Brie.
I don't want you endangering our child. I'll forbid you to ride entirely if I must. And just in case you are planning to use those feminine charms of yours to try and convince me otherwise, let me warn you this is one subject where no amount of persuasion will make me change my mind."

When Brie's eyes started to flash, Dominic though it wise to head off a direct confrontation.
"As for this morning," he said, changing the subject, "I was hoping to have your company. A friend of mine in Wrotham has a mare who might be a good match for Diablo, and I'd like your opinion. Why don't you drive over with me? We could invite Sir James along, and my mother, too. We'll make a day of it."

"I'd love to," Brie admitted grudgingly, "but I think I'm being out-maneuvered. You just mean to keep me from riding."

The grin Dominic gave her was slow and wicked. "Not at all,
chérie
," he said huskily as he again lowered his lips to her throat. "In fact, I insist you ride this morning. My only stipulation is that you choose me as your mount."

Before she could reply, he had parted her robe fully, baring her breasts to his heated gaze. With his arms on either side of her, his weight braced on his elbows, he cupped the pale globes in his hands and bent his head. His mouth captured a taut nipple, making Brie gasp as a lightning bolt of sensation shot through her body.

"Your parents . . ." she reminded him breathlessly as he tantalized the sensitive nub. "They will wonder what has happened to
us . . .
if we aren't at breakfast."

"They won't wonder for long," Dominic replied, showing not the least concern. Shifting his weight in order to push down the sheet, he divested Brie of her robe and tossed it on the floor. Then he stretched out beside her, letting his gaze roam down her naked body. Following his gaze with his hand, he slowly caressed every inch of silken skin he could find.

Feverish with longing, Brie arched her spine, pressing closer to Dominic's hard, masculine length, trying to find release from the delicious torture he was inflicting on her. But when she raised her arms to draw him down to her, Dominic smiled lazily and pressed her hands back down at her sides.

"Let me look at you," he ordered huskily. Taking his time, he spread her hair across the pillow in a flowing wave. "You're like autumn leaves," he murmured.
"Flaming and vibrant and beautiful."
He bent his head again, letting his mouth work
its
magic on her breasts once more.

Brie sucked in her breath as Dominic first nipped a turgid nipple with his teeth, then let his tongue swirl soothingly over the swollen peak. The faint stubble of his jaw chafed her sensitive skin, but the pleasurable rasping only aroused her further.

"Dominic," Brie murmured, clutching at his shoulders. But he continued to lave her breasts, heightening the tension in her body with each tender caress. When she was aching with need, he moved lower, pausing to press a dozen loving kisses over her belly where his child lay safe and protected, before letting his lips glide down to nuzzle the curls between her thighs.

Brie shuddered. "Dominic, please," she begged, her hands gripping the mattress.

He seemed unconcerned by her plight. "You taste like autumn, too," he remarked thoughtfully.
"Rich, earthy, and sweet."

Ignoring Brie's plea, Dominic positioned himself between her thighs, slipping his hands beneath her buttocks and raising her hips off the bed. Then leisurely, he lapped and nibbled at her soft flesh, drinking her sweetness until she was whimpering and pleading with him to take her.