Velvet Embrace (75 page)

At last, when she was writhing frantically beneath him, her breath coming in sobbing gasps, Dominic suckled in earnest, possessing her with his tongue, claiming her totally. He drove her over the brink into a swirling sea of sensation.

Brie returned to earth slowly, only to find Dominic kissing her damp brow and smoothing her hair away from her flushed face. Lifting her lashes, Brie regarded him with languid, passion-glazed eyes. "Devil," she whispered, hardly having the strength to voice the accusation. He laughed huskily, lowering his lips to the fragrant hollow between her breasts and starting his maddening caresses all over again.

Brie wasn't taken in by his casualness this time, however. She could feel the tension in the rippling muscles of his body and the heat of his skin wherever it touched her own sweat- dampened flesh. His masculine hardness was pressing hot and urgent against her thigh, loudly proclaiming his arousal.

Somehow she summoned the energy to push against Dominic's chest with her hands and make him roll over on his back. "Oh no, my handsome husband," she murmured, giving him a triumphant smile. "You promised I could ride, and I mean to hold you to your word." Draping her body over his, Brie stretched on top of him full-length, shamelessly pressing her slender hips against his throbbing loins and rubbing her breasts against his chest.

Dominic groaned, closing his eyes. "I am entirely at your disposal, my love," he said shakily. Belying his words the next instant, he grasped Brie by the waist and lifted her up to straddle his thighs. Then slowly, he drew her downward onto him, shuddering as he was sheathed in warm velvet. "Oh . . . Lord . . . Brie," he ground out in ragged gasps. "My sweet vixen. . . ."

Any thought of prolonging the exquisite moment left him when Brie began to move her hips in an ancient, rhythmic motion, and when she arched her back in wanton ecstasy, Dominic's rigid self-control snapped altogether. His arms came around her in a crushing embrace, pulling Brie down to him. He thrust into her again and again, his powerful hips surging upward, while his lips claimed hers fiercely, his tongue plunging hungrily inside her mouth, demanding everything she was willing to give and more.

Brie surrendered joyously, clutching at Dominic's shoulders and returning his kiss with a fierceness that matched his. She could feel his hard flesh throbbing inside her, filling her, igniting her senses.

When the explosion came, it showered them both with burning embers. Brie cried out as Dominic made one last searing thrust, and when the violent shudders that shook his body lessened, she collapsed against him, hardly hearing his ragged, rasping breath in her ear.

She had no trouble recognizing his tender words of love, though, when he tilted her chin up so he could see her face. "I love you, Brie," he said hoarsely, his gray eyes reflecting the depth of his feeling for her. "I think I've loved you since that morning in the meadow when you took your crop to me."

Brie regarded him dreamily. "I fell in love when you first smiled at me. You looked like a fallen angel."

"A
what?"

"A fallen angel," she repeated, her voice fading. Dominic's lovemaking had drained her of energy, leaving her satisfied but exhausted. Sleepily, she let her head drop to his shoulder and her heavy eyelids close.

Dominic
lay
there a moment longer, a soft smile curving his lips as he remembered he was soon to be a father. Then gathering his sleeping wife even more closely in his arms, he, too, shut his eyes.

It was much, much later before either of them stirred again. When they finally rose, they dressed slowly amid much laughter and kissing and left the chamber, hand in hand, in search of breakfast.

Farley, Dominic's valet, was in the corridor when the two lovers emerged. Seeing Dominic draw Brie into his arms, then whisper something in her ear that made her laugh and blush, Farley shook his head. The earl's reference to autumn leaves was puzzling since it was only September and the trees had not yet started to turn. But then his odd behavior could be attributed to Cupid's influence. It was obvious that Lord Stanton cherished his beautiful wife, for his face was alive with love and laughter. And there was no doubt that the countess adored him in return, for she was glowing with happiness.

Brie and Dominic descended the grand staircase together and discovered that they had the morning room to themselves. Both Lady Harriet and Sir James had long since given up waiting for them and were each engaged in their favorite pursuits. Dominic sent a footman to the fields with a message for his stepfather, and when he and Brie had finished eating, they went out to the gardens in search of his mother.

They found her kneeling at the base of a giant topiary yew, clipping the ragged edges of a sculpted deer. She looked up at their approach and waved, then began gathering her gardening tools into a basket.

Dominic left the shaded path and strode forward to assist her, but Brie hung back, watching as he helped Lady Harriet to her feet. Seeing him smile so tenderly at his mother, Brie felt a warm glow flow through her. And when Dominic turned to meet
her own
gaze across a stretch of flowering shrubs, the glow deepened.

Realizing that the shadows of the past had at last been banished, Brie breathed a silent prayer of gratitude. Then returning her
husband's loving
gaze, she stepped into the sunlight and went to join him.