Unmasking the Duke's Mistress (Gentlemen of Disrepute #1)(73)

‘I love you Dominic. I have always loved you. I will always love you, until the end of time.’ She kissed him, and she knew theirs was a love that would never die. It had survived lies and mistrust and separation. Nothing would ever part them again. And when she felt his fingers against the laces of her bodice she rose to her feet and stood there while he stripped the dress and her undergarments from her body. And then slowly she teased the clothes from his body, brushing her breasts against the nakedness of his skin as she did so, delighting in the increasing harshness of his breathing and the tension that rippled throughout the toned muscles of his torso as she skimmed her fingers across it.

‘Arabella…’ He gasped as her fingers played with the buttons of his breeches without unfastening them. ‘God help me,’ he uttered and divested himself of his breeches at a speed unlike any she had seen before. And then his bare body was against hers, pressing her into the softness of the mattress. She was wet and warm and aching for him. She opened to him and felt him fill her, and she needed him to make love to her, wanted it, to complete their union         of this day.

‘Love me, Dominic,’ she whispered to him as she nibbled at his ear lobe, and her hands slid to pull the firm muscle of his buttocks harder to her as if she would drive him deeper within her. They moved together, and he loved her and she loved him, loving and loving, their bodies worshipping each other, until they finally erupted in an exploding ecstasy of love and mutual pleasure and his seed spilled within her.

And when they had rested, they loved again—the whole night through.



A shaft of sunlight streaming through the window woke Arabella the next morning. She looked around her to make sure that yesterday and last night had not been some wonderful dream. But the heavy gold wedding band upon her finger and the large warm naked body snuggled next to hers reassured her it had been real. ‘Good morning, Wife,’ he murmured and her gaze flew to his to find the clear brown eyes awake and watching her. ‘Good morning, Husband.’ She smiled and felt his hand move upon her breast.

The sound of small running feet sounded in the passageway outside the duke’s bedchamber in Shardeloes Hall.

‘Mama? Where are you, Mama?’ a small voice called.

Arabella laughed and rose, quickly pulling on her dressing gown that was lying across the carved wooden chest at the bottom of the bed. She threw the large dark coloured dressing gown by its side up to Dominic.

‘You had best prepare yourself for your son, your Grace.’ Then she hurried to the door and opened it to look out into the passageway where Archie was running. ‘Here I am, little lamb, and your papa too.’ She pulled him into her arms and kissed his forehead. ‘Have you run away from your grandmama again?’

‘Yes, Mama. I have been awake for ages and she is still snoring.’

So Archie came and climbed into the bed between Arabella and Dominic and the three of them snuggled down together.

‘Are you going to let me see Trojan today?’ he asked Dominic.

‘Not Trojan,’ said Dominic.

‘Oh,’ said Archie in a disappointed voice.

‘I thought you might want to see Charlie instead.’

‘Charlie?’ Archie was staring at his father with great wide eyes. ‘My Charlie, that Gemmell made for me?’

‘Your Charlie, indeed, and from where do think Gemmell carved him? The real Charlie has been waiting here for you all along. He is your very own pony, Archie.’

Archie threw his arms around Dominic’s neck. ‘Oh, thank you, Papa! Can we go and ride him right now?’

‘After breakfast,’ said Dominic with a laugh and ruffled Archie’s hair.

Arabella looked at her son and her husband and she knew that this truly was her happy ever after.