Page 194 of The Seduction of Mr. Alfred Saintsbury
And the desire that I struggled to feel, the absence of which made me feel so foreign to myself, months ago returned with full force. During my pregnancy it was there in fits and starts, and then afterwards came back bit by bit. Now, we are often just as we were during our honeymoon at Trescott—in fact, we are often even better. Because our relationship has deepened. It deepens, it turns out, all the time.
“I hope I was not too taciturn with everyone tonight,” I say, endeavoring to change the topic.
He takes my hand.
“You were not taciturn in the slightest. In fact, it amuses me that you think of yourself that way. Yes, you don’t chatter as Evie does—but you are hardly quiet.”
“I can be. I am sure I offended Theo when I mentioned the snobbery of doctors. And Bram when I spoke slightingly of the navy.”
“Bram isn’t in the navy any longer for many of the reasons you detailed,” Alfred retorts. “And Theo agrees with you in regards to doctors.”
I run my fingers down his forearm.
“Perhaps. Sometimes, I think I have forgotten how to attend a respectable entertainment.”
Alfred laughed. “I don’t think Evie and Henry qualify as respectable.”
“Well, Henry was respectable once. And you were. Bram, Theo, Daniel, and Peter still are. I never was.”
I draw circles on his arm and then travel to his chest. I touch the bare patch of skin exposed by his robe.
“No,” Alfred says. “You weren’t.”
Our eyes meet.
A smile curls onto his face.
“You were much better than respectable. You were the woman who exceeded even my wildest dreams. My wildest hopes did not touch the hem ofyou, Annabelle.”
“And am I still?” I say, knowing the answer.
My hand has found its way down to his smalls.
“I will have to find a way to answer that,” he says. “That conveys the depth of my feeling on the subject.”
Internally I glow. But on the outside, I merely look at him as if I am not impressed.
“And how will you achieve that?”
“To begin, the night rail,” he says, gesturing at it. “I want it off.”
“And what if I do not obey?”
He grins—and then rolls on top of me, pinning my wrists to the bed.
“Then I’ll have my way with you all the same.”
He kisses me deeply, still not relinquishing my wrists, even though I give no sign of struggling. I can’t even pretend to resist him. Not tonight.
Alfred moves downwards until his tongue finds my nipple. He sucks on one and then another through the flimsy, sheer fabric of the night rail. Since I am still nursing Addy, milk leaks from his ministrations. But his touch feels too good for me to care—and he enjoys the taste.
He moves his hand between my legs where I am wet and open for him, and he murmurs in approval.
But I have had enough of letting him lead. Sometimes, I want him to consume me—but right nowIam the hungry one.
I push him back on the bed and straddle him.
“Are you prepared, husband?” I say, splaying my hands on his chest.
“Always,” he replies, his dark hair curling over his forehead, his strong hands gripping my thighs.
I reach into the bed clothes and pull out my pocket watch.
“Then I expect you to prepare for defeat.”
I mount him—and his chuckles become moans.
I set about seducing him in the way that we both love best.
THE END
