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"Your brother…?"

"Was legitimate But I had the better circue He was miserable in the manse Our pater was half mad and viciously tempered I think he raped my mother for the power of the act, not so much the physical release Stil , she loved el ever kneas mine and his wife’s"

"I am sorry" Maria brushed the hair back from his forehead and then kissed him in the space between his brows

"So you see, ht up her hand and set it over his heart--"I wish to have children within wedlock I wish to share a home and a life with you I wish to share a façade of normalcy with you"

"A façade?" She smiled

"Will we ever be norraveness

"You woundmy heart at your feet and you tease me"

Maria lifted their joined hands and set them over her own heart "Your heart is not atwithin my breast"

Christopher kissed her fingertips, his dark blue eyes alight with love "We can e, I pro to my affairs while we are away Philip is the most recent addition to ether they can effectively rub along withoutdown at him "Whatever will you do with yourself surrounded by an increasing wife and her soon-to-be- wife…" His voice was even raspier than usual His hand cupped her nape and pulled her down, his lips pressing hard to hers "I want that, daht I would But I do, and I need you to give it to me No other woman would be able to tame me

After all, how many notorious suspected ate--"

He rolled again, pinning her beneath hiasped in surprise, and he reared back and thrust harder

"Have I hter in her voice and heart, "that aggressive behavior only rowled, punctuating each ith a lunge of his hips Reaching down, he anchored her leg on his hip and fucked her with passionate, fervent abandon

He ive a wooal of the entire sexual encounter to please his partner To please her He watched her closely, picking up on all the ways she responded to hily

"You like that?" he murmured when she whimpered in pleasure He repeated the movement exactly "You knoell as I that you crave ht, delicious cunt Ihts spent like this, your ripe little body fucked so well it is nearly too much to bear"

"Ha! I can wear you into exhaustion" She meant to scoff, but her voice sounded slurred by lust instead

"Prove it," he whispered darkly, pu the rooress "Marry me"

Lost to the feel of him inside her, Maria writhed and whispered hot sex words in his ear, her nails digging into his clenching buttocks He ild, untamed despite his claims to the contrary, his desperation for her evident in the way he h Would never get deep enough

"Are you certain you wish to experience this level of agitation every day of your life?" she whispered before she bit his earlobe

In retaliation, he plunged bal s-deep into her and circled his hips, rubbing her clitoris with his pelvic bone, throwing her headlong into a pulsating cli his cock until he groaned and ca her so tightly she found it hard to breathe "I love you"

Maria wrapped hi depth of affection for him "I suppose I should marry you," she breathed

"Who else would drive you insane?"

"No one else would dare You are the only one"

"And certainly no one could love you as much as I do"

"Certainly not" He nuzzled his da her with his scent "I used to wonder why my pater had to be who he hy my brother had to inherit destitution, why the only recourse I knew of led me to this life"

"My love…" She kneell how he felt Had she not asked herself similar questions every day?

"I knew the moment I held you in the theater, that you were the reason for everything Every single turn my life has ency would never have approached me and I would not have found you, htening, yet you continue to surprise and astound me"

"As you continue to surprise and astound hed when he squirht you would wish to be married I cannot picture it"

"Then ill co Maria Say yes"

"Yes"

He lifted his head and arched a brow "Why do I feel as if that was too easily won?"