It was, she was certain, what heaven would be like.
It took some time for her to recover. When she did, he was at her side, holding her, stroking her gently and panting. A sheen of sweat dotted his brow. He was so handsome, so vulnerable looking, she had to kiss him. And he kissed her back, but there was little passion in the exchange, because they were both drained…but in a lovely way.
“Is that it?” she asked.
An expression of horror crossed his face. “Did you not enjoy it?” he squawked, although he would have denied squawking.
“Of course I did, Dev, darling. I was just checking to see if we were finished.”
“Ho,” he said, grabbing her and holding her close. “We are far from finished, my little one.”
Which was, all things considered, a wonderful thing to hear.
“Really?” She snuggled in.
He laughed. “I enjoy your enthusiasm, but I am going to need a minute to recuperate.”
For some reason, her expression made him laugh even harder and he ended it with a kiss. It was a delicious kiss, tasting of his humor as it did, but she was far too curious to let him distract her.
“Why do you need time to recuperate?”
“Because you have drained me.”
“I thought men were insatiable.”
“Whoever told you that?”
“My aunt.”
“The one with all the lovers?”
“The very one. She should know.”
“Yes. All right. Men are insatiable, especially with a woman as beautiful as you are, but—”
“I am hardly beautiful.”
“You are. Exceedingly. However, you have drained me dry and I require recuperation. Come here and cuddle.”
“Cuddle?”
“Come on.” He pulled her down and wrapped her in his arms. Despite her interest in more…exploring, she had to admit it was pleasant.
It seemed odd to chat as they did—he telling her of his sanitized adventures on the Continent and she telling him about growing up in Cornwall—naked as the day they were born and twined together, but she liked it.
She especially loved learning more about him.
Even though she had no intention of staying longer than this one night, she wanted to know him better. He was an only child, his father the second son of a peer, but he had loved his parents very much and mourned them when they died. He’d grown up with little, but made a place for himself in the world. She could hear the tinge of pride in his voice at that.
Next to his tale, hers was dull. She was simply Tildy. Her greatest adventure had been at the age of seven when she’d been convinced she’d discovered a pirate’s lair in a cave in the cliffs. She’d been mortified to find it was nothing more than her brother’s treasure trove, and boy treasures at that.
Still, Dev laughed.
She told him about her brother and their years growing up, dealing with constant upheaval when their parents had died, and then their grandmother, leaving them to the care of an abusive and cold uncle. She told how she’d pined for her brother when he’d been shuttled off to school, and then about how he’d become terribly overbearing when their uncle died and he’d become the man of the house.
She missed the old Charles, the one with whom she could laugh and joke. He was stern now. And bossy. And some of the light he’d once had in his eyes had dimmed.
He’d become a man she needed to run from, and that broke her heart.
Dev closed his hold on her when she began to cry. He petted her hair and soothed her, which was very pleasant.
And then, when she was finished with her weeping, they lay there and held each other.
She liked that too.
”I think I was wrong,” she said after a long, long silence.
“Hmm?” he said in a tone that made her suspect he’d started to drift off.
“I think I was wrong.”
“Wrong?” He tugged her closer and kissed her lips. “About what?”
“It does change people. This one act. It does.”
“Does it?” His lips quirked.
“Yes. But only in the best possible way.” It had certainly changed her. In many ways. She felt very different. As though she had been invited into a world of secrets, a world of pleasure, a world only mature women could enter.
And she liked it.
She liked the confidence it gave her.
He gave her.
“Thank you, Dev,” she said, placing a soft kiss on his chin, despite the beard.
He blinked. “For what?”
“For making this so lovely. For helping me.”
“Ah, little one,” he purred. “It was completely my pleasure.”
He was wrong about that, but she didn’t correct him. She nestled deeper and closed her eyes and allowed the cloud of satisfaction and well-being to blanket her in a warm cocoon.
And she drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
DEV STARED AT THE CEILING as he held Tildy, his mind awhirl.