Chapter Twenty-Seven

Despite escaping without detection, Adam felt his heart thunder as the door to Lily’s townhouse swung shut behind them. Safety. He didn’t feel safe. Agitation made his palms sweat. He jumped at every sound.

Including the sharp patter of Lily’s steps as she dashed inside. Triumph infused her, making her eyes sparkle and her expression radiant. “We did it,” Lily exclaimed as she burst into the sitting room. She embraced each of her sisters in turn, holding them tight enough for Willa to squeak in protest.

She pulled back, holding her sister by the shoulders. “What happened? What did he say when he saw you?”

Willa beamed, dividing her gaze between Lily and her older sister. “Sophie was brilliant. She told him we wouldn’t be giving him the artifact.”

Lily sucked in her breath, her enthusiasm visibly dimming. “What did he say?”

Sophie raised her eyebrows. “What do you think he said? He threatened to turn our debts over to the appropriate people.”

Grinning, Willa added, “To which Sophie told him that if he tried we would seek legal action. After all, he was trying to coerce you into stealing for him. I don’t imagine Bow Street would like that very much.”

She sounded so smug that Adam couldn’t help but smile. He doubted the matter would be as easily solved, but her enthusiasm was infectious. For the first time since he walked back into Lily’s life, he had confidence that she would be all right when this was all over.

Sophie shushed her. “Hurry, let’s go to bed before Mama wakes up and asks where we’ve been. We’ll tell you everything in the morning.”

Lily embraced her sisters again, thanking them for their help before she turned to him, wearing the most winsome smile he’d ever seen. The urge to hold her welled in him. He succumbed, swinging her into his arms and carrying her from the room.

Her sisters laughed behind them. Adam paid them no mind, the sound growing dimmer as he took the stairs two at a time. When he reached the bedchamber, he nudged it open with his boot. He kicked it closed, the thud ringing in the air.

Lily winced. “Ada— Ah!” She lost her breath as he dropped her onto the bed. The mattress swung as he followed. She pushed herself up on her elbows, opening her mouth to chide him. He took full advantage, laying himself over her and kissing her with every fiber of his being.

Her stiff body relaxed beneath him. Her mouth softened. She twined her fingers around his neck, teasing the hairs at his nape while pulling him closer. It wasn’t nearly close enough. He rocked against her, parting her thighs to rub his erection against the crux. She moaned, lifting herself in a matching rhythm.

The desire to watch her drove him mad. With one last thrust and parry of their tongues, he pulled himself away to light a candle.

“Adam?”

It took him a few short seconds, his breath coming in pants. The future weighed on him, but he thrust it aside to focus on this one moment between them. When he turned, she had propped herself onto her elbows, her hair escaping its pins and falling around her face and neck in controlled disarray. He itched to remove the other pins and free it entirely.

As he stalked toward the bed, he devoured Lily with his gaze. Her plain dress hugged her figure, showing him every swell and valley. As he joined her on the bed, she reached for him, happy and unrestrained.

His chest tightened. As he plucked the pins from her hair, he whispered, “Have I told you that you’re the most beautiful woman in the world?”

She snorted. “Have I told you that you don’t need to woo me anymore? I’m yours, Adam. For the rest of our lives.”

For a moment, he couldn’t speak. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders in curls. It spread over the pillow as she lay back, her eyes dark with invitation. He ran the silken strands through his fingers, reveling in the way it felt against his skin.

“I love you.”

His voice was thick, but she didn’t seem to mind. Her smile grew. “I love you, too.”

The urgency to claim her gripped him in its eagle’s claws. He kissed her, voracious and insatiable. Their tongues dueled. He pulled away to suck at her throat, wanting to mark her as his for the world to know.

Slowly. He gently tongued the red mark he’d left, soothing it. She clung to his shoulders, spreading her legs to better cradle him between. He wanted her hard and fast, searching for a pinnacle that would erase the doubts still swirling inside his head.

Instead, he vowed to make love as if this were their last time together. He took her mouth in a deep, savoring kiss. With achingly slow sweeps of his hands, he traced every curve of her body. The fabric between them stifled his touch. He found the buttons of her gown and meticulously stripped her of every stitch.

She returned the favor, her fingers feverish as she tugged his clothes away. When she’d pushed his breeches from his hips and delved between their bodies to grip his erection, he caught her wrist. Her touch ignited him. He hissed at the playful sweep of her fingers over his crown. If he gave in…

This would be over too soon.

Pulling her hand higher, he pressed a kiss to her palm. Catching her eyes in his, he teased the sensitive flesh with his tongue. She gasped, her thighs tightening around him.

“Adam…”

He kissed her. First her mouth, her cheek, her neck. In a frustratingly slow exploration of her body, he found and kissed every last freckle. It was torture. She trembled around him, her hands alternately gripping him and pulling him to the places she craved him most. He went willingly, eager to watch the pleasure cross her face.

As he settled between her legs and slid his tongue into her folds, he nearly shut his eyes. He forced them open, not wanting to miss a moment. He memorized her musky-sweet taste, the sound of her moans, the way she lifted her hips to meet him. When she trembled on the edge, he stretched his body over hers. Skin to skin, warmth to warmth.

He sheathed himself in her, moaning at the slide of her around him. He threaded his fingers through her hair and held her so their eyes met with every long, languorous stroke. Her cheeks were flushed with desire, her lips parted, and her eyes half closed. He hadn’t lied— To him, she was the most beautiful woman alive.

His savoring pace couldn’t last forever. With each stroke he burned hotter, panted harder. As her muscles began to clench tight around him, he held his breath, trying to stretch out the moment so it never ended. He never wanted any moment with her to end.

As she fell over the precipice into orgasm, her fingernails digging into his shoulders and her thighs squeezing him, she took him with her. He groaned her name, his eyes stinging as he held her close and spilled into her. Her breath fanned his neck, raising chills. Unwilling to let her go, he rolled to his back and took her with him, draping her over his chest. Their bodies had been made for moments like this.

Her hair glinted with fiery strands in the candlelight. Smoothing them away from her face, he whispered, “I never thought I’d be this happy.”

Smiling almost shyly, she leaned forward to kiss the tip of his nose. “If you think this is happiness, wait for how you’ll feel in a year or two.”

His stomach clenched, but he tried not to show it. He offered her a lazy smile and tightened his arms. “Good night, darling.”

She yawned, settling her head against his shoulders, her curls tossed haphazardly across him. “Shouldn’t we put out the candle?”

“I will when I move us beneath the blankets. I want to hold you for a moment more.”

He wanted to hold her for the rest of his life. As he soaked in her warmth, the memory of that certificate going up in flames nagged at him. His suspicion turned to certainty.

Chatterley wasn’t a hasty man. He was a conniving, clever sort of fellow who’d built his life upon contingencies. Not to mention, he’d flouted his plans to Adam’s face, but Adam had been too dense to recognize it. I made arrangements in the case of my death. Chatterley’s words. Those documents they’d burned… They had only been copies. Which meant Chatterley still had the ammunition with which to ruin Adam’s life.

And Lily’s.