Sensation mounted, the combined power of their joined bodies and her seeking fingers. Already she was close to orgasm, reaching for it as she panted out moans that mingled with his, as she pushed back against him to drive him faster and harder. His hands held her so tightly, she knew she would have bruises. She wanted them. Marks to prove that she was his.

And that he was hers. The fingerprints of his passion would be left on her body, and she longed for that.

She arched against her hand as the sensation arced out of control. A few more strokes and she was flying over the edge, gasping for air as she flopped on the bed, her fingers still rubbing madly, her hips still rising to meet his rapidly increasing strokes. Their skin slapped together, mingling with the sounds of their pleasure, and finally he cried out her name and arched his back, his seed pumping deep within her as the final waves of her orgasm faded.

He flopped down against the edge of the bed over her, his hands sliding over hers, his body still joined with her, his mouth against her neck as he whispered gentle words of pleasure and warmth and gratitude on her ultra-sensitive skin.

Together they crawled up on the bed. He lay on his back, she sprawled across his chest, and for a moment every other thing, every other anger, every other fear in the world faded and there was only them.

And even though she knew that couldn’t last, she reveled in it, reveled in him for as long as he would let her.

Chapter 25

After a long night of making love, Jasper was asleep. Deeply asleep, if his long breaths were any indication. Thomasina rolled on her side, watching him in this brief moment where he couldn’t put a barrier between them. Even in sleep, the toll of the previous day’s events was on every line of his face. His mouth was pulled into a frown, his fist clenched at his side, his eyes darting beneath his lids in a dream or nightmare.

Was it about his brother? Or her sister? Or the title? Or the man who threatened all of it, all of them, Ellis Maitland? It was hard to say.

After all, Jasper had carried all that weight on his back, along with a good deal more, for a long time. There had been no one in his life beyond perhaps his man of affairs who he could truly depend upon. Not his father, his brother, his mother. Not a lover. So he didn’t know how to put the weights down and let someone else bear some of them.

No matter how frustrated she’d been the previous night after their search of the attic, she was fully aware that his past was why Jasper shut her out. He feared for her safety, certainly that was likely true. But he also doubted her ability to help him. To support him. To be a true partner.