She’d never been quite so brazen, so bold. But then neither had she ever wanted anything as much as she wanted him. Not just his hands, but every inch of him.

He made the past not matter, only the present, only the future. While she knew that lords wanted their wives untouched, she was no longer certain she was going to follow that path.

Not because of the man who’d sired her. Matthew had the right of that. Dibble was inconsequential, nothing to her. He’d planted his seed and moved on. He had no claim on her. And even if she disagreed with Matthew’s assessment of her chin, she knew it didn’t matter. The love that had surrounded her as she’d grown up had mitigated anything at all that had to do with the man who’d come to her door with his ugliness. She’d allowed viciousness to seep into her, but Matthew had countered it with tenderness and care.

And he was the reason she was questioning her future, that this moment felt perfect and right. She knew that no matter what tomorrow brought, she would not regret what she felt now.

She watched as he unbuttoned the fall of his trousers. As he shoved them down and stepped out of them, she caught sight of his feet and realized why he’d been so quiet entering earlier. He’d removed his boots. Lifting her gaze, she stopped it halfway up, having caught sight of something more. “Aren’t you magnificent?” she asked, her voice low and raspy.

“Are you referring to me or my cock?”

With firm thighs, toned stomach, corded muscles, he reminded her of marble statues of the gods. “Do I have to choose?”

His laughter echoed around the room as he stepped into the tub, the water creating waves as he lowered himself and took her in his arms so the entire length of her was pressed up against him. “When we leave this tub, your hair is coming down.”

She barely had time to smile and nod before his mouth captured hers and disintegrated the last bit of grime that had been clinging to her. Nothing mattered except for him, except for them.

His hand traveled along the length of her back, over her bottom, along her thigh, hooked beneath her knee and draped it over his hip so he could settle more intimately against her. And she welcomed the feel of him. The water had begun to cool, but now it seemed so much hotter. She felt hotter, warmed to the core.

He dragged his mouth along her throat and the heat traveled all the way down to her toes. “Feeling cleaner?”

“Inside and out.”

Lifting his head, he captured and held her gaze. “Stay like that. Never let him inside you again.”

“I won’t. You make me feel invincible. You make me feel treasured.”