He returned the expression, then rolled them both so they were on their sides, facing one another.

“I’m going to marry you,” she said again. “I really like saying that, you know.”

“I could listen all day.”

“But the thing is . . .” She let her head rest on her arm and slowly reached out her foot, letting her toes run lightly along one of his legs, which, she was delighted to note, were also quite bare. “I just can’t seem to summon the moral rectitude required of a woman in my position.”

“An interesting choice of words, considering your current position in my bed.”

“As I was saying, I am going to marry you.”

His hand found the curve of her hip, and the hem of her nightgown began to travel up her leg as his fingers slowly bunched the fabric.

“It will be a short engagement.”

“Very short,” he agreed.

“So short, in fact, that—” She gasped; he’d managed to get her nightgown all the way up to her waist, and now his hand was squeezing her bottom in the most delightful manner.

“You were saying?” he murmured, one of his fingers straying wickedly toward the very spot it had pleasured earlier that evening.

“Just that . . . maybe . . .” She tried to breathe, but with everything he was doing to her, she wasn’t so sure she remembered how. “It wouldn’t be so very naughty if we got a bit ahead of our vows.”

He pulled her closer. “Oh, it will be naughty. It will be very naughty.”

She smiled. “You’re terrible.”

“May I remind you that you were the one to sneak into my bed?”

“May I remind you that I’m a monster of your making?”

“A monster, eh?”

“An expression of speech.” She kissed him, softly, at the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t know I could feel this way.”

“Neither did I,” he admitted.

She stilled. Surely he wasn’t saying that he’d never done this before. “Hugh? This isn’t . . . Is this your first time?”

He smiled as he drew her into his arms and rolled her onto her back. “No,” he said quietly, “but it might as well be. With you, it’s all new.” And then, while she was still reeling from the beauty of that statement, he kissed her deeply.

“I love you,” he said, his words almost lost against her mouth. “I love you so much.”

She wanted to return the sentiment, she wanted to whisper her own love against his skin, but her nightgown seemed to have melted away, and the moment his body touched hers, skin to skin in full, she was insensible.