smiled, reaching for me, and I went to him and rested my head on his shoulder. “That must have been it. I can’t think of any other reason. So close to our wedding, we’re not risking what we did when we first made love.” He kissed my forehead. “I haven’t broken any of the promises I made to your brother, you know. He didn’t think to make me promise to keep out of your bed.”

I turned my head to meet his eyes. “James made you promise things?”

“Oh yes. He cares a great deal for you. As do I.” He touched his lips to mine. “I had to promise to take care of you, to be faithful to you and not to hurt you.”

I knew James loved me, but I didn’t know he would force such strictures on my future husband. It was most unusual to demand personal assurances outside the marriage contract. “Goodness.”

“I’d already made those promises to myself.”

I knew what that would mean to him, and to me. I turned my head and kissed his shoulder, tasting the sharp, salty sweat. “I can make those promises, too.”

“Then when we make the promises in the Cathedral, they are implied. Yes?”

“Yes.” We kissed to seal the bargain, sweet and loving, desire assuaged for the present.

“Richard?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Why the Cathedral? Why not a private ceremony in a chapel somewhere like most people do?” I’d gone along with the plans but such a public wedding was unusual in his class.

He smiled. “I wondered when you’d ask. Because, my love, I want everyone to know I’m committing myself to you. All of them, the women, their husbands, and the rest of the world. If we’d married at Eyton in the chapel, or here in your village, it would have been a family affair. But there are people I particularly wish to know, and they couldn’t come to a private ceremony.” A public ceremony, marking his new life, and his new resolve.

Now he’d explained, I no longer worried about it. I knew it would be a nerve-racking experience for me, as I hated to be the centre of attention, but it didn’t matter. The reward far outweighed the temporary discomfort.

“We’re having the wedding breakfast at Peacock’s,” I told him.

“Yes, I remember Martha mentioning it. That was the part I found a little puzzling.”

“We have nowhere at the Manor where we can entertain all those guests so we’re using the plans for rebuilding as an excuse. The wedding breakfast is James’s responsibility and he’s determined to meet the magnificence of the Cathedral. The Great Hall at Peacock’s could have been made for such an occasion.”

He lifted my face to his. “And we’ll be that much nearer to the coast, and escape.” He touched his lips to mine. “I shall lay my plans. I want you to myself as soon as it can be arranged. And no bedding ceremony, either.”

I shuddered. “Good Lord, no.” I couldn’t bear the thought of being put in my nightgown and put to bed, to wait for him accompanied by friends and family. In the old days they used to watch the marriage being consummated. That would have been terrible, especially for a young virgin, already having to cope with the idea of marital intimacy. I was neither young nor a virgin, and I found the prospect unbearable.

“Our first night as man and wife will be on the yacht. And then we’ll be at sea, out of the reach of any well-wishers, or ill-wishers for that matter.” He looked at me, his gaze a caress. “If I lose you that will be enough for me. I’ve had many things I cared for taken from me, but no more. You would be the last.”

Everything else forgotten, he kissed me again, sweet and long. When he tasted my mouth, invited me to taste him, it was more languorous, less needy. He caressed me, sampling, tasting, moving his hands over me in a leisurely stimulation. I returned his caresses, felt the smoothness of relaxed muscle, and then below, to caress his manhood, now far from relaxed. I began to discover the sweetness of mutual stimulation in well-known, well-loved bodies, instead of the excitement of discovery. We still had a long way to go. I prayed the time would be given to us.

Richard drew back, eyes half-closed, and rolled to lie on his back, pulling me with him. We kissed, touched, and enjoyed the sensuality of loving, all at a slower pace than before. He touched me between my legs. “You want me again.”

“I could say the same,” I answered, curling my hand around him.

“Indeed you could. Will you ride me this time, love?”

“What? How?” I still had a lot to learn.

“On top. Remember Exeter?” Richard put his hands under my armpits and pulled me up to a kneeling position, astride him. His hands moved to cup my breasts, thumbs brushing over my nipples. I smiled at him. “You’ll have to help.”

“All the time, sweetheart.”

I took hold of his erection and went up on my knees, slowly sinking down until he touched me. I closed my eyes to feel his entrance into my body, and listen to him talking to me. “That feels so good, so right. That’s it, oh, God. Perfect, perfect.”

I opened my eyes and saw him, hungrily gazing at me, taking me with every sense he possessed. “To see you like this, so open to me, so inviting, all I ever want, all I ever need. Tell me what it feels like, Rose. What does it feel like to have me inside you, watching you?”

I moaned when I felt how deeply he was embedded inside me. “It’s everything