of her back, which was still damp with perspiration.
‘ I did not care for you at all.’ Eliza said, a trifle smugly. Her body was humming in the aftermath, glowing like an ember on the fire. ‘Not until the night of Lady Bellingham’s cotillion.’
‘I would dispute that, but I’m loathed to start our future off with you thinking me perverse.’
‘You are perverse. I find it an attractive quality.’
‘Life with you will never be dull, dear heart.’ He stroked her hair back from her face and smiled. ‘Poor Eliza, married to a rake. Everybody will pity you.’
‘More like envy me,’ she retorted, raising her head to look into his eyes. ‘Every girl secretly desires a rake, no matter what their mothers’ might say to the contrary. I do not know how you are going to manage reinstating my respectability, my lord. But if it does not take, I am prepared to live in shame with you.’
‘Wicked woman,’ he whispered. ‘From this night on, you have no choice but to live with me, for I cannot countenance life without you beside me. You have my heart and I claim you for my own, Eliza Percival. And may God have mercy on my soul!’
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